Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

kyfdx

@graphicguy That's actually a pretty solid deal on a CR-V.

graphicguy

kyfdx said:

@graphicguy That's actually a pretty solid deal on a CR-V.

I thought so, too. Probably would have given them some pushback on some of the fees.....convenience fee? OK, I'm deducting my $200/hour inconvenienced fee for waiting to get the CR-V PDI'd.....

explorerx4

Was the CR-V going to be a purchase or lease? There is a $595 acquisition fee listed.

corvette

I ordered a wired to wireless CarPlay adapter for the Maverick for $10 on Aliexpress. Someone on the Maverick board said it worked really well. Fingers crossed it doesn’t install spyware on my phone.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

au1994 said:

I once read an article around the time of Katrina that said buying a flood damaged car, no matter the quality of repair/resto, was just asking for trouble. And that was 2005 tech. Can you imagine now?

I guess the problem is not just that they run wiring under the carpeting but different modules as well. The circuits and connectors might work fine for awhile but corrosion eventually sets in causing no end of havoc. Why can’t run that wiring up in the ceiling instead of the floor?

————————————————
If you did that you’d have high voltage in the car and insurance companies would shoot that down quickly.

jmonroe

Michaell

Thanks for this!

I also found a longer video from Kia on how to care for the matte finish.

au1994

3k mile report on the Grand Cherokee.

All good as you would expect this early. Averaging 19 mpg on 80% in town driving. I expect that to improve but I freely admit to a lead foot.

On the few highway trips it’s made, I can tell it is going to be a great cruiser. Plenty of room for both passengers and cargo, the latter is what was important to me and why I went with the ‘L’. Power is good, if not a little noisy getting going. As I said, it is extremely comfortable and quiet.

Rear hatch started making a minor rattle but nothing a squirt of silicone spray couldn’t fix. I had the Alpine system in the Wrangler and even though I am no audiophile, it was head and shoulders above the stock unit.

I am enjoying the Sirius/XM trial. What’s the lowest I can renew that for if anyone has done it?

corvette

I think the best XM offer I’ve gotten so far on the Ariya is $5/month plus taxes and fees for 12 months. I didn’t take it because I listen to podcasts instead.

graphicguy

@explorerx4 said:
Was the CR-V going to be a purchase or lease? There is a $595 acquisition fee listed.

This was a lease quote. If I were purchasing, that acquisition fee would go away.

Michaell

Weathertech, Husky, or another brand?

We didn't get the all weather mats for the Kia, but we do want a nice rubber mat for the hatch area - ideally, with a small lip.

Any brand recommendations? We tried getting Weathertech for the MINI, but they didn't fit right, so we stopped using them.

roadburner

Michaell said:

xwesx said:

Michaell said:

My stepdaughter did a thing today:

Congrats! Ten years is a good long time for a single daily driver, even if she did barely put any miles on it!

It seems odd to me that vehicles come out of the factory looking like that (flat matte paint), but that look is definitely the flavor of the week. I see a lot of new(er) cars with flat black or grey wraps on them.

The girls are at the studio tonight, and my wife texts me: "Do you know how hard it will be to keep this car clean?"

No, honey, I don't. I knew it needed special care and feeding, but I didn't pick the color. Can't go through a car wash with brushes. There was a small booklet on this, so I knew it was special.

As the fleet manager, I guess I'll have to learn how to keep it clean.

BMW calls their matte colors "Frozen" while M-B calls it "Magno." You could not pay me to take a car with matte paint; the care and feeding of the finish is a royal PITA.

roadburner

graphicguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

All Acura fans out there, just saw a program last night that the ZDX (their EV) has a one year plus supply sitting on dealers' lots. They weren't budging from MSRP when my sister and I looked at them a few weeks ago. Looks like they're going to sit for a while.

That must be a Honda family trait. When I bought from a Honda dealer they seem shocked that I would make an offer lower than the listed price. They dug in like ticks and it took them forever to lower the price even a little. The SM threatened to sell it at auction rather than give me a deal.

