Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

Might have a new front runner for next set of wheels. went to Shop Rite tonight, and there was a new looking TLX in the lot, in dark blue (wife's favorite color). Really sharp looking. I pointed it out and I thought she was going to cry. She actually said (not seriously, I don't think!) "can I trade mine in on it?" Considering it will be at the dealer next week, sure! If you really wanted to.

If nothing else, gives me an excuse to take one out for a spin while I am waiting!

hopefully by the time I am ready (the 18's will be out by then) they will upgrade the standard equipment. at this point, you need the tech package to get some basic stuff like BLIS, and that is a mind popping $4,000. I am figuring that by then, there will be at least a MMY remodel in place, if not a more substantial redesign.

andres3

sandman_6472 said:

Called VW service department and made appointment for the 20K service for July 7th. Did the 10K at 9950 so the car is telling me I've got 900 miles to go. Luckily I prepaid for the 20K and 30K so will have to find an indie after that. There's an excellent German auto repair shop down the street from us and their reviews are pretty good online. Will check them out before time is due to see if I will use them.
Not sure about going oem once I need new front brakes. Would prefer a brand with a bit better bite when needed. Am sure the indie shop will have a good recommendation when the time is due. Don't really trust the local Midas shop as they always find something else to fix whenever I use them for an oil change. That trust factor just isn't there anymore with them.

The Sandman

Try the Italian made Ferodo DS2500 pads.

nyccarguy

I decided to go with the OEM Honda Pads & Rotors.  My indie mechanic quoted me $505 installed.  I called a dealer who said "about $500."  I then priced out the parts online from a Honda Dealer (that I was buying some parts for my Prelude from).  Even though the parts were less expensive, once I added shipping it turned out to be only about $25 cheaper.  So I called the mechanic and told him that I'll drop the Pilot off on Tuesday AM.

stickguy

it has been a while since I did brakes (and hopefully will be a long while yet before I do again!), but the shop I used (Tires Plus) gave me a menu of sorts to pick from. the labor, etc. (the expensive part of the job!) was the same regardless, so it was just picking which pads I wanted, and paying the difference.

nyccarguy

Nice! An upcoming unexpected punch by @stickguy using the old "my wife made me do it" excuse! Lol! Dude, you are going to get offered a stupid amount for the RDX. Plus they give away those TLXs. I think there's $2000 lease cash plus $500 loyalty or conques cash available.

Sandman6472

Yep Stick, figured the indy might not save me that much but at least I'd get to know the mechanic on a first name basis because at VW, am just a vin number. But we still have time for all this. Have used Tires Plus in the past for brakes and I know the pads were guaranteed for life. Something to ponder I guess.
Still loving my Golf, a lot, and the only thing I would even consider right now is the HR-V but hate that it has a nombless infotainment system, very old school here. Still change stations all the time while driving as old habits remain. Have them set on my system as 6, 7, 8, 17, 25, 26 & 32. Like the Sinatra channel also and whatever special ones they have from time to time like the James Taylor one or Billy Joel. Must have tunes to drive anywhere but think our generation is that way.

The Sandman

Michaell

sandman_6472 said:

Yep Stick, figured the indy might not save me that much but at least I'd get to know the mechanic on a first name basis because at VW, am just a vin number. But we still have time for all this. Have used Tires Plus in the past for brakes and I know the pads were guaranteed for life. Something to ponder I guess.
Still loving my Golf, a lot, and the only thing I would even consider right now is the HR-V but hate that it has a nombless infotainment system, very old school here. Still change stations all the time while driving as old habits remain. Have them set on my system as 6, 7, 8, 17, 25, 26 & 32. Like the Sinatra channel also and whatever special ones they have from time to time like the James Taylor one or Billy Joel. Must have tunes to drive anywhere but think our generation is that way.

