Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

qbrozen

carnaught said:

BRELD, are those gills or slots on the console for coins, tolls, and the like?

Oh, that's to stick in multiple credit cards whenever a warning light comes on the dash.

breld

stever said:

lol, guess I'm not the only one curious about those slots. Someone over at Yahoo says "its an interior pollen and charcoal filter intake"

Maybe you can stick a butter knife in there and see what gives?

Thanks for clearing up the confusion on the mysterious gills! I'll pass on the butter knife test.

breld

qbrozen said:

good grief, even my base model Honda Fit has a USB port. That's really surprising to me.

Does yours have the tech package? Wondering if that adds USB or not. The website says "ipod integration," which may or may not mean usb.

Since I was there, I priced one how I'd want it, which is to say everything except the Black Optic package. $56,775. Ouch. That's a pricey compact.

Yup, it has the tech package. And nope, still no USB ports. It has a proprietary plug that, of course, requires a special cord that "adapts" to an Apple plug. I believe Audi/VW is finally putting in the USB ports with some of their new 2016 models. I'll go old school with a dual USB car charger plug-in thingamajig and call it good.

Yeah, definitely the priciest car I've purchased since my '07 530xi, and I swore I'd only go used on luxury makes since then. But I looked at several 2013 S4s, targeting somewhere in the 20k's for mileage - they all were going for low $40k's. For three model years old, just didn't make much sense to me. Incidentally, I did get the S4 right around dealer invoice.

And, compared to the 428i Gran Coupe I was considering, it actually seemed like a relatively good bang for your buck. Performance-wise, it seems to get the better of the 335/435s, at a 328/428 price.

stickguy

Jetta has an MMI plug in the center console. The cable that comes with it has an old style iPod connector on the end. For my daughter, I got a basic adapter that went from the 32 pin (I think 32! The big plug) to a lightening end for her phone. The also make ones that have a USB plug on the end. Old school, but gets the job done.

Michaell

stickguy said:

Jetta has an MMI plug in the center console. The cable that comes with it has an old style iPod connector on the end. For my daughter, I got a basic adapter that went from the 32 pin (I think 32! The big plug) to a lightening end for her phone. The also make ones that have a USB plug on the end. Old school, but gets the job done.

Technically, the old Apple connector was 30 pin, but close enough. And, my daughter has the same type of adapter in her MINI for her iPhone.

xwesx

slorenzen said:

This coming from a guy that owns a '69 Chevy pick-'em-up truck!

Wait, are you saying that doesn't bolster my credibility!? Because, honestly, I can't remember the last time I touched anything on the dash of that truck aside from the lighting and wiper knobs.

Sandman6472

So if I got one of those adapters from Amazon, I should be o k then. Not the cleanest solution but it'll work I guess. Seriously, VW should retrofit all 2015 model owners who ask for it. In this day and age, especially with the 2015 being a brand new model, this "mistake" is really dumb and they should make it right for folks who want one!! Disappointed in VW here!!

The Sandman :@

Sandman6472

Just on Amazon.com but having an issue finding what I need. Anyone know??

The Sandman

Sandman6472

Stick, if you look in my profile, you will see my newest email address. If you could email the name of the product you got for the Jetta, it would be helpful. I think my Golf has the same thing in the of the lower dash in a compartment...sales guy said it just plugs right into the old style iPod with the original plug. Think I will need the same adaptor that you bought...a real shame VW did this.
Thanks!!

The Sandman

stickguy

well, if they put in a new style plug, people with the old style would complain!

stickguy

Sandy, I sent you a message through Edmunds. you should see it in your inbox up above..

Michaell

Have to relay a story to you about a co-worker from the pizza place where I work.

He has a daughter who is ready to go off to college. She's chosen a school in Canton, NY - very close to the Canadian border.

Mom and dad are driving her out - not quite 1800 miles, according to Google Maps.

They plan to do the drive straight through - 48 hours. Switching drivers every few hours.

Leave Friday morning, arrive Sunday, which is freshman orientation and the first day they can move into the dorms.

