Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

roadburner

corvette said:

@explorerx4 - I saw that, as well. Didn't see anything that interested me, but I hope I paid my yearly Edmunds dues by clicking on the link.

Same here; nothing that suits me.

au1994

Glad to see it. Nothing jumps out at me in this offering but maybe something will pop up in the future.

qbrozen

explorerx4 said:

Just saw this message at the top of my screen.

Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!

https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/70891/general/x/lease-deals-offered-by-bayway-auto-leasing-nationwide-delivery-available#latest

Just came from there. Definitely nothing of interest, and none are what we'd consider a good deal.

au1994

Just got the recall notice on the high voltage battery for the Jeep. Advises me not to charge, part outside etc.

Maybe I’ll just park it outside at the dealers used lot.

mjfloyd1

@au1994 said:
Just got the recall notice on the high voltage battery for the Jeep. Advises me not to charge, part outside etc.

Maybe I’ll just park it outside at the dealers used lot.

They have the software now. You can schedule it

roadburner

It takes the better part of a day or two, there are two tests that take three hours to perform.

nyccarguy

@dad23 said:
Just made the final lease payment on the Tacoma with no real direction on what to do with it, other than NOT turn it in. It's got 14,395 miles with a buyout of around $29.3k. I ran it online through CarMax over the weekend and they came back with an offer of $38k, which isn't much less than original MSRP. For the first time I can remember, there's nothing out there that I just have to have. Interest rates don't help and there doesn't seem to be any killer lease programs to be had. The lease company said they would do month to month until August so I guess that gives us a little more time.

It’s leased through TFS? Then definitely extend it month to month for as long as they will let you. Strong offer on it from CarMax!

mlevine

nyccarguy
I know your parents like the Genesis, but financially based on the current situation I think waiting 6 months and then do early lease return and get into another Lexus is the way to go. Dollar wise it may make sense.
I would buy your Tacoma as I believe the 6 cylinders will be very desireable in the future. You may also be able to get an extended warranty for lets say 4 or 5 years at a discount at that time. Would also check credit unions which I suspect will have better rates on car loans than banks.

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

I got some more information from the friend of my friend. They’ve upped the budget to $10k, which brings a lot more vehicles into the mix.

A couple that popped up:

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/e0240515-c64f-495d-a8e8-4b42f8f31065?aff=share_text

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/1672e010-33ca-434f-9f4f-6baa23e00150?aff=share_text

I’ve been told that reliability is at the top of the wish list, which makes me lean towards the Scion.

Be careful of that Jeep, the 3.7L was known to blow head gaskets. My SIL bought one of that vintage with similar mileage and it failed within a few years.

While they were deciding if they would fix it their daughter took it out for a drive and wrecked the engine.

oldfarmer50

Ford just mailed me an invitation to come test drive any of their vehicles in return for a $25 gift card. Pretty cheap if you ask me since Lexus gave me $75 about 10 years ago.

I don’t know who does their market research but I wouldn’t think that someone who just bought one of their trucks would be likely to buy another Ford within three weeks. Besides there’s nothing in their current line up I’d want except a Mustang and I’m already covered there.

laurasdada

Family over for birthday celebration Sunday. When walking the dog, noticed the fuel filler door was missing on my son's Mazda 3 HB. Forgot to ask him about it.
He also asked me, with some exasperation, when I was going to trade the A7 and M240 for a 911! He reminded me that I'm not actually getting any younger.
Nice kid.

I've had the M240 for 11 months now, only put ~3k miles on it. That'll ramp up soon.

ab348

This article in Automotive News illustrates the problems GM has encountered getting their Ultium EV program up to speed.

https://www.autonews.com/manufacturing/gm-struggles-fix-ev-battery-plant-after-fires-cut-corners

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

This article in Automotive News illustrates the problems GM has encountered getting their Ultium EV program up to speed.

https://www.autonews.com/manufacturing/gm-struggles-fix-ev-battery-plant-after-fires-cut-corners

The story is behind a paywall but the headline mentions fires at the plant. Doesn’t engender confidence when the batteries are burning before they even get in the car.

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
You've still got a few minutes to bid on this one.
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/9naPPD5J/2007-dodge-charger-srt8

xwesx

Wow. That Charger is getting some serious last-second action!

