Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

andres3

jmonroe1 said:

andres3 said:

tjc78 said:

breld said:

Nice choice on the S90 @qbrozen. I’ve always thought it’s quite the sleeper option, as long as you like a sedan.

Pay attention to the brake feel - the pads seem to be be notorious for irregular wearing early on. Slowing down at higher speeds may result in some very noticeable shuddering. My V90 exhibited that on a road trip, and the dealer ended up replacing them under warranty with no fuss.

Both of my Volvos have a little brake shudder at speeds over 75 and the S60 squeals a bit. So be it. I’m hard on brakes so I’m partly to blame. I warped the rotors on both Enclaves before 20k miles.

@qbrozen
A rental S90 is what got me into Volvo. Very nice car. For awhile in 2019 there were screaming lease deals if you could stack Costco.

A squealing brake pad is a happy brake pad; no problem there; that's acceptable. However, shuddering and warped rotors is not acceptable, either poor engineering, or Chinese metals in use likely.

I've tracked cars and the only thing that should happen from hard driving is eventually scoring your pad metal back plate into the rotor for a nice grinding noise. LOL! With proper pads this doesn't happen..

What universe do you live in? When you wear out the pads the metal backing plate of the pads will ALWAYS score the rotor.

No speeding is going to prevent that.

jmonroe

Nah, I learned my lesson, but these days, rotors are rarely good for 2 sets of pads on performance cars anyway. Scoring the rotors made driving home "interesting" but it garnered me 1-2 extra sessions at a track weekend HPDE event.

Lessons learned include:
1. Don't use Audi OEM brake pads at the track unless your driving something slow. You can easily wear out even 10 mm of pad in a weekend. Proper pads (for the track) will exhibit maybe 1/4th the wear.
2. Maybe bring an extra set of pads for an "emergency" use.
3. Make sure those last 2 sessions or 1 last session are worth it.

oldfarmer50

andres3 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

ab348 said:

Up here in Canada I used to have an Amazon Visa card, issued by Chase. It provided a similar 5% back IIRC and I liked it. Oddly, Chase decided to get out of the credit card business up here and Amazon of course discontinued the card. Even more oddly, Chase just ate the loss by not trying to collect any outstanding balances owed to them after a few months of discontinuing the card (wish I had known about that before I made my final payment). After some period of time without a branded card, they returned with an Amazon Mastercard from MBNA, but now only offer 2.5% back, and MBNA has a less than stellar reputation at least in my mind, so I didn't bother with it.

I only have two cards, one I’ve had for nearly 40 years. That one I don’t use any more because of some company policies with which I disagree. To close it now would cause a big credit score hit so I just let it float like a zombie. I never buy anything based on points as I would feel like I was being manipulated.

Mostly I just use cash as I know it frustrates the CIA’s efforts to track me.

The CIA might be pushing inflation up to get back at you.

Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get me.

qbrozen

andres3 said:

3. Make sure those last 2 sessions or 1 last session are worth it.

It is interesting you say that. The last two 2-day HPDEs I participated in, I left before the last run of the day. I just felt like I had gotten as fast as I was going to get and had a voice in the back of my head saying "hey, you didn't bin the car, you had fun, why press your luck?"

jmonroe1

andres3 said:

jmonroe1 said:

andres3 said:

tjc78 said:

breld said:

Nice choice on the S90 @qbrozen. I’ve always thought it’s quite the sleeper option, as long as you like a sedan.

Pay attention to the brake feel - the pads seem to be be notorious for irregular wearing early on. Slowing down at higher speeds may result in some very noticeable shuddering. My V90 exhibited that on a road trip, and the dealer ended up replacing them under warranty with no fuss.

Both of my Volvos have a little brake shudder at speeds over 75 and the S60 squeals a bit. So be it. I’m hard on brakes so I’m partly to blame. I warped the rotors on both Enclaves before 20k miles.

@qbrozen
A rental S90 is what got me into Volvo. Very nice car. For awhile in 2019 there were screaming lease deals if you could stack Costco.

A squealing brake pad is a happy brake pad; no problem there; that's acceptable. However, shuddering and warped rotors is not acceptable, either poor engineering, or Chinese metals in use likely.

I've tracked cars and the only thing that should happen from hard driving is eventually scoring your pad metal back plate into the rotor for a nice grinding noise. LOL! With proper pads this doesn't happen..

What universe do you live in? When you wear out the pads the metal backing plate of the pads will ALWAYS score the rotor.

No speeding is going to prevent that.

jmonroe

Nah, I learned my lesson, but these days, rotors are rarely good for 2 sets of pads on performance cars anyway. Scoring the rotors made driving home "interesting" but it garnered me 1-2 extra sessions at a track weekend HPDE event.

