Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

oh, dealer is expanding so sales was in some trailers, and a lot of parking was fenced off. And this dealer is on a tight lot to start with. Complete zoo. No place to park and cars jammed in everywhere. I would bet they lost some customers over not being able to park. Though based on how packed it was inside with customers and employees, not too many. Everyone seemed to be doubling up on buyers, and the front end desks were hopping.

if the economy is slow because of interest rates, can't tell from that Honda dealer. Should have stopped at the CDJ dealer, I hear it is dead there!

tjc78

It can be charged at most of the places you see in parking lots, etc. I’m installing a level 2 in the garage in short order.

Yeah with having the huge pickup, a three row SUV was unnecessary with only the 4 of us. Wife loved the idea of having a sedan for her putt putt around town duties.

Drove it 90 miles to my friend’s house and loved every minute of it. Power is always right there, it is super quiet and handles very well. I’d put it very similar to my old S60 with more refinement.

It is not the best looking car out there but the interior is pretty nice.

stickguy

Sandy, if you want it and the money won't impact your life at all, just do it and get what you want. And spend a little more to get the goodies or model you really want. You worked hard, give yourself a little treat is my philosophy.

plus the way you like to keep cars, if you don't compromise, entirely possible this will be the car you have until you can't drive any longer, and who wants to make their last car a compromise?

stickguy

tjc78 said:

It can be charged at most of the places you see in parking lots, etc. I’m installing a level 2 in the garage in short order.

Yeah with having the huge pickup, a three row SUV was unnecessary with only the 4 of us. Wife loved the idea of having a sedan for her putt putt around town duties.

Drove it 90 miles to my friend’s house and loved every minute of it. Power is always right there, it is super quiet and handles very well. I’d put it very similar to my old S60 with more refinement.

It is not the best looking car out there but the interior is pretty nice.

Enjoy. Good luck with the electrify America, etc. networks. Sounds like the wild west with those, but if you primarily use locally might hardly ever need that. Not sure if MB is also buying space on the Tesla network (though I guess until they change the plugs on the new models, you would need an adapter anyway)

corvette

Congrats, @tjc78 !

roadburner

@tjc78 said:
Crazy couple days! Ending at a friends house for the rest of the weekend.

Here is the punch. 2023 EQE 4Matic Exclusive

I’ll write up details later on.

Very nice!

jmonroe1

@tjc78, congrats. What’s the going rate for electrons in your hood vs. what you’ll pay when you’re on the road.

Enjoy.

jmonroe

roadburner

We had a clean-up day at our church campus today and I ended up working with a friend who drives a Gladiator- his wife drives a Wrangler Unlimited. He was interested in our 4xe and asked a lot of questions. It turns out that he had test driven a 4xe and the sales guy knew little to nothing about it. I think that’s inexcusable. When I worked at BMW I couldn’t sell EVs, PHEVs, or M cars until I completed training. And all of the salespeople had to take online tests on new cars and technology.
That said, the Wrangler has at least one thing in common with the C43; the more I drive it the more I like it- and I can’t think of a vehicle with similar off-road ability that I’d rather own.

jmonroe1

roadburner said:

We had a clean-up day at our church campus today and I ended up working with a friend who drives a Gladiator- his wife drives a Wrangler Unlimited. He was interested in our 4xe and asked a lot of questions. It turns out that he had test driven a 4xe and the sales guy knew little about it. I think that’s inexcusable. When I worked at BMW I couldn’t sell EVs, PHEVs, or M cars until I completed training. And all of the salespeople had to take tests on new cars and technology.

That said, the Wrangler has at least one thing in common with the C43; the more I drive it the more I like it- and I can’t think of a vehicle with similar off-road ability that I’d rather own.

————————————————
Isn’t it almost a standard policy that unless you’re buying a luxo car, the sales people know very little more than the buyer. And leaving to go to another dealership can be even worse according to a guy down the street when he bought his Jeep 2 years ago.

I guess Jeeps, especially, are so popular they sell themselves.

jmonroe

tjc78

@jmonroe1 said:
@tjc78, congrats. What’s the going rate for electrons in your hood vs. what you’ll pay when you’re on the road.

Enjoy.

jmonroe

You give me far too much credit to even have a clue!!

oldfarmer50

tjc78 said:

Crazy couple days! Ending at a friends house for the rest of the weekend.

