Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

jmonroe1

corvette said:

@explorerx4 - it says that video is private. I'm slightly skeptical (as I am of anything these days), as I read a post on the Gen2 Prius board complaining that the person had to remove the entire cowl to just to change spark plugs... the same spark plugs I changed in mine without any of those heroics, using only a 3/8" ratchet, spark plug socket, and a short extension.

————————————————-
You’re not going to get too many folks watching a video about doing it like that.

I think I mentioned this before but it’s related:

The first car I ever owned that had A/C was my ‘75 Grand Prix. That car had the 400 CID V8. Changing the plugs on the drivers side was very easy but getting to plugs 2 and 4 on the passenger side was another story because the were hidden by the A/C compressor and barely visible when looking for them leaning over the passenger right fender. There was no way I could imagine getting them out from the top even with my rather extensive assortment of tools. After staring at this situation for what had to be 15 minutes, I decided to take jack up the car and take off the right front tire. Wala, those plugs were now staring me right in the face and were therefore easy to get at. Job done in just a couple minutes doing it like that.

The following Monday when I went to work my fellow workers and I usually discussed what we did over the week end, especially working on our cars. When I told them what I did to change the plugs they thought I was kidding and felt there had to be a better way. I told them if they found a better way I was more than willing to do it that way. When they eventually got GM cars with A/C they did it like I did.

The funny thing about this is when I took my car to a garage for a PA state inspection one time. I got to talking with the mechanic about what I had to do to change the plugs on the passenger side. His response was, “really, how long did it take you to figure that out”. And here I thought I was a pretty sharp/ingenious guy. Ego shattered.

jmonroe

fintail

My chronic car buyer friend who impulse bought the CT6 drove the Buick wagon - liked it but didn't love it enough to buy it. Says it is big (it's a wagon, no kidding) and overpriced - the latter I concur with as it isn't a low mileage car but they want top dollar for it. He has another one on the line, from left field - a late run Lincoln MKS Ecoboost, hard loaded, <30K miles for a not insane price. This may be the one. His dithering can be a little funny, but I have to admire his penchant for unusual cars

qbrozen

What in the world does he find better about the MKS vs the CT6??

Sandman6472

Had tires rotated on the Golf today and they found a leak, nail I think. Went to Goodyear where I bought them but they refused to honor the road hazard policy I bought as they were over 3 years old. I did mention that they've already replaced two of them so not sure which tire was the newer one or which was the older one. Didn't seem to matter to them as they refused any help. Took my keys back and went back to my friends Tire Plus location where they fixed the leak for free even though I insisted on paying for the repair. They simply refused payment so fro here on out, will buy my tires from there.
Funny thing is that the bad tire was the right front but the dash came on to say the left front was the issue! The guy who fixed the tire said not to worry after I asked him to check the left tire also. He said that sometimes that happens & not to worry about it. Think he just didn't want to look at my other tire so he basically blew me off. Wasn't happy because they should listen to what the customer tells them sometimes. Just hope he was right and the left front tire is o k. Shame that so many workers today just don't give a damn about customer service. It's everywhere these past few years. Personally, I went above & beyond for my customers when I was at the post office. Didn't take much effort and they were always pleased with my service!

jmonroe1

roadburner said:

I am a member of another automotive themed board, and one topic discusses vehicles in general. One guy posted that he had just bought a Hyundai Palisade and that he was able to get it at MSRP with no add-ons save TTL- and that he paid a bit under $57k out the door. Interspersed with the congratulations were some of the following comments:

That's a chunk of change.

More than my mortgage!

My personal situation will never involve 50 thousand dollar depreciating assets.

I can't imagine paying $50K+ on a vehicle...

Is your last name Jones? There won't be many people keeping up with you...

I informed one of those knuckleheads' that he would likely stroke out if he followed another board I'm on
where 41 cars were purchased- and none of them were low-rent penalty boxes.