It went from $10K at auction close to over $15K now and still slowly climbing.

xwesx

Whew. Ended at $16,500. I feel like the seller made out like a bandit on this one.

nyccarguy

Beautiful condition. LOVE the color. Almost 180K miles. I remember driving one of these way back when. The handling was incredible.

1992 Honda Prelude Si 4WS

explorerx4

@xwesx,
I forgot how crazy some of those auctions can get at the end.
The bidding is fun to watch, especially because it's someone else's money.
P.S. I hope Q didn't win it.

xwesx

That's for sure. This one was plum crazy!

breld

nyccarguy said:

Beautiful condition. LOVE the color. Almost 180K miles. I remember driving one of these way back when. The handling was incredible.

1992 Honda Prelude Si 4WS

I saw that...I had a '93 Si (not the 4WS) that I loved.

nyccarguy

breld said:

nyccarguy said:

Beautiful condition. LOVE the color. Almost 180K miles. I remember driving one of these way back when. The handling was incredible.

1992 Honda Prelude Si 4WS

I saw that...I had a '93 Si (not the 4WS) that I loved.

The 4WS added extra weight and complexity to the 4th Generation Prelude. It was Electronic and somewhat problematic as opposed to the 3rd generation's Mechanical 4WS which was reliable and easy to fix.

Some JDM 5th Generation Preludes have 4WS.

tifighter

This time last year I had 2 BMW’s and 2 Teslas. Now I have 2 Hondas and a baby.

Guess that means next year is murky, right?

ab348

Odd, I was able to see it and I'm not a subscriber. Here it is:


General Motors is racing to fix problems in its electric vehicle business to make good on promises CEO Mary Barra made five years ago. It still has a long way to go.

Fresh off exiting major markets like Europe and India, Barra told GM employees in spring, 2019 that the company was pivoting its strategy to bet heavily on EVs and self-driving cars. She wasn’t content for the automaker to just survive the new technology-driven era for transportation; it needed to be a leader.

That transition has been fraught with delays, including automation issues and software glitches causing the carmaker to miss its EV delivery targets the past two years. Getting the EV plants humming is Barra’s last shot to take GM from a 20th-century metal-bender to a transportation company of the future.

Mary Barra's $280 billion goal confronts a litany of GM hurdles

GM executives think they might be finally crawling out of their “production hell” phase, similar to the robotics problems that delayed Tesla Inc.’s Model 3 seven years ago. GM aims to build 200,000 to 300,000 all-electric vehicles this year with its much-ballyhooed Ultium battery packs, about 20 times more than it made last year but still well short of its previous ambitions.

“We’ve had some challenges scaling it,” CFO Paul Jacobson said of the Ultium problems in a recent speech at an industry conference in Washington. “I think most of those are behind us.”

Investors say it’s time for GM to prove it. The company sold fewer than 14,000 Ultium EVs last year, about as many as EV startup Rivian Automotive Inc. delivered in just the fourth quarter. Since then, GM says it has doubled battery production at its Factory Zero plant in Detroit, but the company needs to expand much faster if it’s going to meet its goals.

Factory Zero is the auto industry’s first attempt to scale up a fully automated assembly line with pouch-shaped battery cells. President Joe Biden lauded Barra’s vision and the promise of U.S.-built electric cars while touring the plant in November 2021. He even took a prototype electric Hummer for a test drive in the parking lot.

GM bypassed its own best practices to rush the battery packs into production.

Typically, when the company is preparing to build a new model, it sets up assembly-line equipment in a nearby supplier’s warehouse for testing. Then, once the bugs are worked out, equipment is pulled up and moved to the assembly plant for production.

GM skipped that step with Ultium, choosing to install new fully automated battery assembly lines right away rather than testing them elsewhere first, according to Mike Anderson, vice president of global electrification and battery systems.

Inside a fenced-in area at Factory Zero, robots stack battery cell pouches together six at a time, pressing them down like a panini and then placing four sandwich packs into a box with a cooling plate at the bottom. The cells must be pressed and packed precisely so the weld tabs connecting the modules fit through slots in the module box. If they don’t line up exactly, the tabs bend and the cell won’t be linked with others. The battery will fail quality checks.

Therefore, each time a cell’s tab misses its slot in the box, engineers have to go inside the fence, find the problem and come up with a solution. That’s a time-consuming and costly process, Anderson said.


