Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

Michaell

qbrozen said:

Sprucing up the escape is progressing

Lookin' good!

I'm wondering if you should somehow modify your signature line to show the cars you have on order - perhaps bold or italicize them?

tjc78

I like it Q. Wheels and tires next? 😜😜

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

Sprucing up the escape is progressing

That looks nice, good job.

nyccarguy

Looks good! Perhaps a lift next?

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

I like it Q. Wheels and tires next? 😜😜

C’mon man it’s an old Escape. It’s never gonna be a head turner.

jmonroe

qbrozen

Yeah, as much as I’d like to put fat tires in it to butch it up, I’m not spending the money to do it.

28firefighter

@Sandman6472 said:
Congrats I guess! Takes me such a long time but after my Tucson debacle back i 2014, I doubt myself too much. But, we'll see how things play out after I test the new Corolla Cross.

Coolant light came on on the Audi yesterday so they stopped t Audi to have it topped off. This morning, found a dollop of oil under the Audi!! So, plan is to give it a few more days and if it continues, will take it to the mechanic & have him see what's up. She's not ready to give up on it which is great, nothing to get anyways. Unfortunately, this seems to happen on German vehicles a bit more often then we'd like. I'm tired of it actually!!

Most modern cars have trays bolted to the bottom of the car that catch most little leaks and drips. If you’re seeing oil on your driveway, then you likely have a non-trivial leak.

Also, why does this car keep eating coolant? Between that and the oil leak I would start to be concerned about broader unaddressed issues.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

@Sandman6472 said:

Congrats I guess! Takes me such a long time but after my Tucson debacle back i 2014, I doubt myself too much. But, we'll see how things play out after I test the new Corolla Cross.

Coolant light came on on the Audi yesterday so they stopped t Audi to have it topped off. This morning, found a dollop of oil under the Audi!! So, plan is to give it a few more days and if it continues, will take it to the mechanic & have him see what's up. She's not ready to give up on it which is great, nothing to get anyways. Unfortunately, this seems to happen on German vehicles a bit more often then we'd like. I'm tired of it actually!!

Most modern cars have trays bolted to the bottom of the car that catch most little leaks and drips. If you’re seeing oil on your driveway, then you likely have a non-trivial leak.

Also, why does this car keep eating coolant? Between that and the oil leak I would start to be concerned about broader unaddressed issues.

I would agree - rather than attending to the symptoms as they pop up, a more thorough investigation into the root causes of these issues needs to be done, else it's possible something more serious could happen.

You might want to discuss this with the wife, as it may be time to think about a replacement.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

Yeah, as much as I’d like to put fat tires in it to butch it up, I’m not spending the money to do it.

Other than the minor cosmetic rust have you discovered any mechanical surprises? It’s unusual for a used car that old with that many miles to not have a few needed repairs.

stickguy

Sandy's wife strikes me as the type that follows the "ignore things until catastrophic failure happens" plan. Then of course, complains about the inconvenience and cost!

He needs one like most of us seem to have "my car is making a funny noise. Go fix it".

I agree though with the others. when you are seeing abnormal things happening (oil drips and disappearing coolant both qualify) you should get a thorough inspection ASAP to figure out why. At least gives you a chance to fix a small problem before it becomes a much bigger, and more expensive, one.

Many a head gasket has been lost because of ignoring low coolant.

stickguy

oh, and by looking early, can still trade it in running!

xwesx

tjc78 said:

I like it Q. Wheels and tires next? 😜😜

I was trying to figure out what looked out of place on that thing, and, that's it. The addition of those fender covers somehow makes the wheels look wrong on the vehicle. Maybe putting some A/T tires on it to add some texture or something.

