Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

corvette

So, I had my car back for about an hour today. Coolant started leaking all over the place (looked like a loose hose), coolant warning blinking, and the tank was empty. Body shop took it back.

The bodywork looks decent but I was able to spot a few minor issues with the paint.

BTW, growwise, one of my friends bought a used 2004 Maxima. I don't think it had the nav system, but it does have leather. Normally he wouldn't buy a car that large or fancy, but he did because he was close to needing a newer car, and his law partner happened to be selling one--maximum convenience!

growwise

Coolant leak sounds dangerous. How do you know if your car did not overheat? :sick:

corvette

I'm sure it got hotter than normal--the radiator fan was running after I shut the car down, which has never happened before on that car. It has an electrically-driven coolant pump (and no mechanical pump), so I'm guessing that with all of the electronics, it would have shut itself down before it got too hot.

It never gave a temperature warning while I was driving it--just a low coolant warning.

kyfdx

My wife actually let me drive her car today... and, I curbed a rim..

On the positive side... it was at the liquor store..

graphicguy

On the positive side... it was at the liquor store.

Did you actually tell the little lady you "curbed" the wheel? I know when I was married, every time I got into the "Ex's" car, I found another scraped rim, dent, mocha stain...etc. She always told me it was my fault since the "blemish" wasn't there before I drove her sled.

rockylee

british_rover,

So do you only sell Land Rovers pal ?

Rocky

nyccarguy

I'm sure you did no damage to your car. I had a Saab 9-3 that I had an accident with some front end damage (I rear emded someome in bumper to bumper traffic). I drove it over 100 miles with no coolant :P Once the radiator was replaced, the car drove good as new. Of course I only drove it for another month and a half because my lease was up :P

british_rover

So do you only sell Land Rovers pal ?

On the new car side yes.

On the used car side I have sold everything from under the sun. We get the wackiest tradeins of any store in our auto group. Just last month on the used car side I sold a 2001 Nissan Altima, a 2002 Mazda Protege 5, 2002 Toyota Highlander and a 2003 Discovery.

So far this month we have take in trade a, 2006 Mercedes CLS500 with 13,000 miles aprox. wholesale value 56,000 dollars.

2004 Z4 with 7,000 miles aprox. wholesale value 20,000 dollars.

300 dollar Jeep Cherokee with 248,000 miles.

5,000 dollar Honda Odessey with 80,000 miles.

rockylee

Very interesting car lot pal.

Rocky

british_rover

Most expensive used car I have ever sold was aroun 85,000 dollars and least expensiv was around 6,000 dollars.

rockylee

That is quite a difference...

Rocky

akangl

How a car I bought for little to nothing and rarely drove can make someone else so happy. The family that bought the Sebring absolutly loves the car. I saw it yesterday, they washed it, cleaned the interior (something I never bothered to do), it looks really good all things considered. They said its the nicest car they've ever owned and they love the fact it gets great gas mileage.

Since the car now lives just 12 miles away I'm sure I'll be seeing it here and there. Still seems strange to not see it in the yard here where its been all summer, but at least its getting driven now.

On another note, its finally oil change time for my Ram and time to cough up some greenbacks for winter tires........10 ply 17s.......OUCH!!! I didn't bother getting a price over the phone today when I made the appointment, but I figure they will run me around $900 or so for the set of 4. Then we still have to get tires for the dually........yup, that's a total of 14 winter tires between the 3 trucks! Thankfully we already took care of the F-250 a couple weeks ago. :sick:

qbrozen

an '04 Z4 with tiny miles is only worth $20k?? I'm truly shocked. Hell, edmunds says retail on the 2.5i is almost $30k!! (not that i ever take edmunds number as gospel, but that's a HUGE disparity)

kyfdx

Yeah.. I know about ten people right now that would be all over a Z4 like that for $20K...

---------------------------------------

Nope..haven't told the wife yet... Too sick to my stomach from it, to talk about it...

Actually, my 12-year-old son will probably notice it before she does... It is only about an 1/8" wide.. but about 8" long, right along the lip where it meets the tire.. Not very noticeable..

