Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

kyfdx

mjfloyd1 said:

@Sandman6472 and @oldfarmer50 , I’m picking up an Enterprise rental this morning to take my youngest to Washington DC. She missed the eighth grade trip due to the Covid shut down.

Might be an interesting time to go with the Roe v Wade protests. Timing is everything.

I’ll use my Amex Card so that will be the primary car insurance in case of craziness.

You can't get to DC from Bloomington.

nyccarguy

Gave the Wrangler a bath for the 1st time since I got it back at the end of March. The Hydro Blue does a good job at not looking filthy.

mjfloyd1

@kyfdx said:
You can't get to DC from Bloomington.

You just keep turning left🤣😂

sda

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

Michael, I don't know if that range is listed as 100-0, or if it includes some sort of reserve (I would hope so!) but in my hypothetical, if I could get 200 realistic miles, without having to sweat seeing RTE in single digits, it would really be more than enough for most everything I would do. Heck, that would still probably be once a week plug in territory. I just would not plan on taking it further than our local relatives (25 or 40 miles each way). and plan plugging in as needed. If I wanted to take it to see the Princess in Boston, I think that is just about 200 miles all highway. so maybe just a charge in the middle? or stop to "fill up" on the outskirts, then stop again 1/2 way home?

What I see is folks running their EV's down to 20-30% charge then use a fast charger to "refill" back up to about 80% in 20-30 minutes. Rinse and repeat - roughly 100 to 150 miles per leg.

The idea is to minimize the charge time versus the driving range. Rarely do folks get down to single digit charge levels on road trips, as it takes too long to recharge back up to 80%. And, of course, it depends on the quality of the charger.

So in reality only 55% of range is comfortably being used? I’m using my example of not letting the charge dip below 20-25% to provide a buffer to prevent being stranded with a dead car by letting the charge get too low and perhaps not being able to get to a charging station. I generally fill my car when it gets to 3/8- 1/4 empty tank. 80% charge-25% buffer=55% range. 🤔

stickguy

I thought people would charge more (100%) before a trip to get more out the gate range. Maybe use 10-90 if looking to minimize stops.

But this all just points out that EVs are great for local use but still tricky and inefficient for long hauls.

If I had one unlikely I would consider taking it on a trip with more than 1 required recharge, and only if I was sure the time and location would be practical.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

au1994 said:

Wife did comment that she liked the Grand Cherokee though. Thats a possibility when this market normalizes a bit.

Now there's some wishful thinking. Not that I blame you, I keep hoping for the same thing.

https://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1136288_new-car-prices-reach-record-highs-again-and-dealers-make-record-profits?utm_source=TCC+-+Daily+Headlines&utm_campaign=3bb239e8b0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_06_24_04_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d55bbd391e-3bb239e8b0-54482629

New car prices reach record highs, again, and dealers make record profits

June 24, 2022
The average transaction price customers have paid for a new car is expected to reach $45,844 this month, according to the latest report from J.D. Power. That's a 14.5% increase from one year ago.

At the same time, the constrained supply isn't hurting dealers. Dealer margins on every new car sold is on pace to hit $5,123 profit per unit, the same automotive analysis projected. That represents an increase of $1,174 from a year ago, and is more than double the usual pre-pandemic profit on a new car sold, including finance and insurance income.

So it’s not just the oil companies who are cleaning up? Maybe the president can send the car dealers an angry letter too.

I’m beginning to think I’ll never be able to buy another car again and still look at myself in the mirror.

explorerx4

I think they are from Czechoslovakia.

tifighter

@tifighter said:
Speaking of vans, I had some company stay overnight yesterday.

