Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

roadburner

Is the guy crazy? An ATS is a great car while every current Lincoln I've checked out has been a steaming bowl of "Meh."

Michaell

@roadburner said:
Is the guy crazy? An ATS is a great car while every current Lincoln I've checked out has been a steaming bowl of "Meh."

I think he's going through a mid-life crisis. He went to the Cadillac dealer intending to get an Escalade.

And yes, I'd agree with you on the ATS vs. Lincoln comment.

roadburner

@Michaell said:
I think he's going through a mid-life crisis. He went to the Cadillac dealer intending to get an Escalade.

roadburner

Well, I've now had the Hypertech tune installed on the Mazda for over 2,000 miles and I am still very pleased with it. Since the install I have averaged 30.2 mpg. The additional bhp is a hoot but I honestly don't see how you could put any more usable power through the front wheels. I hope to perform my in-gear acceleration tests this coming week; the old "butt dyno" can often be inaccurate...

Mr_Shiftright

Maybe the ATS was too exciting for him and he needed a sedative?

@roadburner said:
Is the guy crazy? An ATS is a great car while every current Lincoln I've checked out has been a steaming bowl of "Meh."

roadburner

@Mr_Shiftright said:
Maybe the ATS was too exciting for him and he needed a sedative?

As good an explanation as any!!!

Sandman6472

Got up early and topped off the tires in the Accent since it's going back to it's parking space on Tuesday morning...I get my side of the garage back then. Using the Accent the last couple of days has made me love my Tuscon that much more...guess I've gotten used to the higher seating position and the larger engine. I can understand now why the CUV segment has taken off like it has, it's the perfect sized vehicle for folks my age who just can't get in and out of a compact without pain...and it's really the same size basically as the Civic I used to drive. I didn't want a mid-sized vehicle and an SUV was totally out of the question so this kind of vehicle is just perfect. I've finally gotten used to the lower mileage figures as part of the package.

The Sandman

jpp75

@roadburner said:
And the only explanation.

stever

@sandman_6472, looks like a trip to your dealer is in order next month. (Reuters). First Hyundai recall I've noticed since some brake switches a while back.

Michaell

Driving around delivering pizzas gives me too much time to think.

I'm 6 months into my 36 month lease on the Elantra GT, and I've already passed 10,000 miles. At this rate, I'm going to be way over the mileage allotment of 45,000 miles.

So, I'm thinking to myself - "self, this could be a bit of a problem. perhaps you need to consider getting a 'pizza-only' car and use the E-GT for other driving."

The question to the group is this - and this is strictly hypothetical - what are the odds of finding a clean, easy to maintain used car at a price point of $3-5K?

I found this at a local dealer:

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=usedcc&csDlId=&csDgId=&listingId=606099771&listingRecNum=11&criteria=feedSegId=28705&rpp=50&isDealerGrouping=false&sf2Nm=miles&requestorTrackingInfo=RTB_SEARCH&sf1Nm=price&sf2Dir=ASC&stkTypId=28881&PMmt=0-0-0&rn=0&zc=80104&rd=20&crSrtFlds=stkTypId-feedSegId-pseudoPrice&mlgId=28859&stkTyp=U&prMn=0&sf1Dir=DESC&prMx=5000&aff=chitrib&listType=1

Ticks almost all the boxes.

Thoughts?

qbrozen

odds are not too bad, actually. Not sure about that Mystique, though.

I'd be looking for something like these...

2002 Protege5

2003 Protégé sedan

Found quite a few Proteges, actually.

Or a Civic

Something along those lines.

kyfdx

Don't pay extra for low mileage on a 17 year old car.. because, it won't be low mileage for long... Seems pricy, to me..

isellhondas

A Mercury "Mistake"?

Yeah, I think qbrozen had some better ideas.

Mazdas are good cars that just have never done that well in the resale department making them a good value as used cars.

Mr_Shiftright

I think you can find a decent used car for $3K-$5K. You have to compare the cost of buying, repairing and insuring THAT, as opposed to just ponying up and paying the over-mileage.

So if you're 15K over miles on your lease, at .15 cents a mile that's $2250 bucks.

So let's say you buy a car for $4000, + insurance of say $300 a year for 2.5 years, plus let's say $600 a year in repairs and maintenance items--that totals up as $6250. Then let's say you dump the beater for $3000---so you've spent $3250.

I guess I'd still pay the mileage overage.

