Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

guss

I'm with Steve and always like the looks of the Z3 convertible better that the Z4 convetible. But that Z4 coupe could sway me from wanting the drop top. The ad is very well presented.

michaellno

I'm with Steve and always like the looks of the Z3 convertible better that the Z4 convertible.

I have to respectfully disagree .. even though I'm only 5'11", I fit better in the Z4 than the Z3.

Local BMW dealer still has an '07 Z4 'vert on sale for $23K. Must resist temptation, must resist temptation ....

roadburner

2007 Mazdaspeed 3: 24.5 mpg
2004 X3 2.5: 19 mpg
1995 318ti: 27 mpg
1975 2002: 20 mpg
1999 Wrangler: 16.5 mpg

stever

The Z4 looks a bit less of a "chick car" than the Z3. I could go with either. :-)

I do tend to like chick cars anyway - minivans, New Beetles, Miatas.

breld

Hey Michael - speaking of Z4's in our area, have you seen this one up at Sill-Terhar? This is the ad that keeps catching my eye. They've had it for at least a couple months now - the price has been stuck there the whole time. For the miles, seems like it's a decent deal, assuming it's clean otherwise.

Hmmm, they are a Mazda dealer - maybe they'd like my Miata on trade

http://sill-terhar.vinmanagersites.com/AutoDetails2.aspx?ID=5228363

stickguy

in my favorite color. Now that, I like.

stickguy

still looking for a stick shift convertible? And feeling brave?

http://torchlightmotors.com/inventory_detail.html?vin=YS3DF75K937002708

Heck, I want it. Love the colors, and miles aren't too bad. too bad I am not is position at the moment to get something my wife would kill me for!

michaellno

That Z4M is a nice car, but a bit over my price range - I'm hoping to spend no more than $25K when the time comes.

Besides, Sill-Terhar is a long way from me - 40+ miles, through the heart of Denver. But, when I get serious about shopping, I'll probably look from the Springs to Ft. Collins to find the right car and deal.

As for now, just a pipe dream.

anonymousposts

Gee has decided that his IS250 has to go to make room for the van in the garage. The new baby is due in February and he doesn't want to park outside and can't seem to bear the thought of the Lexus languishing outside in the elements. He did mention that he could see himself replacing it with a new 5-series a few years from now ... IF (still don't see him selling it) he does sell the IS, we will be down to just the Odyssey and the Camry. I can't see us being a two car family for long, as we are CCB'ers to the core.

We came across a pristine 99 Integra GSR coupe a few weeks ago. 92k, never been hit, no mods but Gee said it didn't feel like enough car. I would've loved to have it but couldn't justify buying a fourth car if we didn't both love it. If the IS is out of the picture, it becomes a possibility ... too bad it's already gone.

guss

Those Integras don't last long. I have a 25 year old nephew that is on third (plus 2 Civic's). How about an RSX, they seem to be a little better value.

akangl

I was in the market again soon, but nope, not yet, probably Jan/Feb at the earliest. I'm soooo tired of driving the Explorer and all of its silly little quirks.

Hubby wants a truck he can take hunting and I sure as heck wouldn't let him take mine if I bought a truck. So I'm starting to think a beater truck is what we need to have around, then something decent for me to drive on a daily basis. Question is what do I want to drive?

stickguy

how about a pilot? I here those are nice!

and wouldn't it be going full circle, if you end up with a new PU and a beater one to go with it?

It does seem to me to make sense that if you want a vehicle for occasional off road duty (like hunting), that will get low miles, it should be something old and beat up enough that you don't care about banging it around in the woods.

Hey, how about the explorer for that?

jayrider

Used pilots are too much money. Need to look at chey's , fords and dodges. My brother just bought a chevy for 1500. !75k miles and everything works. Has some rust -- he could care less.

michaellno

My brother just bought a chevy for 1500. !75k miles and everything works. Has some rust -- he could care less.

Yeah, but that's a $5K truck in Alaska. The market is quite distorted there, based on what Jolie has posted in the past.

akangl

Yeah, but that's a $5K truck in Alaska. The market is quite distorted there, based on what Jolie has posted in the past.

So true, the market up here is really distorted, prices are absolutely stupid. Sometimes you get lucky and find a good deal, but not often. I'm figuring on spending $5k on an older truck, probably something like a 95-97 F-250 with 125kish miles, should be easy enough to find. The beater has to be the truck since hunting involves hauling back bloody dead animals and I don't think the smell in the Explorer would be too pleasent.

