Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

explorerx4

You have to change your handle to 28fighterjet.

corvette

@28firefighter - congrats! I am warming up to the red accents--it must either be the angle of the photo, or the direct sunlight that makes them more flattering.

breld

@28firefighter - congrats! Love it!

breld

I made a trip to Carmax this weekend to get a price point on the Rivian (it was better than expected, reflecting just a few thousand less than where they have seemed to settle in on the auction sites).

While they were competing the appraisal, I roamed the lot and ended up test driving this new model BRZ (manual).



I was very impressed - not surprisingly, it mimics the driving experience I like from the Miata, but just enough more legroom to make it quite comfortable. Also felt like it had stronger acceleration than the Miata, but not significantly. It was already on the list of potential purchases, but definitely moved up that list.

Also considering consigning the Rivian so stopped at a small broker I’ve shopped at several times. @Michaell met me there for fun and took the Rivian out for a spin and we had a nice time catching up.

mjfloyd1

@28firefighter said:
Well. This thing is silly. My name is 28FF and I have a problem.

Any CEL?🤣

mjfloyd1

@breld said:
I made a trip to Carmax this weekend to get a price point on the Rivian (it was better than expected, reflecting just a few thousand less than where they have seemed to settle in on the auction sites).

While they were competing the appraisal, I roamed the lot and ended up test driving this new model BRZ (manual).

I was very impressed - not surprisingly, it mimics the driving experience I like from the Miata, but just enough more legroom to make it quite comfortable. Also felt like it had stronger acceleration than the Miata, but not significantly. It was already on the list of potential purchases, but definitely moved up that list.

Also considering consigning the Rivian so stopped at a small broker I’ve shopped at several times. @Michaell met me there for fun and took the Rivian out for a spin and we had a nice time catching up.

Wait a minute. If you get rid of the Rivian, where will you put the inflatable kayaks?🤣

ab348

mjfloyd1 said:

Any CEL?🤣

Well, it’s still early. These things take time.

roadburner

jmonroe1 said:

nyccarguy said:

@28firefighter - a number of years ago my wife’s friend had an early - mid 2000 GTI. She loved the car, but after a number of years it was developing problems. Nickel ($500) & diming ($1,000) her. I finally convinced her to go car shopping. I convinced her to lease. She found a Tiguan. She found the color, the best price, I helped her negotiate a trade for her GTI…. She balked. Loved the GTI. Loved driving stick…. I told her - Ana. Dump the car before something else happens and you start cursing it. Finally she decided to pull the trigger. The car threw a CEL on the way to the dealer to trade it in.

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And she probably blamed you for not being more forceful.

That’s why when someone asks for my opinion about anything I only say it once. And I tell them I’m only going to say it once. Then I never say another word. That’s almost always worked for me.

jmonroe

28firefighter

What if I don’t want hear your opinion or my own?

28firefighter

@mjfloyd1 said:

@28firefighter said:
Well. This thing is silly. My name is 28FF and I have a problem.

Any CEL?🤣

I’d have straight up left it on the side of the road and walked to the bar.

Michaell

As I passed on the opportunity to drive the Rivian that @jpp75 bought, @breld was kind enough to allow me some seat time in his.

A few observations:

• From the outside, it's a big vehicle, but it doesn't "drive" that big when you're behind the wheel
  
• The luxury level is certainly better than a Tesla (sorry, @tifighter)
  
• While @breld wanted me to put my foot into it a couple of times, I was kind of afraid to do so; the 1/2 or 3/4 throttle acceleration runs I did make certainly proved it's fast enough
  
• We discussed the practicality of a truck versus an SUV; I've only owned one truck in my life (80's Isuzu P'up) and it was constantly being borrowed by friends and co-workers
  

henryn

28firefighter said:

@mjfloyd1 said:

@28firefighter said:

Well. This thing is silly. My name is 28FF and I have a problem.

Any CEL?🤣

I’d have straight up left it on the side of the road and walked to the bar.

That depends on how far it is to the nearest bar. On the other hand, there's always Uber.

Speaking of leaving it beside the road, that reminds me of a story. Heck, everything reminds me of a story.

