Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

xwesx

tifighter said:

explorerx4 said:

@tifighter,
You pay the electric bill?

Yes. My home rate in WA is 8 cents per kWh. Our Y is averaging 3.6 miles per kWh. That's $8.00 for every 100 miles of driving. I'll compare that to any Explorer

Well, that definitely helps! I don't recall the exact number on my last bill, but we've been between $0.22 and $0.24 for a couple years now, so I don't expect it has gone down any in recent months.

xwesx

explorerx4 said:

@tifighter,
I guess my attempt at levity failed.
Locally, I never see any electric vehicles on the road in the winter, they are still 3 season vehicles.
I want one that is good for all four.

Electric works fine year-round, even in my climate. If they become scarce in your area during the winter, that's just an owner choice versus a lack of ability on the car's part.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

oh no. Vroom offered $53,274 on my Jeep. That would be more than $6k profit. Dammit. How do I turn that down?

Is that net of your "all in" number? You haven't done a great job of keeping your hand out of the modding jar....

stickguy

I assume anything that got bolted on, gets bolted back off!

xwesx

stickguy said:

I assume anything that got bolted on, gets bolted back off!

Yeah, true. Those are the easy ones!

qbrozen

stickers cost next to nothing. Tires were $900. Stick is right, though, I'd likely just throw the stockers back on. $47k is my "all-in" number (not including tires). That's sale price, tax, tags, broker fee, shipping, etc.

I just now saw that Vroom is not taking leases. So I guess I'd have to find an equivalent offer elsewhere. Current reports are that Carmax is offering the best.

xwesx

I managed to get through the heater install on the Crosstrek yesterday (despite the extreme pain) even though it took me most of the day to finish it. The great news, though, is that it passed testing this morning with flying colors! This setup should be quite effective even on the coldest of days.

Next up, I need to add a heating pad to the oil pan (nothing available locally, so I'm waiting on Amazon) and change out the gear oil. Sadly, I also need to replace the rear struts on the Q7 again, and I'm not looking forward to that at all. I have the parts in hand, but it's quite a difficult job even when my body is fully functional, so I'm stalling on that and hoping that it doesn't get too much colder before I feel much better. This weekend, temps were about -5C (around 20-25F) while I was working on the Subarus.

laurasdada

I did note multi Tesla superchargers as I drove by, mostly unoccupied, at the rest plazas along I95 in CT. There may have been L2 chargers, too, but I didn't stop.

I did visit Miller Motor Cars (as well as Carriage House), specifically the AM/Bentley dealer. There was a L2 "Bentley" branded charger across from my parking space, I was tempted to plug-in my empty Ray O Vac, but didn't for fear I'd be forced to buy a t-shirt or something for $50!

I do like me some British cars, though.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

stickers cost next to nothing. Tires were $900. Stick is right, though, I'd likely just throw the stockers back on. $47k is my "all-in" number (not including tires). That's sale price, tax, tags, broker fee, shipping, etc.

I just now saw that Vroom is not taking leases. So I guess I'd have to find an equivalent offer elsewhere. Current reports are that Carmax is offering the best.

Oh, I was thinking you bought a new set of wheels with those tires. Yeah, if you got those for only $900, that's not bad at all.

explorerx4

@xwesx,
Ground clearance can be an issue when the roads haven't been plowed, although town and state do a pretty good job.

stickguy

That you can get in any car. I thought a bigger issue was battery range taking a dive when it was cold out, especially if you also used the heat.

breld

This should give you all something to snicker about…

Wife and I decided to get out and walk the lots yesterday, as she’s been thinking of alternatives to the Allroad she has on order. She’s having some misgivings as to whether it’ll be worth the cost to her. For a while now, she’s been considering a lightly optioned 330i as a less expensive alternative - not a bad choice I’d say as long as she is okay with a sedan vs wagon.

Not much to look at out there on the lots, as we all know. On the way to one of the spots, I asked her if she misses her recently departed MINI, which I already knew the answer to. Thing is, that whole transaction was to take advantage of the strong value on her JCW and go ahead and accept the Tesla, knowing that would be a smart move.

Well wouldn’t you know it? There was a beautiful used 2021 MINI Hardtop 2 door with all of 1,100 miles on one of the lots that we’re gonna go look at this evening. It’s a “Paddy Hopkirk” edition, which is basically a well-optioned S model in Chili Red, a white top, mirrors and other trim in black. It also comes with the JCW exterior and interior packages.

xwesx

No, no, no. ***Stay Away*** !!!!

au1994

Meanwhile, the MINI CFO green lights the new “Mr and Mrs Breld” manufacturing wing.

