Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

suydam

You will be happiest if you go small if you will be off the main highways. Some of the roads in small villages in Portugal and Spain are literally paved goat paths. At one fabulous finca in Mallorca I could put my hand out the window and touch the stone wall to the right.

Sandman6472

The Versa tire pressure light is on and they suggested swapping it out...but they do not know which is the bad one. We did one a few years back as I recall so not sure what we'll do right now. We do need to fix it sometime. She has already over 75K on the clock and she drives a lot for work. We agreed that if it strands her more than once, we need to go and get her something newer. I think she should go with new but not necessarily a CVT tranny this time. I know it's boring as heck but the Toyota Corolla is a good choice for her, the "S" model. Should have all the recent tech stuff that she really wants and gets decent mileage. that or the Honda Civic would be another good choice, maybe even an HR-V. She needs "cheap to keep" and since her sis has the Accent, doubt she's want one. She's always liked the Elantra so that could be the right choice as they are sharp looking with the new model but it's really against Sandman's Rules, not buying a first year model. But hey, I did it in 2006 with the Civic and 2015 with the Golf. The wife also did it in 2015 with her A3. Not crazy about first year models, period!

The Sandman

sda

Our Pilot is at the dealer with an intermittent a/c issue. It is sometimes slow to blow cold, sometimes it blows cold and then stops. They checked the pressure, refrigerant level, relays, etc. and state that all checks out and that they can't duplicate the issue. Grrr. Keeping it overnight and will try again tomorrow. If they can't fix it, I believe the Pilot will be a short timer in our driveway. Doubt I will buy another Pilot as they didn't change much thru 2015 and I will not be purchasing a new one. Ford Flex, Lincoln MKT, Toyota Highlander are on my list for consideration, The wife has always liked the two tone Flex, but finding one with the sunroof is not easy. The Pilot has a bumper to bumper extended warranty so I hope they can figure it out. In the meantime the dealer did give me a loaner, a new CR-V EXL.

stickguy

Sandy, I would not worry too much about the Elantra. The powertrain is a carry over, and a lot of the rest of the car is borrowed from the Sonata. So not a whole lot really to have teething pains. IMO, but don't blame me if not!

If it helps, I got the new style Sonata only a few months after it came out, and it has been perfect. A sample size of 1!

corvette

Mr_Shiftright said:

If I were going to sink a boatload into an older vehicle, I would have a very thorough inspection done, and a price estimate for the entire laundry list. It adds up fast, even if there's nothing "wrong" with the car or truck. Tires, brakes, fluid flushes, struts, AC recharge, misc. small repairs---BAM you're in $2K--$3K already. And cosmetics haven't even been brought yet into the equation.

As The Talking Heads once said, Stop Making Sense. Tires and A/C are good, but it could use a brake flush. It also has a transmission issue that crops up if you redline the engine in second gear. Figure $1,000+ to repair that. Steering rack is seeping and will eventually need to be replaced. Maybe I'm not cut out for owning an older/higher mileage vehicle.

I figure I could buy up to a $30k-ish vehicle (at Carmax prices, with a Carmax extended warranty) and be breakeven over a hypothetical four year ownership period, given that the newer vehicle will not cost nearly as much in repairs (or have the frustrating repair frequency).

berri

Our Pilot is at the dealer with an intermittent a/c issue. It is sometimes slow to blow cold, sometimes it blows cold and then stops.

All this high tech approach to everything and I still haven't found an A/C system as good as the old GM ones that just had a couple of buttons and two levers.

stickguy

Berri. I want that too. I can't stand auto CC. my cars have it, and I still do what I can to turn it off. still, the temp keeps varying. I don't want to be blasted by hot for a while followed by cold. I like picking a temp, and that is the air that comes out. if I get too hot or cold, i can always turn the knob!

plus having outside air vents. those are nice.

berri

Auto A/C is particularly bad in those intermediate temps on a sunny day. It wants to turn on the heat while the sun is heating up the cabin and you want to cool it. They are just automating too much stuff on new cars. Drivers aren't idiots, but maybe Nanny state designers are . Do you label it all regress to the mean or lowest common denominator?

cdnpinhead

tifighter said:

Going to Portugal for 2 weeks at the end of April and am trying to decide what size car to rent. There are some interesting choices. The typical Megane "or similar" for $150/week, an A3 for $350/week, a 3-series for $450/wk, or an E-class for $600. And you can go up to a S-class. I will be driving only for 1 week of the trip, and was originally thinking smaller since the roads in the villages are tight. But the choices do give me some pause...