Michaell

Thanks, everyone, for the sanity check.

Ideally, I'd like to 'retire' from the delivery business at some point - or, cut down on the number of shifts I work. But, the wife and I are addicted to the instant cash; we haven't been to an ATM in over 5 years. Plus, it gets me out of the house.

I really like the E-GT; I just need to keep an eye on how much extra driving I do with it. If I stick with just delivery, I average about 50-60 miles a shift (200-250 a week). Problem is, my town is so spread out that anytime I do any other driving, it's 5-10 miles at a minimum - heck, the grocery store is 4 miles round trip.

Sigh.

Trying to figure out a way to get a fun car and a work car - looks like I'll need two.

stickguy

I'm with shifty. financially, likely to come out ahead driving the GT. Plus, you get to drive a nicer car!

I had a 1999 Contour with the powertrain and seats of the Mystique. I think you would hate it.

Q, that Pro5 is nice. If it had a stick, would be perfect at a nice cheap price!

Michaell

@stickguy said:
I'm with shifty. financially, likely to come out ahead driving the GT. Plus, you get to drive a nicer car!

I had a 1999 Contour with the powertrain and seats of the Mystique. I think you would hate it.

Q, that Pro5 is nice. If it had a stick, would be perfect at a nice cheap price!

OK, I get it. So, now I'm thinking that when the lease is up, I try to find something cheap for delivery duty and do a low mileage lease on a 320xi or A3.

stickguy

If you want a car now, get a toy to use on nice days but not pizza duty. That will keep some miles off the gt without boring you too much.

I'm think about a part time spare job too, but pretty sure it won't be delivering! Suburban office park security guard maybe. Sit at a desk and surf the internet all evening. Just like my real job!

jayrider

@Michaell said:
Thanks, everyone, for the sanity check.

Trying to figure out a way to get a fun car and a work car - looks like I'll need two.\

If you like the Elantra, why not buy it at the end of the lease ? You can put as many miles on it that you want and you have a car good for 150k miles at least. Plus you drive a car with up to date safety equipment which an old beater won't have. Ask your family if they think you are worthy of top notch safety while out on the road.

Michaell

@jayrider said:
If you like the Elantra, why not buy it at the end of the lease ? You can put as many miles on it that you want and you have a car good for 150k miles at least. Plus you drive a car with up to date safety equipment which an old beater won't have. Ask your family if they think you are worthy of top notch safety while out on the road.

Actually, that's probably what I will end up doing. It's a nice car - good tech in it and I'm getting 27-28 MPG in mostly city driving. I could drive it for a good, long time.

The question is ... at the end of the lease, will I be allowed to get something more 'fun' as well? Wife has opined that having 3 cars for the two of us is a bit much. Especially since the garage only holds two cars and the daughter's MINI lives in it already, along with the wife's Mazda.

And, the Mazda crossed the 50K threshold a couple weeks ago. We're taking it to Santa Fe next week for vacation. Wife loves it, but as it gets more miles on it, I wonder if those feelings might change.

She's talked about 'downsizing' a bit, but not quite sure what that means. I've been talking to her about wagons - C&D just did a nice comapro of the 3-Series, V60 and Audi Allroad wagons in their latest issue. But - dang, they're expensive!

fezo

I like the Mystique but agree the market is pretty think with nice Proteges. I'd be happy to snap one of those up.

Yeah, pizza delivery is a terrible use of a nice lease.

kyfdx

@Michaell said:
She's talked about 'downsizing' a bit, but not quite sure what that means.

It means that she gets what she wants, and you don't.

Let me know if you have any other NON-lease questions. I answer everything...

Sandman6472

Funny you mentioned that, the one warranty issue we had on the '08 Accent was the brake light switch. This happened in year 4 of ownership and of course, it was covered under the 5 year bumper to bumper. But on the Tuscon, so far so good with the brake lights working, as of this morning when I backed into my usual parking space. And if that's the worst issue I ever have with it, I'm good!

The Sandman

stickguy

Michael, one thing about the comparison test that bugged me. They tested the overdone 6 cyl V60. You would get quite a bit different experience with a much cheaper version of the wagon. A FWD would probably be fine. especially with the new 2.0l engine.

nyccarguy

CCBA News & Notes

An announcement that will most likely get me kicked off the board. Today we've officially owned our Pilot for 3 years. I parked it in the garage after work today with 49,673 miles on it. That's 14,004 miles more than last year. I sent the May payment in last week, so only 2 more years and it is all ours;)

I also got a "we want your 2011 Pilot" letter from the dealership where we service it. "TRADE VALUE UP TO: $24,100*" it says in big bold letters. "In addition you can receive ALL COMBINED OFFERS UP TO $3,500** OR FINANCING AS LOW AS 0.9%+ APR for up to 60 Months."

