Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

That’s pushing the boundary of easier to drive. Especially when you have to drive back the next day.

corvette

Yeah, it’s doable in a day, but I figured there would be a good chance I wouldn’t return a rental car within 24 hours of picking it up, so planned on a two day rental.

@stickguy - did you get the rail shipment info from your dealer so you could track yours?

au1994

If it was me, having to get to and deal with the ATL airport, I’d drive the 9 hours. Definitely going to make for 2 long days but nobody says you can’t break up the return if there is something cool to see on the way home.

qbrozen

For solo travel, I've always felt 5 hours is the line. If I can drive it in 5 or less, it makes more sense than flying.

roadburner

@qbrozen said:
For solo travel, I've always felt 5 hours is the line. If I can drive it in 5 or less, it makes more sense than flying.

8-9 hours works for me.

kyfdx

corvette said:

Yeah, it’s doable in a day, but I figured there would be a good chance I wouldn’t return a rental car within 24 hours of picking it up, so planned on a two day rental.

@stickguy - did you get the rail shipment info from your dealer so you could track yours?

I'd pick up the car in mid-afternoon, drive six hours and spend the night.. Drive in the next morning, drop the car, Uber to the dealer, and drive home.. One day for the car, one night in a motel. (or, a second night, if that's too much driving on pickup day)

stickguy

I never bothered to figure out the rail tracking system. I know people on MTC did it though. I just looked at the Ford site that told me it was in transit. I think that told me when it arrived at the rail yard and had a status of waiting on transport to dealer.

laurasdada

When I was a travelling salesman, 500 miles was the drive/fly demarcation line. I believe it was 495 miles Boston to Buffalo, so away I drove!

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

certainly quicker.

kyfdx said:

corvette said:

Looks like the cost of a one-stop flight to Des Moines a month from now is about the same as a one-way rental for two days (not including fuel), so definitely pointing in the direction of flying vs. driving.

I can't get National to even quote a one-way rental, any more.

stickguy said:

certainly quicker.

Louisville to Des Moines? I bet I can drive it just as quickly, once you factor in driving to the airport, arriving 2 hours ahead of your flight, then changing planes with a 2 hour layover..

Not that I'd want to..

I assumed it was further since he mentioned a 2 day rental.

About 9 hours

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That’s about 2 days for me.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

“ I can't get National to even quote a one-way rental, any more.”

I can believe that, the car shortage at rental agencies is so bad that we have to travel hundreds of miles to gather up enough vehicles to fill reservations. A one way car is a car lost to rent.

oldfarmer50

laurasdada said:

When I was a travelling salesman, 500 miles was the drive/fly demarcation line. I believe it was 495 miles Boston to Buffalo, so away I drove!

We do 600-700 miles on many work days.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

When I was a travelling salesman, 500 miles was the drive/fly demarcation line. I believe it was 495 miles Boston to Buffalo, so away I drove!

We do 600-700 miles on many work days.

————————————————
Wow, I’d never want your job especially for what you have said they pay.

jmonroe

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

roadburner said:

I broke down and had a local shop put new Bilstein B4 struts/shocks on the Clubman at all four corners- along with new rear ant-roll bar bushings and end links. I knew that the OEM parts were almost completely shot, but I'm still amazed at the difference in ride/handling.

Even better than a brand new car

That's what I always say!

xwesx

roadburner said:

8-9 hours works for me.

Same here. When driving solo, I tend to be able to just add an hour to the map app's driving time estimate, and that's about right. With the family, we have to add 25%. So, a nine-hour "driving day" is actually twelve hours on the road. And, that's plenty of hours to be out there, unless I really have to push it for some reason.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

When I was a travelling salesman, 500 miles was the drive/fly demarcation line. I believe it was 495 miles Boston to Buffalo, so away I drove!

We do 600-700 miles on many work days.

————————————————
Wow, I’d never want your job especially for what you have said they pay.

jmonroe

Not even for a Porsche? Besides, half the time we’re just passengers.

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

ab348 said:

Maybe Q should just pivot away from this used car racket and go all-in on Asian Massage Parlors… 🤣

If only I could pass for a 5' Asian woman.

That's the beauty of 2022. You don't have to pass for a 5' Asian woman. You just need to identify as one:)-

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

When I was a travelling salesman, 500 miles was the drive/fly demarcation line. I believe it was 495 miles Boston to Buffalo, so away I drove!

