Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

xwesx

qbrozen said:

So wife got a call last week. Local BMW dealer tells her "your car notified us it needs service." Fine, so she books appt for this morn. Not sure why this came from local dealer when we've only been to the dealer we leased from further away. I did not know she was going to local dealer till she got back. Anyway, I had asked her to get the tires rotated, as I believe I mentioned here before the other dealer had not done. Guess we now know why. This advisor tells my wife, "We don't do that. The Xdrive technology is so smart that rotating tires is not necessary." I have no idea WTH the Xdrive tech has to do with tire wear beyond driving in a straight line. I really wish I had been there to explain this to the advisor.

Service is done and they call her up. He goes over the findings and tells her she'll need 2 front tires. Now it triggers with her. She points this out to the advisor as incongruent with his previous statement. His reply is "well, that's not what I meant. We don't rotate them here. You can take it elsewhere and have them rotate them, though." wow. I think I may have to go further with this. See if I can get to the bottom of this claim about it being too smart to need rotating because then that must mean ours is defective and the tires should be covered under warranty.

That's just ridiculous. I can't believe that service departments pull that kind of crap. I wonder if they realize just how ridiculous that type of feedback makes them sound. I don't want to discount just how ignorant some owners are out there, but they must seriously think that ALL owners are complete idiots and will believe anything.

pensfan83

A bit late but we had a white Christmas here. First one in years with such a measurable snowfall from what I'm told. Made for good skiing weather over the holiday weekend.

xwesx

ab348 said:

Just Googled that camera. It sure isn't cheap, at least here in Canada, $500 of our worthless Canadian dollars.

Yes, it is very expensive. However, I wasn't feeling confident in some of the cheaper alternatives, and @fintail has used them for many years with a consistently good experience, so I figured that it was better to have something I was reasonably confident would last a long time than putting in just as much effort to install a cheaper one...

This one also is a two-channel, so it has both a front and rear facing camera. Some folks will install the rear-facing so that it records the inside of the car (particularly popular with the Uber crowd), but we have ours installed on the rear lift gate to monitor the road behind.

xwesx

pensfan83 said:

A bit late but we had a white Christmas here. First one in years with such a measurable snowfall from what I'm told. Made for good skiing weather over the holiday weekend.

Looks familiar!

It must have been quite windy when the snow was coming down. That's a lot of snow intrusion into that covered area!

roadburner

qbrozen said:

So wife got a call last week. Local BMW dealer tells her "your car notified us it needs service." Fine, so she books appt for this morn. Not sure why this came from local dealer when we've only been to the dealer we leased from further away. I did not know she was going to local dealer till she got back. Anyway, I had asked her to get the tires rotated, as I believe I mentioned here before the other dealer had not done. Guess we now know why. This advisor tells my wife, "We don't do that. The Xdrive technology is so smart that rotating tires is not necessary." I have no idea WTH the Xdrive tech has to do with tire wear beyond driving in a straight line. I really wish I had been there to explain this to the advisor.

Service is done and they call her up. He goes over the findings and tells her she'll need 2 front tires. Now it triggers with her. She points this out to the advisor as incongruent with his previous statement. His reply is "well, that's not what I meant. We don't rotate them here. You can take it elsewhere and have them rotate them, though." wow. I think I may have to go further with this. See if I can get to the bottom of this claim about it being too smart to need rotating because then that must mean ours is defective and the tires should be covered under warranty.

A typical commissioned SA talking out of his nether regions.

oldfarmer50

breld said:

Hold on a sec...you can change the tires on cars?

Oil too I hear.

Michaell

@breld changes tires more than any fluid in his fleet.

roadburner

qbrozen said:

au1994 said:

qbrozen said:

I should also point out that there are fewer than 30k miles on her car. She got over 60k miles on her van's tires. I don't normally blame a car for eating tires, but I have to in this instance. That is really really fast wear given her driving style.

Less than 30k is what we got on the OEM Pirellis on the X1 sDrive. I wasn’t particularly happy with that lack of durability especially since there are about 4 choices of run flats in that size, none of which was a bargain. On the upside, the Continentals I replaced them with seem to be wearing better.