Here is the punch. 2023 EQE 4Matic Exclusive

I’ll write up details later on.

Sharp.

oldfarmer50

Sandman6472 said:

Windshield installed with no issues, just took awhile I heard. Happy to finally have it looking right.
Renting a Chrysler minivan for three days in mid-November hich should work just fine. Has already ordered her new queen bed. Moving into a 1/1 in a brand new complex and from the videos they made last week, should work out great. Even a full size washer/dryer in it's own room off the kitchen. Still needs to find a new sofa plus some additional pieces but that'll take some time. Going up on the 15th of next month.
Will bring her vehicle and one of our vehicles on Thanksgiving day. Spending it with the kids in Orlando and leave that Friday for St. Augustine. Figure we'll come back home that Sunday morning, only a 4 hour drive. Think it'll work out great for us all but do see some more trips up there until we sell & move ourselves. Gave the wife until the end of 2025 which I think is fair...sooner would be my preference though. After living in South Florida for 54 years, will be tough to leave but the time has come.
Have a reservation for a small SUV for the Thanksgiving trip at this point. Don't really want to drive the Golf up and not going to want to use the A3 as I want her the one to be driving it more. Anticipate her trading it in within the next year though. I did see that the new 2024 Hyundai Kona's have it the streets around here. No hybrid units available which is what I'd want I'm thinking. The current Limited and N-Line models are a bit pricey, around $35K give or take. Same price point as the Mini Cooper Countryman, or pretty close. Drove one up to Pt. St. Lucie on Friday with just 49K on the clock. Nice size but a whole lot of road noise which even with the radio volume set pretty high, still heard the noise. Was very unhappy. No turbo lag that I could feel and held the road nicely. Vehicle needed an alignment though.
So, between the Mini Cooper, the new Kona and the 2024 Corolla Cross...a tough decision. I'd want a hybrid on both the Hyundai & the Toyota which would drive up the price a bit. So, a tough call here. And now that the Golf has 4 new tires and the tranny is fixed, do I just tough it out for another year? Seeing that I only have been putting less then 3K/year on it, seems like a waste to trade an almost 9 year old vehicle for new and having to spend around $28K with my trade. Being that I also don't want to pay cash this time around, I'd have to either finance or use some funds from my Roth IRA which leads to what kind of tax liability would I incur doing this?
Lots to consider honestly but my gut is telling me to just stay the course and save some more cash by keeping the Golf. If anything does go wrong, it'll surely cost less then buying new. Think if I were driving it more, it would make sense to just trade it but as I stand with not even doing 3K a year, totally absurd to trade it. Makes zero sense to my logical brain...zero sense. So thinking waiting is the right course of action going forward.

I’d do the private party sale thing on your VW. The Golf has quite the following among the younger set. I bet you could do better than the dealer trade.

corvette

tjc78 said:

You give me far too much credit to even have a clue!!

It seems like the DC fast chargers priced at $0.50-ish per kWh are not cheap, but still cheaper than buying premium fuel.

roadburner

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————
Isn’t it almost a standard policy that unless you’re buying a luxo car, the sales people know very little more than the buyer. And leaving to go to another dealership can be even worse according to a guy down the street when he bought his Jeep 2 years ago.

I guess Jeeps, especially, are so popular they sell themselves.

jmonroe

I just know that I would have been beyond embarrassed if a customer had known more about a new BMW than I did.

28firefighter

Congrats @tjc78 !

tjc78

Thanks everyone.

Quick story time on the car. Wife has been wanting an electric for quite some time. With the driving she does it is a natural fit.

We looked at a bunch and none really did it for her for what we wanted to spend. I saw a broker post on LH (a couple actually) and one was the same group I used on the Ram.

Prices looked good, so I inquired. They had one SUV left and they just got the service loaner I bought. It was never even offered to anyone else.

This was all Thursday night. We slept on it and decided to pull the trigger Friday. That process was simple as you get. Couple emails, a call to the insurance and done. Dealer was in Katonah NY about 3 hours from us. Originally we were going to pick it up Sat morning and then head to our friend’s house which was about in the middle. On a total whim we booked a night in Manhattan on points and took the kids to a nice dinner and walked the city in the morning before picking up the car at 2.