Then turn around and come home.

Oh dear.

I like me a road trip but that seems a bit extreme.

Sandman6472

What model did you get for you daughter? And did you get it on amazon.com? Think I would need a similar one I would imagine?

The Sandman

qbrozen

Michaell said:

Have to relay a story to you about a co-worker from the pizza place where I work.

He has a daughter who is ready to go off to college. She's chosen a school in Canton, NY - very close to the Canadian border.

Mom and dad are driving her out - not quite 1800 miles, according to Google Maps.

They plan to do the drive straight through - 48 hours. Switching drivers every few hours.

Leave Friday morning, arrive Sunday, which is freshman orientation and the first day they can move into the dorms.

Then turn around and come home.

Oh dear.

I like me a road trip but that seems a bit extreme.

yikes. I'd put my kid on a plane and mail his clothes. Only way I'd make that drive is if there were cool places to see along the way and actually take several days to do it.

Michaell

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

Have to relay a story to you about a co-worker from the pizza place where I work.

He has a daughter who is ready to go off to college. She's chosen a school in Canton, NY - very close to the Canadian border.

Mom and dad are driving her out - not quite 1800 miles, according to Google Maps.

They plan to do the drive straight through - 48 hours. Switching drivers every few hours.

Leave Friday morning, arrive Sunday, which is freshman orientation and the first day they can move into the dorms.

Then turn around and come home.

Oh dear.

I like me a road trip but that seems a bit extreme.

yikes. I'd put my kid on a plane and mail his clothes. Only way I'd make that drive is if there were cool places to see along the way and actually take several days to do it.

I'll be interested in hearing how it goes when he gets back next week. Most direct route goes through Canada.

stever

Whew - did quite a few 20 hour straight trips to get from MS to CO in one day or back. And a ~50 hour bus trips to get to CA. But that was in my late teens/20s. Eight hours in a car is a long day anymore.

stickguy

I thought 8+ was long for a 3 day round trip. That far, they fly!

stickguy

Sandy, I got a different cable with a new iPhone (lightning) plug on the end, but it works the same as the links I sent. As long as it fas a 30 pin female end to connect to the cable that came with the car, and you can plug into the other end, should work. I believe all the ones I gave you will, just depends what plug you want on the end

Best buy might have what you need in the store if you want personal assistance.

henryn

stever said:

Whew - did quite a few 20 hour straight trips to get from MS to CO in one day or back. And a ~50 hour bus trips to get to CA. But that was in my late teens/20s. Eight hours in a car is a long day anymore.

Back in the day, 1970, I did Beaumont, TX to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in one straight shot. This was in a 1957 Ford that I paid $100 for. As I recall, that was about 17 hours. These days, I need a pit stop at least every two hours. And if I did 17 hours on the road, I would probably have to spend a week in the hospital to recuperate.

stever

I was fortunate enough to have access to reliable VW Bugs for most of my late '60s road trips. Did MS to AK in a Bug in '73, but took six weeks for that. Packing Bugs for those trips served me well when I took up backpacking in the late 70s.

breld

Driving around the country at a leisurely pace when we're retired is something my wife and I are looking forward to. Doing it on a strict schedule would not be so fun.

I'm loving the current month's issues of the car magazines, where they preview the upcoming cars. Of course, it was a much bigger deal back in the day before the internet - nowadays the printed information is stale before it's issued.

Having said that, I was reading through one of them this morning and thought "it's about time" as I read Infiniti is bringing a 4 cyl turbo to the Q50 (as well as a turbo 6 in two flavors). Also read that Lexus will also offer their 4 cyl turbo in the updated GS, which I find ironic since one of the advertising campaigns recently poked fun at the German competitors for coming standard with "only" a 4 cylinder.

rayainsw

' I would probably have to spend a week in the hospital to recuperate.'
A co-worker did a few long driving stints recently,
taking daughter to college [ freshman ] and so forth.
Ended up this past Sunday evening at the ER, with
blood clots in his lungs.
- Ray
Just sayin' ....

au1994

stever said:

Whew - did quite a few 20 hour straight trips to get from MS to CO in one day or back. And a ~50 hour bus trips to get to CA. But that was in my late teens/20s. Eight hours in a car is a long day anymore.

