Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

lemmer

I just don't have the time in the morning to drop the kids off and drive back home to switch cars.

I just sold my Miata largely because of that same reason.

flbntz

Madness? I bought a 2003 Mercedes E320 in 2009, traded it for a 2010 Toyota Prius in December of that year. Traded that for a 2010 VW Golf in 3/2010, and that for a 2011 Camry in April of this year. Madness? Humph!

michaellno

Madness? Humph!

Nope, you've found the right forum. Welcome aboard.

isellhondas

Not sure about madness but quite a hit to the wallet!

andre1969

I think it's easier to make a RWD car that will turn sharply, since you don't have to deal with a transverse engine, transmission, or CV joints.

My Intrepid had a pretty tight turning circle for its size, something like 37.6 feet I believe. Not bad for a 113" wheelbase. While it was FWD, its engine was mounted longitudinally.

I think my 2000 Park Ave, which has a 113.8" wb, is something like 39.4 feet, but I swear it feels worse than that!

I wonder what the turning circle is on my '76 LeMans coupe? It feels pretty nimble for its era, but for a '70's car it's really not that big...just 112" wb and 208" long. The current Malibu actually has a slightly longer wheelbase, at 112.3". It would be amusing if a brand-new Malibu had a bigger turning circle than a '73-77 era GM intermediate!

jayrider

What was wrong with the Golf ?

isellhondas

" Waht was wrong with the Golf?"

Ah...it's a Volkswagen!

fezo

All this talk of turning radius... brings back the old 69 Volvo I had. That one had a really small turning radius -smallest I ever had.

fintail

I remember when I was in school, a good friend had a 92 Accord...that thing had a terrible turning circle, I remember I would do u-turns in the fintail just to piss him off. The Honda was like an ocean liner in comparison.

stickguy

a small turning radius, but a huge steering wheel and a lot of turns lock to lock!

Beauty of a narrow car, narrow tires, and a longitudinal straight 4.

akangl

Akangl, looks like you are a Ford girl with the favorite color of RED.

Yup that would be true......probably why I'm driving a RED 2011 FORD F-150!

akangl

However, I notice that you've purchased not one, buttwo, purple cars.

How does that happen? Was it a deliberate choice or what?

The first purple car was more or less deliberate, although I had actually chosen a red 1997 Olds Bravada but the dealer sold it before I got back. So, my second choice was a 1998 Ford Explorer V8 Limited AWD in Desert Pearl metallic (it was a dusty purple).

The second purple car was given to us, a 1993 Ford Explorer V6 XLT 4WD, it was kind of a deep purple.

I like purple cars.......but I'll take red any day, makes it easier for the cops to find my leadfoot!

ateixeira

Maybe I should start a new thread, but I got yet another GPS...my 8th.

Garmin c320
c340
Nuvi 200w
Dash
Nuvi 265wt
Nuvi 1490T
Nuvi 1490T
Magellan RM 9055-LM

I usually sell the old one once the maps get outdated, rather than paying for new maps, to upgrade.

The 9055 is 7" (!) and has a video input jack for a backup cam, which I also ordered.

So....is anyone else here addicted to chronic purchases of ... car accessories?

I need therapy. LOL

tjc78

I've actually never owned a standalone GPS. I used Verizon's VZ Navigator for a while and now use the Google maps Navigation on my Android phone. I've found they both work great. The maps seem pretty up to date and Google is always forcing updates to my phone. Obviously, no backup cam attachment, but that does seem like a nice add-on to a GPS.

My GF had a TomTom, which she gave to her sister because she prefers the Google maps Nav as well.

ateixeira

I do have a PlayBook, and that has a video input. Never though of using that for a backup cam...too pricey for that alone anyway.

roadburner

I've noticed more than a few Coopers with less than 100k miles going in the low teens. Any caveats? No slushboxes- it would be a crime against nature in a MC or MCS...

breld

I picked up a GPS last year, on "Black Friday," for something like $70. I figured at that price, it may be nice to have, though I have yet to use it. The one time we could've really used it, when we traveled to Austin for a wedding, I forgot it at home.

We specifically wanted the Nav option on the new GTI - my wife wanted it for road trips, for which the GTI will be a great car. I didn't care so much for the Nav, but VW bundles the HIDs with the Nav, and I wanted those. So we both got what we wanted.

On previous cars, we would want the Nav option simply 'cause most of the time, that's the only way to get a nice iPod interface. Nowadays, it seems more manufacturers are incorporating touchscreens and such even without Nav.

michaellno

Keep us up to date on your experiences with the GTI ... have to admit that a 2-door version is on my list when / if I get around to buying again.

Did you ever mention what color yours was?

roadburner

I might be buying one of these before my next HPDE:

ateixeira

True, Navi is often a less expensive add-on to an already existing touch-screen.