We do 600-700 miles on many work days.

————————————————
Wow, I’d never want your job especially for what you have said they pay.

jmonroe

Not even for a Porsche? Besides, half the time we’re just passengers.

————————————————
Nope, not even for a Porsche. Being a passenger is worse than driving 8 or 9 hours.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@explorerx4 said:
Q,
Did you ever try out that ionizer? I'm watching a Specialty Motor Cars video and the subject is a car with a heavy smokers smell among other issues.

Sorry I missed this.

Yes. It worked great. Left an odd smell at first but now it is fine. Been about a week since I did it and the grandpa smell has not returned.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

When I was a travelling salesman, 500 miles was the drive/fly demarcation line. I believe it was 495 miles Boston to Buffalo, so away I drove!

We do 600-700 miles on many work days.

————————————————
Wow, I’d never want your job especially for what you have said they pay.

jmonroe

Not even for a Porsche? Besides, half the time we’re just passengers.

————————————————
Nope, not even for a Porsche. Being a passenger is worse than driving 8 or 9 hours.

jmonroe

Boy, driving sports cars or laughing it up with your buddies won’t do it for you? Are you a hermit?

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

When I was a travelling salesman, 500 miles was the drive/fly demarcation line. I believe it was 495 miles Boston to Buffalo, so away I drove!

We do 600-700 miles on many work days.

————————————————
Wow, I’d never want your job especially for what you have said they pay.

jmonroe

Not even for a Porsche? Besides, half the time we’re just passengers.

————————————————
Nope, not even for a Porsche. Being a passenger is worse than driving 8 or 9 hours.

jmonroe

Boy, driving sports cars or laughing it up with your buddies won’t do it for you? Are you a hermit?

————————————————-
Don’t call me Herman. Oops you called me something worse than that. I hope they’re close friends after your name calling.

jmonroe

ronsteve

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

When I was a travelling salesman, 500 miles was the drive/fly demarcation line. I believe it was 495 miles Boston to Buffalo, so away I drove!

We do 600-700 miles on many work days.

Not work related here, but our drive tolerance has certainly come down as we age. Circa 2012-13 we drove from Louisville to exotic destinations like Des Moines, Kansas City, and even Tulsa. That was pushing the limit, perhaps even a bit more than Omaha a couple years later. But now our limit seems to be 500-600 miles, or 8-10 hrs, and some of those can be a coin flip depending on airfares and flight schedules.

I drove to Kansas City on a work trip this summer, largely because I was going to be there 2 weeks and work wasn't going to pay for a rental while I was there.

stickguy

before we moved, our usual longest trips were in the 4.5-5 hour range to visit family. if we went up to Boston, with traffic, that could push 6 (with stops). at this point, and being over 60, that is plenty.

a few years back when our daughter was in college, that was a 7.5-8 hour drive. I sometimes did that solo (wife would ride with the princess). that made for a long day. Not sure I even want to do that much seat time straight through now. i'm sure I could, just very tiring!

since we moved to were we used to road trip to, most any place we go is going to be in the 2-3 hour range. that is comfortable!

one consideration for us is that I do all the driving. Wife has no desire to. she would if I asked her too, but that is pretty stressful for both of us! she is happy to ride shot gun, play with the radio, dish out snacks, and take naps. for the best since I am a lousy passenger!

explorerx4

My wife and I usually split driving n a long trip but I can do a 9 hour trip on my own pretty easily.
With my last couple of f150's that included no stops to fuel up.

kyfdx

Longest recently was 11 hours the first day driving back from Denver with my new GTI. (2020)
We drive to Dallas and back, last New Years, but broke that up, each way. It's about 14 hours, so, four 7 hour days within 5 days. That wasn't too bad.

We have a 5 hour R/T today, driving to Bloomington, Indiana and back.

explorerx4

We are doing 7-8 hours R/T to South Bend and back today.

oldfarmer50

My work days can be 12+ hours of driving but that’s broken up by switching to different cars, lunch, waiting for assignments etc.

The one thing it’s done for me is that I’m capable of doing longer trips on non work days. When I bought my convertible I had to drive to the end of another state to get it and it seemed like a short drive in comparison.

andres3

laurasdada said:

When I was a travelling salesman, 500 miles was the drive/fly demarcation line. I believe it was 495 miles Boston to Buffalo, so away I drove!

