Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

Come on Fez, you know you want another 5 speed Accord. I am here waiting when you come to your senses. And Accords didn't get stability control until the bloated 2008 (?) redesign. What a whale.

Look hard at the slightly used Sonatas. Nice cars. Great value.

Q, i forgot all about the M30 also. Guy up the street from me has one (he was, maybe still is, a sales manager at the Infiniti dealer). tan, looks OK but badly needs a rear window. It is his wife's car.

No idea if it is roomier than the 3 series in back (hard to tell from those picks), but at least that one is cheap! And if you get bored, I imagine you could wedge a Turbo Z motor in there...

michaellno

Look hard at the slightly used Sonatas. Nice cars. Great value.

Used?

Heck, I think you could probably get a new 2010 (old body style) Sonata for $15K .. at least, those are some of the numbers being thrown around in the "Priced Paid" forum.

jayrider

But Fezo says he needs a sunroof and I'm not sure those 2010's have them. If the new 2010's are going for 15k --- how much for an 09 with 10k miles or less? -11k?
May be some super deals there. My son bought a used 07 and has had no problems that haven't been fixed. The visers broke and headlights burned out. All fixed under warranty no deductible.

qbrozen

Thanks, g.

I'm not crazy about black on black, either. Had that with my Alfa and it was horrible to live with in the summer. Bimmer has black interior, too, and also a problem. So I'd like to try to avoid the black interior, if nothing else.

I emailed a dealer in Trenton who has a white over tan one with 116k. No price listed, though, and no listing date on the ad, so who knows.

Good news is, I just got a new job offer yesterday with a small signing bonus, so I might make this switch happen soon.

qbrozen

Did you take a look at that Aura I posted? Still seems like a good deal to me at $12k for a V6 auto with 22k little miles, leather, moonroof, heated seats, etc. And that's just the asking price. Just think, you could walk out of there at $10k and look like a hero to your wife for her "luxurious" car.

qbrozen

Hmmm... is that interior right? Guy I autoX with told me the alacantra he has came standard with the ZHP. :confuse:

fezo

I've got a couple feelers out. An 07 Accord, 2010 Sonata. Stay tuned.

I'm finding I can't be as picky about stability control when buying used. This will either result in a drop of that as a dealbreaker or put me in a Hyundai.

Stick - if the car were for me instead of my wife a stick would be a requirement instead of a deal breaker. Her must haves are an automatic and a sunroof.

I got another grand out of the insurance folks. That's fine. It's close to 2/3 what we paid for the car a bit over three years ago.

jayrider

Congrats on grinding another grand out of the insurance company. Champagne, nachos and a sunroof for Mrs. Fezo.

andre1969

Did you take a look at that Aura I posted? Still seems like a good deal to me at $12k for a V6 auto with 22k little miles, leather, moonroof, heated seats, etc.

If I hadn't bought the Park Ave and was still in the market for a car, I'd be tempted by that Aura! The only downside, I guess, is that the XE model has the 3.5 pushrod engine instead of the 3.6 DOHC. But, I could live with that.

Heck, even the 3.5 in the Aura puts out 224 hp, versus the 240 for the 3.8 supercharged in my Park Ave. So I guess performance might be similar. The Park Ave does have more torque though...280 ft-lb I believe, versus around 220 or so for the 3.5.

I gotta admit though, I've gotten spoiled by the interior room in the Park Ave, so if I went to something like that Aura, it would probably take some getting used to.

fezo

No, I have to back and find that post.

She's not a fan of leather which is part of why I didn't do anything. We'll look.

andre1969

I'll save ya the trouble, as that post is pretty far back now.

2007 Aura XE

It does look like a lot of car for the money. And that 3.5 was pretty economical, as I recall. I think it was rated 20 city, 30 highway...until the EPA changed its ratings methods.

One thing though...it might not have real alloy wheels. On these cars, GM started making shiny plastic wheelcovers that are pretty convincing at a quick glance. And the steel wheel would have cutouts in it that matched the cutouts in the wheelcover, giving it the illusion of an alloy.

michaellno

One thing though...it might not have real alloy wheels. On these cars, GM started making shiny plastic wheelcovers that are pretty convincing at a quick glance.

Agreed.

