Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

roadburner

Nice! Added points for a leather wheel instead of the Alcantara.

kyfdx

Yeah.. I think by '06, just about all of them came with the leather wheel.

Come on... who lives in NC??!!

jayrider

don't be a coward,kyfdx, you know you want it. Just send the deposit and have it shipped. Look at it as an adventure gramps can tell the grandkiddies. Might be a good story or a bad one --- heck you're only risking 21k. When your taking those last few breaths in the far distant future you don't want to have any regrets about the one that got away.

stickguy

I love it. Other than hating the color combination. and I need 4 dooors (and prefer a wagon of some sort).

well, almost perfect.

subearu

I was just in the Mocksville area all of last week, if only you found the listing sooner

-Brian

akangl

Decided today to clean out the TT and put it up for sale. RV dealers had told us we'd be lucky to get $5k for it, but I figured what the heck, I'll toss it up on CL for $9950 and see what happens. We owed a little more then that on it but figured if we could get close then it's a good thing. It took 4 hours from the time I posted the ad until the time it pulled out of the driveway with its new family. Sold it for $9500 and everyone was thrilled.

stickguy

just picked up the auto shopped freebie at the market today. At a Ford dealer (not a real close one, probably 40 minutes away) there is a 2001 BMW 325. 4 door, silver (at least it looks like silver in the picture, which are not very colorful). Normally loaded with roof, leather, premium (no sport).

And of course, a 5 speed. About 93,000 miles.

Listed at $8,500, which is less than I expected at a real car dealer.

mark156

RV dealers are idiots. Glad you sold the TT so fast but I'm sorry to hear that you are out of the camping experience. Is a new TT on the horizon? I know that you haven't used it in a while.

Safe travels,
Mark

kyfdx

Even better for me... I like the color combination.. It's not my first choice, but completely acceptable. It has leather, instead of the alcantara/cloth (which looks shabby after some use), and heated seats.. Everything else is pretty much standard on the performance package..

Don't think I'll just send him a check, though... Probably a 7-8 hour drive down there... I do have next Friday off work.. :surprise:

akangl

RV dealers are idiots. Glad you sold the TT so fast but I'm sorry to hear that you are out of the camping experience. Is a new TT on the horizon? I know that you haven't used it in a while.

No new TT in the near future, maybe someday, but not right now. We are trying to cut some debt and get ready for retirement which is coming up way too fast!

andre1969

We are trying to cut some debt and get ready for retirement which is coming up way too fast!

Ugh, I hear ya on the way-too-fast part! I turned 40 on April 2, and while retirement is still a ways off, time has a habit of flying by way too fast. I remember joking with some friends back when I was 29 that if the stock market kept going up at the rate it was at the time, I'd be retired around 40! Well, obviously the stock market didn't, and I'm still a working stiff. But still, it's scary how fast those 11 years went by. :surprise:

gouldn

I dodged the bullet on the RV thing. I was all hot to buy a trailer about five years ago. At the last minute, I decided to just buy a better tent, and I found that was all I really _needed_.

The depreciation on the RV's I was looking at seemed to be close to 50% in the first year. Ugh!

stickguy

I have to think that for most people, renting for the couple times a year you actually need it will be way more cost effective.

I know some people use them extensively, but I would guess that the majority spend a lot of time sitting in the driveway.

michaellno

As you all know, I started driving the ION a couple of weeks ago. Friday night, whilst attending to my second job, I got a flat. Since I happened to be in my neighborhood, I just decided to park it and take the VUE.

When I put the spare on, I notice a nail in the tread. OK, no big deal - can get it patched or plugged at the local tire place.

You'd think I'm cursed or something ... tire store guys show me a couple of cuts on the sidewall and tell me that it can't be fixed. A replacement Goodyear Assurance tire, size 195/60-15, cost almost $160 with installation, disposal fee and taxes.

I'm hoping there is gold (or, better yet, kevlar) woven into the belts at that price.

This after dropping nearly $500 on shoes for the L300 just a few months ago, which then got traded in.

kyfdx

E-mailed the guy in W-S, NC.. didn't get the kind of answers that would make me feel comfortable doing a long-distance deal.

-only had the car a month
-has to sell, because he just found out kid is on way.. needs bigger car
-googled him, facebook says he is 23 yrs old

Uhhh... no thanks..
-----------------------------------------

Found another one, though..

In Syracuse, for pete's sake!

Less miles, more money..

roadburner

tire store guys show me a couple of cuts on the sidewall and tell me that it can't be fixed.

Did you check to see if any of the "guys" had a knife in their pocket?

A replacement Goodyear Assurance tire, size 195/60-15, cost almost $160 with installation, disposal fee and taxes.

Ouch! That's only about $10 less than what my Mazda dealer charged for each 215/45-18 Pirelli PZero Nero All Season(including mounting and balancing) for my Mazdaspeed.

fezo

Hey, rb! How's the Mazdaspeed doing these days? Past all of its teething issues?

stickguy

torchlight motors (volvo guy near QB,where he got his V70) has an incoming unit. he seems to be branching out.

