Yeah I never understood why people trade in a truly filthy vehicle like that. I mean I wouldn't go as far as detailing the vehicle for a few hours but I would at least give it wash and vacum.
Yeah I never understood why people trade in a truly filthy vehicle like that. I mean I wouldn't go as far as detailing the vehicle for a few hours but I would at least give it wash and vacum.
If we hadn't spent 8 hours on the truck they would have deducted $$$ not added it, lol. That thing was nasty dirty, but by the time we were done you couldn't tell that it had been used hard offroad and such. It was muddy and had tree sap on the outside, the inside was dusty, dirty, and didn't smell too good either, lol. They seemed happy with it, well, as happy as a dealer can be taking a V10 in on trade.
Oh no doubt that a good clean car brings more money from a dealer then a filthy one. Even if it is only from a psycological stand point when you know that the car will be cleaned up and look fine. YOu just don't want to pay someone good money for a car they have abused.
Also it makes you think if they treated the car this way from a cosmetic standpoint how did they treat the car as far as service is concerned.
One of our old F&I managers was really allergic to dogs so he would just not get in a car that had a lot of dog hair in it. I don't even think he realized that he subconcsiously deducted a few hundred dollars from what a car was worth when it was covered in dog hair.
Funny thing...I've bought my last 2 cars from dealers, and both times I spend hours detailing them after I took delivery, even though the dealer's detail job would suffice for 99% of people. That might be suited more for a chronic car cleaner thread.
But I do think you can tell a lot about the life a car had led from its interior, esp as a car gets older.
that's so true. The interior of a car is much more indicative of its overall care than the exterior, IMO, because it is easy enough to spend the extra $4 from time to time and run the car through the wash at the gas station, but cleaning the interior is either expensive (if you pay a car wash to do it) or labor intensive and time-consuming (if you do it yourself).
In the last year I have bought two used vehicles from new-car dealerships, which I had never done before (and probably won't do again - long story). I was amazed at how different were the standards that the cars had been brought up to, both in cleanliness and mechanical readiness. Funny thing is, the one that was manufacturer-certified was the one in significantly worse condition. The other was virtually immaculate, and fully up to date on maintenance.
You are never reminded so clearly of what pigs some people can be as when you are looking at used cars...
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Unfortunatly with our business truck its just going to be dirty, there isn't much we can do about it. We ordered Husky floor liners and they should be here any day, in the meantime we have been using towels on the floor. We still need to order seat covers, for now we are using sheets. Even with these measures the truck is already looking used, the interior is dirty and we've had to take it to a place with a high pressure sprayer to get the mud off of the exterior once so far. That's in just owning the truck 11 days. Running it offroad (well, 19 miles of maintained dirt road) seems to take the new feeling away pretty quickly.
Now my new Ram is still clean and shiny, probably because I've owned it 11 days and had it in my possession 4 of those days, the Dodge dealer has had it the rest of the time. I *might* see it by Thursday, but I'm not counting on it. Good thing I love my Sebring!
I am sure some car dealers see some gross stuff. I remember the interiors of my sister's cars in her younger days - like a month old fast food dumpster, I am very obsessive about my cars, so they will never go that way.
I bought a 7 year old Mercedes from a dealer last year, but luckily the car was owned by an older man and was fairly clean, just kind of dusty like a car gets from sitting around, rather than hard use. I fed the leather and detailed the wood and switchgear, and it looks like a new car.
Before that I bought a 13 year old Mercedes, which was pretty miled up (150K). However, the interior looked like a car with 20K on it - the leather had no cracks, the wood was excellent, the plastic as new - so I could tell this car had been cherished. The interior is what got me to buy the car, and it was a pleasant car to own. And I maintained it just the same...and unlike some of these old beasts, the car was sold to a happy buyer in record time when it became one car too many.
I somehow doubt people would clean up even if they knew it would make their cars easier to sell when that time came. Laziness is like a disease out there. There's no excuse unless you are using your car for commercial/industrial purposes.
I feel for you. My wife's VUE is back in the shop again today. The replacement steering rack isn't working out so they are ordering a new rack to install tomorrow.
Good thing the wife is out of town, otherwise she'd be real unhappy.
So, in the meantime, I've got a Pontiac G6 sedan courtesy of Enterprise. Got plastic hub caps but it's got the 3.5L V6, which gives it some get up and go.
Initial impression:
Hard seats Very low-rent interior The 'coupe like' roofline makes for poor visibility; plus, I banged my head on it getting out the first time. I'm fairly impressed by the power and quietness of the engine.