A3 diesel will please you, I think, given the prices of fuel over there. I get an A3 every chance I have, though sometimes I have to settle for an A4. The few times I had to take larger cars I verified that smaller is better.

roadburner

My favorite automotive HVAC system was the one in the E30 3 Seies. One knob for fan speed, one knob for temperature, buttons for A/C and Recirc, and three sliders for defrost, face level vents, and floor vents:

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

well, you are talking about collectible/toy cars that are really not suitable for everyday or travel duty.

now, if your fascination was a 1988 Taurus, then we might be talking.

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

Exactly---these are both "hobby cars". When you consider the lack of safety equipment, the fragility of Old Stuff, waiting for parts to arrive (or in the case of the 411, maybe never arriving), no AC, marginal brakes and steering on modern freeways, pain-inducing seats, anemic windshield wipers, poor lighting----well then, everyday driving might wear thin in a few weeks.

roadburner

The only thing that kept me from driving my '02 more often was the lack of A/C. Aside from that it was a comfortable sport sedan- that easily cruised at 80 mph.

stevedebi

berri said:

Auto A/C is particularly bad in those intermediate temps on a sunny day. It wants to turn on the heat while the sun is heating up the cabin and you want to cool it. They are just automating too much stuff on new cars. Drivers aren't idiots, but maybe Nanny state designers are . Do you label it all regress to the mean or lowest common denominator?

Yup, entirely too high tech. Another example of people choosing innovation when simple would have worked fine.

I recall the A/C on my 72 Gremlin. You set the temp, and the A/C cycled the compressor periodically. If it was too hot, turn it down; too cold, turn it up. Today's car will run the compressor the entire time, and mix warm air into it so that the desired temp is achieved (in theory). Wasteful. OK the Gremlin was a bit of a stupid design, but at least the HVAC wasn't dumb like today.

Most of the time I just turn the compressor off and run it in vent mode. Then use the compressor and fan speeds to change. At least that way I'm in control. In one way I'm lucky - the C-Max Energi has electric A/C, so I can see in an instant when the compressor is running, because my electric use gauges go up. Sometimes the car seems to be using the compressor when I have it selected off (besides defrost, I mean). I have to turn the HVAC OFF to get it to stop, then begin again.

Use of electric is important to me because I want to maximize EV, so I keep an eye on that except on the highway.

tifighter

cdnpinhead said:

tifighter said:

Going to Portugal for 2 weeks at the end of April and am trying to decide what size car to rent. There are some interesting choices. The typical Megane "or similar" for $150/week, an A3 for $350/week, a 3-series for $450/wk, or an E-class for $600. And you can go up to a S-class. I will be driving only for 1 week of the trip, and was originally thinking smaller since the roads in the villages are tight. But the choices do give me some pause...

A3 diesel will please you, I think, given the prices of fuel over there. I get an A3 every chance I have, though sometimes I have to settle for an A4. The few times I had to take larger cars I verified that smaller is better.

Yeah, I think I'm leaning A3 for parking purposes. Guessing it is the 5 door Sportback, but they aren't specific.

stickguy

I always set the AC button off on my CC systems. And never put it on auto. I'm sure it does stuff on its own, but that's as close to manual as I can get it.

sda

stickguy said:

I always set the AC button off on my CC systems. And never put it on auto. I'm sure it does stuff on its own, but that's as close to manual as I can get it.

I understand what you all are saying and agree the Auto function doesn't work as invisibly as it is supposed to. Where we are having an issue is even when the Auto function is overridden and the temperature and fan are manually selected, the a/c is not producing cold air as desired. Still waiting to hear from the dealer to see if they have been able to diagnose what is wrong. I am enjoying driving the CR-V, its a good vehicle.

andres3

tjc78 said:

stickguy said:

I had less trouble picking a house than I do deciding on a car. Hey, a car is important!

Yeah, I think I have issues.

I obsessed over the LaCrosse when I bought it because I was still skiddish because of the giant mistake I made with the Genesis.  The Enclave was the easiest ever.  Wife wanted it based on looks, room and one time sitting in it.  Went to one dealer they matched the price I wanted and I was on my way in an in stock unit.  

House, I looked at 10 and drove past 25+ when I bought 10 years ago. I only had to please myself, I suspect that would be much harder to do when married.  

