Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

graphicguy

I’ve become obsessed with EV deals…..

https://insideevs.com/features/410039/best-electric-car-deals-this-month/?_gl=1*tcdu4v*_ga*SWdyRjJuN0NkUHExM2FIVWRnblU3bWZTeDVHT3VmRFhUdml2UFoxcEJtVmJXUXluTGxjSjlTODk1cDdVcWJENQ..*_ga_S1VTQEHNME*MTcyNzQ4Nzg2OC4xNC4wLjE3Mjc0ODc4NzYuMC4wLjA.

breld

I sincerely meant to take my time with this process.

qbrozen

@breld said:
I sincerely meant to take my time with this process.

We already knew when you posted the first pic

corvette

@breld - congrats! Your trailing 12-month tally is currently at eight punches.

Michaell

corvette said:

@breld - congrats! Your trailing 12-month tally is currently at eight punches.

One every 6 weeks?

I'd have to go back a decade (or more) for my last 8 punches...

Still, a beautiful car, and a nice upgrade from the Corvette.

(you can retire the jorts and the white New Balances; replace them with designer aviator shades and a black Members Only jacket)

qbrozen

I am making the first mod to the Alfa. While still in the process of a tuneup (I contracted COVID so it has been held up), I wanted to take a look at the airbox to check for restrictions. It took removing the inner fender, battery and fuse box, and under tray to gain access to the whole thing. I have never seen a crazier setup. I videoed it but showing stillshots here to try to explain it.

1. The intake source in the fender and behind the air vent next to the fog light. This is only about and inch wide and maybe 2.5-3” across.
   

2. That feeds into this crazy box through a super restricted inlet here.
   

3. This is the box. The y-pipe spits into 2 chambers.
   

4. The 2 chambers are connected through a perforated divider in the center.
   

5. That then dumps into a 3rd chamber that is cylindrical and holds the air filter.

6. As if there haven’t been enough restrictors, this little gem is inserted into the cylindrical filter so the MAF pulls from the airbox through this like a crazy straw.
   

I’m keeping the cylindrical filter box, tossing the inner trumpet, and replacing everything before that with a 3” diameter silicone hose that will go straight from the filter box to the vent in the bumper/fender. Shaving a good 10-15 lbs in the process.

qbrozen

@Michaell said:
One every 6 weeks?

I'd have to go back a decade (or more) for my last 8 punches...

Still, a beautiful car, and a nice upgrade from the Corvette.

(you can retire the jorts and the white New Balances; replace them with designer aviator shades and a black Members Only jacket)

The corvette! I couldn’t recall what it was replacing.

stickguy

graphicguy said:

I’ve become obsessed with EV deals…..

https://insideevs.com/features/410039/best-electric-car-deals-this-month/?_gl=1*tcdu4v*_ga*SWdyRjJuN0NkUHExM2FIVWRnblU3bWZTeDVHT3VmRFhUdml2UFoxcEJtVmJXUXluTGxjSjlTODk1cDdVcWJENQ..*_ga_S1VTQEHNME*MTcyNzQ4Nzg2OC4xNC4wLjE3Mjc0ODc4NzYuMC4wLjA.

over the winter I might start looking into those....

stickguy

nice Porsche. automatic I assume?

given a choice, and $ independent, I would much rather have the Porsche. and I know how fast, etc. the Vette is. I just can see myself in the more subdued German unit!

Porsche dealer is only about 5 minutes from my house. Maybe I should swing by? Wonder if the wife would be willing to drive one of those?

stickguy

more importantly, how did the $ particulars of the deal work out?

stickguy

That intake does look like a Rube Goldberg contraption. But Alfa must have had a reason for it. car companies are not in the habit of adding wait, cost and complexity for something nobody will even see if they don't have a good reason for it.

tifighter

@breld said:
I sincerely meant to take my time with this process.

LOL.

Okay, we need deets. All of them.

breld

Alright - some details of the day…

I took a nice drive down to Porsche Colorado Springs to check out a 2022 718 Cayman S, manual trannie, only about 5k miles. It was very nicely equipped, which I would have thought most are, until I looked at a very basic example on their lot (manual seats, no leather dash, etc.). The GT Silver over red leather was sharp.

We went on a great test drive, and I was able to familiarize myself with the transmission pretty quickly. That was the highlight of the drive…really enjoyed rowing gears again. The Corvette is obviously faster, but that never was the reason for my purchase of it. And the Corvette is also a bit more comfortable and quieter. But as you may expect, the Cayman was more engaging, and plenty quick enough for my needs.

