Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stever

corvette said:

I am not a fan of the epoxy coatings for garage floors. The ones I have seen delaminate when hot tires are parked on them. They are fairly inexpensive if you DIY, but there is no way I would invest that much sweat if part of it is going to peel up.

The sellers had the guy who did the roof in 2010 do the garage floor too. Same guy painted the outside The roof will need one more coat next year - maybe the floor and outside will too.

Rumor is that it gets hot here.

The "small" garage is another reason to keep the one car family routine for a while (and quit reading craigslist for Miatas). Right now I have room to mess around it in. Another car would just wind up living outside with the rats.

stickguy

I kind of like those racedeck tile kits (the plastic snap together ones). Can even make nice patterns. A little pricey though. I think they are about $1/Sq ft? Though that was only about $450 or something. So maybe it was $2/SF. The worst part I think was the idea of moving all the shelves out and clearing out everything else in order to get it installed. At least no drying time.

You can also just tile it, if you pick the right kind of tiles. Not sure what that does over just leaving it concrete, other than looking fancier!

stickguy

wow, just checked online. looks like it is more like $3-$4 square. Plus the accessory pieces and what not. A lot cheaper to just do the floor painting. or ceramic.

rny421

fintail said:

Cheapest detached house for sale in my zipcode right now is a 1400 sq ft 1955 tract house on a 9800 sq ft lot listed at 650K - oh, and it has no garage, appears to need everything..."

Jeesh, that's crazy! I got lucky when house hunting a few years ago, as I was looking in the city with older homes (1900s). Many that I looked at didn't have garages, and a couple didn't even have off street parking! I got extremely lucky and jumped on mine that has a 3 car garage and an attached shed, which could probably be converted to a 4th bay if I wanted...tempting... My house was only $155k, but the property taxes are $5,400/yr, which is a killer. It's not uncommon to see $12k-$16k annual property tax bills around here. Needless to say, whenever we end up moving from this house, we definitely will not have any less than 3 garage bays!

kyfdx

stickguy said:

should have jacked that baby up and made the entire lower level a garage.

That's the whole point.. everything on one floor.. Laundry, garage, master bedroom.. I'm trying to completely eliminate any exertion from my life...

kyfdx

corvette said:

kyfdx, you should have bought more than one lot.

Not at $49K each (yes for less than a 1/5th acre... in 1998)

kyfdx

stickguy said:

wow, just checked online. looks like it is more like $3-$4 square. Plus the accessory pieces and what not. A lot cheaper to just do the floor painting. or ceramic.

Yeah.. when you start adding it up, your 20 X 20 garage is about $2K..

stickguy

if you are lazy, just put in an elevator from the garage level to the main level.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

if you are lazy, just put in an elevator from the garage level to the main level.

You guys in Jersey must be made of money..

stever

kyfdx said:

That's the whole point.. everything on one floor.. Laundry, garage, master bedroom.. I'm trying to completely eliminate any exertion from my life...

I swore off stairs 3 houses ago. Finally got my way on this one and it still has a stupid raised "platform" at the front entry area that I'd love to take a concrete saw to and retile level with the rest of the house (everything is on a slab out here). And there's a half step from the garage floor to that 5' wide "sidewalk" it has. Dumb. Hate stairs - my sister has an awful set in her old home in VA and yep, she missed the last step in the dark 5 weeks ago and broke her leg.

To bring this post back more to cars, she's been driving with a walking cast on her right leg the whole time.

stickguy

I already told the wife that when we move, it is going to be 1 floor living (1st floor master). A 2nd level with a couple of spare bedrooms for the kids or guests is fine, since I won't have to go up there!

and nothing on a hill. My childhood home (that my dad is still in) was a ranch, but on the side of a hill so the garage is at grade, but you have to go 2 sets of steps to get to the front door. When my mom was sick and having mobility issues, it did no good to have a 1 floor house, when she couldn't get up the stairs to get into the place.

scrap the basement too. Just a hassle at this point. Throw out all the junk down there instead.

28firefighter

@fintail‌ have to love those Seattle Metro prices. I actually think you have it worse than I do in the city, because you are near MSFT and in a desirable school district. 