Lets break down the fine print:

*Excessive wear, tear, & mileage may affect current vehicle value. Physical inspection of vehicle may be required and may affect actual value. Trade value based on 12 K miles per year.

So basically unless I have my odometer rolled back & FedEx our Pilot to Richard Griot in WA (of Griot's Garage), $24,100 becomes $18,500 real quick (right @qbrozen?).

**On 2014 Odyssey Touring Elite vehicles.

So let me get this straight. You are having difficulty moving $45K plus Minivans and expect me to take one off your hands? I didn't want a minivan 3 years ago. If I were to buy one, it'd be an LX. I'll keep the Pilot;)

@Michaell‌

There's something in our DNA that makes us just cringe at the thought of paying for excess lease miles.

I tried the whole "hey, why don't I just buy another car so I won't have to pay for excess lease miles" thing. We had 38,000 miles out of the allotted 45,000 after 2 years of a 3 year lease on my wife's 2007 X3. Instead of either paying the excess mileage charges up front at $.17 per mile & roll them into the last year of lease payments or buying the truck out that we actually liked (a lot), I traded in my 1990 E30 325i project car as part of a cash for clunkers deal ($3,500) for our 2010 TSX. So let's see how we did math majors:

Turn in the X3 with 20,000 extra miles = $3,400

Buy the X3 out at the end if the lease = (what turned out to be $22,100) $26K

Buy a new Acura for only $1000 off sticker (minus the $3,500 after tax C4C rebate) = over $30,000 then trade it in after 2 1/2 years on a BMW anyway;)

Moral of the story, stick with your EGT;). It'll be cheaper in the long run:)

Michaell

@stickguy said:
Michael, one thing about the comparison test that bugged me. They tested the overdone 6 cyl V60. You would get quite a bit different experience with a much cheaper version of the wagon. A FWD would probably be fine. especially with the new 2.0l engine.

Sadly, FWD is a non starter with the wife. So long as we live in Colorado, she's going to want AWD.

I do agree that she won't necessarily need the most powerful engine; as she's been driving the turbo 4 in her Mazda, she's used to the driving dynamics.

I'm more concerned with the lower driving position, as she's been driving CUVs for the past 10 years

stickguy

Not sure how low the V60 is. Lower than the mazda, but not like a Miata!

I did check. You can get the 2.5l turbo with AWD still. The nice 2.0l/8 speed combo is FWD only.

qbrozen

@nyccarguy‌ I hate those ads with a passion. I am surprised that one even specified 12k miles/yr. but, yeah, they certainly won't give more than its worth unless you overpay for the new one. Business as usual.

I just received a mailer yesterday from a Chrysler/Dodge dealer that just changed ownership. And this was after they called me a couple of days ago. The call was for a cheap oil change, the mailer was for our trade-in. "Demand for used vehicles like yours is high!" Great.

graphicguy

Got a different sort of ad from my BMW dealer. It was a card (like a credit card) with my name, and the dealer's name on it. It says it's worth $500 for the purchase of anything in the dealership. I called to verify. Yes, anything....oil change, coffee mugs, keychains, added money on a purchase/lease, anything!

I asked them if it mattered that my current car wasn't a BMW. They said bring in the correct oil filter and they'll use whatever oil the manufacture stipulates (if they have it in stock) and they'll do my oil changes. NICE!

Of course, it also gets me into their showroom, too.

corvette

@graphicguy said:
Got a different sort of ad from my BMW dealer. It was a card (like a credit card) with my name, and the dealer's name on it. It says it's worth $500 for the purchase of anything in the dealership. I called to verify. Yes, anything....oil change, coffee mugs, keychains, added money on a purchase/lease, anything!

That's weird. You could buy up $500 worth of mugs, keychains, shirts, etc., and sell them on eBay.

graphicguy

@corvette said:
That's weird. You could buy up $500 worth of mugs, keychains, shirts, etc., and sell them on eBay.

I know! This year alone, I've received a $25 gift card from Ford and a $100 gift card from Cadillac, just to visit them.

