Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

ab348

Note to @kyfdx and @Michaell : the last 2 posts I've made in this discussion have hung up the Vanilla s/w and even though they posted OK I had to go back to unfreeze the screen and then delete the already-posted draft. That doesn't seem to happen in other discussions.

kyfdx

ab348 said:

I recently watched a side by side review by Alex on Autos of the Blazer EV and the VW ID4 which was a vehicle I had never heard of previously:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22abI75vCOw&pp=ygUTdncgaWQ0IGNoZXZ5IGJsYXplcg%3D%3D

Alex seemed to like the VW better and they seem like quite different vehicles.

The ID.4 is a twin of the Audi Q4 (I think)

kyfdx

ab348 said:

Note to @kyfdx and @Michaell : the last 2 posts I've made in this discussion have hung up the Vanilla s/w and even though they posted OK I had to go back to unfreeze the screen and then delete the already-posted draft. That doesn't seem to happen in other discussions.

Yep.. they are actively working on it..

I've seen it here and in Cars and Conversation.

It seems the previous issue of not updating to last read post may have been fixed.
I'm wondering if this new problem is related to that fix.

corvette

tifighter said:

It gets better - the initial production will be CCS and not NACS. So you get the joy of using EA for all of that recharging it’s going to need.

LOL... and it appears VW is stating 2025 for availability of their NACS to CCS adapter. I've been fairly disappointed by the slow rollout of the adapters (only Ford and Rivian have shipped). Without those, CCS vehicles only have access to the newest Superchargers which have the Magic Dock.

Nissan says "coming soon," but there is no firm date.

graphicguy

I pop Alleve like Pez. Tylenol is no help.

Regarding the EVs, Chevy Blazer EV and Honda Prologue drive similarly. Prologue is tuned a bit more sporty, which is what Honda does with all their vehicles.

Chevy sales guy was a hard closer...."what can we do to put you in this today?". I kept asking for numbers, but he wanted me to commit to the car before there were numbers presented.

"Can't commit to the car as the numbers are a big part of that".

Sales person...."which is more important...the car? Or the numbers?". Bad close.

Me: "the numbers"!

Maybe a different dealer is in order.

Watched a few vids on the Blazer EV.....I guess real world, it gets 300+ miles per charge. Assuming the Prologue will do the same. Allex Autos just had a vid that he just bought a Blazer EV. Will be interesting to hear how it goes with his experiences.

May take a gander at the VW ID.4. Sounds like some of you have already done some research with it.

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————
I’m not in the market/mood for any EV right now but before I jump, the real world mileage will have to be 325 minimum without the risk of buying an inferno that I park in my garage.

jmonroe

There is ALWAYS that risk, even with an ICE vehicle.

corvette

Got a voicemail from the dealer's accounting department last week - they overnighted the paperwork for the Ariya to my county clerk's office and I will need to bring it in for a VIN inspection before it can be registered. No problem, I did that with the Tundra. Slight problem, they overnighted the paperwork to one of the clerk's offices that doesn't do inspections.

Spent 30 minutes on hold with the clerk yesterday, they needed a tracking number and offered to call me back a bit later to see whether I could find it. Called the dealer, salesperson attempted to transfer me to the accounting department, and I got disconnected. Called back, was able to navigate the phone tree to reach the accounting department, got the UPS tracking number.

Clerk called back, I provided the tracking number, she said it was probably in the mail room (also, that location closed at noon), she will investigate and call me back the next day (today).

She called back today, confirmed they received everything, but also that I didn't need to come in for an inspection because it was a lease--which was news to me, because I had to when I leased the Tundra. They're supposed to mail me a plate. Also, it sounded like I should have been clearer that it was a lease when I first spoke with her, since those are processed differently.

