Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

explorerx4

@roadburner,
I thought your Jeep was a 75, but that was something else.

nyccarguy

@stickguy - you totally jinxed me. The prelude has been resting under its blanket since I detailed it 2 months (ish) ago. I took the cover off to take the prelude to pick up dinner. Cliiiiiiiiiiiiiick. Dead. Way after dinner I jumped the Prelude with my truck. As I’m jumping the car, the heavens opened up. Oh well. At least I got it started. The water was heading off it beautifully.

stickguy

you need to drive that baby more often. and if you aren't, get it on a tender.

qbrozen

andres3 said:

qbrozen said:

I think $7k for that Protege was reasonable. I mean, where else will you get something that reliable and that fun for $7k? I'm very surprised the runner up bidders didn't jump on it.

My bid is 4.7K, discount for being much older time wise than when the first auction ran. So you better bid 4.8 to win it.

Well, ya got me then. Between the fee and shipping, a $4800 bid would push me over $6500 total, I believe. I may throw a $3500 bid at it just to tell myself at least I tried.

28firefighter

qbrozen said:

andres3 said:

qbrozen said:

I think $7k for that Protege was reasonable. I mean, where else will you get something that reliable and that fun for $7k? I'm very surprised the runner up bidders didn't jump on it.

My bid is 4.7K, discount for being much older time wise than when the first auction ran. So you better bid 4.8 to win it.

Well, ya got me then. Between the fee and shipping, a $4800 bid would push me over $6500 total, I believe. I may throw a $3500 bid at it just to tell myself at least I tried.

Maybe you can strike a deal with @graphicguy vehicle transport service?

roadburner

explorerx4 said:

@roadburner,
I thought your Jeep was a 75, but that was something else.

I'm sure the Bronco is a good vehicle- and that it prove to be popular if the dealers can avoid being too greedy. I know there are Ford owners who want a legitimate off-road vehicle would never own a Jeep but will flock to the Bronco. Then there are the poseurs who will be lured out of Jeeps(that have never even seen a gravel road) will be attracted to the latest shiny object. And yes, there will be some Jeep enthusiasts that will prefer the Bronco's feature set.

My problem-in the Louisville are at least-is that there isn't a single Ford dealer that has ever even pretended to want my business. Kings Ford in Cincinnati was the rare exception, but I'm done with driving a new car to Cincy to get competent service- BTDT with my Mazdaspeed 3. I'm not going to beg a dealer to sell me a car- I'll go where someone actually appreciates my business.

corvette

@nyccarguy might be time to invest in a battery charger/maintainer. Some of the cheap ones from Harbor Freight and the like are only designed to maintain and don’t put out enough voltage to charge, so I’d go with one of the brand names.

cdnpinhead

oldfarmer50 said:

Frames the car against sunsets and mountains very well. Funny though how he hides the 130k mileage deep in the text. Also, he waxes how reliable the engine is but mentions it was replaced at 114k.

It's what the media (all of them) do -- make a headline that catches attention, and the odds that anyone will read the rest of the article are minuscule. Works most time it's tried, otherwise they wouldn't do it.

nyccarguy

oldfarmer50 said:

28firefighter said:

Another fun one for our Denver crew.
https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/arvada-e-i-wagon-rare/7149321903.html

That seller is adept at photography. Frames the car against sunsets and mountains very well. Funny though how he hides the 130k mileage deep in the text. Also, he waxes how reliable the engine is but mentions it was replaced at 114k.

Let's break this one down, shall we?

E46 2003 330i Wagon (Rare) - $11000 (Arvada)

The reason I'm selling it is that I just want to upgrade to something faster I am $11,000 in the hole from the engine swap/RWD conversion and I'm looking for a 135i Which I need $11,000 to purchase

I'm still thinking if I want to sell it or not, so I might take it off.

E46 wagons come as 325xi meaning the motor it has stock is a 2.5 inline 6 and its 4wd

We have swapped a 3.0 engine into it from a 330i zhp with the 6spd manual with a conversion to rear wheel drive. Is the reader to assume that "We" encompasses your brother-in-law Hans who is the head Master Mechanic at the local BMW dealership and his twin brother Steffan who runs a highly successful Independent BMW specialty shop in your town?

For an m54 engine that it has is an reliable engine and you can find man,y cars (Cars in general, not N54 swapped 325xi Wagons) that have well over 300k and they still run great.

Like I said I love this car and still thinking about to sell it or not to so let me know if you are interested. Maintenance was done regularly and with love. iKnOwZ wHatI gOtZ

nyccarguy

ab348

Now you have to wash and wax it again.

roadburner

cdnpinhead said:

It's what the media (all of them) do -- make a headline that catches attention, and the odds that anyone will read the rest of the article are minuscule. Works most time it's tried, otherwise they wouldn't do it.

qbrozen

qbrozen said:

andres3 said:

qbrozen said:

I think $7k for that Protege was reasonable. I mean, where else will you get something that reliable and that fun for $7k? I'm very surprised the runner up bidders didn't jump on it.