Maybe Honda/Acura buyers all just pay list price with no resistance.

CR-Vs are probably Honda's most popular vehicle and I didn't even try and could have signed this deal about a month ago on a 2025 CR-V Hybrid Touring.

As I've mentioned before, back in 1984 (the time of the voluntary import quotas) I was trying to help my girlfriend(now wife of 38 years) buy a new Accord. Every dealer in the Cincinnati area wanted to play games. One guy refused to do anything but quote payment numbers while another wanted a $500 deposit before he would take our offer to the SM- he said that he needed to know that we were serious. The whole experience left such a bad taste in her mouth that she never seriously considered a Honda since.

pensfan83

@Michaell said:
Weathertech, Husky, or another brand?

We didn't get the all weather mats for the Kia, but we do want a nice rubber mat for the hatch area - ideally, with a small lip.

Any brand recommendations? We tried getting Weathertech for the MINI, but they didn't fit right, so we stopped using them.

I went with Husky mats for the MDX this time after reading the Weathertech mats left a strip of carpet exposed where your step in. Through one winter with them there were no issues and I keep them clean with the Chemical Guys floor mat cleaner.

Michaell

pensfan83 said:

@Michaell said:

Weathertech, Husky, or another brand?

We didn't get the all weather mats for the Kia, but we do want a nice rubber mat for the hatch area - ideally, with a small lip.

Any brand recommendations? We tried getting Weathertech for the MINI, but they didn't fit right, so we stopped using them.

I went with Husky mats for the MDX this time after reading the Weathertech mats left a strip of carpet exposed where your step in. Through one winter with them there were no issues and I keep them clean with the Chemical Guys floor mat cleaner.

Thanks for the feedback - I don't think we'll be getting floor mats for the driver and passenger front seats, however.

explorerx4

Someone mentioned SiriusXm, so I checked my account.
3 subscriptions were about to come up for renewal.
Best I could get was $8.51 a month, including royalties and taxes, for a year.
Was paying just under $8 a month prior to that.

suydam

roadburner said:

Michaell said:

xwesx said:

Michaell said:

My stepdaughter did a thing today:

Congrats! Ten years is a good long time for a single daily driver, even if she did barely put any miles on it!

It seems odd to me that vehicles come out of the factory looking like that (flat matte paint), but that look is definitely the flavor of the week. I see a lot of new(er) cars with flat black or grey wraps on them.

The girls are at the studio tonight, and my wife texts me: "Do you know how hard it will be to keep this car clean?"

No, honey, I don't. I knew it needed special care and feeding, but I didn't pick the color. Can't go through a car wash with brushes. There was a small booklet on this, so I knew it was special.

As the fleet manager, I guess I'll have to learn how to keep it clean.

BMW calls their matte colors "Frozen" while M-B calls it "Magno." You could not pay me to take a car with matte paint; the care and feeding of the finish is a royal PITA.

I personally don’t care for the look, but she likes it, and I hope it is a great vehicle for her!

au1994

Michaell said:

Weathertech, Husky, or another brand?

We didn't get the all weather mats for the Kia, but we do want a nice rubber mat for the hatch area - ideally, with a small lip.

Any brand recommendations? We tried getting Weathertech for the MINI, but they didn't fit right, so we stopped using them.

I did Husky for the cargo liner on the JGC after years of Weathertech. Very pleased so far and it was a good cost savings.

au1994

@corvette said:
I ordered a wired to wireless CarPlay adapter for the Maverick for $10 on Aliexpress. Someone on the Maverick board said it worked really well. Fingers crossed it doesn’t install spyware on my phone.

I really like wireless CarPlay. It’s amazing what we get spoiled to.

au1994

@corvette said:
I ordered a wired to wireless CarPlay adapter for the Maverick for $10 on Aliexpress. Someone on the Maverick board said it worked really well. Fingers crossed it doesn’t install spyware on my phone.