I came away from that thinking a Cayman would be the way to go, with this one very likely being the one. Unfortunately, the trade offer on the Corvette was at least a few thousand less than I hoped/expected. Silly me, thinking buying a C8 at MSRP a year ago was a good deal! Having said that, their offer was reasonable, but gave me enough pause to continue on with the search.

The dealership experience was top notch. The salesperson took me around their showroom first to look at all the examples they had (I should have taken more pics), and then had the Cayman washed up, under a cover that he dramatically pulled off the vehicle.

laurasdada

breld said:

I sincerely meant to take my time with this process.

Well, whodathunkit! The sun did rise tomorrow!

I can't help but feel partially responsible...
Guess I picked a bad day to put off buying a 911.

breld

From the Porsche dealership, I drove back up to Denver (enjoying the Corvette very much by the way) and picked up my wife from our home before heading over to the independent dealer to check out the 911.

Having been so taken with the Cayman, I honestly was using this more of an opportunity to get another quote on the Corvette for comparison.

Obviously I was very taken by seeing the 911 in person. The Lava Orange was a pleasant surprise and a fun alternative to the more classic colors often seen on Porsches. In the short time I’ve been researching, I narrowed my target to a 2017 or newer with low miles (20k’s or lower). As everyone knows, pricing on 911’s is a bit crazy, but this one did stand out as somewhat of a value, particularly for a 4S.

I was apprehensive about an independent dealer versus a Porsche shop, but the vehicle presented well, and as chance would have it, the previous owner was there taking final delivery of his replacement. Apparently he wanted an SUV and settled on a BMW X5 M, in a color remarkably similar to the Porsche. He purchased the 911 two years ago as a CPO, having it delivered from New Hampshire. He’s taken meticulous care of it for those two years ago, this being his third 911.

So I still was going to sleep on it and check out the base Cayman up in Fort Collins tomorrow, but I found myself struggling to leave. And my wife was very encouraging. They had come back with a similar trade on the Corvette as the Porsche dealership…after some back and forth on whether we should just leave and think about it, she simply asked if they’d do another $4k on the trade, which they ended up agreeing to.

So then we took the 911 out for a test drive and decided to pull the trigger.

stickguy

nice. PDK I assume?

breld

As for the car itself, I was initially a little surprised how raw it was compared to the Corvette. This I expected from the Cayman, but it took a little mental adjustment to appreciate how connected the 911 felt. Definitely rougher over some bad roads on the test drive, but I quickly came to appreciate how it drove, and in particular, how much smaller it felt than the Vette.

So it’s a 2017 911 Carrera 4S with 23k miles. Again, I took for granted that all 911’s would be well equipped, but this one is nicely optioned. Highlights include:

PDK (which did give me some pause since I enjoyed the manual in the Cayman, but I can get over it )
Heated and ventilated seats
20” RS Spyder Design wheels
Front axle lift system (I really appreciate this in the Corvette)
Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus (not sure how this differs from the standard lights, but hey, I have it)
Glass sunroof
Bose
Leather interior
Carbon Fiber interior trim package
Adaptive Sport Seats Plus (18-way)
Sport package (Sport mirror, rear-axle steering, sport chrono, sport exhaust, sport steering wheel)

28firefighter

So. Uh. I’d like right of first refusal on this one.

28firefighter

Also congrats, @breld! This is an extremely cool car.

Is @laurasdada next?

kyfdx

@breld That's really cool. I assume you fit a little better in the 911? I haven't been in the newest Cayman to see how it compares with mine.

mjfloyd1

@breld - beautiful 911. I give it 12 months, tops😎

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

I’ve become obsessed with EV deals…..

https://insideevs.com/features/410039/best-electric-car-deals-this-month/?_gl=1*tcdu4v*_ga*SWdyRjJuN0NkUHExM2FIVWRnblU3bWZTeDVHT3VmRFhUdml2UFoxcEJtVmJXUXluTGxjSjlTODk1cDdVcWJENQ..*_ga_S1VTQEHNME*MTcyNzQ4Nzg2OC4xNC4wLjE3Mjc0ODc4NzYuMC4wLjA.

You could always pick up an EV from the rental companies. We’re starting to get rid of our Kona EVs. We brought one down from Burlington the other day. 262 miles range when we started. 32 miles range after 145 miles.

oldfarmer50

breld said:

I sincerely meant to take my time with this process.

I like the “arrest me” red color.

mjfloyd1

I think @breld said it was Lava Orange

au1994

breld said:

I sincerely meant to take my time with this process.