My bid is 4.7K, discount for being much older time wise than when the first auction ran. So you better bid 4.8 to win it.

Well, ya got me then. Between the fee and shipping, a $4800 bid would push me over $6500 total, I believe. I may throw a $3500 bid at it just to tell myself at least I tried.

I did what I said I would. I give that bid till 1 day before auction end, at the latest.

roadburner

As most of you know, I did take a look at a Veloster N; late last year my son and I went to look at one at Oxmoor(ons) Hyundai. I'm still on their prospects list and yesterday they sent me a notice that they had a Veloster N in stock. Their advertised price is $5,000 over the MSRP of $30,745. Just for fun I asked why they were asking $5,000 over sticker. Their response?
"With the current market, the demand is high and the supply is low."

Nice try, but another Louisville Hyundai dealer has an essentially identical Veloster N advertised for $1,444 under sticker- and there are 9 more with the essential Performance Package for sale within a 100 mile radius.
It's reassuring to know that some things-like the Oxmoor(ons) dealer group-never change...

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

Left your baby out in the rain? How cruel.

graphicguy

roadburner said:

As most of you know, I did take a look at a Veloster N; late last year my son and I went to look at one at Oxmoor(ons) Hyundai. I'm still on their prospects list and yesterday they sent me a notice that they had a Veloster N in stock. Their advertised price is $5,000 over the MSRP of $30,745. Just for fun I asked why they were asking $5,000 over sticker. Their response?
"With the current market, the demand is high and the supply is low."

Nice try, but another Louisville Hyundai dealer has an essentially identical Veloster N advertised for $1,444 under sticker- and there are 9 more with the essential Performance Package for sale within a 100 mile radius.
It's reassuring to know that some things-like the Oxmoor(ons) dealer group-never change...

The Oxmoor dealer group you’re referring to are notorious for being difficult to work with. This was a while back, but when the (then) all new Mustang platform was introduced (2005), I was quite interested. No one locally had one in stock I could test drive. They would all order me one exactly as I wanted (manual trans), but had none to test.

I expanded my search and found one exactly as I wanted in stock at the Oxmoor Ford dealer. Called them up to see if it was still available. It was. Asked what the pricing was. The sales person first quoted me an inflated MSRP + ADM. I told him I was in Cincinnati and would drive down the same day if they’d knock off the ADM and another $350 from MSRP. He talked to his SM and said “OK”.

Drove 2 hours with checkbook in hand. Got there. Test drove it. Exactly what I wanted. Came time to do the paperwork in F&I, but it was written up as the original MSRP + ADM. I corrected the F&I guy. He said he had to talk to the SM. SM said there must have been a misunderstanding (no, there wasn’t). He said he’d be willing to take off PART of the ADM, but that was all.

I was peeved, to say the least. I got up. Got to my car. Drove away. Sales person calls wanting to know when I could come back in to finish the deal. Explained to him I had already driven 4 hours round trip, only to be jacked around on a car was already had a price on. He apologized and said the SM thought the car was worth more....”then why did he agree to my offer?”. I told him not to call me any more.

About 4 months later same sales guy calls and said they were making deals on the Mustangs. Too bad, so sad. Not interested.

pensfan83

From yesterday. Poor quality but thats an X3M in the background

kyfdx

The ZHP swap on a wagon is probably easier than it sounds (for a mechanic).

I wouldn't have any issues with it. But, of course, the prices on those completed projects are nuts.

You could get 95% of the power by just swapping in a normal 330i engine. Cheaper, and easier to find.

28firefighter

So someone on a forum did a PPI. Thing is garbage apparently - bunch of issues.

kyfdx

Reminds me of the M5 swap I've seen on some 540i wagons. Of course, those are ridiculously expensive.

nyccarguy

@pensfan83 - Your Prelude looks magnificent!

benjaminh

There are rumors that in the next couple of years Tesla will come out with a small car, maybe a hatchback, at a price below the Model 3. If so, in my imagination it might look a little like a Civic Si hatchback from 30 years ago....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAQ18k0jdLU

corvette

graphicguy said:

The Oxmoor dealer group you’re referring to are notorious for being difficult to work with.

I suspect part of the reason may be that they're in a nicer part of town next to the malls and that relatively affluent people nearby may be less apt to shop around. I've had excellent service from both the Ford/Nissan dealer in a comparatively sketchy part of town.

oldfarmer50

pensfan83 said:

From yesterday. Poor quality but thats an X3M in the background

That’s very nice paint for a 23 yo car.

oldfarmer50

28firefighter said:

So someone on a forum did a PPI. Thing is garbage apparently - bunch of issues.