Back around 1970, my father was working as a construction foreman / dewatering specialist. The company he worked for paid for moving around a trailer house / mobile home, about 10x50. While in transit from Palo, Iowa to Baytown, Texas, the trailer house got lost. The state patrol eventually called about it, it was sitting on the side of the Kansas turnpike, abandoned. Along with the tractor (big truck) that was being used to move it. No one ever found out what happened to the driver. Possibly abducted by aliens?

Made for an interesting story anyway.

corvette

@Michaell - I share your impressions of the Rivian, aside from having never driven a Tesla for comparison. In addition to not feeling as big as it is, it also doesn't feel like it has a curb weight of 7,000+ pounds. I also drove @jpp75's sedately and had no idea it was so powerful.

Michaell

corvette said:

@Michaell - I share your impressions of the Rivian, aside from having never driven a Tesla for comparison. In addition to not feeling as big as it is, it also doesn't feel like it has a curb weight of 7,000+ pounds. I also drove @jpp75's sedately and had no idea it was so powerful.

I did drive the Model 3 @jpp75 had; my first experience with an EV. It was stupid fast - I floored it on a residential side street and he told me I got it up to 60+ in nothing flat.

The XC40 recharge I drove has 400+ HP and was pretty fast. The ID.4 we have on order is just under 300 HP and is still really quick. I suspect I will need to retrain my daughter on how to drive it - she thinks it will be like an ICE vehicle.

nyccarguy

Looks great @28firefighter - congrats!

cdnpinhead

henryn said:

Heck, everything reminds me of a story.

You must be channeling Adam Carolla.

28firefighter

Alright - initial impressions of the Elantra N.

If you could safely close your eyes while driving, the performance, the handling, the sound, it all feels very very German - a la an M car. Then, you open your eyes, look around the interior and remember - ah yes, this is still a Hyundai. Kidding - kind of.

This car is quite fun, very quick, nimble, and the exhaust note is especially silly. I haven’t messed with the N settings a ton yet. The interior looks very cool, seats are outstanding, the tech is great, but there is a metric ton of hard plastic everywhere. You can tell where they cut costs. I find it very comparable to the VW GLI with the GLI interior materials being maybe a slight cut above.

Here is the thing. The dealer experience is wild. You have folks buying a Hyundai Accent at 18% interest literally one table over from buying a $75k Genesis. Same relatively old school sales process with the manager back and forth. And this was a reputable store not charging over MSRP. Maybe my expectations are off because they sold no less than 9 cars in the time I was waiting for finance, but it seems like the brand dealer experience needs work.

Other than an hour wait for finance my actual time doing stuff was less than 30 minutes, so that’s nice. No upsells or surprises, so I can’t complain too much there, other than the churn leading up to it.

Overall I’m happy! Now just to make the Infiniti disappear.

Sandman6472

Love the new Elantra, think the color and the lower bright work work on this vehicle. Just wish it was about 7" or so smaller. I like Hyundai/Kia products as we've owned one at least since 2008. And truthfully, the Tucson I had wasn't a bad vehicle at all, it was just the wrong car at the time. But I put the blame squarely on me and still know I did the right thing by cutting it from the herd when I did.
As of now, the Bolt purchase has been put on hold. The more I thought about it, the more unexcited I got. Just don't think it's the right vehicle for me right now, plus there's really no fun factor there. Guess I still want fun! Now, the red Mini Cooper the Breld's just got, well, that's a different story. I like it! Plain & simple, I really like it! Can see myself behind the wheel of that one as the size is just perfect and the color? Don't mind that shade of red because it works on that particular vehicle. So yes, think I'd be happy to give up my Golf for something like that. So Mrs. B, when the time comes and you decide to cut it from the herd, I'd like first consideration to give it a new home. Assuming it doesn't have the H/K audio but think I could overlook that to be honest. The minute I saw that in here, I really liked it. Drove a Countryman S at work a couple weeks back and decided that even though I say I want "cheap to keep" next vehicle, I really want a "fun" vehicle deep down & nothing says more fun to me than a Mini Cooper! And even though I hardly drive much each week, I still want to something that puts that stupid grin on my face whenever I see it like my current Golf does. And to be honest, first time I saw the pic in here of the MC, I got that same grin on my face! Come December, I've had the Golf 8 years, same with our A3, so we definitely keep our rides much longer than most folks in this group.
Think I could give up my Golf for a MC going forward!

tjc78

@Sandman6472
Go back and zoom in on @breld pictures of the mini. You can see it has the HK audio (printed on the speaker grill). Put your deposit down now and take delivery by Halloween.

nyccarguy

28firefighter said:

Alright - initial impressions of the Elantra N.