I'm a bit annoyed that I'm getting (and presumably paying for) a new plate, because KY recently changed from "plate stays with the vehicle" to "plate stays with the owner," and I still have the old plate from the Volt. Does that mean I need to buy a third car to use the spare plate?

suydam

VW ID4 is 10 inches shorter and 6 inches narrower than the Blazer, so they are really targeting different customer groups. If you want a nimble compact vehicle, the VW would be in the mix; the Blazer is for folks that want a roomier, more comfy ride.

roadburner

Now that I have the Wrangler 4xe for the long term I neither need nor want another CUV/SUV. I might make an exception for the Ioniq 5N but I much prefer a coupe or sedan- preferably one that weighs less than 2 tons. We've been watching Season 3 of The Mallorca Files and my wife is talking about getting an E30 3er or some permutation of an SL.

ab348

Another Blazer EV review, this one from the Motormouth couple.

https://youtu.be/aPGvWhIErsU?si=1OZTP2A-ybatcPC4

For whatever reason I just can’t get excited about the Blazer.

tifighter

corvette said:

tifighter said:

It gets better - the initial production will be CCS and not NACS. So you get the joy of using EA for all of that recharging it’s going to need.

LOL... and it appears VW is stating 2025 for availability of their NACS to CCS adapter. I've been fairly disappointed by the slow rollout of the adapters (only Ford and Rivian have shipped). Without those, CCS vehicles only have access to the newest Superchargers which have the Magic Dock.

Nissan says "coming soon," but there is no firm date.

I hate poo-pooing it, as I like EVs and vans. I want to want it. But it needs NACS, more range, and less capacitive junk in the interior. And I'd like to not have to buy it at a VW dealer.

suydam

ab348 said:

Another Blazer EV review, this one from the Motormouth couple.

https://youtu.be/aPGvWhIErsU?si=1OZTP2A-ybatcPC4

For whatever reason I just can’t get excited about the Blazer.

Do you need to be?
Seems the Equinox is more the comparable vehicle to the ID4.
https://apple.news/AZJ2A0vVoRvO-B_jh0hPN3Q

graphicguy

@ab348 said:
Another Blazer EV review, this one from the Motormouth couple.

https://youtu.be/aPGvWhIErsU?si=1OZTP2A-ybatcPC4

For whatever reason I just can’t get excited about the Blazer.

I think it’s best trait is it really is a handsome vehicle…maybe the most handsome of all the SUV EVs on the market, save for the Lyric.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

@jmonroe1 said:

————————————————

I’m not in the market/mood for any EV right now but before I jump, the real world mileage will have to be 325 minimum without the risk of buying an inferno that I park in my garage.

jmonroe

There is ALWAYS that risk, even with an ICE vehicle.

————————————————
I agree but the risk is far greater with an EV and once the EV catches fire it consumes the entire car. With an ICE there might be something left although I wouldn’t want it even if there was.

Now that we’re talking, how is the recovery going from your hiatal hernia surgery? Like I said before, I had mine in early 1984 and was off work for a month. Couldn’t even get out of bed without rolling onto the floor onto my knees and pushing myself up from that position. That alone lasted a week. After that just a slooow recovery but not too much pain.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

corvette said:

Got a voicemail from the dealer's accounting department last week - they overnighted the paperwork for the Ariya to my county clerk's office and I will need to bring it in for a VIN inspection before it can be registered. No problem, I did that with the Tundra. Slight problem, they overnighted the paperwork to one of the clerk's offices that doesn't do inspections.

Spent 30 minutes on hold with the clerk yesterday, they needed a tracking number and offered to call me back a bit later to see whether I could find it. Called the dealer, salesperson attempted to transfer me to the accounting department, and I got disconnected. Called back, was able to navigate the phone tree to reach the accounting department, got the UPS tracking number.

Clerk called back, I provided the tracking number, she said it was probably in the mail room (also, that location closed at noon), she will investigate and call me back the next day (today).

She called back today, confirmed they received everything, but also that I didn't need to come in for an inspection because it was a lease--which was news to me, because I had to when I leased the Tundra. They're supposed to mail me a plate. Also, it sounded like I should have been clearer that it was a lease when I first spoke with her, since those are processed differently.

I'm a bit annoyed that I'm getting (and presumably paying for) a new plate, because KY recently changed from "plate stays with the vehicle" to "plate stays with the owner," and I still have the old plate from the Volt. Does that mean I need to buy a third car to use the spare plate?