I had a bad vibe on that one.

Michaell

In honor of the V90 CC @breld has, I went to the Volvo dealer today where he picked his up to look at a CPO 2017 S60. A couple of things came up in my talk with the salesman I wanted to run past the group:

1. Couldn't drive the car as I was told there is a "stop sale" on the S60's (and other models from that vintage), due to a seat belt recall. Can anybody confirm?
2. Is the Inscription trim longer than the Dynamic trim? If so, I had no idea they were built in different lengths to provide more rear seat room.

Anyway, a national search turned up this example - not local to me, but certainly local to some on this board:

https://cpo.volvocars.us/enus/used-cars/volvo/s60l/s60-t5-fwd-inscription-jvdfgk4

I'm finding it hard to believe there are a number of S60's with really low miles offered for under $20K. Are resale values on these that poor?

explorerx4

I remember there is a big Volvo recall, but not sure for what or which models.
There are 3 S60's on my street.

28firefighter

Is resale that poor? Yes. I think residuals on them were as low as like 40%.

tifighter

I don't know that it was trim-related, but yes, there was a S60 long wheelbase made for the Chinese market. Those cars were made in China, FWIW.

tjc78

Yes they are horrid! Remember a month or so ago I posted how deep I’m buried in mine?

breld

benjaminh said:

There are rumors that in the next couple of years Tesla will come out with a small car, maybe a hatchback, at a price below the Model 3. If so, in my imagination it might look a little like a Civic Si hatchback from 30 years ago....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAQ18k0jdLU

That Civic Si is exactly what I got when I graduated high school. Oh the nostalgia.

benjaminh

tjc78 said:

Yes they are horrid! Remember a month or so ago I posted how deep I’m buried in mine?

Sounds like it makes a CPO S60 an attractive option. I love the looks of that car. How is it to drive?

benjaminh

breld said:

That Civic Si is exactly what I got when I graduated high school. Oh the nostalgia.

I bet it was fun to drive, even though it only had 108 hp. What did those Si hatchbacks weigh anyway, c. 2400 lbs? Less?

corvette

breld said:

That Civic Si is exactly what I got when I graduated high school. Oh the nostalgia.

My dad had a long commute for many years and bought a new 1990 CRX Si, which he still ranks as one of his favorite cars. He put about 180k miles on it. One of his coworkers had a 1991 Civic Si with only 45k miles or so. He bought the Civic from his coworker and sold the CRX. Despite having the same engine as the CRX, he preferred the CRX to the Civic. I'm not sure of the hardware differences, but I'm sure the CRX was noticeably lighter and more nimble, and I know it had alloys vs. steel wheels on the Civic. He decided he was done with the Civic when it had north of 225k miles on it, and ended up selling it back to the same coworker he bought it from.

Both cars burned a fair amount of oil once they hit higher mileage, which I think is normal. I disagree with the Motorweek assessment that there was too much lumbar support in the front seats--I thought it was perfect for a sporty car.

oldfarmer50

I was just watching one of Hoovie’s videos and he was putting new heads on his 51’ Ford flathead V8. He did a little demonstration where with one head off he started the car up and the thing actually ran pretty good. Never saw anything like that before. I can’t imagine what would happen to a modern V8 if you tried that.

oldfarmer50

28firefighter said:

Is resale that poor? Yes. I think residuals on them were as low as like 40%.

Why is that do you think? Are there reliability issues? Known problem areas?

Some car makes only have a fan base when new, then the fans want to chase some other shiny object. A car that drops like a rock but is otherwise dependable could be a great used buy.

28firefighter

oldfarmer50 said:

28firefighter said:

Is resale that poor? Yes. I think residuals on them were as low as like 40%.

Why is that do you think? Are there reliability issues? Known problem areas?

Some car makes only have a fan base when new, then the fans want to chase some other shiny object. A car that drops like a rock but is otherwise dependable could be a great used buy.

The previous generation S60 was incredibly old by end of life with outdated technology relative to its competitors. Combine that with the general disdain for sedans in favor of crossovers and voila.

nyccarguy

Every year we close our family plumbing supply business for the last 2 weeks of July. While we cancelled our plans to go to Disney this year, we are going to Lake George, NY for a few days and then to the NJ shore to stay with my parents (which rented a house in Seaside Heights for 2 weeks) for a few days next week.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

oldfarmer50 said:

28firefighter said:

Is resale that poor? Yes. I think residuals on them were as low as like 40%.

Why is that do you think? Are there reliability issues? Known problem areas?

