Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

as for the truck, very nice. all the great Maverick features I liked (visibility comfortable seats, nice ride and handling) with a lot of upgrades to the old one. Much better stereo (sound) and the screen is a lot sharper. Also has navigation and XM now. The luxury package has an upgraded sound system and higher level of Sync. plus various goodies I don't need right now (heated seats and steering wheel, power inverters, and some other stuff I don't recall).

Hybrid was a non event pretty much, in terms of how it drives. which is, normal! brakes feel like brakes. quiet, with just a little CVT style noise accelerating hard, but most of the time don't even hear the engine (which makes it easy to forget it turns on and off when it feels like it!) Seems peppy enough but I think it might take a little harder push on the gas? or I could be imagining that. will get a better feel once I start driving it around town.

mileage is amazing. 250 miles overall and the TC sitting right at 40, including the pre-delivery time which always drags it down (I think it was at 15 when we left the dealer). after lunch, 200 miles home which was some local roads, a little highway, then a traffic jam, then a lot more highway with a lot of uphills and mostly running mid-70s +/-, with AC home at a flat 40 MPG. Not bad since it is rated 34 highway.

a lot of new to learn with the power meters, drive options, brake coach/regenerative braking stuff. But even just driving like any other car generates pretty good MPG as a baseline.

still a great travel car. nice highway manners, excellent seating position, comfortable seats, AC that can freeze beer. Now with a 540 range on a ~13 gallon tank.

stickguy

and for now I will resist the temptation to run it through Carvana. At least until I get the title in the mail!

sda

stickguy said:

and for now I will resist the temptation to run it through Carvana. At least until I get the title in the mail!

Will you add a cargo cover and other accessories like you did previously?

jmonroe1

Congrats and good luck with it @stickguy.

Nothing wrong with having a truck that can keep beer cold in the Summer and the Winter. However, where you live now you might have to heat the bed in the Winter to keep the beer from freezing. Might want to ask @oldfarmer50 how he handles that.

jmonroe

stickguy

sda said:

stickguy said:

and for now I will resist the temptation to run it through Carvana. At least until I get the title in the mail!

Will you add a cargo cover and other accessories like you did previously?

I took my cover off the old truck and will install that once I decide what to do with the bed. Probably going to get the spray in again, but I have not priced that yet. Might go with a bed rug instead but still trying to decide.

those were actually the only 2 add-ons I did. This one I think I will get tailgate letters too.

stickguy

Long day though. About 9 hours actually driving and about 500 miles. With a purchase in the middle. Very tiring. I ain’t as young as I used to be!

jmonroe1

@stickguy said:
Long day though. About 9 hours actually driving and about 500 miles. With a purchase in the middle. Very tiring. I ain’t as young as I used to be!

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Prove you’re tough. Be the first to post in the morning.

jmonroe

xwesx

Sounds like a respectable day on the road, @stickguy! Congratulations on finally wrangling the second Maverick!

And, of course, pics (of more than the instrument cluster) or it didn't happen.

stickguy

@jmonroe1 said:

@stickguy said:
Long day though. About 9 hours actually driving and about 500 miles. With a purchase in the middle. Very tiring. I ain’t as young as I used to be!

————————————————
Prove you’re tough. Be the first to post in the morning.

jmonroe

Sure.

stickguy

@xwesx said:
Sounds like a respectable day on the road, @stickguy! Congratulations on finally wrangling the second Maverick!

And, of course, pics (of more than the instrument cluster) or it didn't happen.

First it needs a bath. Already blasted by the finest NYS thruway bugs.

ab348

stickguy said:

First leg of the trip home. Stories to follow. This was traffic getting out of philly, a little highway then some back roads to get to the pizza place we like.

The big surprise for me is that Ford apparently went back to the old 2-speed Fordomatic transmission.

stickguy

Even worse. I think it is technically a 1 speed.