Car companies are going to some great lenghts for our business.

kyfdx

Just to show the apple doesn't fall far from the tree..

My son just got a summer job, working for the local BMW dealer.

graphicguy

@kyfdx said:
Just to show the apple doesn't fall far from the tree..

My son just got a summer job, working for the local BMW dealer.

Great! Which one?

au1994

@kyfdx said:
Just to show the apple doesn't fall far from the tree..

My son just got a summer job, working for the local BMW dealer.

I smell a family discount coming!!

jpp75

@nyccarguy said:
CCBA News & Notes

Moral of the story, stick with your EGT;). It'll be cheaper in the long run:)

Funny, now that we're down to two cars we're driving the 2002 Pathfinder a lot more. I never meant for it to be a daily driver, more of a fun/take the dog/Home Depot vehicle. It's more than competent as a daily driver but the gas mileage really gets to me after a while. Especially compared to the Q50 Hybrid.

This weekend I toyed with the idea of getting another fuel efficient care as a daily driver and relegate the Pathfinder back to occasional duty (like your Prelude), but when I did the math it just didn't make financial sense. Even with 14 mpg around town it still doesn't make sense to buy something else. You can buy a lot of gas (even at $4/gal) for the price of a car.

stever

@kyfdx, heh, that could be an expensive job.

kyfdx

@graphicguy said:

The one on I-71...

kyfdx

@au1994 said:
I smell a family discount coming!!

Hmm... I never thought of that!

graphicguy

@kyfdx said:
The one on I-71...

Cool! Now I have an "in" at that store, too!

jayrider

@jpp5862 said:

Not to mention the depreciation factor. Your Pathfinder rocks.

fezo

I got one of those mailers disguised as a collection notice (owing anything remotely overdue this was pretty silly. Anyway, Ottawa seems there isa unusually high demand on 07 Camrys. Using their number it would be worth a mere 4k less than I paid for it four years ago. Not bad depreciation....

jpp75

@jayrider said:

Yeah I'd definitely regret getting rid of it, I just hate putting all the miles on it but that will change eventually and it can go back to being a fun/weekend vehicle instead of a daily driver.

jpp75

@fezo said:
I got one of those mailers disguised as a collection notice (owing anything remotely overdue this was pretty silly. Anyway, Ottawa seems there isa unusually high demand on 07 Camrys. Using their number it would be worth a mere 4k less than I paid for it four years ago. Not bad depreciation....

I had the same thing with my 2009 4Runner, bought it for around $26K, drove it 2 years and put about 23,000 miles on it then sold it for $23K.

breld

I know it's a bit crazy and aimed at a younger audience than my somewhat mature age, but this is my current obsession, color and all:

Orange Fire Pearl

Maybe it's the potential coordination with the Broncos license plates.

Mr_Shiftright

Orange was once a very respectable performance car color (in the late 60s to early 70s--e.g. Porsche, Mopar). Nowadays people generally call the police when they see one parked outside their house.

qbrozen

I love orange ... but not THAT orange!

That makes me think Econo Car Trying to Look Cool rather than performance car. Like the Prius C colors.

fezo

My buddy had a 71 Porscge 914 in orange (I realize calling it a Porsche is a stretch, but that's what it said). Fun little car. Drove it a few times. Think I appreciated it more than he did. Of course one day he tried to be Joe race car driver and didn't quite cut it right. His left front headlight, hood, fender and a tree were a little worse for the wear.

roadburner

@breld said:
I know it's a bit crazy and aimed at a younger audience than my somewhat mature age, but this is my current obsession, color and all:

I like it! My late mother wouldn't let my dad buy a new orange Cyclone CJ back in 1969; her rationale was: "It looks like a taxicab."

Just one of the many reasons that our relationship was severely strained(to put it VERY mildly).

That said, I know I'd have double-digit points on my license if I owned a car in that shade. My Mazdaspeed slips under the radar(literally and figuratively) due to its less than arresting color scheme(pun intended).

Mr_Shiftright

RB, rest easy. Snopes.com has posted an extensive study on this problem and finds that color is not a determinant of who gets a speeding ticket; however, what is interesting is that GRAY cars got fewer speeding tickets than they should have received, statistically speaking.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/redcars.asp

So you want orange, go for it. It's not going to put any more points on your license than your driving habits already dictate (or not).

roadburner

All I know is that I've been ticketed/warned four times since 1990, and every time I was driving a bright red car...