Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

corvette

laurasdada said:

I still didn't get the best deal I think I could have, but c'est la vie.

You probably did well considering the scarcity of what you were buying. Also, if you buy and hold for a long period, getting the best possible deal matters less compared to buying with a plan to sell or trade in a few months or a year.

28firefighter

laurasdada said:

For the A7, I got $2k from Costco (love that place!), $2k and 0% financing from Audi. Actually, it was either $2k or 0% from Audi, but instead of the rebate, sales manager added $1k to my trade and took another $1k off their offer; that way I could take the 0%. I still didn't get the best deal I think I could have, but c'est la vie.

You got the car you wanted at a number that made sense for you. That’s what matters.

stickguy

that is always my theory. As long as I don't immediately realize that I was the sucker they are laughing at for the next 3 months, I don't sweat possibly having been able to get a slightly better deal somehow. especially if it meant a lot of hassle. The current RDX I actually bought at the closest dealer where I would do service, so especially not that concerned about the deal (though still comfortable that is was a strong one overall). The last few deals before that were a lot further away.

oldfarmer50

28firefighter said:

Took the afternoon to get the house ready for Passover. Washing and waxing all three cars counts, right?

Mystic blue family...

Chag sameach.

andres3

If rentals get too expensive, people will just start flipping Supra's like @breld

andres3

The first time Costco had an "Audi sale" I checked it out, San Diego Audi called me, probably has a rap sheet on me, and said what are you looking for now? I answered "a red S4." Got ghosted!

LOL! Might as well have said I wanted a Quattro Coupe GT under 10,000 miles.

oldfarmer50

Well, I got the government tracking chip inserted today. All my careful plans to avoid the CIA are up in smoke.

We had no trouble booking an appointment nearby. Easy, we were the only ones there. Got the Moderna flavor. Second one in three weeks. No reactions so far, not even a sore arm.

Funny, we had heard that if a younger person brought you to the vaccination site they’d give him the shot too. Nope! Not in NY. The pharmacy sites aren’t allowed to do that. We would have had to go to the state university site where my barely mobile wife would have had to walk long distances and up stairs. That wasn’t happening so the kid made his own appointment for tomorrow. Evidently his Uber work puts him in the essential category. Screwy.

fintail

That was my only new rental. I've had a number in the 5-10K range, and almost all others were 10-15K. IIRC all German rentals were around 5-10K as well. I think the BMW 4er GC I rented at Seatac last year was around 12K, fine save for a big scrape on the underside of the front bumper, but the interior was clean, no smells (I hear pot smell can be a big thing in this part of the world). Thinking back, on my last big roadtrip when the Hertz Grand Cherokee got hit in Milwaukee, I got a ~48K mile Kia Sorento as a replacement, agent claimed it was all they had left. FL plates, and it was again remarkably clean, no real exterior damage, no stains or smells. Some rental cars might live a charmed life. I've only ever had a couple of loaners, all C-class with low miles. I've never needed a huge repair for my modern cars, and I am fine waiting so long as they have secure wifi.

xwesx said:

A new rental! I have not had that happen yet. I've had some "basically new" ones, such as the Charger from about 18 months ago, which had fewer than 4,000 on the clock. For me, that's new, because often I will add between 2,500 and 5,500 on the ticker in the first week of ownership just to get it home.

I did have a Q3 a few years ago as a loaner. It had around 600 miles on the clock when they gave it to me, and I tripled that by the time I returned it a week later. Normally, I wouldn't consider 1,200 miles to be many at all, but in that case...

Speaking of loaners, I will have another one on Monday when I take the Q7 down to Anchorage for a warranty visit. I have yet another issue with the reductant (DEF) system wherein the car thinks it is not working properly, so it is telling me it will not restart the vehicle after another 400 miles driven. I'm not sure if I will actually make it to the dealer before I run out of distance (about 376 miles door to door with no deviations), so I'm going to need to be very careful about the reflex to just turn off the vehicle when I arrive somewhere (like a rest stop...).

Given all the sensor issues with the reductant system, I think I will likely need to just remove the system from the car once it is out of the warranty period (which is soon... another 16,000 miles). I don't want to do this, because I actually like the DEF system (most pleasant exhaust of any ICE vehicle, period), but I'm not willing to fork over thousands of dollars in "repair" costs every year or two just to nurse along a clearly-flawed system.

cdnpinhead

oldfarmer50 said:

Got the Moderna flavor. Second one in three weeks.

