Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Michaell

ronsteve said:

@cdnpinhead said:

Some call it battleship grey, but you need to be old enough to know what a battleship is. Plus you need to think it's good.

The wife’s Jetta is the shade of grey that I think is being discussed. VW calls it platinum gray, my wife picked it, and was still in her 30s at the time.

My 2016 Jetta was a similar color, and the 2015 Jetta my nephew left behind is the same.

28firefighter

My previous Jeep and new one (if it ever appears) will be sting gray which I’m pretty sure is similar to what others are talking about. The granite paint is darker gray.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

My previous Jeep and new one (if it ever appears) will be sting gray which I’m pretty sure is similar to what others are talking about. The granite paint is darker gray.

Shouldn't we all emulate @qbrozen and put our ordered cars into our signature block? That way, we all know what's coming.

stickguy

My truck is dark gray. And looks really sharp.

plus in 1/2 an hour I turn an age with really does sound "old" (the "big one")

Michael, listen to your sister. shop the mini and if you get a strong offer dump it. and go grab the Sonata.

stickguy

showed some more stuff to my daughter. She fell in love with a Mazda 3 hatch (select model) in the darker blue. That was actually a pretty good deal. 10k miles was $327 (I think) per month with about $2,200 DAS for taxes and DMV stuff and bank fee. Though that was under my account down here. If she lived here probably would have pushed the "buy it now" button! Though she has no place to park it in Boston until early June.

benjaminh

Happy birthday stickguy!

Honda is still theoretically offering so-so leases on the Civic, although they require a large downpayment. By any chance did your daughter graduate from college in the last two years? If so, there's an extra $500 off. The challenge, of course, is finding a car in stock and getting a dealer to agree to lease it to you at this price.


Probably out of the price range, but the new Integra is going to start at around 30k, and Acura is taking orders now for delivery in the next few months.

https://www.acura.com/tools/reserve-online?modelYear=2023&vehiclemodelSeries=integra&zipcode=40205&dealer=251087

explorerx4

Civic lease is really 300+ per month unless you make a big down payment(not recommended with a lease).

kyfdx

stickguy said:

showed some more stuff to my daughter. She fell in love with a Mazda 3 hatch (select model) in the darker blue. That was actually a pretty good deal. 10k miles was $327 (I think) per month with about $2,200 DAS for taxes and DMV stuff and bank fee. Though that was under my account down here. If she lived here probably would have pushed the "buy it now" button! Though she has no place to park it in Boston until early June.

My son's best friend has that car in dark gray. Same trim, FWD. He likes it a lot.

kyfdx

Back in November, we couldn't find a Civic hatch, anywhere.

stickguy

Had odd email from local Honda dealer yesterday. Touting a bunch of almost new (2022) super low mile CPO units. Looked online and they had about 20 miles or so on them.

Turns out it was their way of cheating. They advertise hard about selling at MSRP. Plus the usual $999 or so accessories package. So they took their new inventory and called it used and marked up the price (on pilot was $2k over sticker). Though I guess you get CPO warranty if that is worth anything on a brand new car. 20 miles on it so not. Even a loaner which they don’t do, or a demo unit.

sda

@stickguy said:
My truck is dark gray. And looks really sharp.

plus in 1/2 an hour I turn an age with really does sound "old" (the "big one")

Michael, listen to your sister. shop the mini and if you get a strong offer dump it. and go grab the Sonata.

Happy Birthday and welcome to the club.

nyccarguy

Happy Birthday @stickguy

stickguy

Thanks!

au1994

28firefighter said:

My previous Jeep and new one (if it ever appears) will be sting gray which I’m pretty sure is similar to what others are talking about. The granite paint is darker gray.

I thought for some reason your first one was Snazzberry. Too bad its discontinued, its a sharp color. It was 2nd choice for me.

nyccarguy

This is my way of bringing balance to The Force. I punched my card.

20 years ago today

au1994

Happy Birthday @stickguy!

Hope you get something car related for you and the Maverick!

au1994

explorerx4 said:

Civic lease is really 300+ per month unless you make a big down payment(not recommended with a lease).

$300 is not bad at all for a Civic in my book.

roadburner

@cdnpinhead said:
Well done!

It's nice to hear of one of these things being used for the purpose for which it was designed, a rare thing, I think.

Back in the early '90s I remember asking the owner of an E28 M5 how it handled on the track. She looked at me as if I had asked if she raised goats in the back seat; “Oh, no- that would hurt the resale value!” Another owner answered the same question with, “After I spend all day cleaning it I wouldn’t want to get it dirty.”
Idiot poseurs.

qbrozen

Talk me out of leasing a Charger or Challenger, please.

