Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

corvette · January 23

Just completed my survey from Toyota. If it's one that counts towards the dealership's bonus, they are not going to be pleased with it. They had over a week to address my concerns and chose to do so with an inept, hastily-written email.

stickguy · January 23

love seeing a nice red car. Stands out these days.

stickguy · January 23

oh, that 5 series is really nice. stick, great colors. And RWD. perfect!

SAAB did go pretty cheap. Are parts easy enough to get for them?

Michaell · January 23

Congrats on the new Explorer, @explorerx4! Should you change your screen name to explorerx5 (or 6, or whatever number you're on)?

Is the 2.3T?

28firefighter · January 23

stickguy said:
oh, that 5 series is really nice. stick, great colors. And RWD. perfect!

SAAB did go pretty cheap. Are parts easy enough to get for them?

That 5 is similar to my Dad’s wagon that is coming out -07 530xi wagon 6MT. More options on my Dad’s car.

Saab parts are not terribly hard to get and a great used part market, too. The V6 in that car isn’t the most reliable engine they made, however.

explorerx4 · January 23

@Michaell,
This is our sixth Explorer, at one point my wife and I each drove one.
She bought one of the first 4 door versions, Strawberry Red, 4x4, V6, 5 speed stick.
I think I have to change my email in order to change my 'Handle'.
Yes it has the 2.3T(wife has same in her MKC) with the 10 speed trans.
Here's link to the dealer listing if anyone is interested.
https://www.lombardford.com/new-Barkhamsted-2020-Ford-Explorer-XLT+++4WD-1FMSK8DH3LGC85169

au1994 · January 23

qbrozen said:
Damn! That Saab wagon went SO CHEAP! Again, very glad it was on the opposite coast.

Anyway, they posted a perfect color combo manual I6 5-series. Too bad it is the base seats and has previous paintwork. Good with the bad, I suppose. https://carsandbids.com/auctions/KdOw6MMB/2006-bmw-530i-sedan

Dang, too bad about the paint and no sport package. That’s a looker Bangle butt and all.

28firefighter · January 23

Local Subaru dealer changed the oil in the Outback last weekend. Today? Puddle of oil on the floor of the garage under it.

I’m not clear when it started because I was in the hospital for a couple days (I’m fine now). On the upshot, it is nice and clean oil...

stickguy · January 23

so when you ran the numbers, it ended up making more sense to go new instead of pre owned? I guess you are getting the new design too, so that is a plus.

oldfarmer50 · January 23

28firefighter said:
Local Subaru dealer changed the oil in the Outback last weekend. Today? Puddle of oil on the floor of the garage under it.

I’m not clear when it started because I was in the hospital for a couple days (I’m fine now). On the upshot, it is nice and clean oil...

Could only be the drain plug or the oil filter, right? Good thing you caught it early and not when the bearings started spinning.

explorerx4 · January 23

@stickguy,
After driving some of the pre-owned prior generation, they just seemed too 'heavy'.
This one seems much more nimble, plus has RWD feel.
This was the most expensive XLT around, but it had all the features I was looking for on that model.
Next model up, Limited has some other feature I would have liked, but is way more expensive.
Since we pay property tax, a loaded XLT is a lot cheaper tax wise that a Limited or higher.
A base XLT is about 39k, Limited is just over 50k.

28firefighter · January 23

oldfarmer50 said:

28firefighter said:
Local Subaru dealer changed the oil in the Outback last weekend. Today? Puddle of oil on the floor of the garage under it.

I’m not clear when it started because I was in the hospital for a couple days (I’m fine now). On the upshot, it is nice and clean oil...
Could only be the drain plug or the oil filter, right? Good thing you caught it early and not when the bearings started spinning.

That’s what I’m thinking. Oil filter is underneath so it could be either.

tjc78 · January 23

explorerx4 said:
@stickguy,
After driving some of the pre-owned prior generation, they just seemed too 'heavy'.
This one seems much more nimble, plus has RWD feel.
This was the most expensive XLT around, but it had all the features I was looking for on that model.
Next model up, Limited has some other feature I would have liked, but is way more expensive.
Since we pay property tax, a loaded XLT is a lot cheaper tax wise that a Limited or higher.
A base XLT is about 39k, Limited is just over 50k.

Very nicely equipped. I love that the wheels aren’t black!!