The Sandman

You might also try Sirius/XM 18 - it's been rebranded as the "road trip" channel, with music from different genres.

sda

I listen to many of the same stations on XM and also like 66/67 Jazz and 148 which are old radio drama skits/programs. I will often listen to that one when I'm waiting in line to pick up my daughter at school.

sda

nyccarguy said:

I decided to go with the OEM Honda Pads & Rotors.  My indie mechanic quoted me $505 installed.  I called a dealer who said "about $500."  I then priced out the parts online from a Honda Dealer (that I was buying some parts for my Prelude from).  Even though the parts were less expensive, once I added shipping it turned out to be only about $25 cheaper.  So I called the mechanic and told him that I'll drop the Pilot off on Tuesday AM.

By the way, what Michelins did you replace your old ones with on your Pilot? They no longer make the Michelin LTX that are on our Pilot and I will need to replace them sometime this year. Tire Rack has the new model as the LTX Premiere and am wondering if this is what you purchased and your opinion about them.

nyccarguy

@sda - I'm pretty sure I got regular old Michelin LTX M/S.

suydam

I'm out on a little trip out to SoCal before our move and as a rental I got a Nissan Versa Note. I really didn't know anything about this vehicle but it's growing on me. I'm doing a lot of driving that involves negotiating narrow streets and parking lots as well as freeway stretches to get to various places. It handles all of this with ease. It has good visibility, and fits well in the tiny condo space allotted to a second car out here. Great gas mileage. I'm about to find out how it handles a Costco supply trip. Basically I've got a 4 day road test with it in exactly the conditions I'll be driving in. I think we could buy a very nicely equipped one for the amount we sold the Accord, which is also attractive.

nyccarguy

@roadburner - you used the term "parts drone" the other day & I thought it was hysterical!

stever

Even with the free trial, I've noticed that I'm not listening to Sirius much.

This new Miata owner needs advice on protecting the convertible top. Thanks.

au1994

stever said:

Even with the free trial, I've noticed that I'm not listening to Sirius much.

This new Miata owner needs advice on protecting the convertible top. Thanks.

I've found that the playlists on Sirius are not that deep. Lots of repeats on all the channels I would listen to has never had me renew once the free trial was over.

suydam

You haven't found channels like Deep Tracks or Tom Petty's Town Hall (and I'm sure there are lots of others). Those channels specialize in digging out gems from the past that weren't on radio even in their heyday. Not to mention getting every sports team coverage you could ask for. I think many people don't realize the great variety on Sirius XM.

stever

I'm contractually prohibited from going to other Town Halls.

My internet radio has really spoiled me; would really like that in my car instead of anything else. There's nothing like zoning out at ten pm to Mission Control radio and then retiring with a good scifi read.

ab348

suydam said:

You haven't found channels like Deep Tracks or Tom Petty's Town Hall (and I'm sure there are lots of others). Those channels specialize in digging out gems from the past that weren't on radio even in their heyday. Not to mention getting every sports team coverage you could ask for. I think many people don't realize the great variety on Sirius XM.

I have it and never go beyond 3 or 4 channels. I don't listen to sports talk or talk radio generally so that's all out. Even at that I find it repetitive and often playing stuff I don't want to hear. I think the issue isn't that they don't have channels playing obscure tracks or whatever - I'm sure they do, but since I don't care about those then I don't bother tuning in. But when you get a channel like 80s on 8 or Classic Rewind playing the same 100 or so songs, it gets old in a hurry.

kyfdx

A little help..

http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/41381/general/x/help-picking-next-car#latest

28firefighter

So it would appear the GTI is not infallible and my first issue has surfaced - car goes to VW on Monday. I'm sporadically and unpredictably losing boost from the turbo - basically when I hit the gas and the engine revs to it's sweet spot, I'm getting little to no "oomph". I'll park, run my errands and come back, and then everything is fine.

No CEL that I can see, but the symptoms seem to indicate it might be the turbo bypass valve being faulty.

EDIT: Car has 3000 miles in case anyone is curious. It has been happening for about 300 miles or so, but I thought it was all in my head. Finally started paying attention more closely and realized it was not.