Homes in my area of the city are mid-500s for 1800 sq ft (including the garage) but they are row home style standalones, so the lots are tiny - only 1500-3000 sq ft. 

au1994

"Of course, a lot of people fill the garage with worthless dreck, and park their expensive cars outside."

That drives me crazy! I see people doing this all the time and with some very nice rides too, IE there's a neighbor with a new Infiniti M37 (Q70 now??) that has sat outside since day 1!

nyccarguy

@fintail‌

If you were to ever go to a Halloween party dressed as Darth Vader, here is your Imperial Cruiser

graphicguy

stickguy said:

I kind of like those racedeck tile kits (the plastic snap together ones). Can even make nice patterns. A little pricey though. I think they are about $1/Sq ft? Though that was only about $450 or something. So maybe it was $2/SF. The worst part I think was the idea of moving all the shelves out and clearing out everything else in order to get it installed. At least no drying time.

You can also just tile it, if you pick the right kind of tiles. Not sure what that does over just leaving it concrete, other than looking fancier!

Having just had had to do a "junk clearing" out of my alleged 2.5 car sized garage to fit the wife's Accord in, I thought about doing one of those fancy garage floor and shelving units. I had tools I don't even remember buying. As my wife said (in a kind voice)..."honey, if you don't remember the tool, do you need it?". Good point.

For example, I found 3 oil filter wrenches....one of them for a BMW. I haven't changed my own oil in over a decade.

Anyway. clearing out the riff raff of "stuff" in the garage yielded plenty of room for the tools I do use, the lawn tractor. snow blower and numerous other things, as well as both cars.

A neighbor has one of those fancy floors in his garage. What does he park there? A Saturn L300 and a Chevy pickup tricked out with goofy after market wheels/tires and mud flaps jacked up to where it barely clears the top of his garage door. The closest that truck comes to mud is when he struggles to keep it between the yellow lines.

qbrozen

well, hell, at just 14', he won't be able to lift that deuce and a half very high. Maybe just to change the tires/brakes.

My garage ceiling is quite high (probably 12' or so), but it isn't wide enough to install a free-standing lift and still be able to walk around the cars.

roadburner

I knew a guy who had a Chevy pickup with a lift kit, two shocks/wheel, two steering stabilizers, rock crawler wheels/tires- the whole off-road deal. He would pee himself at the thought of it even getting wet.

Moron...

slorenzen

roadburner said:

I knew a guy who had a Chevy pickup with a lift kit, two shocks/wheel, two steering stabilizers, rock crawler wheels/tires- the whole off-road deal. He would pee himself at the thought of it even getting wet.

Moron...

I have an F250 Superduty that I have to wash the mud off of on a regular basis. It also has proper 4x4 scratches the length of the truck, on both sides...

Oh, stock tires and ride height.

slorenzen

28firefighter said:

@fintail‌ have to love those Seattle Metro prices. I actually think you have it worse than I do in the city, because you are near MSFT and in a desirable school district. 

Homes in my area of the city are mid-500s for 1800 sq ft (including the garage) but they are row home style standalones, so the lots are tiny - only 1500-3000 sq ft. 

I just "Zillowed" my old house in Campbell, Ca.

4 bd/2 bth 1578 sq. ft. on a 65x100' lot.

$961K

xwesx

qbrozen said:

well, hell, at just 14', he won't be able to lift that deuce and a half very high. Maybe just to change the tires/brakes.

My garage ceiling is quite high (probably 12' or so), but it isn't wide enough to install a free-standing lift and still be able to walk around the cars.

No, that's true. I mentioned that to him when he was talking about the floor specs for that bay, and he basically said the same thing as you just noted: He can use it to change wheels, etc., without having to block and jack it. He basically said that he doesn't have to do much work underneath that one and that it has so much ground clearance that a couple extra feet is really all he needs to work comfortably anyway. It was a tradeoff between total height of the house (and stairs to climb to get to the living area, since the garage accounts for most of the first floor with the living space above) and the versatility of the shop (er, garage).