Looks good in the sun though.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

purchase experience overall really good (same dealer I got the 1st one from, and I assume where Corvette ordered from, though that dealer has 2 locations not far from each other). well organized, papers all set, in and out quick from finance with zero upsell. And nice that not only do they discount heavily, they add nothing at all to the car.

only problem was when we looked it over before signing found a couple of chips on the rear door (Looks like someone drop a tool maybe?). so that was some back and forth with the salesguy/manager. Ended up getting touched up (after the paint shop actually mixed up some paint since they did not have touchup paint in stock). Not the best job, but I did get to keep the large amount of extra paint. will likely find a good detail shop that can fix the chip right.

if I was local I would have either left the car or brought it back another time to make their shop do it. But decided to just deal with it myself at some point if the defect bothers me. We needed to get back on the road anyway so I will just redirect some of my savings from the 1st flip to it.

hard to argue with the deal. with the dealer below invoice discount, and the Ford private offer (that they quickly got straightened out since my address had changed) I paid about $4,500 less than the $34,320 sticker. OTD, with NY tax and Doc and DMV fees, right about $1,500 back of MSRP. Basically a reverse ADM!

That’s a great deal you got. You had to wait what, 15 months from order to delivery? Whatever, it’s worth it not to have a dealer try to slap a bunch of useless, overpriced added junk on it.

tjc78

Congratulations Stick! Great color.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

Congrats and good luck with it @stickguy.

Nothing wrong with having a truck that can keep beer cold in the Summer and the Winter. However, where you live now you might have to heat the bed in the Winter to keep the beer from freezing. Might want to ask @oldfarmer50 how he handles that.

jmonroe

You drink it fast.🥳

stickguy

farmer, actually almost 19 months from when I first ordered the hybrid (I ordered this one about 2 months before the Ecoboost arrived the last week of 2021). Some people have waited longer but I had one to use while I was waiting, so didn't really care that I did!

the color is really nice in person, and looks good in the son. Even growing on the wife, though she still prefers a darker blue. At least this one is noticeable, and easy to find in a parking lot.

qbrozen

Well, I've confirmed for myself that the auctions are still NUTS!

Watching Manheim in PA this morn. Had my eye on a few cheap vehicles for a friend's kid. 2 different Foci and an Aveo. All were bid to 2-3x MMR, and the Aveo was even a no sale at $6k bid with a $2600 MMR. WTH?

jmonroe1

@qbrozen said:
Well, I've confirmed for myself that the auctions are still NUTS!

Watching Manheim in PA this morn. Had my eye on a few cheap vehicles for a friend's kid. 2 different Foci and an Aveo. All were bid to 2-3x MMR, and the Aveo was even a no sale at $6k bid with a $2600 MMR. WTH?

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Maybe you’re getting newbie data or you have newbie jitters.

jmonroe

qbrozen

I got 13 cars sitting outside. The only thing that gives me jitters is my wife.

pensfan83

I like that blue a lot. Congrats!

laurasdada

Congrats, Stick. Loving the color!

stickguy

thanks. and thanks. I am glad I went back to a bright color. I still miss my red TLX! The dark gray looked nice on the Maverick but the blue stands out more. and makes it easier to find in a parking lot. and gets compliments.

booked an appointment to get a spray in bedliner next week. decided to just go for that instead of a rug. then I can get the cover back on and start using it to carry stuff that might blow away.

explorerx4

@stickguy,
Glad you got your truck and it is living up to your expectations.

laurasdada

Blue, like knowledge, is good.


(As, apparently, is my thumb...)

qbrozen

snagged a couple of examples of the insanity.
I'm shocked the Taurus was a No Sale at that price. I think either of these is $4k retail on a good day. Sellers and buyers alike are out of their minds.

Michaell

q, help me out here.

You're now doing this as a business, right? Not a side gig.

You went to all the trouble to get a dealer license, register with the auctions, etc, etc, so you can buy and sell cars, hopefully for a profit.

Then you sit on the sidelines and complain about the prices? How are you going to make any money if you don't buy anything?

I find it hard to believe that "MULLER POWERSPORTS" and "AUTO CITY STL" and "JOE'S PRE OWNED AUTOS LLC" are overpaying.

Isn't is true that something is worth what someone will pay for it?

Not knocking you - you've taken a big leap to do this, and I'm glad you're sharing all the ups and downs with us here.

fintail

Is that the Altima era with a time bomb CVT? Seems intact for one that age - stereotypically seen by 5 years old with body damage, zooming up the shoulder on a donut at 110mph.

Taurus might be OK if a 3.0 or if the engine/trans Achilles heel issues have been resolved. Can't imagine any meat on the bone for either unless one is using the BHPH repo business model.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

Well, I've confirmed for myself that the auctions are still NUTS!