————————————————
There was a time when I freely admitted it’s going to be a cold day in Hawaii when I pay more for a car than I paid for my first house that cost around 22/23K in 1967.

It didn’t take very long to climb off of that horse.

jmonroe

fintail

He's also going through a separation/failing marriage - MKS is about 40% the price and he is suddenly concerned with that. He also doesn't like the ICE in the Caddy, probably because he's driven Fords/Lincolns for a decade and is used to the interface. I just wonder what he will lose in the transaction as the market is softening, I am guessing 10K.

qbrozen said:

What in the world does he find better about the MKS vs the CT6??

stickguy

oh, you are talking about the infotainment screen. I thought you meant the engine (internal combustion) which made little sense since the cars mentioned weren't hybrids.

I could see not liking some cars that have somewhat odd interfaces, but usually just takes some acclimation time.

stickguy

Sandy, sounds like you had the tires rotated side to side and they did not resync the TPM sensors? only thing that makes sense to me.

Sandman6472

We had a '75 Pontiac Grand Prix. Black with a white half vinyl roof and a blood red interior. Liked driving it and my folks loved it since it was their only vehicle. They had moved to our country club a couple years earlier and went down to one vehicle and one golf cart. The only issue was my dad's mom who was getting on in years. The front doors were big & heavy and she couldn't pull them closed. Sitting in the back seat was never going to happen either. I do remember being in the car with my dad and grandma and her reading him the riot act about the stupidity of buying a 2-door vehicle. First time I had ever seen her talk to her son that way. And she wasn't kidding, do remember some tears being shed to.
All I know, the next time I came home from college a couple months later, the Grand Prix was gone and a new '77 Bonneville Brougham 4-door was now sitting in our garage. They never owned a 2-door vehicle again! But all in all, that '75 Grand Prix was a nice looking vehicle and I did enjoy driving it.

corvette

fintail said:

My chronic car buyer friend who impulse bought the CT6 drove the Buick wagon - liked it but didn't love it enough to buy it.

I see a Buick Regal TourX wagon around here, and those are supposed to be great touring cars, but it is fire engine red, which is probably the only completely wrong color for that car, to the point that I wonder how it ever got approved as a factory color.

sda

I like the Regal TourX. Sadly it was
discontinued which would give me pause concerning easy parts availability as it was a rebadged Opel and is no longer under the umbrella of GM and poor resale.

henryn

jmonroe1 said:

corvette said:

@explorerx4 - it says that video is private. I'm slightly skeptical (as I am of anything these days), as I read a post on the Gen2 Prius board complaining that the person had to remove the entire cowl to just to change spark plugs... the same spark plugs I changed in mine without any of those heroics, using only a 3/8" ratchet, spark plug socket, and a short extension.

————————————————-
You’re not going to get too many folks watching a video about doing it like that.

I think I mentioned this before but it’s related:

The first car I ever owned that had A/C was my ‘75 Grand Prix. That car had the 400 CID V8. Changing the plugs on the drivers side was very easy but getting to plugs 2 and 4 on the passenger side was another story because the were hidden by the A/C compressor and barely visible when looking for them leaning over the passenger right fender. There was no way I could imagine getting them out from the top even with my rather extensive assortment of tools. After staring at this situation for what had to be 15 minutes, I decided to take jack up the car and take off the right front tire. Wala, those plugs were now staring me right in the face and were therefore easy to get at. Job done in just a couple minutes doing it like that.

The following Monday when I went to work my fellow workers and I usually discussed what we did over the week end, especially working on our cars. When I told them what I did to change the plugs they thought I was kidding and felt there had to be a better way. I told them if they found a better way I was more than willing to do it that way. When they eventually got GM cars with A/C they did it like I did.

The funny thing about this is when I took my car to a garage for a PA state inspection one time. I got to talking with the mechanic about what I had to do to change the plugs on the passenger side. His response was, “really, how long did it take you to figure that out”. And here I thought I was a pretty sharp/ingenious guy. Ego shattered.

jmonroe

I remember changing the plugs and the plug wires on a Vega. One of the plugs required unbolting the engine mount and jacking up the engine. And getting to the distributor cap to change the plug wires (and the rotor) required unbolting the AC compressor and moving it to one side. Fortunately, the hoses could stay attached.

