Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

mjfloyd1

https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-f-150-lightning-ev-dealership-price-gouging/?sm_id=organic_fb_MT_trueanthem&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=&utm_source=

stickguy

I find that the design can do that. A high beltline or hood, small windows and restricted visibility, all kind of things can make a small car feel big. or vice versa.

one of the easiest cars to manuver to me (toward the front at least) was the big Ryder Frieghtliner truck I used to drive. Sat up high, huge windows, shortish hood and easy to see corners. Could put that thing 2" from the car ahead of you (that would get some panicked looks in the mirror!) But it just did not seem to be the barge it was, as long as you didn't want to back it up.

henryn

qbrozen said:

qbrozen said:

Yes, it feels much larger

Decided to look into this a little more. According to the specs, the TRX is a mere 4" taller than my F150 was. Width and length are kind of in spitting distance, too (although I am not convinced that takes into account the flared fenders, but I suppose they technically don't extend past the mirrors). So why does it feel so much larger? Possibly the 1700(!!) additional pounds it is carrying around! That's like a whole other first-gen Sentra's weight. That's crazy.

Those aluminum body panels on the F150 do help, don't they?

henryn

corvette said:

@qbrozen - the turning radius may be higher, as well. That can really make a car feel larger.

That would be hard to believe. The turning radius on my F150 Supercrew was ... well, let's just say, you needed a 40 acre pasture to turn it around. My 2013 XL work truck is about the same wheelbase (reg cab, but 8 ft bed), so it's also a pain to maneuver in a parking lot. Makes my Pacifica feel small and highly maneuverable by comparison.

qbrozen

It probably is bigger radius, mostly due to the massive tires.

fintail

Exactly, I have family virtually at the beach. It'd make an already long drive an all day affair, especially if having to wait in line or deal with broken infrastructure.

I also wouldn't want to coast into town on fumes (so to speak). I know there's a Tesla charging station in Aberdeen, I suspect out there it doesn't get much use, that'd be the saving grace perhaps.

tifighter said:

fintail said:

I'd love an EV for in town/commuting duty, as I can charge at work, could put a charger in my garage, and never worry.

However, visiting family on the west side would destroy the fun, I'm not spending 90 minutes in George or Ritzville or Cle Elum or something waiting for juice - assuming I don't have to wait in line for a charger. Short distance EV mode with a ICE travel mode seems ideal until batteries can catch up, I believe that will happen long before we see a legit "autopilot" type feature.

xwesx said:

stickguy said:

I am with QB. They seem like a great idea without the range issues. Though a regular hybrid would still be a good step up for us. Next car will definitely be at least that.

Wes, where you live and some of the drives you talk about, an EV seems really limited. Especially in deep winter when range will take a big hit. Unless you would only be looking to use it locally, and not drive to that other big city (like when you take the Audi in for service)?

I don't disagree with any point in the arguments.

However, when the time comes, I would definitely run it when and where I wanted. But, of course, these pioneering days do present challenges for the technology. For me, the biggest restrictor is leaving Alaska. We'll get there, for sure, but it may take some more years yet.

If, for some reason, I end up needing to make the run south with an electric car before then, it will just mean more research and time to get it done. Others have transited the highway with electric cars before, so it can be done (just not at the pace to which I am accustomed).

Tacoma to Spokane would require one stop in Ellensburg for nearly 30 minutes. If by west side you mean Long Beach, then you might need another stop.

henryn

xwesx said:

stickguy said:

Years ago I spent a ton of time importing CDs. Had 100s loaded into iTunes. But somewhere along the way between switching computers and a crash, and swapping phones, all the import stuff got lost. Really not looking forward to doing that again!

I thought I lost mine as well, but it turns out that iTunes just changed the default folder structure where it would look for them. I'm trying to remember now, but, if you look for "iTunes" in your Documents folder, you might uncover them. Once located, you can then reimport them from iTunes.

The tricky thing for me is that, with all the reimports I've done over the years, I tend to end up with between two and four duplications of every track showing up in iTunes when I first get it set up on a new computer. The sad thing is, only one version works (but I don't know which one until I click on it). Over the course of years, I generally end up deleting the erroneous listings, but there are thousands of them! By the time I finish, it's time to build a new computer.

Speaking of which, my current one is somehow seven years old again.... Hmm....

I just upgraded my main rig. It was 4 years old, and not legally eligible for Windows 11. Not that Windows 11 is any big deal, but I do like to be on the latest. For anyone interested, it's really easy to upgrade a non-eligible computer to Windows 11.

