Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

I heard that the towable seats were much less comfortable than full sized ones? Though I can't recall ever sitting in them.

stever

I've heard that too (mostly from @isellhondas, lol). They seem fine to me - I've done many hours in the middle row when my wife drives and someone else is riding shotgun. Something about having the seat back in front of me helps ease the glare when I play on the tablet or laptop.

Come to think of it, the driver's seat is less comfy than the one in the Quest was, even though it's got all the fancy power settings.

breld

I really liked that the second row seats in the Odyssey that could be pulled out altogether. Doing so creates a huge "box" to haul things in.

IMO, Kia overthought it on the Sedona - the second row folds forward and "up" so that the whole seat is up against the front seats. The issues are 1) even folded up, the seats take up about a foot or so of space; it's rare that we've needed that extra space, but when you do... and 2) folding the seats forward is much more difficult than it should be, requiring both hands (one to pull the lever and one to push the seats up or down) and more strength than reasonable.

qbrozen

Don't the Sedona seats also come out, though? Or is that not an option? I liked their setup better than the other choices, save Chrysler. The thought of having no option other than removing them completely is silly, IMHO, and a major reason why we have a Chrysler.

ab348

I always thought one of the best options was that used by VW on the Golf and likely other makes as well - the ability to flip the rear seat cushion forward, then fold down the backrest to make a perfectly flat floor. Resulted in a huge cargo hold.

stever

Had that on my Outback, but for a long road trip, I took the rear seat cushion out. Just wanted the extra room, and having the seat cushion forward blocks access a bit for your copilot when they are trying to dig something out of the cooler for you when you are cruising down the road.

stickguy

I never took the middle seats out of the Odyssey. So much room with rear seat stowed, never needed to! I did fold the setbacks down if I had something bulky to carry like a bookcase.

Michaell

ab348 said:

I always thought one of the best options was that used by VW on the Golf and likely other makes as well - the ability to flip the rear seat cushion forward, then fold down the backrest to make a perfectly flat floor. Resulted in a huge cargo hold.

My Elantra GT has that option .. the only problem is that you have to bring the front seats forward a bit to allow the rear cushion to fold forward.

Also, the rear headrests have to be removed in order for this to work in my car; they don't fold out of the way as I've seen in other makes.

breld

qbrozen said:

Don't the Sedona seats also come out, though? Or is that not an option? I liked their setup better than the other choices, save Chrysler. The thought of having no option other than removing them completely is silly, IMHO, and a major reason why we have a Chrysler.

No - the seats don't come out on the Sedona. If they did, that'd be perfect - just fold up most of the time, but take them out when you need the extra room.

henryn

I prefer driving the Odyssey, but it is just too darn big (read WIDE). Very difficult to fit in tight parking spaces in parking garages. The Chrysler is much narrower, much easier to park. And I like, really like, the stowable seats. But there's no way to own one without dealing with a Mopar dealer, and that's something I promised myself I would never do again.

Chrysler and Chase Bank are on my "never again" list.

qbrozen

I know the wife wants an SUV, but I couldn't help being the high bidder on this. We'll see what happens.

stickguy

Interesting. Looks nice. But not sure I would want to deal with orphan Saab issues. You are braver than me though!

Mr_Shiftright

CARFAX says it's a one-owner. Anyway, these are a lot better than 90s Saabs.

robr2

That Saab is really nice.

Saab service is actually pretty easy. The successful dealers that sold them new still support repairs and trades. There is a complete supply of parts out there. IMHO, it's a great buy.

corvette

Congrats, qb! That is a lot of car for the money. We now have 29 punches for the year. 

The middle seats in the Yukon don't come out, but tumble forward when you press a button. Very handy but they can get in the way if you're hauling something big. 

ab348

Mr_Shiftright said:

CARFAX says it's a one-owner. Anyway, these are a lot better than 90s Saabs.