For anyone who is curious though, it’s a 2019 VW California TDI 4Motion. With air suspension and an extensive camper build done in Germany.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

The wife is away, so I'm going to do some truck shopping on Sunday.
2019 Lariat.
https://www.monacoford.com/used-Glastonbury-2019-Ford-F+150-Lariat-1FTEW1E48KKC81526
2022 XLT
https://www.monacoford.com/new-Glastonbury-2022-Ford-F+150-XLT-1FTFW1ED9NFA56727
2022 XLT
https://www.monacoford.com/new-Glastonbury-2022-Ford-F+150-XLT-1FTFW1E5XNKD85145

Didn’t you have one of those recently?

tifighter

And it’s CH, not CZ.

sda

tifighter said:

And it’s CH, not CZ.

Does Westfalia still make the camper section for VW?

oldfarmer50

mjfloyd1 said:

@Sandman6472 and @oldfarmer50 , I’m picking up an Enterprise rental this morning to take my youngest to Washington DC. She missed the eighth grade trip due to the Covid shut down.

Might be an interesting time to go with the Roe v Wade protests. Timing is everything.

I’ll use my Amex Card so that will be the primary car insurance in case of craziness.

Just don’t bring it back without plates or full of bullet holes or tell the agent “the brakes are kind of weak over 150”.

kyfdx

tifighter said:

And it’s CH, not CZ.

I actually saw a Routan, last week.

explorerx4

Der Schweiz?

Michaell

stickguy said:

I thought people would charge more (100%) before a trip to get more out the gate range. Maybe use 10-90 if looking to minimize stops.

But this all just points out that EVs are great for local use but still tricky and inefficient for long hauls.

If I had one unlikely I would consider taking it on a trip with more than 1 required recharge, and only if I was sure the time and location would be practical.

If you're starting from home, sure, start at 100%.

Getting from 80% to 100% charge takes as long, or longer, than going from 20% to 80%. From what I've seen, not worth the extra time.

Also, VW gave you 3 years of unlimited charging, so long road trips don't cost a dime in energy costs. May be inefficient, but can't beat the price.

Check out JK EV on YouTube; they've done a few long road trips with their ID.4 - Chicago to Orlando and back, then a long road trip out west (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Utah).

mjfloyd1

@oldfarmer50 said:
Just don’t bring it back without plates or full of bullet holes or tell the agent “the brakes are kind of weak over 150”.

2022 Kia Sorrento with just shy of 11k miles. That will work.

Not sure 150 is attainable…
Plates are IL and already bent up.
No current bullet holes. There is a windshield chip tho

qbrozen

@tifighter said:

@tifighter said:
Speaking of vans, I had some company stay overnight yesterday.

For anyone who is curious though, it’s a 2019 VW California TDI 4Motion. With air suspension and an extensive camper build done in Germany.

That’s not something that was available stateside, right? Weird they’d call it a California if it wasn’t avail in Cali.

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

@tifighter said:

@tifighter said:

Speaking of vans, I had some company stay overnight yesterday.

For anyone who is curious though, it’s a 2019 VW California TDI 4Motion. With air suspension and an extensive camper build done in Germany.

That’s not something that was available stateside, right? Weird they’d call it a California if it wasn’t avail in Cali.

Maybe they called it a California because they knew that under no certain terms would it pass a California smog check.

28firefighter

@tifighter I am guessing it’s here for promotional purposes or with someone on military/diplomatic mission from another country?

fintail

tifighter said:

Speaking of vans, I had some company stay overnight yesterday.

Must be in the $$$$$$ to ship that back and forth from CH.

tifighter

No. Just friends from Zurich who decided to ship their van over and drive around the US for awhile. And Canada. And Mexico. TBD.

henryn

roadburner said:

The ONLY minivan I ever would allow in my garage:

My first thought was "No way! No internal combustion engine ever turned 13800 RPM." Being the curious type, I did a quick search and found this:

https://www.autocarindia.com/car-news/lotus-elise-exige-and-evora-bow-out-of-production-423050

Apparently there have been ICE engines achieving 12k rpm, so I suppose 13k should be at least theoretically possible. I don't think I would want to own one though.

laurasdada

stickguy said:

I thought people would charge more (100%) before a trip to get more out the gate range. Maybe use 10-90 if looking to minimize stops.

But this all just points out that EVs are great for local use but still tricky and inefficient for long hauls.

