Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

roadburner

Slap four winter tires on that 5er and it will be just about unstoppable. That was my experience with a 1997 528i.

grandtotal

It's tempting to sell the RAV4 and maybe even the Camry to upgrade to the RX. Any thoughts?

This would be the Camry about which you wrote "I love, love, love my Camry. It is moving up the list of favorite cars of all-time pretty quick."?

lemmer

This guy has pretty much nailed it. You need to know the history.

The non-M cars are less fussy, but I still really prefer to have a good history on any BMW. I've been looking for a decent convertible BMW, M or otherwise. There is a ton of trash out there.

roadburner

The non-M cars are less fussy, but I still really prefer to have a good history on any BMW. I've been looking for a decent convertible BMW, M or otherwise. There is a ton of trash out there.

A PPI by a good BMW tech is also advisable. The U.S. spec E36(1995-1999) M3 is fairly cheap to maintain as it doesn't have a true ///M motor under the hood.

tifighter

This would be the Camry about which you wrote "I love, love, love my Camry. It is moving up the list of favorite cars of all-time pretty quick."?>

I was thinking that too...

anonymousposts

Yeah, that's the same Camry. As much as I love the Camry, I am always open to saving money and getting a comparable car in the process. Besides, I am ready to be done with car payments and the RX is a much quicker way out than the Camry.

qbrozen

Want a '91 Benz w/ 162k miles?

jayrider

Get in line -- I want one too. :P

qbrozen

I might go as low at $1800 for my Edmunds friends. :P

I've actually had alot of interest in it, surprisingly. Even had an offer last night that I accepted ($2k).... but then the guy didn't leave a deposit and just said he'd be back tomorrow (tonight). We'll see.

28firefighter

roadburner,

Since you are the resident BMW Guru here...what should I know about the 5-series (with the Inline 6) maintenance wise and reliability wise? I know about synthetic oil changes, but is there anything else I should be concerned within, say, the first 20k miles I might have it?

I'm absolutely hooked on this car after driving it. Way different from my Subaru (which I might add also couldn't go anywhere this winter because the snow came up too high around it until the lot was plowed).

Thanks for the help!

fezo

Oh, what a tease - he already has a buyer!

I don't think that one qualifies as what I want to get her into though I did have a Mercedes at that age....

qbrozen

new or used? what engine?
if used, what year?

28firefighter

Used - 2002 530i with 80k miles. A trusted mechanic picked it up and is selling it for a 10k asking price but is open to taking an offer on it.

roadburner

what should I know about the 5-series (with the Inline 6) maintenance wise and reliability wise? I know about synthetic oil changes, but is there anything else I should be concerned within, say, the first 20k miles I might have it?

The E39 5er is one of the best sport sedans ever built, and it has proven to be durable and reliable. In the 80K-100K mile range you'll probably looking at a water pump. At 100K miles you should replace the radiator and thermostat as a precaution. Window regulators have been problematic; less so in later models. As far as the suspension goes, you may need to replace some bushings and/or the tie rod ends. As for other maintenance:
Oil and filter: Every 7.5-8K miles Use a BMW filter and either: BMW Synthetic 5W-30, Castrol 0W-30, Mobil 1 0W-40(or 5W-40), or Rotella Synthetic 5W-40
Coolant: Change every three years, use only BMW Coolant
Brake Fluid: Every two years DOT 4 fluid Ate, BMW, and Castrol are all good
Transmission/final drive: Every 60K miles- use BMW oils
There's a first-class E39 Yahoo group. Shoot me a PM and I'll give you the URL.
Let me know if you have any other questions.

roadburner

good source of BMW info can be found at the BMW Car Club web-site. They have a forum similar to Edmunds, and you can read the forums without being a member.

BMW Club?
I'll have to check that out... :surprise:

stickguy

what's your budget?

stickguy

my son has been going through the photo albums my wife dragged out.

for some reason, there are a bunch from when I was in college, but home.

In that section, he found a picture of my Gremlin. '75 yellow X. 6 cyl, 3 speed (of course).
I actually liked that car a lot.

Ended up selling to my best friend (to start my ill fated "marriage" to my '75 Opel). Picture was from his time with it, based on the brown fender we put on after he peeled the original one off on a parked Caddy (long story...)

fezo

Budget - trying to stay under $10K.

I had bought the world's most expensive $6K car for her older sister....

Speaking of daughter #1 she's got the old Accord now. We had to replace the clutch. How much was her learning experience and how much was plain old age I can't tell you.

michaellno

We had to replace the clutch. How much was her learning experience and how much was plain old age I can't tell you.

Hmmm .. sounds very similar to when I took my late FIL's '92 Subaru Legacy wagon and drove it to CA 3 years ago as a HS graduation present to my son. 140K - he needed to replace the clutch within 6 months as well.