Have the service report in front of me now. $900 for 2 new tires and alignment. LOL!

That's a "Jolly good rogering." as the Brits put it. BMW Star 18" runflats are $217-$250 each at Tire Rack. My dealer charged $165 to mount/balance/align four tires on the Mini- Even without my discount I cant imagine it's more than $200.

oldfarmer50

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:

@xwesx - Wow! Good job remaining calm. I’m sure inside your head you were screaming: “Stop the f$%@ing ca!”

Nice dash cam footage. Which dash cam do you have?

Funny responses!

Yes, I think the hardest part for me was accepting the "I really have no control over what happens here" impulses. He was struggling with the idea of jabbing the brakes too hard and causing the car to slide, especially after his initial punch on the brakes kicked it loose for a brief moment. He was judging the speed that the moose was traveling across, and figured he would just slow enough to clear it, but I had to remind him that it was a MOOSE - just because it was going a certain speed and direction at one moment didn't mean it would continue that way. I have seen them veer, stop, slip... you name it, and leaving yourself avoidance options when you can makes a lot of sense! It was probably 20 feet in front of the car as it exited the roadway, so there was still some room.

Location: Moose are found anywhere here, even the middle of downtown Fairbanks. This particular area is called "Farmers Loop," and while it is well-populated with people, there are also greenbelts on either side of the developments, so it is a regular area for moose to traverse. All things considered, this was a perfect time and place to cross paths with one: There was plenty of light (there is nothing reflective on a moose - not even the eyes), no other cars to consider in the immediate area, and no brush along the shoulder to hide the movement.

Finally, the camera is a Blackvue DR750S. We installed it on my wife's car back in August of 2018, and it is a highly reliable and durable unit.

No moose problem around me but we are plagued with deer. One got splattered in front of my neighbor’s house yesterday. Personally I’ve narrowly missed two in the Mustang (thanks big brakes) and sent one sailing with the van.

Plague is the only thing I can call them without being censored.

qbrozen

@ab348, I have no idea. I'd imagine it relays her SS#, CC#, and last time she brushed her teeth. Maybe something about the car, too.


Here is my email exchange with the SA, and then my email to corporate. [please note I did not add the all caps. this is copy and paste and I merely changed the names.]

Hello, Mr X.
My wife, Mrs Qbrozen, was in this morning for service on her 2018 X2. Could you share with me what you told her about tire rotation on her car? I just want to make sure I’m clear on it. Is she remembering correctly that you informed her the Xdrive system is designed to wear tires evenly so they don’t require rotating? Just want to be sure I understand.
Thank you,
Qbrozen


Qbrozen,
Yes its true bmw does not offer tire rotation service in package.
Have a great day
Mr X


Thank you for the reply, but that’s not what I am referring to. We were willing to pay for the rotation. But are you saying the car doesn’t require rotation of tires because the Xdrive will wear them evenly?


YES ITS NOT NEEDED.


Ok. Thank you. So something must be wrong with ours, therefore the tires should be covered under warranty when the Xdrive is repaired. Can you please submit the claim to BMW and let us know when that is approved so we can make an appt?
Thank you,
Qbrozen


BMW DOES RECOMMEND A ALIGNMENT EVERY 15K NOT ROTATION.
THANKS


I thought about writing back to him again to point out that this must have therefore been done during my free services and the point still stands, but I instead decided I'd reach out to corporate myself.

Hello.
I'm writing regarding our 2018 X2 Xdrive. Our service advisor has informed us the vehicle does not require tire rotations because the Xdrive system is smart enough to balance the wear. However, we now have 2 front tires below 4/32 and 2 rear tires over 7/32. Based on the service advisor's information, the Xdrive must therefore be defective and require adjustment. I'd also expect the front tires to be replaced under warranty. Please let me know this is approved so I can get this done at the dealership. VIN xxxxxx. Dealership is BMW of xxxxx, xxxxx, NJ. Service advisor Mr X.
Thank you.

qbrozen

Do I expect the tires to be replaced under warranty? No. But it does peeve me off that the service depts aren't rotating tires and costing customers money. That's some serious BS. So I am intentionally being a jerk. Otherwise, I'm more mad at myself for not noticing sooner and rotating them myself.