I really like wireless CarPlay. It’s amazing what we get spoiled to.

graphicguy

@roadburner said:
As I've mentioned before, back in 1984 (the time of the voluntary import quotas) I was trying to help my girlfriend(now wife of 38 years) buy a new Accord. Every dealer in the Cincinnati area wanted to play games. One guy refused to do anything but quote payment numbers while another wanted a $500 deposit before he would take our offer to the SM- he said that he needed to know that we were serious. The whole experience left such a bad taste in her mouth that she never seriously considered a Honda since.

Someone posted a quote on a Civic at MSRP+. Down here, I can buy any Honda well under MSRP!

This is at the dealership you probably dealt with lo those many years ago. Mike Dever owned it then and still does. He’s got to be up there in age these days. And, all his dealerships are called Performance. He has Toyota, Honda and Lexus dealerships. Some in Florida, which is where he now lives.

Back in the ‘80s, with a new diploma and a new post graduate job, I went to buy an Accord from that same dealership. MSRP plus a market adjustment sticker. Didn’t buy it then, but they are way more reasonable now.

The Toyota and Honda dealerships have been in the same locations for 40+ years!

The story goes, he was a sales person at a Buick dealership. Owner of the Buick dealership wanted to retire. He sold and financed Dever to buy the Buick dealership. He used the Buick dealership to buy both a fledgling Toyota and Honda franchises. Right place….right time…recession hit and Middle East cut oil production (again)…refineries followed suit to boost prices.. Hondas and Toyotas were fuel sippers. Dealerships became very successful as a result!

venture

Michaell said:

pensfan83 said:

@Michaell said:

Weathertech, Husky, or another brand?

We didn't get the all weather mats for the Kia, but we do want a nice rubber mat for the hatch area - ideally, with a small lip.

Any brand recommendations? We tried getting Weathertech for the MINI, but they didn't fit right, so we stopped using them.

I went with Husky mats for the MDX this time after reading the Weathertech mats left a strip of carpet exposed where your step in. Through one winter with them there were no issues and I keep them clean with the Chemical Guys floor mat cleaner.

Thanks for the feedback - I don't think we'll be getting floor mats for the driver and passenger front seats, however.

Check the dealer.

au1994

Sorry for the duplicate post. Forums are acting wonky again on phone and ipad.

au1994

graphicguy said:

@roadburner said:

As I've mentioned before, back in 1984 (the time of the voluntary import quotas) I was trying to help my girlfriend(now wife of 38 years) buy a new Accord. Every dealer in the Cincinnati area wanted to play games. One guy refused to do anything but quote payment numbers while another wanted a $500 deposit before he would take our offer to the SM- he said that he needed to know that we were serious. The whole experience left such a bad taste in her mouth that she never seriously considered a Honda since.

Someone posted a quote on a Civic at MSRP+. Down here, I can buy any Honda well under MSRP!

This is at the dealership you probably dealt with lo those many years ago. Mike Dever owned it then and still does. He’s got to be up there in age these days. And, all his dealerships are called Performance. He has Toyota, Honda and Lexus dealerships. Some in Florida, which is where he now lives.

Back in the ‘80s, with a new diploma and a new post graduate job, I went to buy an Accord from that same dealership. MSRP plus a market adjustment sticker. Didn’t buy it then, but they are way more reasonable now.

The Toyota and Honda dealerships have been in the same locations for 40+ years!

The story goes, he was a sales person at a Buick dealership. Owner of the Buick dealership wanted to retire. He sold and financed Dever to buy the Buick dealership. He used the Buick dealership to buy both a fledgling Toyota and Honda franchises. Right place….right time…recession hit and Middle East cut oil production (again)…refineries followed suit to boost prices.. Hondas and Toyotas were fuel sippers. Dealerships became very successful as a result!