I can't believe you never used it, though. I guess I travel more than you, because I simply refuse to go without one.

michaellno

On our trip in May to Arizona, we didn't use the standard navi in the CX-7; rather, we used our TomTom handheld.

Was easier for the wife to type in addresses and POI while I concentrated on driving.

ronsteve

Have you ever been to the same dealership twice? LOL

That's funny, because I actually haven't...

My dealer purchases read like this:

Pontiac (IN, 1993)
Saturn (IL, 1995)...tho my now-ex bought a used Mazda pickup from the sister GMC dealer in 1996, does that count?
Toyota (MO, 1999)
Honda (NC, 2002)
Volvo (NC, 2007)

And the trivia of everything I've owned or co-owned...

Honda (2, 1 auto/1 stick)
Pontiac (2, both auto)
Saturn (1, stick)
Mazda (1, stick)
Toyota (1, stick)
Nissan (1, auto)
Volvo (1, auto)
Hyundai (1, auto)

2 V6's, 1 5 (turbo), the rest 4-bangers

breld

Keep us up to date on your experiences with the GTI ... have to admit that a 2-door version is on my list when / if I get around to buying again.

Did you ever mention what color yours was?

I certainly will. And it's white. I like the red accents against the white.

You should have an easier time finding a 2-door if that's what you decide on - used 4-door examples were hard to come by, hence my purchase of a new one.

michaellno

I certainly will. And it's white. I like the red accents against the white.

Nice color combo .. odd that VW doesn't offer the GTI in "regular" silver - there is the "United Gray" and "Carbon Steel Gray".

corvette

I still have the Nuvi 360 that I bought in early 2007. I think it was $500. Now, even a $200 GPS will do much more than it will. I have the lifetime map updates, but will probably look to upgrade to a newer model with more features and a larger screen next year.

I don't use it that often, and I could buy a nav app for my iPhone, but I would need an offline version due to the poor data access in my area, and the screen isn't very large.

One feature that I would appreciate is multi-destination routing so that you can pre-program a specific route rather than entering only a destination and letting the GPS pick the entire route. The newer models support this, but mine doesn't.

ateixeira

Yeah, my new one has that.

I'm still on the steep side of the learning curve, though I have entered a bunch of Favorites oops I mean Address Book entries.

It's like knowing how to speak Portuguese, and this is in Italian.

Bello!

ab348

I notice a lot of Coopers for sale on the used lots. Dunno if that is because they are troublesome/unreliable or because the driving experience and living with it day to day isn't good over the long-term. I would not be shocked if a lot of them are impulse/gotta have it-type purchases when new and that the bloom goes off the rose. Anyone?

corvette

I think the ride gets exponentially rougher as you progress to the models with larger wheels (S and John Cooper Works).

rayainsw

[ One data point - FWIW ]
My daughter bought a MINI Coupe in late 2007.
She has something over 60,000 miles on it now.
It wore out a belt at around 40,000.
New tires required at around 45,000.
That's it.
- Ray
Pretty darned reliable, it has been....

graphicguy

ateixeira....curious about what you did/didn't like about the Nuvi 1490t. I saw it at Costco at a decent price ($150?) and was thinking about picking one up for my out of state business travels and rental cars.

I also saw a Magellan with the 7" screen which was about $20 more than the Nuvi at Costco. Big differences between the two? Preference of one over the other?

jayrider

Mini Cooper aka Tooth Chipper.

michaellno

[One more data point]

My daughter bought a 2010 Cooper (non S) with automatic.

16 months and (I think) 11-12K, the only issue was a tire that she shredded by driving on while flat. Had to be towed to the dealer for a replacement.

One scheduled service visit. She loves it - she'll probably keep it for 10+ years.

And yes, I will agree that her car with the 15" wheels and tires rides a *bit* better than those shod with bigger sizes. I've test driven both a MINI 'vert and a Countryman "S" model and both rode much harder.

ateixeira

Fair question, it's a long story ...

Bought a refurbished 1490t from the crooks at Buy.com that I didn't realize was refurbished, they called it "Newly Overhauled" or something like that.

Garmin didn't let me update the maps. OK, so I bought Lifetime Map Updates.

A month later the speaker breaks. I had the device for 8 months, but it was 13 months old if you include the original owner. Despite a "One Year Warranty", Buy.com screws me over, says its from the original purchase by the previous owner (ridiculous).

Garmin says they won't help. For $40 they will replace it with another refurbished model. Fine. I pay $40. 2 months later the replacement has the satellite signal is coming in and out, but the warranty was 30 days.

2nd time I got screwed, and the map updates I paid for are locked to that device, so I feel like I got screwed about 3-4 times.

GPS forums hint that Garmin really just sends other people's defective units back as refurbished, in fact I wonder if someone got mine with the bad speaker.