Lessons learned include:
1. Don't use Audi OEM brake pads at the track unless your driving something slow. You can easily wear out even 10 mm of pad in a weekend. Proper pads (for the track) will exhibit maybe 1/4th the wear.
2. Maybe bring an extra set of pads for an "emergency" use.
3. Make sure those last 2 sessions or 1 last session are worth it.

You make about as much sense trying to defend what you say as @driver100 does over in the other forum. Have fun but I don’t buy a word of it.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

My biggest concern is that my kids couldn't even afford to stay in NJ if they wanted to. Or they'll never leave home. Not that I care if they do. They sooner they leave, the sooner we'll have to make a decision about downsizing. lol.

You might want to rethink the popular downsizing mentality. From what I’ve heard, you get less space but you pay more. That doesn’t make sense to me unless you’re moving to another location for warmer weather or buying a ranch style house to get away from climbing steps if you live in a two story home. However, buying something equivalent but smaller in the same area, well, that’s your choice.

Every so often Mrs. j brings up downsizing and my response is always the same. You’re watching too much TV or listening to too many realtors that send out circulars promoting all the joys of downsizing. I don’t know why she can’t remember that.

jmonroe

sda

As much as I like our open floor plan, noise is an issue. Often as I try to watch TV in the family room, if someone is in the kitchen cooking, chopping vegetables, doing food prep, washing dishes in the sink , running the dishwasher (though it is decently quiet), using the disposal, it can be very annoying.

tjc78

@sda said:
As much as I like our open floor plan, noise is an issue. Often as I try to watch TV in the family room, if someone is in the kitchen cooking, chopping vegetables, doing food prep, washing dishes in the sink , running the dishwasher (though it is decently quiet), using the disposal, it can be very annoying.

Same here.

qbrozen

jmonroe1 said:

You might want to rethink the popular downsizing mentality. From what I’ve heard, you get less space but you pay more. That doesn’t make sense to me unless you’re moving to another location for warmer weather or buying a ranch style house to get away from climbing steps if you live in a two story home. However, buying something equivalent but smaller in the same area, well, that’s your choice.

Every so often Mrs. j brings up downsizing and my response is always the same. You’re watching too much TV or listening to too many realtors that send out circulars promoting all the joys of downsizing. I don’t know why she can’t remember that.

jmonroe

I hear what you are saying, but, like most things, "it depends." For one, this is a lot of house to maintain. And, no, I wouldn't stay in the same town because a big advantage would be lower taxes, which ain't gonna happen here. We could save $1k/mo in taxes alone by moving to a reasonably-sized house in a reasonably-taxed town. But, it is a great area, and I'm sure the wife is going to want to hang in there until we know for certain the kids would never be back. lol.

kyfdx

@qbrozen has a 30-foot tall front door. He can downsize, and still be in two ZIP codes at the same time.

Our original dishwasher (american style Jenn-Air) was pretty noisy, and our kitchen is open to the TV viewing area. When it died, got the Bosch (euro-style), and you literally can't hear it. It even has an LED light that shines on the floor, when it's running, so you know not to open it.

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

@sda said:

As much as I like our open floor plan, noise is an issue. Often as I try to watch TV in the family room, if someone is in the kitchen cooking, chopping vegetables, doing food prep, washing dishes in the sink , running the dishwasher (though it is decently quiet), using the disposal, it can be very annoying.

Same here.

Yep add one more to that list.

The house we are in now is not an open floor plan. It was built in ‘75 and that concept was not around then but our family room adjoins the kitchen and I can hear what goes on in the kitchen. Mrs. j knows when that’s happening because I turn up the TV. The noise is not terrible but not as quiet as I’d like.

Now, with the flip houses we’ve done we always whack down a wall to open it up. Everyone seems to like it that way so we’ll continue whacking.

jmonroe

stickguy

I like to have some separation, but want the kitchen open to the family room so you aren't isolated. what I don't like is one big room so the dining room table and family room are all together.

28firefighter

Punch....

au1994

28firefighter said:

Punch....

You remind me of a girl I went to high school with…

28firefighter

The Jeep will be gone by Saturday. An acquaintence was selling his 2008 Infiniti G35 with 100k miles. Black over Black. Not perfect - gauge cluster circuit board needs some new LEDs and some interior trim is peeling, but otherwise in great shape. Picked it up for $7k. Amazing mechanical shape and long-term ownership (2 owners only).

I did it because the new Jeep is still nowhere near production and they don't have the remotest of ETAs on it.