I always liked those Saab wagons and that one seems pretty good. What is that engine though? A 2.3T couldn't be a GM engine, could it? Is that unique to Saab? Might be scary.

corvette

Hmm, I thought they used the 2.0t on both the 9-3 and the 9-5. You almost never see a V6. 

nyccarguy

Companies are nuts with tires & liability.  I shopped prices for tires (2) for my wife's Pilot.  Costco had the best price.  They don't have the tires in stock & have to order them.  OK.  Tire mgr tells me that if the other 2 tires are more than 50% worn they will only replace 4 tires.  With 40K on the Michelins I know they are more than 50% worn, but I bring it to Costco anyway for them to check before they order the tires.  Tread depth measures right above the 4/32 mark.  He says they'll only put 4 tires on my Pilot.

kyfdx

nyccarguy said:

Companies are nuts with tires & liability.  I shopped prices for tires (2) for my wife's Pilot.  Costco had the best price.  They don't have the tires in stock & have to order them.  OK.  Tire mgr tells me that if the other 2 tires are more than 50% worn they will only replace 4 tires.  With 40K on the Michelins I know they are more than 50% worn, but I bring it to Costco anyway for them to check before they order the tires.  Tread depth measures right above the 4/32 mark.  He says they'll only put 4 tires on my Pilot.

Costco has great prices on tires... waiting for a new set to come in, right now.

But, they are a pain, if you want something a little different. Bought Pilot Super Sports for my son's car, last year. His car uses a size that is only available in crappy tires, so we used the alternate size. But, that size is a 225, while the stock is 235. Fortunately, I was having them mounted on loose wheels. The Costco guy said they wouldn't have put them on, if they were installing on the car, because the tire was narrower than stock.

slorenzen

nyccarguy said:

Companies are nuts with tires & liability.  I shopped prices for tires (2) for my wife's Pilot.  Costco had the best price.  They don't have the tires in stock & have to order them.  OK.  Tire mgr tells me that if the other 2 tires are more than 50% worn they will only replace 4 tires.  With 40K on the Michelins I know they are more than 50% worn, but I bring it to Costco anyway for them to check before they order the tires.  Tread depth measures right above the 4/32 mark.  He says they'll only put 4 tires on my Pilot.

Maybe due to it being AWD, perhaps?

I do like the fact that Costco uses nitrogen in their tires. I bought a set of Michelins for the wife's accord, and they were literally $400 cheaper than another store for the same tires.

nyccarguy

A few weeks ago the TPM on my Mom's Cayenne said the RR tire was low.  Dad put the spare on and she went to the dealer.  The service mgr tells her (& me after I got in the phone) that Porsche as a company does not allow the dealers to plug up or repair tires due to the high performance nature of their vehicles.  Dude, gimme a break.  It is a V6 Cayenne being driven by a 67 year old grandmother

qbrozen

corvette said:

Congrats, qb! That is a lot of car for the money. We now have 29 punches for the year. 

The middle seats in the Yukon don't come out, but tumble forward when you press a button. Very handy but they can get in the way if you're hauling something big. 

Oh, not so fast. Still a long way to go on that auction and I have already been outbid. I did not yet put in my top offer though.

qbrozen

ab348 said:

CARFAX says it's a one-owner. Anyway, these are a lot better than 90s Saabs.

I always liked those Saab wagons and that one seems pretty good. What is that engine though? A 2.3T couldn't be a GM engine, could it? Is that unique to Saab? Might be scary.

I believe it is a 2.3, and a potent one at that with 260hp. The trans should be an aisin warner unit like Volvo. 