If I had one unlikely I would consider taking it on a trip with more than 1 required recharge, and only if I was sure the time and location would be practical.

PHEV: best of both worlds. Ish.

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

I think they are from Czechoslovakia.

———————————————
Be honest, you used spell check, huh?

jmonroe

explorerx4

@jmonroe1,
Copy and paste.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovakia

jmonroe1

nyccarguy said:

qbrozen said:

@tifighter said:

@tifighter said:

Speaking of vans, I had some company stay overnight yesterday.

For anyone who is curious though, it’s a 2019 VW California TDI 4Motion. With air suspension and an extensive camper build done in Germany.

That’s not something that was available stateside, right? Weird they’d call it a California if it wasn’t avail in Cali.

Maybe they called it a California because they knew that under no certain terms would it pass a California smog check.
————————————————-
I guess VW doesn’t want to fudge data anymore just to get it into California.

jmonroe

xwesx

qbrozen said:

Visitors from Canada? That’s all I can think of.

European plates on it. Somebody was seriously lost!

Edit, now that I've read the next page of posts.... That's likely a very sweet package in the size, air suspension, and with the TDI. I love the look of it - very unassuming in the grey and with the plain steelie wheels.

How long are they planning to tour? Assuming it arrived in port on the west coast (possibly even Seattle?), what route did they use to get it there?

nyccarguy

Just filled up. This is insane!

explorerx4

Pretty good for a Highlander.

jmonroe1

nyccarguy said:

Just filled up. This is insane!

————————————————
You gotta move. A gallon of gas in my hood ain’t that expensive, yet.

jmonroe

henryn

nyccarguy said:

Just filled up. This is insane!

is this supposed to be a miles-per-gallon computation or ???

Sandman6472

Also confused here. What are we looking at but better yet...why? Inquiring minds would like to know.

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————
You gotta move. A gallon of gas in my hood ain’t that expensive, yet.

jmonroe

Oh, don’t be silly. He’s obviously showing off how many gallons of fuel he can carry.

corvette

MPG on the 4Xe, I assume.

corvette

Found a used Murano on CL "for sale by owner" and was about to go check it out until I reverse number searched the seller and figured out he's a curbstoner.

qbrozen

@corvette said:
Found a used Murano on CL "for sale by owner" and was about to go check it out until I reverse number searched the seller and figure out he's a curbstoner.

Why would you consider that? You have a warehouse of CVT replacements you need to use up?

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

@jmonroe1 said:

————————————————

You gotta move. A gallon of gas in my hood ain’t that expensive, yet.

jmonroe

Oh, don’t be silly. He’s obviously showing off how many gallons of fuel he can carry.

————————————————-
Damn, I guess I wasn’t thinking. If he could only squeeze in another 40 gallons or fill up eight 5 gallon gas cans he could make a cross country trip assuming around 35 MPG. That would embarrass all EV owners that have to recharge their electrons several times to make that trip. Hell, @nyccarguy could be making the return trip before an EV even got there. Now that’s progress without new technology.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@corvette said:
MPG on the 4Xe, I assume.

Heck, if I stay local, my 4xe’s mpg is infinite. ;b

corvette

Filled up the Prius with 2/10 pips on the fuel gauge and it was almost $42... I don't notice the prices on the Tundra because they are always ridiculous, even if gas is cheap, but I'm pretty sure that was the highest I've paid to fill up the Prius.

Also scored two gallons of ethanol-free fuel for my push mower (IDK whether it makes a difference, but I use maybe 3-5 gallons a year, and it's about $1 more per gallon, so it seems like extremely cheap insurance).

28firefighter

@tifighter said:
No. Just friends from Zurich who decided to ship their van over and drive around the US for awhile. And Canada. And Mexico. TBD.

That’s what - 6ish weeks to do it? Not cheap. Was the thoroughly beat up Cruise America RV option not their thing?

corvette

qbrozen said:

Why would you consider that? You have a warehouse of CVT replacements you need to use up?