Michaell · January 23

explorerx4 said:
@Michaell,
This is our sixth Explorer, at one point my wife and I each drove one.
She bought one of the first 4 door versions, Strawberry Red, 4x4, V6, 5 speed stick.
I think I have to change my email in order to change my 'Handle'.
Yes it has the 2.3T(wife has same in her MKC) with the 10 speed trans.
Here's link to the dealer listing if anyone is interested.
https://www.lombardford.com/new-Barkhamsted-2020-Ford-Explorer-XLT+++4WD-1FMSK8DH3LGC85169

The EPA rating for mileage is the same as our 2015 Outback with the H6. I’m guessing the 10-speed auto contributes to that.

corvette · January 23

@28firefighter glad you're okay now!

explorerx4 · January 23

@Michaell,
10 speed is great, it isn't sequential, goes into whatever gear it thinks it needs.
My previous F-150 had it, too.

cdnpinhead · January 23

28firefighter said:
Oil filter is underneath so it could be either.

Must be a "feature" of the bigger engine. I'm very pleased to have the Forester oil filter right on top, and as an additional bonus, it's the same filter my TSX uses.

nyccarguy · January 23

No punches for me, but some interesting news and notes. A friend of mine has a kid who started his own landscaping business last year. Just got his license. He saved up money from cutting grass, officiating hockey, & they contributed as well. They started out looking at used pickups, then asked me about leasing, they ended up finding a 2011 F150 Lariat with the 6.2L V8 locally with under 90,000 miles.

My sister finally got her Mercedes back last week. The total repair bill was north of $22,000. The car was completely drivable away from the scene of the accident.

My best friend who just a few short months ago bought a used Raptor to daily drive also has a 2015 Wrangler Rubicon Hard Rock 6MT & a 2020 Grand Cherokee Summit just bought (with his friend/business partner) a 2005 Wrangler Unlimited (LJ) with 60K miles and a 6 Speed for $12K.

cdnpinhead · January 23

"A friend of mine has a kid who started his own landscaping business last year. Just got his license. He saved up money from cutting grass, officiating hockey, & they contributed as well. They started out looking at used pickups, then asked me about leasing, they ended up finding a 2011 F150 Lariat with the 6.2L V8 locally with under 90,000 miles."

Good for the boy. . .and his parents. Maybe there's hope after all.

Sandman6472 · January 23

Now that both oil leaks are history, used dawn and a squeegy broom to clean the garage floor on Thursday. Did an amazing job of getting rid of old stains to after I let it sit awhile. Was able to really scrub the floor with the broom end which really helped get the deep down dirt out. Hopefully both vehicles stay leak free for at least a couple of years as we're both just not ready to new car shop yet.
Also finally got on the horn with Genie company to get directions to sync the newer garage door opener I got. Was super simple and once I gave the operator the model number, she walked me through it in under four minutes. Want to give my old opener to our kid who lives in Miami so she can come & go when she visits. Also easier than taking one of ours when we use her vehicle to do anything. Our belt driven unit is still working great and is almost whisper quiet. Now, need to get the outside keypad fixed as it quit working at all. Always something when owning a house it seems!

stickguy · January 23

check the battery. Most of them use a 9 volt.

Sandman6472 · January 24

No, it's not the battery as we've all tried that...both of us and two of the kids. And it takes a AA battery. Luckily all the hand held units all work so the middle child will get the extra one since she lives the closest. One thing I forgot to ask the agent when I called is why, every time the power goes out, I have to get up and play with the plug? With both vehicles parked inside, I can just get the ladder in between and climb up it to take the plug out and re-insert it. The unit isn't exactly in the middle of the garage either, off a degree or two, but since I'm not overweight, I can just fit in and get it done. The worst is when it happens overnight and I'm leaving for work and I hit the button and ...nothing! I'm not a happy camper, let's just put it that way!!!

qbrozen · January 24

nyccarguy said:
No punches for me, but some interesting news and notes. A friend of mine has a kid who started his own landscaping business last year. Just got his license. He saved up money from cutting grass, officiating hockey, & they contributed as well. They started out looking at used pickups, then asked me about leasing, they ended up finding a 2011 F150 Lariat with the 6.2L V8 locally with under 90,000 miles.

My sister finally got her Mercedes back last week. The total repair bill was north of $22,000. The car was completely drivable away from the scene of the accident.

My best friend who just a few short months ago bought a used Raptor to daily drive also has a 2015 Wrangler Rubicon Hard Rock 6MT & a 2020 Grand Cherokee Summit just bought (with his friend/business partner) a 2005 Wrangler Unlimited (LJ) with 60K miles and a 6 Speed for $12K.