However, in reviewing the ad, the issue is addressed:

6-cyl, auto, ps, pb, air, heated p-seat, p-lcks, p-win, cruise, tilt, CD, OnStar, Alloy whls., 22,703 miles, Stk. No. NC0049A, P-ROOF & LEATHER

So, there you have it.

The downside to the 3.5 V6 was that it only came with the 4-speed automatic. You had to move up to the XR trim level to get the 3.6L with the 6-speed auto (and paddle shifters on the steering wheel).

ghulet

by dealer in Trenton with one with 116k, did you mean an M30? As much as I 'generally' hate white cars, that's a particularly good color combo for that car, for some reason, really (as long as it doesn't have rust--that's pretty much why NOBODY in Chicago buys white cars, never mind the rain/snow/general dirt thing). They, of course, are a bit dated at this point (though, really, more modern than an E30 when it comes down to it), BUT that said, you definitely won't see many others, and parts and labor should be neither too hard to find nor too expensive. Pretty sure they were all automatics. And I imagine, though seat-of-the-pants feel will be totally different, things like MPG, interior space and the like will be similar to the BMW (I don't think M30 convertible's rear seat is any better, though maybe a hair wider).

ghulet

$12k is pretty good, especially for an (almost-fully) loaded 3 year-old w/22k that stickered for probably around $27k new. I don't even mind wheel covers vs. alloys, as long as they're the bolt-on variety (IOW, won't fall off). The only 'problem' I had with the Aura (same as the Malibu) is the relative lack of rear seat room (both head and leg), or at least the feeling of same (damn high window sills) relative to its exterior bulk. They don't have the biggest trunk, either, though I guess you couldn't call it 'small'.

qbrozen

yup. M30.

whoops... 168k. The same as my Z!
Here it is.
color combo looks really sharp.
Looks like it has been resprayed. Would have to see in person to know how well.

If the rear seat is as small as the bimmer, we wouldn't make the swap, of course. I'm not sure how reliable the data I'm finding is, but what I have found tells me the rear legroom of an E30 is 23.5" and an M30 is 30.2".

corvette

Get 'em while they last--I keep hearing rumors about BMW making front-wheel drive models.

corvette

That Aura has the same powertrain as my G6 did. The engine was very quiet at around-town speeds, but didn't really feel like it had 220 horsepower.

fezo

It is amazing how many people don't want to disclose anything about price before you come in. I am trying to avoid such people.

ghulet

hear, hear. Especially on a used car, unless there's a decent amount of room for negotiation, just tell me the damn price in the ad, or at the very least, over the phone (or I'm not coming in), right? Most of us don't have time to waste running around to a zillion dealers to see cars that are either overpriced and/or misrepresented.

kplacer

Last year when I was car-shopping I came across an '07 Aura virtually the same as that one for about the same price. I thought I would buy it after the first test drive, but I went back the next day to make the deal and thankfully asked to drive it again beforehand. All the air went out of the balloon at that point. It drove OK, but was just too devoid of personality and as Andre said, it didn't feel like it had as much power as advertised. It had a lot of good points, but the interior trim felt a bit cheap and something told me it wasn't the car for me. I walked away and have had no regrets.

jayrider

Was in the chevy showroom and crawled all over an impala ltz. Other than the cheesy fake wood dash, it's perfect for an old man who drives to the mall , never goes over the speed limit, and takes turns on all 4 wheels. Seats were awsome - back folds flat into a huge trunk. List was 30k -- 3k rebate new but the cpo's can be found with 10k miles in the 16-17k price range on xmas eve. Drive it for 3-4 years and sell it to one of you dudes for 5k. All maintenance records - good tires brakes. No smoke and no pets. I'm compiling a list of interested parties -- no deadbeats need apply -- cash only -- no checks or credit terms. :shades:

jayrider

Suggestion -- cruise the lots and find a car[s] you really want and go home do some research -- then call to start negotiations. This way you both know what you want. If it looks promising then go in with the goods to close the deal.

fezo

Where I have tried so far I've been very specific on what I want. Both were new cars. Not a word.