And no, I didn't own a Vega, god help me!

henryn

fintail said:

My chronic car buyer friend who impulse bought the CT6 drove the Buick wagon - liked it but didn't love it enough to buy it. Says it is big (it's a wagon, no kidding) and overpriced - the latter I concur with as it isn't a low mileage car but they want top dollar for it. He has another one on the line, from left field - a late run Lincoln MKS Ecoboost, hard loaded, <30K miles for a not insane price. This may be the one. His dithering can be a little funny, but I have to admire his penchant for unusual cars</p>

Forgive my ignorance here, but is that Lincoln MKS Ecoboost a 4 or 6 cylinder? I would be quite leery of a 4 cylinder Ecoboost, the V6 not so much.

roadburner

Sandman6472 said:

We had a '75 Pontiac Grand Prix. Black with a white half vinyl roof and a blood red interior. Liked driving it and my folks loved it since it was their only vehicle. They had moved to our country club a couple years earlier and went down to one vehicle and one golf cart. The only issue was my dad's mom who was getting on in years. The front doors were big & heavy and she couldn't pull them closed. Sitting in the back seat was never going to happen either. I do remember being in the car with my dad and grandma and her reading him the riot act about the stupidity of buying a 2-door vehicle. First time I had ever seen her talk to her son that way. And she wasn't kidding, do remember some tears being shed to.
All I know, the next time I came home from college a couple months later, the Grand Prix was gone and a new '77 Bonneville Brougham 4-door was now sitting in our garage. They never owned a 2-door vehicle again! But all in all, that '75 Grand Prix was a nice looking vehicle and I did enjoy driving it.

I would NEVER, E V E R have allowed my mother to dictate my vehicular choices.
But that's just me...

corvette

My better half has laid down the gauntlet… she predicts I will have a punch by April.

jmonroe1

corvette said:

My better half has laid down the gauntlet… she predicts I will have a punch by April.

————————————————
Careful, the IRS gets suspicious when folks buy car around tax time. Something to do with cheating. That’s why I wait until July or later.

jmonroe

tjc78

So what do I win lol! Good year of punches.

I’m going low this year as there won’t be any 4XE shenanigans. 33

ab348

I'll take Casey Stengel's old number, 37.

nyccarguy

Count me in for a punch this year. The Jeep has 18,000 miles on it since March. It isn't a vehicle I'd like to be making lease payments on once the warranty is up.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

roadburner said:

I am a member of another automotive themed board, and one topic discusses vehicles in general. One guy posted that he had just bought a Hyundai Palisade and that he was able to get it at MSRP with no add-ons save TTL- and that he paid a bit under $57k out the door. Interspersed with the congratulations were some of the following comments:

That's a chunk of change.

More than my mortgage!

My personal situation will never involve 50 thousand dollar depreciating assets.

I can't imagine paying $50K+ on a vehicle...

Is your last name Jones? There won't be many people keeping up with you...

I informed one of those knuckleheads' that he would likely stroke out if he followed another board I'm on
where 41 cars were purchased- and none of them were low-rent penalty boxes.

————————————————
There was a time when I freely admitted it’s going to be a cold day in Hawaii when I pay more for a car than I paid for my first house that cost around 22/23K in 1967.

It didn’t take very long to climb off of that horse.

jmonroe

Don’t feel bad, I’m on record from 1973 stating that if gas prices ever went over 40 cents a gallon I was going to stop driving.

qbrozen

jmonroe1 said:

Careful, the IRS gets suspicious when folks buy car around tax time. Something to do with cheating. That’s why I wait until July or later.

jmonroe

Huh? How does that work? Spending your tax return on a car is cheating?