Moving on... new prospect has a Toyota 3MZ-FE with a five speed automatic.

qbrozen

@corvette said:
Moving on... new prospect has a Toyota 3MZ-FE with a five speed automatic.

Hmmm… could be several things, but if competing with the Morono, I’d guess Highlander or RX330.

tifighter

@28firefighter said:

@tifighter said:
No. Just friends from Zurich who decided to ship their van over and drive around the US for awhile. And Canada. And Mexico. TBD.

That’s what - 6ish weeks to do it? Not cheap. Was the thoroughly beat up Cruise America RV option not their thing?

They are spending a year on this side. The shipping actually isn’t that expensive.

nyccarguy

Yes. My last mpg tankful on the Wrangler. I was having connectivity issues yesterday.

ab348

tifighter said:

They are spending a year on this side. The shipping actually isn’t that expensive.

For some Euroland camping aficionados it has become a thing to put their caravan on a ship and spend the summer here touring. As a seaport, Halifax receives many of these each spring and they are offloaded here awaiting their owners. Many are quite elaborate and unusual to our eyes.

http://truckfax.blogspot.com/search?q=camper

sda

corvette said:

Filled up the Prius with 2/10 pips on the fuel gauge and it was almost $42... I don't notice the prices on the Tundra because they are always ridiculous, even if gas is cheap, but I'm pretty sure that was the highest I've paid to fill up the Prius.

Also scored two gallons of ethanol-free fuel for my push mower (IDK whether it makes a difference, but I use maybe 3-5 gallons a year, and it's about $1 more per gallon, so it seems like extremely cheap insurance).

I learned the hard way. My lawnmower and pressure washer both required carb rebuilds because of white crusty deposits left by gas with ethanol. That was 6 years ago. I have used only ethanol free since and no repairs needed and both start easily. Annual maintenance such as oil change, blade sharpening and if needed new air filter and spark plug are addressed by me.

oldfarmer50

sda said:

corvette said:

Filled up the Prius with 2/10 pips on the fuel gauge and it was almost $42... I don't notice the prices on the Tundra because they are always ridiculous, even if gas is cheap, but I'm pretty sure that was the highest I've paid to fill up the Prius.

Also scored two gallons of ethanol-free fuel for my push mower (IDK whether it makes a difference, but I use maybe 3-5 gallons a year, and it's about $1 more per gallon, so it seems like extremely cheap insurance).

I learned the hard way. My lawnmower and pressure washer both required carb rebuilds because of white crusty deposits left by gas with ethanol. That was 6 years ago. I have used only ethanol free since and no repairs needed and both start easily. Annual maintenance such as oil change, blade sharpening and if needed new air filter and spark plug are addressed by me.

In the past I had to replace the carbs on various lawn tractors almost yearly. The shop said that the ethanol was ruining them. Why the manufacturers didn’t foresee this and upgrade their products I’ll leave to the conspiracy theorists to decide.

These days small engines seem to be made to accept ethanol without damage and I haven’t had any problems using regular gas in my last two tractors.

explorerx4

Stopped by the dealer to look at some trucks.
Hard to find one that's exactly what I want. I'll know it when I see it.
I'm sure the dealer isn't happy about having carry this inventory.

stickguy

\that MachE situation is a killer. Hopefully they get the software fix done quickly. That at least is much better than needing to design, produce, and install new parts.

stickguy

got to put the truck(lette?) to work again today. My idea about buying it knowing we would be moving soon turned out to make sense. Weird feeling when one of my plans goes like that... But I digress.

we had rented a storage unit to offload stuff before showing the house. The end of the first month was coming up and I had no desire to pay $200 for month 2 (1st month was half off). since they only let you use their truck to move in, I did it DIY. moved 2 chairs (one a bulky recliner where the back did not come out) and a bunch of boxes. Boxes fit in the RDX too, but that big chair quite possibly was not getting in. and if it did fit, a huge pain to wrestle it inside. With the truck, just lifted it up and slid it on in.

game in very handy, even without being the biggest bed in the world.