My dad sniffed around a Datsun dealership around that time. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

I was a very prescient child and had visions of a Z in my future when I turned 16.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

Someone mentioned SiriusXm, so I checked my account.
3 subscriptions were about to come up for renewal.
Best I could get was $8.51 a month, including royalties and taxes, for a year.
Was paying just under $8 a month prior to that.

$107.32 for one year, back in May.. just under $8/mo. For my wife's car

clm8

Michaell said:

Weathertech, Husky, or another brand?

We didn't get the all weather mats for the Kia, but we do want a nice rubber mat for the hatch area - ideally, with a small lip.

Any brand recommendations? We tried getting Weathertech for the MINI, but they didn't fit right, so we stopped using them.

I've had good luck with LASFIT ordered through Amazon. Less expensive than Weathertech, and a flexible material instead of stiff like Weathertech. I had them on two cars so far and really like their product.

venture

I'll try this as a new post. The previous one disappeared.

The last few cars I got trunk and floor all-weather mats from the dealer. They cost about the same, or less, and fit better.

Michaell

We may end up at the dealer, as well. She’s also interested in a home link mirror

ab348

When I bought the ATS I purchased a set of the OE all weather mats from the dealer. They are a nice thick but flexible rubber with the ATS logo molded in and use the factory anchors so they don’t move. The only negative is that they don’t go up the sides of the door sills and center tunnel so you still need to vacuum those areas. But they aren’t hard and slippery like the floor liners.

jmonroe1

Michaell said:

pensfan83 said:

@Michaell said:

Weathertech, Husky, or another brand?

We didn't get the all weather mats for the Kia, but we do want a nice rubber mat for the hatch area - ideally, with a small lip.

Any brand recommendations? We tried getting Weathertech for the MINI, but they didn't fit right, so we stopped using them.

I went with Husky mats for the MDX this time after reading the Weathertech mats left a strip of carpet exposed where your step in. Through one winter with them there were no issues and I keep them clean with the Chemical Guys floor mat cleaner.

Thanks for the feedback - I don't think we'll be getting floor mats for the driver and passenger front seats, however.
————————————————
Unless you already have floor mats I don’t understand why you wouldn’t put them in a new car.

jmonroe

explorerx4

The Kia has carpeted mats, not all weather mats.

xwesx

So, here's my milestone from earlier today. This is the Crosstrek:

Michaell

@explorerx4 said:
The Kia has carpeted mats, not all weather mats.

Exactly. One for each seat, and another for the hatch area. Want a nice rubber/plastic mat for the hatch as we haul food items back there that could spill.

stickguy

I have lately just gotten the all weather mats from the factory (for the Acura we added them as an accessory so I have a set of carpet mats in the garage too). The Ford was a replacement for the carpets. Acura has the factory trunk mat too. I just like them, knowing they are going to fit right.

no need for a mat in the Maverick "trunk" but I did throw in an old yoga mat we had laying around to keep things from sliding around on the spray in bed liner.

xwesx

I have done a lot of WeatherTech, but I really don't like the rear seat units (the fronts are generally very nice in terms of fitment). They offer great protection.... except that the rears don't like to stay in place when people actually sit back there, so they tend to get pushed off in all sorts of wonky directions. No amount of reprimanding and requesting that they attempt to keep the mats in place seems to help with that issue, either. I resorted to putting that anti-slip mat stuff, like you'd put in the bottom of kitchen drawers, under the floor mats to help with the problem, but the mats only do so much.

I like factory mats, too, but they don't tend to be all that effective at keeping fluids on them versus soaking the carpet around the perimeter.

corvette

Michaell said:

Weathertech, Husky, or another brand?

I have had the SMARTLINER front and rear liners in my Maverick for almost two years, and they've been great, and were less expensive than the Weathertechs.

corvette

@xwesx - I like the "pips" on the gas gauge--they remind me of my Gen2 Prius in a good way.

imidazol97

SiriusXM? $4 per month plus fees.

