Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

roadburner

My fleet

jmonroe1 said:

@stickguy said:

if it is what he wanted and he is happy, then it was a good deal!

————————————————

I know that but it never hurts to know about the money end of the deal.

He drove the first one locally only because he was driving by that dealership and figured he’d stop in. Turns out it had only 11K miles but the dealer had a ridiculous price of $64K on it. So he walked.

He’s taken a few out of town weekends lately. He drove one in Cincinnati that had more miles than the one he bought with 35K miles. I think he said something like $48K with around 48K miles, black/black. Then he went to Nashville and drove one in Kentucky some where on the way down and it cost about the same with a few less miles. That one was blue which was his second color choice. He considered both of them but figured he’d hold out to see if he could get his first color choice. He got lucky so that alone satisfies him and to spend a little less even more so.

Just a feel good question, I guess.

jmonroe

The SS is a performance bargain. Its a bit bigger than I prefer and it was a tick slower than my M235i so it wasn't on my radar, but it is a really great car.

jmonroe1

@roadburner said:
My fleet
The SS is a performance bargain. It’s a bit bigger than I prefer and it was a tick slower than my M235i so it wasn't on my radar, but it is a really great car.

————————————————
I’ll tell him I know an ex-BMW guy you likes his new ride.

jmonroe

tjc78

I poked around AutoTrader and it seems as if he did pretty well at 42K.

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:
Here’s another car purchase but not mine so no punch.

Went over to Son #1’s for dinner last night. When I pulled in the driveway I see a strange car at the garage doors but I pull in anyway and now I have it blocked. I thought the car belonged to one of my grandsons friend. As we get out of the car my son comes out of the garage and I told him I’d move it later. He informs me not to worry because the car is his and he just bought it from a guy in Jersey on Wednesday.

It’s a 2017 Chevy SS (build in Australia as a Holden Commodore). It’s Orange Blast Metallic (not gaudy but he won’t have any problems finding it in a parking lot) over black. This was his first color choice so when he saw it listed he went for it. It’s a 6.2 liter V8 (the only way they make that car) 6 speed manual with 35K miles and it cost him 42K. The guy was asking almost 46K for it but he wanted to make room in his 4 car garage and get a little more money to buy a soon to arrive Ineos Grenadier.

I drove it for a few miles and it can almost snap your neck. My son encouraged me to get it to the red line (6K RPM) then back off. I didn’t time it but It didn’t take long to get there I know that. My son showed me a Hennessey video of this car and he was very impressed with it. Even compared it to an M5 (don’t remember the year). I don’t know if Hennessey knows what he’s talking about, but of course, my son liked his review.

Hey @qbrozen, since you’re now in the biz, can you tell me if my son got a reasonable deal on this car? He’s sure he did because he’s seen them go for more than 42K. He has even driven a few that have more miles and he likes the one he bought better and no one else had the color he wanted.

jmonroe

MMR is about $42k. However, only two 6-speeds have gone through recently, including a near perfect (4.9/5) 29k-mile orange example. That sold for $49k.

Michaell

@stickguy @corvette

Uh oh

jmonroe1

@qbrozen said:

@jmonroe1 said:
Here’s another car purchase but not mine so no punch.

Went over to Son #1’s for dinner last night. When I pulled in the driveway I see a strange car at the garage doors but I pull in anyway and now I have it blocked. I thought the car belonged to one of my grandsons friend. As we get out of the car my son comes out of the garage and I told him I’d move it later. He informs me not to worry because the car is his and he just bought it from a guy in Jersey on Wednesday.

It’s a 2017 Chevy SS (build in Australia as a Holden Commodore). It’s Orange Blast Metallic (not gaudy but he won’t have any problems finding it in a parking lot) over black. This was his first color choice so when he saw it listed he went for it. It’s a 6.2 liter V8 (the only way they make that car) 6 speed manual with 35K miles and it cost him 42K. The guy was asking almost 46K for it but he wanted to make room in his 4 car garage and get a little more money to buy a soon to arrive Ineos Grenadier.

I drove it for a few miles and it can almost snap your neck. My son encouraged me to get it to the red line (6K RPM) then back off. I didn’t time it but It didn’t take long to get there I know that. My son showed me a Hennessey video of this car and he was very impressed with it. Even compared it to an M5 (don’t remember the year). I don’t know if Hennessey knows what he’s talking about, but of course, my son liked his review.

