Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

corvette

I have this visceral reaction to VW's after the one I owned, it's like a Pavlovian Response with me......

You and me both! :sick:

woodyww

for the $40K Dodge truck, basically, even despite the posts from smart people advising against. Your reasoning sounds very logical (to me--I don't know if that's a good sign or not!). Of course, I can't really comprehend a $650 car payment, but it sounds like a very good choice of vehicle.....& not worth it to buy a used one.....

woodyww

I have theories about VW's--that people buy them thinking they have that German Car thing, & they're 1/2 price of a bmw, & they have nice interiors, so it's gotta be a great deal, right? Like their $70K luxury car.....the Phaeton? Oh wait, that did cost as much as a 7-series......

guss

You pretty much summed up my Jetta purchase a few years ago.

I could not see spending $35k for a 3 series, so I figured I'll get that German car feeling that everyone raves about for half the price. My Jetta 1.8t lasted less than a year. it is the one car I got rid off for reliability issues, even though it had a 4 year warranty, it needed it. I could kinda see the German difference, but it wasn't all that different from the Japanese sports cars I have owned.

I hope that the BMW's really are different the the VW's , because one day I would love to own one.

michaellno

...over the weekend.

As has been (endlessly) discussed, we traded in the Focus for a Saturn ION 2 for our daughter. Dad got his L300 back.

Particulars on the ION 2:

Storm Grey
Grey cloth interior
Automatic
Preferred Pkg (power windows, locks, mirrors, cruise)
A/C
ABS/Traction control
Sunroof
Dealer accessories - tinted windows, clear bra, mudflaps

Daughter is very happy, as you all can imagine. Dad is happy because he gets his car back (Mom promised him a full detail, new floor mats and - I hope - some new wheels). Mom is happy because we traded the Focus payment for the ION payment, which is a bit lower (yes, there are more of them!); she was not thrilled with my idea of buying a $25-30K car. GAP insurance was added.

I am now officially out of the market until the L is paid off at the end of next year. However, since it only has 47K on it, I figure it will have 65-70K on it by the time it's paid off, and I can drive it for another couple of years before it gets to 100K and it needs major things.

woodyww

I was just getting ready to write a post praising bmw's, when the alarm on my low mileage 6 y.o. 5 series suddenly went off for no reason. But (knock wood), I've had less trouble with it in 4.5 yrs. than with the Passat I owned for 6 months. But it's doing screwy electrical things now.

I'm ready to go to the nearest honda or toyota dealer, & buy whatever. Even the RAV4, even tho it looks like a surburban housewive's yuppie car........

au1994

I know the feeling, hang in there! Last year when we were shopping for my wife, she really wanted the new Passat. I vetoed based on the horrible reliability and we settled on a Vovlo S40 (not exactly stellar themselves, I know) and wouldn't ya know, a month into ownership the fuel pump control module craps out. Took 2 trips to the dealer to fix! Started thinking...Camry...Accord? Nah...Love the little Volvo, its been trouble free ever since.

corvette

Does it have a shock or glass breakage sensor? If they're sensitive enough to be effective, there's a good chance they'll false occasionally.

anonymousposts

We are considering the possibility of a new Odyssey. How do you like yours?

woodyww

Probably. I think it's a pattern of electrical problems since the CPO warranty ran out last Nov. that's getting me spooked a bit. Actually, only 3, & only one required repair so far. Also the year-old battery dies in 3 days of non-use; I just keep charging it. Is all making me wary of taking the car on a trip. "Electrical" is a problem area with the E39, as with a lot of Euro. cars I think.....

stickguy

you guys never take a breath, do you?

Ours is fine, and does a good job as the travel module. IMO, too big for normal around town use.

It does drive really nice though. Much nicer IMO than the prior generation. Plus you get a moonroof.

I thought you hardly used the '04 when you had it? Why the sudden change?

I personally am looking forward to the day (in the somewhat distant future) when at least one kid is off to college, and we can downsize into something smaller and "funner" Something like a CX-7 or RDX sounds about right.

Oh, with a stick of course...

michaellno

Can't speak to the Odyssey, but my sister just leased a Pilot - she's got 3 boys (in fact, her personalized CA plate reads 3XBOYZ). She had an Odyssey, which her husband convinced her to trade in on the Yukon Denali, which she hated.

Sis loves her Pilot, from what I understand.