At 6+ hours I start evaluating drive vs fly...ticket price, can I get there in non stop etc. My vacation time is too valuable to me to 'lose' a day in the car. I love driving as much as the next person on here but completely agree, as I have aged my time and wear and tear on me are more important.

stever

For the last three or four years, I've been able to work and drive using a hotspot in the car. I think I'm about done with driving through the flatlands to visit family in Chattanooga though. (Famous last words....)

roadburner

I drove from Fort Worth to Louisville in one shot, but I was driving a B7...

au1994

rayainsw said:

' I would probably have to spend a week in the hospital to recuperate.'
A co-worker did a few long driving stints recently,
taking daughter to college [ freshman ] and so forth.
Ended up this past Sunday evening at the ER, with
blood clots in his lungs.
- Ray
Just sayin' ....

That scares me. I fly a lot.

robr2

St. Lawrence I presume??

Michaell

robr2 said:

St. Lawrence I presume??

I believe so ... that's the only higher education place in the town.

fezo

Now I'm considering a 9 hour each way trip to get a cat and I will tell you those folks are nuts!

robr2

Michaell said:

St. Lawrence I presume??

I believe so ... that's the only higher education place in the town.

SUNY has a campus there as well. I know a couple of people with kids there. One left this AM to drop his daughter off at STL. He is in NH so was going north over Lake Champlain. 

Sandman6472

Thanks Stick, since I have an android phone, will need the micro connection on the other end to fit. Yes, going into Best Buy is probably easier so I can see things right there. Luckily, I have that little square charger that works pretty rapidly. Also have multiple car chargers but since one of them blew the fuse, am unsettled about using it. At this juncture, really don't need to do anything and when I do go up north, I will just use the best option I have here.
As of now, booked into a La Quinta Inn at the Westchester airport since it turns out, the reunion will be held near there and they have rooms available. All I need to do now is make a plane reservation and that'll be that. Waiting till we're at the 6 week out point, which will be very soon.

The Sandman

stickguy

the cable in the car does charge also.

benjaminh

I think Minis are nice looking cars, and if you can avoid the option are almost the middle-class person's BMW. But the reliability and build quality of these little gems apparently still leaves something to be desired, which cures me of the desire of wanting to own one. Check out the mass of warranty work this Mini driven by Car and Driver had done:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2014-mini-cooper-s-hardtop-long-term-update-review

WHAT WENT WRONG: Our Mini’s suspension began talking to us. A lot. Starting at 16,564 miles, an annoying “snap/click/gronk” manifested as we navigated the speed bumps in front of C/D’s palatial headquarters. The dealer tightened a loose fuel-line bracket and cleaned a strut that was full of crud. But the noise continued. At 17,748 miles, the dealer replaced all of the suspension bolts and torqued the replacements to spec. The left anti-roll-bar link also was replaced, and so were both lower control arms. That seemed to do the trick until 18,824 miles, when the racket resumed. This time, the right lower control arm was replaced, as were both rear shocks. Finally, silence. All of that work cost us nothing.

At 15,766 miles, we also had an issue with the driver’s seatback, which refused to stay in position. Its internal gears were judged to be stripped, so the seatback frame was replaced under warranty.

All this in addition to the oil leak at 10,960 miles, which we documented in our last update.

So. No damage to our wallets, but that’s still a lot of to-and-fro turmoil in the span of 25,000 miles. And then, as if to add an exclamation mark, the OE wheels’ center caps started falling off, although this might have been the fault of ravaged Montana tertiary roads, so we’re inclined to let it pass. No such pass for the hatchback’s rear parcel shelf, however, which rattled so fiercely that it’s now enjoying its new home on a garage shelf. Finally, the Mini badge on the liftgate fell into the dirt. We glued the thing back on ourselves. Take that.

xwesx

benjaminh said:

So. No damage to our wallets, but that’s still a lot of to-and-fro turmoil in the span of 25,000 miles.

