Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

oldfarmer50

"...who else? C'mon now..."

Sorry Fred, I remember everyone's name. :sick:

oldfarmer50

"...our more ambitious members..."

Why even fix 'em? I've driven worse. My van is worse than most of those.

stickguy

count me in. I like cars more than people anyway (well, most of them...).

But I do the same thing. I remember faces usually, but rarely names. But I can tell you what car you drive, and which house belongs to it.

I walk my dog every night around the neighborhood, and at this point, I could probably tell you the cars at 100 houses, and the majority of them I have no idea what the people look like!

akangl

count me in. I like cars more than people anyway (well, most of them...).

But I do the same thing. I remember faces usually, but rarely names. But I can tell you what car you drive, and which house belongs to it.

I walk my dog every night around the neighborhood, and at this point, I could probably tell you the cars at 100 houses, and the majority of them I have no idea what the people look like!

Yup, me too. I know every car in the entire neighborhood, both subdivisions. Don't know who 99% of the people are. I also know where the drug houses are, who's cooking and who's growing. Yup the subdivision behind ours is a barrel of laughs, never know what you'll see when driving or walking through there. Thankfully we live in a better subdivision on the other side, although we did have a meth cook next door for a year or so til the cops got him. Funny thing is the houses in our subdivision are $250k-$350k houses, the other area is maybe $50k-$150k with one misfit $400k house and a couple other decent ones.

28firefighter

100% with you. I can remember the color, year, make, model and license plate of any car I see with some semblance of regularity - even if it is just someone who shares the same commute as I do.

In my head, I mark periods of my life by the cars people were driving during that time. Fiancee thinks I'm nuts...maybe she is on to something?

au1994

Oh absolutely.

Cars are also my timeline when reminiscing with family and friends...

"lets see, dad had just bought the blue Olds 98 then, so it was 1982 when we went to XXXXX on vacation."

"I bought my Tacoma in December of 95 and it was the following spring when I met XXX, so I've known him since 96."

ateixeira

Dunno, but GM is good about releasing blue prints for its engines, so it should be tuner-friendly.

ateixeira

I also know where the drug houses are

Easy - the one where the car is worth more than the house.

ateixeira

I will remember what car I took to visit people, so that helps remember the year.

My Escort was new so I did spring break in Tampa in 1991. :shades:

Also helps remember birthdays. Got my last car when my wife was preggers. She got hers when she was expecting the 2nd.

That's how I remember my kids' ages.

roadburner

My dad bought a white CRX in the mid-80s. I'm not sure what year, but it had no factory A/C. The dealer called him when his spot was up on the waiting list, and told him they had just unloaded two of them from the car hauler. He had to pick whether he wanted a red one or white one and take delivery within a day or so in order not to lose his place in line.

About that same time my wife was looking at an Accord; EVERY dealer in the Cincinnati area wanted to play games of one sort or another(one wanted a $500 deposit just to take our offer to the sales manager). She ended up going down the Euro path and -with the exception of a 1993 Pathfinder SE- never looked back.

akangl

I also know where the drug houses are

Easy - the one where the car is worth more than the house.

Not around here, usually the dealers and addicts drive the ratty Escorts, cavaliers, subarus, and cheap trucks/SUVs. Cops seem to profile those too. I made sure my son's Escort had no equipment violations before I let him drive it so he wouldn't get harassed.

On another note, if fuel prices keep rising my truck very well could be still clean in the spring. Diesel fuel is $4.25/gal last time I looked. I've been driving the Focus or Yaris.

I remember when I used to put 30k miles/yr on my vehicle, now I put maybe 12k/yr on, so much has changed since the accident.

roadburner

I found one of my dream cars.
And yes, I know it's British(although the running gear is 'murrican), it's a slushbox, and the interior needs work.
I don't care... :P

tjc78

Well, you would have no trouble finding parts.

Cool car!

roadburner

Well, you would have no trouble finding parts.

Cool car!

Yes, I've always had a soft spot for the Interceptor. It exudes that retro-cool '70s British GT vibe- much like a DBS. As for non-Mopar parts, they aren't that hard to find either.

corvette

Picked up the 540i from the mechanic today. Had the brake fluid flushed, the differential fluid changed, and the automatic transmission fluid changed. They also replaced the valve cover gaskets, which were leaking a small amount of oil. If I keep getting things fixed, I may actually try to make it my daily driver!

The independent BMW mechanic reminded me twice that the ATF and diff fluid are specified by BMW to be "lifetime" fluids before agreeing to change them. (I suppose engine oil is also a lifetime fluid. Just don't change the oil, and when the engine blows, the oil has lasted for the lifetime of the engine. QED.)

mark156

Yes, I'm one of those too that know everyone's car in the neighborhood. And, the different cars I've had or that my family has had helps me remember the past...... purty accurately I might add!! LOL!