Charger Hellcat WB has a virtually 0 MF. RV not tremendous at 59% for 39/10. Looking like 8% or so off sticker plus another $1k loyalty.

stickguy said:

Had odd email from local Honda dealer yesterday. Touting a bunch of almost new (2022) super low mile CPO units. Looked online and they had about 20 miles or so on them.

Turns out it was their way of cheating. They advertise hard about selling at MSRP. Plus the usual $999 or so accessories package. So they took their new inventory and called it used and marked up the price (on pilot was $2k over sticker). Though I guess you get CPO warranty if that is worth anything on a brand new car. 20 miles on it so not. Even a loaner which they don’t do, or a demo unit.

First, happy birthday!

Second, how the heck can they do that without Honda raising an eyebrow? They'd have to buy them out in the dealer's name, transfer title, and then take it back in as used. That's all kinds of fishy.

graphicguy

nyccarguy said:

This is my way of bringing balance to The Force. I punched my card.

20 years ago today

We must be the only ones who find the zen in red vehicles.

qbrozen

Volvo is at the dealer already. First time I drove it, CEL and reduced performance. Lol.
Great thing is the dealer came and got the car and will bring it back. I can't complain much about repairs if I never have to leave the house for it. Selling dealer told us CEL was on but that they would take to dealer and take care of it. I'm not so sure they actually did that. Codes I pulled were mass evap leak (if related to TSB, it just needs an updated hose of some sort) and, more sever, crank shaft position sensor out of range.

benjaminh

My wife chose red too for her functional and well-used CR-V. The color is actually called "lava"!

stickguy

I miss my flashy red TLX. Car had style.

henryn

explorerx4 said:

Civic lease is really 300+ per month unless you make a big down payment(not recommended with a lease).

A little quick math, roughly $323 per month without the loyalty thing. Not bad in this market, I suppose.

explorerx4

Carvana and Vroom have been getting some bas press lately for misrepresenting vehicle condition and title issues. They own a lot of vehicles.

au1994

Talk me out of leasing a Charger or Challenger, please.

Charger Hellcat WB has a virtually 0 MF. RV not tremendous at 59% for 39/10. Looking like 8% or so off sticker plus another $1k loyalty.

Talk you out of it? You'll be lucky if someone in this group doesn't beat you to the deal.

henryn

qbrozen said:

Talk me out of leasing a Charger or Challenger, please.

Charger Hellcat WB has a virtually 0 MF. RV not tremendous at 59% for 39/10. Looking like 8% or so off sticker plus another $1k loyalty.

stickguy said:

Had odd email from local Honda dealer yesterday. Touting a bunch of almost new (2022) super low mile CPO units. Looked online and they had about 20 miles or so on them.

Turns out it was their way of cheating. They advertise hard about selling at MSRP. Plus the usual $999 or so accessories package. So they took their new inventory and called it used and marked up the price (on pilot was $2k over sticker). Though I guess you get CPO warranty if that is worth anything on a brand new car. 20 miles on it so not. Even a loaner which they don’t do, or a demo unit.

First, happy birthday!

Second, how the heck can they do that without Honda raising an eyebrow? They'd have to buy them out in the dealer's name, transfer title, and then take it back in as used. That's all kinds of fishy.

That not only sounds fishy, it is fishy -- downright cheating, in my book. And anyone who is obviously cheating from the get-go is not someone you want to do business with.

jmonroe1

sda said:

@stickguy said:

My truck is dark gray. And looks really sharp.

plus in 1/2 an hour I turn an age with really does sound "old" (the "big one")

Michael, listen to your sister. shop the mini and if you get a strong offer dump it. and go grab the Sonata.

Happy Birthday and welcome to the club.

Club? Is that the Working Club?

Until you’re retired you’re not in the real club. You’re just kids racking up years.

In any case, happy birthday @stickguy.

jmonroe

qbrozen

Ha. That Charger/Challenger question wasn't supposed to be there. It was a post from a couple of days ago I decided not to publish. Of course, it hung around until I responded to stick.

I've talked myself out of it .... I think.

stickguy

You could always get it for me as a birthday present. Though the wrx would be more my style.

roadburner

@graphicguy said:
We must be the only ones who find the zen in red vehicles.

I think that you are forgetting someone…

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

This is my way of bringing balance to The Force. I punched my card.

20 years ago today

That looks better than many new car styles today.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

Talk me out of leasing a Charger or Challenger, please.

Charger Hellcat WB has a virtually 0 MF. RV not tremendous at 59% for 39/10. Looking like 8% or so off sticker plus another $1k loyalty.

stickguy said:

Had odd email from local Honda dealer yesterday. Touting a bunch of almost new (2022) super low mile CPO units. Looked online and they had about 20 miles or so on them.