25,000 miles?! Who would keep a car that long?

akangl

xwesx said:

benjaminh said:

So. No damage to our wallets, but that’s still a lot of to-and-fro turmoil in the span of 25,000 miles.

25,000 miles?! Who would keep a car that long?

My '14 Explorer must be old then.....it will be turning 40k very soon, our '12 Focus has 66k, '01 Silverado 125k, and the '15 Focus had 1599 miles on it the last time I saw it.

xwesx

akangl said:

My '14 Explorer must be old then.....it will be turning 40k very soon, our '12 Focus has 66k, '01 Silverado 125k, and the '15 Focus had 1599 miles on it the last time I saw it.

For you?! Yeah, your Explorer is definitely getting old! Hahah. IIRC, your husband does a pretty decent job of miling up his cars, so that one doesn't count.

We have 86K on our '10 Forester now, and the 08 I just bought has 128K, but that doesn't really count since I have only added four (K) of them.

stickguy

My 2013 RDX turns 3 in about 3 weeks. Haven't quite cracked 32k yet.

Michaell

stickguy said:

My 2013 RDX turns 3 in about 3 weeks. Haven't quite cracked 32k yet.

I'm closing in on 31K on my Elantra in less than 22 months.

stickguy

I'm closing in on 6k in 9.5 months on my sonata. But that will be doing a 1k trip this weekend delivering rest of junk to my daughter in NC. She took enough in the Jetta that I don't need the RDX for the overflow. So save on gas, and keep miles off the "good" car that is going to be around long term. Gotta nurse those tires as long as possible!

jpp75

The Volvo hit 5k this week, glad I didn't have to put those miles on the Pathfinder. An oil change will be due in a couple of months due to time, not mileage.

stever

Sorry, I don't get it. You buy something, you should use it. Especially this crowd, where y'all flip 'em so often anyway. Even more so since we're talking an asset that's going down in value just from the passage of time - what's the worry with putting on some miles?

stickguy

I am paying for miles on the lease regardless, Those I want to use. More miles on the owned car costs me money and it won't last as long.

Plus the sonata is fancier and better MPG!

jpp75

stever said:

Sorry, I don't get it. You buy something, you should use it. Especially this crowd, where y'all flip 'em so often anyway. Even more so since we're talking an asset that's going down in value just from the passage of time - what's the worry with putting on some miles?

For me it's more about "they don't make them like that anymore"

There will never be another 2002 Pathfinder so I want to keep it going as long as possible. It has 152K on it, take away the Volvo and the mistake of a Fusion Energi and it would have 161K miles, I'm trying to keep it going as long as possible.

@nyccarguy can relate with his Prelude.

stever

lol, you're talking to a guy pushing 155,000 on his current ride - I'm the one who should be worried about how long a car will last.

xwesx

I definitely see the concern regarding miles, and I must admit that I am trying to "nurse" our 2010 Forester to limit miles currently due to the fact that it has a 7/100 warranty, and I want to maximize, um, mileage on it. We're about thirteen months from the seven-year mark on that car, so with fourteen thousand miles to go, I think we were successful as we should be really close to 100K when we hit that seven year mark.

My biggest concern on that car is head gaskets (which are leaking a bit now), and wear on those is a function of time and use. But, run it 1,000 miles in one day and the wear and tear on those HGs is lower than that same 1,000 miles over a month with many small runs.

In addition, I don't like to put many miles on my 69 Chevy pickup or my 69 Econoline because those, like with the Pathfinder, will just age with use in an irreparable way. Therefore, I use them intentionally, for lack of a better descriptor.

Conversely, my "new" car has 128K on it, and I don't have any issues at all miling it up all I want, regardless of how long I choose to keep it. Why? Because it doesn't have any important value to me. I will keep it in good running condition, but if I use it up, no problem. The thing is totalled anyway, so it isn't like I'll be losing some sort of unique treasure when the day comes to let it go.