Not that it has *bad* tires, but I'm sure they're getting up there in years.

xwesx

Regarding the A3, I don't know if the engine in that car has a similar EGR cooler design as my Q7's 3.0L TDI, but you should research that as a possible culprit. The occasional need to top off coolant with no other sign of it anywhere is a prime symptom.

qbrozen

Tires are good. Brakes are good. Good looking fluids. No leaks. MAYBE the rear shocks are a little weak. But, so far, I have found no obvious mechanical needs.

explorerx4

On our 04 Escape, we replaced the rear shocks but front struts were good for as long as we had it.

stickguy

I saw an Escape of that series for sale this weekend. Somebody had it parked along a busy road near me in an empty parking lot. Darker gray, looked nice as I drove past. Should probably have stopped! I did see somebody parked next to it checking it out. Had an older style Escape that looked a lot rattier. So maybe looking for an upgrade!

Might have been a good deal, but more likely to be a silly price. But don't know until you look. I also don't now anything about them so buying based on my gut could be dangerous. As could explaining it to my wife!

ab348

You guys are giving Sandy the wrong advice. Clearly the thing to do is for him to give Mrs. Sandman his Golf to drive, and for him to gallantly take her Audi so he can then trade it on something new for himself.

tjc78

That Escape was a good buy, Q.

Michaell

ab348 said:

You guys are giving Sandy the wrong advice. Clearly the thing to do is for him to give Mrs. Sandman his Golf to drive, and for him to gallantly take her Audi so he can then trade it on something new for himself.

I like that.

Of course, this advice is coming from the guy without a spouse. The rest of us are projecting our lives onto Sandy's situation.

qbrozen

@tjc78 said:
That Escape was a good buy, Q.

I hope so. So far, so good. I like it quite a bit.

Sandman6472

Doubt she's want the Golf as she likes a sedan with a trunk. I'd have no issue using the A3 for awhile but we'll see. Monitoring the issue and we'll go from there. Did show her that the local Audi store has gotten quite a few new vehicles in but not sure she'd go for Audi again though she does like the better service one seems to get in the more upscale dealers to be honest. She's quite a busy lady and would rather not sit waiting at the dealership for her vehicle while I have no issue doing that. We did talk about going to more reliable vehicles next time though as she also has no patience for any vehicular issues.
Told her we'll keep an eye on the garage floor for the next week and go from there. She'll be working from home all this week so doubt she'll be driving much and if we find any issues, will make an appointment to drop it off at the mechanic's for a look see the following Thursday when I'll be off. I'll be hitting 69K very shortly and she's down around 65.8K miles right now so best to fix whatever problem it is & just keep it. Told her that they don't expect the chip issue to end much before the middle of 2023 so buying new might just have to wait for a bit.

Sandman6472

Very glad I left that shuttle job and don't miss it one bit! Lasted 5 months and really didn't want to wait till January to quit to be honest. It wasn't as much fun as expected though might've stayed a bit longer if I could've tweaked my schedule bit. Since they operate 7 days a week, was trying to work only Sundays from 7 to 4 and give up both Saturday and Monday afternoons but we never got that far. Once the vertigo hit, just decided to leave instead. Unfortunately I'm still suffering from it a bit though not as badly as I was a couple weeks ago. I've cut back on my driving and am taking things one day at a time. Having those three days off between Saturday and Monday seem to be helping as I'm resting a lot and just staying home. It'll take a few more weeks to finally be done with it but luckily, I have time to just let it finish and go away. Hope to never have it again truthfully, second time since mid 2018.

nyccarguy

Sandman6472 said:

Doubt she's want the Golf as she likes a sedan with a trunk. I'd have no issue using the A3 for awhile but we'll see. Monitoring the issue and we'll go from there. Did show her that the local Audi store has gotten quite a few new vehicles in but not sure she'd go for Audi again though she does like the better service one seems to get in the more upscale dealers to be honest. She's quite a busy lady and would rather not sit waiting at the dealership for her vehicle while I have no issue doing that. We did talk about going to more reliable vehicles next time though as she also has no patience for any vehicular issues.
Told her we'll keep an eye on the garage floor for the next week and go from there. She'll be working from home all this week so doubt she'll be driving much and if we find any issues, will make an appointment to drop it off at the mechanic's for a look see the following Thursday when I'll be off. I'll be hitting 69K very shortly and she's down around 65.8K miles right now so best to fix whatever problem it is & just keep it. Told her that they don't expect the chip issue to end much before the middle of 2023 so buying new might just have to wait for a bit.