Sandman6472

Drove a few new Sedona's at work and they really are a great minivan, blows the others away right now. Like the looks of the front fascia better than almost anything out there and felt more upscale than it was sitting behind the wheel. And Hertz doesn't even get the top of the line model on the one's they buy.
Drove a brand new Town & Country today, 60 miles on it and all was good. Then got into a new Sante Fe with 75 miles on the clock. Again, very nice vehicle. Can not wait to drive the 2016 Tucson just to see how they changed the interior. Like the new exterior much better and hope they spruced up a few things inside. Sure we'll be getting some any day now. Turns out, my office picked up a couple Town & Country's and a Sante Fe last week, the one's I drove today come to find out.
Down in Miami today where they get the new vehicles ready and saw a bunch of new Souls, Jeep Renegades, Sante Fes, Mustangs plus a couple other models. Liked the Renegades, a lot, but the mileage was pretty sucky but the interior looked nice through the window. Just hope we get some soon so I can test things out.
And then I get in my Golf to go home...and all is well with the world!!!

The Sandman

Sandman6472

Saw my profile and says I joined "in 2009" which I know is bogus, more like 2000 or 2001. How can we tell exactly when we did join? Seen a few others with much older dates and just want things to be shown correctly here! Tend to be a "devil for the details" in a lot of things in life. Guess it's a fault of mine, one of many I'm sure!

The Sandman

qbrozen

There is a date none of us predate because they switched servers and reset all of us. Can't remember offhand and I'm on my phone right now which makes it tough to check but April 2004 is ringing a bell.

Edit: oh weird. I just checked and mine is Oct 1999 now. Hell, that might actually be correct since that is 1 year before I got married.

qbrozen

Am I crazy for liking this? I know it is just a Trailblazer but thats also a good thing for parts/service. It is also quite a cheap suv:
http://m.cars.com/vehicledetail/#vdp?listingId=651048149

This is also quite inexpensive:
 http://m.cars.com/vehicledetail/#vdp?listingId=650311505

Sandman6472

Nothing comes up on those two sites you just posted...a blank page!!

The Sandman

Mr_Shiftright

I just checked those links. They're okay. You need a new computer sandman

nyccarguy

@explorerx4 - Did you post your F150 punch here on CCBA?  I know you got a 2014.  Can you give us some more details?  I dig the blacked out look on a pickup

corvette

Sandy, if you have an ad blocker installed, try temporarily turning it off, that worked for me.

qb, punch (temporarily) deleted. Keep us posted. That 9-7x looks nice, but I'd rather have the rarer V8. I think the 2006+ has stability control but the 2005 does not.

I don't get the obsession with Costco tires. Discount Tire has a much broader network for flat repair/replacement and are also very reasonably priced. Whatever program Discount Tire has for customer service training is top-notch. I've always been impressed there.

This is grumpy old man territory, but I actually don't get the obsession with Costco in general. My parents have a membership. I made a trip with them and spent about $75. Got some decent refrigerated soup, very cheap light beer, several years' supply of dental floss, and some cheap, subpar Kirkland Signature toilet paper. The checkout lines were long and the customers were borderline feral, parking carts in the middle of the aisle so that nobody can get by. It was like Sam's Club, only worse. I will gladly pay a little more for the convenience of shopping at Target or Kroger.

stickguy

Q, the SAAB is not bad looking. but you have to drive a trialblazer. Not something I am willing to do.

the mazda, that is nice looking. given a choice, I am absolutely taking that one. Would have been an interesting idea for my daughter, and I would be all over it for myself if I needed something!

looks like a pretty good buy. I am driving practically right past there Wednesday evening. I could stop and scope. My wife will just "love" that!

ab348

corvette said:

This is grumpy old man territory, but I actually don't get the obsession with Costco in general. My parents have a membership. I made a trip with them and spent about $75. Got some decent refrigerated soup, very cheap light beer, several years' supply of dental floss, and some cheap, subpar Kirkland Signature toilet paper. The checkout lines were long and the customers were borderline feral, parking carts in the middle of the aisle so that nobody can get by. It was like Sam's Club, only worse. I will gladly pay a little more for the convenience of shopping at Target or Kroger.