If you watch the offers as you are due to renew or reneg, if you watch carefully as you log into their site, you may see an offer for $4 or $5 per month.

If you say "NO," you'll start getting offers by email, by phone, by personal visits from the neighborhood bandits for low amounts. Mine kept staying at 4$, but I recently got one for a special for $10 or $12 a month for both cars--a bargain deal.

I got a phone call shortly after I had told the agent "NO" unless they did the $5/month. They kept playing offers that weren't $5 when I originally quit. This caller hit me driving on the interstate. I told her NO and don't bother me again. They never called back. I think I interjected a few other words in there along with the fact that when I was on the phone earlier and wanted a lower offer, they wouldn't quit faking.

I almost gave in and subscribed while I was in Pigeon Forge for the XM on the drive back through the mountains. But the pricing they would show me was all high and I didn't have an email offer in hand that I could use to get $4. So I avoided the addiction sucking me back into the fold. I was going to sign up for the drive and then cancel.

jmonroe1

corvette said:

Michaell said:

Weathertech, Husky, or another brand?

I have had the SMARTLINER front and rear liners in my Maverick for almost two years, and they've been great, and were less expensive than the Weathertechs.

————————————————
I’ve only had factory mats. Carpet, all-weather and trunk and they’ve always fit perfectly. Never had a problem.

It’s interesting you mention saving money when you don’t buy Weathertech and I’ve heard that before. Which makes me wonder, are there any mats that are more expensive than Weathertech?

jmonroe

sda

What is funny, I discontinued XM in the TL a year ago. A week or so after I discontinued XM the car was still receiving XM. I called to inquire and was told the XM subscription on the TL was terminated. In the meantime, as recent as yesterday, I get solicitations with special rates to resubscribe to XM specific to the TL. It was still active when we sold the TL to CarMax last Saturday.

xwesx

In my experience, no.... they're on par with the factory "all weather" mats, which essentially means they're as expensive as mats get. But, historically, they are thinner, do a drastically better job of retaining moisture/protecting the carpet, and are pretty easy to clean. I've had the set in my Forester since September of 2009 when I bought this Forester's predecessor with 000,007 miles on the odometer. To date, that's over 200,000 miles and fifteen years. They still look and work great!

imidazol97

SiriusXM? $4 per month plus fees.

If you watch the offers as you are due to renew or reneg, if you watch carefully as you log into their site, you may see an offer for $4 or $5 per month.

If you say "NO," you'll start getting offers by email, by phone, by personal visits from the neighborhood bandits for low amounts. Mine kept staying at 4$, but I recently got one for a special for $10 or $12 a month for both cars--a bargain deal.

I got a phone call shortly after I had told the agent "NO" unless they did the $5/month. They kept playing offers that weren't $5 when I originally quit. This caller hit me driving on the interstate. I told her NO and don't bother me again. They never called back. I think I interjected a few other words in there along with the fact that when I was on the phone earlier and wanted a lower offer, they wouldn't quit faking.

I almost gave in and subscribed while I was in Pigeon Forge for the XM on the drive back through the mountains. But the pricing they would show me was all high and I didn't have an email offer in hand that I could use to get $4. So I avoided the addiction sucking me back into the fold. I was going to sign up for the drive and then cancel.

roadburner

Radar Detector Legend Michael Valentine Has Died
In 1982 my girlfriend -now wife of 38 years- gave me a first generation Escort when I graduated law school (one year later she found a 1973 Bavaria for sale in Cincinnati and I knew she was the one). We met Mike and Peg through the BMW Car Club and they were gracious enough to invite us to their beautiful home (and the 12 car garage) more than once. Of course I bought a V1 as soon as it hit the market. Years later my son had the privilege of riding shotgun with Mike for 30 minutes at Mid Ohio- in Mike's GT3 RS 4.0. What a terrible loss. Godspeed, Mike.