So at this point I'm disillusioned. Why pay more for a model lifetime map updates if Garmin will just send another bad one to replace yours under warranty?

On top of that, they didn't have a model with batteries and a backup cam. Only the expensive 7" Garmins have a video input, and they lack a battery and other features I want.

Enter Magellan.

They come out with a new flagship that is 7" big and comes with a video input jack, plus everything the Garmin Nuvi 1490T has, for $300 MSRP. Plus Magellan sells their own branded backup camera, Garmin does not. It even mounts the receiver on the back of the GPS device.

Plus it was just time for a change, I was frustrated with Garmin's "service" on more than 1 occasion.

To be fair, Garmin still has a more user-friendly interface, but I will say that so far Magellan seems to navigate slightly better and is much quicker.

andres3

I have a Garmin currently that I think I need to claim is a lemon before my 1 year warranty expires (Christmas gift last year). My previous SteetPilot C550 was much faster/quicker, accurate, didn't drop signals as often, booted up quicker.

However, that is why I stay away from any refurbished product with a typical refurbished 30 or 90 day warranty. If I'm buying refurbished, it MUST have the same length of warranty as original brand new, or no deal.

Also, new or used/refurbished, 90 day warranties don't cut it, minimum acceptable is 1 year, 2 is better, 3 is nice.

ateixeira

Yeah, but like I said, the "Newly" part threw me off, and they advertised a "one year warranty" which was an outright lie. Remainder is more like it.

I agree though, from now on, new only. GPS get a lot of wear and tear.

ateixeira

Magellan GPS

I'm pretty proud so I have to share.

I used spare aluminum gutter holders. Tin snips to cut to fit. Dremel on some trim to give it clearance. It's bolted down, too, and fully reversible (return to stock).

Much better than a suction cup mount IMHO.

I will add triangulation to make it sturdier but I'm waiting for the backup cam to come in because the receiver mounts on the back of the GPS (it will get heavier).

akangl

Can't say I'm a chronic GPS buyer, I've had the same Garmin Nuvi 660 since November of 2007, even have lifetime updates for it. Its not as fast or as fancy as the newer ones but it works fairly well and doesn't get me lost too often.

I had the option of getting Nav when I bought the new F-150 but it was a $2k option and I really didn't see a need for it. I could probably find the parts from a wrecked 2011 and add them to my truck for a lot cheaper like I did with the integrated brake controller. Option for the brake controller was $250, cost me $133 buying one out of a totaled F-150, works perfect too.

graphicguy

ateixeira, thanks for that.

I'm thinking I'm going to take a close look at the Magellan model. I can get it for about 1/2 the list price at Costco. Plus, they have a very liberal return policy if I don't like it.

I know the recent Nuvi's I've seen (and tried) seem to have really gone down in quality. I remember when Garmin was the top of the line in GPS's. From what I've seen, the touch screens they use don't seem to be very good. Plus, the acquiring satellites is, at best, glacial speed.

This is based on the ones I've rented from the rental car companies. So, maybe those are well used. But, they just aren't very impressive.

Magellan it is.

Again, thanks!

jayrider

Got a new gps off ebay last week. Came from Hong Kong and it features the most amazing interactive features . Yesterday while using it to find a diner in St. Louis, the screen started flashing and in an annoyed tone my wife and I heard " Alright who farted?" Now that's what I call CUTTING edge technology.

nyccarguy

I originally bought a portable (don't remember the brand) for my wife for Chanukah back in '08. We loved the idea of it & my wife needed it for work (she's a physical therapist). It always seemed to have trouble "acquiring satellites."

Fast forward to August 2009 when I bought a 2010 Acura TSX w/ Tech Pkg using my 1990 E30 325i as a $3500 cash 4 clunkers credit. The NAV system is much quicker finding addresses, never takes time "Acquiring Satellites," & almost instantly reroutes if you miss a turn. I'll never buy another car without it.

tjc78

I don't have experience with Honda/Acura in dash systems but IMHO a portable is better than the GM, Nissan, and Hyundai systems I have tried. They do not say the street names and inputting the address in clunky (especially in the GM car I drove a GMC Envoy).

OTOH my Google Map GPS I just speak into the phone where I am going and away I go.

The one thing I do like about integrated GPS is the fact the screen is usually bigger and you can have your tunes cranked up and the system lowers the volume to give you instructions and then raises up the music after its done.

kyfdx

Nice thing about the portable is you can take it with you on vacation.. worked great in my rental car for the past week!

lilengineerboy

Fast forward to August 2009 when I bought a 2010 Acura TSX w/ Tech Pkg using my 1990 E30 325i as a $3500 cash 4 clunkers credit. The NAV system is much quicker finding addresses, never takes time "Acquiring Satellites," & almost instantly reroutes if you miss a turn. I'll never buy another car without it.