28firefighter

Highly recommend bestusedtires.com to replace them.

I'm trying to remember if BMW rotated the tires on our X1...I don't think they did? I do recall the fronts wearing faster than the rears, but nowhere near the delta you have. I want to say it was 3/32 front and 4/32 rear when I yanked them.

corvette

I'd also call them out on "BMW [recommending] a [sic] alignment every 15k" and ask BMW corporate why it isn't included in the prepaid maintenance plans--haven't looked at them lately, but I'm assuming it's not included.

roadburner

graphicguy said:

mjfloyd1 said:

28firefighter said:

All great feedback everyone, I appreciate it.

The GLI is, unsurprisingly, going to depreciate like a rock - roughly $10k based on what I'm seeing for used 2019s and 2020s for sale. I don't hate the white though, and it is available...

The Golf R is interesting - would be about $4k-$5k more, BUT, I think I'm likely to recoup much more of it. Not sure if I'd get a DSG or manual there - almost everyone seems to say "DSG" on that model.

The last wildcard here would be perhaps trying to snag a lease on an outgoing 2020 S3 which is just effectively a Golf R sedan...

You should buy what makes you happy. If you get something that you really do not like, you will end up selling or trading for something else that you like. And loose money all along the way.

Life is short. Get what you really want and keep it longer because you really like it.

Says the guy who traded his Wrangler after 2.5 ish years. Hey I thought I liked it...so learn from my mistakes

My Stinger turns 1 year old this week. I’m not seeing anything next year that will float my boat (with the possible exception of the TLX S-Type). So, I’ll put the Stinger in the “LIKE” category.

Even though I got ~$17,000 off MSRP on the Stinger, I’m afraid to look at what the depreciation will be once I trade, particularly given they may have made the last ones in 2021. Aside from the recall (for potential fire...which gets taken care of tomorrow) and the woeful dealership service dept, it’s been a stellar car.

I do agree, though. Get what you want.

I still monitor one of the FB Stinger pages. Apparently a lot of dealers screw up the rocker panels when they lift the car- and then deny they did it- as per this example:


At another dealer the so-called "technicians" can't remember the oil capacity- so the write a reminder note on the engine cover:


I have to say that those types of incidents give me pause...

oldfarmer50

corvette said:

Glass guy asked whether I could pull the Tundra in the garage in case it rains. Found out the hard way it doesn’t fit if you try to back it in. The XM antenna is now loose. Trying to figure out how much of a bear it will be to pull the headliner and fix it.

Ouch! That reminds me of the time I put the top up on the convertible while in the barn and hooked it on the bicycle I had stored above it. No damage but I felt foolish for not checking what was up there first.

andres3

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:

My sister was rear ended while sitting at a red light on Sunday afternoon. Her leased GLC took it like a champ. The rear bumper cover along with the actual bumper are toast along with the rear tailgate. She got hit so hard that her seat belt broke and the front airbags almost deployed. A bunch of air bags and sensors need to be replaced. $20K worth of damage.

She wasn’t injured. The car was 100% drivable.

Maybe not "100%" if the seatbelt tensioners are fried. But, that's pretty impressive nonetheless. New cars tend to get a lot of flack for how easily they mar (maybe not so much anymore since they have been this way for decades now!), but they sure do protect the occupants well.

I'm glad to report that my cars are still crash-free, though a moose did try to put a dent in our day (and our Forester). My son was driving, and he now has his first moose encounter under his belt.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmgNI-55aSI

I have a feeling that the moose, much like jaywalkers, can cause a rear-end collision since the person behind you might not be paying attention as much as your son. Luckily, there was apparently no Toyota drivers behind him.

andres3

See below

andres3

ab348 said:

qbrozen said:

I should also point out that there are fewer than 30k miles on her car. She got over 60k miles on her van's tires. I don't normally blame a car for eating tires, but I have to in this instance. That is really really fast wear given her driving style.

Two points: first, what was in the message that the car sent to the dealer regarding service?