Hey @qbrozen, since you’re now in the biz, can you tell me if my son got a reasonable deal on this car? He’s sure he did because he’s seen them go for more than 42K. He has even driven a few that have more miles and he likes the one he bought better and no one else had the color he wanted.

jmonroe

MMR is about $42k. However, only two 6-speeds have gone through recently, including a near perfect (4.9/5) 29k-mile orange example. That sold for $49k.

————————————————
Thanks. Based on that he did pretty good.

Here’s the color he got. Probably the color you mentioned (officially, Orange Blast Metallic). Like I said, parking lot friendly.

https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/amv-prod-cad-assets/images/media/672263/2017-chevrolet-ss-in-depth-model-review-car-and-driver-photo-701558-s-original.jpg?crop=0.695xw:0.859xh;0.168xw,0.0585xh&resize=640:*

jmonroe

stickguy

Michaell said:

@stickguy @corvette

Uh oh

doesn't affect Corvette. he has the Ecoboost. This came out last week and people on the forums were posting that they were showing it. I have been checking (just did again now) and my Hybrid does not show any recalls. So not sure how they narrowed it down, or just haven't gotten to it, but so far I might have dodged this one.

some people will trucks in transit were sweating it out since there is a delivery stop, but a few got lucky since the notice came out and their trucks did not have an active recall so the dealer was able to deliver it.

seems like one of those things that might impact a very few units but they can't really tell which one, if any (and if there were any reports of a hybrid fire the Maverick forum would be all over it, and nobody can find any instances). So hopefully just being way over cautious (and covering legal behind).

not sure what the recall will actually be. Maybe some sort of inspection (oil analysis looking for metal shavings?) and if they find them you get a new engine? I know they are not going to just replace all of them! so maybe the check and extended warranty?

this could be like the Hyundai 4 cylinder issue where they agree to cover them if they do fail, and maybe a software update to monitor the engine and shut it down if bad things detected.

stickguy

speaking of Maverick, mine still impresses. Been running around doing errands and just driving it normally, and so far in about a 50/50 mix of high speed highway and local, averaging about 43 MPG or so. Shows me a range of about 550 miles on the 13.8 gallon gas tank. It's a gas camel.

I also can't really tell when it is doing it's hybrid tricks. Both moving (engine vs. battery) or braking (regen to normal). It just always feels like a normal car.

I also just keep it in normal drive mode. Apparently Eco makes it feel more EVish (more noticeable regen throw the anchor out slowing, stuff like that). But I don't bother to push the drive mode button to get to that (for some reason it always defaults back to normal). Someday I will try it just for research purposes.

jmonroe1

I saw a new car today at least to me it was.

I was in line at the pharmacy drive through behind a Lucid Air. Never even heard of that car. So new it still had a temp plate on the rear. Looked low and WIDE. Not something that @Sandman6472 could get in on his side of the garage, might not get it in the garage altogether.

I’m going to see what dealers around here sell that car. There can’t be more than 3 in a one hundred mile radius if I had to guess.

jmonroe

Michaell

jmonroe1 said:

I saw a new car today at least to me it was.

I was in line at the pharmacy drive through behind a Lucid Air. Never even heard of that car. So new it still had a temp plate on the rear. Looked low and WIDE. Not something that @Sandman6472 could get in on his side of the garage, might not get it in the garage altogether.

I’m going to see what dealers around here sell that car. There can’t be more than 3 in a one hundred mile radius if I had to guess.

jmonroe

Electric vehicle ... big range (up to 600 miles in the top trim).

But, well north of six figures on the price.

jmonroe1

Michaell said:

jmonroe1 said:

I saw a new car today at least to me it was.

I was in line at the pharmacy drive through behind a Lucid Air. Never even heard of that car. So new it still had a temp plate on the rear. Looked low and WIDE. Not something that @Sandman6472 could get in on his side of the garage, might not get it in the garage altogether.

I’m going to see what dealers around here sell that car. There can’t be more than 3 in a one hundred mile radius if I had to guess.

jmonroe

Electric vehicle ... big range (up to 600 miles in the top trim).

But, well north of six figures on the price.

————————————————
I hope I’m wrong but the guy that bought it might not have 600 miles in him. He got 3 bags of prescriptions (granted, some probably for a family member) but still, I never saw anyone pick up that many prescriptions at one time.