Got a link to a post that'll tell me all about this bad Genesis experience?

andres3

andre1969 said:

Now that I think about it, back when I had my 2000 Intrepid, the (different) dealer tried to start pushing for a bunch of stuff it didn't really need around the 30,000 mile mark. I remember them recommending a power steering flush, new spark plugs, and other assorted crap that seemed premature. Now granted, I got that car to around 30,000 miles in about 11 months, as I delivered pizzas back then, but some of that was a bit extreme I thought.

I did have the spark plugs changed around 51,000 miles. In theory they could go further, but I think a lot of that stop and go, short-trip driving did them in a bit quicker than longer highway type drives would have. I think the next set of spark plugs was around 130,000. Oh, and at 150,000, when the car was totaled, I STILL had never had the power steering flushed!

The only thing I went overboard with on that car was transmission servicing. The schedule called for 100K/50K "normal"/"severe" schedules, but I'm also convinced that's one reason why they had such a bad rap. I did the first one at 30,000, but forget the exact intervals for the rest. I tried to keep it around 30K, although one of them was at 130K (same as those spark plugs), so I might have done 30K, 60K, 90K, and 130K.

Bad Rap? Don't think so, I think My Neon had the auto transmission fluid changed every 15 to 30K (MAX) miles. By the 60K mile mark when the transmission started to fail consistently and noticeably in lower gears, I'm sure it had been changed at least 3 times.

iluvmysephia1

All right, just hitting some poor man Jay Leno buttons, guys. I am sitting plainly with our '11 Kia Soul base 5-speed. Kia is really doing some wonderful building these days. I've been backing them since about 2000, when I realized these guys love to drive and build good, solid cars. Prices are great, and since they acquired Peter Schreyer from Audi Motors as their Design Chief, wow, the body designs are so great.

Anyone mention Warranties? When you buy base models from Kia it's all the more a great value for you. Now, back to looking for 2017 Mitsubishi G4 sedans at Steven Mitsubishi in Wichita, KS!

Mr_Shiftright

tifighter said:

cdnpinhead said:

tifighter said:

Going to Portugal for 2 weeks at the end of April and am trying to decide what size car to rent. There are some interesting choices. The typical Megane "or similar" for $150/week, an A3 for $350/week, a 3-series for $450/wk, or an E-class for $600. And you can go up to a S-class. I will be driving only for 1 week of the trip, and was originally thinking smaller since the roads in the villages are tight. But the choices do give me some pause...

A3 diesel will please you, I think, given the prices of fuel over there. I get an A3 every chance I have, though sometimes I have to settle for an A4. The few times I had to take larger cars I verified that smaller is better.

Yeah, I think I'm leaning A3 for parking purposes. Guessing it is the 5 door Sportback, but they aren't specific.

Having just maneuvered all through Sicily, if you're going to visit picturesque small cities and villages, get something larger than a Fiat 500 but not too much larger. 4 doors is nice if you're stashing rain gear or more than 2 people. You'd save about $1.25/gallon with a diesel. A3 diesel sounds about right.

fintail

I drove through northern Italy, including through much of Torino, in an X5. It was an experience

Mr_Shiftright

One time I had to get people to move their outdoor tables so I could drive past--LOL! And more than once, I had to retract the outside mirrors. I guess they didn't have X5s in the 14th century? Musta had some big wagons, though....

nelsonf

I always try to rent something you can't get in the States. Peugeot, Renault, something like that.
Over the years, I've rented a Renault Clio, a European Ford Focus wagon, a Citroen C2 (junk), a Passat diesel, a Fiat Panda, and some kind of small Korean thing with a Chevy badge.

Really liked the Clio.

fintail

I think the mirror retracting thing is normal in Europe, which is why any nicely equipped car there has power folding mirrors. Even in Germany I have used it to fit through doorways and narrow streets. When much infrastructure predates cars, especially wide modern cars, chaos can ensue.

From my experience in Germany, highline cars are much cheaper to rent there than here, so that's what I go for.

suydam

We had a European Ford Focus MT in Spain. It was perfect. In Mallorca we had some tiny micro car like those everyone drives there and we were very glad we did. In so many of these villages you leave the car there anyway once you get there and walk everywhere.

graphicguy

Foreign cars I've rented/driven......