If all goes well, I'll get the VUE back tomorrow in time for the return of my wife.
...detailed the wood and switchgear...
fin, what do you use to do that? Q-tips and rubbing alcohol?
I use q-tips and plain old water, sometimes with a light amount of detergent. On the wood I will put a light (spray on style) coating of wax too. In the fintail, which has old style non-shiny non-laminated wood, I simply use lemon oil as one would use on furniture.
I feel for you. My wife's VUE is back in the shop again today. The replacement steering rack isn't working out so they are ordering a new rack to install tomorrow.
Good thing the wife is out of town, otherwise she'd be real unhappy.
Funny thing is it really isn't bothering me, I've got the Sebring to drive which I like so its not a huge deal. Now if we didn't have the second quad cab Dodge then I'd be a tad annoyed since it would have ruined our camping plans this past weekend.
I figure my truck will be 2 weeks old when I get it back and have a whole 700 miles on it. Hubby's new truck has 1800 miles on it as of today, probably one of the last times his will be higher miles than mine, lol.
Akangl, you may have said in a previous post but I must have missed it. What has happened to your Dodge that is in the shop?
Right after I got it coolant started disappearing, took us 4 days to figure out where it was going. It lost at least 6 gallons in the 650 miles I drove it, we put in 4, but it was still very low. The truck had a cracked cooling line, took it to the Dodge dealer a week ago figuring it would be a quick fix.......yeah right, they are still waiting on parts. Better to leave it sitting there than to damage it by overheating, thankfully it never did overheat and appears to be no worse for the wear. I'm hoping to have it back by Thursday, but if not no biggie I guess.
Funny thing is it really isn't bothering me, I've got the Sebring to drive which I like so its not a huge deal.
Yeah, and the fact that it's summer helps, I would imagine. If your new Ram was out of commission in January, you would probably be singing a different tune.
We're hoping the VUE will come back tomorrow .. dealer said they had to ship the part(s) in. Once they arrive, it's a pretty quick fix, I've been told.
One more plus on the G6: quiet ride. Not sure if it's the tires (Uniroyals), but on my drive home it was pretty sedate. That, plus the tach only turns about 2200RPM at 70 .. in my L300, it would be around 2500RPM.
One more minus - small trunk opening. Maybe I'm used to my L300's cavernous trunk (17+ cubic feet) and the large opening, but the G6 has a mail slot. Loaded in 4 cases of bottled water, and while they all fit, it was a bit of a chore loading them in and getting them out at home.
Yeah, and the fact that it's summer helps, I would imagine. If your new Ram was out of commission in January, you would probably be singing a different tune.
LOL, you aren't kidding there!! I will drop the insurance on the Sebring come the end of September, going to park it, toss a cover over it and leave it alone until April or May. Not a car I will EVER drive in the winter, nope, not that brave, lol.
I was supposed to pick up my car from its annual service today (I'll post the rather long story about why I wasn't able to get it once I get the car back and the story is complete). At a red light on the way to the dealership, I was behind a flatbed tow truck towing a Certified Pre-Owned Golf to the VW dealer across the way--it still had the temporary tags on it. I guess I should have seen that as an omen of things to come!
Today my '92 Dodge Ram 50 4x4 left me stuck on the side of the road, for the first (and last) time. It's been sick for a few weeks now - down on power, running kinda hot, drinking coolant - classic bad headgasket symptoms. Today it was hot enough that it actually boiled over, and I decided that was it. I gave the kidney foundation a call, and they'll come get it tomorrow.
It owes me nothing - I put almost 20k miles into it in the 2 years I owned it, and only had to do basic maintenance. I'm moving cross country in a few weeks, and I was wondering what to do with it. It would cost more than it's worth to ship it, I don't have time to bother with fixing it, and I wouldn't feel good selling it in the condition it was in. Hopefully the kidney foundation gets a few bucks for it, and I can work with one car until I make my move and get back in the market.
But do not forget that a passing may often be the beginning of something new, of personal growth; perhaps a chance to find inner peace and spiritual meaning...
IOW, once you've made the move, you can go truck shopping again. Whoo-hoo!
The E320 CDI is great, my wife loves it - smooth ride plenty of power and awesome gas mileage. During a recent trip across Texas, it got 39 mpg at a crusing speed of 75!
With the 21+ gallon tank you can drive over 700 miles between fillups, nice to have if you travel to a spot with high fuel prices.
Good luck with the move ... sounds like it was a good time for the truck to die.