FWIW, I got one teenzy bottle of cholesterol meds.

jmonroe

tifighter

I actually think the Lucid looks pretty cool. If you ever have one drive past you at night, they genuinely look like a UFO.

nyccarguy

The Greenwich Concours Delegance show was last weekend, and there were some wild rides on the roads here in Southern CT. I saw a baby blue Bugatti EB 110.

nyccarguy

I know one or 2 of you guys have had Acura Leases (@pensfan83) and have taken advantage of their pull ahead program. Is that something that’s always offered? Or only when they need to sell cars? How does it work? I understand if it is a 6 month, 9 month, or 12 month pull ahead that those remaining payments get waived. What do they do about mileage?

stickguy

not in person. but an ad on TV for an Alfa Tonale.

first thought I had, was wow, I did not even realize Alfa was still around. 2nd was, who would name their car toe nail?

I assume it is basically a PHEV Stelvia?

corvette

@stickguy - that is the twin to the Dodge Hornet I was talking about a couple of days ago. I think it's more the size of a HR-V, Trax, etc.

qbrozen

The Mini Cooper S gets more fun by the minute.

Found more broken/cut wires. Did I mention that before? Fixing that still didn't help. Found disconnected hoses. Nope. That plug tool came in, so I went to pull those. Cylinders 2 and 3 were very very oily. Uh-oh. So then I went to pull the valve cover ... almost all the bolts were loose. Hmmmm... So it was leaking oil into the plug valleys from the top. But was that causing starting issues? No idea. Technically, it shouldn't, but the interwebs gives differing opinions. One thread I read with a similar issue resulted in fouled coils. But, one thing at a time. I figured I'll throw a new gasket at it and then I'm going to test compression and leakdown. If that checks out, I'll test the coils.

While waiting on tools (I don't have a compression tool, but it has been on the wish list for many many years, so might as well), I figured I should tackle that pesky driver's window that was replaced and not functioning. Real PITA to get that window out. Finally managed after maybe 90 mins or so and some help from my son at the end. And what did I find? LOTS of broken glass. Not only in the bottom of the door but in the tracks and weather stripping. I didn't get it all back together yet because I had to take the kid to baseball but from what I've seen, the window was simply jammed up with broken glass. I cleaned it all out and removed the tint while there (they threw in a window with tint while no other windows had any).

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

first thought I had, was wow, I did not even realize Alfa was still around. 2nd was, who would name their car toe nail?

————————————————
Don’t try to read between the lines. Italian isn’t my first language but I think Tonale means, “To Nail it”.

jmonroe

stickguy

sounds like it had issues and someone started taking it apart, and either realized they were in over their head, or found something really bad, and just halfway threw the pieces back on and sent it off to auction. Could be where the broken wires came from if they didn't know what they were doing.

take the nose off and pull the engine!

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

The Mini Cooper S gets more fun by the minute.

Found more broken/cut wires. Did I mention that before? Fixing that still didn't help. Found disconnected hoses. Nope. That plug tool came in, so I went to pull those. Cylinders 2 and 3 were very very oily. Uh-oh. So then I went to pull the valve cover ... almost all the bolts were loose. Hmmmm... So it was leaking oil into the plug valleys from the top. But was that causing starting issues? No idea. Technically, it shouldn't, but the interwebs gives differing opinions. One thread I read with a similar issue resulted in fouled coils. But, one thing at a time. I figured I'll throw a new gasket at it and then I'm going to test compression and leakdown. If that checks out, I'll test the coils.

While waiting on tools (I don't have a compression tool, but it has been on the wish list for many many years, so might as well), I figured I should tackle that pesky driver's window that was replaced and not functioning. Real PITA to get that window out. Finally managed after maybe 90 mins or so and some help from my son at the end. And what did I find? LOTS of broken glass. Not only in the bottom of the door but in the tracks and weather stripping. I didn't get it all back together yet because I had to take the kid to baseball but from what I've seen, the window was simply jammed up with broken glass. I cleaned it all out and removed the tint while there (they threw in a window with tint while no other windows had any).

————————————————
That kind of workmanship is ridiculous. Before you know it, you’ll be an expert with Mini’s.

If my grandsons Mini ever has a problem neither he or his father can’t figure out, they might fly you down.

jmonroe

roadburner

qbrozen said:

The Mini Cooper S gets more fun by the minute.