I'll own up to it eventually, whether it's spotted or not..

On the plus side... bought some Ruby Red Absolut and Woodford Reserve...

corvette

Is the spare tire on a steel wheel or a matching rim? If it's annoying you enough, you could switch them, but the tire wear wouldn't match the others.

Absolut is like a Toyota MR2--you can't go wrong with it!

kyfdx

Actually... it is a 68M rim from a 330 Sport.. I bought the set for her last car.. the '03 325i.. They still had a year's worth of tread, so I put them on the '05 330 vert (non-sport) for one last season... That way, I knew the stock tires wouldn't wear out before the lease ends..

So, no matching spare for this set... On the plus side, they are coming off next month, as the winter set is on the stock wheels.. On the negative side? When I sell the wheels, one of them will have issues..

It is a front wheel... so, finding a nice replacement would be easy, as it matches the spare that came with the E46 330i sport package.

british_rover

Yup depressing isn't it? 20,000 dollars is all the money wholesale on that car right now. We ended up putting $21,000 on it to the deal and now we are going to try and retail out of it for 24,500 or so before winter hits hard. If we have to take it to auction in a few weeks will take a huge bath.

This customer had an audi dealer put 27,000 dollars on the car but still ended up buying from me at 21,000 for it.

I didn't ask but obviously the 27,000 dollar offer from Audi was bogus. My guess is since they knew his trade was his hot button they took all the money from the new car and put it on the trade.

Then they tried to pull the, "No one is discounting these cars now they are all being sold at MSRP," trick.

qbrozen

if i was in the market ....



then again ... i'd want the 3.0

british_rover

It is the 3.0. Want to buy it for 22,500? That would be just enough to keep me from getting a mini.

qbrozen

good grief! that's an incredible deal. please tell me its an automatic so I can sleep tonight. $22,500 is EXACTLY what I was thinking when you told me what you paid for it.

too bad i'm in a lease right now.

Why don't YOU buy it??

I wouldn't be surprised if you guys make money at auction. That just seems absurdly cheap. Heck, why not send it down south to auction?

ugh. yer killin me! lol.
but... no ... i have to remember ... i got rid of my 350Z for a reason. I decided I needed to have more than 1 car in the family that the baby could ride in. So now I've got the practical sedan.

by the way... seems kinda odd to me that the Z4 has less horsepower and weighs about 300 lbs less than my Accord, yet they are saddled with the same EPA numbers. huh. honda really knows gas economy, that's for sure.

british_rover

Transportation costs of sending it down south would wipe out any potential gain in value...

Oh and it is an automatic so that should make you feel better. BMW only makes about 15% manual transmission cars for the US market now very sad.

We are going to stick on ebay as well see if we get lucky.

I figure we will ask around 24,999 for it and hope for the best.

qbrozen

i think that's about the number for all manufacturers (well, for those that actually OFFER a manual, that is). BMW might even be higher than many others, since its "the driver's car" and all that.

i think you just might get lucky. Problem is deadbeat bidders, but you can set up your account to not accept bids from anyone with less than "x" feedback. And the immediate paypal deposit feature is nice, too (the auction can only end with "buy it now" if the buyer makes a deposit through paypal). Keeps the riffraff away.

woodyww

so I'm guessing that with all of the electronics, it would have shut itself down before it got too hot

Oh boy, let's hope so. My question would be: What's the fastest way you can get rid of this thing w/o totally losing your shirt? It seems to get worse with every post.....

woodyww

It is the 3.0. Want to buy it for 22,500?

What are the other details on the Z4, besides the auto. & the 3.0? Color, Premium package, leather, etc? I need it like I need a hole in the head, but that doesn't always hold me back.....I'm in Mass.

corvette

What's the fastest way you can get rid of this thing w/o totally losing your shirt?

Good question, and there's not a clear answer. I have a guy who will come and do a diminished value appraisal on it. I don't think I can just sell it without giving the insurance companies the opportunity to inspect it--I'm giving my own insurance company an opportunity to point out any other issues that need to be corrected before I send it back for touch-up work--they have done this before and pointed out things that I missed.