As for what I want to drive, I'm thinking a Jeep, I loved the 2 that I had, they are very versitile as far as offroad goes, much more so then the Pilot ever was. So I'm probably going to try to hunt down a 99-04 Grand Cherokee Limited with the 4.0L I6 and Quadra-Drive 4WD. That combo is like the ultimate tank on bad roads and the I6 will darn near run forever. Unfortunatly its a very hard vehicle to find and I'll probably end up buying in the lower 48 and shipping it here or driving it back.

jayrider

You would think some enterprising dealer would ship in a bunch of beaters that cost them 1k wholesale and sell them for 3k in quantity to you folks. May chain a few together and caravan up north -- sell them and stay a month in the Presidential Suite in Skagway.

stever

I've known guys, and I'm sure Jolie does too, who fly down to Seattle and hit the car lots and craigslist, find a clean rig (preferably a 4WD pickup or SUV), drive it back to Alaska and resell it. The right vehicle will pay for the "vacation" and still leave some cash in the bank account (or did before gas in Canada hit $1.50+ a liter). It works best if you have air miles so you can get to Seattle for "free".

akangl

fly down to Seattle and hit the car lots and craigslist, find a clean rig (preferably a 4WD pickup or SUV), drive it back to Alaska and resell it.

I think that used to be a good way to make a few $$$ but anymore it costs so much to get through Canada that its just not worth it.

On another note, I might be offloading the Explorer sooner then I thought. Found a decent 95 F-250 at a BHPH type lot, fair price, truck drove really well, they will toss me a few $$$ for the Explorer, pay the diff and drive the F-250 home. Have to wait until Monday at least because they wanted to run the F-250 through the shop first before we took it. Heck I'll trade a reconstruct titled vehicle and a little cash for a clean titled vehicle, no problem!

michaellno

On another note, I might be offloading the Explorer sooner then I thought.

I'll take Halloween in the updated pool!

On another note, I had some free time on Saturday and stopped by the Mazda / Volvo / VW dealer in Colo Springs.

Sat in a nice '06 Miata - 6-speed manual with 30K miles - red with black top and black interior. I don't fit very well in it - with the top up, my head brushes the roof and I have to scrunch down to see through the windshield. With the top down, headroom isn't a problem (obviously!) but I am still looking at the top of the windshield frame.

Scratch that.

Then, sat in a new EOS. Lord, are these expensive new - $35K with basically no options (I think it was a Luxury model). However, I do like the interior of them and I was able to adjust the drivers set so that I fit nicely. But - and I suspect this is an issue with any retractable hard-top - there is hardly any luggage space. Not that I'm looking for SUV-like cargo capability, but a suitcase or two isn't unreasonable. Looks like everything would have to be put into the back seat.

stickguy

focus on the Z4. Should be affordable enough by the time you pull the trigger, and I think they have some cargo room. The Z3 had more than a Miata IIRC, and the miata was not too bad.

michaellno

focus on the Z4

While this one is an automatic, it's representative of what I'm looking for.

There are quite a few that price between $20-25K.

I'll have to check one out sometime and see what I think.

stever

Here's something that none of y'all have ever seen in your own driveway. An original owner driving his rig for over a decade. I remember when Jolie had the same van as me - back in 2000 or so. :P

Since we got the '99 Quest in late 1998, we purchased one other car - the used '97 Subaru that I still drive. We've purchased three houses in that same time frame. Just posting this so y'all will see how the other side lives.

akangl

I'll take Halloween in the updated pool!

LOL, I hope its earlier then that. I've got to make a trip to the store for more oil, so far in 500 miles the Explorer has burned through 1 1/2 quarts. Its not leaking, I would know since it sits in the garage, so the only place the oil can logically be going is out the tailpipe. I don't mind an older vehicle going through a little oil between oil changes, but at this rate I don't need to change the oil in the Explorer, its doing it by itself! :sick:

corvette

The EOS probably has a steep depreciation curve. Still, owning a VW with an electrically operated hardtop would keep me up at night.

I always found the Miata and S2000 to be claustrophobic, and I'm short. It may be something you would get used to, though.

corvette

Perhaps we need to start a chronic house buyers anonymous group for you? :P

I have several relatives who actually manage to keep vehicles 5-10+ years (and although that's also my goal in theory, in practice it's another story).

stickguy

in December, my car will be 5 YO and my wifes van will be 6. If it wasn't forthe 2 cars I bought for my teenage son, I would have been kicked out of the group already.