28firefighter

I'm not snickering. I'm just confused.

stickguy

I can’t keep up with them.

[Deleted User]

You can't have just three cars when the garage holds six...

breld

28firefighter said:

I'm not snickering. I'm just confused.

I could go into the whole thought process, but I don’t think it would clear up anything.

au1994

With what’s in the stable now something small and sporty seems like a logical choice.

corvette

So, @breld, when do you take delivery?

mjfloyd1

@breld said:
I could go into the whole thought process, but I don’t think it would clear up anything.

It’s different. It is red!

tjc78

There is a reason @breld is the GOAT of CCBA!

andres3

benjaminh said:

Somewhere in Acura's promo ads they said the Integra was "coming soon," and to me that would seem to mean a few months? I think the Civic Si is coming in December, and maybe the Integra will be three months after that? In one of the articles on the Integra it said Acura's already been working on it for more than four years, and so it should pretty much be done.

I wonder if you could drive the Maverick for some months, and then sell it to Carvana for the same money you paid for it, or maybe even pocket a small profit? And there might be a chance that you'll like it enough to keep it.

Acura is trying to sell a CPO 2020 under 10K mile TLX basic with the 2.4 motor for over $30K. Is this today's reality?

nyccarguy

@breld said:
I could go into the whole thought process, but I don’t think it would clear up anything.

You got it all wrong! We want to hear the entire thought process! Details please!

stickguy

andres3 said:

benjaminh said:

Somewhere in Acura's promo ads they said the Integra was "coming soon," and to me that would seem to mean a few months? I think the Civic Si is coming in December, and maybe the Integra will be three months after that? In one of the articles on the Integra it said Acura's already been working on it for more than four years, and so it should pretty much be done.

I wonder if you could drive the Maverick for some months, and then sell it to Carvana for the same money you paid for it, or maybe even pocket a small profit? And there might be a chance that you'll like it enough to keep it.

Acura is trying to sell a CPO 2020 under 10K mile TLX basic with the 2.4 motor for over $30K. Is this today's reality?

pretty much.

nyccarguy

@andres3 said:
Acura is trying to sell a CPO 2020 under 10K mile TLX basic with the 2.4 motor for over $30K. Is this today's reality?

Welcome to the 2021 car market. I’d strongly consider leasing if I were you. Find a dealer that has a nice TLX A-Spec AWD and lease it for 3 years at sticker price without a marked up mf. You’ll have a brand new car that’s under warranty. It is guaranteed to only lose X% of its value over the next 3 years.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

@breld said:

I could go into the whole thought process, but I don’t think it would clear up anything.

You got it all wrong! We want to hear the entire thought process! Details please!

All he really has to do is cut & paste the contents of the text thread he has going with @jpp75 and me.

qbrozen

Now the whole fam is fighting me tooth and nail about selling the jeep.

explorerx4

The dealer only has to put out shiny lure and it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

stickguy

qbrozen said:

Now the whole fam is fighting me tooth and nail about selling the jeep.

should have bought a spare.

maybe they know something though.

oldfarmer50

benjaminh said:

Chapman Ford in Philadelphia has been offering for the last four months or so a great deal on Maverick orders—4% below invoice. Seems too good to be true, but apparently they're actually doing this. With all the many orders they've gotten there are a few people, of course, who don't actually take delivery for whatever reason—changed their minds, got another vehicle, financing didn't go through, etc. And so that seems to be Chapman's strategy, to scoop up these Mavericks that aren't claimed and then sell them at a profit. Here's what appears to be maybe one example of this....

https://www.chapmanfordsales.com/new/Ford/2022-Ford-Maverick-846757250a0e09a82ebbf2e4252c8806.htm

Am I reading that right? A $5k ADM? That must really anger anybody who finds out they could have ordered the same truck for 4% below invoice.

oldfarmer50

tifighter said:

I see today that Hertz is buying 100,000 Model 3's. I wonder if they just ordered through them through the website, and used their credit card for the deposit. They could earn a lot of miles that way.