Watching Manheim in PA this morn. Had my eye on a few cheap vehicles for a friend's kid. 2 different Foci and an Aveo. All were bid to 2-3x MMR, and the Aveo was even a no sale at $6k bid with a $2600 MMR. WTH?

The company used to send cars down to Mannheim PA but I don’t think we’ve used them recently. The closest I’ve gotten is Harrisburg. Maybe they get sent over from there.

Some of the YT experts explain there is a real shortage of basic older transportation vehicles because nobody is trading them in any longer. They can’t afford new or ever newer used so they’re fixing up what they have and making do.

The Aveos was no sale at $6k? It must have been extreme low mileage. I hope that the Foci was a standard shift.

Have you done a retail comparison on dealer’s lots to see if there is any profit in buying at those prices?

28firefighter

I wouldn't have bid that kinda money for those sboxes either. hahaha.

qbrozen

Michaell said:

q, help me out here.

You're now doing this as a business, right? Not a side gig.

You went to all the trouble to get a dealer license, register with the auctions, etc, etc, so you can buy and sell cars, hopefully for a profit.

Then you sit on the sidelines and complain about the prices? How are you going to make any money if you don't buy anything?

I find it hard to believe that "MULLER POWERSPORTS" and "AUTO CITY STL" and "JOE'S PRE OWNED AUTOS LLC" are overpaying.

Isn't is true that something is worth what someone will pay for it?

Not knocking you - you've taken a big leap to do this, and I'm glad you're sharing all the ups and downs with us here.

I see it like this: There are countless idiots out there. Dealers taking losses, dealers sitting on inventory indefinitely, dealers who keep "no sale"ing inventory at auctions. They've made their bed and don't want to sleep in it. Right now, it is a self-perpetuating industry where they keep selling to each other.

You've also got, as stated above, BHPH. I'm not one of those.

Most times, even if I'm unsure, I just look on cargurus. There are literally hundreds of Altimas for under $5k, for example. So how will that dealer make any money? I have no idea. He probably doesn't, either. There are probably a fair number who have your same mindset and think "if it is getting bid this high, it must be worth it." I just know I refuse to get stuck holding the bag.

I'm lucky right now in that I don't NEED to make a living this way. I don't need to (and can't) work in volume. There are plenty of small dealers who go ahead and make a few hundred bucks a car because they have no other choice.

My driveway is full, so I know I've bought some. Looks like maybe none will come from Manheim, though. lol.

xwesx

laurasdada said:

Blue, like knowledge, is good.


(As, apparently, is my thumb...)

Looks a bit like your film was melted in the lower corner of that image! Thirty years ago, that would have been a real possibility.

xwesx

Well, bother. I didn't consider just how dirty my car is after the winter and not being driven for the last six weeks. I swear it didn't look quite so bad when I was installing this last night. However, I, unlike @stickguy, have no shame....

I hereby present my Q7's newest feature:

jmonroe1

@qbrozen said:
I see it like this: There are countless idiots out there. Dealers taking losses, dealers sitting on inventory indefinitely, dealers who keep "no sale"ing inventory at auctions. They've made their bed and don't want to sleep in it. Right now, it is a self-perpetuating industry where they keep selling to each other.

You've also got, as stated above, BHPH. I'm not one of those.

Most times, even if I'm unsure, I just look on cargurus. There are literally hundreds of Altimas for under $5k, for example. So how will that dealer make any money? I have no idea. He probably doesn't, either. There are probably a fair number who have your same mindset and think "if it is getting bid this high, it must be worth it." I just know I refuse to get stuck holding the bag.

I'm lucky right now in that I don't NEED to make a living this way. I don't need to (and can't) work in volume. There are plenty of small dealers who go ahead and make a few hundred bucks a car because they have no other choice.

My driveway is full, so I know I've bought some. Looks like maybe none will come from Manheim, though. lol.

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FWIW, I agree with you but then again I’m not in the car biz (I’m sorta in the house flipping biz) and look where that has gotten me.

What I do know is, you can’t take the attitude that “misery loves company” and jump into the same empty lake. That will put you out of business and make you miserable for a long time.

You have to keep plugging away with what is best for you.