I was looking through emails I had with him for a photo of the place, as he just finished it recently and it looks really nice. Turns out, I had the height wrong: He ended up going with 12' height on the lower floor due to some engineering limitations of the calculated loads (wind shear, etc). His bay doors are 10x10 (3 of them). Pretty cool; any car guy's dream, plus the living space isn't too shabby, either. LOL

I think he counts as a chronic car buyer, but his passion is old military vehicles (his newest vehicle is the Blazer in the photo, which is an '89 IIRC).






Scaffolding:

kyfdx

Opinions needed!

http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/30740/general/x/used-car-under-3000?new=1

stickguy

opinion given!

jayrider

slorenzen said:

28firefighter said:

@fintail‌ have to love those Seattle Metro prices. I actually think you have it worse than I do in the city, because you are near MSFT and in a desirable school district. 

Homes in my area of the city are mid-500s for 1800 sq ft (including the garage) but they are row home style standalones, so the lots are tiny - only 1500-3000 sq ft. 

I just "Zillowed" my old house in Campbell, Ca.

4 bd/2 bth 1578 sq. ft. on a 65x100' lot.

$961K

Sounds like a lot of house for the money. I'm guessing multiple bidders will push the price higher. You can get a 6000 square foot mansion with pool house and several acres of wooded land here is Southwest Illinois.

fintail

I saw that article. Cheapest W211 E55 I have seen, but it's also an early car (more risk of issues, less toys - notice it lacks COMAND, as most do from that model year), and I don't embrace those wheels. Definitely would pay to get a PPI.

nyccarguy said:

@fintail‌

If you were to ever go to a Halloween party dressed as Darth Vader, here is your Imperial Cruiser

fintail

It's more than that - the average MSFT worker bee can't swing an 800K+ mortgage. I've heard that a full third of sales in west Bellevue are to offshore buyers, and the buy-your-way-in crowd is big here, too. Just don't think about where the money comes from. Ah the weird wanderings of a claimed free market. Puts some interesting things on the road anyway, Teslas are a dime a dozen, and it's always fun seeing questionably driven six figure vehicles.

28firefighter said:

@fintail‌ have to love those Seattle Metro prices. I actually think you have it worse than I do in the city, because you are near MSFT and in a desirable school district. 

Homes in my area of the city are mid-500s for 1800 sq ft (including the garage) but they are row home style standalones, so the lots are tiny - only 1500-3000 sq ft. 

fintail

Sounds like what I've heard about Detroit taxes. They aren't so bad here - if you're paying 10K here, your house is in the 7 figure range (and not always too impressive for that money).

Maybe it's for the better, keeps me from hoarding. I have two cars, more than enough. A large garage would just cause problems (I think I can get 6 motorcycles into a car space), as would a large piece of land hidden from the street - my own junkyard, here I come.

rny421 said:

... My house was only $155k, but the property taxes are $5,400/yr, which is a killer. It's not uncommon to see $12k-$16k annual property tax bills around here. Needless to say, whenever we end up moving from this house, we definitely will not have any less than 3 garage bays!

breld

corvette said:

My old house had a 24 x 24 attached garage (with a single 16' door), and I would have preferred it to be even larger, and with separate doors, but it still provides good space for storing tools and a riding lawnmower. One of the custom houses in the subdivision had a 24x26 attached garage and a separate 26x34 attached garage. Most of the first floor was the garage. Another house has a 21x25 attached garage and a 22x30 detached garage; and yet another has a 19x25 attached and a 22x28 detached. Land is very inexpensive where my old house is located.

Am I the only one that finds it amusing that you know the actual dimensions of your neighbors' garages?

corvette

breld said:

Am I the only one that finds it amusing that you know the actual dimensions of your neighbors' garages?

It's on the assessor's website. Took me all of five minutes to look it up.

breld

corvette said:

It's on the assessor's website. Took me all of five minutes to look it up.

Aah! Got it. Just had this amusing picture of you sneaking around your neighbors' garages with a measuring tape.

For a pretty standard suburb home, I'm pretty pleased with the size of our garage (other than it's only a 3 car ). Many homes in our neighborhood have a 3-car tandem garage, but ours is 3 across, which I much prefer since we actually have 3 drivers.