I think it depends on how much "stuff" you consume. I had a membership for a year once and never really used it too much as a single guy. I did buy a car battery in their auto center but other than that stuff was just too big for me in terms of the pack size. I know that in places where they can sell booze it is usually the cheapest around. And they have stuff that comes in one time only that can be a screaming deal if it is what you need at that moment. But I absolutely hated the crowds and especially the cart/receipt inspection on the way out the door.

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

Companies are nuts with tires & liability.  I shopped prices for tires (2) for my wife's Pilot.  Costco had the best price.  They don't have the tires in stock & have to order them.  OK.  Tire mgr tells me that if the other 2 tires are more than 50% worn they will only replace 4 tires.  With 40K on the Michelins I know they are more than 50% worn, but I bring it to Costco anyway for them to check before they order the tires.  Tread depth measures right above the 4/32 mark.  He says they'll only put 4 tires on my Pilot.

4/32? Just put new tires on it all around. It will be wanting them soon enough anyway, so you're not really deferring the cost for very long.

Honestly, I can't remember the last time I ran a set of tires to 4/32 - may be on my '96 Outback. I usually replace "summer" tires at 5/32, and winters at six or seven (depends on the timing of the wear and the overall performance of the tire as the season ends).

IF you want to avoid the cost, just take your tires off the car and have new tires mounted on the rims. As with a court of law, anything you say can and will be used against you.

I wouldn't want that much difference in tread depth, though. It puts quite a bit of extra strain on the center differential of those AWD systems (when it is engaged, that is. I don't think Pilot is full-time like a Subaru).

stickguy

yeah, at 4/32 and 40K, I would do them all too.

corvette

If they are at 4/32", they will be terrible in the snow this winter. Right now, they are iffy in the rain, and they will be at the legal minimum tread depth within 5-10,000 miles. I've never run any tires to 4/32", when they wore evenly. I second the notion to replace all of them.

nyccarguy

You guys got me worried now.  I'D notice if the tires were almost shot.  The Pilit still drives well.  I'm going to go & use tire rack's tread depth guide and report back.  

Speaking of low, I've got to go gas up the Legacy of I want to make it to work tomorrow.

corvette

You can get a digital tire tread depth gauge to confirm for yourself.

It's 11:20 PM, I'm not able to go refuel my vehicle (and it's not just because Kroger Fuel is closed).

28firefighter

I just gassed up myself. Spent the entire time answering questions from a 17 year old drooling over my car. I didn't think anyone cared?

Also, found out the GTI had a shocking small "usable" tank - I was just under quarter of a tank and it only took 9.2 gallons. 

stickguy

that is a drawback to the small car. small tank. Just at VW, the Golf, Jetta and Passat all use the same 1.8T engine. real world (especially highway) get pretty much the same MPG. Yet the Golf has a 13.2ish, Jetta is 14.1 and Passat is 18.5.

huge difference for the Passat.

you get the worst of it. the small economy car tank, but a thirstier engine!

28firefighter

I'm actually not that disappointed. By my back of the napkin math I saw 26 mpg in mixed city and highway driving on my first tank. I was not taking it easy, either...

stever

ab348 said:

I think it depends on how much "stuff" you consume.

I have to go to El Paso to hit a Costco, and I mostly get almonds and pecans (go figure - we grow tons of pecans here but they are like $12 a pound). Also saved some on a car reservation through Costco travel.

The best part is that a friend puts me on his business card so it's free. Not really worth it to us otherwise, and even if there was one locally I doubt I'd join if I didn't get a free card.

kyfdx

sandman_6472 said:

Saw my profile and says I joined "in 2009" which I know is bogus, more like 2000 or 2001. How can we tell exactly when we did join? Seen a few others with much older dates and just want things to be shown correctly here! Tend to be a "devil for the details" in a lot of things in life. Guess it's a fault of mine, one of many I'm sure!

The Sandman

Sandy... IIRC, you lost your log-in and password at one point, and created another account.

robr2

@nyccarguy - check out Town Fair Tire. Their pricing is pretty good and they include a front end alignment. They will match other prices.