————————————————
I’m pretty sure CCBA bylaws says you do.

jmonroe

explorerx4

In CT, the plate stays with the owner, but you need to cancel the registration or you pay property tax on a vehicle you don't own any more.

corvette

tifighter said:

I hate poo-pooing it, as I like EVs and vans. I want to want it. But it needs NACS, more range, and less capacitive junk in the interior. And I'd like to not have to buy it at a VW dealer.

Yes. If it were in the $50k range, well equipped, and had NACS, I'd still be interested.

I suspect we're going to see an extended 2024 model year for a lot of EVs that plan to switch to NACS in 2025, due to the obvious changeover issues plus worse than anticipated sales. The 2023 Ariya was released in the US in fall, 2022. The 2024 model with "enhanced" (read: reduced) pricing was not announced until March 4, 2024, and the 2025 model has not yet been announced beyond the fact that it will have NACS.

sda

explorerx4 said:

In CT, the plate stays with the owner, but you need to cancel the registration or you pay property tax on a vehicle you don't own any more.

Ouch, potential expensive mistake! In NC the plate stays with the owner. Some years ago, when I lived in Charlotte, I sold an extra car I had. I didn't realize I needed to turn the plate in because it was no longer associated with a vehicle. I stored the plate in a bedroom closet. A few weeks later I received a warning, don't recall if it was a phone call or letter, but stated I could be arrested for not turning in the plate. I was provided a phone number to call. A policeman kindly offered to come to the house and retrieve it, which he did, and I appreciated. Lesson learned.

ab348

suydam said:

ab348 said:

Another Blazer EV review, this one from the Motormouth couple.

https://youtu.be/aPGvWhIErsU?si=1OZTP2A-ybatcPC4

For whatever reason I just can’t get excited about the Blazer.

Do you need to be?
Seems the Equinox is more the comparable vehicle to the ID4.
https://apple.news/AZJ2A0vVoRvO-B_jh0hPN3Q

Part of my problem with both the Equinox and the Blazer are the names. I’m sure some strategy committee decided they should be named the same as their ICE equivalents to “normalize” EVs in the minds of consumers. The problem is I don’t like the ICE versions of either even a little bit. I could never understand the gasoline Blazer. Aside from the name which made zero sense if you knew what its predecessors were like, it was pricey and seemed to offer no advantages over its competitors. As for the Equinox, it earned its rep as an underpowered, trouble-prone and cheaply built vehicle. Not sure why you’d want to saddle your new EV entry with that rep.

suydam

They ICE versions aren’t my cup of tea either. And yet they’ve sold boatloads of them. I guess rather than differentiate, they want to integrate the EV versions as part of the transition.

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

ab348 said:

Note to @kyfdx and @Michaell : the last 2 posts I've made in this discussion have hung up the Vanilla s/w and even though they posted OK I had to go back to unfreeze the screen and then delete the already-posted draft. That doesn't seem to happen in other discussions.

Yep.. they are actively working on it..

I've seen it here and in Cars and Conversation.

It seems the previous issue of not updating to last read post may have been fixed.
I'm wondering if this new problem is related to that fix.

————————————————-
That almost sounds like taking your car to the shop to be repaired. While fixing the problem you brought it in for they screw up “B” and “C”

jmonroe

andres3

I think the Big 3 should bring back all the names associated with failure, like Neon, Catera, Cimmarron, Aztek, G6, Vega, and Mustang II

oldfarmer50

“ Sales person...."which is more important...the car? Or the numbers?". Bad close.”

Were you wearing a baby seal costume? Otherwise he must have been the greenest of greenpeas. I can’t imagine asking such an open ended question without being 100% sure of the answer.

I can see using a close like that on some young kid with hot pants for the latest shiny thing but not a mature buyer.

explorerx4

I've been enjoying watching this guy's videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKSVyQ6quro

explorerx4

I've been enjoying watching this guy's videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKSVyQ6quro

corvette

Sounds like a good deal, other than his client getting stuck with a CX-90.
ETA: I watched a few of his videos... a lot of click-batey titles, but interesting nonetheless.

ab348

CX-90 scares me to death given all the problems some of them have. Seriously underdeveloped vehicle.