Mark156 :shades:

roadburner

The independent BMW mechanic reminded me twice that the ATF and diff fluid are specified by BMW to be "lifetime" fluids before agreeing to change them. (I suppose engine oil is also a lifetime fluid. Just don't change the oil, and when the engine blows, the oil has lasted for the lifetime of the engine. QED.)

You rarely find an indie shop that follows the BMW company line on lifetime fills. My dealer doesn't even try to talk me out of tranny and diff oil changes.

fintail

MB tried that "lifetime" baloney around the turn of the century, too. It leads to eventual transmission failure, especially in high torque high output engines (E55 are known to have a failure by 100K if not changed). I had the fluid in mine changed around 40K - and my mechanic agreed and says he recommends it every 50K miles at least.

andre1969

Well, it's been two weeks now, and the "newness" of my Ram has worn off a bit. I've had a chance to fill it up three times now. First time was a mix of local driving, a bit of highway, and returned a dismal 13.6 mpg over 168.5 miles. Second time was last night, up in PA. It included a bit of local driving, then a highway run up to Harrisburg, then out to Carilsle, back to Harrisburg, and then stopping off on the way home. That time it came out to a shocking 20.1 mpg! I wasn't exactly driving slow, got it up to 90 a couple times, and for the most part was doing around 70-75 on the highways. I went 205.2 miles on this tank.

However, I think that time, the fuel pump might have shut off a bit early. I filled up again this morning. This run included the drive home, and then running out to the bank this AM, and then to the gas station, and it came out to around 17.5 mpg, over 103.5 miles.

If I average the last two fill-ups though (308.7 miles, 16.157 gallons), it comes out to a still-decent 19.1 mpg.

Fuel economy is supposed to improve a bit after a vehicle gets "broken in", right? I've heard that, although it never happened with my old 2000 Intrepid. It got more-or-less its EPA rating right from the start, although in later years, once I moved ~3.5 miles from work, it got lower. My office moved a couple years ago, so now I'm only ~2.5 miles from work, so that's going to sink my economy a bit more, on any car, since a disproportionate amount of driving time is spent warming up.

As for complaints, I have a few, but none that make me regret buying it. Yesterday, we tried putting three people across, and let's just say there's a reason most trucks have bucket seats these days! It has enough shoulder room, at 66 inches. But the center seating position is horrible! The floor is raised up, and the dash juts out a bit, so the center passenger has to sit in an almost fetal position, with his knees in the HVAC controls. My old '85 Silverado actually has a better center position. Much less dash intrusion, and the floor doesn't rise up as much.

And, I'm still getting used to the bulk of it. Out on the road, it's just fine. But in tight maneuvering it can be annoying. Today, trying to go through the drive-in at the ATM was a bit of an adventure. I'm also noticing, more and more, how rough-riding it is. It doesn't squeak or rattle, and certain bumps won't make it feel like it's about to bounce out of control like my '85 Silverado sometimes does. But, it's still pretty firm. I think part of it might be that it's built *too* solid. In most pickup trucks (maybe not the newest though), I can notice the bed and cab flexing at different rates over bumps, but in this Ram, they feel like they're all one piece. That probably transmits the jolts more directly to the driver than if it flexed a bit.

Oh, and the horn's a bit wimpy sounding. :P

But, overall, I'm happy with it. I think I'll keep it.

corvette

I checked my maintenance booklet after I got my car back last night, and the 2003 models actually specify changes of 100k on the ATF and four years on the coolant. No changes are specified on the differential. I have about 90k on it now, and it looks like I'll be back to the mechanic at 100k for oxygen sensor and spark plug replacement.

corvette

The center front seat in a full-size truck is a better fit for kids.

I had thought the independent rear suspension in the Ram would make it ride very smoothly. No truck is going to absorb bumps as well as your Park Avenue, though!

tjc78

Fuel economy is supposed to improve a bit after a vehicle gets "broken in", right?

My LaCrosse got better that's for sure. The first tank was absolutely dismal, in the low 15s. The next tank was high 16s and then it got a little better each fill up until around 1500 miles, then it settled into the low-mid 18s.

That is 70-30 city-highway and a heavy foot. My 06 Avalon and 09 Genesis both did better, but the LaCrosse has more power and is heavier than either of those.

Speaking of FE, I checked the trip computer of my Grandfather's 04 Grand Marq and found a staggering 19.1 avg MPG. I can guarantee once I start driving that thing it will be mid 15s at best.

roadburner

I checked my maintenance booklet after I got my car back last night, and the 2003 models actually specify changes of 100k on the ATF and four years on the coolant. No changes are specified on the differential. I have about 90k on it now, and it looks like I'll be back to the mechanic at 100k for oxygen sensor and spark plug replacement.