Keep you posted...

breld

sda said:

I listen to many of the same stations on XM and also like 66/67 Jazz and 148 which are old radio drama skits/programs. I will often listen to that one when I'm waiting in line to pick up my daughter at school.

My wife loves that "Radio Classics" channel. It is the sole reason she has to have Sirius.

breld

28firefighter said:

So it would appear the GTI is not infallible and my first issue has surfaced - car goes to VW on Monday. I'm sporadically and unpredictably losing boost from the turbo - basically when I hit the gas and the engine revs to it's sweet spot, I'm getting little to no "oomph". I'll park, run my errands and come back, and then everything is fine.

No CEL that I can see, but the symptoms seem to indicate it might be the turbo bypass valve being faulty.

EDIT: Car has 3000 miles in case anyone is curious. It has been happening for about 300 miles or so, but I thought it was all in my head. Finally started paying attention more closely and realized it was not.

Keep you posted...

Best of luck with that - obviously it'll be taken care of, but frustrating nonetheless.

I have had several VWs and have always liked them, but I do have to say I'll be anxious to see how the new Civic Si fares against the GTI. It's always lagged in terms of performance, but this next one may put it in the running. General Honda reliability and resale would make it very enticing.

28firefighter

breld said:

Best of luck with that - obviously it'll be taken care of, but frustrating nonetheless.

I have had several VWs and have always liked them, but I do have to say I'll be anxious to see how the new Civic Si fares against the GTI. It's always lagged in terms of performance, but this next one may put it in the running. General Honda reliability and resale would make it very enticing.

Yup - it needed to go in for an oil change anyway, so I'll just get that knocked out at the same time anyway.

mlevine

Sirius radio
Channels 38 (Ozzy) and 39 (hair nation) I think are great channels. 70 (B&B King) at times has good music. On Friday and Saturday night get ready to party with channel 54 (yea baby studio 54).

corvette

I like Alt Nation on SiriusXM. I have the 90 day free trial of the expanded plan on the Murano, after that, it's back to SiriusXM Basics (or whatever they call the ~$6/month plan). I used to buy the 5 or 6-month plan for $25 or $30 and call and threaten to cancel, but if they will give me the channel I listen to 99% of the time for a non-promotional rate without me calling every few months, it's worth taking the reduced channel selection (and slightly higher price) to avoid the hassle.

On long trips, I tend to listen to podcasts from my phone or iPad anyway, so I don't miss the lack of extra channels.

roadburner

Hopefully it's an "infant mortality" issue. I had a 3 Series that suffered from one- a leaky steering rack.

Sandman6472

"Sirius/XM Basics"? Details please. What stations aren't included because I can not live without 32, 26, 6, 7 & 8 to be honest. The others I like I could give up if necessary but these five are a deal breaker to be honest. Though my ipods have plenty of music, just love the spontanaity that I get now.
Seem to be having some spelling issues lately with words like "knobless" and "spontanaity", both of which I keep spelling wrong. Spelling was never my strong suit growing up to be honest. Your basic average student here with siblings that were all A+'s, which kind of made things difficult growing up. The teachers would always ask if my brother was so in so or was my sister so in so and then I'd have to listen about how smart they were on and on again. When they saw my work, they probably thought I was adopted or something. Just didn't get the smart gene I guess and it did skip a generation because my kids are all pretty smart. They always went to their mother for help with school after like 4th grade because they just knew, lol!!!
Have always been happy with "average" to be honest...less is expected from us folk who are just average and that's perfectly o k with me!!

The Average Sandman

corvette

Just checked, it's $5.99 per month plus the $0.83 "US music royalty fee." My package doesn't have 6, 7, or 8 but has 26 and 32. The plan doesn't offer streaming from your computer or phone.

stever

Drove to town this afternoon, and sure enough, the recent Sirius free trial period is over.

The other excitement was that I put a couple of wraps of electrical tape on all the power sliding door strikes (four of them) and eliminated all the interior rattling.