I wish you luck.

jmonroe

stickguy

Q, maybe you can make a contact with a dealer to get trades they don't want directly from them, so they avoid the auction hassle and fees. I know of dealers (at least in the old days) that got their inventory that way.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

Q, maybe you can make a contact with a dealer to get trades they don't want directly from them, so they avoid the auction hassle and fees. I know of dealers (at least in the old days) that got their inventory that way.

not a bad thought. I do have some I could reach out to. Of course, they'd have to understand I'm here only for weird stuff. lol.

stickguy

got in the spending money mode after yesterday, and went ahead and paid off the RDX too. So in some unknown number of weeks (or in someone's case, months or quarters) I should get 2 titles in the mail.

first time being auto debt free in a long time (counting loans and leases). Should stay this way for a long time. Hopefully forever, unless some too good to pass up lease deal drops in our lap! Or I decide to do something stupid, which is also a distinct possibility.

thought about just letting it ride (22 more payments) but we want to close out that bank account (only thing still happening with it was paying this loan) so easier to pay it off than to change the direct debit. not like the checking account money left to cover the loan was earning much interest either.

that just leaves about 23 months left of the mortgage if I don't pay any more down early and hit the milestone I told my wife she could not retire before. So now I will have to think of another one to keep her working!

I did tell the wife today that she needs to drive the Maverick a few times to get used to it, and make sure she does not mind driving it. So we can start looking for something "fun" to replace her car. Might be a tough sell. will have to get creative with that one. Would have to be at worst revenue neutral though (can't spend more than we get for her car).

wish me luck with that endeavor

tifighter

Impressive all around -

explorerx4

I would like to see the Carfax on that ProMaster!

ab348

stickguy said:

I did tell the wife today that she needs to drive the Maverick a few times to get used to it, and make sure she does not mind driving it. So we can start looking for something "fun" to replace her car. Might be a tough sell. will have to get creative with that one. Would have to be at worst revenue neutral though (can't spend more than we get for her car).

wish me luck with that endeavor

Not to be a dark cloud on your horizon, but I predict she will conclude it is too big and not nice enough for her.

jmonroe1

@stickguy, I think the best way to keep your wife working is to get in debt with a car you’ve been admiring since childhood. That should do it unless she’s heartless. If that’s the case you’re on your own.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

@explorerx4 said:
I would like to see the Carfax on that ProMaster!

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You do know you pay a premium for more than 20 pages, right?

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

tifighter said:

Impressive all around -

Wow, 515k miles! I would like to see the maintenance records. Must be thicker than a phone book (you youngsters look up what that is).

oldfarmer50

“ I see it like this: There are countless idiots out there. Dealers taking losses, dealers sitting on inventory indefinitely, dealers who keep "no sale"ing inventory at auctions. They've made their bed and don't want to sleep in it. Right now, it is a self-perpetuating industry where they keep selling to each other. ”

Can it be that simple, dealers got so used to selling to cash drunk suckers that they can’t accept the flip side of the market disruption? That a very depressing prospect to someone who is looking for a modest vehicle but runs into dealers who still think it’s 2021.

This reminds me of the period right after cash for clunkers ruined the used car business for years.

au1994

tifighter said:

Impressive all around -

Them damn Dodges don’t last.

explorerx4

That's actually a Fiat.

jmonroe1

@au1994 said:
Them damn Dodges don’t last.

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When you change engines and trannies often enough they do.

jmonroe

tjc78

Verdict on the Wagoneer. It’s an extended version, Level III so pretty equipped. It just swallows the miles up. Did 500 today at 75+ the entire way and feel totally relaxed. Seats were a touch firm, but great for a long ride. Alpine stereo was good, AC kept me cold at 105 ambient temps.

Power at lower speeds was very ample, but it was kinda slow above 80 ( I know……).

In all if I was in the market for a luxury barge, I’d 100% consider it.

In many ways it drove like my truck. I’d wager somehow they are related. The 8 speed trans must be because it’s mapped the same way and has that same jerkiness between 3-4 my truck does at low speed. All of the dash, climate etc match my truck too. Lastly the air suspension was slick, it handled better when set low.

stickguy

well, the big domestic barges (Tahoe, expedition, etc.) were basically just a pick up with a full body, and sometimes a different rear suspension. so quite likely they just slapped a wagon body on the Ram frame.

corvette

jmonroe1 said:

When you change engines and trannies often enough they do.

That reminds me, I still have my great-great-grandpa's axe. We've replaced the blade five times and the handle three times.

roadburner

I took the C43 on a 500 mile jaunt today; mostly interstate but with some intermittent stop-and-go traffic. It averaged 29 mpg at an average speed of 60 mph. Not bad.