As noted, perhaps this will be the opportunity you need to find something new once you get settled (Northern Virginia, isn't it?). Although you'll probably encounter a bit more rust on the beaters than you're used to in Utah.
Is the Alfa going with you, too?
On a completely unrelated note, our household got a new car. My daughters friend has been living with us for the past few months - long story regarding her very dysfunctional family. Anyway, she's been working at the child care program my wife oversees, so she's been riding with the wife to work.
Well, her parents finally stepped up and got her a car of her own. '97 Chevy Cavalier, red, 4-speed auto, AC but no power anything. 84K on the clock. Aftermarket AM/FM/Cassette (cassette? who owns cassettes anymore?). Decent tread on the tires, though there are two different brands, front and rear. Friend says all it needs is a fuel filter and a thorough interior cleaning as the former owner was a smoker.
Don't know how much they paid for it, but it ought to serve her well.
Thank you for your condolences ... I may try a bit different route this time, since we'll be renting for a while once we get there and I won't need to do much house "stuff". A trailer to haul grungy stuff along with something like a Mazda3 for commuting would work nicely. Last time I was out there I found a really nice 2002 Focus SVT with 38k miles and only a 9k asking price. Lots of fun.
Mourning periods are pretty short for a CCBA'er :P
Yes, the Alfa is coming along. We found a place with a 2 car garage for a decent price, which was encouraging. Some fantastic driving roads in that area.
It's just my own bias--I'm a neat freak when it comes to car interiors. To me, trying to restore a trashed Luxury car interior seems more like torture than fun, but.......it sounds like you did a really good job on it. The smell issue.....like akangel said, even cig. smoke smell would turn me off, let alone unknown "funky" smells.
On the other hand, if you have kids (?) or dogs, you could use the Lexus with them & not worry about the interior.....
Will be interesting to see how much you save on fuel each month with the 2 diesels (once you get yours back from the dealer).....do they have big fuel tanks also?
I share the same bias. I will never be happy with the interior in my car. Also, how many freakin' shades of brown/beige/tann can Lexus put in one car? I'd put plenty extra for a plain ole gray interior.
Lexus has to have about the most boring interiors on earth. I mean the whole car is just boring in general from the outside look to the driving experience I just cannot understand how they sell so many of them.
Well Scratch that I do understand lots of people just want an average looking appliance that never breaks down.
Um... let's see... off the top of my head, there's ecru, taupe, ivory, tan, beige, off-white, nude, suntan, buff, camel, cream, oatmeal, sand, neutral. (I think a couple of those are pantyhose shades ) Surely Lexus can't have been through all of those already?
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name. 2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h) Review your vehicle
We used to sell used lexus and rovers exclusively on our pre-owned lot. They balanced each other well for a little while till the market for used lexus just got saturated with lease returns and you could not make money on them anymore.
Excluding the original IS300 and GS300/400 they were the most boring vehicles I have ever driven or sat in.
Not to beat this topic to death (oh, ok, why not?), & I think a couple of people already said this, but I guess I'm a "car interior freak", & when buying a used car, I always seem to pass on cars with dirty interiors. Yeah, you can clean & clean it, but will it ever be the same?
Also, I may place too much emphasis on on quality & esthetics of interiors when I pick out cars--which usually leads me to expensive Euro cars. I love the interior in my 6 y.o. bmw--it seems built like a (expensive) tank, & very tasteful, with nice wood, etc.
Altho I drove an '86 stripped Toyota P/U for 3 years with rubber seats, rubber floor, etc. Good commuter vehicle, & I could beat the, um, whatever out of it & not worry about it.....
I love German interiors, but on used car lots I see so many with quirky electronics that I get nervous.
Year 2000 or so Audis with huge numbers of missing or blinking pixels (or whatever they are) in their digital displays seem to be particularly prevalent.
It's a rotating picture. I gotta get a new one or two to throw into the mix.
And why yes, thank you for noticing my breathtaking intellect, which matches nicely with my sparkling personality and scintillating posts (aka, "pearls of wisdom") Let's just say that like you, I have discerning taste in vehicles.
-kirstie (not the host here) PS - my ego is self-inflating for your convenience
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name. 2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h) Review your vehicle
It can be depressing, when you come right down to it: trying to balance all the factors of interior esthetics, reliability, resale, handling, on & on & on. Unless you have so much money that you can truly indulge, & don't have to worry about practical matters.
I always wanted an Audi, but never had the guts to buy one., given the reputed reliability. I've loved both bmw's I've owned, & esp the current one has had almost Japanese reliability (knock wood!!), but I'm sure I'd have done better on resale with acuras......