How old are your kids? I seem to remember that one is 13, but when that one goes off to college, how many are still going to be at home? Perhaps a small wagon (3-series?) would work, unless there is something about the RDX or CX-7 that appeals to you.

michaell
who will himself be an empty nester starting August 17th

stickguy

15 and 10 now. Oldest just finishing 9th grade, so 3 mores years until eternal povertude.

I love the 3 series wagon, I could just never find one the way I wanted it at a reasonable price. Much more practical than a sedan.

Since the Ody is the wifes car, and the primary travel mobile, it would still have to be reasonably roomy and have a large cargo area for hauling duty.

We almost got a Highlander instead of the Ody, but the small rear seat/cargo area was a deal breaker. Once we really don't need the third row we will have more choices.

michaellno

One piece of advice -- have your 15 year old do as many extra curricular activities as possible -- it will help immensely when searching for scholarship money. Recently read an article about how playing some not so glamorous sports could lead to a full scholarship at some smaller schools.

What's expensive at college isn't so much the tuition, but the room and board. Full time tuition for an in-state student here in CO is around $5K, but room and board is around $6-7K for the year.

I do hear you about the time when the third seat won't be necessary -- we owned an Expedition and an Explorer with the 3rd row and found them to be quite useful. Now, the wife has a VUE and she finds it to be the perfect size for her.

anonymousposts

I want A car. Don't even really care what it is. I came across a few pictures we took in the Odyssey and it made me miss it. Plus the new ones look cool.

mark156

I know the Land Rover is not for everyone.. but the cargo capacity is amazing. The third row will fit two adults 6'2" comfortably if needed. Just recently, I packed my LR to the gills as I was going on a trip. All of the stuff I packed would not have fit in my 2002 ML500 that the LR replaced.

The performance and comfort are a 100%. The only small drawback (for some) is the fuel economy; I'm getting 11.5 mpg in the city. I have achieved about 19 mpg on the road (flat road, probably a good tail-wind). I only have about 4,700 miles so maybe as I get closer to 8K, the mileage will get better. The sticker said 14/19, so I'm not that far off. In California where premium has been $3.65 a gallon, I'm doing $75-$80 fill-ups once a week.

It is one awesome vehicle though!

mark156

akangl

The new Odysseys are cool, I sat in one at the Houston Auto Show. I'm not a big time minivan person, but it would be on my list if I was looking at them. Sometimes I miss having an SUV or (and yes I have owned a couple) a minivan. However, for my lifestyle a truck is the only thing that fits. Well, I make room for my Sebring which I really miss driving, its been a while since I could drive it, doing the brakes this weekend then I'm back to driving it!

gsemike

Since we're talking vans and my first kid is on the way, how about the new Hyundai and Kia vans? I don't think that I'll be in van mode for a while (if ever) but if I was, I'd give them a look. At the auto show, they seemed quite nice. Once the typical Korean discounts kick in, they should be really enticing.

I'm going to try to do it with my sedan, but if I need something bigger the Mazda 5 will be the first thing I'll look at.

qbrozen

good grief! Your gas alone costs nearly as much as my car payment!

But, actually, my wife's Pacifica is nearly as bad on gas as your LR3. We're averaging a hair over 18 with about 75% highway driving. Good thing we can commute together in my Honda.

lemmer

I do almost no highway driving and my G35 has average about 17.5 over its lifetime - the same as the Pathfinder it replaced, and the Pathfinder didn't need premium gas.

qbrozen

geesh. is that an auto or stick?
I averaged 25 mpg on premium when i had my 6-speed 350z. And I revved the heck out of that thing ALOT (how can you not in such a car).

lemmer

Automatic - and I admit that isn't unusual to see that little stability control light blinking soon after I drop off the kids. The best I have done is a little over 19 mpg, and that was with no a/c and driving gently for the whole tank. Maybe it isn't broken in yet. I've only put 8,300 miles on it in 14 months.

michaellno

Sheesh, I feel pretty good then about getting 25MPG with the L300. The wife averages 21-24 with her VUE, and the daughter hasn't yet used up her first tank of gas in the ION to know what kind of mileage she'll get (the EPA numbers are, I think, 24 and 32).

mark156

What kind of shocked me as I was filling up the LR3 was that while I was standing there day-dreaming I heard the pump cut off.... I assumed the LR3 was full. Gas pumps automatically cut off at $75. I looked at the pump and it said $75 and realized that it cut off by the dollar amount not that it was full. I had never put that much in fuel in before. Normally, I never let the "reserve" light come on so at $3.65 a gallon and putting in just over 20 gallons was $75. I didn't restart the pump but probably could have put in another gallon or two.