Sedan with a trunk? look no further than a BMW 740i. She'll love it!

ab348

Sandman6472 said:

Doubt she's want the Golf as she likes a sedan with a trunk.

I'm surprised she hasn't fallen for the CUV/SUV spell that seems to have afflicted most of the fair sex. Are you sure she still prefers sedans if she was buying today, or is that just leftovers from last time?

In any event I would suggest the Lexus IS instead of any German brand if reliability is of such concern.

corvette

nyccarguy

I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!

nyccarguy

Anybody heard from @graphicguy lately?

roadburner

@nyccarguy said:
Anybody heard from @graphicguy lately?

I sent him a PM a while back. He was okay- just busy.

stickguy

ab348 said:

Sandman6472 said:

Doubt she's want the Golf as she likes a sedan with a trunk.

I'm surprised she hasn't fallen for the CUV/SUV spell that seems to have afflicted most of the fair sex. Are you sure she still prefers sedans if she was buying today, or is that just leftovers from last time?

In any event I would suggest the Lexus IS instead of any German brand if reliability is of such concern.

My wife doesn’t really care about the back end of the car. She just does not like sitting low at this point. Getting in and out (for really sport cars) and when driving. She’s used to a bit higher vantage point, and really prefers it. Can’t really blame her.

So a trunk would be fine for her, but we do want at least 1 utility/cargo hauling vehicle in the fleet.

carnaught

nyccarguy said:

Anybody heard from @graphicguy lately?

roadburner said:

@nyccarguy said:

Anybody heard from @graphicguy lately?

I sent him a PM a while back. He was okay- just busy.

Hmm, he’s retired so hoping he is truly okay.

carnaught

@abacomike, glad surgery is over. Hoping you will feel better and better!

Sandman6472

No, we discussed it again last night at dinner. She won't drive a CUC/SUV but said for me to go ahead...as long as it fits on my side of the garage! So, there ya have it, she's not giving me the longer side of the garage or giving up a sedan with a trunk! And I'm o k with it honestly, but leaves my choices a bit limited. Still liking the Mini Cooper Countryman but again, it's a BMW underneath so am dealing with another German vehicle again. And it would have to be a 2022 or later vehicle a I want the new digital speedometer truth be told.
Have been considering the Lexus UX hatch to be honest to but have none in stock, new or CPO'd in South Florida. Now, if going with Lexus, I'd definitely lease and then decide on buying it out depending on how much they want after the term is up. Looks to be a nice vehicle with all the Toyota reliability just a bit on the pricey side. And if it fits in the garage, a definite contender there. But thinking the newer Corolla Cross would be a better fit for my needs at a smaller entry price. And now that I'm not even doing 3500 miles/year, would have it a real long time which ain't really an issue for us. It'll surely be reliable so I can just enjoy it though it might become a bit boring. But boring with great reliability is what I'm looking for now so I'm all in!

ab348

Sandman6472 said:

No, we discussed it again last night at dinner. She won't drive a CUC/SUV but said for me to go ahead...as long as it fits on my side of the garage! So, there ya have it, she's not giving me the longer side of the garage or giving up a sedan with a trunk!