We used to sell used lexus and rovers exclusively on our pre-owned lot. They balanced each other well for a little while till the market for used lexus just got saturated with lease returns and you could not make money on them anymore.
Excluding the original IS300 and GS300/400 they were the most boring vehicles I have ever driven or sat in.
Define boring. Is it the feeling that the car WILL get you to where you want to go. Then yes, Lexi are boring.
Define excitement. Is it the unpredictablity, or anticipation of when your vehicle will strand you on the side of the road. Then yes, Rovers are exciting.
Will be interesting to see how much you save on fuel each month with the 2 diesels (once you get yours back from the dealer).....do they have big fuel tanks also?
Mine seemed to average 19.5 mpg on the trip computer coming home from Anchorage and what little I drove it after, but I obviously won't have a solid number on it until I get to drive it some more. I've only filled it up one time and that was after the dealer filled it up. Its still not fixed, probably another week.
As for hubby's, well, we have a pretty good idea when comparing to how much gas he went through with the V10. He would fill the V10 up and it would be back on E within 250 miles, that's not quite 2 trips out to the logging area. He would usually make one trip and fill back up with gas cans that he filled in town (we live 80 miles from town and the nearest gas station (30 miles away) is charging $3.44/gal vs $2.87/gal in town).
So far with the diesel he is able to go roughly 500 on a tank of fuel. The V10 and the new Cummins both have 35 gallon tanks. He was spending about $800/mo on gas for the V10 and so far it looks like the Cummins is getting double the mileage (15 mpg vs 7-8 mpg). Not to mention it doesn't struggle and overheat pulling the trailers.
He's got almost 2000 miles on his truck already and the lowest we've seen the mileage was 12.5 mpg towing the TT. His is geared differently than mine due to the 6-spd manual transmission, it has the same rear diff (3.73) but runs higher rpms, not to mention its a dually.
I hate driving his, the 6-spd is too hard to get used to and finding reverse is a horrible challange. He makes it look easy, but I tried and it was embarrassing, lol.
Heheh I was waiting for that. They complmented the rovers nicely because they did not depreciate very much. If we sent one to auction after 60 days the hit was not as painful but if you send a rover to auction after 60 days then you stand to lose a lot of money.
After driving an RX300 for a month and a half, I can vouch for its excrutiating boring driving experience - even compared to my wife's Honda Pilot (which is no paragon of excitement).
After driving an RX300 for a month and a half, I can vouch for its excrutiating boring driving experience - even compared to my wife's Honda Pilot (which is no paragon of excitement).
Boring isn't all bad, at least you know you will get where you want to go and back home. You could have been driving an *exciting* vehicle like a Nissan Titan......never know what its going to do next. My Sebring is a very boring car to drive, but its been very reliable and I don't worry about it.
Ak.. you said that you might "put-up" the Sebring in the fall and cover it. You will start it weekly right? If not, no telling what you will end up with come Spring-time.
Let the "lil" guy start it so the Sebring will have a good battery and lubricated motor parts.
When I'm away from my "old" car (1964), I have a guy start it weekly to bring it up to operating temperature. Every since I've done that, I have not needed a new battery in years. And, it runs so much better.
Just a suggestion. mark156
2010 Land Rover LR4, 2013 Honda CR-V, 2009 Bentley GTC, 1990 MB 500SL, 2001 MB S500, 2007 Lincoln TC, 1964 RR Silver Cloud III, 1995 MB E320 Cab., 2015 Prevost Liberty Coach
Ak.. you said that you might "put-up" the Sebring in the fall and cover it. You will start it weekly right? If not, no telling what you will end up with come Spring-time.
Let the "lil" guy start it so the Sebring will have a good battery and lubricated motor parts.
I doubt it will hurt the car to sit for 7 months, it sat for 2 1/2 years before I got it. They had disconnected the positive battery cable, we put it back on and she fired right up, ran a little rough at first, but hasn't had a problem since. If I was going to start it weekly in the winter it would have to be plugged in (engine heaters) and the block heater cord is gone, so I would have to fix that first.
I've had the car about 2 1/2 months, have put 1500 miles on it, but it did sit for 3 weeks waiting for my little brother to come do the brakes. Haven't had any trouble with it other than a on again off again check engine light which according to the original owner its done that since it was new.
Walked into the living room......kids were really quiet so I had to check and they have set up 3 car dealerships with cards and matchbox cars. I couldn't help but laugh, they must have over 150 of those cars and they beg for more everytime we go to the store.
