Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

graphicguy

oldfarmer50 said:

au1994 said:

Punch! 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser. 135k miles, IE nothing for a Cruiser. Great maintenance history from Toyota. Now to get it from MA to GA.

You weren’t afraid of buying a vehicle from the rust belt? Check it underneath when you get it home. You could use graphicguy’s transport service if you don’t mind seeing a review here when he’s done.

First...big congrats on the Land Cruiser....best "all terrain" vehicle ever made. And yes, I can do the transport for you. Allow a few extra bucks for the gas I'll be burning.

OF....I need you as a marketing service!

stickguy

the Car Wizard would approve. he calls those the best SUV ever made I think.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

andres3 said:

qbrozen said:

andres3 said:

ab348 said:

The ATS has the battery in the trunk though oddly enough on the left rear corner. I would have thought it made more sense to put it in the right rear but what do I know. There is really no space under the hood for a battery.

Audi puts them on the right rear, at least on the S4 and TT, and in the TT, all the way to the right and rear; not sparing extra inches; truly engineered with thought in mind.

Whoa. You just said my Dodge was engineered with thought. ;b

Yes, I'm impressed Dodge chose to spend a bit more and put the battery in the rear of the Charger. Surprised too!

well, it is basically a Mercedes E class so that is probably why.

Uhhh... no. The LX platform was a modification to the old LH platform, neither of which can be found under any Benz.

Rumor is engineers working on the LX studied the E-class for ideas, which is maybe where the battery idea came into play. But no platform sharing occurred.

corvette

Didn't they share a five speed automatic with Benz, or am I dreaming that up?

I had an extremely decontented Charger as a rental when I went to Las Vegas in 2007. The driving dynamics were quite good, and it would have been a nice car if it weren't for the lack of features. It did not even have ABS, and the base 2.7 liter V6 was smooth, but underpowered in a car that large.

au1994

stickguy said:

au1994 said:

Punch! 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser. 135k miles, IE nothing for a Cruiser. Great maintenance history from Toyota. Now to get it from MA to GA.

congrats. replacing something or just to have as a spare for work duty?

Thanks, it will end up replacing the Subaru. Vroom offer was too strong to ignore, ~$1300 to the good.

stickguy

I was just referring to the origins of the original 300 reboot. A lot of the design specifics (like location of the battery) were the same


The Chrysler 300 is a peculiar vestige of the time when Chrysler and Mercedes were one company. The LX platform on which it’s based is, contrary to popular Internet belief, not entirely an older Mercedes platform, although it did originally share numerous parts with Mercedes (mostly from the E-Class and S-Class).

explorerx4

I don't see how the LH(cloud cars) platform could be adapted to RWD from FWD.

au1994

oldfarmer50 said:

au1994 said:

Punch! 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser. 135k miles, IE nothing for a Cruiser. Great maintenance history from Toyota. Now to get it from MA to GA.

You weren’t afraid of buying a vehicle from the rust belt? Check it underneath when you get it home. You could use graphicguy’s transport service if you don’t mind seeing a review here when he’s done.

Nah, the dealer was forthcoming about condition and sharing pics. There is some surface stuff on the chassis of course but nothing fatal. Nothing on the body. Found a service for $650 which I thought was reasonable. Of course this isn’t the most expedient option. They don’t even pick up until the 5th.

au1994

graphicguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

au1994 said:

Punch! 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser. 135k miles, IE nothing for a Cruiser. Great maintenance history from Toyota. Now to get it from MA to GA.

You weren’t afraid of buying a vehicle from the rust belt? Check it underneath when you get it home. You could use graphicguy’s transport service if you don’t mind seeing a review here when he’s done.

First...big congrats on the Land Cruiser....best "all terrain" vehicle ever made. And yes, I can do the transport for you. Allow a few extra bucks for the gas I'll be burning.

OF....I need you as a marketing service!

Lol, we briefly considered making a family adventure out of it. Fly to Boston and drive back home, taking the scenic route.. Gas in the Cruiser would have been the most expensive part of the trip! 18 highway best case from what I’ve seen. I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a bucket list truck for me. Not worried about the miles, Toyota engineered them for a 25 year lifespan in far worse conditions than I’ll subject it to.

pensfan83

@pensfan83 - how do you find your current lease buyout on the TFS website?

Funny you ask because I realized I never setup a login to my account since I did a one pay. Sorry!