Secondly, if you want to sing the blues regarding tire wear, check out my story: when I had the ATS in the tire shop last month to get the snow tires/wheels installed, they noted that the OE Bridgestone Potenza RE050A runflats were approaching minimum tread depth, not totally worn out but getting questionable to put back on next spring. These tires probably have no more than 7000 miles on them. I realized shortly after getting the car that they would be a problem when I noticed the treadwear rating was 140, as low a number as I've ever seen. And I've come to hate them as an everyday tire. They are really a track day tire, great on a twisty 2-lane but overly responsive to steering input to the point of being dangerous on an expressway, where they are very twitchy and quite unsettling. I've wanted them gone for a while but hadn't figured it would be this soon. But I suspect I'll be replacing them come spring because I really hate them.

Replace them with a good tire. Sticky summer tires don't need to be twitchy or unsettling. Tire quality varies greatly. I've never had run-flats but have heard nothing but bad things about them.

There should be no downside to a low treadwear tire, other than fast wear both on the tire and the wallet. OK, maybe they can ride a bit harsher or noisier, but that is minimized and pretty much eliminated with the likes of a Michelin PS4S for example. Also, they are every bit the 300 treadwear rating.

fintail

You get what you pay for with these. I've had virtually no real issues - only having a few problems with the adhesive that holds the front mount cam to the windshield, the current 900 series camera balking at automatically switching to/from DST, and a few iffy memory cards (not the camera's fault). In the scheme of things, it isn't a lot more for something considered to be a premium product - worth the peace of mind. Also for the 2 channel ability, as I don't always trust a police/insurance investigation of a rear end collision .

I hope to never have moose encounter - deer around here, esp in the fall, are enough to worry about.

xwesx said:

Yes, it is very expensive. However, I wasn't feeling confident in some of the cheaper alternatives, and @fintail has used them for many years with a consistently good experience, so I figured that it was better to have something I was reasonably confident would last a long time than putting in just as much effort to install a cheaper one...

This one also is a two-channel, so it has both a front and rear facing camera. Some folks will install the rear-facing so that it records the inside of the car (particularly popular with the Uber crowd), but we have ours installed on the rear lift gate to monitor the road behind.

xwesx

andres3 said:

I have a feeling that the moose, much like jaywalkers, can cause a rear-end collision since the person behind you might not be paying attention as much as your son. Luckily, there was apparently no Toyota drivers behind him.

Hah! So true. There definitely isn't time to consider who might be closing in behind in a situation like that. Thankfully, the road was clear behind us this time (as footage from the rear camera confirmed, though I obviously didn't post that).

xwesx

fintail said:

You get what you pay for with these. I've had virtually no real issues - only having a few problems with the adhesive that holds the front mount cam to the windshield, the current 900 series camera balking at automatically switching to/from DST, and a few iffy memory cards (not the camera's fault). In the scheme of things, it isn't a lot more for something considered to be a premium product - worth the peace of mind. Also for the 2 channel ability, as I don't always trust a police/insurance investigation of a rear end collision .

I like the quality of the images in all lighting conditions (even low-angle light, night, etc.) and the recorded data on the video (such as speed, location, date/time) being reasonably accurate at all times. It is a little delayed when changing speeds, such as the emergency stop (slow) that my son did with that moose, but that will be true with any GPS-based speed data.

I use mine with a 128GB SD card, and it tends to just work. Recording two cameras, it sucks down the space quickly, with I think about seven hours of recorded driving time before it starts over-writing. When I checked the
card for this video, it had constant footage from 12/26 through 12/29, and had partial data for 12/24. It will keep "event" footage preferentially, but it will overwrite that as well eventually.

I had a 256GB card in there for a time, but the card failed at some point and, unbeknownst to us, we were not storing footage any longer. I returned the 128 card to the system and have not purchased another 256 card yet. I, too, cannot fault the camera for that.

xwesx

andres3 said:

Replace them with a good tire. Sticky summer tires don't need to be twitchy or unsettling. Tire quality varies greatly. I've never had run-flats but have heard nothing but bad things about them.