There's a certain pride I take in putting miles on my cars, too. Call me strange, but when I have a car with >200K miles on it that is still in top condition (e.g., I'd take it anywhere), I feel good about that. "300,000, here we come!" Once the extended warranty on the '10 expires next year, there will be no holding back. Plus, I think we're due for another transcontinental (or, at least another trip to America) next year....

Sandman6472

With just over 9 months of ownership, hit 9K today on the way home. Looks like I'll get around 12K this year which is quite reasonable for the distance I drive to my part time gig. Am looking to transfer to an office closer to home but so far, not going anywhere. Have a service scheduled on the 14th, the 10K service, so all is good. An outside chance that we'll be driving to New York in October...but very slight. Probably will just fly up for the long weekend solo and do the reunion thing. Depending on how many relatives I want to see will be the time I stay there but right now, going from a Thursday through a Tuesday though Wednesday might be more realistic. Still need to touch base with some folks to see if they even care to see The Sandman.
Being a Hertz employee, I hope they hook me up with a decent vehicle. I guess it starts to get a bit chilly around Columbus Day there...been a Floridian since 1969 so have forgotten how the fall weather is.

The Sandman

nyccarguy

Other than my legacy's lackluster acceleration, I really have no issues or complaints about the car. I'm happy with it. It is definitely the perfect vehicle for my needs. It fits a Britax Marathon car seat and 2 Graco high back booster seats, so I can take my wife's Pollt whenever I need it.

houdini1

xwesx said:

I definitely see the concern regarding miles, and I must admit that I am trying to "nurse" our 2010 Forester to limit miles currently due to the fact that it has a 7/100 warranty, and I want to maximize, um, mileage on it. We're about thirteen months from the seven-year mark on that car, so with fourteen thousand miles to go, I think we were successful as we should be really close to 100K when we hit that seven year mark.

My biggest concern on that car is head gaskets (which are leaking a bit now), and wear on those is a function of time and use. But, run it 1,000 miles in one day and the wear and tear on those HGs is lower than that same 1,000 miles over a month with many small runs.

In addition, I don't like to put many miles on my 69 Chevy pickup or my 69 Econoline because those, like with the Pathfinder, will just age with use in an irreparable way. Therefore, I use them intentionally, for lack of a better descriptor.

Conversely, my "new" car has 128K on it, and I don't have any issues at all miling it up all I want, regardless of how long I choose to keep it. Why? Because it doesn't have any important value to me. I will keep it in good running condition, but if I use it up, no problem. The thing is totalled anyway, so it isn't like I'll be losing some sort of unique treasure when the day comes to let it go.

There's a certain pride I take in putting miles on my cars, too. Call me strange, but when I have a car with >200K miles on it that is still in top condition (e.g., I'd take it anywhere), I feel good about that. "300,000, here we come!" Once the extended warranty on the '10 expires next year, there will be no holding back. Plus, I think we're due for another transcontinental (or, at least another trip to America) next year....

I'm surprised that these guys haven't revoked your membership !!

stickguy

Sandy: I95 sucks. Fly to ny.

roadburner

The Punch That Wasn't

So, on Friday my wife and I discussed the Mustang GT we looked at; we decided it was a great deal and that if I wasn't in love with it after a year or two I would probably be able to flip it for a fairly decent price.We were going to Cincy today to get it. Except that it had sold.
Which means a Mustang will probably never wind up in the garage, as my extremely limited budget takes the 2016 GT off the table. My wife and I agree that it has to be a Premium GT, the Performance Package is obviously non-negotiable, and the upgraded sound system is needed to keep my teeth from gritting due to the lo-fi standard system. A new 2016 GT so equipped invoices at about $3,500 higher than the car I was looking at, and it doesn't have the longer warranty.
What about an EcoBoost Premium? No way in H*ll; apart from my belief that a Ponycar with less than eight cylinders is a crime against humanity-akin to a Miata with a slushbox-the EcoBoost Mustang is slower than my eight year old Mazda when it was stock. That's beyond embarrassing.