If you could safely close your eyes while driving, the performance, the handling, the sound, it all feels very very German - a la an M car. Then, you open your eyes, look around the interior and remember - ah yes, this is still a Hyundai. Kidding - kind of.

This car is quite fun, very quick, nimble, and the exhaust note is especially silly. I haven’t messed with the N settings a ton yet. The interior looks very cool, seats are outstanding, the tech is great, but there is a metric ton of hard plastic everywhere. You can tell where they cut costs. I find it very comparable to the VW GLI with the GLI interior materials being maybe a slight cut above.

Here is the thing. The dealer experience is wild. You have folks buying a Hyundai Accent at 18% interest literally one table over from buying a $75k Genesis. Same relatively old school sales process with the manager back and forth. And this was a reputable store not charging over MSRP. Maybe my expectations are off because they sold no less than 9 cars in the time I was waiting for finance, but it seems like the brand dealer experience needs work.

Other than an hour wait for finance my actual time doing stuff was less than 30 minutes, so that’s nice. No upsells or surprises, so I can’t complain too much there, other than the churn leading up to it.

Overall I’m happy! Now just to make the Infiniti disappear.

I sat in a VW GLI at the NY Auto Show. I was excited they had a 6MT. I thought the interior was very plain and very dark. This is coming from someone who really likes plain, black interiors.

28firefighter

@nyccarguy said:
I sat in a VW GLI at the NY Auto Show. I was excited they had a 6MT. I thought the interior was very plain and very dark. This is coming from someone who really likes plain, black interiors.

Yep. The N is very similar though the seats are better and it has pretty nifty lighting accents. The cut above in the GLI is that it has more soft touch plastic in high traffic touch points whereas the N has A LOT of hard scratch plastic in the same spots.

I’ll grab some photos later if I can.

sda

The N sounds fun and look forward to learning more about it. On VW's 'sport' models such as the R type or GLI, the interior is typically all black, including the headliner which makes for the 'dark' ambience. On my Passat which has the black interior, the interior roof pillars and headliner are a very light gray, almost white. That seems to give a more open and airy feeling. I have not found the black interior to be objectionable and thankfully the car has a strong, cold ac.

ab348

28firefighter said:

Alright - initial impressions of the Elantra N.

If you could safely close your eyes while driving, the performance, the handling, the sound, it all feels very very German - a la an M car. Then, you open your eyes, look around the interior and remember - ah yes, this is still a Hyundai. Kidding - kind of.

Not dissing your purchase and no disrespect intended but I have never driven an Asian car that feels like a German car. It is difficult to put my finger on exactly what/why that is, but they just drive differently.

stickguy

I think it used to be the firmer, direct steering. But sounds like BMW has long since given up on that for numb EPS without much feel.

corvette

Apparently, Ford announced that there will be a Tremor off-road package available on the 2023 Maverick XLT and Lariat trims. Odd that they announced that now instead of waiting for the 2023 order book to open (when they will likely announce any other changes).

carnaught

28firefighter said:

Well. This thing is silly. My name is 28FF and I have a problem.

Like it a lot @28firefighter ! Many safe miles.

carnaught

I will have 2 punches to report soon - not enthusiast, but utilitarian cars, so skip over, @roadburner, and take a break.

explorerx4

@corvette,
It looks like the 2023 order book opening got pushed back to September but it was originally supposed to open tomorrow.

corvette

@explorerx4 - I saw that. The Long McArthur guy posted a YouTube video indicating that the October changeover to the 2023 model year has been scrapped and that they will likely be building 2022s through November. Strange times.

tjc78

@carnaught said:
I will have 2 punches to report soon - not enthusiast, but utilitarian cars, so skip over, @roadburner, and take a break.

Nice! Details?

qbrozen

Got word that ordering for the Wagoneer L opened up. I reached out to the usual suspects but only chapman replied today. 3% under invoice, which should be in the 9-9.5% under MSRP range. Final pricing not yet released. But, no deposit, so I convinced the wife we should put in the order just in case.