My black Ram is pretty special to my daughter, she helped me pick out options and the color was all her idea. She thinks its beautiful, lol, all I see is constant washing......well, that is if I ever get it back!
I'll try to condense this as much as possible. Drop my 3-series off on Monday, July 10 for an annual oil service, some electrical concerns, a software update, and some rattles. Return home in the loaner. Discuss pick-up with my service advisor, as I am in a time zone an hour behind theirs, plus a little over an hour away, so I need plenty of advance notice to make it there before the service department closes at 5:30 (his time). He says no problem, if you can make it by 8:00, you can pick it up with the sales department. I agree.
I get a call that my car is ready on Monday morning (July 17). I'm talking to a different service advisor because mine is off on Monday. I explain that I will return the loaner after service is closed that afternoon. He asks for no clarification on that point, so I assume that the arrangement I had previously discussed was noted in my file.
I arrive at the dealership's sales department at 7:15 PM Monday night. No one approaches me and asks if they can be of assistance. I ask the receptionist who I need to speak to in order to pick up a car that service had left with the sales department. She looks for the keys in a folder designated for such purpose, and they're nowhere to be found. Various sales staff promise to locate the keys. 30-40 minutes later, they locate the second service advisor--the one from earlier in the day--on the phone. I ask him where my keys are. He informs me they're in the car, and asks if I have my spare key with me. I tell him that I do not have a spare key with me, and that this was not the arrangement for pick-up that was previously discussed. He offers to have someone come down this morning, pick up the key, then return later in the day with my car and retrieve the loaner. I agree, and leave the receptionist instructions to my office (70 miles away). Given the distance, I do not know why they didn't just cut a door key using the VIN and use that to unlock the car and get the key they locked inside, but I digress...
Their valet had my car returned before lunch. I drove it this afternoon, and before I drove 100 yards, the A/C blower started cutting out again (one of the problems that the service invoice notes as being fixed). The other electrical problem with the radio is still present, and all of my station presets are gone. :lemon:
The silver lining? I did get my oil changed. :sick:
But some of them are "special". When they get the interiors right, there are few cars that compare to them. I know I loved to look at the interior and exterior of my LS. My anniversary edition and the later Coach editions of the LS were pretty decent cars.
Driving it was a snoozefest though. I got nothing out of the experience.
Wow. From my perspective that's a really ugly story. Why did they want a week to fix it anyway? Isn't your car almost new? What's with the A/C blower and the radio?
Do you have any alternate dealers you could use?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
From the invoice, they performed two recalls involving a software update, an oil change, looked at (but did not repair) a one-time check engine light and inoperative residual heat function on the climate control. They applied felt tape to (hopefully) quell two rattles, replaced a spring and some bushings to fix two others. They had to order various parts and let me keep the loaner until the parts arrived.
The A/C blower cuts out during acceleration. Seems to be worse the hotter it is outside. The radio is supposed to operate (with no key in the ignition) if the power button is pressed--mine comes on for a second or two and shuts down. Both problems were very easy to reproduce, and I did reproduce them for the mechanic when I dropped off the car. Maybe I'm picky, but I expect all electric functions to work properly, at least when the car is under warranty. It is almost new--it's a 2006 with 14,500 miles on it--I picked it up on July 10, 2005. What can I say, I have bad luck with vehicles!
There are other dealers that I may try... I intend to explain the situation and give this dealer one more chance to properly fix the car before exploring that option.
Believe me, the thought has already crossed my mind. I don't want to sell it with the climate control acting weird, though. If it's a hot-weather-only thing, I suppose I could wait until the winter to sell it...
Not to mention, I don't want to throw a bunch of money into trading vehicles for another year or so. Thanks for the condolences, though!
Comments
Neither is really all that good or bad, just inoffensive.
The Accord coupe is just a two door sedan, and that is something for which I have no use.
Well, it's purely subjective of course, but I'd rate the pre-98 a 7, the 98-02 a 3, and >02 an 8 in terms of looks.
The differences are subtle of course, but the visual appeal is not.
The 98-02 Coupes looked gorgeous IMHO, and the >03 coupes look hideous.
If we hadn't spent 8 hours on the truck they would have deducted $$$ not added it, lol. That thing was nasty dirty, but by the time we were done you couldn't tell that it had been used hard offroad and such. It was muddy and had tree sap on the outside, the inside was dusty, dirty, and didn't smell too good either, lol. They seemed happy with it, well, as happy as a dealer can be taking a V10 in on trade.