He doesn't drive it anymore -- he sold it to a female friend of his and it's still going strong, though I don't know how many miles it has on it now.

stickguy

10K? Geez, that's probably more than the budget I have for the next car for me. I should have gone into library science. Seems to be where all the big money is!

J/K there.

look for a nice clean 2006=1007 mazda 6. Nice compact size, reliable, and probably a lot more car for the money than an Accord.

Or of course, a 2-3 YO Sonata, although I found the seats (cloth) in one to be not particularly comfy.

akangl

Yeah, that's the same Camry. As much as I love the Camry, I am always open to saving money and getting a comparable car in the process. Besides, I am ready to be done with car payments and the RX is a much quicker way out than the Camry.

I've done that a few times.......it never worked, lol. I LOVE my Pilot and although I could sell it for more then I owe and downgrade to a Suburban or something like that in the $10k range I refuse. I know that if I'm happy with a vehicle and sell it I'll go through 10 more cars before I find one I like.

fezo

Oh, trust me, I will be happy to go a great deal less. Would prefer so. Just don't want to repeat the oops on daughter #1's car.

kyfdx

Saw the perfect car for your daughter at the big car show, last weekend.

Amphicar... ..

corvette

If Ted Kennedy were still alive, perhaps she could get some lessons and tips from him... :P

anonymousposts

You are right. I have reconsidered. The Camry is way newer with far fewer miles and I can always walk away in two years and buy a daily driver then. We may still buy the Lexus and see if we can flip it for a slight profit.

grandtotal

Stop the presses, Akangl joins the dark side and talks a CCBA member out of flipping a car!

Seriously though, glad to hear you've come to your senses and decided to see the lease out.

akangl

Stop the presses, Akangl joins the dark side and talks a CCBA member out of flipping a car!

Thanks for the laugh. I guess I've come to my senses as well, the Pilot will be 3 years old in less then a month.

fezo

Here's a real optimist.

I understand you only have to find one sucker but this one's beyond pushing the envelope. Shredded the envelope.

lemmer

At least he didn't say "low miles for the year".

corvette

Body style is listed as a coupe, but the pic is a sedan... Hey, it has those nice wheels.

boomchek

Haha, too funny. Yeah the body is listed as a coupe, but at the bottom it says 4 doors. I sent him an email for fun to see if that's for real. I hope he meant $749.

roadburner

Here's a real optimist

With over 300,000 miles on the clock it's very likely that the original owner died.
Of boredom.

boomchek

The seller hasn't responded to my inquiry. Maybe he noticed people are making fun of him.

fezo

Those two extra doors are mighty expensive.

I'm at least temporarily out of the market. My daughter is fine with the Celica and its taped roof and I'm not doing anything with the van at least until it's paid off so if my luck holds out (which it hardly ever does) try me about a year from now.

mark156

I was shocked at that price! Seems a car that runs should bring at least a $1,000.

$7,495??? he can only wish. :sick:

Mark156

akangl

We had some time to kill yesterday while waiting on a computer repair, so decided to go look at sports cars for the fun of it. We said right when we'd get there, just looking, killing time, not interested in buying, and don't want to drive them. Course salesmen love to still follow along. Looked at the mustangs, kinda cute, but boring. Looked over the Camaro, exterior was amazing, interior, yuck.

We swung by the dodge dealership to say hi to a friend, looked at the Charger....yuck, 4dr, so moved on and looked at the Challenger. O M G was about all I could say, wow, what a car.

Sat in an orange one on the showroom floor, course my sales manager friend was saying, "yeah you should test drive one", I declined, lol. Then before I knew it we had a salesman and keys, lol, so why not? W O W that car drives better then it looks! I was stunned, best american car I've driven, ever, I think. Six speed manual was so dead on, clutch was nice, and the power/sound of the engine. Yup, I was in love.

All I kept thinking is.......I have equity in the Pilot........

michaellno

All I kept thinking is.......I have equity in the Pilot........

If you do this - and I'll give you a 1 in 3 chance that you'll pull the trigger - you'll regret it with the first storm that rolls through. RWD in Alaska?

Then again, it would give you the opportunity to buy a winter beater for those days.

2 for 1 ... yeah, I kinda like it.

akangl

you'll regret it with the first storm that rolls through. RWD in Alaska

I have the Explorer for bad days and beaters with heaters are cheap up here........

fezo

I have the Explorer for bad days and beaters with heaters are cheap up here........

Uh oh. Just went to even money.....

[Deleted User]

Put me down for 7/3

tifighter

Live from Vegas, this Fourth of July!

Who will buy first? See Jolie vs. Anony in a steel cage death match! Which will get traded first? Camry or Pilot? Come to Caesar's Palace and see!!!

corvette

One of my coworkers told me I should buy a Camaro yesterday. I told him no more GM after the lemon law ordeal, maybe a Mustang. :P But I really like the Altima. It's a great car, even though it's not a babe magnet.

akangl

Which will get traded first? Camry or Pilot? Come to Caesar's Palace and see!!!