Based on the standard Wagoneer, we requested a Series 1 4x4 in River Rock with Sea Salt guts and all 4 main packages (Convenience, Premium, RES, and Towing). MSRP in standard W guise is $75.5k. If the W is consistent with the $2k difference between GC and GCL, then I figure $77.5k-$78k MSRP. That would put us very close to $70k after the discount. Doesn't seem too bad. If we have a Sprinter by then and she'd rather keep that, then no harm done. If we have the Sprinter and she wants to swap, then we'll do that. Would probably make out very well on the Sprinter and drive down the net cost of the WL.

explorerx4

@corvette,
I checked here:
https://blueovalforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/74044-2023-maverick-production-information/
There was an updated post since I looked at the info earlier today.

28firefighter

@ab348 said:
Not dissing your purchase and no disrespect intended but I have never driven an Asian car that feels like a German car. It is difficult to put my finger on exactly what/why that is, but they just drive differently.

It’s fair. Me either. The change is that the former head of the BMW M division was lured away by Hyundai and designed and built this car.

breld

tjc78 said:

@Sandman6472

Go back and zoom in on @breld pictures of the mini. You can see it has the HK audio (printed on the speaker grill). Put your deposit down now and take delivery by Halloween.

It's funny to me how manufacturers decide on what options to delete as a result of the chip issue.

My very loaded X5 doesn't have HK Audio or wireless charging.
Wife's previous M340i had the wireless charging delete, but still had HK.
Her MINI does have HK but they deleted (and credited) the heated steering wheel.
The GTI had a delete/credit for the HK Audio.
And what I understand from friends who have recently purchased Audis, blind-spot monitoring is a delete...that one makes no sense to me.

corvette

Who knows, they may be able to source the parts for HK audio more easily for the 3-series and MINI compared to the others. When my parents bought their 1995 Volvo 960, there were a couple of others on the lot with a few hundred $ credit on the sticker because the (standard) wood trim had not been included due to a shortage. At least that is something that can easily be sourced aftermarket if someone really wants it.

corvette

With the extension of the 2022 model run, it sounds like mine might get built as a 2022 after all. I was kind of looking forward to getting bumped to a 2023 so I'd have a chance to switch to the XLT trim.

jmonroe1

@corvette said:
With the extension of the 2022 model run, it sounds like mine might get built as a 2022 after all. I was kind of looking forward to getting bumped to a 2023 so I'd have a chance to switch to the XLT trim.

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I wouldn’t worry too much about that. The way scheduling and builds of the Maverick have gone in the past, you’ve got a better than even chance of getting your wish.

jmonroe

28firefighter

Speaking of deletes and credits, I only got one full key FOB for the N and then the laser cut key insert for the second FOB, but not the FOB itself. There is a recall for the second FOB and it will be sent to me in Q1.

corvette

28firefighter said:

Speaking of deletes and credits, I only got one full key FOB for the N and then the laser cut key insert for the second FOB, but not the FOB itself. There is a recall for the second FOB and it will be sent to me in Q1.

I'd totally send them a $350 bill for the missing fob.

jmonroe1

@corvette said:
I'd totally send them a $350 bill for the missing fob.

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Yep, that sounds good because they have too much time to forget what they owe you.

If this was @breld, that car would be loooong gone and the new guy would be wondering where his second fob is.

jmonroe

28firefighter

@corvette said:
I'd totally send them a $350 bill for the missing fob.

I knew you’d all enjoy this.

28firefighter

Infiniti is sold. We will not speak its name again.

breld

@28firefighter said:
Infiniti is sold. We will not speak its name again.

Congrats!

jmonroe1

@28firefighter said:
Infiniti is sold. We will not speak its name again.

————————————————-
Congrats, I knew you could do it but will you be able to sleep tonight?

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

28firefighter said:

Infiniti is sold. We will not speak its name again.

How about a blow by blow description of how the sale went. Did you confess all to the new owner?

corvette

@28firefighter mazel tov on the Infiniti sale!

au1994

Congrats on both transactions @28firefighter.

Glad the N is impressing you so far. I really like the look.

28firefighter

I sold it to a dealer. The car was totally fine since cleaning the solenoids (drove it 100 miles including the drive to the dealer). I’m sure it’ll be perfect for the next owner.

28firefighter

If anyone is looking, this is underpriced - manual with sub 100k miles.

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/d/federal-way-2005-bmw-330ci-zhp/7516260469.html

stickguy

I’m worried now that my hybrid will get built as a 22. I really wanted it rolled over.