Also, consider brands other than Michelin. IMHO, they are overpriced. I've had excellent luck with Yokohama and Dunlop.

sda

From what I've read in Consumer Reports is that 4/32 is the time to replace tires, not at 2/32. Wet weather traction is greatly reduced below 4/32. Unfortunately it sounds like new tires are appropriate. I also have the Michelin LTX on our Pilot and have been happy with them. I might consider the Michelin Latitude next time as they were rated a little higher by CU than the LTX. But I don't think the tread design may be as snow friendly as the LTX

nyccarguy

Thanks everyone for your input.  I went back outside & measured myself using tire rack's "Quarter method."  If the top of President Washington's head is covered, then you have more than 4/32" tread depth.  President Washington's head wasn't covered.  Between that, the tire shop manager at Costco, & advice from you guys, I went online & ordered (4) tires from Costco.  They will be shipped to their warehouse and I will get a call once they come in to schedule the install.

@robr2 - I know the Michelins are more expensive, but I feel they are worth the extra cost.  They are worlds better than the crappy stock Goodyear Fortera HLs (completely shot at 31K miles) that came OEM on our Pilot.  I never called town fair.  They do advertise quite a bit, but I did call 2 honda dealers plus a local Good Year place that I've dealt with before as well as tire rack.  Costco was the cheapest. 

kyfdx

nyccarguy said:

Thanks everyone for your input.  I went back outside & measured myself using tire rack's "Quarter method."  If the top of President Washington's head is covered, then you have more than 4/32" tread depth.  President Washington's head wasn't covered.  Between that, the tire shop manager at Costco, & advice from you guys, I went online & ordered (4) tires from Costco.  They will be shipped to their warehouse and I will get a call once they come in to schedule the install.

@robr2 - I know the Michelins are more expensive, but I feel they are worth the extra cost.  They are worlds better than the crappy stock Goodyear Fortera HLs (completely shot at 31K miles) that came OEM on our Pilot.  I never called town fair.  They do advertise quite a bit, but I did call 2 honda dealers plus a local Good Year place that I've dealt with before as well as tire rack.  Costco was the cheapest. 

Ordered Bridgestone Duelers for my wife's X3. She has a [non-permissible content removed] tire size and runflats. The only two choices are the Bridgestones (which she currently has) and Pirellis. Costco was a full $230 cheaper, out the door, than my best quote anywhere else. Costco was always too far away to make it worth going there, over Sam's. But, they just opened a new location.. still not real close, but even with buying a membership, I'm $185 ahead.

62K miles on the current tires. If it wasn't winter coming up, could probably get another 5K out of them. Not bad.

Mr_Shiftright

one reason I don't buy tires at Costco is that they don't do alignments. Sometimes I can bargain a tire/alignment package that works out to be the same as buying separately from Costco and separately from an alignment shop.

sda

Mr_Shiftright said:

one reason I don't buy tires at Costco is that they don't do alignments. Sometimes I can bargain a tire/alignment package that works out to be the same as buying separately from Costco and separately from an alignment shop.

For 10+ years I have been a loyal customer of Discount Tire. They don't do alignments either. Once the new tires are installed I go directly to the dealer to have the alignment checked and done if needed. I feel better letting the dealer do the alignment as they know the car--at least I am assuming they do!

Mr_Shiftright

I usually order from Tire Rack and have them sent to a place I trust to do the alignment. You need special tools for the Mini Cooper (of course), which they have. They also give the front end a good look-over.

I'm at 125K. I'm really getting the itch for another car. Right now I'm debating used Porsche, or lease a new Mini or new Fiat Abarth. I have this budget and I'm stickin' to it. I generally like to pay cash for my cars so leasing is new to me. One thing I've learned is that no lease offer you read is what it seems to be. It's the new "dealer math". $179 a month is actually $250.