Odd. I've heard that Moderna is four weeks between and Pfizer is 3 weeks. My Pfizer was three weeks for sure.

explorerx4

@oldfarmer50,
CIA won't care unless you leave the country. However, DHS, FBI, and NSA are watching your every move.

stickguy

I had one brand new rental that I remember. about 1998 in Orlando. A cloud car (Chrylser version I think). I actually really liked it, enough I considered looking at them for real. It was loaded up. Perforated leather, I think a moonroof, power everything. Might have been the V6.

was a situation where I was just pointed to a section and told to take anything we wanted. This one looked nice, and when I got it, it was brand new miles. 10 maybe? low enough that it had to have just been brought straight over to the rental garage and not rented yet.

andres3

Who likes carbon fiber?

Michaell

cdnpinhead said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Got the Moderna flavor. Second one in three weeks.

Odd. I've heard that Moderna is four weeks between and Pfizer is 3 weeks. My Pfizer was three weeks for sure.

We are set for the Moderna shot on Monday. Follow up appointment is exactly 4 weeks later.

oldfarmer50

cdnpinhead said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Got the Moderna flavor. Second one in three weeks.

Odd. I've heard that Moderna is four weeks between and Pfizer is 3 weeks. My Pfizer was three weeks for sure.

Three week, four weeks, meh, it’s a bunch of weeks. Who cares, I’m a marked man for government tracking.

andres3

It's picture day.

TTS OEM Brakes perfectly positioned between spokes.



Off-roading with a MB

stickguy

went out this evening to pick up a pizza for dinner. realized on my way out, that was the first time the car had moved since Sunday morning when we went to the supermarket.

really need to get out more. Just not really anything to go do!

andres3

Sunny San Diego



I can relate to the license plate frame:

andres3

VW in La Mesa:



I like this generation of the Supra:

laurasdada

A7 has 20s, but think I'm good. Andres look similar to my OEMs.
I'll get over "the deal," especially after I remembered post-deal the fed tax credit coming my way in '22.
Went to get traditional Friday night pizza, put my iphone on the wireless charger. Got to restaurant, turned off car, opened driver door and a female voice reminded me that my phone was still in the car. That was cool. I think I"ve figured out how to use the radio. Oh, for the simplicity of the Jag.

qbrozen

andres3 said:

It's picture day.

TTS OEM Brakes perfectly positioned between spokes.

Why did you switch from the OEM wheels to these?

Michaell

One for @fintail

tjc78

stickguy said:

went out this evening to pick up a pizza for dinner. realized on my way out, that was the first time the car had moved since Sunday morning when we went to the supermarket.

really need to get out more. Just not really anything to go do!

We open up the shore on Wednesday night and are off until the following Tuesday. Can’t wait! Mom is hanging with the kids until Sat morning. Then we are doing Easter down there. It will be a welcome change. XC is in the garage loaded with stuff to bring down.

We all went over to the mall last night the S60 sunroof and windows open it was nice. That car is just the right size for 2 adults and 2 smaller kids.

I have become totally spoiled by a garage, washed both cars last weekend and they are still both spotless ... oh and while I’m on all kinds of tangents. I bought the $15 Harbor Freight foam gun on a whim and it works great. I will never wash a car without one again. If it breaks I’ll buy a good one.

kyfdx

cdnpinhead said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Got the Moderna flavor. Second one in three weeks.

Odd. I've heard that Moderna is four weeks between and Pfizer is 3 weeks. My Pfizer was three weeks for sure.

I've heard the same, and my Pfizer was three weeks.

But, my son scheduled at Walgreens. And, the dates were four weeks apart, so he was expecting Moderna. But, he got Pfizer. My theory is they had Moderna previously, and the scheduling system couldn't handle rescheduling to three weeks out, once the next batch was Pfizer.

Seems doubtful that it will make a lot of difference, in the long run.

sda

andres3 said:

Who likes carbon fiber?

I like the red seats. I am very familiar with the HVAC and center console as they are the same in our Q5.

stickguy

the extra week should not matter. It is not that an exact process.

I got a foam gun for Christmas. Have not tried it out yet. Will do that soon. Means I have to dig out the power washer and hope it has the right connections, since it runs off of that. At least I already have one of those.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

I got a foam gun for Christmas. Have not tried it out yet.

Same here. I wonder if that was in the CCBA xmas catalog last year.

graphicguy

tjc78 said:

au1994 said:

Just got an email from Costco.

1250-2000 on Audi’s

2250 on Jeep Grand Cherokee

1000 on Honda Pilot

4700 (!) on GMC Acadia

1250 on RAV 4

I have to remember to sign up for Costco at the end of the year just in case something I want to lease in 2022 has the program.

I wish there was one closer to me, we only have BJs and Sam’s.

I got a Costco email for $3K off Chevy Bolts. That was on top of the $12K offered already by the dealer (with the poor sales staff). That would have put the Bolt within about $25K, which peaked my interest.