@kyfdx it's TFS

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

I don't see how the LH(cloud cars) platform could be adapted to RWD from FWD.

the charger is an evolution of some sort from the 300, so a RWD platform.

stickguy

just watched a car wizard video on a 2007 Shelby GT Mustang. Something like that (doesn't have to be a Shelby) could be a fun little toy!

corvette

@au1994 good luck, and keep us posted. I do fine with the Tundra, but miss the enclosed cargo area of the Tahoe. I'd consider a used LC/Sequoia like yours or a 4Runner like @dad23 bought when the Tundra lease is up.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

corvette said:

oldfarmer50 said:

corvette said:

Sounds like JR's F-250 is throwing a code for the DPF. I would think that would be covered under Ford's emissions warranty since it's so new. $55k plus tax and warranty... I bet the monthly nut on that is more than my house payment!

That’s not to bad for a truck he said stickered for $100k. What’s the DPF? I’d look it up but I’m too lazy.

I think he said it had 51k miles which I thought was a lot given the year but it’s a diesel so....

Diesel particulate filter, basically a filter to remove large soot particles from the exhaust. If it has to be replaced, I think just the part is upwards of $1,500.

I really don't care for silver as a color on pickups.

I should have known that as we had those on the school buses. Caused no end of troubles. As one of our mechanics once said “diesels aren’t made to have pollution controls”.

a decade ago when I was driving the ryder trucks every week is right when the filters came out (shortly after I stopped). IIRC every so often on the road the truck would do something to clear it and if you drove wrong (too much idling?) the engine would just shut down. Might have details fuzzy, but it was really poorly thought out, and there was a chance it could just shut down while driving.

at the time, my father was still in the volunteer fire company (and driving) and the the fire fighting community was having a big fight with the EPA over this, because whatever the specifics were, made it dangerous for them because the engines would shut down in the middle of fighting a fire (which of course, is not a good thing!) Not sure what ever came out of that.

I know those particulate screens would heat up occasionally to burn off the soot and a big cloud would come out of the tail pipe. Scared a lot of drivers who thought they had blown a head gasket. Also some parents complained that we were gunning the engine (but they complained about everything so we laughed).

The real problem was when they introduced the DEF system. If you let the tank get too low the computer in the Mercedes engine would turn it off leaving you dead with a load of screaming kids. The mechanics hated that system.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

I was just referring to the origins of the original 300 reboot. A lot of the design specifics (like location of the battery) were the same


The Chrysler 300 is a peculiar vestige of the time when Chrysler and Mercedes were one company. The LX platform on which it’s based is, contrary to popular Internet belief, not entirely an older Mercedes platform, although it did originally share numerous parts with Mercedes (mostly from the E-Class and S-Class).

I think it was the Crossfire that was more directly a Mercedes clone. I’ve heard that the 300 made use of some Mercedes suspension hardware.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

just watched a car wizard video on a 2007 Shelby GT Mustang. Something like that (doesn't have to be a Shelby) could be a fun little toy!

But even that old they’re pricey. I checked on Autotrader and even approaching 100k miles they ask $12-15,000 for a 2007 GT. Shelbys are....you don’t want to know.

I had no idea they retained their value so well.

stickguy

well, I am not interested in buying something old that has crazy high resale value. defeats the purpose!

stickguy

cheap wheels. surprised to see one of these make it over 250K. But I love the brutally honest description by the dealer.

https://www.eimports4less.com/details-2003-volvo-s80-4dr_sedan_2_9l-used-yv1ts92d631301408.html

benjaminh

@stickguy I personally think you'll be letting go of a jem when your TLX sells. How many miles does it have on it? It's great you're making a small profit on it, but I wonder if you'll find anything else with that with that kind of comfort, handling, performance, features, mpg, and reliability. But I understand the CCBA bug since I've often had it myself. I do look forward to your next quest, which should help make things interesting around here. Since I'm almost sure I'm going to keep my TLX I'll shop vicariously by hearing about your search and others here.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

well, I am not interested in buying something old that has crazy high resale value. defeats the purpose!

Crazy high now. 6 months from now....?

corvette

stickguy said:

cheap wheels. surprised to see one of these make it over 250K. But I love the brutally honest description by the dealer.

https://www.eimports4less.com/details-2003-volvo-s80-4dr_sedan_2_9l-used-yv1ts92d631301408.html

That one is the same color and has the same optional 17" wheels as the 2002 my parents had. The one in the ad has done about 3x as many miles and the interior looks rough. I drove my parents' one pretty extensively, and it was nice, but it also reminded me of its typical contemporary FWD American land barges, just with a more taut European suspension and nicer interior appointments.

qbrozen

explorerx4 said:

I don't see how the LH(cloud cars) platform could be adapted to RWD from FWD.