Turns out it was their way of cheating. They advertise hard about selling at MSRP. Plus the usual $999 or so accessories package. So they took their new inventory and called it used and marked up the price (on pilot was $2k over sticker). Though I guess you get CPO warranty if that is worth anything on a brand new car. 20 miles on it so not. Even a loaner which they don’t do, or a demo unit.

First, happy birthday!

Second, how the heck can they do that without Honda raising an eyebrow? They'd have to buy them out in the dealer's name, transfer title, and then take it back in as used. That's all kinds of fishy.

I can’t imagine a PUG guzzling muscle car like that is selling very well with $4+/gallon gas right now. That could be a good contrarian lease as it should become more desirable if gas prices go down during the 39 months.

xwesx

roadburner said:

@graphicguy said:

We must be the only ones who find the zen in red vehicles.

I think that you are forgetting someone…

Whose old hooptie is that?!

sda

@jmonroe1 said:
Club? Is that the Working Club?

Until you’re retired you’re not in the real club. You’re just kids racking up years.

In any case, happy birthday @stickguy.

jmonroe

Ha, I was going to ask @stickguy to contact you about dues payment.

graphicguy

roadburner said:

@graphicguy said:

We must be the only ones who find the zen in red vehicles.

I think that you are forgetting someone…

Bless you, my son!

corvette

henryn said:

That not only sounds fishy, it is fishy -- downright cheating, in my book. And anyone who is obviously cheating from the get-go is not someone you want to do business with.

IMO, the shortage of new cars has made these tactics worse, and has also highlighted the inability or unwillingness of the manufacturers to address them. I'm assuming dealers worry a lot less about getting bonuses for having near-perfect CSI scores when they are selling every vehicle for way over MSRP.

There is a post almost every day on the Maverick boards about a dealer selling a customer-ordered car to someone other than the person who ordered it with a buyer's order agreeing to pay MSRP at delivery.

ab348

This is ancient history but shenanigans about shuffling of vehicles are an old and time-honoured tradition in the auto business. Adam over at the Rare Classic Cars YouTube channel posted an interview he did with Bob Lutz (at age 90!) last weekend and he talked about his time at BMW in the early ‘70s. Their new cars were in demand and they could not produce enough to satisfy it so dealers and export markets were on allocation. They discovered a number of cars coming into German dealers for warranty work that were listed on their records as being exported. Investigation revealed that some staff in the export department were greasing the wheels with cash to have the intended dealer or foreign importer redirect those cars back to them for sale as nearly new used cars. Those individuals got fired. He said the company was rife with corrupt practices back then.

ab348

Speaking of red cars…

explorerx4

Some on here have read 'Arrogance and Accords'. Lots of shady practices at the corporate and dealer level detailed in the book.

Michaell

explorerx4 said:

Some on here have read 'Arrogance and Accords'. Lots of shady practices at the corporate and dealer level detailed in the book.

I have a hard copy first edition of that book.

The first story told are about dealers in my home town.

Michaell

Looks like I'm flying to CA in a few weeks to visit my family (first visit with the granddaughter!) and bring the Sonata back to CO.

I'm having my sister get a new head unit put in with CarPlay compatibility so I won't be bored out of my mind on the drive home.

@cdnpinhead - I coulda had it shipped, but I couldn't bear the thought of you going crazy with that decision.

pensfan83

@corvette said:
I'm assuming dealers worry a lot less about getting bonuses for having near-perfect CSI scores when they are selling every vehicle for way over MSRP.

Maybe in some instances, but money is still money to them. On another board I frequent someone posted his story how his wife's car was totaled in an accident so they were in bind. He not only paid a bit over MSRP but they added a mandatory dealer pack of a few thousand dollars and wouldn't relent. He moved forward with the purchase but then excoriated the dealer on the survey. That of course didn't sit well but I would do the same thing if need be.

stickguy

shipping is expensive these days anyway. Go for the drive!

stickguy

well, if a dealer wants a good survey, they should give good service and experience.

laurasdada

Happy Birthday, Stick. Although will it be without a new car?!

corvette

stickguy said:

well, if a dealer wants a good survey, they should give good service and experience.

This. I also agree with @pensfan83 that money is money to the dealers, but it seems like most of them have made a conscious decision to forego happy customers in exchange for collecting huge premiums above MSRP.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

Speaking of red cars…

Is that the theme now?

laurasdada

My first new car was an arrest-me-red '85 Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo. Only white, silver/gray variations and blue since. But, were I to buy a Mazda, Crystal Soul Red!

explorerx4

Also in the club.