Michaell

I'll register a guess of 35 - can count on @breld and @qbrozen for somewhere between one and two dozen, alone.

Still not sure if we'll have a punch this year. Daughter is still making noise about trading in the MINI, though I doubt we'll go the EV route. Perhaps a hybrid SUV of some sort.

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

I'll register a guess of 35 - can count on @breld and @qbrozen for somewhere between one and two dozen, alone.

Still not sure if we'll have a punch this year. Daughter is still making noise about trading in the MINI, though I doubt we'll go the EV route. Perhaps a hybrid SUV of some sort.

Didn't you have an iD4 on order?

nyccarguy

@breld has got to be good for at least 2 GTIs. 1st will be a discounted 6 Speed stick that his local dealer has which will then be traded for in 3 months for a Golf R w/ DSG:)-

28firefighter

I’m going to say 43 this year.

Not placing separate numbers for @breld or @qbrozen.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

Michaell said:

I'll register a guess of 35 - can count on @breld and @qbrozen for somewhere between one and two dozen, alone.

Still not sure if we'll have a punch this year. Daughter is still making noise about trading in the MINI, though I doubt we'll go the EV route. Perhaps a hybrid SUV of some sort.

Didn't you have an iD4 on order?

We canceled the order in October, due to my unstable job situation.

(I'm still waiting for a final disposition on that, by the way)

qbrozen

If I ever get a dealer license, my personal count will go WAAAYYY down. Possibly even zero. Maybe.

laurasdada

41, in memory of Tom Seaver.
And, a prosperous (and healthy) '23 for all, leading to all of us young men's fancy turning to new cars.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

jmonroe1 said:

Careful, the IRS gets suspicious when folks buy car around tax time. Something to do with cheating. That’s why I wait until July or later.

jmonroe

Huh? How does that work? Spending your tax return on a car is cheating?

————————————————-
Do I really have to explain it to you?

OK, here goes for you and possibly other slow poster buddies in here:

To get enough of a tax return to buy a car, cheating might be involved. Now do you get it?

jmonroe

breld

nyccarguy said:

@breld has got to be good for at least 2 GTIs. 1st will be a discounted 6 Speed stick that his local dealer has which will then be traded for in 3 months for a Golf R w/ DSG:)-

https://www.mcdonaldvw.com/inventory/certified-used-2022-volkswagen-golf-gti-2-0t-se-fwd-4d-hatchback-wvws87cd3nw184816/

qbrozen

jmonroe1 said:

Do I really have to explain it to you?

OK, here goes for you and possibly other slow poster buddies in here:

To get enough of a tax return to buy a car, cheating might be involved. Now do you get it?

jmonroe

hmmm... OK. But if the actual amount of the check they sent didn't trigger that notice, I don't see how spending it would.

stickguy

nice GTI. that would be the spec I want but the price seems quite ambitious. and CPO does not look to add any value since it is a 2 year warranty, on a car that should have 2 years of warranty left on it already. Not sure the wheels are the best design either but minor quibble. Plaid with a moonroof and clutch, perfect.

I wonder how bad those odd touch controls really are. Heard a lot of horror stories.

breld

@stickguy - agreed on all points. Pricing is pretty much same as new, and my sense is if you have just a little patience, you can land a new GTI with no problem. And I wasn't a fan of the haptic controls when my wife was testing one out (before buying the MINI instead...two MINIs ago). I don't hate the black wheel package, but certainly wouldn't choose it.

But SE trim with plaid and manual? Yes!

Michaell

stickguy said:

nice GTI. that would be the spec I want but the price seems quite ambitious. and CPO does not look to add any value since it is a 2 year warranty, on a car that should have 2 years of warranty left on it already. Not sure the wheels are the best design either but minor quibble. Plaid with a moonroof and clutch, perfect.

I wonder how bad those odd touch controls really are. Heard a lot of horror stories.

Had a few minutes with them when we test drove the iD4. I wasn't a fan of the interface, but my daughter took to it like a duck to water.