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————
I agree but the risk is far greater with an EV and once the EV catches fire it consumes the entire car. With an ICE there might be something left although I wouldn’t want it even if there was.

Now that we’re talking, how is the recovery going from your hiatal hernia surgery? Like I said before, I had mine in early 1984 and was off work for a month. Couldn’t even get out of bed without rolling onto the floor onto my knees and pushing myself up from that position. That alone lasted a week. After that just a slooow recovery but not too much pain.

jmonroe

I’d imagine it is far less invasive these days. I had no problem getting around after just a couple of days. Never even needed anything stronger than Aleve once I was home. But I do have a persistent gas (I assume) issue and fatigue. The gas can be quite frustrating, as it causes annoying pain in my chest and skull. Trying to maintain a bland, liquid diet but it is very difficult.

Thanks for asking.

breld

Glad your recovery is going well @qbrozen.

I’m starting to feel the pull toward that used Merlin Purple Audi e-tron GT. That it is loaded with all the packages (prestige, performance, leather, etc) and an exclusive color and cool unique interior color are strong draws for me.

And…they just reduced the price by a whole $1k! What is one to do?

laurasdada

breld said:

Glad your recovery is going well @qbrozen.

I’m starting to feel the pull toward that used Merlin Purple Audi e-tron GT. That it is loaded with all the packages (prestige, performance, leather, etc) and an exclusive color and cool unique interior color are strong draws for me.

And…they just reduced the price by a whole $1k! What is one to do?

Captain Obvious: "Buy it. Duh."

laurasdada

How about this color? BRG?

au1994

@laurasdada said:

How about this color? BRG?

🤤

au1994

@andres3 said:
I think the Big 3 should bring back all the names associated with failure, like Neon, Catera, Cimmarron, Aztek, G6, Vega, and Mustang II

Don’t forget Dart. Neither new iteration of the name has set the world on fire.

au1994

ab348 said:

CX-90 scares me to death given all the problems some of them have. Seriously underdeveloped vehicle.

Agree and its a real shame because it is very nice looking.

jmonroe1

au1994 said:

ab348 said:

CX-90 scares me to death given all the problems some of them have. Seriously underdeveloped vehicle.

Agree and its a real shame because it is very nice looking.

————————————————
Style sells…until the word gets out.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

@jmonroe1 said:

————————————————

I agree but the risk is far greater with an EV and once the EV catches fire it consumes the entire car. With an ICE there might be something left although I wouldn’t want it even if there was.

Now that we’re talking, how is the recovery going from your hiatal hernia surgery? Like I said before, I had mine in early 1984 and was off work for a month. Couldn’t even get out of bed without rolling onto the floor onto my knees and pushing myself up from that position. That alone lasted a week. After that just a slooow recovery but not too much pain.

jmonroe

I’d imagine it is far less invasive these days. I had no problem getting around after just a couple of days. Never even needed anything stronger than Aleve once I was home. But I do have a persistent gas (I assume) issue and fatigue. The gas can be quite frustrating, as it causes annoying pain in my chest and skull. Trying to maintain a bland, liquid diet but it is very difficult.

Thanks for asking.

————————————————
Hopefully that is a known side effect that goes away quickly.

Hang in there.

jmonroe

corvette

Well, the Ariya made a liar out of me... it does have auto high beams, but they aren't turned on by default. There's a button on the end of the stalk you're supposed to press to turn them on. I'm not sure whether the setting will persist when it's powered off.

Also, the charger it came with has a very short cord between the wall outlet and box, so I was using a short appliance extension cord to allow the box to sit on the floor of the garage. I noticed the extension cord was getting very hot, so I switched to a heavier (but longer) outdoor extension cord. That one was longer than I needed, and was getting warm (but not as hot as the appliance cord). I ordered a short 10/3 three prong extension from Amazon, which looks almost as thick as a garden hose, and am pleased to report it doesn't get warm at all.

jmonroe1

corvette said:

Well, the Ariya made a liar out of me... it does have auto high beams, but they aren't turned on by default. There's a button on the end of the stalk you're supposed to press to turn them on. I'm not sure whether the setting will persist when it's powered off.