I hope they’re still in business to receive all those cars. Enterprise is killing them on the rental business and customer satisfaction according to J.D. Powers. Personally, I wouldn’t use them after they abandoned two 80 something year old women in front of our booth a few weeks ago and refused to help them with a confirmed rental.

stickguy

oldfarmer50 said:

benjaminh said:

Chapman Ford in Philadelphia has been offering for the last four months or so a great deal on Maverick orders—4% below invoice. Seems too good to be true, but apparently they're actually doing this. With all the many orders they've gotten there are a few people, of course, who don't actually take delivery for whatever reason—changed their minds, got another vehicle, financing didn't go through, etc. And so that seems to be Chapman's strategy, to scoop up these Mavericks that aren't claimed and then sell them at a profit. Here's what appears to be maybe one example of this....

https://www.chapmanfordsales.com/new/Ford/2022-Ford-Maverick-846757250a0e09a82ebbf2e4252c8806.htm

Am I reading that right? A $5k ADM? That must really anger anybody who finds out they could have ordered the same truck for 4% below invoice.

well, if you want to wait 2-4 months, you get something for it. If you gotta have it now, in a sellers market, you need to pay the piper.

not sure how they are pricing. Looking at their inventory, seem to be some at 2K and that one at 5K. But, that is asking. Who knows what happens if you are sitting there with a big old bag of cash, willing to take it on the spot.

explorerx4

As mentioned before, the Hertz CEO is Mark Fields, who when he was the CEO of Ford killed all their looking forward projects. It's almost like he was trying to kill the company.

corvette

@oldfarmer50 - I think that's one of the unfortunate realities of the present market. If you have time to wait a couple months for a factory ordered Ford, you can get a fair discount. Possibly, if you can wait a year for the supply chains to stabilize, you may be able to walk into a dealer and buy one off the lot. But, if you need one right now, you're going to pay through the nose. I'm sure there is some wiggle room in the ADM, but not a tremendous amount, if there is truly no inventory on the lot. As I've said before, the cheapest Toyota dealer on the east coast is now charging over sticker, even on deals done through the broker that sends them a ton of business.

fintail

I think I could make it to Seattle on a full charge, even at 75-80 mph I90 cruising speeds (roughly 300 miles depending on destination). However, my mom's place is another ~120 miles from there, so it'd be a chore to drive to her.

I am also not one of the weirdos who will go 10 under, not use AC/heat/radio etc to conserve range.

ab348 said:

fintail said:

Not sure I can do better in the market right now than this deal, and it's a car I like. Not a special order, but maybe close to how I would have built it (some options I want are pretty obscure and something to my special order spec probably doesn't exist).

What is the distance to drive from your new location to the Seattle area? Would an electric be viable for that?

benjaminh

If you're a buyer it seems like we're in the worst market since World War II.

breld

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:

@breld said:

I could go into the whole thought process, but I don’t think it would clear up anything.

You got it all wrong! We want to hear the entire thought process! Details please!

All he really has to do is cut & paste the contents of the text thread he has going with @jpp75 and me.

It’s nice to have a sounding board - especially an enabling one.

corvette

fintail said:

I am also not one of the weirdos who will go 10 under, not use AC/heat/radio etc to conserve range.

Same, I don't think I've driven a 100% electric vehicle, but I drive the Prius like a normal car. If it wants to run the gas engine to do that, that's fine by me--I don't make any effort to feather the gas to get it to shut off.

breld

qbrozen said:

Now the whole fam is fighting me tooth and nail about selling the jeep.

For once, I’d agree with keeping a car. It’s such a cool vehicle that’s not nearly as easy to replace as it was a few months ago. $6k is nothing to sneeze at of course, but not sure that’s worth it.

stickguy

benjaminh said:

If you're a buyer it seems like we're in the worst market since World War II.

Don't tell Breld that.

corvette

stickguy said:

benjaminh said:

If you're a buyer it seems like we're in the worst market since World War II.

Don't tell Breld that.

Discouraging him like that could bankrupt multiple Denver area dealer groups.

breld

You guys flatter me - I sort of cheat by getting to count the punches of a wife equally obsessed with car buying.

I doubt I even lead the punch count anyway - this group has been productive in this tough buying year!

Having said all that, the MINI was a really good example of the model, but during and after the test drive, it seems my wife feels she may prefer something that is a better blend of sport and comfort. All in all, she is anxious to get into something that feels more “personal” to her (the Tesla doesn’t cut it for her in that department).

We went on to a BMW dealership and revisited the 330i - she drove a 2019 with low miles and then we started talking of order allocations available, or ones in production and due to the dealer within the next week or two. She seems to be leaning toward a nice Portimao Blue one due in mid-November. I’ll report back.

By the way, the Land Rover dealer with the MINI offered $63k trade on the Model Y - we paid $50,290 for it last month (before taxes).

benjaminh

andres3 said:

Acura is trying to sell a CPO 2020 under 10K mile TLX basic with the 2.4 motor for over $30K. Is this today's reality?

By any chance does that 2020 TLX have the Tech package?