Not like we are wearing them out. My Accord is at 58K, and the van just rolled over 60.

it isn't lack of desire. Just lack of resources at this point! But hopefully by next year, we will be able to move my wife into something new (and smaller). She is ready to be done with piloting the minivan, and wants something different.

I just keep looking around, but at the moment, the accord is fine for me, although I would like a wagon of some sort. Just have to find something that I relly like that I can get into for less than what I can sell the Honda for! Lateral moves are OK. Netting cash out, even better!

maybe better be looking around for 2001-2002 3 series wagons again.

kyfdx

What's up with that? Are Ivy League educations expensive?? :P

stickguy

only if you are wealthy. If you are "poor", it can be cheaper than going to a state school!

andre1969

Well, I did see my purchased-new 2000 Intrepid hit the 150,000 mile mark. Let's not talk about what happened to it around 150,200 though. :sick:

kyfdx

I don't know... we are far from wealthy, but our "expected family contribution" could choke a horse..

"Okay, that's great... where do we get the money for the second year?" :surprise:

corvette

I've given this advice for free to family members, so it's probably worth what you're paying for it, but you have to look at the cost-benefit of the degree program. It's not the end of the world if someone graduates from a state school with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt if they're in a desirable field like engineering. On the other hand, if they graduate from a private school with a higher loan balance and a degree in one of the humanities, it's a different story.

Many of my friends with the latter type of degrees are working in jobs--not careers--far outside their field of study. Often jobs they could have gotten with a lower-priced degree or even no degree at all.

stickguy

since we hit this topic. Corvette makes some good points. The name of the school does carry weight, but it does depend on what you want to do once you graduate. But there is a value to the prestige that an Ivy league degree carries as you go through life.

For KY, (without getting personal!), most of the Ivies (and some other private schools) give out a lot more aid. So while the rack rate is 50K, the actually amount for many families is less than a normal state school (say, 20K) which typically give you next to nothing, unless you are seriously low income.

I believe the threshold for family income at Princeton is ~75-80K before you even start paying anything. And there rough formula is paying about 10% or annual income. So you need to make about 200K before it even costs more than going to Rutgers.

It is actually fair to say that the hard part of an Ivy education isn't paying for it. It is getting in.

jayrider

At the very least you could have cleaned the area up a bit. I see dust around the trip reset button. Some folks have no sense of pride in areas that really matter.

Sandman6472

Son just graduated after going to a New England prep school for 2 years followed by a well known mid Western school and he did get some scholarships plus there was our portion. Still, he's accumulated $40k in loans. He stayed in St. Louis working for AmeriCorp which will pay $5k towards the loans for each year employed there. Against his wishes, the wife has already sent in an additional $24k out of our savings to help. Now that I'm retired, that hurts. But we've decided that he'll pay us back interest free for g-d knows how long...like a long term annuity.

We know he's gonna need a car at some point, but we've got bonds saved up for that purchase or they could be used to pay some of the loans. Luckily, he's using public transport to get back & forth to work...a real bonus for living in the city! The costs of car ownership in a city with no designated parking could be a nightmare.

Another plan on the back burner would be for me to just give him my Civic, with only 29.6k on the clock, it'll last him for years. Which would mean me buying a small runabout for me to drive when I get a small part time job next spring. Something used or a Mazda2 or Versa would work as I only drive in town and will only be driving about 4k per year. The new Cruze looks sweet but a bit pricey the way I'd like one. Time will tell!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

stever

It didn't look that dirty until after seeing the photo. But what the hey, it's officially a beater at this point.

jayrider

Giving him your civic sounds great. You might ask him what he wants. Does he want an appliance or a little more? There are great deals on the Focus -- college grad rebate? Can't go wrong with a new civic-corolla-sentra either. The Scion family has some cheap buys geared toward younger folks as well.

corvette

A camera flash can uncover a lot of dirt/wear that you wouldn't notice under normal lighting... Meguairs and others make polishes for cleaning up an instrument cluster and other plastic surfaces if they have fine scratches.