Sandman6472

Our house is just under 1900 sq. ft. and it's plenty big for the two of us. At one time, there were 5 of us living here. Anything bigger is just more to clean, cool & heat to be honest. Ours is a 4/2 and wish we had that extra 1/2 bath to be honest, for guests mainly. I've taken over the kids bathroom & it's working out nicely. Right now, mine is the cleaner one for some reason. And one story is truly the way to go as we age. Right now, stairs would be a real problem for me so glad we gave those up when we sold our townhouse. Our big problem now is do we redo some stuff or sell & down size to a smaller place. We'll know later on in the year if our daughter who just moved to Boca wants to buy a condo. If yes to that question, we'll be staying for a longer term so then we'll have to make some improvements in the kitchen, the master bath and some of the flooring. Figuring we'll need about $40K, give or take, to get something we could enjoy. Or maybe, get a bigger place where the three of us can live but not sure about this idea. Just throwing it out there to get a gut reaction.

qbrozen

I’m thinking about putting a greenhouse in our basement. Because… why not? Is it still a greenhouse if it doesn’t get natural light? But, no, not THAT kind of greenery. It occurred to me that the wife might prefer growing her veggies there rather than outside where we are fending off critters all the time. There is a bathroom rough-in down there that we will never use for its intended purpose, so it could make for a good place to set up a watering system. Was considering surprising her for Mothers Day. I have ZERO clue what I’m doing, though. But I guess that has never stopped me before.

tjc78

@28firefighter
Solid vehicle that you probably won’t lose much if any money on

@qbrozen
That actually sounds like a fun project. Some long tables, over head lighting and a drip irrigation system.

stickguy

set up a hydroponic system. because why not!

xwesx

qbrozen said:

I’m thinking about putting a greenhouse in our basement. Because… why not? Is it still a greenhouse if it doesn’t get natural light? But, no, not THAT kind of greenery. It occurred to me that the wife might prefer growing her veggies there rather than outside where we are fending off critters all the time. There is a bathroom rough-in down there that we will never use for its intended purpose, so it could make for a good place to set up a watering system. Was considering surprising her for Mothers Day. I have ZERO clue what I’m doing, though. But I guess that has never stopped me before.

Just be careful about it from a humidity standpoint. Yes, basements can be humid in many environments, but actively adding water to it can change the equation.

28firefighter

+1 - the idea of doing anything to bring moisture into the house makes me very nervous unless you're putting in a separate system to manage that.

xwesx

Sandman6472 said:

Our house is just under 1900 sq. ft. and it's plenty big for the two of us. At one time, there were 5 of us living here. Anything bigger is just more to clean, cool & heat to be honest.

From a living space perspective, my family has about a thousand square feet. Granted, I could have double that if I would just finish the house, but my motivation isn't there. I pick at it, but that's about it.

Again, it works. It can feel cramped at times.

jmonroe1

xwesx said:

Sandman6472 said:

Our house is just under 1900 sq. ft. and it's plenty big for the two of us. At one time, there were 5 of us living here. Anything bigger is just more to clean, cool & heat to be honest.

From a living space perspective, my family has about a thousand square feet. Granted, I could have double that if I would just finish the house, but my motivation isn't there. I pick at it, but that's about it.

Again, it works. It can feel cramped at times.

With that kind of motivation you’d never be a good house flipper. We take our time but we’re motivated.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

au1994 said:

28firefighter said:

Punch....

You remind me of a girl I went to high school with…

Yeah. With that tease he deserves one from each of us.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@xwesx said:
Just be careful about it from a humidity standpoint. Yes, basements can be humid in many environments, but actively adding water to it can change the equation.

Good point. There was a minor issue with excessive pipe sweat when we moved in that I took care of with a dehumidifier that runs continuously and drains into the AC run-off pump.

explorerx4

Our houses have always pretty much been the family gathering place for just about the last 40 years, so I doubt it's going to change much. 30, 40 , 50 people for the holidays, or other occasions.
We have an open back portion of the house, kitchen, eating area and family room.
The only time kitchen noise bothers me is when the coffee machine is grinding beans.

roadburner

qbrozen said:

andres3 said:

3. Make sure those last 2 sessions or 1 last session are worth it.

It is interesting you say that. The last two 2-day HPDEs I participated in, I left before the last run of the day. I just felt like I had gotten as fast as I was going to get and had a voice in the back of my head saying "hey, you didn't bin the car, you had fun, why press your luck?"

By the last run most students are pretty tired; that's when you can see some significant "offs."

laurasdada

stickguy said:

My son at least went to Albany and already bought a house.