There should be no downside to a low treadwear tire, other than fast wear both on the tire and the wallet. OK, maybe they can ride a bit harsher or noisier, but that is minimized and pretty much eliminated with the likes of a Michelin PS4S for example. Also, they are every bit the 300 treadwear rating.

Those OE Potenzas are such crap. They must sell them for pennies on the dollar to manufacturers because so many new cars come with them. As @ab348 noted, these are certainly a tire that nobody sheds a tear over replacing, and it is almost a blessing that they don't last longer (even though it is incredibly annoying that they come on the car in the first place!).

xwesx

@roadburner That is so incredibly lazy (not to mention disrespectful)! I cannot believe there are so many places out there that do this type of thing. I guess I have just been fortunate in most of my shop experiences. I don't have nearly as many as most people, but I'm fortunate nonetheless.

ab348

xwesx said:

Those OE Potenzas are such crap. They must sell them for pennies on the dollar to manufacturers because so many new cars come with them. As @ab348 noted, these are certainly a tire that nobody sheds a tear over replacing, and it is almost a blessing that they don't last longer (even though it is incredibly annoying that they come on the car in the first place!).

If you wanted to replace them with identical new ones, they are ridiculously priced. Over $400 each at Tire Rack.

roadburner

My MS3 came with Potenzas, I only got about 20k miles out of them.

greg128

corvette said:

@nyccarguy glad she's okay. Also a good argument for leasing. There's a lot of stuff under/near the rear crash bar that can get damaged if it's hit hard enough. Did the seatbelt break, or just have the pretensioners fire? Once they deploy, the seatbelt usually won't reel back in.

A woman backing out of a parking space at a 7-11 hit my wife's Lacrosse about a year ago and knocked the rear bumper off of the car. I was there when the tow truck came and at the time I saw no damage to the car at all except for the bumper laying on the ground. It looked to me like all it needed was a new bumper. The final bill charged to the other party's insurance was over $5000. The body shop found some other damage to the rear trunk area or something and along with the rear parking sensors resulted in the big bill. To me it looked like $1000 to $1500 damage. It seems to me collision repair is always more expensive than what it appears to the untrained eye and probably the reason for all of our high insurance rates.

fintail

Yeah, the night quality on these is excellent. Blackvue is considered top quality in dashcam forums/groups too, by people who know a lot more than me. Spending a couple hundred more on something I'll use for years becomes less significant.

I've mostly used 64GB cards, as I have several. The key has been to use a "heavy duty" or equivalent card, as the normal kind made for phones etc seem to have more errors. Blackvue sells their own heavy duty cards, but at a premium price to match the hardware. I think you can set it to permanently lock event footage, too. I always have a couple spare cards on hand in case one has an issue while on the road.

xwesx said:

I like the quality of the images in all lighting conditions (even low-angle light, night, etc.) and the recorded data on the video (such as speed, location, date/time) being reasonably accurate at all times. It is a little delayed when changing speeds, such as the emergency stop (slow) that my son did with that moose, but that will be true with any GPS-based speed data.

I use mine with a 128GB SD card, and it tends to just work. Recording two cameras, it sucks down the space quickly, with I think about seven hours of recorded driving time before it starts over-writing. When I checked the
card for this video, it had constant footage from 12/26 through 12/29, and had partial data for 12/24. It will keep "event" footage preferentially, but it will overwrite that as well eventually.

I had a 256GB card in there for a time, but the card failed at some point and, unbeknownst to us, we were not storing footage any longer. I returned the 128 card to the system and have not purchased another 256 card yet. I, too, cannot fault the camera for that.

corvette

Seems like a lot of the Tesla people use Blackvue. They're definitely far higher quality than the Mobius ActionCams I have, but the ActionCams do a decent job considering the cost.

I missed the Black Friday sale, but I ordered an upgrade for my 2016 Ring video doorbell, which has 720p resolution, to a newer 1080p model.

tifighter

corvette said:

Seems like a lot of the Tesla people use Blackvue. They're definitely far higher quality than the Mobius ActionCams I have, but the ActionCams do a decent job considering the cost.

I missed the Black Friday sale, but I ordered an upgrade for my 2016 Ring video doorbell, which has 720p resolution, to a newer 1080p model.