Also it makes you think if they treated the car this way from a cosmetic standpoint how did they treat the car as far as service is concerned.
One of our old F&I managers was really allergic to dogs so he would just not get in a car that had a lot of dog hair in it. I don't even think he realized that he subconcsiously deducted a few hundred dollars from what a car was worth when it was covered in dog hair.
But I do think you can tell a lot about the life a car had led from its interior, esp as a car gets older.
In the last year I have bought two used vehicles from new-car dealerships, which I had never done before (and probably won't do again - long story). I was amazed at how different were the standards that the cars had been brought up to, both in cleanliness and mechanical readiness. Funny thing is, the one that was manufacturer-certified was the one in significantly worse condition. The other was virtually immaculate, and fully up to date on maintenance.
You are never reminded so clearly of what pigs some people can be as when you are looking at used cars...
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Now my new Ram is still clean and shiny, probably because I've owned it 11 days and had it in my possession 4 of those days, the Dodge dealer has had it the rest of the time. I *might* see it by Thursday, but I'm not counting on it. Good thing I love my Sebring!
I bought a 7 year old Mercedes from a dealer last year, but luckily the car was owned by an older man and was fairly clean, just kind of dusty like a car gets from sitting around, rather than hard use. I fed the leather and detailed the wood and switchgear, and it looks like a new car.
Before that I bought a 13 year old Mercedes, which was pretty miled up (150K). However, the interior looked like a car with 20K on it - the leather had no cracks, the wood was excellent, the plastic as new - so I could tell this car had been cherished. The interior is what got me to buy the car, and it was a pleasant car to own. And I maintained it just the same...and unlike some of these old beasts, the car was sold to a happy buyer in record time when it became one car too many.
I somehow doubt people would clean up even if they knew it would make their cars easier to sell when that time came. Laziness is like a disease out there. There's no excuse unless you are using your car for commercial/industrial purposes.
Good thing the wife is out of town, otherwise she'd be real unhappy.
So, in the meantime, I've got a Pontiac G6 sedan courtesy of Enterprise. Got plastic hub caps but it's got the 3.5L V6, which gives it some get up and go.
Initial impression:
Hard seats
Very low-rent interior
The 'coupe like' roofline makes for poor visibility; plus, I banged my head on it getting out the first time.
I'm fairly impressed by the power and quietness of the engine.
If all goes well, I'll get the VUE back tomorrow in time for the return of my wife.
...detailed the wood and switchgear...
fin, what do you use to do that? Q-tips and rubbing alcohol?
Good thing the wife is out of town, otherwise she'd be real unhappy.
Funny thing is it really isn't bothering me, I've got the Sebring to drive which I like so its not a huge deal. Now if we didn't have the second quad cab Dodge then I'd be a tad annoyed since it would have ruined our camping plans this past weekend.
I figure my truck will be 2 weeks old when I get it back and have a whole 700 miles on it. Hubby's new truck has 1800 miles on it as of today, probably one of the last times his will be higher miles than mine, lol.
Hope you get the VUE back soon!
Mark
Right after I got it coolant started disappearing, took us 4 days to figure out where it was going. It lost at least 6 gallons in the 650 miles I drove it, we put in 4, but it was still very low. The truck had a cracked cooling line, took it to the Dodge dealer a week ago figuring it would be a quick fix.......yeah right, they are still waiting on parts. Better to leave it sitting there than to damage it by overheating, thankfully it never did overheat and appears to be no worse for the wear. I'm hoping to have it back by Thursday, but if not no biggie I guess.
Yeah, and the fact that it's summer helps, I would imagine. If your new Ram was out of commission in January, you would probably be singing a different tune.
We're hoping the VUE will come back tomorrow .. dealer said they had to ship the part(s) in. Once they arrive, it's a pretty quick fix, I've been told.
One more plus on the G6: quiet ride. Not sure if it's the tires (Uniroyals), but on my drive home it was pretty sedate. That, plus the tach only turns about 2200RPM at 70 .. in my L300, it would be around 2500RPM.
One more minus - small trunk opening. Maybe I'm used to my L300's cavernous trunk (17+ cubic feet) and the large opening, but the G6 has a mail slot. Loaded in 4 cases of bottled water, and while they all fit, it was a bit of a chore loading them in and getting them out at home.
LOL, you aren't kidding there!! I will drop the insurance on the Sebring come the end of September, going to park it, toss a cover over it and leave it alone until April or May. Not a car I will EVER drive in the winter, nope, not that brave, lol.