Agreed about the price, too. Can't be much different than a new one.

pensfan83

The market is similar for the Civic Si. If you can find a dealer willing to do MSRP and minimal add ons there's zero reason to consider one on the used market where they are all $4,000 to $7,000 higher than new.

carnaught

@pensfan83, AutoNation dealers will do this, just hard to get the Si.

breld

From my limited experience, a GTI at MSRP is very doable, and maybe even a nominal discount. A Civic Si? The dealers are doing you a favor if they are only marking it up $5k.

pensfan83

breld said:

From my limited experience, a GTI at MSRP is very doable, and maybe even a nominal discount. A Civic Si? The dealers are doing you a favor if they are only marking it up $5k.

They are few and far between, but there are dealers out there who are at MSRP and no (or minimal) adds. One of them is 20 minutes from me

[Deleted User]

I'll guess 38. We might be 1 or 2 of those. One of the boys is still on the hunt for an older 4Runner and my wife goes back and forth between wanting something new for her and waiting until after the next set of graduations. Sigh, time will tell...

sda

I will cheer everyone on! Unless something unexpected happens, doubtful punch for us in 23.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

jmonroe1 said:

Do I really have to explain it to you?

OK, here goes for you and possibly other slow poster buddies in here:

To get enough of a tax return to buy a car, cheating might be involved. Now do you get it?

jmonroe

hmmm... OK. But if the actual amount of the check they sent didn't trigger that notice, I don't see how spending it would.

————————————————
I don’t know this first hand but I’ve heard about cases where the IRS has sent people refunds and then “upon further review” have brought them in for an audit. Usually resulting in them being fined plus having to return their refund. Again, not me, I’m too clever to be caught but it’s happened.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

sda said:

I will cheer everyone on! Unless something unexpected happens, doubtful punch for us in 23.

famous last words

stickguy

since I technically missed 2022 (by 1 day, buying 12/31/2021) that would make 2 years if I don't get a punch in. been a while since I did that! though I did buy a house, and that was slightly more expensive than my last car (OK, every car put together most likely).

nyccarguy

I did buy a house

excuses
excuses
excuses

breld

Integra Type S should be a punch for 2023. My graduating senior will get a new car this spring (if that counts). If the 2-door Bronco comes in that will be a punch. And I may or may not have the opportunity to replace the Polestar with a new EV in 2023.

So I’m probably good for 3-4. The wife claims no punches for her in 2023 (other than the Bronco which is mostly hers).

Michaell

breld said:

Integra Type S should be a punch for 2023. My graduating senior will get a new car this spring (if that counts). If the 2-door Bronco comes in that will be a punch. And I may or may not have the opportunity to replace the Polestar with a new EV in 2023.

So I’m probably good for 3-4. The wife claims no punches for her in 2023 (other than the Bronco which is mostly hers).

Yeah, but your annual guesses don't count, as you can sway the results pretty dramatically.

tjc78

@nyccarguy said:
I did buy a house

excuses
excuses
excuses

Yeah… I settled 10/30/20 got the XC90 on 11/16/20

@breld has probably done it the same day 🤪🤪🤪

jmonroe1

breld said:

Integra Type S should be a punch for 2023. My graduating senior will get a new car this spring (if that counts). If the 2-door Bronco comes in that will be a punch. And I may or may not have the opportunity to replace the Polestar with a new EV in 2023.

So I’m probably good for 3-4. The wife claims no punches for her in 2023 (other than the Bronco which is mostly hers).

————————————————
I’m predicting Mrs.@breld will claim ownership to any of the cars in your fleet and you’ll just sit there improving your smile and liking it.

jmonroe

xwesx

I try to guess reasonably each year, and we seem to keep going up every year. As Q noted, though, perhaps not this year. I'll go with 39.

ab348

I read recently that the top brass at VW has made changing that driver/car interface debacle a top priority for the engineers. They recognize it is keeping potential customers away.