I wonder why? Dashcam app is native to Tesla - I haven't heard of someone adding an additional dashcam on top of that, but I guess you could.

oldfarmer50

I found a nice cheap truck for Stickguy.

https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/troy-1997-gmc-jimmy/7254419231.html

The seller really knows how to build up his product. You should jump on this one.

fintail

From what I have seen, the Tesla cam isn't the highest resolution - maybe they want a different angle or something. I do like how Tesla has them built in, this is apparently an option on some 2021 MY MBs, but I haven't seen images from an actual car.

tifighter said:

corvette said:

Seems like a lot of the Tesla people use Blackvue. They're definitely far higher quality than the Mobius ActionCams I have, but the ActionCams do a decent job considering the cost.

I missed the Black Friday sale, but I ordered an upgrade for my 2016 Ring video doorbell, which has 720p resolution, to a newer 1080p model.

I wonder why? Dashcam app is native to Tesla - I haven't heard of someone adding an additional dashcam on top of that, but I guess you could.

stickguy

seems like a winner. Too bad it isn't a PU, or I would be all over it!

explorerx4

My BIL had one of those Jimmy's. I used to ask him where the rest of it was.

corvette

explorerx4 said:

My BIL had one of those Jimmy's. I used to ask him where the rest of it was.

Very plasticky, but I think the 2-door was pretty rare. Growing up, my family had a 1996 Sonoma, and my late grandfather had a 1996 S-10. Similarly equipped with 2WD, automatics, and the 4.3 liter V6. For whatever reason, the Sonoma always made noticeably more engine noise. Our Sonoma was totaled at about a year and a half old when my mother was hit by a drunk driver. Grandpa kept his S-10 until it spun a bearing at well over 100,000 miles, and had a rebuilt engine installed.

nyccarguy

oldfarmer50 said:

I found a nice cheap truck for Stickguy.

https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/troy-1997-gmc-jimmy/7254419231.html

The seller really knows how to build up his product. You should jump on this one.

There was a point when this vehicle (and its 2 door blazer twin) were rated as the unsafest vehicle on the road.

fintail

Probably related to this - a few funny comments anyway

nyccarguy said:

There was a point when this vehicle (and its 2 door blazer twin) were rated as the unsafest vehicle on the road.

corvette

It's not just me with car issues... One of my friends had the catalytic converter stolen off of her Prius, and the saw they used damaged the floorboard. I sent her to the really good muffler place in a sketchy part of town - something like $550 to fix the exhaust issues vs. $1,500 insurance estimate. I'm sure that's with an aftermarket cat that will barely last longer than its 50k warranty, but she probably won't still have that car by then.

Sandman6472

January 11th, the A3 will be going to the new mechanic to be diagnosed/repaired. Was very impressed with the service I got with the axle boot replacement on our Golf so gonna give him a shot at the newest leak. Just want it fixed at this point. The dealer charges way to much for labor/hour and the wife just has no more faith in Tires Plus to fix it right the first time after all the visits it took to figure out/fix the leak with the Golf this year. Went to this new mechanic for the axle boot repair and was very happy with the work/price. I felt pretty comfortable with the whole thing so we'll give him a whack with the Audi. A co-worker swears by him and his crew and so far, very happy with the results.
We love the A3 and with just over 60K on the clock, want to keep it for another few years if possible. Something I think is quite doable with the right mechanic to fix any issues that crop up. Think things will work out just fine going forward!

Sandman6472

Let me be the first to wish y'all a very Happy New Year and let's hope 2021 will be everything 2020 was supposed to be...and wasn't! My wish is that things will calm down after January 20th and that we get this pandemic under control once and for all so the country can move on. I know we can do this and with G-d's help, nothing is out of reach for America. We are...and have always been, the best & greatest country on this planet so I have no doubt that we'll get through this and move on!
"G-d bless America" says it better than I ever could, so let's just leave it at that. Stay safe out there, wear your masks, social distance whenever possible and get the vaccine when you are able to. The best is yet to come for us all in 2021! Cheers!!!