We can fit the Ody/535, the GTI and A3 in the garage, with room for a dog kennel I built in front of the third bay, and a workbench area in front of the 2-car bay. And we can move comfortably around the garage with all three cars in there. It's also nice to have the taller garage doors, which was an option when we built (8' instead of 7', I believe). We don't actually need the extra foot to fit any of our cars in, but it does provide a more open feeling.

breld

It's pretty cold here in Denver! On Monday, with the threat of snow coming that day, I decided to get the snow tires put on all three cars. Naturally, everyone else had the same idea - I started around 9:00 am at Discount Tire with the Ody and GTI. Got out of there around 3:00 pm, then headed up north to my neighborhood, grabbed the daughter's A3 and headed to a separate location. I left there after 7:00 pm.

Hmm...maybe I should plan ahead next year and do the change-out ahead of the first storm.

In any case - we're all ready for the snow now.

au1994

breld said:

It's pretty cold here in Denver! On Monday, with the threat of snow coming that day, I decided to get the snow tires put on all three cars. Naturally, everyone else had the same idea - I started around 9:00 am at Discount Tire with the Ody and GTI. Got out of there around 3:00 pm, then headed up north to my neighborhood, grabbed the daughter's A3 and headed to a separate location. I left there after 7:00 pm.

Hmm...maybe I should plan ahead next year and do the change-out ahead of the first storm.

In any case - we're all ready for the snow now.

Wow! There goes a day! Ever considered keeping the snows on a set of steelies and swapping then yourself?

kyfdx

My friend has an air compressor, torque wrench and floor jacks... and a big flat concrete pad outside of his 3 car garage.. And, a pickup truck that I can borrow to load everything up..

To complete the package, I have a 20-yr old son to do the heavy lifting. We swapped out both our cars in about an hour.. The Saturday before Halloween.

jayrider

Wow! There goes a day! Ever considered keeping the snows on a set of steelies and swapping then yourself?
Sounds like fun if you have a nice floor jack and an air wrench --- otherwise not so much.

nyccarguy

I know it is a Camry SE, I know it is the old body style (2014.5), but for $0 Down, $179/month for 24 months plus tax it does have heated leather seats, sunroof, JBL Navigation, & a mildly entertaining 268 hp V6. How bad could it be? Of course I'm sure the car has "just been sold" once you call up:)

ab348

nyccarguy said:

I know it is a Camry SE, I know it is the old body style (2014.5), but for $0 Down, $179/month for 24 months plus tax it does have heated leather seats, sunroof, JBL Navigation, & a mildly entertaining 268 hp V6. How bad could it be? Of course I'm sure the car has "just been sold" once you call up:)

That sounds like a heckuva deal for a pretty good car. I actually like the Camry better than many of its competitors even though people criticize it a lot.

roadburner

jayrider said:

Wow! There goes a day! Ever considered keeping the snows on a set of steelies and swapping then yourself?

Sounds like fun if you have a nice floor jack and an air wrench --- otherwise not so much.


I agree about the floor jack, but instead of an air wrench I have an 18V Makita cordless impact wrench- it works great.

stickguy

That is a great deal. Maybe I should have gotten a new quote on the leftover xle before I got the sonata.

xwesx

stickguy said:

That is a great deal. Maybe I should have gotten a new quote on the leftover xle before I got the sonata.

Let those sleeping dogs lie!

ab348

stickguy said:

That is a great deal. Maybe I should have gotten a new quote on the leftover xle before I got the sonata.

No, don't do that. Everyone has some cognitive dissonance after a major purchase - don't add to it!

stevedebi

breld said:

It's pretty cold here in Denver! On Monday, with the threat of snow coming that day, I decided to get the snow tires put on all three cars. Naturally, everyone else had the same idea - I started around 9:00 am at Discount Tire with the Ody and GTI. Got out of there around 3:00 pm, then headed up north to my neighborhood, grabbed the daughter's A3 and headed to a separate location. I left there after 7:00 pm.

Hmm...maybe I should plan ahead next year and do the change-out ahead of the first storm.

In any case - we're all ready for the snow now.