We made a little trip out of it and everyone had a blast. Wife hasn’t drive it yet, but she will today.

tjc78

Forgot the most important part.

MSRP was $84,495
36/7500
$695 a month with just first and $599 broker fee out of pocket.

How it worked out:
$7500 EV rebate
$2500 Fleet rebate (my employer qualified)
Huge discount I think it was 18%.
No tax on EVs in Jersey.

sb55

tjc78 said:

Thanks everyone.

Quick story time on the car. Wife has been wanting an electric for quite some time. With the driving she does it is a natural fit.

We looked at a bunch and none really did it for her for what we wanted to spend. I saw a broker post on LH (a couple actually) and one was the same group I used on the Ram.

Prices looked good, so I inquired. They had one SUV left and they just got the service loaner I bought. It was never even offered to anyone else.

This was all Thursday night. We slept on it and decided to pull the trigger Friday. That process was simple as you get. Coupe emails, a call to the insurance and done. Dealer was in Katonah NY about 3 hours from us. Originally we were going to pick it up Sat morning and then head to our friend’s house which was about in the middle. On a total whim we booked a night in Manhattan on points and took the kids to a nice dinner and walked the city in the morning before picking up the car at 2.

We made a little trip out of it and everyone had a blast. Wife hasn’t drive it yet, but she will today.

I used to live in Katonah. I've been gone 14 years, but can't think where a car dealer would be. It must have crept up from Bedford Hills. Or, the MB dealer moved south from Goldens Bridge?

stickguy

There is a MB dealer right along the saw mill in that general area. Little place sitting on the side of the hill that always seemed odd to me!

explorerx4

I've been by that Merc dealer on the Saw Mill many times.
There's a train station right along the Pkwy there, too.

tjc78

It’s Golden’s Bridge.. I just referenced Katonah since I thought it was easier to recognize

It is the dealer you guys are referring to. It is under construction and torn all up. They are getting a new building.

mjfloyd1

@tjc78 nice looking MB

I believe those come with free (prepaid perhaps 🤔) Electrify America charging (and prepaid maintenance) for two years

tjc78

Yes there is some free charging available. I signed up for something yesterday. Maintenance included as well.

Need to figure it all out. Once I have the charger at home very doubtful it will charge often at public chargers.

28firefighter

We only public charge the Tesla when we’re on roadtrips - otherwise all charging at home as well.

Sounds like a great deal and a fun pickup experience!

tjc78

@28firefighter said:
We only public charge the Tesla when we’re on roadtrips - otherwise all charging at home as well.

Sounds like a great deal and a fun pickup experience!

It was. My kids first time in Manhattan.. they loved it. The M&M store was a hit.

28firefighter

Core memory made!

Michaell

My first memory of Manhattan was in 1975 - rushing from JFK to either Grand Central or Penn Station to catch the train to where my dad grew up in Westchester County.

Better memories of the place when I took a few business trips there in the 90's. Stayed at the Meridien Plaza and saw a fair amount of sights.

stickguy

Manhattan is fun when the kids are old enough. Easy for you. We usually just drove up 295 and parked at Hamilton, and took NJT in. Nice day trip. Or shoot up to Secaucus and park there and take Path.

stickguy

Times square was more fun back in the 80s. Got offered quite an interesting assortment of stuff on 42nd street at night walking back to the port authority bus station. Which was also quite the interesting place.

roadburner

The November Car and Driver features a test of the W206 C43. Like Throttle House on YT, C/D was underwhelmed by the powertrain- even referring to it as being "half-baked." Hopefully some updates will smooth things out, but I think sticking with the M276 V6 would have been the best strategy.
Funny thing; C/D also referenced the outgoing W205 C43 (the model that I own) and stated that the suspension had the compliance of an I-beam." I suspect that the author Andrew Krok has never even sat in a W205 C43- but at least his opinion is synonymous with his last name...

corvette

Short trip to brunch in the Volt this morning, then went hiking a little closer (Nine Penny Branch). Made it home with two miles of electric range left.

stickguy

still hearing from my son on his latest obsession to replace his S4 when the lease is up. A Kia Telluride SX prestige X line. I still don't get the big SUV plan, but the SX is for all the gadgets, and the X line because it looks "cool"

I did look at the standard features on one of those. top line SX, about $52K, has stuff I don't even know what it does.

explorerx4

@stickguy,
Has your son driven a Telli? Power will probably disappoint. Have him try an Explorer ST.

roadburner

@explorerx4 said:
@stickguy,
Has your son driven a Telli? Power will probably disappoint. Have him try an Explorer ST.