That's too funny! I looked at a mustang yesterday, nice car, enjoyable to drive, they appraised the Pilot, gave me some numbers and I left. Hubby is going to go drive it on monday when he gets home. It had an air intank and shaker hood on it, was kinda neat, car is red.......cuz ya know I gotta get the attention of the cops even more, like I don't do that enough in the Pilot........83 in a 65

anonymousposts

LOL... that is funny.

I will throw in the white towel now though. I am currently posting from sunny Florida, where we just drove the Camry to get the windows tinted. It is a form of commitment to it. I could never trade a car that I just spend $200 on, right? OK, we would but we aren't this time.

Even though it is a 7 hour drive, we have had all of our cars since 1999 tinted at the same place in Palm Harbor, Florida. It's a two for one though because my mom, sister, and nieces and nephew only live a few miles away from our favorite tint shop. And compared to the prices they charge for tint in Atlanta, we get a trip to Florida and tint for the same price as a tint job back home.

roadburner

One of my coworkers told me I should buy a Camaro yesterday. I told him no more GM after the lemon law ordeal, maybe a Mustang.

I went to the Ford website and priced out a Mustang GT optioned just the way I wanted it(Brembos, 3:73 axle, Xenons, Shaker 1000 sound upgrade, heated seats, and leather trim... MSRP was $38990!!! :surprise:

kplacer

I have driven the new 5.0 Mustang but not the Challenger. The Dodge struck me as just way too big and oversized, like the Camaro. Last year I happened on a situation where a new Challenger was parked next to a 1970 and the difference in size was astounding. The new one appeared to be the size of a truck next to the original. Having said all that, of the 3 repro ponycars, the Dodge is the only one that always makes me look twice.

Yesterday I was at a GM dealer and for the first time saw a couple of new Camaros that I liked -- a Hugger Orange SS with orange interior was very nice, as was an all-black RS, to my surprise as I normally do not like black-on-black cars. They also had this screaming neon green one that seared the eyeballs, which I did not like so much.

The new Challenger is heavy enough that it probably plows right thru snow if equipped with the right tires.

corvette

I'd guess that, with the 2011 model Mustang, even the base V6 (300 hp) packs a punch. On the other hand, you can get a used 300C SRT-8 at a fairly reasonable price now. Does a Challenger really add anything over the Charger, other than looking like a classic muscle car?

michaellno

I could never trade a car that I just spend $200 on, right? OK, we would but we aren't this time.

I don't think I'm buyin' what you're sellin'. Any car in your fleet could go at any time, no matter if you dropped $200 or $2000 into it. Didn't gee do a lot of suspension work to one of your cars, only to see it leave the fleet?

went to the Ford website and priced out a Mustang GT optioned just the way I wanted it(Brembos, 3:73 axle, Xenons, Shaker 1000 sound upgrade, heated seats, and leather trim... MSRP was $38990!!!

I'd probably go the same route, but w/o the sound system - eats up too much trunk space. And, I'd go for the soft top rather than the coupe.

Having said all that, of the 3 repro ponycars, the Dodge is the only one that always makes me look twice.

Agreed. But, since the Mustang is the only one currently offered as a 'vert, that's the direction I'd go.

I gotta believe that when I'm ready to pull the trigger in a few years, the "old" 300HP V8 Stangs will be fairly inexpensive, and even the new 400+ HP version should be available at a decent discount used.

anonymousposts

Gee did do a lot of suspension work to the Prelude. However, he purchased the parts and did the labor himself. And we sold the car for a profit that covered all of the work that had been done. The Camry would just be a loss any way we looked at it.

stickguy

was out running errands today, and ended up right next to the Buick dealer. SO, went to check out th eregal.

Too bad they did not have one inside. Just one (that I saw) parked outside. But at least I looked at it, and the sticker of course.

Overall? I liked it. Very sharp looking. Nice interior too (through the windows). Seemed to be nicely loaded up.

If I was to get one (a big if), probably that model too (since I could not reall justify the turbo). It was an IIRC CXT? 4 cyl, nicely loaded. Had every feature I care about, with the power/premium/something package (power pass. seat and moonroof mostly). Everything else was standard.

pretty good mpg at 19-30. But pricey. Sticker was $28,500ish with the options. I guess compared to the competition not too bad, but that didn't have a nav, so probably as much, if not more, than an Accord EXL 4 cyl.

although the Accord looked like a Buick blimp compared to this thing. Odd, isn't it?

Would like to sit in one for comfort at some point.

If I ever go back to mega (90+ miles/day) commuting, something like this would make it a lot more pleasant!