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

I found a nice cheap truck for Stickguy.

https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/d/troy-1997-gmc-jimmy/7254419231.html

The seller really knows how to build up his product. You should jump on this one.

There was a point when this vehicle (and its 2 door blazer twin) were rated as the unsafest vehicle on the road.

I’m sure that one definitely is.

oldfarmer50

Sandman6472 said:

January 11th, the A3 will be going to the new mechanic to be diagnosed/repaired. Was very impressed with the service I got with the axle boot replacement on our Golf so gonna give him a shot at the newest leak. Just want it fixed at this point. The dealer charges way to much for labor/hour and the wife just has no more faith in Tires Plus to fix it right the first time after all the visits it took to figure out/fix the leak with the Golf this year. Went to this new mechanic for the axle boot repair and was very happy with the work/price. I felt pretty comfortable with the whole thing so we'll give him a whack with the Audi. A co-worker swears by him and his crew and so far, very happy with the results.
We love the A3 and with just over 60K on the clock, want to keep it for another few years if possible. Something I think is quite doable with the right mechanic to fix any issues that crop up. Think things will work out just fine going forward!

It’s important to have a go to guy that can be trusted. I have a list of them for things like general repairs, transmissions, AC etc.

Lately, some of my guys have gone out of business or retired so I’m always looking for new ones. The only time I visit a dealer is to buy or sell a car.

graphicguy

@roadburner ....thanks for the heads up (I think). No disagreement that the Kia dealerships all seem to be deficient in customer service and perhaps mechanical service on the vehicles they sell.

I’m trying to figure out whether it’s Kia Corporate’s issue, or dealership issues. One thing’s for certain, they don’t consider any repercussions they may suffer by not offering good service.

I guess they figure their customer base just doesn’t care. Or, Kia does not compensate their service dept enough for them to offer decent customer service. Not sure which.

That said, aside from the recall (I’m having it done today), the reliability of my Stinger has been exemplary.

ab348

explorerx4 said:

My BIL had one of those Jimmy's. I used to ask him where the rest of it was.

My neighbor up the street had the Chevy version of that 2-door style for a long time, buying it as just a recent used car in the mid-2000s after finally retiring the late '70s/early '80s Bronco he had as a DD for years. When his oldest son started driving maybe around 2015 or so he got one too, so for a number of years there was Dad's bronze one and son's red one. Dad got a F-150 a couple of years ago and finally sold his Blazer. I looked at it since he had it parked nearby when he had the ad running and it was in nice condition but was pretty miled up. Son's is still in service but seems well-worn and periodically they work on it (always at the curb despite having a long driveway and massive garage) to repair some malady. Both of them had a very distinct and rather loud engine sound. I could always hear that inside the house when they drove past.

mjfloyd1

graphicguy said:

@roadburner ....thanks for the heads up (I think). No disagreement that the Kia dealerships all seem to be deficient in customer service and perhaps mechanical service on the vehicles they sell.

I’m trying to figure out whether it’s Kia Corporate’s issue, or dealership issues. One thing’s for certain, they don’t consider any repercussions they may suffer by not offering good service.

I guess they figure their customer base just doesn’t care. Or, Kia does not compensate their service dept enough for them to offer decent customer service. Not sure which.

That said, aside from the recall (I’m having it done today), the reliability of my Stinger has been exemplary.

Maybe Kia (finance and corporate) isn’t making enough money by confiscating key fobs to improve their service??😂

venture

mjfloyd1 said:

graphicguy said:

@roadburner ....thanks for the heads up (I think). No disagreement that the Kia dealerships all seem to be deficient in customer service and perhaps mechanical service on the vehicles they sell.

I’m trying to figure out whether it’s Kia Corporate’s issue, or dealership issues. One thing’s for certain, they don’t consider any repercussions they may suffer by not offering good service.

I guess they figure their customer base just doesn’t care. Or, Kia does not compensate their service dept enough for them to offer decent customer service. Not sure which.

That said, aside from the recall (I’m having it done today), the reliability of my Stinger has been exemplary.

Maybe Kia (finance and corporate) isn’t making enough money by confiscating key fobs to improve their service??😂

Were you able to get your vaccination?