It owes me nothing - I put almost 20k miles into it in the 2 years I owned it, and only had to do basic maintenance. I'm moving cross country in a few weeks, and I was wondering what to do with it. It would cost more than it's worth to ship it, I don't have time to bother with fixing it, and I wouldn't feel good selling it in the condition it was in. Hopefully the kidney foundation gets a few bucks for it, and I can work with one car until I make my move and get back in the market.
It was a good little truck ... sniff ...
-Jason
But do not forget that a passing may often be the beginning of something new, of personal growth; perhaps a chance to find inner peace and spiritual meaning...
IOW, once you've made the move, you can go truck shopping again. Whoo-hoo!
-Mathias
With the 21+ gallon tank you can drive over 700 miles between fillups, nice to have if you travel to a spot with high fuel prices.
Scott155
As noted, perhaps this will be the opportunity you need to find something new once you get settled (Northern Virginia, isn't it?). Although you'll probably encounter a bit more rust on the beaters than you're used to in Utah.
Is the Alfa going with you, too?
On a completely unrelated note, our household got a new car. My daughters friend has been living with us for the past few months - long story regarding her very dysfunctional family. Anyway, she's been working at the child care program my wife oversees, so she's been riding with the wife to work.
Well, her parents finally stepped up and got her a car of her own. '97 Chevy Cavalier, red, 4-speed auto, AC but no power anything. 84K on the clock. Aftermarket AM/FM/Cassette (cassette? who owns cassettes anymore?). Decent tread on the tires, though there are two different brands, front and rear. Friend says all it needs is a fuel filter and a thorough interior cleaning as the former owner was a smoker.
Don't know how much they paid for it, but it ought to serve her well.
Mourning periods are pretty short for a CCBA'er :P
Yes, the Alfa is coming along. We found a place with a 2 car garage for a decent price, which was encouraging. Some fantastic driving roads in that area.
-Jason
On the other hand, if you have kids (?) or dogs, you could use the Lexus with them & not worry about the interior.....
Well Scratch that I do understand lots of people just want an average looking appliance that never breaks down.
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2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
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Excluding the original IS300 and GS300/400 they were the most boring vehicles I have ever driven or sat in.
Also, I may place too much emphasis on on quality & esthetics of interiors when I pick out cars--which usually leads me to expensive Euro cars. I love the interior in my 6 y.o. bmw--it seems built like a (expensive) tank, & very tasteful, with nice wood, etc.
Altho I drove an '86 stripped Toyota P/U for 3 years with rubber seats, rubber floor, etc. Good commuter vehicle, & I could beat the, um, whatever out of it & not worry about it.....
I see you also own a G35. You must be one of the more intelligent hosts.
Year 2000 or so Audis with huge numbers of missing or blinking pixels (or whatever they are) in their digital displays seem to be particularly prevalent.
And why yes, thank you for noticing my breathtaking intellect, which matches nicely with my sparkling personality and scintillating posts (aka, "pearls of wisdom")
-kirstie (not the host here)
PS - my ego is self-inflating for your convenience
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR
Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
Review your vehicle
POP
I always wanted an Audi, but never had the guts to buy one., given the reputed reliability. I've loved both bmw's I've owned, & esp the current one has had almost Japanese reliability (knock wood!!), but I'm sure I'd have done better on resale with acuras......
Excluding the original IS300 and GS300/400 they were the most boring vehicles I have ever driven or sat in.
Define boring.
Is it the feeling that the car WILL get you to where you want to go. Then yes, Lexi are boring.
Define excitement.
Is it the unpredictablity, or anticipation of when your vehicle will strand you on the side of the road. Then yes, Rovers are exciting.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Mine seemed to average 19.5 mpg on the trip computer coming home from Anchorage and what little I drove it after, but I obviously won't have a solid number on it until I get to drive it some more. I've only filled it up one time and that was after the dealer filled it up. Its still not fixed, probably another week.
As for hubby's, well, we have a pretty good idea when comparing to how much gas he went through with the V10. He would fill the V10 up and it would be back on E within 250 miles, that's not quite 2 trips out to the logging area. He would usually make one trip and fill back up with gas cans that he filled in town (we live 80 miles from town and the nearest gas station (30 miles away) is charging $3.44/gal vs $2.87/gal in town).
So far with the diesel he is able to go roughly 500 on a tank of fuel. The V10 and the new Cummins both have 35 gallon tanks. He was spending about $800/mo on gas for the V10 and so far it looks like the Cummins is getting double the mileage (15 mpg vs 7-8 mpg). Not to mention it doesn't struggle and overheat pulling the trailers.