Also, the charger it came with has a very short cord between the wall outlet and box, so I was using a short appliance extension cord to allow the box to sit on the floor of the garage. I noticed the extension cord was getting very hot, so I switched to a heavier (but longer) outdoor extension cord. That one was longer than I needed, and was getting warm (but not as hot as the appliance cord). I ordered a short 10/3 three prong extension from Amazon, which looks almost as thick as a garden hose, and am pleased to report it doesn't get warm at all.

————————————————
Both my Genny and Mrs. j’s Legacy have auto-high beam. However, they work differently. With the Genny you have to push the turn signal stalk down each time you start the car to activate the auto-high beam. With the Subie, once you push the turn signal stalk down it stays there and you don’t have to touch it again which I like better. Also with the Subie I like how it is quicker to come on whereas the Genny is way to slow to suit me.

As for extension cords, as you found out, it’s always best to use larger gage short cords to prevent problems. When an extension cord gets hot that’s a perfect indicator it’s to small of a gage and/or too long in length. Not only is this a fire hazard but you can do harm to the appliance using the wrong size cord because too much voltage is being lost at the cord which means there isn’t enough voltage left for the appliance which causes overheating of the appliance which in turn shortens the life of the appliance. All bad things. The general rule when doing electrical stuff is larger wire gage is always better.

jmonroe

tifighter

@breld said:
Glad your recovery is going well @qbrozen.

I’m starting to feel the pull toward that used Merlin Purple Audi e-tron GT. That it is loaded with all the packages (prestige, performance, leather, etc) and an exclusive color and cool unique interior color are strong draws for me.

And…they just reduced the price by a whole $1k! What is one to do?

The day is over and this car is still up on the dealer website.

Disappointed.

oldfarmer50

When was the last time anyone got this pulled on them?

https://youtube.com/shorts/auX4Vx-SqPM?si=cIJR8nlOgc9TVYa3

BTW, it’s almost impossible to post now.😥😥😥

stickguy

In Jersey leases were different. They always needed new plates. On purchases you could keep your old ones and transfer.

That was because of leases being titled to the leasing company.

laurasdada

For the M240, I have to push the button at the end of the stalk to enable auto-high beams. By default, it's in manual (you know, press the round, metal button on the floorboard...) mode. Unless there's a setting deep in iDrive that I haven't found yet to change the default.

tjc78

@stickguy said:
In Jersey leases were different. They always needed new plates. On purchases you could keep your old ones and transfer.

That was because of leases being titled to the leasing company.

If you leased with the same leasing company you could keep your plates. Both of my Enclaves shared the same plate… I was very surprised as that was the first time I ever experienced that.

xwesx

I had a heck of a time this week with a little needed maintenance on the Crosstrek...

We were about two hundred miles from Conneaut (back on August 11) when I started noticing a distinct droning sound from the rear of the car. With about 87,000 miles and change on the car, I thought, "is that a wheel bearing going bad already?!"

After arriving and taking all the carriers and weight off the car, the droning noise remained. And, after another 500+ miles traveling around locally (including the quick trip to retrieve my wife from Pittsburgh when she returned from her flash-trip to Alaska), the droning was getting distinctly louder. I decided it was time to knuckle down and replace the rear bearings. The problem is, I don't really have much in the way of tools here because we traveled very light this trip, and I also don't back for major automobile surgery on trips!

I bought the parts, grabbed a few extra odds and ends (tool-related), and set to work last Wednesday morning. The disassembly was very fast, right up to the point where I needed to actually get the hub assemby out of the suspension knuckle! I beat on that thing until I was exhausted (about two hours), and it was just not budging. I'm used to Subaru bearings being stubborn, but this one definitely took the cake! Eventually, I admitted defeat (temporarily) and ordered a removal tool that said it would arrive the next day. I was somewhat limited on my options due to timing of when we needed it running again and no vehicle to travel locally for parts, so I got what I could get!