The Acura was one of the first OEMs to use dead reckoning; if it can't find a GPS signal, it uses compass data and vehicle speed to make a good guess where the vehicle is now. The issue they had back in the day (circa 2001) was that it was hard for the system to reconcile and go back on GPS data.

In a previous life, I did ALOT of work with navigation systems, both portable and in-vehicle. The benchmark system at the time was the Magellan 750NAV (aka Hertz Neverlost) and destination entry was tedious to say the least.

Current day, I think everyone can go back and forth between GPS and dead reckoning pretty seamlessly.

And it makes me shed a tear to think of an E30 getting cash-4-clunkered. :sick: All in the name of progress, I suppose.

akangl

It always seemed to have trouble "acquiring satellites."

My Garmin Nuvi 660 is the king of "acquiring satellites", so much so that I've gotten to the point I rarely use it. I fire up the gps on my iphone, not as nice, but so much quicker.

One fear I had of the in-car nav was if I didn't like it I couldn't just go buy a different one per say, I was stuck with it. I am glad I didn't spring for the nav in my F-150, as fussy as the Sync system is I can't imagine what Nav would be like, it may have been fine, but wasn't worth the $2k gamble.

I *think* I finally have the bugs worked out of the Sync system in my truck, of course I do now that I can't drive it!

mark156

I've never had a portable unit. 4 of the vehicles we have, have the built-in type and the Honda is the best. Its so easy to use and is also voice activated but I've never really used that feature. The only problem I see with the portable units is that they can be stolen if left in the vehicle. I don't want to worry about that.

Akangl, what is keeping you from driving? (if you don't mind me asking) :confuse:

Mark156

akangl

Akangl, what is keeping you from driving? (if you don't mind me asking)

Its a little bit of a long story, but we'll just leave it at some medical issues. My nerologist advised me not to drive for 6 months. That puts it around the end of January, so I figure I might as well leave the truck in the garage all winter and bring it out in May. Saves me insurance, having to buy winter tires, and the risk of someone sliding into it! Trying to look on the bright side of this, lol. :shades:

nyccarguy

I bought the E30 with good intentions. Thank-you roadburner:). It was a 1990 325 i coupe. Red/Black Vinyl. Automatic. 82,000 miles. I bought the car for $950. I didn't bother to have a mechanic look at it. I bought it to " teach myself" how to work on cars. I bought a Bentley Manual & a torque wrench. I planned to drive the car, fix what was broken, and eventually restore it to glory. Maybe have a manual tranny swap done & a very nice set of bilsteins when the money cAme around. This was August 2008.

Fast Forward to March 2009. Our second son is born 3 1/2 weeks early, I have a 6 day a week job, & live in a condo complex that doesn't allow people to work on cars on the grounds. I take it to a mechanic for NY State Inspection. When I go to pick up the car, he tells me: "Your car didn't exactly pass inspection.". He passed it for a small, nominal fee of course. Then proceeds to tell me that my BMW has really suffered from years of neglect. You should either find a new engine or you are going to have to pay me to rip this one apart & find out what's wrong.

It was more than I was willing to take on at the time. I added up what I put into the car & actually broke even getting the $3500 for it. The 2010 TSX that I bought for my wife (it's now my daily driver) ended up saving me A LOT of money.

At the time I bought the TSX, we were 2 years into a 3 year lease of a 2007 X3. The 17,000 miles we put on the TSX during it's 1st year saved us from paying excess mileage charges to BMWFS when the lease on the X3 was up.

fezo

Uh oh. The old neurologist told me not to drive story. I had that happen when I had a seizure. Kept me walking for maybe two months and they were shaky about that. Once we found the cause and treated it I was OK.

Now I'm not so OK on other fronts and will be cooped up for three months shortly but this too shall pass.

akangl

Uh oh. The old neurologist told me not to drive story. I had that happen when I had a seizure.

Bingo, that's what happened to me, I had 2 seizures 4 days apart. The first one was at home and nobody saw, so nobody really knew what happened, just suspected. The second one was very scary, I went to KFC alone to get dinner for the kids, decided to stop by the store for some sweet tea......thank goodness I did. I woke up over an hour later in the ER.

Best they can tell it was caused by Benadryl, I have bad allergies so have taken it for years. Guess it finally caught up to me, have stopped taking it and so far no more seizures. Even with the suspected cause at hand, I'm still not supposed to drive for 6 months. Thankfully he said there was no reason to turn the information into DMV like he would for other causes.

Good excuse to get hubby to buy me a 4wheeler........dr didn't say I couldn't ride a 4wheeler So we've been shopping the past couple weeks, have narrowed it down, I just need to make up my mind lol.

isellhondas

Man, that's scary. Be careful with that stuff.

Last night, I went to the store and bought Benedryl for my wife who had the misfortune of getting stung by a damm wasp when we were bar-b-quing.

She rarely takes it but her hand really swelled up.