That’s why neither of us is an engineer.

https://www.musclecarsandtrucks.com/the-mercedes-connection-to-dodge-charger-and-challenger-explained/

If wiki is right, the LH was designed with future RWD in mind.

corvette

IIRC, the LH engines were longitudinally mounted, which was unusual for FWD vehicles at the time.

benjaminh

Lucid Air—the $100k+ luxury electric car with a 500 mile range. Should be available in about a year from a factory that's now being built in Arizona. The president of Lucid was one of the lead designers of the original Tesla Model S.

https://lucidmotors.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiN8ktc92ns

roadburner

Every one of my BMWs since the M6(save the '02 and Club Sport) have had a trunk mounted battery. No big deal.

tjc78

corvette said:

IIRC, the LH engines were longitudinally mounted, which was unusual for FWD vehicles at the time.

Yep, I was going to point that out as well.

stickguy

benjaminh said:

@stickguy I personally think you'll be letting go of a jem when your TLX sells. How many miles does it have on it? It's great you're making a small profit on it, but I wonder if you'll find anything else with that with that kind of comfort, handling, performance, features, mpg, and reliability. But I understand the CCBA bug since I've often had it myself. I do look forward to your next quest, which should help make things interesting around here. Since I'm almost sure I'm going to keep my TLX I'll shop vicariously by hearing about your search and others here.

9,021. and not going up very fast. Not planning on getting something else right away, unless I stumble upon something interesting to be a cash buy. Otherwise we will just be a 1 car family.

stickguy

for lack of anything better to do tonight, I just watched a whole series of videos (from speed academy on youtube) on dismantaling, rebuilding, and putting back together a Subaru engine. Then another one on doing a timing belt change. Really interesting. and not way I would be tackling that job! But the pro made it look so easy.

Michaell

stickguy said:

for lack of anything better to do tonight, I just watched a whole series of videos (from speed academy on youtube) on dismantaling, rebuilding, and putting back together a Subaru engine. Then another one on doing a timing belt change. Really interesting. and not way I would be tackling that job! But the pro made it look so easy.

I've watched a few videos from that channel - a little too techy for my liking.

OTOH, I've been watching 100percentJakes videos - I like the (lack of) production values, TBH. What I imagine the other Kansas folks were like, in the beginning.

And - confession time - I found an Australian dash cam channel. The scenery is like Southern California, but with everyone driving on the wrong side of the road. I still get confused watching them turn left or right. Found that not everyone in Australia is as pleasant as you might think.

stickguy

found this one at a local dealer. Like the colors. Other than being an AT (and a 15 YO Audi) the price seems not too steep for the miles. FWD (less to break!) and in the details says DSG and Tiptronic in different places. I thought the FWD got the normal trans, but Andre would know for sure I assume.

I drove one when they first came out. My first experience with a DSG. Could tell the difference from a regular AT but it was still no manual trans.

https://www.subaruofcherryhill.com/used/Audi/2006-Audi-A3-cherry-hill-nj-dc49738a0a0e0ae743b91fb9e911019a.htm

corvette

Michaell said:

OTOH, I've been watching 100percentJakes videos - I like the (lack of) production values, TBH. What I imagine the other Kansas folks were like, in the beginning.

IMO, he's an under-appreciated gem. His videos are at least as good as Hoovie's early work.

fintail

Scotty's Dashcams? Or Dashcam Owners Australia? I watch them both now and then.

Regarding Landcruiser prices, those things have been trendy and in-demand for some time, due to the overlander fad and the simple durability of the vehicle. Bargains don't come up often, I wouldn't expect a market decrease unless gas hit like $8+. These aren't a car inflated by the stimulus (that ship has just about set sail now, money is gone, and it might not be pretty if nothing else is done).

Michaell said:

And - confession time - I found an Australian dash cam channel. The scenery is like Southern California, but with everyone driving on the wrong side of the road. I still get confused watching them turn left or right. Found that not everyone in Australia is as pleasant as you might think.

xwesx

benjaminh said:

Weird detail of the new TLX is that they've put the battery in the trunk. On the current generation of TLX that storage area can be fit with a spare, like stickguy did, but for the new one I guess not possible. Digital as well as analog speedometer.

Odd. The battery space looks like a spare tire well, except with a battery thrown in it. That's lazy at it's finest! I have a solution, though. Just move the battery up to the side of the trunk area... viola! Spare tire well restored!

xwesx

benjaminh said:

Here's the Lexus ES 350....More chrome. Bigger grill.

Cartoonish!

Michaell

Dashcams Owners Australia. Feels like a very guilty pleasure.

Plus, all the utes and other cars we don't get in the US.

xwesx

stickguy said:

breld said:

No room for this in any way, but I want it.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/819722873/overview/

Manual, track handling package 340i xdrive.

now that, is nice. No way in my budget. Need to wait a while to try and pull off a move like that!

Must have sold very quickly; the ad is already removed.

oldfarmer50

corvette said:

IIRC, the LH engines were longitudinally mounted, which was unusual for FWD vehicles at the time.