-Ford KA
-Jag XF Diesel
-Peugot 505
-Renault Twingo

tjc78

@andres3
I would never find the posts about the Genesis, but the clif notes version is this.  The early build 09s had a suspension that had an odd combination of spring and shocks.  It caused an overly stuff and jittery ride.  It was basically over sprung in the back and unsettled. It was a known problem but Hyundai wasn't fixing the early build cars despite having new part numbers for all the suspension.  Combine that with an auto tilt steering wheel that had a mind of its own and stranding me twice with bad grounds throughout the car.....  It had to go.  I got luckily and sold it to a dealer for over $1000 cash out.  

sda

sda said:

stickguy said:

I always set the AC button off on my CC systems. And never put it on auto. I'm sure it does stuff on its own, but that's as close to manual as I can get it.

I understand what you all are saying and agree the Auto function doesn't work as invisibly as it is supposed to. Where we are having an issue is even when the Auto function is overridden and the temperature and fan are manually selected, the a/c is not producing cold air as desired. Still waiting to hear from the dealer to see if they have been able to diagnose what is wrong. I am enjoying driving the CR-V, its a good vehicle.

Follow up: I am happy to report that the a/c has been fixed. It was a relay after all. They said they had checked them the day before and it was working, took it for a follow up drive yesterday, and thankfully, it acted up and they were able to identify the issue. I generally have not purchased an extended warranty, but when I bought the Pilot it had more miles on it than I normally buy (it was 3 years old and 50k, though Honda certified). Glad I did. The warranty has more than paid for itself. Pilot is at 86k, and warranty good thru Jan 2018/120k.

iluvmysephia1

Yeah, the 2011 Kia Soul now has 61,292 miles on it, and, it had 35,683 miles on it when we bought it on July 2, 2014. We are the 2nd owner, so the Long-Haul Warranty no longer applied to us regarding the powertrain. So, we bought two years of Warranty then, and it's up on July 1, 2016.

That is probably my main reason ta sort of want to trade in for a new car in the near future. Or a low-miled used car with some kind of Powertrain Warranty left or purchased at the time of transaction. I could just maintain the Soul well, like I do with our cars, and take a chance with no Powertrain Warranty on it. For whatever period of time. Or buy another Powertrain Warranty extension. I just feel better with a Warranty. Who knows if I would ever need it - like car insurance. Glad I switched car insurers. We're paying half of what we were paying the little green Gecko Company.

breld

So, anyone lining up outside their local Tesla store to pay $1,000 tomorrow night for the privilege of purchasing a Model 3, for which there are no known details as of yet, and taking delivery sometime in 2018?

berri

To me at least, Tesla is a prime example of how industry. maybe particularly the Silicon Valley, rides the different fed initiatives. Take away all the gov underwriting of things and Tesla probably wouldn't exist today. Sometimes I think the gov is too involved in picking winners and losers in the economy.

stever

>So, anyone lining up outside their local Tesla store to pay $1,000 tomorrow night

I wish. Really hope this one takes off and inspires a lot of affordable copies.

jpp75

breld said:

So, anyone lining up outside their local Tesla store to pay $1,000 tomorrow night for the privilege of purchasing a Model 3, for which there are no known details as of yet, and taking delivery sometime in 2018?

I thought about it, but I figured Elon Musk doesn't need an interest free loan from me for the next 2+ years.

graphicguy

breld said:

So, anyone lining up outside their local Tesla store to pay $1,000 tomorrow night for the privilege of purchasing a Model 3, for which there are no known details as of yet, and taking delivery sometime in 2018?

I'm actually thinking of it. At least, I'm going to their local store and talk to Tesla about it with my checkbook in my back pocket, just in case.

Mr_Shiftright

I don't think the range of "around 200" is going to be enough by the time the car comes out. While Tesla dallies, the goliath automakers are busy moving a 100-ton concrete block to drop on the Tesla factory. With hard driving or winter use, that 200 mile range drops to maybe 160---which isn't bad, but really, it's like a Camry with a 5 gallon gas tank. IMO, 300 miles is the minimal optimum range for mass acceptance of an affordable EV.

laurasdada

Not I, and I live a couple of blocks away from a Tesla dealer. Although, driving by the other night I did notice a tall, blond saleswoman/product specialist in the showroom. Let me rethink my position...

stickguy

I have no problem getting a hybrid (assuming I like it dynamically), and would actually like to get one. But no way am I ever getting a pure EV, unless I am in some different situation and it is strictly a station car or something like that. I will never, ever have an EV as my primary car (even if that is the 2nd car in the family).

henryn

stickguy said:

I have no problem getting a hybrid (assuming I like it dynamically), and would actually like to get one. But no way am I ever getting a pure EV, unless I am in some different situation and it is strictly a station car or something like that. I will never, ever have an EV as my primary car (even if that is the 2nd car in the family).