You really need to look into getting rid of that water heater.

stickguy

I said that a while back. Consider a tankless as part of the cost of getting the car you really want.

au1994

Completely get wanting your car garaged and its a requirement of mine but I have added shelving and racks to get as much stuff off the floor and out of the way so both of ours can stay in the garage.

corvette

There are some limitations with the tankless heaters--the big one for me is that they don't do well with extremely low flows, e.g., a dishwasher. And, if you don't have LP or natural gas available, it's also a no go. It's also sometimes possible to rig a tank water heater in an attic area, but even if you have a drip pan, there is a possibility of a huge mess if it ever leaks or ruptures.

ab348

corvette said:

There are some limitations with the tankless heaters--the big one for me is that they don't do well with extremely low flows, e.g., a dishwasher. And, if you don't have LP or natural gas available, it's also a no go. It's also sometimes possible to rig a tank water heater in an attic area, but even if you have a drip pan, there is a possibility of a huge mess if it ever leaks or ruptures.

Seems to me that tank type water heaters in Sandy's case have a bigger limitation in making your garage useless for its intended purpose for 90% of the vehicles on the road.

jmonroe1

Sandman6472 said:

No, we discussed it again last night at dinner. She won't drive a CUC/SUV but said for me to go ahead...as long as it fits on my side of the garage! So, there ya have it, she's not giving me the longer side of the garage or giving up a sedan with a trunk! And I'm o k with it honestly, but leaves my choices a bit limited. Still liking the Mini Cooper Countryman but again, it's a BMW underneath so am dealing with another German vehicle again. And it would have to be a 2022 or later vehicle a I want the new digital speedometer truth be told.
Have been considering the Lexus UX hatch to be honest to but have none in stock, new or CPO'd in South Florida. Now, if going with Lexus, I'd definitely lease and then decide on buying it out depending on how much they want after the term is up. Looks to be a nice vehicle with all the Toyota reliability just a bit on the pricey side. And if it fits in the garage, a definite contender there. But thinking the newer Corolla Cross would be a better fit for my needs at a smaller entry price. And now that I'm not even doing 3500 miles/year, would have it a real long time which ain't really an issue for us. It'll surely be reliable so I can just enjoy it though it might become a bit boring. But boring with great reliability is what I'm looking for now so I'm all in!

I guess there is something I must have missed but I don’t understand why your wife won’t give up HER side of the garage if you find a car you really like but it won’t fit on YOUR so called side of the garage. Did you guys sign something when you bought your house that absolutely prohibits cars swapping sides of the garage?

I don’t know how others in here feel about this but I’m tired of hearing about this childish MY side and HER side of the garage thing.

If I wanted Mrs. j’s so called side of the garage I’d just take it. As long as the two cars each of you want fit in the garage you have now what the hell difference does it make which car is on which side of the garage?

jmonroe

corvette

ab348 said:

Seems to me that tank type water heaters in Sandy's case have a bigger limitation in making your garage useless for its intended purpose for 90% of the vehicles on the road.

I'm vaguely aware that there were/are a bunch of standard house plans which incorporated garages which were practically useless, but I'm fortunate enough not to have owned one.

qbrozen

Had an interesting convo with my 11-yr-old tonight. He was talking about some incoming funds from his report card, Christmas, and his bday. He was saying he can't think of anything he wants. I suggested he could start saving for a car. Of course, he said "but that's so far away!" I answered that, if he starts now, he could get himself a really nice car. He said, "nah. I don't want a nice car as my first car because I'll be worried about it. I want something OK but not a lot. Like this car [we were in the Escape]. I wouldn't be embarassed to drive it, but I wouldn't be afraid to park it in the school lot, and I'd be a new driver so I might make mistakes." That's a smart damned kid. Wish my older one had half as much mental processing power.

stickguy

he says that at 11. at 17, the day he gets his full license and can solo, he will be groveling for whatever the coolest car you have is at the time (JEEP, Daytona, whatever).

explorerx4

In the high school parking lot, you need to worry about the other drivers.

stickguy

Honda finally put the full production website up for the Si. Looks nice. pretty well loaded too. Only thing on my wish list it doesn't have is power seats. MSRP with dest. is $28,315. Lot of car for the money. Seats, would have to try those in person to see how they adjust. And how the comfort is with the bolstering (seats were the only thing I did not like about the prior version).

seems like there might be one in stock at one dealer in my area. May have to wander down and check it out if true. Or send TJC, it's closer to him! Not that I expect it to actually be there.

would be nice to actually compare it back to back to the Integra. Which won't be happening any time soon of course. I miss the old days of car shopping and seeing whatever you wanted!