Switching engines between FWD/RWD use is not unheard of. In the 90s Ford used the 4.6L for both RWD in the Lincoln MarkVIII and FWD in the Continental.

explorerx4

Good on those Chrysler engineers if they were able to design a platform that could be adapted to RWD.
I do remember seeing the RWD mules with LH bodies on them near Washington, MI.
My BIL took me by an unmarked building near where he lived that had several parked outside.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

found this one at a local dealer. Like the colors. Other than being an AT (and a 15 YO Audi) the price seems not too steep for the miles. FWD (less to break!) and in the details says DSG and Tiptronic in different places. I thought the FWD got the normal trans, but Andre would know for sure I assume.

I drove one when they first came out. My first experience with a DSG. Could tell the difference from a regular AT but it was still no manual trans.

https://www.subaruofcherryhill.com/used/Audi/2006-Audi-A3-cherry-hill-nj-dc49738a0a0e0ae743b91fb9e911019a.htm

Why is it parked in a handicapped spot?

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

for lack of anything better to do tonight, I just watched a whole series of videos (from speed academy on youtube) on dismantaling, rebuilding, and putting back together a Subaru engine. Then another one on doing a timing belt change. Really interesting. and not way I would be tackling that job! But the pro made it look so easy.

Watch those Russian dash cam videos if you want to have nightmares.

oldfarmer50

xwesx said:

benjaminh said:

Weird detail of the new TLX is that they've put the battery in the trunk. On the current generation of TLX that storage area can be fit with a spare, like stickguy did, but for the new one I guess not possible. Digital as well as analog speedometer.

Odd. The battery space looks like a spare tire well, except with a battery thrown in it. That's lazy at it's finest! I have a solution, though. Just move the battery up to the side of the trunk area... viola! Spare tire well restored!

I’ve got a tire inflator and can of fix a flat in one of my tire wells.

stickguy

I had that OF. and bought a spare tire kit instead. Oddly, they left the inflator in the cover along with all the jack tools. I need to check, but I think they stiffed me out of the fix a flat can.

A lot of cars actually have a subwoofer or other audi equipment in the well, preventing a spare from going in. the 2018 Volvo I looked at was like that.

I think in the TLX a spare might fit over the battery be can't be sure.

stickguy

I think I might have figured out why Carvana is offering so much. If you do any filtered search ( I randomly used PU trucks under some price) and it returned 46 units. Of that, only 7 (or maybe 9) were actually available. The rest, including a bunch of coming soon ones, were all showing as reserved. I did the same with Volvos, and got similar results. Not sure how many will actually sell, but probably turns off shoppers if everything they might be interested in is already taken!

most likely a bunch are just grabbed while people look around and the deals won't finalize but only Carvana has those analytics.

stickguy

speaking of land cruisers, interesting story from VinWiki that I also watched yesterday about searching for a cruiser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MxjjKWJDNs

kyfdx

stickguy said:

I think I might have figured out why Carvana is offering so much. If you do any filtered search ( I randomly used PU trucks under some price) and it returned 46 units. Of that, only 7 (or maybe 9) were actually available. The rest, including a bunch of coming soon ones, were all showing as reserved. I did the same with Volvos, and got similar results. Not sure how many will actually sell, but probably turns off shoppers if everything they might be interested in is already taken!

most likely a bunch are just grabbed while people look around and the deals won't finalize but only Carvana has those analytics.

Carvana ads that I see are the same car, listed at multiple locations.

kyfdx

Vroom emailed me. Increased the offer on the GTI. Now, it’s $2000 more than I paid for it in February. 👀

stickguy

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

I think I might have figured out why Carvana is offering so much. If you do any filtered search ( I randomly used PU trucks under some price) and it returned 46 units. Of that, only 7 (or maybe 9) were actually available. The rest, including a bunch of coming soon ones, were all showing as reserved. I did the same with Volvos, and got similar results. Not sure how many will actually sell, but probably turns off shoppers if everything they might be interested in is already taken!

most likely a bunch are just grabbed while people look around and the deals won't finalize but only Carvana has those analytics.

Carvana ads that I see are the same car, listed at multiple locations.

I am looking at the site itself so all unique cars. I assume what happens is people just click to reserve a car while they shop elsewhere, with no intention of actually completing the process, so it can be held in limbo for I guess up to a week.

stickguy

kyfdx said:

Vroom emailed me. Increased the offer on the GTI. Now, it’s $2000 more than I paid for it in February. 👀

Breld motors needs to start charging more.

qbrozen

My ‘86 Alfa had the battery in the trunk.

Oh and my MR2 had it in the rear, too. Lol.

No, it is nothing incredibly special, and certainly not new. But it is a small sign of consideration to dynamics over cost-cutting.

benjaminh

This is one of the new TLX colors—phantom violet pearl.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I01avIVeXpo