It seemed to drive okay although I only drove it a couple of miles. Did I mention they had to straighten the frame? Not sure if BMW even allows that, I thought on the newer models the subframe had to be cut out and replaced, but I'll bring that up when the inspector comes.

jaserb

They're not selling great, so BMW USA employees get to drive Z4s for darn near free. They're all over the place in the Spartanburg / Greenville / Western NC area. Once they put a certain number of miles on them they get sold as certified used cars.

When I visited the Spartanburg plant a year or so ago the X5 line was running almost full capacity with 2 10 hr shifts, and the Z4 only had 1 8 hr shift. Interestingly, the SC plant is the only one in the world that makes X5s or Z4s, so you can see export only models like diesel X5s, 4 cyl Z4s, etc. there too.

-Jason

corvette

Interestingly, the SC plant is the only one in the world that makes X5s or Z4s, so you can see export only models like diesel X5s...

Pretty cool, isn't it? I think the employees get a pretty severe discount on a 1-year lease--but I'm not sure of the exact terms.

qbrozen

Interesting. Ideally, I'd love the new coupe. Maybe those will be down in the $20k range for me in a couple of years.

british_rover

Oh man you mean I have to go out and look at it.

Hmhh I will have to check some of that stuff in the morning. It is a kind of metalic blue with black leather interior, heated seats and xenons.

I think it has the sport package and probably premium package too.

woodyww

That stinks, not that it's news, that we can't buy diesel X5's in the US. I guess it's all marketing, & maybe 50-state emission requirements (?). I also have a theory that it's because most Americans are so spoiled, that we don't want to risk getting a drop of diesel fuel on our hands while fueling up.

Some very positive write-ups in the Roundel recently about current bmw diesels.....

qbrozen

just an FYI, BR. I surfed one source in my state last night and found maybe 5-6 Z4s and the cheapest one was $24,999 with over 30k miles. The highest was $29,999 with 15k miles.

anonymousposts

how is life with the 6-speed Accord? I could shoot Honda for not giving us that engine/tranny choice in 2004.

qbrozen

eh... i'm sorry to admit its not all i hoped it would be. I miss RWD. Although getting 28 mpg on regular gas is nice. The clutch and gearbox aren't sporty enough for my taste, either. Its not something I realized during my test drives, but rather an opinion that has built up over time. Its just not consistent at all. Some days it doesn't like 3rd gear; some days the clutch engages half an inch off the floor; some days the clutch grabs half a foot off the floor; some days its spot on and feels sporty; some days it feels like a generic family sedan (which, of course, is really what it is, so I guess my complaint is against myself for fooling myself into thinking it could be something more than that).

I took it for its first oil change last week. The attendant asked me if there's anything else they should check out for me. .... there wasn't. The car has been completely and utterly trouble-free. Not that I EXPECT any problems in 8k miles, but I guess my wife's Chrysler and my 350Z just got me used to saying "yeah, while you're at it, its been doing this weird thing ...."

so its good and bad. To some degree, I suppose I've come to LIKE having quirks in my cars. In short, even with the 6-speed, the Accord is STILL a bit boring.

Kirstie_H

SOUND OFF! Did you recently buy a car and MPG wasn't a big factor in the purchase decision? If so - here's your chance to tell the press why fuel economy isn't always the top priority.

Please respond to jfallon@edmunds.com no later than Wednesday, October 25, 2006 and provide your daytime contact info and a few words about your decision.

michaellno

Hoo boy, does she really dislike my L300 .. I got a call from her asking how to manually change the station on the radio so that her iPod FM transmitter will work ... then she gets all fussy about the climate control and how does she make warm air go to her feet ...

Maybe I'll just go out and trade it on an Aveo with crank windows and an AM radio....

boomchek

A nice 2001 Mercedes Benz C240 came in on trade yesterday and looks like I'm gonna pick it up, and get rid of my Civic. I like the way it drives, and it's in decent shape for a decent price, and my fiancee loves it too.

