Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Michaell

He offered to sell it to me, before listing it. Just not at a place where I need a 3rd car in the household - yet.

xwesx

tjc78 said:

explorerx4 said:

@nyccarguy,
Best wishes for your wife's recovery.
Thought the picture from the back of the Pilot was going to of her going home ambulance style.

+1 speedy recovery.

.... said as Mr. McFeely.

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

Hey, I've driven this car!

THIIIIIIIS!

corvette

Antithetical to this group, but my friend who has the 2005 Corolla hit 400k miles today. I can't remember whether the last milestone she shared was 250k or 300k.

28firefighter

For those keeping score at home, the wagon needs a new clutch and flywheel. It appears that at some point the clutch was replaced and the flywheel was not resurfaced when it should have been, so the clutch failed prematurely.

My guy did say I could drive it a bit longer and "let it totally annihilate itself" but that would inevitably leave me stranded in a very inconvenient situation.

stickguy

Michaell said:

He offered to sell it to me, before listing it. Just not at a place where I need a 3rd car in the household - yet.

If I was local, I probably would have bought it. Not many left probably in that nice, unmolested condition with reasonably low miles. And I do like those.

stickguy

corvette said:

Antithetical to this group, but my friend who has the 2005 Corolla hit 400k miles today. I can't remember whether the last milestone she shared was 250k or 300k.

good for her. I just don't drive enough to get up there. The miles don't bother me, I just don't want to be driving a really old car with them. So unless I am doing 50K highway/year, never going to happen.

28firefighter

corvette said:

Antithetical to this group, but my friend who has the 2005 Corolla hit 400k miles today. I can't remember whether the last milestone she shared was 250k or 300k.

Might as well drive it to a million at this point.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

For those keeping score at home, the wagon needs a new clutch and flywheel. It appears that at some point the clutch was replaced and the flywheel was not resurfaced when it should have been, so the clutch failed prematurely.

My guy did say I could drive it a bit longer and "let it totally annihilate itself" but that would inevitably leave me stranded in a very inconvenient situation.

That's a bummer. Is it a 3 figure or 4 figure fix?

Michaell

stickguy said:

Michaell said:

He offered to sell it to me, before listing it. Just not at a place where I need a 3rd car in the household - yet.

If I was local, I probably would have bought it. Not many left probably in that nice, unmolested condition with reasonably low miles. And I do like those.

I've had the pleasure of driving it a couple of times - it's in great condition, what with the low miles, and John has invested a bit of money to correct some of the major issues these come with.

The only thing that's missing is that it doesn't have cruise. But, watching jrgo's videos tells me that it can be added, for a nominal cost.

corvette

Yeah, it's kind of unusual to see that it has heated seats and headlight washers, but no cruise.

28firefighter

Well. The BMW OEM flywheel alone is close to $1400 discounted and the OEM clutch kit is $400 or so. Thankfully my mechanic is letting me order from FCP Euro, so I was able to get an OEM supplier branded (Luk) flywheel and clutch kit for $850 total. I don't have a quote on labor but I expect to land somewhere around $1700 or so including parts and labor. Having all wheel drive adds some time to the labor.

Ah well, price of entry. Not like I can go out and lease another manual wagon worth having...

stickguy

I almost never use cruise anyway. so wouldn't miss it. Especially on something like this that wouldn't be getting taken on long trips.

I remember that episode. Seemed pretty simple.

stickguy

28firefighter said:

For those keeping score at home, the wagon needs a new clutch and flywheel. It appears that at some point the clutch was replaced and the flywheel was not resurfaced when it should have been, so the clutch failed prematurely.

My guy did say I could drive it a bit longer and "let it totally annihilate itself" but that would inevitably leave me stranded in a very inconvenient situation.

Velocity garage (the car ninja) just had a video where they did a clutch job on something, and it was the worst they ever saw. Clutch material just shredded in there. I think it even took out the throwout bearing. And it did die on the way into the shop, and had to get towed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyoyjrgMoG0

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

I think one of the arguments against Amazon's HQ in NYC was that a lot of people would have been displaced due to rising real estate prices.