BMW now says coolant is "lifetime" from @2004-up, although I'm not buying it. I'd change the plugs at @100k(even though I waited till 113k on the X3). As for the 02 sensors? I'd wait for them to fail- I'm still on the original ones on the X3 and at 143k they are still fine. My service advisor is of the same opinion- run them until they die...

stever

I keep track of my gas. My '99 Quest's mpg didn't max out until I hit 117,000 miles. Hit 21.50. Then it eased down to 21.36. Around 150,000, it hit a new lifetime high of 21.53.

The van started consistently hitting the EPA combined number of 19 at 10,000 miles.

jayrider

Your truck will ride a bit better with 3-400 pounds of cargo in the bed. My 96 Silverado road smoother after I put a fiberglass full bed cover on it. We kept it full of camping gear as well. Don't check the mpg this winter on short trips unless you have a nice big crying hankie. My Jeep can get low 20's on the highway -- 14-15 around town and in winter, it hovers around 10 mpg unless I take it for a nice hwy cruise.

corvette

Thanks for the tip, I'll hold off on the O2 sensors. If it just needs spark plugs, I can probably do that myself.

kyfdx

Blue

Local car... belongs to an acquaintance of my son...

nyccarguy

That's gorgeous! I LOVE E36 M3s

corvette

I like the color. He hasn't kept it a winter yet, but has done a lot of maintenance/repairs. The aftermarket HID kit isn't encouraging, either.

kyfdx

That's pretty minor stuff for a 17-yr old car, though.. Nice low miles at 102K.. The asking price is a little stiff, but I'm pretty sure that could come lower..

He is a young man, hard worker, with plenty of money... He hasn't had the car long.. I talked to him about it, a couple of weeks ago.. He really likes it..

But, the word from my son is: He is buying a house, so the car has to go..

akangl

I had thought the independent rear suspension in the Ram would make it ride very smoothly.

Smooth ride and Dodge Ram are never supposed to go in the same sentence. We've owned 5 different ones, 1999 3500 dually, 2001 2500, 2002 2500, 2006 3500 srw, 2006 3500 dually. Not a single one of them had anything but a bone jarring teeth rattling ride. Even when we looked at 1/2 tons I couldn't get past the miserable ride. My Sierra 2500 rides better than the Ram 1/2 ton we test drove last year. Sad but true. The ride in my F-150 was wonderful and while not bad, the Sierra took a bit of getting used to.

dieselone

I've ridden in a 2012 Ram 1500 crewcab and I was impressed with the ride. The current model has rear coil springs and is regarded as one of the better ridding 1/2 tons. I've sampled an f150 lariat supercrew and was impressed with the ride, but it was a while ago, so I can't really say how the Ram compared.

jpp75

This is exactly like my 2002 Pathfinder with the exception of interior color. Out of all the cars I've owned this is the only one I ever loved. I kept it 4 years and about 60,000 miles before trading it on an '06 330i.

I'd love to have another one like this for a second vehicle around the house, Home Depot runs, taking the dog around, etc.

I wish I was closer to this one, CarFax was clean and I talked to the lady on the phone, she had all the right answers but can't bring myself to buy it sight unseen.

Anybody in Little Rock?

Pathy

corvette

The pictures look clean. I like the look of those and the Infiniti QX4. The thin door panels turn me off (many older Japanese cars had thin door panels like those).

dieselone

This is exactly like my 2002 Pathfinder with the exception of interior color. Out of all the cars I've owned this is the only one I ever loved.

I had an 01 Pathfinder LE from 01-05. It was probably the best vehicle I've owned.

stickguy

took a road trip with the new RDX this weekend up to upstate NY. On the NY thruway, we came across another 2013 (in black) and were running next to or behind for a bit. And by coincidence, it was from the same dealer we got ours from.

then a few minutes later, we saw our twin. AWD, same color (graphite gray), and also from the same dealer! If we had been parked by it, I would have checked the vin to see if it was our "old" car.

and at one point, we were running back to back to back in the left lane (of course!) I found that interesting, since I have only seen a couple of these in the wild, and to have 3 in a row was long odds, and all being from the same dealer (and we were a good hour+ from there) was lotto winning territory!

stickguy

oh, on that trip up (260 miles, mostly highway at 70-75, with a stretch of local back road/past the stores in the middle, the trip computer registered 29.2 when we got off the thruway. Pretty good for a boxy CUV with that kind of power.

jpp75

Mine had a couple of issues along the way but overall it was the best I've owned as well. The price on this one is a good bit lower than others, which makes me a little suspicious. Still keeping an eye on it though.

jpp75

I agree, it does look clean and better than others I've looked at, but still sight unseen makes me a bit leery. I considered doing one of those third party inspections on it but didn't.