He's got almost 2000 miles on his truck already and the lowest we've seen the mileage was 12.5 mpg towing the TT. His is geared differently than mine due to the 6-spd manual transmission, it has the same rear diff (3.73) but runs higher rpms, not to mention its a dually.
I hate driving his, the 6-spd is too hard to get used to and finding reverse is a horrible challange. He makes it look easy, but I tried and it was embarrassing, lol.
Boring isn't all bad, at least you know you will get where you want to go and back home. You could have been driving an *exciting* vehicle like a Nissan Titan......never know what its going to do next. My Sebring is a very boring car to drive, but its been very reliable and I don't worry about it.
Let the "lil" guy start it so the Sebring will have a good battery and lubricated motor parts.
When I'm away from my "old" car (1964), I have a guy start it weekly to bring it up to operating temperature. Every since I've done that, I have not needed a new battery in years. And, it runs so much better.
Just a suggestion. mark156
Let the "lil" guy start it so the Sebring will have a good battery and lubricated motor parts.
I doubt it will hurt the car to sit for 7 months, it sat for 2 1/2 years before I got it. They had disconnected the positive battery cable, we put it back on and she fired right up, ran a little rough at first, but hasn't had a problem since. If I was going to start it weekly in the winter it would have to be plugged in (engine heaters) and the block heater cord is gone, so I would have to fix that first.
I've had the car about 2 1/2 months, have put 1500 miles on it, but it did sit for 3 weeks waiting for my little brother to come do the brakes. Haven't had any trouble with it other than a on again off again check engine light which according to the original owner its done that since it was new.
My black Ram is pretty special to my daughter, she helped me pick out options and the color was all her idea. She thinks its beautiful, lol, all I see is constant washing......well, that is if I ever get it back!
I get a call that my car is ready on Monday morning (July 17). I'm talking to a different service advisor because mine is off on Monday. I explain that I will return the loaner after service is closed that afternoon. He asks for no clarification on that point, so I assume that the arrangement I had previously discussed was noted in my file.
I arrive at the dealership's sales department at 7:15 PM Monday night. No one approaches me and asks if they can be of assistance. I ask the receptionist who I need to speak to in order to pick up a car that service had left with the sales department. She looks for the keys in a folder designated for such purpose, and they're nowhere to be found. Various sales staff promise to locate the keys. 30-40 minutes later, they locate the second service advisor--the one from earlier in the day--on the phone. I ask him where my keys are. He informs me they're in the car, and asks if I have my spare key with me. I tell him that I do not have a spare key with me, and that this was not the arrangement for pick-up that was previously discussed. He offers to have someone come down this morning, pick up the key, then return later in the day with my car and retrieve the loaner. I agree, and leave the receptionist instructions to my office (70 miles away). Given the distance, I do not know why they didn't just cut a door key using the VIN and use that to unlock the car and get the key they locked inside, but I digress...
Their valet had my car returned before lunch. I drove it this afternoon, and before I drove 100 yards, the A/C blower started cutting out again (one of the problems that the service invoice notes as being fixed). The other electrical problem with the radio is still present, and all of my station presets are gone. :lemon:
The silver lining? I did get my oil changed. :sick:
Driving it was a snoozefest though. I got nothing out of the experience.
Do you have any alternate dealers you could use?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
From the invoice, they performed two recalls involving a software update, an oil change, looked at (but did not repair) a one-time check engine light and inoperative residual heat function on the climate control. They applied felt tape to (hopefully) quell two rattles, replaced a spring and some bushings to fix two others. They had to order various parts and let me keep the loaner until the parts arrived.
The A/C blower cuts out during acceleration. Seems to be worse the hotter it is outside. The radio is supposed to operate (with no key in the ignition) if the power button is pressed--mine comes on for a second or two and shuts down. Both problems were very easy to reproduce, and I did reproduce them for the mechanic when I dropped off the car. Maybe I'm picky, but I expect all electric functions to work properly, at least when the car is under warranty. It is almost new--it's a 2006 with 14,500 miles on it--I picked it up on July 10, 2005. What can I say, I have bad luck with vehicles!
There are other dealers that I may try... I intend to explain the situation and give this dealer one more chance to properly fix the car before exploring that option.
Sorry about the bad luck with your car.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Not to mention, I don't want to throw a bunch of money into trading vehicles for another year or so. Thanks for the condolences, though!