My daughter moved to Boston though. She is never buying up there.

Boston: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!
I never thought I'd leave CT, but, then, see, I met a woman, and, well....you know.

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

Our houses have always pretty much been the family gathering place for just about the last 40 years, so I doubt it's going to change much. 30, 40 , 50 people for the holidays, or other occasions.
We have an open back portion of the house, kitchen, eating area and family room.
The only time kitchen noise bothers me is when the coffee machine is grinding beans.

If that’s the only hiccup they sell preground beans ya know.

jmonroe

stickguy

My daughter moves a lot. definitely someone that shouldn't unpack. June 1 she moves to another apartment. Will be her 3rd in Boston since we moved her up mid-May 2021.

graduated college May 2018. in the 3 years until she went up there, she lived in 7 places around her (including our house 3 times). I should have had a frequent flyer card at U haul.

So we don't make too many decisions based on where she is at any point in time.

corvette

I stayed in the Alewife area outside of Cambridge when I was in Boston. For whatever reason, I pulled up real estate prices. It looked like there were some affordable-ish condos with dedicated parking in the area (you need a driveway or dedicated space if you're going to have a car there), but no way could I afford a house comparable to what I have, unless my salary quadrupled.

tjc78

@explorerx4 said:
Our houses have always pretty much been the family gathering place for just about the last 40 years, so I doubt it's going to change much. 30, 40 , 50 people for the holidays, or other occasions.
We have an open back portion of the house, kitchen, eating area and family room.
The only time kitchen noise bothers me is when the coffee machine is grinding beans.

Sounds like us… we host just about every holiday!

ab348

Sandman6472 said:

Our big problem now is do we redo some stuff or sell & down size to a smaller place. We'll know later on in the year if our daughter who just moved to Boca wants to buy a condo. If yes to that question, we'll be staying for a longer term so then we'll have to make some improvements in the kitchen, the master bath and some of the flooring. Figuring we'll need about $40K, give or take, to get something we could enjoy. Or maybe, get a bigger place where the three of us can live but not sure about this idea. Just throwing it out there to get a gut reaction.

If your estimate number is close to correct you will almost always get that back at sales time assuming the improvements are done correctly and is tasteful/designed well.

au1994

28firefighter said:

The Jeep will be gone by Saturday. An acquaintence was selling his 2008 Infiniti G35 with 100k miles. Black over Black. Not perfect - gauge cluster circuit board needs some new LEDs and some interior trim is peeling, but otherwise in great shape. Picked it up for $7k. Amazing mechanical shape and long-term ownership (2 owners only).

I did it because the new Jeep is still nowhere near production and they don't have the remotest of ETAs on it.

Congrats. That should serve you well until the Jeep arrives. That drivetrain is known to be pretty bulletproof and fun! A few minor projects to keep you occupied as well. Fix those and get a good detail and I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t get all of your $$ back.

sda

My BIL has a G35, red, black interior. He has had it for years and loves it. When he takes in for service at the dealer the Service Advisor has repeatedly offered to buy it for himself. I don't think it has 65k and is garage kept.

kyfdx

My neighbor had a G35.. Engine went south around 65K miles. Traded it on G37!, which seemed crazy to me.

We leased a G37 for 36K miles. No issues.

Michaell

My best friend has a G35. I think it's an '06, bought with 56K on it.

I don't know how many miles it has on it now - he doesn't drive it all that much, preferring to use either his folks' RAV4 (with the V6) or the '99 RAV4 he inherited from his aunt.

qbrozen

@kyfdx said:
My neighbor had a G35.. Engine went south around 65K miles. Traded it on G37!, which seemed crazy to me.

We leased a G37 for 36K miles. No issues.

That’s odd. Engine issues on the VQ35 are almost unheard of, AFAIK.

stickguy

Could have been a defective minor part failed. Or more likely, negligent maintenance.

Michaell

-1 outside at the moment, and I've got to take the MINI is for a service appointment in an hour.

At least I've arranged for a loaner, as I also have a dermatologist appointment later today.

ab348

kyfdx said:

My neighbor had a G35.. Engine went south around 65K miles.

My niece's husband (is there a term for that kind of family connection?) had a similar thing happen. He bought it used coming off the original lease, so it was 3 years old when he got it. No idea of original driver's maintenance habits nor his own. He ended up getting a replacement used engine installed.

kyfdx

ab348 said:

kyfdx said:

My neighbor had a G35.. Engine went south around 65K miles.

My niece's husband (is there a tern for that kind of family connection?) had a similar thing happen. He bought it used coming off the original lease, so it was 3 years old when he got it. No idea of original driver's maintenance habits nor his own. He ended up getting a replacement used engine installed.