Fires have been an issue

The Detroit Fire Department says it’s been called nine times to Factory Zero since August, as first reported by Crain's Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News.

The most recent was Dec. 19, when a stack of EV batteries started to burn after a forklift pierced battery packs. In other incidents, fire fighters were called to investigate battery gas leaks as a safety precaution, according to a GM spokesman.

“That’s more fires than anyone would want to see,” Anderson said. “It’s part of the growing pains.”

GM has brought in more battery experts, consultants and manufacturing executives to help fix the assembly problems. In February, the company hired former Tesla battery executive Kurt Kelty to run GM’s battery operations. JP Clausen, who led the rapid scaling of EV propulsion systems at Tesla’s Nevada factory was named GM’s new head of manufacturing last week.

Anderson said he thinks the company has “turned the corner” at Factory Zero and will continue to ramp up production en route to hitting GM’s latest production targets. The company will employ what it learned there to a new battery plant in Tennessee, scheduled to open later this year, and other future sites.

Software SNAFU

Software bugs have also delayed GM’s EV ambitions.

The Chevy Blazer EV was on hold for almost three months due to issues with GM’s in-house infotainment software that is intended to replace Apple CarPlay and Google Android Auto. GM wants all vehicle software to be made in-house to better integrate it with the cars’ hardware. After testing the vehicles over thousands more miles, the company said March 8 it had fixed the software and would cut prices on the Blazer EV as sales resume.

“They should be able to eventually solve the battery production problems, but GM is struggling to build the right organization to develop software,” said Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst with Guidehouse Insights. “At this point, you can’t take GM at their word with Ultium EVs.”

GM isn’t the only automaker struggling to accelerate EV production. Volkswagen Group also had buggy software in its cars. Wheels fell off Toyota Motor Corp.’s bZ4X. Ford Motor Co. last month halted production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup due to quality issues.

The setbacks come at a difficult time for the industry when EV sales growth is slowing globally due to high price tags and concerns about charging requirements. Manufacturing delays add further reputational risk for companies, especially among car shoppers considering buying an EV for the first time.

GM is hedging its bets on EVs, simultaneously reintroducing plug-in hybrids in North America, a business it left five years when it discontinued the Chevy Volt.

“This is the Wild West,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. “Everyone is having a tough time.”

GM has a lot riding on EVs. Barra downsized GM’s global business — ceding turf to Toyota and Volkswagen — in order to invest in EVs and self-driving cars. She had an ambitious plan to double revenue to $280 billion by the end of the decade by transforming GM into a tech company.

The Cruise robotaxi business is in shambles after a pedestrian accident and alleged coverup in California forced the company to ground its entire fleet.

There are also federal government subsidies at stake. The Inflation Reduction Act gives money to automakers for building EVs meeting certain production requirements. GM says it stands to get $3,500 to $5,500 in tax credits for every EV it makes under the Biden administration’s policy. That equates to as much as $1.65 billion if it reaches 300,000 EVs. The payments could balloon in coming years as the automaker aims to expand production capacity to 1 million EVs in 2026.

But GM fell well short of its goal of producing 150,000 EVs last year — half were to be Ultium-powered — and until recently had been targeting a cumulative total of 400,000 EVs by the middle of this year. Last year, most of its EV sales came from the now-discontinued Chevy Bolt. AutoForecast Solutions expects the company will only sell 112,000 battery-powered vehicles in 2024.

“Buyers just aren’t lining up for these vehicles,” Fiorani said. “If GM could make as many as they want, they might just end up competing on price with themselves.”

28firefighter

@tifighter said:
This time last year I had 2 BMW’s and 2 Teslas. Now I have 2 Hondas and a baby.

Guess that means next year is murky, right?

Sounds like a new rom com title.

explorerx4

@ab348,
I read about that a while ago. The story posted above leaves out the fact that the Detroit Fire Department was going to shut down the facility if they didn't do something about the fires.

28firefighter

This would make a nice winter runner...https://www.infinitiofbellevue.com/inventory/used-2016-bmw-x3-xdrive35i-awd-4d-sport-utility-5uxwx7c58g0k35986/

I just have a thing for white BMWs I think...

roadburner

That one is very nicely equipped. A possible downside is that the telematics may be 3G and if that is the case a lot of Connected Drive features will be DOA. You can retrofit CarPlay for around $700 and it's a faily easy DIY. Aside from that it's a sweet car.

jmonroe1

28firefighter said:

This would make a nice winter runner...https://www.infinitiofbellevue.com/inventory/used-2016-bmw-x3-xdrive35i-awd-4d-sport-utility-5uxwx7c58g0k35986/

I just have a thing for white BMWs I think...