Found more broken/cut wires. Did I mention that before? Fixing that still didn't help. Found disconnected hoses. Nope. That plug tool came in, so I went to pull those. Cylinders 2 and 3 were very very oily. Uh-oh. So then I went to pull the valve cover ... almost all the bolts were loose. Hmmmm... So it was leaking oil into the plug valleys from the top. But was that causing starting issues? No idea. Technically, it shouldn't, but the interwebs gives differing opinions. One thread I read with a similar issue resulted in fouled coils. But, one thing at a time. I figured I'll throw a new gasket at it and then I'm going to test compression and leakdown. If that checks out, I'll test the coils.

While waiting on tools (I don't have a compression tool, but it has been on the wish list for many many years, so might as well), I figured I should tackle that pesky driver's window that was replaced and not functioning. Real PITA to get that window out. Finally managed after maybe 90 mins or so and some help from my son at the end. And what did I find? LOTS of broken glass. Not only in the bottom of the door but in the tracks and weather stripping. I didn't get it all back together yet because I had to take the kid to baseball but from what I've seen, the window was simply jammed up with broken glass. I cleaned it all out and removed the tint while there (they threw in a window with tint while no other windows had any).

That reminds me of the time I was helping a friend check out an E24 6 Series; I popped the hood and saw a Ford starter solenoid had been bolted on to the inner fender well. I closed the hood and told my friend to forget the car.
Then there was the E36 3er I looked at that had the inner door panel secured with sheet metal screws. The idiot owner couldn't be bothered with buying a handful of OEM plastic securing clips and couldn't believe that I lost interest in the car as soon as I saw that.

explorerx4

If I remember correctly, q bought the Mini forCoPart.
They are known for carrying insurance settlement cars.

fintail

jmonroe1 said:

I saw a new car today at least to me it was.

I was in line at the pharmacy drive through behind a Lucid Air. Never even heard of that car. So new it still had a temp plate on the rear. Looked low and WIDE. Not something that @Sandman6472 could get in on his side of the garage, might not get it in the garage altogether.

I’m going to see what dealers around here sell that car. There can’t be more than 3 in a one hundred mile radius if I had to guess.

jmonroe

I kind of like them, wierd, like a big modern day Citroen or something. I would take one over a Tesla, but they are ferociously expensive. I have seen exactly one in Spokane.

qbrozen

@explorerx4 said:
If I remember correctly, q bought the Mini forCoPart.
They are known for carrying insurance settlement cars.

At this point, I’m kind of thinking get it running (if I can) and send it through a legit dealer auction.

au1994

I’ve said this before, I think on BaT and was vilified for it, but if the SS had a Roundel instead of a Bow tie, the automotive press would still be singing its praises, as they should regardless . One heck of a package!

sda

This is the first time I've seen this color.

pensfan83

nyccarguy said:

I know one or 2 of you guys have had Acura Leases (@pensfan83) and have taken advantage of their pull ahead program. Is that something that’s always offered? Or only when they need to sell cars? How does it work? I understand if it is a 6 month, 9 month, or 12 month pull ahead that those remaining payments get waived. What do they do about mileage?

My understanding is Acura will do a 6 month pull ahead but only 3 payments are truly waived. I think it also excludes certain models like the RDX and/or Integra. I'm not sure if it's offered all the time or not but I'll be happy to ask in about 2 weeks.

As for mileage they'll forgive half your overage up to 7500 miles and throw in an extra 1000 miles as well as up the damage waiver to $1500 if you re-up with them. If you're under miles you can roll over up to 15,000 miles to a new lease. AFS is the only captive I'm aware of that does mileage rollover.

stickguy

Cyber orange. I like it. my wife, definitely not a fan!

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

Cyber orange. I like it. my wife, definitely not a fan!

————————————————
Could have been called Lemon Law Return Yellow but not too many buyers would like that name.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

@pensfan83 said:
My understanding is Acura will do a 6 month pull ahead but only 3 payments are truly waived. I think it also excludes certain models like the RDX and/or Integra. I'm not sure if it's offered all the time or not but I'll be happy to ask in about 2 weeks.

As for mileage they'll forgive half your overage up to 7500 miles and throw in an extra 1000 miles as well as up the damage waiver to $1500 if you re-up with them. If you're under miles you can roll over up to 15,000 miles to a new lease. AFS is the only captive I'm aware of that does mileage rollover.