The next afternoon, the tool arrived and I set back to work. Unfortunately, this "universal" tool wasn't quite universal, as I had to spend about a half hour modifying it to work with the Crosstrek's wheel hub. Once I did, I connected it to the hub and took my 10# hammer to it. I struck it about six or seven times before the tool just fell apart. Thankfully, it wasn't entirely broken, but it sure looked worse for the wear! I sprayed the whole thing down with penetrating oil again, then let it sit a couple hours. I came back, added some bricks under the suspension to help support it and isolate the impacts, hit it another six or seven times and shattering a few of the bricks in the process, and it finally popped out with a flourish! Thankfully, again, I only did a tiny bit of damage to the axle's boot (the axle runs through the center of the hub and cannot be fully removed from the hub without disassembling the whole rear suspension).

I cleaned it up, installed the new hub with no issues, and called it a day (with much relief!). The next morning, I went back out to try my hand at the passenger side, which I *really* hoped would be easier, and it turned out that it was. I disassembled, removed, reinstalled the new hub, and had the car ready to roll within about ninety minutes.

xwesx

The demonically difficult driver-side hub before disassembly... looking rather innocent there while hiding a dark secret!


The hub removal tool after finishing the work. The angle of the image (and lack of reference photo) doesn't quite do justice to just how mangled this thing was after finishing the job.

jmonroe1

xwesx said:

The demonically difficult driver-side hub before disassembly... looking rather innocent there while hiding a dark secret!


The hub removal tool after finishing the work. The angle of the image (and lack of reference photo) doesn't quite do justice to just how mangled this thing was after finishing the job.

————————————————
Wow, that’s a LOT of work. Just wondering if you had a better puller if the job would have been easier. In any case I’m sure you’re relieved that job is over. Now you can relax. Yeah, right.

jmonroe

xwesx

jmonroe1 said:

Wow, that’s a LOT of work. Just wondering if you had a better puller if the job would have been easier. In any case I’m sure you’re relieved that job is over. Now you can relax. Yeah, right.

jmonroe

I'm guessing 'yes', but who's to say. The better tools generally use leverage to and pry against a point on the steering knuckle, but these have precious few points to do that against. If you pry against that backing plate without something more firm behind it, you just bend the backing plate... which is generally bad (if you want your parking brake to work). There were a couple of the hammer-type pullers, like the one I bought, that looked more robust, but I couldn't have them here before today, so those were out since I needed the car on Friday (or, rather, my wife needed it...).

qbrozen

@oldfarmer50 said:
When was the last time anyone got this pulled on them?

https://youtube.com/shorts/auX4Vx-SqPM?si=cIJR8nlOgc9TVYa3

BTW, it’s almost impossible to post now.😥😥😥

I actually remember the last time exactly. Well, ok, not the actual date. It would have been mid December 2018 at BMW of Freehold, NJ. It was on a used X1. And we had no trade so I have no idea why he even went with a 4-square. But I immediately laughed and called him out on it saying I can’t believe I’m seeing one of these again. He was a young’in and didn’t seem to understand my amusement, I’m guessing because this was his first sales job and knew nothing beyond what they taught him.

This was before we leased an X2 later the same day.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

When was the last time anyone got this pulled on them?

https://youtube.com/shorts/auX4Vx-SqPM?si=cIJR8nlOgc9TVYa3

BTW, it’s almost impossible to post now.😥😥😥

I actually remember the last time exactly. Well, ok, not the actual date. It would have been mid December 2018 at BMW of Freehold, NJ. It was on a used X1. And we had no trade so I have no idea why he even went with a 4-square. But I immediately laughed and called him out on it saying I can’t believe I’m seeing one of these again. He was a young’in and didn’t seem to understand my amusement, I’m guessing because this was his first sales job and knew nothing beyond what they taught him.

This was before we leased an X2 later the same day.

————————————————-
Don’t tell us it was from the same greenpea.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————-
Don’t tell us it was from the same greenpea.

jmonroe

Oh, HECK no. Different dealership entirely.