————————————————-
For some maybe but I doubt if that belonged to @oldfarmer50, he’d like salt splashed all over it.

jmonroe

28firefighter

@roadburner said:
That one is very nicely equipped. A possible downside is that the telematics may be 3G and if that is the case a lot of Connected Drive features will be DOA. You can retrofit CarPlay for around $700 and it's a faily easy DIY. Aside from that it's a sweet car.

That’s a no brainer. Wife is less amused at an old(er) BMW.

qbrozen

@28firefighter said:
This would make a nice winter runner...https://www.infinitiofbellevue.com/inventory/used-2016-bmw-x3-xdrive35i-awd-4d-sport-utility-5uxwx7c58g0k35986/

I just have a thing for white BMWs I think...

Sooner or later you’ll get the right one that will cure you of that problem.

qbrozen

@explorerx4 said:
@qbrozen,
You've still got a few minutes to bid on this one.
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/9naPPD5J/2007-dodge-charger-srt8

Gotta be honest: I’m surprised it didn’t go for more.

Wouldn’t have been me, though. I’d rather keep my Daytona if I’m not getting at least a far newer scat pack.

stickguy

I do like that color.

kyfdx

28firefighter said:

This would make a nice winter runner...https://www.infinitiofbellevue.com/inventory/used-2016-bmw-x3-xdrive35i-awd-4d-sport-utility-5uxwx7c58g0k35986/

I just have a thing for white BMWs I think...

That's my wife's color combo. Only that looks like Alpine, and she has Mineral white metallic.

Of course, hers is 2017, 4 cyl turbo and no M-Sport. She loves it. 6.5 years and now has 76K miles

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

28firefighter said:

This would make a nice winter runner...https://www.infinitiofbellevue.com/inventory/used-2016-bmw-x3-xdrive35i-awd-4d-sport-utility-5uxwx7c58g0k35986/

I just have a thing for white BMWs I think...

————————————————-
For some maybe but I doubt if that belonged to @oldfarmer50, he’d like salt splashed all over it.

jmonroe

On the other hand I wouldn’t care if it was 3G since I would have no use for any of that nonsense.

Michaell

Member needs help with tire sizing

qbrozen

Still facing challenges with my titles. I have some options I am pursuing. I don't think I mentioned, but when I applied for the business registration number, I was rejected because my biz is no longer legit AND because it was a dealership, so they say I need a dealership license.

I started looking at the whole Montana LLC thing, but that's pretty darned expensive, comparatively speaking. It then occurred to me I should just be able to re-establish my NJ LLC. I've done that, and specified it is car restoration/repair, not a dealership. I now resubmitted the application to the MVC (DMV). Fingers crossed.

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

28firefighter said:

This would make a nice winter runner...https://www.infinitiofbellevue.com/inventory/used-2016-bmw-x3-xdrive35i-awd-4d-sport-utility-5uxwx7c58g0k35986/

I just have a thing for white BMWs I think...

————————————————-
For some maybe but I doubt if that belonged to @oldfarmer50, he’d like salt splashed all over it.

jmonroe

On the other hand I wouldn’t care if it was 3G since I would have no use for any of that nonsense.

I didn't have any use for navigation with real time traffic information and phone apps that are connected to your car until I bought my F22 2er in 2016. Now I find the convenience hard to give up.

pensfan83

Sent out about a dozen texts/emails to people who have expressed interest in buying the Prelude over the years. Responses from a couple with some coming to look at it this weekend.

qbrozen

pensfan83 said:

Sent out about a dozen texts/emails to people who have expressed interest in buying the Prelude over the years. Responses from a couple with some coming to look at it this weekend.

so that's the non-SH? 5-speed manual, right? And how many miles? What are you thinking you can get for it?

roadburner

This month’s fill up of the Sahara 4xe: 70.8 mpg on Shell 93 (V-Power NiTRO+)

au1994

roadburner said:

This month’s fill up of the Sahara 4xe: 70.8 mpg on Shell 93 (V-Power NiTRO+)

I’m clearly doing something wrong. Sitting at ~30 mpg

oldfarmer50

pensfan83 said:

Sent out about a dozen texts/emails to people who have expressed interest in buying the Prelude over the years. Responses from a couple with some coming to look at it this weekend.