I never got that argument. So instead of bring lots of high paying jobs to the people in the area which would allow them to rent more expensive housing, kill the jobs and keep them poor?

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

The other thing discussed up here about taxes and electric cas is road maintenance. Right now most of the fuel tax collected is supposed to go towards road maintenance and construction. It's not quite that straightforward as there is no statute requiring that, and in fact in most years the amount spent on roads is more than the gasoline tax collected, but it is close enough.

But what happens when electrics become a significant portion of the public's vehicle fleet? That money will need to come from somewhere and owners of full electrics or PHEVs won't like paying a much larger registration fee to make up for the difference.

That’s the logic behind the mileage tax so everybody pays regardless of fuel type. As usual, the politicians screwed up the idea by incorporating spy devices into your car “just to track your mileage” of course.

oldfarmer50

rny421 said:

Alright, time to share!! Interesting timing given the heavy EV discussions here in the last 24 hours. Regardless of your opinion on electric vehicles and the government's role, at the end of the day I've got a punch to report, and that's what we're here for, right?

2021 Audi Etron
$71K MSRP
Black interior and exterior with the black optic package (I'm probably the only one here who loves this combo)
36 Months, 30K Mile lease
Total lease cost equals out to $675/mo all in, 8% tax, acquisition, disposition, and lease broker fee, etc.

So far I love the car. I have so much learning to do though, lots of menus and adjustments that can be made. I actually like that it drives like a normal Audi, it just happens to have an electric motor. We'll see how it works for me over the next three years. I had a 60A home charging system installed this week, so that will help.

Carvana gave me $13.3K for my Acura, and picked it up today. I felt it was a very strong offer.

Sorry for the bad picture, I'll get more later.

Very nice. Worth more than all my cars combined.

oldfarmer50

Sandman6472 said:

There's a chance I may be the new lead at work. Our current lead is a nice young kid, he turns 36 next week, and working part time this last year has left him needing more hours/income going forward. Getting the unemployment was enough to get him through the furlough but now, reality has stepped in. Someone he used to work with called him about a full time gig that he's be perfect for so he interviews later this morning. We were talking today and if he does get this new gig and leaves, he wants to keep our small group together so he asked me if I'd become the new lead if he does end up leaving. I turned this position down back in June when we came off furlough as I just didn't want the extra responsibility. Just wanted to be given keys and told where to meet up for drop off. But have had a change of heart.
So, if he ends up giving his two weeks notice, I could become the newest lead at work. We're still social distancing in the 15 packs we use as chase vehicles but have heard rumors that once we get back to normal, hopefully by years end, we could be going back to possibly 8 drivers plus the lead. But once that happens, doubt I'd still be needed as a lead which I'm perfectly o k with...doing this with 2 other guys would work for me. guess we'll find out later today. Will be sorry to see him go if things do pan out in his favor, but he's too young to settle and needs to be working full time. Life needs to come back to normal!

Sandy, do they give the lead driver more money? Up here they don’t so most drivers try to avoid doing it. There are a few control freaks who love being “in charge” and we’re happy to let them be captain of the ship. Personally, I’ll do it if asked but it really ends up doing twice the driving without getting to try out all the different cars.

oldfarmer50

fintail said:

Someone probably paid $500 for those pinstripes (tape stripes?). I've even seen that kind of thing on late 80s/early 90s era MBs.

The body shop did the pin stripe on the old PT Cruiser for free while I was waiting for another car to be finished.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

I almost never use cruise anyway. so wouldn't miss it. Especially on something like this that wouldn't be getting taken on long trips.

I remember that episode. Seemed pretty simple.

I added it to the wife’s Forester 20 years ago. Definitely easy. Just a bit fiddly running the wires to the dash and finding a good place for the controls.

oldfarmer50

rayainsw said:

TLX Type S info:

https://www.acura.com/future-vehicles/tlx-type-s

I swear I saw that exact car at the Sam’s Club today. Parked far out all by itself. Must have been a 2020 model. Very sharp looking.

oldfarmer50

sda said:

I am hoping this isn't typical. Last night I watched a video on U-tube. Randy of Auto Auctions was driving his BMW I3 from Oklahoma City to Dallas. He experienced several charging stations that were broken and was forced to drive to another. That would be bad news if you were out of juice and didn't have a ICE backup like the I3 has. Has anyone else experienced this? I certainly hope this is a rare occurrence.