I've got a couple of irons in the fire. A friend and sometime poster here is a used car manager for a Toyota dealership about two and a half hours from here. He's got some nice possibilities. I'd lose the stability control but hey.

tifighter

When I was looking over new years, I saw quite a few ex-rental Sonatas that were a year old for $10k. GLS pack, no sunroof, and you need to weed through them as rentals, but there could be a heckuva deal there for the money. Most of them had 20k miles...Elantras with sunroofs, etc could be had same year same price too. SE models were a little more, but have stability control (sometimes leather)...can be harder to find.

fezo

Yeah, there are a heck of a lot of reasonably priced off rental Sonatas out there. That's something that has stayed in the ballpark.

qbrozen

ya know.... at $15k....

not a good color, but an idea of content

better exterior color, lower miles

better interior color

A more stylish, albeit lower powered, option

breld

I still would like to target something around $20k or less, but this is interesting:

http://schomp-bmw.ebizautos.com/webdetail.aspx?iid=5177251

ghulet

the price (and the miles) both seem pretty good, considering the M-coupes were $60k+ new MSRP, if I'm not mistaken (and they apparently no longer sell the coupes, nor the M-engined Z variety in any form in the USA at this point, so that's a fairly rare beast). The larger engine Z4 starts at $52k, and if the usual BMW options/packages are any indication, most probably end up more in the $55-60k range, if not higher.

oregonboy

Nice M-Coupe, but this is more like what I can afford:

Neither an M nor a coupe

tifighter

I've not been into BMW's for awhile after my last Z3, but if any car would convert me, its the Z4 Coupe. Instant classic.

kyfdx

The market is rife with '06-'07 Z4M coupes in the $30K range...

Over 300 hp from a non-turbo inline-six.. A lot of car for the money, I think..

fezo

What do you think? This tempts her. 08 Legacy.

My brother bought his son's Civic there and it's been fine. We'll see...

ghulet

nice car, low miles and newer-looking (for thirteen years-old, if that's important to you) for the price. Great 'toy' for the money, (especially with the 6-cylinder), and I imagine you could even whittle the price down a bit more.

ghulet

That Legacy is nice, Fezo, especially considering its '10 replacement cost (though it's a different animal altogether, to be fair). I even like the color. Hard to argue with that one, especially at the price.

fezo

Just to make life interesting someone posted this Mazda on another thread. Just when I had retreated to a $15K ceiling....

fezo

Yeah, that's a nice car. We may have a winner.

That Mazda is sweet but the Legacy probably is a better fit for where we are at the moment. It's a long way to Saturday.

kyfdx

The blue Legacy for $14,600?

Looks nice.. and a decent price..

fezo

Yeah, that's beginning to have winner on it - as long as they still have the car on Saturday.

stickguy

the sube looks nice. Good car, but pretty sure it has leather (which I thought your wife did not like?)

On that site, they have a 2007 Infiniti G25x is a nice blue, 35,000 miles for $19,995. That has my eye a lot more!

And I love the Z3. That would get me back into toyland for sure.

kplacer

A friend has an older model Legacy ('03) and while it has been generally OK, at 50K miles the engine basically gave up -- diagnosed as piston slap. The thing sounds like an out of control sewing machine. Apparently it is a common problem on Subies. Don't know if they dealt with it on later models. Be advised...

stickguy

So, what is the plan in case your daughter can't handle driving a stick? No guarantee that she will (some people never do get the hang of it, or at least comfrotable enough to not have it freak them out).

if she already learned, well then never mind!

fezo

Well, I don't really have a game plan for if she can't handle it but if it became painfully obvious that this is a problem I'd sell the Accord and get her a comparable cheap car with an automatic.

My theory is that everyone can learn a stick if they more or less have to. When I started driving I couldn't handle a stick to save my life but then there was a car I really wanted and it had a stick so I learned in a hurry.

michaellno

Well, I don't really have a game plan for if she can't handle it but if it became painfully obvious that this is a problem I'd sell the Accord and get her a comparable cheap car with an automatic.

Been there, done that, got the car payment to prove it.

Back in '03, we had a Ford Explorer on lease. Ford offered a "pull ahead" program, whereby they would make the last 6 payments on the lease if we were to lease / purchase a new F / L / M vehicle.

So, we went shopping for a Focus. Daughter didn't like the sedan or the wagon, and mom and I both figured that a 3 door would be too expensive to insure, so that left us with the ZX5. At the time, we figured that our daughter would learn to drive stick, so we weren't too particular about what transmission we got. The wife demanded that whatever we bought have both ABS + TC (if automatic), for safety reasons.