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

In the high school parking lot, you need to worry about the other drivers.

our HS was a nightmare. I was afraid to drive there when kids were around. My son got smart and parked around back (and we had our daughter do that too). and hang out a little after school to let traffic clear out. Most of those kids, did not drive well. plus the idiots that roared around. Constant accidents and cars getting dented and scratched when parked. So both only took well used and "patinaed" (IOW pre scratched and dented) cars there.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

explorerx4 said:

In the high school parking lot, you need to worry about the other drivers.

our HS was a nightmare. I was afraid to drive there when kids were around. My son got smart and parked around back (and we had our daughter do that too). and hang out a little after school to let traffic clear out. Most of those kids, did not drive well. plus the idiots that roared around. Constant accidents and cars getting dented and scratched when parked. So both only took well used and "patinaed" (IOW pre scratched and dented) cars there.

The way I looked at kids having a car to take to school was, a car wasn’t needed for that. I paid a good chunk of money to have my Sons chauffeured to school in the big yellow limo so that’s how it was done almost all the time. Of course there were times when Son #1 took his car to school but it wasn’t very often. They survived and so did I.

jmonroe

stickguy

mine both had a lot of after school activities so lots of days by the time they were seniors (when they were able to actually drive) they were not leaving immediately and making the bus. So that would have meant picking them up a lot of days, getting out of work to do it. So easier to just let them drive.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

mine both had a lot of after school activities so lots of days by the time they were seniors (when they were able to actually drive) they were not leaving immediately and making the bus. So that would have meant picking them up a lot of days, getting out of work to do it. So easier to just let them drive.

Like I said I paid a nice sum for chauffeur service and that included an activity bus for my Son’s after school activities. It didn’t always work for baseball practice but by far it worked the majority of the times.

jmonroe

xwesx

qbrozen said:

Had an interesting convo with my 11-yr-old tonight. He was talking about some incoming funds from his report card, Christmas, and his bday. He was saying he can't think of anything he wants. I suggested he could start saving for a car. Of course, he said "but that's so far away!" I answered that, if he starts now, he could get himself a really nice car. He said, "nah. I don't want a nice car as my first car because I'll be worried about it. I want something OK but not a lot. Like this car [we were in the Escape]. I wouldn't be embarassed to drive it, but I wouldn't be afraid to park it in the school lot, and I'd be a new driver so I might make mistakes." That's a smart damned kid. Wish my older one had half as much mental processing power.

Wow! He's a keeper. Better hang onto that Escape.

xwesx

explorerx4 said:

In the high school parking lot, you need to worry about the other drivers.

ANY parking lot these days. I swear the combined mental power half the drivers use in parking up here is about equivalent to an earthworm.

tjc78

@jmonroe1 said:
I guess there is something I must have missed but I don’t understand why your wife won’t give up HER side of the garage if you find a car you really like but it won’t fit on YOUR so called side of the garage. Did you guys sign something when you bought your house that absolutely prohibits cars swapping sides of the garage?

I don’t know how others in here feel about this but I’m tired of hearing about this childish MY side and HER side of the garage thing.

If I wanted Mrs. j’s so called side of the garage I’d just take it. As long as the two cars each of you want fit in the garage you have now what the hell difference does it make which car is on which side of the garage?

jmonroe

The left side of our garage is much deeper than the right which has the stairs to inside. I gave my wife the left side since her car is longer, plus it’s easier to pull in on the left.

Some day when I get my classic land yacht we will have no choice but to switch sides.