I saw that too and it wasn’t encouraging. Can you imagine pulling into your local gas station and finding all the pumps broken?

corvette

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

I almost never use cruise anyway. so wouldn't miss it. Especially on something like this that wouldn't be getting taken on long trips.

I remember that episode. Seemed pretty simple.

I added it to the wife’s Forester 20 years ago. Definitely easy. Just a bit fiddly running the wires to the dash and finding a good place for the controls.

IIRC, on the C30, there's an OEM part that goes in the blank panel on the left of the steering wheel. I think it just plugs in, but then it has to go to the dealer for a software download to enable it.

breld

Well, Carvana picked up the Supra.

So, does that mean I’m at a negative 1 for the year?

fintail

I think part of the argument is that those paying the increased rent with high paying jobs will largely be transplants, the existing people forced out. This is a common by-product of tech, exactly how it played out in SF and Seattle, among others, areas where home ownership is simply impossible for average working people, and rents can be batty on a good day.

oldfarmer50 said:

I never got that argument. So instead of bring lots of high paying jobs to the people in the area which would allow them to rent more expensive housing, kill the jobs and keep them poor?

explorerx4

@oldfarmer50,
We all know those people would be priced out and have to move somewhere else because they would not the the ones to be hired to work at the new HQ.

Michaell

corvette said:

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

I almost never use cruise anyway. so wouldn't miss it. Especially on something like this that wouldn't be getting taken on long trips.

I remember that episode. Seemed pretty simple.

I added it to the wife’s Forester 20 years ago. Definitely easy. Just a bit fiddly running the wires to the dash and finding a good place for the controls.

IIRC, on the C30, there's an OEM part that goes in the blank panel on the left of the steering wheel. I think it just plugs in, but then it has to go to the dealer for a software download to enable it.

Right - jrgo did most everything himself, then spent a few hundred at the dealer to program it.

nyccarguy

28firefighter said:

Well. The BMW OEM flywheel alone is close to $1400 discounted and the OEM clutch kit is $400 or so. Thankfully my mechanic is letting me order from FCP Euro, so I was able to get an OEM supplier branded (Luk) flywheel and clutch kit for $850 total. I don't have a quote on labor but I expect to land somewhere around $1700 or so including parts and labor. Having all wheel drive adds some time to the labor.

Ah well, price of entry. Not like I can go out and lease another manual wagon worth having...

Still amazes me that I spent $2,100 (twice) replacing the clutch on my Prelude.

28firefighter

Money well spent if you love the car, @nyccarguy. It is an investment in your stewardship of the car.

graphicguy

Dealer sent me an email wanting to know if I wanted the S-Type exclusive “orchid” interior. Hmmm....I like bold, but ORCHID? I emailed back and said “sure”.

I still don’t have any intention of buying one if it’s not far and above my Stinger.

@breld.....from my understanding, they come totally loaded. Dealer says that means the high zoot stereo, the adjustable dampers, exclusive badging and trim, reworked suspension and, of course, twin turbo V6.

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

Dealer sent me an email wanting to know if I wanted the S-Type exclusive “orchid” interior. Hmmm....I like bold, but ORCHID? I emailed back and said “sure”.

I still don’t have any intention of buying one if it’s not far and above my Stinger.

@breld.....from my understanding, they come totally loaded. Dealer says that means the high zoot stereo, the adjustable dampers, exclusive badging and trim, reworked suspension and, of course, twin turbo V6.

Boy, if I ever heard a guy trying to convince himself, that’s it. Just buy it already and save yourself all that angst.

stickguy

Maybe some more details in here? I haven’t actually watched it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g54GX5GRMPA

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Maybe some more details in here? I haven’t actually watched it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g54GX5GRMPA

Can’t say it’s not good looking.

xwesx

oldfarmer50 said:

Very nice. Worth more than all my cars combined.

Same here... and neither of us have a small number of them!

breld

Went shopping today for my son - probably not purchasing for another month or two, but figured he should start looking at options.