This one is a 2006 SAAB 9-3. 70K on the clock, and listed at ~$9,800.

no pictures or real details, but the prelim stuff says it is a stick shift. That could just be pulled from the standard equipment list. But if it is a stick, and otherwise loaded up, an interesting diversion for the money.

stever

We tented the whole time we lived in AK, but there's something psychological about having sheet metal around you in bear country, even though the bears can open the side of an RV like a can opener. :shades:

I remember seeing a photo of a minivan somewhere (Yosemite?) where a black bear had peeled back the sliding door.

roadburner

Hey, rb! How's the Mazdaspeed doing these days? Past all of its teething issues?

Pretty much; about 5,000 miles ago it started throwing an "EGR flow insufficient" CEL. I switched from Kroger 93 to BP 93 fuel and after a couple of tanks the CEL never reappeared. Go figure. At 57,000 miles the only thing it really needs is a set of decent shocks; the OEM dampers aren't all that great new and by 50,000-60,000 miles they are almost shot. I'm probably going to go with Bilstein HDs.

jayrider

Tha one in syracuse looks nice but the carfax is interesting to say the least. Lots of info -- hard to interprate.

qbrozen

Give him a call. I think he is pretty quick about getting things in, so it might be there already.

I did notice when I was there last that he had a few non-volvos. Odd. Few Saabs, 1 or 2 VW, 1 bimmer. Sticking with the euro stuff it seems, at least.

tifighter

Roadburner-

How tall is the cargo area in the back of the MS3? Can't find a measurement listing anywhere...

fezo

How do you like that guy? There were a few things on his lot that looked like they could be interesting.

I'm quite undecided on what I am going to do about the Celica. Right now it's juts a coupe with a cloth and duct tape roof.

kyfdx

Yeah.. interesting carfax.. looks like it made the rounds of a couple of dealers, inbetween owners..

It's too bad.. used to be...my friendly BMW service advisor would pull up all the service records for any car I was interested in.. They lose their job for that, now...

From what I can tell, the car has been under the warranty and maintenance plan until today... That's probably why he is ready to get rid of it.. Plus, according to Google, he is a commercial real estate broker... that can't be pretty...

roadburner

How tall is the cargo area in the back of the MS3? Can't find a measurement listing anywhere...

From load floor to lowest point on headliner: 29"
From highest point of folded seat back to headliner: 26.5"
I can get more measurements if you need them.

tifighter

Thanks, that helps a lot. I could find the floor length and width, but height...not so much. Interesting.

stickguy

pics up now. besides being an odd color (lime yellow, which did not show up at all on my laptop), it turns out to be an automatic. Still, not a bad price.

he also had a nice 3 series wagon (2006 or 2007, so current style) recently that was nice. Other than the probably salvage title, being as it was stolen and recovered (but right away, as if that matters).

michaellno

Was waiting for the final outcome of this story before posting.

My son and daughter-in-law live in Utah, but will soon be moving to Wyoming. Anyway, the son is already there, laying groundwork, so the DIL was meant to join him last weekend.

While driving from UT to WY on I-80 near Rock Springs, WY, the DIL got distracted and wrecked their "good" car - the 2001 L200 that had probably 160K on the clock. Naturally, being young and poor, they didn't have collision on their insurance policy, so the car is a write off.

On Friday, they go to buy a car in Cheyenne. They're thinking new Altima. Turns out, they need a co-signer, so we get a call to fulfill that role. No thanks - we co-signed on the L200 and that was it for us.

So, last night, the DIL, now back in Utah, gets her parents to co-sign for them on a 2007 Dodge Caliber. All I know about the car is that it has between 40-50K on the clock, is silver and has the 2.4L engine with CVT. I think they paid somewhere around $13K for it - I know, not the best deal, but it gives them payments they can afford and a car with 1/3 the miles of what they were driving.

(BTW, the "other" car is a late 90's Camry that she got from her older brother. It, too, has way over 100K on the clock and probably has only 1 or 2 body panels that aren't damaged in some fashion. I told her last night that when the time was right, they could probably sell it for $1500, using Shifty's logic that if it runs, it's worth that much)

andre1969

could you guys tell me your opinions, good or bad, about the Audi A5? A friend of mine wants to buy one. The only thing I really know about Audis is that in general, the higher the number, the better you are leasing and not keeping it beyond the warranty period!

qbrozen

?? car is listed as beige, and it sure looks beige to me on my screen.

It does look rather nice.

fintail

Nice and elegant car, huge option list that can make it seriously expensive when well-equipped. If I was going to go deep into one, I'd spend a little more and get an S5. Leasing probably isn't a bad idea, especially if they have some kind of maintenance coverage, and your friend doesn't become attached to their cars.

donations4vets

lol. Ok then. I would take a TT in a heartbeat over a RV. I can make a sandwich in my kitchen thank you very much.

fezo

Looks beige to me, too.