A doctor friend here, who sees patients all day long - every day, said she is having trouble getting scheduled to get hers because all the times are being used by hospital administration people. She isn't happy.

mjfloyd1

I got my first vaccination 12/21. Second is scheduled for 1/11.

I only had a sore arm for a couple of days. No fever or other symptoms.

I was fortunate to be in the first round due to my close proximity to airways that are unmasked - all day, everyday. Also fortunate to have N95 masks and PAPRs (powered air purifying respirators)

I’m also lucky to be with a good group. They try to have me avoid doing Covid + cases if at all possible due to me being immunocompromised. Sometimes that is not possible so I can use a PAPR.

stickguy

Farmer, that is an advantage of only having newer, under warranty cars at the moment. No need for guys really. Go to dealer for infrequent oil changes (get tires rotated at same time) and, well, that is it.

as they get a bit older, I have a couple shops I trust for tires and brakes. Beyond that, hopefully don't need to deal with anything else.

roadburner

graphicguy said:

@roadburner ....thanks for the heads up (I think). No disagreement that the Kia dealerships all seem to be deficient in customer service and perhaps mechanical service on the vehicles they sell.

I’m trying to figure out whether it’s Kia Corporate’s issue, or dealership issues. One thing’s for certain, they don’t consider any repercussions they may suffer by not offering good service.

I guess they figure their customer base just doesn’t care. Or, Kia does not compensate their service dept enough for them to offer decent customer service. Not sure which.

That said, aside from the recall (I’m having it done today), the reliability of my Stinger has been exemplary.

I agree, their customer base doesn't care. I suspect some of the non-Stinger customers wouldn't know or care if the dealer tore the complete rocker panel off- or if a "technician" wrote the Magna Carta in pink glitter ink on their engine cover.

That's why you need to have a stand-alone dealer network if you are trying to sell sport/luxury cars that sticker for over $40k.

Sandman6472

That's why leasing is so appealing to so many, always have a vehicle under warranty. A co-worker has been leasing Hyundai Sonata's for years now. Two weeks ago, drives up in a new dark charcoal 2021 Sonata with fancy alloys. Seems that his saleslady called him on Sunday and said she could put him in a brand new unit for the same monthly payment and all he had to do was pay the tag fee. The few remaining payments would just "go away", a pull forward kind of situation I think he said. Tuesday morning, he comes in driving his new leased Sonata. And it really is a cool vehicle, inside & out! A bit too big for us but wow, what a beautiful vehicle and the color combo plus the alloys make for a fancy looking ride. He says it drives like a dream, not a single issue.
But, he likes to always have a warranty and has no problem not really owning his vehicle. Think they wanted his last one to put on their lot as it had real low miles and was in excellent condition. Just not sure I could drive something that's not mine though, the always under warranty part is something I do like. At this stage, don't want anymore drama to be honest. And not to happy with the current A3 leak issue. I know it won't be serious, just some time and money to get it back to where it should be.

qbrozen

Sandman6472 said:

That's why leasing is so appealing to so many, always have a vehicle under warranty. A co-worker has been leasing Hyundai Sonata's for years now. Two weeks ago, drives up in a new dark charcoal 2021 Sonata with fancy alloys. Seems that his saleslady called him on Sunday and said she could put him in a brand new unit for the same monthly payment and all he had to do was pay the tag fee. The few remaining payments would just "go away", a pull forward kind of situation I think he said. Tuesday morning, he comes in driving his new leased Sonata. And it really is a cool vehicle, inside & out! A bit too big for us but wow, what a beautiful vehicle and the color combo plus the alloys make for a fancy looking ride. He says it drives like a dream, not a single issue.
But, he likes to always have a warranty and has no problem not really owning his vehicle. Think they wanted his last one to put on their lot as it had real low miles and was in excellent condition. Just not sure I could drive something that's not mine though, the always under warranty part is something I do like. At this stage, don't want anymore drama to be honest. And not to happy with the current A3 leak issue. I know it won't be serious, just some time and money to get it back to where it should be.

So you don't finance, either? Always pay cash in full?