Private sales can be an experience to say the least. When I sold the rusty cargo van I priced it cheap because I didn’t want drama. I had two low ballers who didn’t even want to look at it before asking for my best price. Another one just texted “I got $700” then texted back offering $850. I pointed out to these clowns that they would be hard pressed to find ANYTHING that ran at that price ($1000) but they still wouldn’t come and test drive.

Finally I got an offer for full price, again with no test drive followed up by the ultimate buyer who showed up with the full price in cash. I offered to let him drive but he said “I trust you”. Two minutes after he drove off my neighbor offered to buy it.

Don’t get discouraged if you have to suffer through a lot of flakes.

qbrozen

got an email that BMW has a driving event very near my home this weekend. I signed up me and my son for the autocross on Friday afternoon. They say it is in a 540xi. I don't really care but figure he would enjoy it since he has never done it.

nyccarguy

@pensfan83 said:
Sent out about a dozen texts/emails to people who have expressed interest in buying the Prelude over the years. Responses from a couple with some coming to look at it this weekend.

Your car (IIRC) has about 30K more miles than mine, is older, and in MUCH better condition. Why’d you decide to move on?

tifighter

@qbrozen said:
got an email that BMW has a driving event very near my home this weekend. I signed up me and my son for the autocross on Friday afternoon. They say it is in a 540xi. I don't really care but figure he would enjoy it since he has never done it.

I did one of these a few months ago. It was pretty fun; the highlight may have actually been the ride along with an instructor. No matter how fast you think you went on the course, then you realize…

corvette

Passed a 300M on rural I-64 a few days ago... I haven't seen one of those forever and almost forgot they existed. It was black and looked okay from the rear, but after I passed it, I realized the hood, fenders, and bumper were silver. It was being trailed by a W-body Impala. Possibly some full-size FWD domestic car enthusiasts?

qbrozen

Tried to buy another JDM vehicle. Been keeping an eye out for a manual turbo kei van or 5-door like our wagon r. A ‘97 Daihatsu finally came up. The kei vans typically get to around $1k USD. I put in a max of about $1300, thinking “yup, that’ll do it.” It ended around an hour ago. No email, so I checked up on it. It went for $8200 USD!! WTH?!

roadburner

qbrozen said:

got an email that BMW has a driving event very near my home this weekend. I signed up me and my son for the autocross on Friday afternoon. They say it is in a 540xi. I don't really care but figure he would enjoy it since he has never done it.

My son is doing the BMW UDE at Charlotte. Nothing is offered in my area.

pensfan83

My parents are starting to look at replacing their 2016 Escape.

qbrozen said:

pensfan83 said:

Sent out about a dozen texts/emails to people who have expressed interest in buying the Prelude over the years. Responses from a couple with some coming to look at it this weekend.

so that's the non-SH? 5-speed manual, right? And how many miles? What are you thinking you can get for it?

Correct and about 194K. I'm going to try and get at least $5K, but I'd probably take $4,500. There's not many comparable units on BaT, C&B, etc. to go off. Most have of those have under 100K, the closest I found was a 2001 with 236K but some unknowns as far as maintenance and that sold for $7500. Mine has less miles, but 4 years older. It's pretty much stock, the biggest ticket item (timing belt) is probably good for another 4-5 years if it's driven at the same rate, and the body has no runs, drips, or errors. We'll see though, since I posted that 2 have already backed for various reasons.

pensfan83

nyccarguy said:

@pensfan83 said:

Sent out about a dozen texts/emails to people who have expressed interest in buying the Prelude over the years. Responses from a couple with some coming to look at it this weekend.

Your car (IIRC) has about 30K more miles than mine, is older, and in MUCH better condition. Why’d you decide to move on?

It's been telegraphed in subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways it needs to go. Essentially it's become a 2 seater because neither kid will ride in the back seat any longer and my wife won't ride in it at all. Parts can sometimes be a crapshoot and I've driven it less and less the past few years, gravitating more toward the BMW. It's creating unnecessary friction so it's time. It scratched an itch for the teenager Honda fanboy in me and someone else will no doubt enjoy it just as much.