Just not sure about reliability as we have a wedding coming up next year and this car will cost me $100 more a month, but I'm tempted. :confuse:

akangl

I took it for its first oil change last week. The attendant asked me if there's anything else they should check out for me. .... there wasn't. The car has been completely and utterly trouble-free. Not that I EXPECT any problems in 8k miles, but I guess my wife's Chrysler and my 350Z just got me used to saying "yeah, while you're at it, its been doing this weird thing ...."


Sounds like me. Took my Dodge in for its first oil change (7500 miles) yesterday and they asked if there was anything else other than the broken driver's side window (don't ask). I said nope, the truck is totally trouble free. They said I'm the only one who complains about having a trouble free truck, lol, well, not really complains, but its a new thing for me after the Titan.

Heck, the truck isn't even quirky, it does everything I ask, everytime I ask with no drama. Now hubby's Ram is a different story, it brings new meaning to the word QUIRKY!! They are like siblings, mine is good, his is evil, lol.

boomchek

so should I give up my 1 year old Civic for a 5 year old Benz for $100/month more?

Reliability vs Style hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

kyfdx

For a C-Class? Nope.. not unless it is a C43 AMG...

zodiac2004

so should I give up my 1 year old Civic for a 5 year old Benz for $100/month more?

Reliability vs Style hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

For a 100 bucks more a month.....

What the heck are you thinking!!!!

Oh my god, DO IT.

If you come back and say you passed on it, we may have to banish you from CCBA :P :P

fintail

Canadian C240....does it have hubcaps?

Those cars can have a few wiring/electrical defects, be sure to have it looked over by a specialist.

boomchek

Yeah it's the C240 Classic, the base model with hubcaps, but it has a partially power seat, cd changer, power everything.

If I get it it would put me on track with 1 car a year average (it would be my 9th car in 9 years of driving).

I'll know by monday. :confuse:

woodyww

I wouldn't. Maybe if you could trade for even $$ it'd be worth it. The M-B has no warranty, the repairs & maintenence are going to cost way more than a Honda, esp. an almost-new one, & the depreciation is probably going to be a lot steeper.

Esp. not if you have to finance it. Unless you really know what you're doing in buying a 5 y.o. M-B.....maybe you do? Hard to judge w/o more details on the cars & the actual trade/deal.

boomchek

That's what i'm worried about. I'm leasing my Civic (100% tax write off). I broke even on it so it won't cost me anything to get into the Benz except the $100/month more.

It would be a 2 year in-house lease on the Benz. The problem is I would only have 1 year powertrain warranty on the Benz, and if something goes haywire the second year like a tranny, :sick: I'd be hooped whereas on the Civic I know I have 99% reliability.

Also my 1 year old Civic has 39000km, (26000 miles), and the Benz has a 147000kms (90000 miles).

kyfdx

I would argue that the Civic is the nicer car... straight up...

boomchek

The Civic is more peace of mind but I'm bored of it now. The Benz also has full maintenance history.

british_rover

Find out if the C-Class was made in Brazil or Germany. The Brazilian ones are atually better then the german ones.

fintail

Those miles have me scared.

If you have no record of transmission servcing, walk away based on that alone.

I'd be keepin the Civic, I think. If you really want a MB, look for a cherished lower miles example.

boomchek

Thanks guys, I'm still weighing out the options. I'll look into those things tommorow. Don't want to end up with a lemon :lemon:

growwise

The Civic is more peace of mind but I'm bored of it now

There is something about a civic which does that to you.. I think Honda is going for the holy grail on the fuel economy with civic. It makes an excellent commuter car for work and weekend trips to grocery. Its good for small family. Just dont expect it to be an Accord.

BTW, I saw a black on black loaded 07 CRV EX-L with leather etc.. Its one handsome cute ute which will give Rav4 run for its money... not withstanding the lack of v6/third row seat. I guess it makes up with better hatch door and spare location and interior refinement.