I do remember the door panels being kind of thin but from what I recall I never had any major dings.

dieselone

I do remember the door panels being kind of thin but from what I recall I never had any major dings.

I never had any issues with body panels being to thin. It felt like a well engineered and built vehicle. My 01 Pathfinder felt vault tight compared to my '00 Suburban which I had at the same time. Night and day difference in build quality.

It wasn't perfect, but I'm still waiting for the perfect vehicle (that I can afford anyway).

corvette

I do remember the door panels being kind of thin but from what I recall I never had any major dings.


D'oh! :sick: I meant the interior panels. Completely flat, don't stick out very far, and have very narrow armrests, like an old Toyota/Nissan pickup. I have no idea about the metal skin on the outside of the door.

dieselone

Completely flat, don't stick out very far, and have very narrow armrests. I have no idea about the metal skin on the outside of the door.

I don't remember that being an issue for me. Though it was a narrow vehicle overall, so any means to improve interior room was a plus.

Room was the reason I went to full-size SUV. At the time, we had two kids in car seats, plus a large dog, the PF just wasn't the roomiest mid-Size SUV at the time.

But I did like the clean look (at the time) and the overall layout of the interior.

I was going to buy a Jeep Liberty, but the Jeep dealer also sold Nissan. After testing driving the Pathfinder, there was no way I was going to leave in the Liberty. It was crude and severely under powered in comparison.

fintail

Went bike browsing today. First stop, BMW dealer - mostly new and expensive bikes there, but I like the F800R, and the S1000RR is one of my dream bikes. I sat on a couple - a little aggressive to be really comfortable, but the bike is just too cool, and the tech is huge. So is the price. Maybe if I get into it and hone my skills, I'll consider one - it is too much bike for a relative newbie. The place did have a relatively high miles but immaculate 05 Triumph Sprint 1050 that a salesman was really aiming at me. - could be had for cheap, but seems a little bigger than I want. Sales staff started off a little aloof but opened up once I dared to sit on a bike.

Then went to a Triumph dealer to check out a late ABS SV650 with fairings. 08 model, something like 16K, which is not low - but has been maintained. I liked the feel of it a lot, comfortable and not a bad size. I'm thinking about it. Would be in my price range (5K tops). And the color even kind of goes with my car. It does have a couple minor flaws I'd negotiate. Dealership was very old fashioned, reminded me of something out of the 70s, maybe because of all the old looking Triumphs inside. Friendly staff who chatted with me for awhile.

Then off to a Honda dealer to check another SV, 09 with like 3K on it, but no ABS. Same color as the ABS. Price is good, salesman was nice. Salesman suggested a few others for me, including a Gladius, but I think they look odd, too curvy.

The bike I am eyeing:



kind of goes with the car:

xwesx

Being the owner of two classic pickups, I've always hated the car-like ride in modern trucks. That's one thing I appreciate about the Ram pickup - it has a stiff, truck-like ride.

What makes a biggest difference in the ride quality of a pickup is air pressure in the tires. If you're not hauling heavy loads with it, run the tires at about 40 PSI rather than the 65 (load range D) or 80 (L.R. E) PSI ratings (for HD pickups). When you need to haul a heavy load, increase the tire pressure to the rating on the rears and 55 PSI on the fronts.

stickguy

just, well, because...

I like this one. Probably overpriced, but with everything factored in, I still like it. Now, just need to find the same thing as a private sale from an OCD original owner with more money than brains...

http://torchlightmotors.com/2000-Volvo-V70/Used-Wagon/Parlin-NJ/0/2278174/Detail- s.aspx

akangl

Being the owner of two classic pickups, I've always hated the car-like ride in modern trucks. That's one thing I appreciate about the Ram pickup - it has a stiff, truck-like ride.

I guess since I use my truck more like a car it makes me appreciate the nice ride of the Sierra as opposed to the rougher ride of other HD trucks.

Then again it does work once in awhile, had to go rescue a friend's car on Sunday. Unfortunately it wouldn't stay running so we had to push it to the trailer and use a manual come along to get it in.

stickguy

well, this is certainly a nice looking piece. RWD too. Tried to convince my wife one of these would work. Did not pull it off. But someday, I want something like this for myself.

http://www.bmwofturnersville.com/detail-2009-bmw-3_series-4dr_sports_wgn_328i_rw- d-used-9288240.html

28firefighter

I have a soon-to-be family member who owns a BMW Motorcycle Dealership.

I would love to ride a motorcycle, but have been told I'll be sleeping on it if I start. She isn't entirely unreasonable in her belief - her Dad was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident.

ronsteve

Between the Bimmer and the Volvo, that's two nice wagons right there. Sadly both slushboxes, else I would have to give thanks that they are far from me.

tjc78

That BMW wagon would look so much better with beige interior.