I'm quite happy with the upgrade. I can't tell the difference in most tasks, but when I get into compute intensive stuff (reencoding movies or music), the difference is dramatic. The problem for Microsoft and Intel, who really want you to buy a new computer, is that for most people there will be no difference between a 5 year old computer and a brand new one.

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
While you're bashing the TRX, I give you some more ammunition.
Stick's Maverick has a higher payload rating.

imidazol97

henryn said:

I just upgraded my main rig. It was 4 years old, and not legally eligible for Windows 11. Not that Windows 11 is any big deal, but I do like to be on the latest. For anyone interested, it's really easy to upgrade a non-eligible computer to Windows 11.

What is the secret? None of my HP laptops qualify per the Win 11 "health" test.

roadburner

xwesx said:

roadburner said:

The M70 V12 and the rest of the drivetrain was solid. The 8 Series had a lot of electronic bits in the interior which could go wonky. Nowadays there are aftermarket rebuilds and other solutions. It’s another car that I wish I had bought a few years ago. It’s a peerless long distance GT.

Okay, yeah, that's what I recall from the Shifty days. He spoke at length about electronics gremlins on them.

So, what are your thoughts on that auction? Was it reasonable to go unsold at that bid?

No, that was all the money as far as I'm concerned.

ab348

imidazol97 said:

henryn said:

I just upgraded my main rig. It was 4 years old, and not legally eligible for Windows 11. Not that Windows 11 is any big deal, but I do like to be on the latest. For anyone interested, it's really easy to upgrade a non-eligible computer to Windows 11.

What is the secret? None of my HP laptops qualify per the Win 11 "health" test.

I have a suspicion that M$ miscalculated on the number of users who would buy new hardware to run Win11 and will soon loosen the reins on upgrade requirements. There doesn’t seem to be very much compelling about it, though Win10 is no great shakes either.

roadburner

The dealer that sold me the M235i has a 2020 M2 Comp. Sunset Orange, Exec Pkg, DCT, and $7135 worth of M Performance parts(Exhaust and carbon fiber bits). Love it, but about $8k over my budget.
Still...

qbrozen

@explorerx4 said:
@qbrozen,
While you're bashing the TRX, I give you some more ammunition.
Stick's Maverick has a higher payload rating.

Ssshhhh… I still gotta sell it!

Michaell

roadburner said:

The dealer that sold me the M235i has a 2020 M2 Comp. Sunset Orange, Exec Pkg, DCT, and $7135 worth of M Performance parts(Exhaust and carbon fiber bits). Love it, but about $8k over my budget.
Still...

When are you just going to expand your budget and pull the trigger?

I’m sure the wife wouldn’t mind.

stickguy

not only can I haul more, i can drive right underneath him!

stickguy

speaking of the Mav, I have become some sort of brand ambassador it seems. Sunday I had to do a rescue interview at someone's house, and took the truck. When he met me at the door he asked what the heck is that? So I had to explain it, and he was really intrigued. We had a chat about F150s and why I got this.

then today at the inspections station, the woman doing the sticker asked me (when she was in her booth doing the paperwork) "what is that?" So I told her and she said oh, it's not a Ranger? Apparently she just noticed Ford badge and not huge and assumed it must be a Ranger. So I had to explain it to her.

Need to get more of these in circulation. I still have not seen another out in circulation

stickguy

Michaell said:

roadburner said:

The dealer that sold me the M235i has a 2020 M2 Comp. Sunset Orange, Exec Pkg, DCT, and $7135 worth of M Performance parts(Exhaust and carbon fiber bits). Love it, but about $8k over my budget.
Still...

When are you just going to expand your budget and pull the trigger?

I’m sure the wife wouldn’t mind.

it's only money. Can't take it with you.

corvette

henryn said:

I just upgraded my main rig. It was 4 years old, and not legally eligible for Windows 11.

My laptop which I have set up as a desktop (and store all my photos and documents on) is a 2016 model, not officially compatible with Windows 11, but I understand you can still install it on unsupported hardware, which is good, because Windows 10 is slated to stop receiving security updates in 2025. Anyway, I recently replaced a 27" 1080p monitor which died with a 4k monitor, and it seems to struggle a bit to drive the higher resolution monitor, and I noticed that my 512 GB SSD is at around 75% of its storage capacity. I'm planning to upgrade the SSD and max out the RAM in an attempt to get a couple more years out of it.