Now if the stupid van had rear drums instead of discs, it'd be as quiet as a new one. I don't think the anti-rattle springs in the back work well on my gravel road.

corvette

Hmm, maybe some brake shims or I think they sell some sort of anti-squeal compound to put on the backside of the pads (which I'm guessing hardens into something rubberlike to dampen any noise). Honestly, most cars with drum brakes in the rear have very mushy brakes. The 2004 GMC Canyon we had in my family was the lone exception to this rule--the brakes weren't great, but had better feel than most trucks with drum brakes in the back.

Does anyone here watch the UK version of Top Gear? I just watched the first episode of that and Extra Gear. The new presenters aren't that great. You know it's bad when Star in a Reasonably Priced Car is the best segment of the whole show. Looking forward to The Grand Tour on Amazon.

stever

Already replaced the shim/anti-rattle gizmos on the left rear and they lasted about a year.

I like rear drums - hardly ever have to touch them. And the fronts do what, 80% of the work anyway?

"[T]oday's disc/drum setups are completely adequate for the majority of new cars. Remember that both disc and drum brake design has been vastly improved in the last 20 years. In fact, the current rear drum brake systems on today's cars would provide better stopping performance then the front disc setups of the '70s." (link)

Michaell

corvette said:

 Does anyone here watch the UK version of Top Gear? I just watched the first episode of that and Extra Gear. The new presenters aren't that great. You know it's bad when Star in a Reasonably Priced Car is the best segment of the whole show. Looking forward to The Grand Tour on Amazon.

 I watched the first episode is well.  I'm going to hold any opinions until I've seen a few more shows   

fintail

Chris Evans as a Clarkson replacement LOL, BBC is lucky that it is publicly funded, this version won't make money hand over fist like the prior.

Living in an area where many radio stations seem to compete about how many minutes of commercials they can cram in an hour, I am not unhappy to pay for Sirius. I have a "music only" plan now, which is perfect as I don't care to listen to much babbly talk as I drive anyway.

sda

Our radio market is the same, commercial after commercial and talk, talk, talk. It makes me tired. Though XM doesn't have commercials, some of the stations have DJ's or listener call ins that wear me out. I just want to listen to music with minimal commentary, please..

stickguy

my Sonata has 19 presets for XM alone (all on 1 list, no need to switch from XM1 to 2 to 3). And I have it full. Probably about 15 different music stations to flip through, plus MLB network, the local traffic report, CNN news, and something else like that.

there are some obscure stations, which is nice for a change of pace. way more variety than you get on normal local stations.

fintail

I have 10 (I think) presets for Sirius, there's definitely enough variety for me to choose one for each, but I mostly listen to a handful of stations. I don't want too much commentary either.

I sometimes get the "we have only 100 songs" feeling too, but now and then they throw something odd into the mix, heard a Depeche Mode song on First Wave yesterday that I hadn't heard in ages.

stickguy

was putting around configuring cars based on my son's wish list. Dang, Audi's are expensive. a reasonably equipped A3 (if you want a few actual goodies) easily pushes 40K. Gonna highly encourage him to look at the VW GLI that was his dream last time around, and get most of the bang for a whole let less buck. Or of course, a GTI.

carnaught

Agree that Sirius/XM can be repetitive and the audio quality is not HD, but for the $5 per month I'm paying, it is well worth it.

Sandman6472

Would not want to have XM without channels 6, 7 & 8 to be honest as I like the choice so I can channel surf like I've always done. Somethings from our youth remain that I don't want to change at this point. Think if my commute was shorter, I could definitely live with less channels though. But since I don't for see that happening any time soon, think I'll just stay the course and leave it at that.