That is an impressive find.

oldfarmer50 · January 24

nyccarguy said:
No punches for me, but some interesting news and notes. A friend of mine has a kid who started his own landscaping business last year. Just got his license. He saved up money from cutting grass, officiating hockey, & they contributed as well. They started out looking at used pickups, then asked me about leasing, they ended up finding a 2011 F150 Lariat with the 6.2L V8 locally with under 90,000 miles.

My sister finally got her Mercedes back last week. The total repair bill was north of $22,000. The car was completely drivable away from the scene of the accident.

My best friend who just a few short months ago bought a used Raptor to daily drive also has a 2015 Wrangler Rubicon Hard Rock 6MT & a 2020 Grand Cherokee Summit just bought (with his friend/business partner) a 2005 Wrangler Unlimited (LJ) with 60K miles and a 6 Speed for $12K.

I didn’t even know Ford made a 6.2L. Should move out pretty good as some versions put out 500hp. Good to have when towing an equipment trailer.

I’m glad your sister is ok. What were the circumstances of the accident?

So your friend likes Jeeps or goes off-roading a lot?

explorerx4 · January 24

The 6.2 puts out about 411 HP, but going to use a lot of gas. It's pretty rare in an F-150.

@Sandman5472,
Can you just try flipping the breaker instead of unplugging the opener?

roadburner · January 24

qbrozen said:

nyccarguy said:
No punches for me, but some interesting news and notes. A friend of mine has a kid who started his own landscaping business last year. Just got his license. He saved up money from cutting grass, officiating hockey, & they contributed as well. They started out looking at used pickups, then asked me about leasing, they ended up finding a 2011 F150 Lariat with the 6.2L V8 locally with under 90,000 miles.

My sister finally got her Mercedes back last week. The total repair bill was north of $22,000. The car was completely drivable away from the scene of the accident.

My best friend who just a few short months ago bought a used Raptor to daily drive also has a 2015 Wrangler Rubicon Hard Rock 6MT & a 2020 Grand Cherokee Summit just bought (with his friend/business partner) a 2005 Wrangler Unlimited (LJ) with 60K miles and a 6 Speed for $12K.
That is an impressive find.

I’d nab that in a nanosecond. The only thing I’d take over a Wrangler is a Defender 90.

stickguy · January 24

I would take that Jeep too.

au1994 · January 24

They could flip that Jeep for a profit TODAY.

nyccarguy · January 24

cdnpinhead said:
"A friend of mine has a kid who started his own landscaping business last year. Just got his license. He saved up money from cutting grass, officiating hockey, & they contributed as well. They started out looking at used pickups, then asked me about leasing, they ended up finding a 2011 F150 Lariat with the 6.2L V8 locally with under 90,000 miles."

Good for the boy. . .and his parents. Maybe there's hope after all.

I agree. It’s quite impressive. The kid is also on his way to becoming the 3rd generation Eagle Scout. His Dad is an Eagle Scout and was recently named troop leader. His grandfather who died 5 years ago was also an Eagle Scout.

nyccarguy · January 24

qbrozen said:

nyccarguy said:
No punches for me, but some interesting news and notes. A friend of mine has a kid who started his own landscaping business last year. Just got his license. He saved up money from cutting grass, officiating hockey, & they contributed as well. They started out looking at used pickups, then asked me about leasing, they ended up finding a 2011 F150 Lariat with the 6.2L V8 locally with under 90,000 miles.

My sister finally got her Mercedes back last week. The total repair bill was north of $22,000. The car was completely drivable away from the scene of the accident.

My best friend who just a few short months ago bought a used Raptor to daily drive also has a 2015 Wrangler Rubicon Hard Rock 6MT & a 2020 Grand Cherokee Summit just bought (with his friend/business partner) a 2005 Wrangler Unlimited (LJ) with 60K miles and a 6 Speed for $12K.
That is an impressive find.

Indeed. The guy they bought it from was a landscaper. He worked for these people who owned farmland in Upstate New York. The owners bought it to use at their vacation home, and rarely ever drove it off their property. They put it in the back of a barn and it sat for years. He asked them if he could buy it for his son as a 1st car. He bought it. The son drove it, but never liked driving stick. The kid went to college in a place where you don’t need a car, then graduated and lived/worked in the city. The Jeep sat for a long time, being driven occasionally. The kid is in his mid 20s now and has moved out of the city. He needs a car and really doesn’t like driving stick. So his Dad put the Jeep up for sale and said he give the kid the money.