Very nice. Short a pedal and a sunroof but I could live in it.

fezo

You know what's funny to me on that listing? It claims to be a manual but is an automatic as you can tell from the pictures. I keep finding that sort of thing. Cars that are supposed to have sunroofs that don't, manuals that are automatics. You would think this would be pretty basic on an inventory listing.

lemmer

That kind of stuff drives me nuts. It always messes up my autotrader searches. My new problem is that people don't seem to know what a manual transmission is anymore. I actually went to see an Infiniti G35 with a manual transmission that turned out to be a plain old slushbox. The seller said "See, you can manually move the level up and down to change the gears." Woo hoo.

fezo

Yeah, there's a Maxima listed around here exactly the same way.

stickguy

it looked beige to me too, but not the best color resolution on this laptop on pics from that site.

So, I based it on this from the banner description: Lime Yellow exterior is near flawless

I first saw the MT listed before the pics. Hence the let down. I actually didn't even notice the no moonroof issue, another deal breaker.

qbrozen

I couldn't decide on the moonroof. Kinda looks like it has it in some pics.

but I really don't think it is lime yellow. Isn't that the crazy color they used on the convertible launch car a few years ago? it is REALLY noticeable, so I don't think it could be confused with what that car looks like in the pics.

EDIT: Here ya go

stickguy

can't be that color. Most likely just a mistake in the description.

But, it looks like you found a new car for Fezo, if he doesn't mind a slushbox!

roadburner

An E46 M3 in NH. It has the SMG(which isn't a dealbreaker), Premium, and Cold Weather packages. Best of all, it's a BMW Individual car- special ordered in Dakar Yellow. Now to find someone in New Hampster that can check it out...

fezo

Actually I'm more interested in some of the Volvo wagons he's got but you never know.

Right now I'm still in the easiest thing to do right now is drive the Celica around as a coupe. I'm not thrilled with that but maybe in the fall I could score another convertible.

I'm not crazy about automatics but they aren't deal breakers for the most part. I could probably live with one of those with the manual override but someoen whould put a fake clutch in there just to keep my left foot amused.

stickguy

I thought of the fake clutch idea once. just like those fisher price drive a long things for kids.

Torchlight seems to have a lot of 2001 V70s. I know Q has that year, but I know that the 2001-2002 ATs were a bit of a weak spot.

I am still annoyed I get snaked out of the red V70 T5 5 speed that JRL had. Wish I realized it had a moonroof earlier. Oh well.

Those 5 speed wagons are quite rare. gotta snag a good one if it comes along.

although i do like the geartronic AT in the volvos. Also seems to fit the character of the car too, especially with the 2.5T model.

fezo

So do the tranny issues in the 01 Volvos extend into the XCs? Sounds like it would make it twice as bad...

What are the years to avoid? I just don't see myself paying for a rebuild of a Volvo Transmission....

stickguy

Q probably knows more, but from my cruising over at swedespeed, I think 2001 was the main problem year, with some spillover to 2002. Me? I would probably stick with 2004+.

The XCs use the same tranny, and have the double whammy of a less tha nreliable AWD system. If they use the same set up as the R models, they have an angle gear (I think thta is essentially the f/r differentail) that likes to fail and cost major $$.

I would prefer a FWD model anyway. I drove an XC70 and it was much more onderous and tippy than the V70 I drove at the same time (which happended to be an AWD), due to the tall m/s tires and jacked up suspension.

qbrozen

Yes. Angle gear issue applies to all volvos with the Haldex AWD.

It is accepted lore that the '03s and up are OK as far as the trans goes. The AWD has never been fixed, as far as I know. Our '05 XC90 had developed the problem right before I sold it.

fezo

Our '05 XC90 had developed the problem right before I sold it.

Remind me not to buy a car from you! :P

qbrozen

I sold it to a Volvo dealer, so they knew what they were getting.
Wouldn't do that private party.

kyfdx

:P

krwest1

Did you find a 330ci?

I just re-upped my membership, too...got a 2010 Wrangler. Amazing lease rates now. GMAC is doing the Jeep leases now. The lease rate is 0.15%, which is like a 0.0000625 money factor. $82 interest over the term of the lease.

Residual is a lot lower now than it used to be. It's 49% for 3 years. They used to be closer to 70% when Chrysler Financial was still doing leases, but the money factors were rediculously high back then (almost 7%). The payment is about the same as it used to be. Overall, I think it's a better deal now, since I will most likely buy it at the end since it should be worth much more than the residual.

I have never officially listed my CCBA qualifications, so here goes:

Since 2000...

2001 Lexus IS300
2002 Acura TL-S
2003 Honda Civic EX Coupe
2003 Nissan 350Z coupe
2005 BMW Z4 3.0i Roadster
2008 Honda Civic EX Coupe (still have)
2008 BMW 335i sedan (still have)
2010 Jeep Wrangler Sport (still have)

Those are just mine, the wife has a few more mixed in there.

Do I qualify for membership?