graphicguy

@roadburner said:
Radar Detector Legend Michael Valentine Has Died
In 1982 my girlfriend -now wife of 38 years- gave me a first generation Escort when I graduated law school (one year later she found a 1973 Bavaria for sale in Cincinnati and I knew she was the one). We met Mike and Peg through the BMW Car Club and they were gracious enough to invite us to their beautiful home (and the 12 car garage) more than once. Of course I bought a V1 as soon as it hit the market. Years later my son had the privilege of riding shotgun with Mike for 30 minutes at Mid Ohio- in Mike's GT3 RS 4.0. What a terrible loss. Godspeed, Mike.

Sad. Met Mike and his wife at their HQ/store. Chatted with Mike for about 20 mins. His wife actually took my credit card and sold me the Valentine!

He’s a legend in the field, including his time at Escort. is their store still in Blue Ash?

kyfdx

Last time I saw him was around 10-15 years ago at the Concours show in Cincinnati. He was driving his Carrera GT.

Sirius/XM: We took my car on a 1200 mile trip, last week. My wife about had a stroke trying to get new radio stations along the way. She was big mad we didn't take her car with the XM radio.

stickguy

My first maverick did not have XM. My wife was the same trying to figure out Spotify.

ab348

explorerx4 said:

The Kia has carpeted mats, not all weather mats.

Way back when during my tenure with the 2011 Regal, for some reason that I cannot recall, I bought a set of replacement carpet mats for the front via eBay even though I had also bought floor liners for it. I think maybe the carpet mats were too cheap to pass up, not sure. Part of that might have been because they were "cocoa" in color to go with the tan interior and brown carpets, which a very small % of production seemed to be so they were uncommon and probably hard to sell. They arrived still in their factory box and wrapped in plastic and I put them away. I ended up not keeping the Regal beyond the end of its lease and forgot about them until several months back when I was tidying the storage part of the basement and found them. I'll probably toss them because I can't imagine there would be much of a market for them to make it worth trying to sell them.

Attn @Kirstie_H : My last few posts here have all encountered a problem. I compose the post in the text box, click "Post Comment" and that blue button fades out to a faded sort of effect and nothing apparently happens. You can't click it or whatever. If I then refresh the page using my browser the post is there as originally written. Don't know if that is Cloudflare or some other gremlin.

nyccarguy

kyfdx said:

Last time I saw him was around 10-15 years ago at the Concours show in Cincinnati. He was driving his Carrera GT.

Sirius/XM: We took my car on a 1200 mile trip, last week. My wife about had a stroke trying to get new radio stations along the way. She was big mad we didn't take her car with the XM radio.

Does the Porsche have XM?

kyfdx

nyccarguy said:

kyfdx said:

Last time I saw him was around 10-15 years ago at the Concours show in Cincinnati. He was driving his Carrera GT.

Sirius/XM: We took my car on a 1200 mile trip, last week. My wife about had a stroke trying to get new radio stations along the way. She was big mad we didn't take her car with the XM radio.

Does the Porsche have XM?

Nope.. nor the GTI

explorerx4

I had box with carpeted mats from 4 or 5 new cars I had bought, that I removed almost right away and replaced with an all weather type.
When we were going through stuff in preperation to move, I opened the box. Mice had gotten in there, chewed throught the plastic bags the mats were in and pretty much ruined them.

Kirstie_H

ab348 said:

Attn @Kirstie_H : My last few posts here have all encountered a problem. I compose the post in the text box, click "Post Comment" and that blue button fades out to a faded sort of effect and nothing apparently happens. You can't click it or whatever. If I then refresh the page using my browser the post is there as originally written. Don't know if that is Cloudflare or some other gremlin.

I think we're going to have to re-start CCBA as a "part 2," just as we did with C&C. Vanilla has already released what they believed to be the fix, and though I reached out to them again this morning to report the ongoing errors, I am doubtful we'll get a fix anytime soon... if at all.