Never say never. You might live long enough to see the day when there are no more cars powered by ICE.

stickguy

nah. I'm too old for that.

stever

I sure don't miss gas lawnmowers.

Well, I don't miss my last electric one either.

kyfdx

stever said:

I sure don't miss gas lawnmowers.

Well, I don't miss my last electric one either.

My wife retired, and now I don't cut the grass, any more.

stickguy

I mowed again today (2nd time this season). While I was cleaning up, the lawn guy that does most of my neighbors drove by, and asked if I still wanted to hire him this year. I told him that once I got it cleaned up, and he was on a regular schedule (still doing clean ups now, since for some reason, some lawns haven't grown yet, while mine is going crazy!) that I would start having him do it.

Hey, I forked over the money for a new mower this year, so I at least have to get my money back out of it before stopping using it!

I really hate mowing (and even more trimming and cleaning up!), but I also hate wrenching open my wallet to pay for things I can do myself.

corvette

kyfdx said:

My wife retired, and now I don't cut the grass, any more.

Post of the day! My neighbor has a stand-up rider from his former house (which had a much larger yard). He often mows everybody's front yards in one pass. My back yard is nearly dead, anyway, so it cuts down a lot on my mowing frequency.

xwesx

corvette said:

kyfdx said:

My wife retired, and now I don't cut the grass, any more.

Post of the day! My neighbor has a stand-up rider from his former house (which had a much larger yard). He often mows everybody's front yards in one pass. My back yard is nearly dead, anyway, so it cuts down a lot on my mowing frequency.

Hah! Too funny. I don't have to start thinking about mowing for about two months yet.

ab348

Mr_Shiftright said:

I don't think the range of "around 200" is going to be enough by the time the car comes out. While Tesla dallies, the goliath automakers are busy moving a 100-ton concrete block to drop on the Tesla factory. With hard driving or winter use, that 200 mile range drops to maybe 160---which isn't bad, but really, it's like a Camry with a 5 gallon gas tank. IMO, 300 miles is the minimal optimum range for mass acceptance of an affordable EV.

And then there are these guys:

http://www.karmaautomotive.com/

I saw their CEO on TV a while ago and he was very optimistic. I am not so sure.

Mr_Shiftright

(QUOTE from Hybrid Cars):

"It’s no secret, though, that Wanxiang chairman and founder Lu Guanqiu plans on seeing the car through to the end, no matter the cost.

“I’ll put every cent that Wanxiang earns into making electric vehicles,” Guanqiu said last May. “I’ll burn as much cash as it takes to succeed, or until Wanxiang goes bust.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, be careful what you wish for. $135K for a plug-in hybrid? It had better out-Tesla Tesla. I suppose one could survive catering to the Lamborghini/Bentley/Maybach/Bugatti crowd of nouveau riche.

corvette

I had no idea Fisker was still around in any form.

roadburner

stickguy said:

I really hate mowing (and even more trimming and cleaning up!), but I also hate wrenching open my wallet to pay for things I can do myself.

Same here- but I do NO trimming or clean up. If I can't get to it with either of the ZTR mowers I hit it with Roundup.

iluvmysephia1

I tried pull-starting my Troy-Built walk-behind self-propelled mower a month ago. No dice. Wouldn't start. Tried again in another week. No dice. Then, a couple weeks ago, she fired up nice on the 2nd pull - twas an easy 2nd pull, too. Oil level is good, just poured some more ghastly in and some of that ghastly "cleaner" and ran it through the grass in the back yard for a few minutes. I'm expecting it to fire right up in the next 3-7 days when I'm gonna do my first mow of the season. This house has a full, rural lot. Exercise is good.

tifighter

The length of lines being reported at Tesla stores today is impressive. Nearly 3 blocks long at the Seattle store, and I hear over 1000 deep at Bellevue Square here in WA. Bay Area stores similar...

insideevs.com/tesla-model-3-impressive-lines-forming-at-tesla-stores-around-the-globe/