After giving the dealer a scorching review when Costco asked how the visit went, they’ve been trying to reach me. Don’t know what they’re expecting me to tell them that I haven’t already told them.

graphicguy

kyfdx said:

cdnpinhead said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Got the Moderna flavor. Second one in three weeks.

Odd. I've heard that Moderna is four weeks between and Pfizer is 3 weeks. My Pfizer was three weeks for sure.

I've heard the same, and my Pfizer was three weeks.

But, my son scheduled at Walgreens. And, the dates were four weeks apart, so he was expecting Moderna. But, he got Pfizer. My theory is they had Moderna previously, and the scheduling system couldn't handle rescheduling to three weeks out, once the next batch was Pfizer.

Seems doubtful that it will make a lot of difference, in the long run.

Up north of the OH river, it seems we’re being flooded with J&J vaccines. My son gets the single shot on Monday where he lives in Loveland, OH. I got Pfizer...two shots...3 weeks apart. And, I got the elder transport bonus even though at the time they weren’t calling my age group.

Didn’t really matter, as it seems everyone around here is getting the vaccines, now. That’s a good thing!

tjc78

I get my second Pfizer shot Wednesday afternoon. I keep hearing that some younger folks don’t feel all that well after the second shot. We will see.

cdnpinhead

kyfdx said:

My theory is they had Moderna previously, and the scheduling system couldn't handle rescheduling to three weeks out, once the next batch was Pfizer.

Seems doubtful that it will make a lot of difference, in the long run.

Excellent theory, and I agree that it probably makes no difference.

au1994

tjc78 said:

I get my second Pfizer shot Wednesday afternoon. I keep hearing that some younger folks don’t feel all that well after the second shot. We will see.

Got my 2nd Pfizer yesterday, about 24 hours ago. So far nothing other than a sore arm but I did proactively take Tylenol twice yesterday and once this morning.

ab348

When I got the AstraZeneca one last Sunday, I had no reaction at all that day. The next day I had a tiny bit of arm soreness and a runny nose but only in the right nostril, which was strange and made me think it was unrelated. On Tuesday the nose slowly cleared up but I developed a dull, mild but noticeable headache that continued until Thursday morning. Nothing since.

fintail

Good one. I see more of those W211 E63s still going strong compared to the period E60 M5, if it matters.

Michaell said:

One for @fintail

corvette

au1994 said:

tjc78 said:

I get my second Pfizer shot Wednesday afternoon. I keep hearing that some younger folks don’t feel all that well after the second shot. We will see.

Got my 2nd Pfizer yesterday, about 24 hours ago. So far nothing other than a sore arm but I did proactively take Tylenol twice yesterday and once this morning.

Just a heads up, I'm not qualified to give medical advice, but the pharmacist who gave my my first Moderna shot told me to avoid taking painkillers for 24 hours if possible.

au1994

corvette said:

au1994 said:

tjc78 said:

I get my second Pfizer shot Wednesday afternoon. I keep hearing that some younger folks don’t feel all that well after the second shot. We will see.

Got my 2nd Pfizer yesterday, about 24 hours ago. So far nothing other than a sore arm but I did proactively take Tylenol twice yesterday and once this morning.

Just a heads up, I'm not qualified to give medical advice, but the pharmacist who gave my my first Moderna shot told me to avoid taking painkillers for 24 hours if possible.

Thanks. my wife is in healthcare and she ok’ed it for the Pfizer. Feels good to have that done!

graphicguy

au1994 said:

corvette said:

au1994 said:

tjc78 said:

I get my second Pfizer shot Wednesday afternoon. I keep hearing that some younger folks don’t feel all that well after the second shot. We will see.

Got my 2nd Pfizer yesterday, about 24 hours ago. So far nothing other than a sore arm but I did proactively take Tylenol twice yesterday and once this morning.

Just a heads up, I'm not qualified to give medical advice, but the pharmacist who gave my my first Moderna shot told me to avoid taking painkillers for 24 hours if possible.

Thanks. my wife is in healthcare and she ok’ed it for the Pfizer. Feels good to have that done!

My shooter (CRN) said the same about Pfizer....take ibuprofen if there are any ill effects. I had none, outside of a sore arm. But, I sucked it up. All good now!

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

cdnpinhead said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Got the Moderna flavor. Second one in three weeks.

Odd. I've heard that Moderna is four weeks between and Pfizer is 3 weeks. My Pfizer was three weeks for sure.

I've heard the same, and my Pfizer was three weeks.

But, my son scheduled at Walgreens. And, the dates were four weeks apart, so he was expecting Moderna. But, he got Pfizer. My theory is they had Moderna previously, and the scheduling system couldn't handle rescheduling to three weeks out, once the next batch was Pfizer.

Seems doubtful that it will make a lot of difference, in the long run.