One of the LH brokers is pushing 4 year leases on TLX. If I took a 15K per year lease for 4 years, then I’d be allotted 60K miles in 4 years. Turn it in and re up with Acura at the 3 1/2 year mark and the car will have 70K miles and I’ll only have to pay for 5K miles over instead of 10K? I’m tempted to fill out his form and see what the payment. Would look like.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

Michaell said:

jmonroe1 said:

I saw a new car today at least to me it was.

I was in line at the pharmacy drive through behind a Lucid Air. Never even heard of that car. So new it still had a temp plate on the rear. Looked low and WIDE. Not something that @Sandman6472 could get in on his side of the garage, might not get it in the garage altogether.

I’m going to see what dealers around here sell that car. There can’t be more than 3 in a one hundred mile radius if I had to guess.

jmonroe

Electric vehicle ... big range (up to 600 miles in the top trim).

But, well north of six figures on the price.

————————————————
I hope I’m wrong but the guy that bought it might not have 600 miles in him. He got 3 bags of prescriptions (granted, some probably for a family member) but still, I never saw anyone pick up that many prescriptions at one time.

FWIW, I got one teenzy bottle of cholesterol meds.

jmonroe

So you were stalking him at the pharmacy and then followed him home? What kind of drapes did he have in his living room?🫨

ab348

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

Cyber orange. I like it. my wife, definitely not a fan!

————————————————
Could have been called Lemon Law Return Yellow but not too many buyers would like that name.

That's actually the prototype for the upcoming Velveeta Special Edition.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

If I remember correctly, q bought the Mini forCoPart.
They are known for carrying insurance settlement cars.

CoPart car are also known for being junk only good for parts, hence the name. I had a coworker who bought a Volvo XC90 with 250k miles on it from CoPart and he had to fix a lot of issues on it.

pensfan83

nyccarguy said:

@pensfan83 said:

My understanding is Acura will do a 6 month pull ahead but only 3 payments are truly waived. I think it also excludes certain models like the RDX and/or Integra. I'm not sure if it's offered all the time or not but I'll be happy to ask in about 2 weeks.

As for mileage they'll forgive half your overage up to 7500 miles and throw in an extra 1000 miles as well as up the damage waiver to $1500 if you re-up with them. If you're under miles you can roll over up to 15,000 miles to a new lease. AFS is the only captive I'm aware of that does mileage rollover.

One of the LH brokers is pushing 4 year leases on TLX. If I took a 15K per year lease for 4 years, then I’d be allotted 60K miles in 4 years. Turn it in and re up with Acura at the 3 1/2 year mark and the car will have 70K miles and I’ll only have to pay for 5K miles over instead of 10K? I’m tempted to fill out his form and see what the payment. Would look like.

Yep, you'd only be on the hook for 5K miles. They also added 2 year/24,000 maintenance plan and 3 years of Acura Link. 48 months is a long term though and they are still restricting 3rd party buyouts as far as I'm aware.

https://acura.americanhondafinance.com/s/acura-loyalty-advantage-pre-login

corvette

Not that this will affect many here, but the thought occurred to me regarding lithium ion EV batteries and the inevitable gradual capacity loss that those types of batteries suffer. It's certainly more prevalent than an outright failure. Do any manufacturers cover that under the battery warranty, and if so, what is the threshold for replacement? I believe Nissan did, for a time, after the first-generation Leafs were losing one to three bars of battery capacity after a year or two of being used in hot temperatures. An EV with a range of 240 miles when new is a lot less useful if the range drops to 160 miles when it's a few years old.

corvette

oldfarmer50 said:

I had a coworker who bought a Volvo XC90 with 250k miles on it from CoPart and he had to fix a lot of issues on it.

I wouldn't be surprised if the parts cost more than he paid CoPart for the vehicle.

stickguy

I’ll check later but I think ford has an acceptable %drop listed.

breld

@ab348 said:
That's actually the prototype for the upcoming Velveeta Special Edition.

Nothing wrong with a little color to brighten up the otherwise gray and blue garage!

Maybe we can call it the Macheveeta?

laurasdada

Toe Nahl Ayyyyyyyy!

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

Michaell said:

jmonroe1 said:

I saw a new car today at least to me it was.