My friend’s business partner literally saw this out of the corner of his eye on the front lawn. Starts right up. Runs & Drives.

nyccarguy · January 24

au1994 said:
They could flip that Jeep for a profit TODAY.

They know. Both of them are into Wranglers.

graphicguy · January 24

Explorer....big congrats on the new Explorer. It’s red. My favorite color. That makes it great in my book.

oldfarmer50 · January 24

Sandman6472 said:
Now that both oil leaks are history, used dawn and a squeegy broom to clean the garage floor on Thursday. Did an amazing job of getting rid of old stains to after I let it sit awhile. Was able to really scrub the floor with the broom end which really helped get the deep down dirt out. Hopefully both vehicles stay leak free for at least a couple of years as we're both just not ready to new car shop yet.
Also finally got on the horn with Genie company to get directions to sync the newer garage door opener I got. Was super simple and once I gave the operator the model number, she walked me through it in under four minutes. Want to give my old opener to our kid who lives in Miami so she can come & go when she visits. Also easier than taking one of ours when we use her vehicle to do anything. Our belt driven unit is still working great and is almost whisper quiet. Now, need to get the outside keypad fixed as it quit working at all. Always something when owning a house it seems!

I don’t usually put any leaky cars in my garage but when I want to keep track of oil leaks I just put an old piece of cardboard under the engine, transmission or radiator (whichever is suspect). Makes it easier to track what is leaking and keeps the floor clean.

corvette · January 24

I really like the color combo on this XC60.

stickguy · January 24

I love that color combo too. My wife would have the paint color though. Nice car. I like that model. Seems like a good deal too for the year and miles.

stickguy · January 24

not a car, but after some looking and research, got the wife (well, ordered) a new laptop to replace the 11 YO macbook she inherited from our daughter 6 years ago. Never did like it, or know how to use it, and at this point doesn't even update.

ended up with her deciding she wanted a bigger screen, so got a 15.6. And she thought the touchscreen was cool, so on the list.

and just like with cars, scope creep crept in. Turned into a Lenovo with extra capacity (12 gig RAM and 256 SSD) and a bit of an upgraded processor. Total overkill for her, but she liked the way it looked, and if she doesn't want it, I'll be happy to take it since it's a lot nicer than the old one I use!

stickguy · January 24

slight chance that my next car might becoming from within the family. My daughter is cooking up a scheme to move to beantown to move in with her college roomie (downtown someplace). If it happens, she won't have parking so was figuring on getting rid of her car. Depending on all the factors, might make more sense for me to just take it off her hands instead. But, a lot has to happen to get from here to there.

would not be a bad idea. It is a nice car.

oldfarmer50 · January 24

corvette said:
I really like the color combo on this XC60.

They call the color simply brown, unlike most places that would call it something like ‘root beer float premium’. I like the white interior leather.

explorerx4 · January 24

@stickguy,
You don't want to own a car in Boston unless you are making a LOT of money..

28firefighter · January 24

IMO you don’t want to drive in Boston unless you need to. Cost aside.

sda · January 24

@stickguy, Your daughter has a Jetta R-type if I recall? How does she like it? My BIL has a 2020 Jetta SE as his company car that replaced his 2018 Jetta SEL. He really likes his current Jetta though he misses the adaptive cruise control from the 18. He visited us this weekend and it was parked next to the TL. They are both the same size!

tjc78 · January 24

stickguy said:
slight chance that my next car might becoming from within the family. My daughter is cooking up a scheme to move to beantown to move in with her college roomie (downtown someplace). If it happens, she won't have parking so was figuring on getting rid of her car. Depending on all the factors, might make more sense for me to just take it off her hands instead. But, a lot has to happen to get from here to there.

would not be a bad idea. It is a nice car.

Well you’ve cleaned and maintained it, so may as well own it.

explorerx4 · January 24

@28firefighter,
You will have a tough time finding a place to keep your car, never mind driving it.

stickguy · January 24

sda said:
@stickguy, Your daughter has a Jetta R-type if I recall? How does she like it? My BIL has a 2020 Jetta SE as his company car that replaced his 2018 Jetta SEL. He really likes his current Jetta though he misses the adaptive cruise control from the 18. He visited us this weekend and it was parked next to the TL. They are both the same size!

yes, a 2019 R line in white Silver ( a darker grayish white. very nice looking). She likes it. Been a good car, but it did just crack 40K miles (in 2.5 years), thanks to time spent doing a 90 mile/day commute. Not accumulating nearly as fast now. So 3.5 years/32K miles left on the warranty. Going to hurt sale price (maybe the high used values hold up?) but works out for me given how little I drive. I am curious what Carvana, etc. would hit it at. Good thing for her is she has it almost fully paid off so will get a nice chunk of change out of it.