For today, we looked at a 2019 CRV EX-L, 2018 RDX Tech, 2020 VW Tiguan SE and a 2018 CX-5 Grand Touring.

Interesting to hear my son's thoughts, as he's not exactly a car enthusiast. I told him to focus on seating position (comfort) and just general driving feel.

We started with the CRV and he liked it quite a bit - he remarked on how smoothly it accelerated, which I attributed to the CVT.

Then we took out the RDX, and I was surprised at how much nicer it felt than the Honda. Obviously coming out of his 2012 MDX, the RDX was very similar and I cautioned him not to confuse familiarity with it being the better car. But I have to agree it was a much nicer ride. With the tech package, it wasn't sacrificing much in tech features, other than Apple CarPlay.

He liked the Tiguan better than the CRV, but not as much as the RDX. Though he did say if decided he really wanted the updated tech, the Tiguan could be the way to go. I was impressed with the features and roominess of the VW.

He didn't like the Mazda at all.

breld

My own browsing...

The Acura dealer had a nice gray TLX A-Spec in the showroom - really sharp looking inside and out.

VW dealer had an ID4 in their showroom. It's too bad it doesn't seem to compete too well with other EVs - IMO, it may be the best looking SUV out of all the options (Model Y, Mach E, etc.). It has a lot more presence that I thought it would - I figured it was more compact.

breld

This is pretty cool. 30th Anniversary Edition Miata in an exclusive (obviously) Orange. Love the Recaro interior with the orange piping.

Not a horrible price either for virtually no miles.

https://www.vroom.com/inventory/mazda-mx-5-miata-rf-2019-JM1NDAJ78K0400757

roadburner

breld said:

This is pretty cool. 30th Anniversary Edition Miata in an exclusive (obviously) Orange. Love the Recaro interior with the orange piping.

Not a horrible price either for virtually no miles.

https://www.vroom.com/inventory/mazda-mx-5-miata-rf-2019-JM1NDAJ78K0400757

I like that. I'd be tempted if it was at a local dealer- even though I don't need another momentum(read: slow) car...

28firefighter

I’m object on the grounds it’s an auto.

corvette

breld said:

Then we took out the RDX, and I was surprised at how much nicer it felt than the Honda...

I made the mistake of cross-shopping the first generation RDX (which was really out of my price range at the time) with the then-new CR-V, which was disappointing in comparison. Ended up buying neither.

breld

28firefighter said:

I’m object on the grounds it’s an auto.

I just had to double check! I was going off the features that list it as a manual. I know those are often incorrect, but I just assumed the Miata would be a manual.

Yeah, I’ve changed my view for sure on these modern automatics, but the Miata remains a manual only vehicle.

xwesx

breld said:

Went shopping today for my son - probably not purchasing for another month or two, but figured he should start looking at options.

For today, we looked at a 2019 CRV EX-L, 2018 RDX Tech, 2020 VW Tiguan SE and a 2018 CX-5 Grand Touring.

Interesting to hear my son's thoughts, as he's not exactly a car enthusiast. I told him to focus on seating position (comfort) and just general driving feel.

Dang! I may end up posting a similar starting comment at some point, "we went shopping for my son," but then I'll be following that up with, "we looked at an assortment of '90s metal and a few '00s; everything in the $2-3K range..."

oldfarmer50

breld said:

This is pretty cool. 30th Anniversary Edition Miata in an exclusive (obviously) Orange. Love the Recaro interior with the orange piping.

Not a horrible price either for virtually no miles.

https://www.vroom.com/inventory/mazda-mx-5-miata-rf-2019-JM1NDAJ78K0400757

What would you guess, lot queen that the dealer had in the showroom for two years?

I actually don’t like that color. Maybe it’s the black wheels, I don’t know. The interior is nice.

rny421

Some initial observations on the E-Tron so far:

It's a great ride - super quiet, and smooth. For me, it seems like this is the perfect EV because I really value having cars that are quiet and feel solid.

It doesn't seem like I will get the quoted 220 mile range. More to come on this, as I have only driven a max of 50 miles in one day so far, and am still learning.

I'm having some anxiety about the 10K miles per year lease, but the good news is that I have the Mercedes that we own to offset the mileage if I find myself going over.