To make it easy, we just call them nephew...

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

@kyfdx said:

My neighbor had a G35.. Engine went south around 65K miles. Traded it on G37!, which seemed crazy to me.

We leased a G37 for 36K miles. No issues.

That’s odd. Engine issues on the VQ35 are almost unheard of, AFAIK.

"almost"

The more interesting part: He bought another one, after taking a bath on the first one.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

My daughter moves a lot. definitely someone that shouldn't unpack. June 1 she moves to another apartment. Will be her 3rd in Boston since we moved her up mid-May 2021.

graduated college May 2018. in the 3 years until she went up there, she lived in 7 places around her (including our house 3 times). I should have had a frequent flyer card at U haul.

So we don't make too many decisions based on where she is at any point in time.

While I doubt they have a “frequent flyer card”. You should inquire about a “frequent rental/moving box/free gas” card.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

@explorerx4 said:

Our houses have always pretty much been the family gathering place for just about the last 40 years, so I doubt it's going to change much. 30, 40 , 50 people for the holidays, or other occasions.

We have an open back portion of the house, kitchen, eating area and family room.

The only time kitchen noise bothers me is when the coffee machine is grinding beans.

Sounds like us… we host just about every holiday!

I haven’t heard of any of your poster buddies getting an invite yet. Maybe this will be the year.

jmonroe

28firefighter

I am not unhappy about this one - it is very quick and the engine/exhaust sounds great. I'm even more thrilled that it is an unmolested version of one. My wife is even happy (for now) so that seems like a win.

It needs a little bit of cosmetic love inside and out - primarily replacing the peeling plastic touch points and then a good detail, but it drives great. I continue to be amazed by any 14 year old car that has absolutely zero rattles, squeaks, or creeks.

So, for those of you keeping score, I currently have 4 cars sitting in my driveway - but there are two plans for the year going forward, and I have not settled on one just yet given how long everything is taking to be made. The big shifts that came out this week are that my wife is going to be fully remote from here out and I will only be in office a max of two days per week (largely at my discretion) with some business travel requiring an airport run. It means being a 1 or 1.5 car household is more feasible.

Option 1 - Final Garage: 2021 Tesla Model 3 SR+, 2022 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xE

• The BMW is going to say farewell to us. Having a third car is creating too much friction at this point, primarily with not having a good parking spot for it without something living outside. Also that my wife cannot drive it is a problem (or not depending on how you look at it...).
• I keep the Infiniti until the Jeep arrives and then flip it.
• Risks: Jeep takes so long to get built that lease rates change, Infiniti becomes a short-term money pit.

Option 2 - Final Garage: 2022 Tesla Model Y LR AWD, 2008 Infiniti G35

• The BMW still says farewell.
• We like the Infiniti and it turns out not to be a money pit, such that it makes sense as an adder car on the days we actually need two cars.
• We trade the Model 3 SR+ in for a Model Y LR AWD and make that our primary family car and daily driver. I placed an order for one yesterday figuring that prices were not going to go down anytime soon. So far I seem to be right. ETA is August or September.
• Risks: Infiniti becomes a money pit, Tesla takes a while to arrive, etc.

In both cases, I'm targeting getting us down to two cars by May or so.

henryn

I have known a few people who went in for indoor gardening, but it wasn't in the basement (no basements in this part of the world), and they weren't growing vegetables.

xwesx

Michaell said:

-1 outside at the moment, and I've got to take the MINI is for a service appointment in an hour.

At least I've arranged for a loaner, as I also have a dermatologist appointment later today.

Thanks for that! 20F / -7C here, so that makes me feel pretty good about this temperature!

Michaell

xwesx said:

Michaell said:

-1 outside at the moment, and I've got to take the MINI is for a service appointment in an hour.

At least I've arranged for a loaner, as I also have a dermatologist appointment later today.

Thanks for that! 20F / -7C here, so that makes me feel pretty good about this temperature!

Looks like the MINI only needs an oil change, this go around.

Got a bright red Countryman S ALL4 as my loaner. I think the last time I had a red car was my '91 Nissan Sentra.

au1994

I assume the ZHP is going primarily because its a stick so there is no saving it.

Either are solid options. One question is do you have a concern if your primary road trip car is a full EV?

28firefighter

au1994 said:

I assume the ZHP is going primarily because its a stick so there is no saving it.

Either are solid options. One question is do you have a concern if your primary road trip car is a full EV?

Basically - having a second car my wife can't drive is a non-starter.

No concerns - everywhere we would roadtrip to from here has tons of charging infrastructure.