I believe the apartment (and intended one to move to) is more downtown, not out in a fringe neighborhood, so having a car is going to be a non starter. and really makes little sense to keep owning it and keeping it here, or finding someplace outside the city (we have some friends out in the burbs) to park it for extended periods. Will just be an urbanite, and mostly public transit or Uber, and on the occasion she needs to get someplace that requires driving, zipcar is available.

all speculation at this point. She was talking to her friend up there today cooking all this up, but will have to deal with the pesky job situation somehow. But at least she is excited about it!

and if she does go, that takes our last tie to the area out of play, so the likelihood of us moving somewhere between Saratoga and New Hampshire goes way up. Mom can't be that far from her baby!

stickguy · January 24

tjc78 said:

stickguy said:
slight chance that my next car might becoming from within the family. My daughter is cooking up a scheme to move to beantown to move in with her college roomie (downtown someplace). If it happens, she won't have parking so was figuring on getting rid of her car. Depending on all the factors, might make more sense for me to just take it off her hands instead. But, a lot has to happen to get from here to there.

would not be a bad idea. It is a nice car.
Well you’ve cleaned and maintained it, so may as well own it.

so true. for what she could sell it for, would likely be a no question good deal. Could always dump it down the line no harm, no foul if I bought it wholesale!

Michaell · January 24

stickguy said:
not a car, but after some looking and research, got the wife (well, ordered) a new laptop to replace the 11 YO macbook she inherited from our daughter 6 years ago. Never did like it, or know how to use it, and at this point doesn't even update.

ended up with her deciding she wanted a bigger screen, so got a 15.6. And she thought the touchscreen was cool, so on the list.

and just like with cars, scope creep crept in. Turned into a Lenovo with extra capacity (12 gig RAM and 256 SSD) and a bit of an upgraded processor. Total overkill for her, but she liked the way it looked, and if she doesn't want it, I'll be happy to take it since it's a lot nicer than the old one I use!

I got a new computer recently, as well, to replace the 7 year old laptop I bought when I became a moderator here.

Well, not new to me, exactly.

When we started up the cooking studio, we bought a new Dell laptop to run all the software. My daughter picked it out, and she went pretty much top of the line. 17” screen, lots of RAM, etc.

When we had to shut down in November, it got left at the studio and wasn’t booted up for over a month. When we did, windows asked for the encryption passcode, which nobody had. So, for $300, I had a 256GB SSD installed, and I took it. The girls bought a new MacBook, since they are more familiar with that OS.

Everybody is happy.

And, since most of the work is done in the cloud, there wasn’t much data that was lost.

stickguy · January 24

my daughter was cleaning up her old macbook yesterday and after almost 7 years, had hardly anything on it to worry about, since she had pretty much got everything saved in a cloud already. Google docs, pictures (maybe google too?) so really not much left.

corvette · January 24

sda said:
My BIL has a 2020 Jetta SE as his company car that replaced his 2018 Jetta SEL.

SEL to SE? Did he get demoted or something?

corvette · January 24

Michaell said:
So, for $300, I had a 256GB SSD installed, and I took it. The girls bought a new MacBook, since they are more familiar with that OS.

Very big fan of SSDs. I don't think most OSes have been properly optimized for spinning platter hard drives for many years now. The initial release of Windows 8 worked really well with them, but I think that the inevitable bug fixes and security patches don't receive the same optimization as a new OS release.

The laptop I use to remote in to the office and to sync my phone, store photos and documents, etc., is an i3 which is over four years old. It was mediocre to below-average when I bought it (but was the cheapest thing available with a backlit keyboard, which was a requirement). I replaced the HD with an SSD, and it instantly became a very good machine (and still is!).

qbrozen · January 24

I'm having trouble with an SSD all-in-one desktop. I thought it was an OS problem, but after countless attempts at getting it to behave, I finally DOWNGRADED from Win 10 to Win 8 Pro. Worked OK for maybe 2 weeks and then started carrying on again. It will claim that it can't find a bootable drive.

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