(Side note - you would think that, in Colorado, finding a car with auto + TC would be pretty easy, given the weather. Nope - we went to 4 different Ford dealers in one day and never did find one that had the correct equipment)

We bought an '03 ZX5 w/ 5-speed that was reasonably equipped.

Then we tried to teach the daughter how to drive stick.

Whoops.

Daughter just could not master the footwork. In her defense, she does have size 11 feet, so moving them around in the footwell was challenging.

Anyway, I drove the Focus for a few years while my daughter drove the L300.

Then, I wanted to trade in the Focus for something more fun and sporty (I was looking at Mustangs and G6 convertibles). Wife vetoed that idea and thus, the Focus got traded in for the ION and I got the L300 back.

qbrozen

Daughter just could not master the footwork. In her defense, she does have size 11 feet, so moving them around in the footwell was challenging.

Good excuse ... and it might actually work on someone who doesn't have size 14s to deal with. :P

although I do use that excuse as why I can't heel-toe.

In any case, I feel your pain. I tired repeatedly to teach the wife. It just won't stick (pun not originally intended... but now it is).

michaellno

I tired repeatedly to teach the wife. It just won't stick (pun not originally intended... but now it is).

What's interesting is that when I met my wife, she was driving a 10 year old Tempo 5-speed. And, the first two cars we purchased for her together were a '97 Escort and a '99 VW New Beetle - both with 5-speeds.

fezo

I did teach my wife how to drive a stick after a purchase of a used automatic in 1989 proved disastrous. At the time finding a cheap car with a stick was way easier than finding one with an automatic.

Funny things was that the car we bought with the stick was that 85 Accord that to this day is her favorite car she ever had. If a geezer hadn't run a stop sign and totaled it with me in it she might still be driving it....

Bought that one from the guy on Rt 9 used car row that I really liked but has since gone out of business.

Hey, at least I'm not in michealll's position of having to drive the car if my daughter can't learn. Actually I wouldn't mind that and had many years as the Accord's primary driver but, as I've said many times before, the top on the Celica goes down so that's my car.

michaellno

Hey, at least I'm not in michealll's position of having to drive the car if my daughter can't learn.

There are times where I wish I had kept the Focus and just let the daughter have the L300. The Focus was a fun little car that got decent mileage and was pretty versatile.

But, I was selfish and was missing the creature comforts the Focus didn't have ... sunroof, leather, heated seats, V6 power.

fezo

I was going to ask you about that. My impression is that that would be a fun car. A Focus would be a good fall back plan for my daughter if the Accord doesn't work out but for her own good the Accord better work out!

michaellno

I really liked the Focus .. more so that I would have thought. I've looked at the current generation Focus at the dealer, and other than the coolness of the Sync system, there isn't a whole lot to get excited about.

But, the new "world" Focus is coming out next year, with a 155HP 2.0L engine - will be the same car as is offered in Europe. I like the looks of that, though I'd probably wait until the EcoBoost engine is offered .. rumoured to have 200+ HP in it.

I've always been partial to the hatchback style, so the ZX5 was a good fit for us. Was able to get quite a bit of stuff into the boot when the rear seats were folded down - which reminds me, they didn't split, which I found annoying.

lilengineerboy

A friend has an older model Legacy ('03) and while it has been generally OK, at 50K miles the engine basically gave up -- diagnosed as piston slap. The thing sounds like an out of control sewing machine. Apparently it is a common problem on Subies. Don't know if they dealt with it on later models. Be advised...

They had some well documented issues from the series 2 2.5, head gaskets, piston slap, etc. The engines, in general have more NVH than a Honda or Toyota.

Our 2005 base Legacy wagon has been pretty much flawless for 55k, starting to look at new front brakes, that's about it. We went full bore and put snow tires on it this winter, the car was phenomenal. Two transplants from the central coast of CA faced with SE Michigan winters like all the help they can get.

The 165 hp 4 cylinder is a little pokey, not exactly underpowered, but its not gonna set anything on fire, and that is with the manual (although if they had done 3rd gear a little better, the situation might be improved). Our biggest regret with the car is not getting a higher model with a sunroof (and maybe a turbo).