28firefighter

@stickguy said:
speaking of the Mav, I have become some sort of brand ambassador it seems. Sunday I had to do a rescue interview at someone's house, and took the truck. When he met me at the door he asked what the heck is that? So I had to explain it, and he was really intrigued. We had a chat about F150s and why I got this.

then today at the inspections station, the woman doing the sticker asked me (when she was in her booth doing the paperwork) "what is that?" So I told her and she said oh, it's not a Ranger? Apparently she just noticed Ford badge and not huge and assumed it must be a Ranger. So I had to explain it to her.

Need to get more of these in circulation. I still have not seen another out in circulation

It’s really great you do the rescue work, @stickguy. My wife is starting to look for another pup to rescue and we had an application interview with one of the rescues today. Man, I’ve had job interviews and state background checks that were less thorough than this.

It feels a little quick for me to jump into another furry family member, but I recognize it could take us a while to find the right one and the house just doesn’t feel right without.

In car related news, my FIL sold his 2019 GLA lease back to a local Benz dealer. Cleared $6000 in equity out of it. They hated it but it was cheap and fit the bill at the time.

xwesx

stickguy said:

I find that the design can do that. A high beltline or hood, small windows and restricted visibility, all kind of things can make a small car feel big. or vice versa.

one of the easiest cars to manuver to me (toward the front at least) was the big Ryder Frieghtliner truck I used to drive. Sat up high, huge windows, shortish hood and easy to see corners. Could put that thing 2" from the car ahead of you (that would get some panicked looks in the mirror!) But it just did not seem to be the barge it was, as long as you didn't want to back it up.

My brother's Camaro is that way. When I first sat in it, it felt absolutely huge! However, after driving it, well, it drives really small. That thing is more fun than a road car has a right to be.

xwesx

henryn said:

I just upgraded my main rig. It was 4 years old, and not legally eligible for Windows 11. Not that Windows 11 is any big deal, but I do like to be on the latest. For anyone interested, it's really easy to upgrade a non-eligible computer to Windows 11.

I'm quite happy with the upgrade. I can't tell the difference in most tasks, but when I get into compute intensive stuff (reencoding movies or music), the difference is dramatic. The problem for Microsoft and Intel, who really want you to buy a new computer, is that for most people there will be no difference between a 5 year old computer and a brand new one.

Yep, and that's why I don't really have much incentive to build a new one right now (other than the fact that it is fun to do, and it is new and shiny, and....)

However, mine also is not eligible for 11. According to the analyzer, the issue is the AMD CPU, which means heart transplant. At that point, why not build a new one?!

tjc78

Other than work I find my time on a PC minimal. Wife and I each have laptops for ourselves, but they sit for weeks at a time unused. iPad and phone do nearly everything.

tjc78

28firefighter said:

@stickguy said:

speaking of the Mav, I have become some sort of brand ambassador it seems. Sunday I had to do a rescue interview at someone's house, and took the truck. When he met me at the door he asked what the heck is that? So I had to explain it, and he was really intrigued. We had a chat about F150s and why I got this.

then today at the inspections station, the woman doing the sticker asked me (when she was in her booth doing the paperwork) "what is that?" So I told her and she said oh, it's not a Ranger? Apparently she just noticed Ford badge and not huge and assumed it must be a Ranger. So I had to explain it to her.

Need to get more of these in circulation. I still have not seen another out in circulation

It’s really great you do the rescue work, @stickguy. My wife is starting to look for another pup to rescue and we had an application interview with one of the rescues today. Man, I’ve had job interviews and state background checks that were less thorough than this.

It feels a little quick for me to jump into another furry family member, but I recognize it could take us a while to find the right one and the house just doesn’t feel right without.

In car related news, my FIL sold his 2019 GLA lease back to a local Benz dealer. Cleared $6000 in equity out of it. They hated it but it was cheap and fit the bill at the time.

IIRC you got them a great deal on that. With the 6K back the effective monthly must be crazy low.

explorerx4

I watched some YT video a while back.
When you run the upgrade analyzer, it generates a file.
You can edit the file, delete a section of it and the upgrade will go through.
I haven't tried the W11 upgrade yet.

ab348

tjc78 said:

Other than work I find my time on a PC minimal. Wife and I each have laptops for ourselves, but they sit for weeks at a time unused. iPad and phone do nearly everything.

Different strokes. I find the iPad OK for web browsing and a few apps but that's all. Writing anything much is an ordeal and editing text is painful. The phone is the same story except worse. I know lots of people do everything on their phones but I have no idea how they tolerate it.

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

@explorerx4 said:
@qbrozen,

While you're bashing the TRX, I give you some more ammunition.

Stick's Maverick has a higher payload rating.