The Sandman

carnaught

sandman_6472 said:

Would not want to have XM without channels 6, 7 & 8 to be honest as I like the choice so I can channel surf like I've always done......
The Sandman

Yep, like those same channels, classic rwd., classic vinyl, the blend plus newer genre music.

suydam

Test drove a Mazda 3 I grand touring hatch today while out in Southern California. Can I say how much I love this car! It seems just about perfect for the kind of driving we will be doing here -- mix of hopping on the freeway for a bit plus in town on crowded streets. It was good to see the differences between it and the little Nissan Versa Note I've been driving as a rental. The suspension is just how I like it -- a bit on the stiff side but also not punishingly hard. Very similar to my '13 Honda Accord, on,y the 3 handles so much better. Really nice to drive. Definitely at the top of my list. Only problem was that this dealer has every car with a black interior. I definitely do not want black in sunny California. I think you can get a tan interior with the i touring which might be the way to go anyway. The red exterior is just eye popping. Stunning.

sda

stickguy said:

was putting around configuring cars based on my son's wish list. Dang, Audi's are expensive. a reasonably equipped A3 (if you want a few actual goodies) easily pushes 40K. Gonna highly encourage him to look at the VW GLI that was his dream last time around, and get most of the bang for a whole let less buck. Or of course, a GTI.

It just floors me that it is so easy to exceed $30k on even what I consider modest cars. The new Chevy Cruze can be equipped to over $30k. Realistically these will be discounted, but on the surface, ouch.

fintail

C-class or 3er can easily be configured to exceed 60K today. Talking heads give us claims of low inflation, but just as with the factors they don't include like medical care, education, food, housing, et al, many of the real numbers don't line up with the concocted stories.

suydam

I think it could scare some buyers away. We paid nowhere near the MSRP on our Encore, and I e heard a few people say they wouldn't look at it because it's too expensive. I'm looking at a Mazda 3 now with a sticker of $24k. Why do that? You know it isn't going to sell at that price anyway.

Mr_Shiftright

sda said:

stickguy said:

was putting around configuring cars based on my son's wish list. Dang, Audi's are expensive. a reasonably equipped A3 (if you want a few actual goodies) easily pushes 40K. Gonna highly encourage him to look at the VW GLI that was his dream last time around, and get most of the bang for a whole let less buck. Or of course, a GTI.

It just floors me that it is so easy to exceed $30k on even what I consider modest cars. The new Chevy Cruze can be equipped to over $30k. Realistically these will be discounted, but on the surface, ouch.

Yep you can run up the sticker on a Mazda 3 Grand Touring over $30K.

nyccarguy

@sda - there is most definitely a lot of sticker shock if you look at and price out cars based on their MSRP.  Edmunds has a 340i X Drive with quite a few option boxes ticked in their long term fleet that stickers for few bucks short of $60K.  For a 3 series BMW!  11 years ago my parents leased a 2005 530i (no sport package, no navigation) that had a sticker price of $51K.

stever

The Soul I missed buying last month was $26.5k OTD. Our car taxes are only 3% so the selling price was $25.5.

fintail

Strangest thing about these price-inflated loaded smaller models is that a nice medium model isn't much more expensive. A loaded 3er or C can nudge past 60K, but for 66K or so one can get a very nicely optioned (not full load, but still pretty nice) 5er or E. I think the larger cars are better value.

henryn

I have a similar problem with the mid-size Chevy/GMC pickup trucks. The Colorado and Canyon are selling so well you cannot get good pricing. Consequently, it’s completely possible to get a full size pickup, better equipped (more options), for less money out the door.

corvette

I have probably said this here before, but I wish Ford still offered the extended cab (not crew cab) F-150 with the 5.5' bed (or some other manufacturer offered the same). That would really make it more maneuverable, lengthwise. 

breld

Well, all that's why I have the general rule (that I've broken a couple times recently) of not buying luxury brand cars new. CPO (or simply used) is a great way to go with those. The 535 I had a couple years ago had an MSRP of about $64k - 3 years and a mere 22k miles later I bought it for $38k with a CPO warranty.

I do wish I went that route on the S4, though they do seem to hold their value better than some other models (which was exactly my justification for getting the bright shiny new one!).

On more affordable cars, like let's say, a Honda Accord, they are a great value to begin with and then hold their value well. So I'd have no problem going new on something like that - in fact, going used may not make much sense at all.