Sandman6472

Right now, he can't afford anything so buy gifting him this next year, he'd be thrilled. But again, since he has public transport just outside his door & right to his school, seems like a win/win to keep things status quo for awhile. Things like insurance, gas, parking, maintenance etc. all cost $ which he doesn't have enough of yet. And since we already pay his cell bill &have given him a credit card for "emergencies", I think we've done enough. Also when my pension starts, my take home annuity will be less than I get now being out on sick leave. Plus with us paying down "his" loans, it's a lot.

With the 2012's, there will be some new players from Hyundai, Honda & Nissan plus the Fiesta & Mazda2 which would be a perfect size for me. Right now, we'll stay in the waiting mode & see how that plays out. But I do have my Plan A & Plan B ready to go. Either way, a win/win all around!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

fezo

So you need to make about 200K before it even costs more than going to Rutgers.

Now, let's not say anything bad about a Rutgers degree....

It worked for both me and Mr. Magoo.

qbrozen

But back when you went, fez, it was actually for a very reasonable cost. Have you seen their rates these days? Wow!! Might as well go to a private ivy league school.

stickguy

not that bad Q. Rack rate is roughly 50K (tuition, room, board) vs. 20K. But not many people pay that at the privates, but most people do at the public.

Fezo, did you notice the 5 speed SAAB convertible I found for you? Right in your neck of the woods too!

qbrozen

What is rack rate?

I believe Rutgers was something like $8k back when I was in college.

And, no, that wasn't that long ago. (was it??)
My private school was about $12k the first year for everything. By the 4th year, it was like $12k just for tuition. Crazy rate of inflation.

fezo

Rutgers is a good bang for the buck school. My brother went to Yale. I remember seeing my folks' relief seeing the adjusting tuition for income kick in. you probably would spend more on campus parking tickets these days than they did on tuition....

stick - I did see that Saab. I'm trying to hold off until the Ody is paid off just because I want to sell it myself. That is awfully tempting though. Another brother has an 01 9-3 convertible. Nice cars.

jayrider

Remember well my costs for college. From 1965 to 1968 it was $450 per semester at Temple University. That included tuition AND room and board. Books were about $20-25 total. A decent job paid about $150 a week.

fezo

It was a bit more for me I think - 69 - 73 - but in that ballpark.

The state picked up the tuition which was nice. They did that because of my screwed up eyes. I'd much prefer two good eyes and pay the tuition. Oh, well.

gouldn

I'm wondering if any of you all do the CCBA thing the way I do ... keep a main car for the long term (my Forester has 158K on it, and I've owned it since new), and switch out the other car often. Since buying the Forester, I've had four other cars as a 2nd car. I guess it gives me both the best and worst of both worlds.

stever

No flash on those pics but lots of sun. But I may have to try the gel toothpaste trick on the cluster plastic.

Been meaning to try that on my old Subaru headlights too. They are glazed over pretty good.

Healing Hazy Headlamps

stickguy

rack rate is the full price. So, think of it as MSRP that they publish. having just gone through this 2 years ago, Rutgers was about 20K or so for tuition, room and board.

Most private schools (and non-Ivy league are as much, if not more, in most cases) are up in the 45-50K range. Per year. That is a serious check to write if you aren't getting some heavy FA.

And Gouldn has the perfect way to scratch the itch. In my case, that would be having the family truckster (aka the wifes car), and my car if I want can be something cheap that I sell when some other inexpensive car catches my fancy.

Call it the Qbrozen method, although they seem to flip the family car just as often!

akangl

Offloaded the 93 Explorer and brought home a pretty darn nice 95 F-250 tonight. The dealer was cool, let me take the truck for the day and drive it 60 miles to my mechanic for a complete pre-purchase. Mechanic went over the truck with a fine tooth comb and made me a list with a rough estimate for repairs. Overall its in good shape for its age/miles, mechanic said he wouldn't hesitate to buy it if he was looking. Drove 60 miles back to the dealer, negotiated a bit more, and did the paperwork.

Can't say as I'm sad to see the Explorer go, really wasn't going to be a good car for my son. I'll try to find him an accord or camry next summer.

So now I get to drive a big F-250 x-cab longbed for the next 2 months, then find myself a daily driver. Maybe a Jeep or something fun. It really is nice to have a truck again, 2 years since we've had one, amazing how much you miss it when you don't have it.

grandtotal

I think that makes me the winner, I predicted October 11 (Canadian Thanksgiving).

Seriously though, I hope it doesn't surprise you with unexpected repairs. At least you have stamped your CCBA card for another year.