Is that mileage defined by google maps? I'd have adjusted a turn here or there to fly.

laurasdada

This was pre-Google maps. AAA TripTik! Yeah, I'm old. And, even though I was driving dull sales-dude cars (the '95 Intrepid was a bit fun), I love to drive. Don't mind flying at all, just the prerequisites to actually get on and off the plane leave much to be desired.

Today's road trip was to Hyannis, MA. A wearying drive of ~30 miles each way. But, lovely, sunny day with temp in low 60s. There are smatterings of color, as well as calm seas, rivers and ponds.
Why, no one was wondering? To test drive and have lunch on Hyannis harbor. Why else would one go to the Cape after Columbus Day?!

corvette

Got the Q5 a bit dirty on the way to a hiking trail today. Took a back road which turned out to be a few miles of gravel (on top of the National Forest road to the trail, which is also gravel). Perfect weather, though.

stickguy

had a warm afternoon so both cars got a good wash. They seem to get dirty quick up here for some reason.

in the next few weeks I need to set aside a day to wash, clay and wax both of them to get ready for the winter assault of snow and salt. mostly the salt. I hate salt.

sda

corvette said:

Got the Q5 a bit dirty on the way to a hiking trail today. Took a back road which turned out to be a few miles of gravel (on top of the National Forest road to the trail, which is also gravel). Perfect weather, though.

Don’t let your folks see that, spank, spank!

breld

We did a few things this weekend to prep for winter…got the winter tires put on both Mercedes. With the staggered set up on the GLC, it was pretty much impossible to find snow tires to fit on the OEM wheels, so I had found a set of 19” GLC wheels on eBay that turned out to work pretty well.



And also picked up the larger 2-stage EGO snow blower which should make easier work of our driveway.

breld

I also made a casual attempt at getting a Mach E today. I find the interior more comfortable and practical than the Polestar, plus you know, change.

The trade on the Polestar was in line with expectations, but they wouldn’t budge on the $5k ADM for the Mach E (GT model). I’m still considering it…this is a new 2022 model and they raised the price by about $5k for 2023, plus I’d still get the $7,500 federal rebate on a purchase this year. So, could make some sense. Not compared to doing nothing at all, but still.

stickguy

how much was that Ego? I got coerced into buying a gas snowblower that came with the new house. I wanted to get a battery one. and ended up getting an Ego weed whacker that I love. so kinda sorry I just did not hold out and get a battery unit. unless of course it was a ton more $ than the one I got!

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

how much was that Ego? I got coerced into buying a gas snowblower that came with the new house. I wanted to get a battery one. and ended up getting an Ego weed whacker that I love. so kinda sorry I just did not hold out and get a battery unit. unless of course it was a ton more $ than the one I got!

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I have yet to find anyone (at least 5 people) who like the power of a battery snow blower compared to their old worn out gas unit.

Everyone seemed to fall for the tax credit when replacing their old gas job and are sorry they did. Unfortunately by the time my gas unit wears out I’ve been told I won’t have a choice because only battery units will be sold by then to comply with the tree hugging environmental laws.

jmonroe

xwesx

Looks like the snow is here to stay now. Temperatures hovering around freezing the last couple of days, with about 4" of snow at our house yesterday, but the air is cooling now, and is supposed to be flirting with single digits by the end of the week. Honestly, if it holds, I'll take it. Much preferable to the snow/slush/melt cycles for weeks and weeks that we've had the last decade or so.

xwesx

stickguy said:

how much was that Ego? I got coerced into buying a gas snowblower that came with the new house. I wanted to get a battery one. and ended up getting an Ego weed whacker that I love. so kinda sorry I just did not hold out and get a battery unit. unless of course it was a ton more $ than the one I got!