Ssshhhh… I still gotta sell it!

Mrs @qbrozen: "Honey? I've got a lot or errands to run tomorrow. Will you come with me to Costco, Home Goods, & Target? We can take your pickup."

@qbrozen texting @stickguy: "Hey! Can we switch trucks for the day?"

stickguy

I tell people it’s like trying to adopt a baby. Only we are more particular! Dog people, always very obsessive.

I agree about devices. I need a real keyboard and mouse for any heavy duty typing. And stuff like my taxes. iPad (on one now!) is ok for basic browsing

28firefighter

@tjc78 It will end up being an effective $150 a month after tax for the 28 months they had it. Not so terrible.

qbrozen

Got another notification from Jeep: now the 2nd order is scheduled to arrive at dealer 10 days after the first. Dangit. Was hoping for a month or so. Talked to the wife and she figures we can put the first order in her name and sell it before her Sprinter arrives.

qbrozen

By the way, did anyone else receive an additional $40 check for Dieselgate? Apparently is the left over after everyone made their claims.

stickguy

Still mad I missed that deal.

graphicguy

Some of us are avid YouTube car content followers (it’s a disease). There’s a used car seller on the East Coast who has some interesting content. Not just vehicles for sale, but auction videos, rehab videos, etc.

Anyway, his last video he mentioned several times where he sees used car market loosening up and prices dropping, and in turn, the new car market doing the same.

One small data point from one small dealer. Interesting, nonetheless.

stickguy

Flying wheels. Watched that last night.

Though I think that happened before but didn’t stick.

Once the suppliers get back to full speed though, cars will start flooding the lots. Maybe Q4. Hopefully.

tjc78

@28firefighter said:
@tjc78 It will end up being an effective $150 a month after tax for the 28 months they had it. Not so terrible.

Wow….couldn’t lease a Chevy Spark for that payment.

ronsteve

stickguy said:

I find that the design can do that. A high beltline or hood, small windows and restricted visibility, all kind of things can make a small car feel big. or vice versa.

one of the easiest cars to manuver to me (toward the front at least) was the big Ryder Frieghtliner truck I used to drive. Sat up high, huge windows, shortish hood and easy to see corners. Could put that thing 2" from the car ahead of you (that would get some panicked looks in the mirror!) But it just did not seem to be the barge it was, as long as you didn't want to back it up.

Visibility makes all the difference. Of my last two vehicles without backup cameras, I was way more confident parking the V70 than the smaller and more maneuverable Jetta. And I chalk it up to the outward visibility of the Volvo, and maybe a little to its squared shape. I knew exactly where the corners of that car were!

ronsteve

tifighter said:

breld said:

Random story…

When we arrived in Nashville last week, we went to the Avis counter to check in. We had reserved a “Ford Edge or similar” class and were told they had a Kia Sportage for us. I politely told them we needed a vehicle that could seat 4 plus their luggage, and she insisted the Sportage was in the same class. Long story short, she asked a manager to come over and explained that I was insisting on a Ford Edge….uh no, I get how the “similar” part works, I just didn’t think the Sportage was “similar.” Finally, he made the claim again that the Kia was the same size, if not larger, than the Edge, particularly since the Kia had a third row. Huh? Simple mistake…the clerk had mistakenly said “Sportage” instead of “Sorrento.”

The Sorrento was nice for a rental car…certainly comfortable enough for driving around the city. But I have often made the claim that pretty much all cars these days have adequate horsepower. I stand corrected.

We were in AZ in December and were 'awarded' a Sorrento. It had the base 4cyl, and I can report that it was not happy at all with higher elevations. Passing was alarming.

I'll count my lucky stars that the Sorento I had in 2018 out of Denver was a V6!

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

By the way, did anyone else receive an additional $40 check for Dieselgate? Apparently is the left over after everyone made their claims.

Nope. I think just the main check from VW and another one from Bosch ($375?).

qbrozen

kyfdx said:

Nope. I think just the main check from VW and another one from Bosch ($375?).

Yeah, the letter says it is from Bosch. I don't recall getting one of those before, but it has been quite a while. This $40 arrived just yesterday.

qbrozen

Oh yeah, forgot to add this one data point. The insurance on the TRX is damned near double any other vehicle on my policy.

henryn

corvette said:

henryn said:

I just upgraded my main rig. It was 4 years old, and not legally eligible for Windows 11.