When I actually read the material they gave us it was indeed 4 weeks for the Moderna. It does seem that it’s easier to get an appointment. My son just left for his first shot and he’s only 36. Nearly everyone is eligible for some essential list.

fintail

Snow wheels off, regular wheels on - it was fun playing faux-butch with black wheels and thick tires, but I think these look more refined, suits the car:

sda

fintail said:

Snow wheels off, regular wheels on - it was fun playing faux-butch with black wheels and thick tires, but I think these look more refined, suits the car:

Such a great car, you need to buy it.

fintail

It's a definite possibility. Almost exactly a year til lease end, I am already thinking about the next step - not a lot out there that gets me going. The dearth of these on the used market has me thinking maybe this is the keeper - I am very particular about colors and options, and finding a better car might not be possible. This also would keep me from going silly looking at G-Wagens (which might be the other choice).

sda said:

Such a great car, you need to buy it.

Michaell

fintail said:

It's a definite possibility. Almost exactly a year til lease end, I am already thinking about the next step - not a lot out there that gets me going. The dearth of these on the used market has me thinking maybe this is the keeper - I am very particular about colors and options, and finding a better car might not be possible. This also would keep me from going silly looking at G-Wagens (which might be the other choice).

sda said:

Such a great car, you need to buy it.

I’m guessing you aren’t getting any of the proceeds from grandmas house?

fintail

A little, but not enough to buy that fintail blue G or a house or anything. However, my mom's house has 30 years of deferred maintenance to the point where she's going to just buy another house and let someone else deal with it, so she needs it more anyway, glad she'll be set.

House sale has been pretty wild, too - market is crazier than I expected.

Michaell said:

I’m guessing you aren’t getting any of the proceeds from grandmas house?

laurasdada

That Mystic Blue is so much more what I had in my mind when I wanted a blue car next.

More A7/Jag observations:
Jag definitely takes the steering feel and handling award; ride is equal between the two imo. Ergonomic goof in the A7, steering wheel obscures turn signal indicators on the dash, unless I raise the wheel a little too far up for comfort. But, not a biggie.

Interesting earlier, i depleted the battery while driving. Parked the car for a couple of hours, when I started it, 4 miles of juice. I wouldn't think regen braking would juice the battery like that? Or the OBC recalibrated after I shut her down? Any theories/experience from the Volt folks (or other PHEV experience)? And, I got the 4 miles, but have run the rest of the day on dead dinosaurs. Used 1/8 tank so far. Now charging in the garage.

It goes without saying, so I'll say it, the Audi MMI system is well superior to the Jag. The graphics on all three large screens are just beautiful. The headlights, especially on high beams, are nuclear. But, the lady giving me nav directions has to quiet down a bit; I've gone through every menu, no luck with that. In the Jag, it was an easy specific setting.

And, still prefer the hockey puck, but getting used to the e-shifter.

I've named her Battlestar Galactica.

xwesx

sda said:

I like the red seats. I am very familiar with the HVAC and center console as they are the same in our Q5.

Same here. Other than the shifter knob and the electronic parking brake (mine is a mechanical foot brake w/ release lever, which I love, because it reminds me of my old trucks!), that's a spittin' image of the Q7.

explorerx4

@laurasdada,
I can only adjust the nav speaking level while it is actually speaking using the radio volume knob.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

I got a foam gun for Christmas. Have not tried it out yet.

Same here. I wonder if that was in the CCBA xmas catalog last year.

Maybe I should get one. I have a pressure washer with the option to run soap, but the soap system clogs so easily that it never works by the time I use it the next time. I think the soap that's in there is 2-3 years old by now because I finally gave up on trying to clean the venturi system.

xwesx

fintail said:

Snow wheels off, regular wheels on - it was fun playing faux-butch with black wheels and thick tires, but I think these look more refined, suits the car:

I think they are both a nice match for it. Variety works, too.

xwesx

fintail said:

A little, but not enough to buy that fintail blue G or a house or anything. However, my mom's house has 30 years of deferred maintenance to the point where she's going to just buy another house and let someone else deal with it, so she needs it more anyway, glad she'll be set.

House sale has been pretty wild, too - market is crazier than I expected.

Michaell said:

I’m guessing you aren’t getting any of the proceeds from grandmas house?

Well, selling is the right side of the equation now, so kudos to your family for that!

tjc78

xwesx said:

fintail said:

Snow wheels off, regular wheels on - it was fun playing faux-butch with black wheels and thick tires, but I think these look more refined, suits the car:

I think they are both a nice match for it. Variety works, too.

They are very similar to the wheels on my S60.

fintail

I'd hate to be a buyer right now. Dozens of offers on the first day, one for 20% over list and waived inspection, pending in under 48 hours - and it isn't in the cheapest area. Crazy days.

xwesx said:

Well, selling is the right side of the equation now, so kudos to your family for that!