Oof. Looks like it is on the order of $1,500! I'm considering a new thrower in the near future, but I'm not sure I want to go all electric quite yet. At least, I hope that it will be more reliable than, say, the earlier single-stage versions were. Throwers get a lot of use in these parts!

xwesx

I just found out that I was the high bidder on a property auction for land that is about a 1/4 mile (by road) from my house. 25 acres split between two lots. Considering whether to jump on them or let one go to the next bidder.

roadburner

I mentioned over in the C&C that my wife and I had lunch with some friends today. The husband was the same guy who sold his E46 Dinan M3 without telling me. He now has a Hockenheim Silver F87 M2 Competition with three pedals, Exec Package, no hole in the roof, and only 5,500 miles on it. Today, he mentioned that he thought the car might be "too much" for him so I told him this time to let me know if he wants to sell it. I can only hope that he decides sooner than later.

stickguy

xwesx said:

I just found out that I was the high bidder on a property auction for land that is about a 1/4 mile (by road) from my house. 25 acres split between two lots. Considering whether to jump on them or let one go to the next bidder.

just want to own empty land? Considering I think you are what, 20 years into living in the garage of the house you are building, I doubt you are going to do anything with it!

on the blowers, that makes my shiny yellow 26" Cub Cadet for $600 seem like a not bad deal. I just hate dealing with small equipment gas engines. hopefully this one is well behaved. but even better would be not having enough snow to have to even use it. anything less than 6, maybe 8-10", and it is getting done via shovel.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

had a warm afternoon so both cars got a good wash. They seem to get dirty quick up here for some reason.

in the next few weeks I need to set aside a day to wash, clay and wax both of them to get ready for the winter assault of snow and salt. mostly the salt. I hate salt.

Ha ha, another convert to the salt haters club.🤬😡

oldfarmer50

xwesx said:

I just found out that I was the high bidder on a property auction for land that is about a 1/4 mile (by road) from my house. 25 acres split between two lots. Considering whether to jump on them or let one go to the next bidder.

“I wish I had less land” said no one ever. If you can afford it, go for it. For all you know, the other lot will be bought by someone who saw one of those Alaska homesteading shows.

oldfarmer50

“I just hate dealing with small equipment gas engines.“

I did too but I found a “guy” who does all my small engine work at reasonable rates. Is your Maverick bed big enough for all your power equipment?

stickguy

yes I could throw the snow blower in there if need be. the mower is just a pretty basic Troy Bilt (though it does have power drive). That came free. if it craps out I am just replacing it.

breld

Yup - $1,500 for the snow blower. That includes two large batteries and the charger. If you happen to already have the batteries, the tool itself is about $850.

I have the lawn mower, weed trimmer, edger, blower and the small single stage snowblower. They’ve all worked well, including the snow blower, but it’s just not up to the task when the big snows come. That may only be a few times a season, but that’s when you really need it. So I’m optimistic this new 2-stage blower will be up to the task.

kyfdx

Had to buy new shoes for the wife's X3, this week. 19" runflats.

The best tire/deal was at Discount Tire. 245/45-19 102W XL. Bridgestone Driveguard.
$1284 installed. plus sales tax. Made an appointment, and done in 50 minutes.

Our new car dealer, which is surprisingly competitive on OEM tires, wanted $1560+tax to replace the Pirellis that were on it (but, I didn't love those tires)

qbrozen

@breld said:
We did a few things this weekend to prep for winter…got the winter tires put on both Mercedes. With the staggered set up on the GLC, it was pretty much impossible to find snow tires to fit on the OEM wheels, so I had found a set of 19” GLC wheels on eBay that turned out to work pretty well.

The next owner this winter will appreciate you going through the effort

graphicguy

Have an electric snow blower….EGO! Haven’t been in love with it. It’s heavy to maneuver and isn’t quasi “self-propelled” like my old ICE Toro unit. Plus, if it hit any uneven patches, it was jarring to push. Given, it’s about 5 years old, so they have become better.

But, given the opportunity, I’d probably go back to the ICE Toro Snow Blower.

sda

A huge new Hyundai dealer just opened. $4 K addendum mark up. Fun Easter egg. I prefer the less gimmicky and practical Maverick.

Sandman6472

Had those Bridgestone Driveguard for a few years on my VW Golf. They wore pretty evenly but decided to not get run flats this time around. Goodyear was having an exceptional sale on their Eagle GT's that I couldn't pass up. Discount on the tires & also on the installation but had to open up one of their charge cards to get all the savings. Was worth it to me at the time and have zero complaints with the GT's so far. Two have already been replaced due to nails in the sidewalls but having the road hazard protection plan on them made the new ones very inexpensive. Got them in September of 2019 and tread looks almost new on all of them still!