Some car makes only have a fan base when new, then the fans want to chase some other shiny object. A car that drops like a rock but is otherwise dependable could be a great used buy.

The previous generation S60 was incredibly old by end of life with outdated technology relative to its competitors. Combine that with the general disdain for sedans in favor of crossovers and voila.

What was the last year of that generation? 2018?

28firefighter

Yep. 2018.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

Yep. 2018.

So if I stay patient, I can pick up a CPO 2019 in just 24 short months.

28firefighter

And I suspect they will depreciate heavily as well, as @tjc78 has pointed out. Heavy incentives from Volvo to move them over the last couple years should make for some really nice cars off lease.

28firefighter

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2010-bmw-328-9/

This is about perfect and will bring absolutely stupid money. I’m guessing close to 20.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2010-bmw-328-9/

This is about perfect and will bring absolutely stupid money. I’m guessing close to 20.

Be still my heart.

ronsteve

28firefighter said:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2010-bmw-328-9/

This is about perfect and will bring absolutely stupid money. I’m guessing close to 20.

I bet it goes fairly well north of 20. Aside from the xDrive it really is a beautiful car!

qbrozen

Michaell said:

In honor of the V90 CC @breld has, I went to the Volvo dealer today where he picked his up to look at a CPO 2017 S60. A couple of things came up in my talk with the salesman I wanted to run past the group:

1. Couldn't drive the car as I was told there is a "stop sale" on the S60's (and other models from that vintage), due to a seat belt recall. Can anybody confirm?
2. Is the Inscription trim longer than the Dynamic trim? If so, I had no idea they were built in different lengths to provide more rear seat room.

Anyway, a national search turned up this example - not local to me, but certainly local to some on this board:

https://cpo.volvocars.us/enus/used-cars/volvo/s60l/s60-t5-fwd-inscription-jvdfgk4

I'm finding it hard to believe there are a number of S60's with really low miles offered for under $20K. Are resale values on these that poor?

For one, there is a glut of them. 94 at auction in the past month. Two, the FWD models are always a tougher sell. Three, as others mentioned, the incentives can get pretty deep on them.

That is a good price for CPO. They average right around $16k at the block. That dealer is about 40 mins from me if that is something you’d like me to take a look at. But make sure they can sell it first. Lol.

Michaell

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

In honor of the V90 CC @breld has, I went to the Volvo dealer today where he picked his up to look at a CPO 2017 S60. A couple of things came up in my talk with the salesman I wanted to run past the group:

1. Couldn't drive the car as I was told there is a "stop sale" on the S60's (and other models from that vintage), due to a seat belt recall. Can anybody confirm?
2. Is the Inscription trim longer than the Dynamic trim? If so, I had no idea they were built in different lengths to provide more rear seat room.

Anyway, a national search turned up this example - not local to me, but certainly local to some on this board:

https://cpo.volvocars.us/enus/used-cars/volvo/s60l/s60-t5-fwd-inscription-jvdfgk4

I'm finding it hard to believe there are a number of S60's with really low miles offered for under $20K. Are resale values on these that poor?

For one, there is a glut of them. 94 at auction in the past month. Two, the FWD models are always a tougher sell. Three, as others mentioned, the incentives can get pretty deep on them.

That is a good price for CPO. They average right around $16k at the block. That dealer is about 40 mins from me if that is something you’d like me to take a look at. But make sure they can sell it first. Lol.

I appreciate the offer, but, like most things automotive, I'm just looking at options.

I don't have to have AWD - we've got the Outback if things get really nasty.

tjc78

benjaminh said:

tjc78 said:

Yes they are horrid! Remember a month or so ago I posted how deep I’m buried in mine?

Sounds like it makes a CPO S60 an attractive option. I love the looks of that car. How is it to drive?

It’s quiet, comfortable and rides well. A little firmness but not harsh at all. It is AWD with a FWD bias so it’s no 3 series. Handling is good, but not great. What I do like is that even with over 300 hp it has zero torque steer.

It’s about the perfect balance for me in the balance of luxury and sport. Build quality has been good and the controls etc while complex are easy to get used to.

benjaminh

My car and its engine were made in Ohio, but my TLX's transmission was actually made in Japan. But I think maybe now the 8-speed DCT is also made in Ohio? Not sure. Anyway, here's a pic of the same transmission in the ILX, and then 10-minutes of video of assembling transmissions. Complicated stuff to put a transmission together. And this doesn't cover the electronics and software control of the transmission, which is obviously also a big thing.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiiaHCMVZjA

stickguy

It was odd that the LWB S60 was just one of the trim levels. I wonder how many buyers just never noticed? And yes that one was made in China.

I’ll consider one next time I’m looking. But if so, will stick with the FWD version.