Be sure and update us as to how you predict the first storm!!!

Michaell

@nyccarguy‌ - check your inbox .. just sent you a PM.

Michaell

stevedebi said:

breld said:

It's pretty cold here in Denver! On Monday, with the threat of snow coming that day, I decided to get the snow tires put on all three cars. Naturally, everyone else had the same idea - I started around 9:00 am at Discount Tire with the Ody and GTI. Got out of there around 3:00 pm, then headed up north to my neighborhood, grabbed the daughter's A3 and headed to a separate location. I left there after 7:00 pm.

Hmm...maybe I should plan ahead next year and do the change-out ahead of the first storm.

In any case - we're all ready for the snow now.

Be sure and update us as to how you predict the first storm!!!

The storm is behind us now. Temps today in the 40's. Had a few inches of snow and temps around 0 for a day or so. Next week we're looking at 50's again.

fintail

I bet that's an error, or worse. Sounds more like the offer for a base L/LE spec car.

Saw a wacky offer on a K900 in today's paper - something like 2K up front and under $500 per month, for a $60K+ car. Or maybe not too wacky, as that's not much less than my new (leftover, but still) E.
-

nyccarguy said:

I know it is a Camry SE, I know it is the old body style (2014.5), but for $0 Down, $179/month for 24 months plus tax it does have heated leather seats, sunroof, JBL Navigation, & a mildly entertaining 268 hp V6. How bad could it be? Of course I'm sure the car has "just been sold" once you call up:)

venture

fintail said:

I bet that's an error, or worse. Sounds more like the offer for a base L/LE spec car.

Saw a wacky offer on a K900 in today's paper - something like 2K up front and under $500 per month, for a $60K+ car. Or maybe not too wacky, as that's not much less than my new (leftover, but still) E.
-

nyccarguy said:

I know it is a Camry SE, I know it is the old body style (2014.5), but for $0 Down, $179/month for 24 months plus tax it does have heated leather seats, sunroof, JBL Navigation, & a mildly entertaining 268 hp V6. How bad could it be? Of course I'm sure the car has "just been sold" once you call up:)

Probably pretty wacky. I would bet the residual is way different - unless they are throwing a bunch of money at it just to move them.

Michaell

venture said:

fintail said:

I bet that's an error, or worse. Sounds more like the offer for a base L/LE spec car.

Saw a wacky offer on a K900 in today's paper - something like 2K up front and under $500 per month, for a $60K+ car. Or maybe not too wacky, as that's not much less than my new (leftover, but still) E.
-

nyccarguy said:

I know it is a Camry SE, I know it is the old body style (2014.5), but for $0 Down, $179/month for 24 months plus tax it does have heated leather seats, sunroof, JBL Navigation, & a mildly entertaining 268 hp V6. How bad could it be? Of course I'm sure the car has "just been sold" once you call up:)

Probably pretty wacky. I would bet the residual is way different - unless they are throwing a bunch of money at it just to move them.

I don't have any K900 lease numbers this month, but there is some crazy money out there for other Kia models - $5-6K on the Optima hybrid, for example.

corvette

If memory serves, exterior styling on the older Camry is better than the new one. I bet the advertised one doesn't have the v6. 

stickguy

you don't see many V6 Camry's on the lot anyway. Vast majority are going to be 4s.

I saw the new and old side by side. The new one looks better from behind and the sides, but nasty IMO from the front. Take the 14.5 nose and slap it on, and all is good.

you people really need to stop posting obscene deals. It is depressing me.

xwesx

you people really need to stop posting obscene deals. It is depressing me.

Hey, you started it!

ab348

fintail said:

I bet that's an error, or worse. Sounds more like the offer for a base L/LE spec car.

Saw a wacky offer on a K900 in today's paper - something like 2K up front and under $500 per month, for a $60K+ car. Or maybe not too wacky, as that's not much less than my new (leftover, but still) E.

Don't know the situation in the USA, but I read this week that in Canada, Kia sold a total of 0 (as in nil) K900s in October, matching their sales performance in September.

xwesx

Well, $60,000 base price for a Kia? Yeah, I'm not surprised that sales are, uh, slow....