Anyway, apparently you can get a new 2021 TLX base model for about $37,500 at this LA-area dealer. 0-60 in about 5.9 seconds according to C&D. There's also conquest rebate of $2500 on top of that until Oct. 31st that includes your dead Audi, and that can be combined with 0.9% for 60 months. Anyway, 35k for the new TLX seems like it might be a better value than 32k (or whatever) for a 2020 CPO TLX of the last generation. The last generation TLX with the 2.4 has a 0-60 of about 7 seconds.

stickguy

breld said:

You guys flatter me - I sort of cheat by getting to count the punches of a wife equally obsessed with car buying.

I doubt I even lead the punch count anyway - this group has been productive in this tough buying year!

Having said all that, the MINI was a really good example, but during and after the test drive, it seems my wife feels she may prefer something that is a better blend of sport and comfort. All in all, she is anxious to get into something that feels more “personal” to her (the Tesla doesn’t but it for her in that department).

We went on to a BMW dealership and revisited the 330i - she drove a 2019 with low miles and then we started talking of order allocations available, or ones in production and due to the dealer within the next week or two. She seems to be leaning toward a nice Portimao Blue one due in mid-November. I’ll report back.

By the way, the Land Rover dealer with the MINI offered $63k trade on the Model Y - we paid $50,290 for it last month (before taxes).

and you didn't leave it there?

Michaell

stickguy said:

breld said:

You guys flatter me - I sort of cheat by getting to count the punches of a wife equally obsessed with car buying.

I doubt I even lead the punch count anyway - this group has been productive in this tough buying year!

Having said all that, the MINI was a really good example, but during and after the test drive, it seems my wife feels she may prefer something that is a better blend of sport and comfort. All in all, she is anxious to get into something that feels more “personal” to her (the Tesla doesn’t but it for her in that department).

We went on to a BMW dealership and revisited the 330i - she drove a 2019 with low miles and then we started talking of order allocations available, or ones in production and due to the dealer within the next week or two. She seems to be leaning toward a nice Portimao Blue one due in mid-November. I’ll report back.

By the way, the Land Rover dealer with the MINI offered $63k trade on the Model Y - we paid $50,290 for it last month (before taxes).

and you didn't leave it there?

Give it a couple of weeks, it'll be worth close to $70K.

corvette

breld said:

By the way, the Land Rover dealer with the MINI offered $63k trade on the Model Y - we paid $50,290 for it last month (before taxes).

On the MINI? Or against how much over MSRP on a new LR?

roadburner

28firefighter said:

qbrozen said:

Mrs QB said I should take it, but pointed out my little one will be upset with me. She admitted she should have let me order another. Nothing I didn't already know. haha. She said I could just drive the "mazda" for the winter. Yes, she meant the Escape.

If I sold the Jeep right now I'm pretty sure my little one would need therapy. He sleeps with a mini Wrangler Rubicon diecast next to his bed.

My son had a Power Wheels Wrangler a few years before I bought the TJ; he's always liked Jeeps.

stickguy

my new BFF at the Honda dealer called again today with an update on the new Si. I am surprised they are that invested given how low inventories are to get some random guy locked into something coming in. But he said they found out they have 2 allocated for some point (end of the year he suspects). But not color options yet of pricing. So he is calling me back as soon as they get that detail. So I assume at that point I could claim dibs and pick a color on the one regular model (the other one will have the HPD package which I wouldn't pay extra for anyway).

no clue when they will have the pricing but should be fairly soon. I don't know why they don't just release everything at the same time.

stickguy

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

breld said:

You guys flatter me - I sort of cheat by getting to count the punches of a wife equally obsessed with car buying.

I doubt I even lead the punch count anyway - this group has been productive in this tough buying year!

Having said all that, the MINI was a really good example, but during and after the test drive, it seems my wife feels she may prefer something that is a better blend of sport and comfort. All in all, she is anxious to get into something that feels more “personal” to her (the Tesla doesn’t but it for her in that department).

We went on to a BMW dealership and revisited the 330i - she drove a 2019 with low miles and then we started talking of order allocations available, or ones in production and due to the dealer within the next week or two. She seems to be leaning toward a nice Portimao Blue one due in mid-November. I’ll report back.

By the way, the Land Rover dealer with the MINI offered $63k trade on the Model Y - we paid $50,290 for it last month (before taxes).

and you didn't leave it there?

Give it a couple of weeks, it'll be worth close to $70K.

the way shortages seem to be going, just might be true. And I could be buying a Ford in December (assuming they ever actually build it) even if I hate it. Might have to wait a month or so for the paperwork to clear before bringing it to carmax though!