I was in line at the pharmacy drive through behind a Lucid Air. Never even heard of that car. So new it still had a temp plate on the rear. Looked low and WIDE. Not something that @Sandman6472 could get in on his side of the garage, might not get it in the garage altogether.

I’m going to see what dealers around here sell that car. There can’t be more than 3 in a one hundred mile radius if I had to guess.

jmonroe

Electric vehicle ... big range (up to 600 miles in the top trim).

But, well north of six figures on the price.

————————————————
I hope I’m wrong but the guy that bought it might not have 600 miles in him. He got 3 bags of prescriptions (granted, some probably for a family member) but still, I never saw anyone pick up that many prescriptions at one time.

FWIW, I got one teenzy bottle of cholesterol meds.

jmonroe

So you were stalking him at the pharmacy and then followed him home? What kind of drapes did he have in his living room?🫨

————————————————
Blue open weave. Satisfied now?

jmonroe

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

If I remember correctly, q bought the Mini forCoPart.
They are known for carrying insurance settlement cars.

CoPart car are also known for being junk only good for parts, hence the name. I had a coworker who bought a Volvo XC90 with 250k miles on it from CoPart and he had to fix a lot of issues on it.

————————————————
Including an odometer replacement.

jmonroe

corvette

This is mostly off topic but reminded me of a project @xwesx might take on. My better half really enjoys tracking aircraft using the FlightRadar24 app. I ordered a Raspberry Pi Zero W, an ADS-B compatible SDR receiver, and other hardware so that we can contribute data to the app. They also provide a pro subscription for free when you're hosting one of these setups, which is pretty cool. I think the hardware for the initial, basic setup is going to run about $60, all-in.

28firefighter

I should totally do this. That’s awesome!

corvette

I'll try to post an update if/when I get it working. The initial setup will be using an indoor antenna, which isn't ideal. It would be difficult to mount an external antenna at or near the top of my roofline, and regardless, there is a very tall tree in my back yard, so even an outdoor antenna would have some significant obstructions. On the plus side, we are very close to a regional airport with a lot of noncommercial traffic.

ab348

corvette said:

My better half really enjoys tracking aircraft using the FlightRadar24 app. I ordered a Raspberry Pi Zero W, an ADS-B compatible SDR receiver, and other hardware so that we can contribute data to the app. They also provide a pro subscription for free when you're hosting one of these setups, which is pretty cool. I think the hardware for the initial, basic setup is going to run about $60, all-in.

Huh? Please translate for us uninformed slobs.

corvette

ab348 said:

Huh? Please translate for us uninformed slobs.

I'm creating a node on a crowdsourced network which receives and triangulates signals broadcast by civilian aircraft.

qbrozen

window works just fine on the mini now, for those keeping score. No cost beyond my time.

qbrozen

Some recent Facebook marketplace interactions.

1.
No further response yet on that one.

2.
That was about 10pm on a Tuesday night.

3.
Seriously?

4.




As you can see, I REALLY tried to help the guy out. In the end, I wanted to say "if you can't get family or a friend to lend to you, why the heck would I?? But I just left it cordial.

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

corvette said:

Telluride / Palisade - is the 3.8 liter V6 still the only powertrain option? I think I’d want a little more oomph.

@nyccarguy - why not keep the Highlander for the wife?

I financed it with $500 due at signing. The payments are $848 per month at 2.49% for 60 months. It is an option as we will strongly consider. Besides the space, the other issue we have is the size of the gas tank. She does a fair amount of driving (20K+ per year) and I've got to fill her tank up every 4 days.

Well, if this other rig is intended to be the family tripper, the downside you mentioned on the Highlander is an excellent argument for an electric vehicle, assuming she doesn't exceed 250 miles per day. 2.5% interest means you can make a little money on that monthly payment, too.

xwesx

corvette said:

This is mostly off topic but reminded me of a project @xwesx might take on. My better half really enjoys tracking aircraft using the FlightRadar24 app. I ordered a Raspberry Pi Zero W, an ADS-B compatible SDR receiver, and other hardware so that we can contribute data to the app. They also provide a pro subscription for free when you're hosting one of these setups, which is pretty cool. I think the hardware for the initial, basic setup is going to run about $60, all-in.

Naw, but my son sure would! He's always up to some sort of shenanigans with electronics!