I've had the vehicle for over 6 months and probably won't put more than 8K in a year (it's not my everyday driver). It's not like the gas mileage is a shock, but I have always gotten better than the posted MPG's on the sticker from my previous cars/SUV's.

When I rented a 38ft. diesel motorhome recently, it had a 90 gallon tank... at half a tank (45 gallon), the pump clicked off at $75 then I restarted it, it clicked off again at $75, I restarted it again and put in $8.00... so, a total of $158 for 45 gallons. Another time I put in 65 gallons... funny to watch the gas pump go over $200. If you know you are going to put over $75 in your tank, you just have to let the clerk know and they will "release" the pump so it won't cut off. :sick:

Mark156

andre1969

I filled up my pickup last nite, and figure it got about 12.1-12.7 mpg on its last tank. Took about 9.5 gallons to fill up, and it went a whopping 115 miles. Reason I throw a little range in the mpg is because I think the odometer is about 5% slow.

And the sad thing is, this tank included a drive up to Baltimore last night, which I'd say would add in maybe 35-40 miles of highway driving? Okay, so some of that was at 80 mph, and a tall rear-end really doesn't help that much when the truck is all too willing to downshift!

qbrozen

well, wait, if you're only putting on 8k per year, you can't be putting in $75-$80 per week. Did you mean every other week?

In any case, I'm hoping for great things from my new Honda. The first tank netted me almost 27 mpg. But the second went down to 25.5. We'll see what happens as it breaks in and i get used to this 6-speed. At least its all on regular gas. Still paying less than $3 a gallon here in jersey.

mark156

You are right... I didn't mean I put that much in every week. Recently, I did use a whole tank in a week but normally I don't.

Mark

kyfdx

Geez.... lift off the accelerator once in awhile.. :surprise:

akangl

Filled up the Dodge last week, cost $93 (32 gallons x $2.899/gal), that lasted it a whole 250 miles and it was back on E begging for fuel. It left the house yesterday with 3/4 of a tank of gas, returned on E after driving a meer 140 miles. Its a gas pig big time!

qbrozen

we're talking about the diesel, right? What size is that one again?

my pop gets 20 mpg in his GMC 2500HD ex-cab diesel.

akangl

we're talking about the diesel, right? What size is that one again?

Nope, the Dodge is a V10 gasser. We are going to trade it on a diesel sometime in the next 3 weeks. Its flat killing us on gas mileage.

The Titan does a bit better, averaging between 14 and 16 mpg depending on what I'm doing with it. Towing trailers drops it to 7 mpg.

qbrozen

OH, ok. I didn't realize you still had the V10.

hey, didn't we warn you before you bought that thing?

unctarheel1

jus wondering if there are any other 20smth year old guys in my position? that is, going to college, interesting in fast cars and a little fast driving {0-60mph} and worried that it won't be practical to redline from a stoplight once in a while with future gas prices?

Unlike my high school friends who's parents financed their "fast and furious" scenes, i actually have 2 more years of undergrad be4 i can get my Subie STi, which i'm hoping will get decent styling by then. anyways, i just wanted to throw that out there....

p.s. i'm currently studying abroad in europe and 99% of cars here are diesel and 6spd, i've heard diesel yields good torque but it stills sounds like crap in my option...

akangl

OH, ok. I didn't realize you still had the V10.

hey, didn't we warn you before you bought that thing?

LOL, probably. Its been a great truck for the 2 1/2 years we've had it, no real issues since the ESC has been up. Only thing that it does that worries us is the oil pressure takes 5-10 secs to come up, not sure if its the gauge, sending unit (has been replaced twice), or the oil pump (replaced once). Truck runs great and puts up with a lot of abuse. Will be kind of sad to see it go, but looking forward to getting away from 7-8 mpg all the time.

woodyww

I'd probably just shoot myself, instead, right then & there. Of course, if oil goes to $100/bbl, it will probably take over $75 to fill up the 18 gal. tank in my bmw (I do get 325-400 miles per tank tho).

OT: Fed Head Bernanke ("Helicopter Ben") is droning on about Energy on CNBC today. That's probably a bad sign right there.....

*If you know you are going to put over $75 in your tank, you just have to let the clerk know and they will "release" the pump so it won't cut off.*

woodyww

Is that around town, or hwy? And do you still like the car?

*The first tank netted me almost 27 mpg*

qbrozen

And do you still like the car?