The man, the myth, the legend.

tjc78

@mjfloyd1 said:
@breld - beautiful 911. I give it 12 months, tops😎

I’ll take the under.

tjc78

@breld
Gorgeous and the color is perfect. Nice story on how it came to be.

Enjoy it!!!

ab348

I may have to make some changes to my investment portfolio if the economy has gotten so bad that @breld had to resort to buying used cars...

venture

qbrozen said:

I am making the first mod to the Alfa. While still in the process of a tuneup (I contracted COVID so it has been held up), I wanted to take a look at the airbox to check for restrictions. It took removing the inner fender, battery and fuse box, and under tray to gain access to the whole thing. I have never seen a crazier setup. I videoed it but showing stillshots here to try to explain it.

Whoever designed that should be beaten up.

qbrozen

@28firefighter said:
So. Uh. I’d like right of first refusal on this one.

Then I want 2nd dibs when the sale to you falls through. It is my color, after all.

qbrozen

Oh, never mind. Just looked up what these go for. Even though the used prices have about the biggest gap I have ever seen, I couldn’t even stomach the cheapest. I’ll stick with my Viper dream instead.

stickguy

I showed it to my wife and suggested it as a replacement for her car. She didn't say no, just that it looks kinda low. I told her it is not as bad as a Corvette (made that up probably!) and we should go sit in one someday. That sounds like fun.

stickguy

qbrozen said:

Oh, never mind. Just looked up what these go for. Even though the used prices have about the biggest gap I have ever seen, I couldn’t even stomach the cheapest. I’ll stick with my Viper dream instead.

Just swap your 2024 Corvette for it!

nyccarguy

@breld

Gorgeous car! Enjoy! Bravo! Bravo!

oldfarmer50

mjfloyd1 said:

I think @breld said it was Lava Orange

It doesn’t matter what Breld said, it only matters what the cop “sees”.

corvette

Since we're talking Porsches, I don't think I posted this here, but I love the color on this GT4 I spotted the other day.

kyfdx

corvette said:

Since we're talking Porsches, I don't think I posted this here, but I love the color on this GT4 I spotted the other day.

When we were at the rooftop parking garage to watch the eclipse, an identical one was there GT4, same color. The guy and his wife were on their way from WI to VA, for him to get track time. She said she never normally goes with him, but she wanted to see the eclipse.

tifighter

@28firefighter said:
So. Uh. I’d like right of first refusal on this one.

Ha, that’s why I asked for deets. The PDK might save me from myself here…

roadburner

stickguy said:

nice Porsche. automatic I assume?

given a choice, and $ independent, I would much rather have the Porsche. and I know how fast, etc. the Vette is. I just can see myself in the more subdued German unit!

Porsche dealer is only about 5 minutes from my house. Maybe I should swing by? Wonder if the wife would be willing to drive one of those?

breld said:

I sincerely meant to take my time with this process.

Beautiful!

explorerx4

That's a spicy tamale!

breld

Well friends…Porsche fever is contagious. What started out as a half-joke this morning turned into the wife and I keeping our Saturday morning appointment at the Porsche dealer that had the base Cayman. She’s actually been keen on a Cayman for a while now, and this one hit her notes, being a base one with a manual.

They have to finish the CPO process, but this will be joining the 911 in the garage next week.

laurasdada

"And my wife was very encouraging."
You should marry that woman!

Alas, the lovely, well equipped and from all appearances very well-kept Chalk Grey 911 has left the building.
He who hesitates is....Laurasdada.

Road trip today, passed a nearly identical M240, same color. But it was a fixed head coupe! His loss.

explorerx4

Thump. That was me falling out of my chair.

stickguy

So what leaves the garage for the Cayman? or are you keeping 3 CUVs to go with the 2 sports cars?

I honestly had no recollection of you getting a Q8 or a genesis. Very hard to keep up.

laurasdada

Well, breld, didn't see that coming. Should have but didn't.
You married well.

tjc78

Gorgeous too! You and wife may hold a world record for purchase. Call Guinness.

kyfdx

Even I didn't see that coming..

@stickguy I think @breld has a 7 car garage, now

stickguy

lot of cars for 2 people. But if you got room, why not?

laurasdada

Remember that Army slogan, "The brelds buy more cars by 9am than most people do all...decade?

Michaell

kyfdx said:

Even I didn't see that coming..

@stickguy I think @breld has a 7 car garage, now

6, technically. 4 on "his" side, two on "hers". Unless they flip-flop.

Wonder if the Porsches will room together?