The MyAudi app is good, although a little glitchy at times. You can use Siri to do things like lock, unlock, or pre-condition the car which is sweet, especially since it's still a little cold here in March.

The infotainment system has frozen on me, which seems to be common in other Audi models as well. It reminds me of the MyFordTouch saga in my 2011 Edge. I can't understand how this is still an issue 10 years later, because memory is cheap, so it shouldn't be a hardware/memory issue anymore (which was one of the issues cited with MyFordTouch). That being said, even the MyFordTouch was significantly better after one of the major software updates, so I'll reserve judgment just yet.

I don't like the active lane assist which helps steer the car to stay in the lane, but it seems like you have to turn this off every time. I don't like it because we have a ton of potholes that it doesn't like you swerving to avoid.

Having a high amperage charger at home is an important component of owning an EV. My Chargepoint seems to get me about 30 miles per hour of charge, so even after some long errands, within a few hours, I've got a full charge back.

stickguy

For Breld Jr., I would vote for CRV just because I am not a fan of teens having too much HP. But the RDX is nicer. That is actually why I ended up with one back in 2012. We were looking at the Honda dealer, figuring on getting a CRV, right after the new style RDX came out. I just wanted to see it, even though it was out of budget range, so we stopped in to the Acura dealer a few buildings down. Well, she liked it and we took one for a drive, and there was no going back for her. That mistake hurt me in the wallet big time!

corvette

xwesx said:

Dang! I may end up posting a similar starting comment at some point, "we went shopping for my son," but then I'll be following that up with, "we looked at an assortment of '90s metal and a few '00s; everything in the $2-3K range..."

Elliott Alvis of Wichita YouTube fame has a 2004 or 2005 Chevrolet Classic with the indestructible (I think) 2.2 liter EcoTec that he would likely sell you in that price range, or less, but shipping might be expensive. On the other hand, buying it would also solve @rny421 's lease mileage dilemma.

Honestly, when the Tundra lease is up, I've thought about grabbing one of the 7,500 mile per year Volvo/MB leases I see on Leasehackr, which would cover my daily driver needs, and buying a cheap but reliable beater to take on longer road trips.

stickguy

I sent my son a couple of links to PUs. he had never heard of the Maverick, but he admitted he pays no attention to the PU market (and if he got one, it would probably be a Tacoma). He did mention the S type TLX though.

Said his current list to look at was (IIRC) the S4, M340i, TLX S type, IS 500 and new model Golf R. Not a bad shopping list. The Golf R might be the best overall option though for his needs as a single car.

ab348

Hyundai/Kia continue to have issues with ABS modules failing, leading to fires. Now it has struck the latest Genesis models.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/genesis-g70-g80-sedans-recalled-over-chance-of-fire/

graphicguy

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

Dealer sent me an email wanting to know if I wanted the S-Type exclusive “orchid” interior. Hmmm....I like bold, but ORCHID? I emailed back and said “sure”.

I still don’t have any intention of buying one if it’s not far and above my Stinger.

@breld.....from my understanding, they come totally loaded. Dealer says that means the high zoot stereo, the adjustable dampers, exclusive badging and trim, reworked suspension and, of course, twin turbo V6.

Boy, if I ever heard a guy trying to convince himself, that’s it. Just buy it already and save yourself all that angst.

OF...funny you should say that. The GF said the same thing last night. LOL!

oldfarmer50

xwesx said:

breld said:

Went shopping today for my son - probably not purchasing for another month or two, but figured he should start looking at options.

For today, we looked at a 2019 CRV EX-L, 2018 RDX Tech, 2020 VW Tiguan SE and a 2018 CX-5 Grand Touring.

Interesting to hear my son's thoughts, as he's not exactly a car enthusiast. I told him to focus on seating position (comfort) and just general driving feel.

Dang! I may end up posting a similar starting comment at some point, "we went shopping for my son," but then I'll be following that up with, "we looked at an assortment of '90s metal and a few '00s; everything in the $2-3K range..."

I wish my son was interested in cars but he views them simply as transportation. I use him as an excuse to go shopping for what I like because I know it won’t make any difference to him.