Lol! Is that because I've had it for a whole month and I'm due for a change?

I leased this one, so I HAVE to like it for the next 3 years. But, yeah, its alot more fun than the Lincoln. Of course, it doesn't have that V8 tire-ripping torque, and its not RWD, but getting back to a 6-speed manual has its advantages, too. I really missed driving a stick all the time. I could always jump in my Alfa for that, but I don't get to drive that enough to really enjoy it. Besides, the radiator is sitting on the garage floor right now, so its not going anywhere, and if i can't get my butt in gear and make the time to put it back in, I'm going to miss the whole convertible season before I know it!!

oh yeah, the mileage. ummm... i'd say i drive about 80% highway.

mark156

If oil goes to $100 a barrel, I will alter my driving some but I will always drive what I like. Way back in 1979 when I bought my new '79 Datsun (to save gas); I probably got in the upper 20's in the city.. but the small engine couldn't really handle the air condition and I had absolutely had no pick-up (4 speed manual).

I want power, people room and a nice comfortable vehicle (comes with age). It will just cost what it cost to run the vehicles I have. I would like to see alternative fuels be introduced on a larger scale. I know the farmer's are probably happy that corn has real value now!

Happy Motoring.. mark156

anonymousposts

was a nice thought but the one we want would be close to $40,000. Ouch.

So now ... we put a bid in on this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-2005-ACURA-TSX-UNDER-BODY-KIT-SPOILER-6-SPEED- _W0QQitemZ4648692455QQihZ002QQcategoryZ84153QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewIte- m

We will see what happens.

stickguy

interesting. Not sure If I would have bid much more.

Only about an hour from me too.

anonymousposts

That's invoice for a 2006 with-out the adds. Gee likes the styling of the 05 model a bit better than the 06. He can deal with the 06 as long as we get the front underbody spoiler.

The way we came to the TSX is that we love our Accord. We thought about other cars but they were always missing one of our hot buttons. We wanted XM like the Accord has, we wanted a nice interior like the Accord has, we wanted a nice manual transmission like the Accord has, and I wanted all of the safety content. We thought about trying to find another 04 Accord but we felt that was slightly idiotic, and pretty much impossible to find one with NAV. Thought about the Odyssey but the one we want is a little rich for my blood. Thought about a Freestyle but it's a Ford with a CVT transmission. Civics are still impossible to find so that's out. So what do you get if you want an Accord but can't justify buying your 4th version of this generation ....

We sent a bid to our local Acura dealer for a Silver 06 6-speed with NAV. We will see what happens.

guss

really dropped that much that you can now get them for invoice ?

I looked at them when they first came out 3 or 4 years ago , and dealers were not budging off of sticker.

lemmer

Speaking of old new cars - we have a new car dealer client that still has a new 2004 Tahoe cheesed out with all the aftermarket crud. Unless they find a sucker, they are going to take around a $20,000 loss when they sell it.

tommister2

Wow, looks like you got a great deal! Hope it works out.

guss

That would make it a 3 year old new car. Maybe they are waiting for someone to buy it that loves the old style better.

corvette

You were looking for another Accord with nav, but bought a TSX without nav? Anyway, looks like a good deal on a car with no miles.

The same seller also had a 2001 Bentley Arnage Red Label with 56,000 miles on it--if the consensus is that high miles "just kill" the price on a Lexus GS, Infiniti Q45, or BMW 5-series, I'd hate to see what they do to a Bentley! Looks like a new Arnage lists for $200-ish, and the BIN on the used one was something like $55k, and that one had a clean history and all the service records. Ouch!

british_rover

A certain customer of mine had a 2005 Arnage T that he is trying to unload. He paid 230,000 something for it and right now it has less then 6,000 miles on it.

Wholesale value is 150,000 or less.

gsemike

I was driving next to a current gen Accord yesterday. It wasn't brand new because it didn't have the new trianglish taillights. This car had a sufficient amount of bling including rims that were quite open and revealved a good deal of the brake area.

This one appeared to have rear drums! They were even painted red as if to draw attention to them. Do they still make Accords with rear drums?? I was pretty surprised.

lemmer

If you take off a zero from the purchase price and the wholesale value, it is just like the situation every Joe Blow is in. Richie Rich probably has at least an extra zero on the end of his income. Still seems like a money to dump in a year or so.

british_rover

Yup you got it right there. He always finances the full amount of his cars as well never puts down a penny and usually trades them in after two years or less.

He just takes the hit every two years and I guess writes off the loss to the business.