My laptop which I have set up as a desktop (and store all my photos and documents on) is a 2016 model, not officially compatible with Windows 11, but I understand you can still install it on unsupported hardware, which is good, because Windows 10 is slated to stop receiving security updates in 2025. Anyway, I recently replaced a 27" 1080p monitor which died with a 4k monitor, and it seems to struggle a bit to drive the higher resolution monitor, and I noticed that my 512 GB SSD is at around 75% of its storage capacity. I'm planning to upgrade the SSD and max out the RAM in an attempt to get a couple more years out of it.

Trying to drive a 4k monitor with the built in graphics in most notebooks is usually an exercise in frustration. Even if you buy a new notebook, it is not going to be happy trying to drive that 4k monitor. Unless you buy a “gaming” notebook, which will set you back a bundle.

You would probably be better off trying to find a way to swap out that 27 inch 3840x2160 monitor for a 2560x1440 monitor, which looks almost as good and is much easier on the GPU. You probably wouldn’t save any money, they tend to sell for about the same amount. Which is why most people buy the higher resolution monitor, why not if they cost roughly the same?

Upgrading the SSD and maxing out the RAM is an excellent idea. But you might want to look around for some videos on YouTube about how to get into your particular notebook. Most of the newer models are a real pain to open up. And if it requires disconnecting those incredibly frail ribbon cable connectors, watch out! You break one of those, which is very easy to do, and you are in a world of hurt.

henryn

There actually is some logic behind the move to Windows 11 (new name), and the requirement for TPM. TPM is Trusted Platform Module, and it’s basically about hardware assisted encryption. It’s used for Bitlocker, which encrypts the hard drive in your computer. Pretty much all big corporations use Bitlocker on their PCs. And that becomes harder to implement and maintain with people working from home. TPM makes it easier.

Upgrading to Windows 11 when your present computer doesn’t have TPM or the latest CPU is relatively easy, and doesn’t even involve anything illegal. You can download an ISO image for the Windows 11 installer from a number of sources, mainly Microsoft. Then you run a short simple script, freely available, which changes a few bytes in that ISO image to bypass the check for TPM and the latest CPU. After that, you just mount the ISO image and run the Setup program contained therein. After that, Bob’s your uncle.

Microsoft is well aware that a lot of people are doing this, and they released a statement some time back saying they reserved the right to stop updating computers which are running Windows 11 without meeting the requirements. But knowledgeable insiders are quite skeptical about that. Microsoft supposedly ended all support for Windows 7 more than 2 years ago, but they are still releasing patches for security updates.

A further note on that hardware assisted encryption. There are a number of people who are worried that any hardware assisted encryption will have a backdoor accessible to the FBI and CIA. Which is quite possible, but doesn’t really concern me. If you’re not a member of an Al-Qaeda sleeper cell or involved in something like child pornography, then the FBI and the CIA could care less what you’re doing with your computer.

28firefighter

@qbrozen said:
Oh yeah, forgot to add this one data point. The insurance on the TRX is damned near double any other vehicle on my policy.

I’ll take “No Surprises There” for $1000.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

kyfdx said:

Nope. I think just the main check from VW and another one from Bosch ($375?).

Yeah, the letter says it is from Bosch. I don't recall getting one of those before, but it has been quite a while. This $40 arrived just yesterday.

Hopefully, I get one, too

breld

That’s funny - I just saw on my USPS preview that I have something from Bosch in the mail. I figured it was one of the class action lawsuit notifications for a dishwasher we had many houses ago!

breld

So…we just put a deposit on this Bronco, located at a small town dealership in Michigan.

We have an order in (no deposit) at a local dealer for a 2 door manual in this same color. But you know, I enjoy searching anyway, so have been looking online every evening just in case something came up. Most listings aren’t actually available, and anything that is on the lot and available has a markup anywhere from $10k on the low end up to as much as $30k.

This one was advertised with a $2,500 markup, so I made an online inquiry last night and the salesperson called me promptly this morning saying it was available.

mjfloyd1

@breld said:
That’s funny - I just saw on my USPS preview that I have something from Bosch in the mail. I figured it was one of the class action lawsuit notifications for a dishwasher we had many houses ago!

I was hoping it was from the MB diesel settlement

henryn

qbrozen said:

By the way, did anyone else receive an additional $40 check for Dieselgate? Apparently is the left over after everyone made their claims.

Nothing yet. I certainly wouldn't turn it down.

stickguy

I thought you wanted the 2 door size, not the jumbo? Though I guess for a few weeks it really won’t matter.

I think the 4 door is too big and ungainly in the bronco, but the 2 door looks great.

tifighter

@breld You never disappoint...

[Deleted User]

tifighter said:

@breld You never disappoint...

...or amaze!!!