Agreed.

roadburner

To each his own; while I wouldn’t kick an X3 M Comp out of my garage, I’m glad I went with a sedan. I’d think going from an S4 to a Telluride would be a serious downgrade.

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

@stickguy,
Has your son driven a Telli? Power will probably disappoint. Have him try an Explorer ST.

he did drive one Friday and said it was nice enough. I actually suggested an ST. He likes the Kia because the interior is very nice (close to something from Audi) so he feels like he still has a Euro luxury mobile. Though he did admit it would take some getting used to. At least he has the right attitude, that if you are driving something like this for practical reasons, it just has to have acceptable road manners and not be a real dog.

Will see how this plays out in the spring when his lease actually ends.

tjc78

And so it begins. Free charging for two years.

explorerx4

@stickguy,
Interior of a Telluride is superior to an Explorer. I was just comparing an S4 for what most people pick and S4 for.

mjfloyd1

@tjc78 said:
And so it begins. Free charging for two years.

Is it a limited chunk of time with each charging episode?

explorerx4

I'm sure the Merc is a nice ride, but the charging thing seems to be like going back to having to get off the couch to change the TV channel instead of using a remote.

roadburner

With the i3 and now the 4xe I haven’t found plugging it in to charge to be a big deal. It adds less than 30 seconds to plug/unplug.
In my area I’m not ready to go full EV but a PHEV has some real advantages.

tjc78

@mjfloyd1 said:

@tjc78 said:
And so it begins. Free charging for two years.

Is it a limited chunk of time with each charging episode?

It didn’t have any restrictions and would have let me go to 100%

tjc78

@explorerx4 said:
I'm sure the Merc is a nice ride, but the charging thing seems to be like going back to having to get off the couch to change the TV channel instead of using a remote.

Home Level 2 Charger is ideal. I’ll most likely install one.

ab348

One thing I didn’t know until recently thanks to Harry’s Garage YT channel - when you plug in you electric car at your home charger (and presumably public ones also), the $10 worth of electricity it costs you on your electric bill only delivers about $9 worth of juice to your battery pack, with the remainder lost in the AC to DC conversion process in the form of heat.

stickguy

64KW is pretty slow though isn't it? Definitely not fast charging.

mjfloyd1

tjc78 said:

@mjfloyd1 said:

@tjc78 said:

And so it begins. Free charging for two years.

Is it a limited chunk of time with each charging episode?

It didn’t have any restrictions and would have let me go to 100%

I thought that it was only free for a certain amount of time per charge and after that preset time you had to pay..Sounds like I was wrong

explorerx4

My point is I only have to occasionally think about fueling up. If I don't, nothing changes.

jmonroe1

ab348 said:

One thing I didn’t know until recently thanks to Harry’s Garage YT channel - when you plug in you electric car at your home charger (and presumably public ones also), the $10 worth of electricity it costs you on your electric bill only delivers about $9 worth of juice to your battery pack, with the remainder lost in the AC to DC conversion process in the form of heat.

————————————————
I knew there were losses but I didn’t think it was anywhere near as bad as 10%. I seem to remember hearing that the losses were under 2 or 3% but like I said that was something I heard. A 10% loss sounds like something coming from OPEC.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@ab348 said:
One thing I didn’t know until recently thanks to Harry’s Garage YT channel - when you plug in you electric car at your home charger (and presumably public ones also), the $10 worth of electricity it costs you on your electric bill only delivers about $9 worth of juice to your battery pack, with the remainder lost in the AC to DC conversion process in the form of heat.

Losses vary depending on equipment, speed, and temperature. The car’s onboard systems are the biggest culprit, so there is nothing to be done about that. Using a good wall unit and heavy-duty charging cable, while charging at a lower speed, can help reduce the loss. Also, the car is using power to monitor the charge and, in some cases, heat or cool the battery, so not a loss but usage for something other than driving. Overall, losses have been measured from 5% up to 30%.

pensfan83

Surprised by the family with a trip to South Bend this past weekend and we had a blast. I think I'll keep them all around.