Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

corvette

I was going to suggest a heavily tuned VW/Audi TDI (and just alternate to whichever car is running at the time), but then I remembered where he lives.

nyccarguy

@Michaell - I don’t think the $2,300 for that 60K service is THAT bad. I don’t have anywhere near the mechanical aptitude of @xwesx or @qbrozen. I’m sure the spark plugs on your H6 engine isn’t an easy job. I’ve paid $350 per axle for new pads & rotors. The serpentine belt is $120 parts & labor?

Next time it is due for replacement, you can do the air filter & cabin filter yourself. It is easy.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

@andres3 - the prospect of buying a used Kia, especially from a Nissan dealer doesn’t give off good vibes.

Especially in San Diego - having visited a number of dealers between Escondido and Mission Valley, there are some not-so-nice ones out there.

qbrozen

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

The tires were close to $2K, and I spent $2300 in late 2021 for the 60K service, which included a small repair or two.

So, I don't feel like it's that much of an outlay. YMMV.

Was that a t-belt service?

Guess I'm too spoiled doing things myself.

No on the timing belt. I'm following the recommendations from the owners manual. I'll have to look and see when that gets done. Or even if it needs to be done - I've got the 3.6 boxer 6, and I don't know if it has a timing chain or belt.

whoa whoa. Now I need to know. What was done at 60k for $2300?

According to my notes ....

Brake flush, Brake pads and rotors (F & R), cabin air filter, engine air filter, spark plug replacement, oil change, transmission secondary pressure sensor replacement, replace serpentine belt, 4 wheel alignment

I imagine that sensor was not part of the normal 60k service, correct? I'm going to blindly hope that was a difficult job. lol.
Dealerships do overcharge grossly for brake jobs, though, too.

mjfloyd1

Can’t be worse than a used Audi from a BMW dealer😂

corvette

qbrozen said:

Dealerships do overcharge grossly for brake jobs, though, too.

When I had brakes and a wheel bearing done on the Prius, the local, very highly rated mechanic's invoice had a 3x parts markup compared to what I could buy the same Autozone/Advance parts for. I'm sure they're not paying "rack rate" for the parts, either.

Michaell

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

The tires were close to $2K, and I spent $2300 in late 2021 for the 60K service, which included a small repair or two.

So, I don't feel like it's that much of an outlay. YMMV.

Was that a t-belt service?

Guess I'm too spoiled doing things myself.

No on the timing belt. I'm following the recommendations from the owners manual. I'll have to look and see when that gets done. Or even if it needs to be done - I've got the 3.6 boxer 6, and I don't know if it has a timing chain or belt.

whoa whoa. Now I need to know. What was done at 60k for $2300?

According to my notes ....

Brake flush, Brake pads and rotors (F & R), cabin air filter, engine air filter, spark plug replacement, oil change, transmission secondary pressure sensor replacement, replace serpentine belt, 4 wheel alignment

I imagine that sensor was not part of the normal 60k service, correct? I'm going to blindly hope that was a difficult job. lol.
Dealerships do overcharge grossly for brake jobs, though, too.

No, that was found during the inspection. I certainly don't want to have any trouble with the CVT, given how expensive they can be to replace.

stickguy

the H6 was using a CVT back then? Did not realize they had switched over at that point.

Michaell

stickguy said:

the H6 was using a CVT back then? Did not realize they had switched over at that point.

Yep, CVT with software programming to make it "feel" like a traditional automatic.

And, it has shift paddles on the steering wheel.

qbrozen

Yup. Dad had the same H6/CVT setup in his Legacy. They started that with the 2015 design.

Sandman6472

Still need help changing the auto's in the family. I know it isn't that hard to do but...I've forgotten how. Anyone out there...???

Sandman6472

Drove a slightly beat up Mini Cooper Countryman from PBI to the local M C store near where I live, was about a 40 minute drive in part bumper to bumper traffic & part open turnpike. Vehicle had just over 51K on the clock, think it was a 2021 model. Loved the size but didn't care for the dual sun roofs. Seats were comfy but having the Harman Kardon audio is a must as the stock system was "meh" at best. No turbo lag at all which I liked. The new ones have the digital speedometer which I like though the black leather/vinyl was a bit hot & my shirt was wet when I arrived at the dealer, a lighter interior is preferred. But overall? I could live with one very easily & think it would be an excellent d d for me.

Michaell

Sandman6472 said:

Drove a slightly beat up Mini Cooper Countryman from PBI to the local M C store near where I live, was about a 40 minute drive in part bumper to bumper traffic & part open turnpike. Vehicle had just over 51K on the clock, think it was a 2021 model. Loved the size but didn't care for the dual sun roofs. Seats were comfy but having the Harman Kardon audio is a must as the stock system was "meh" at best. No turbo lag at all which I liked. The new ones have the digital speedometer which I like though the black leather/vinyl was a bit hot & my shirt was wet when I arrived at the dealer, a lighter interior is preferred. But overall? I could live with one very easily & think it would be an excellent d d for me.

Do you know what year that Countryman was? Was it an "S" or not?

There was a refresh a couple of years ago, and the new platform is much more comfortable than the one my stepdaughter has. I've driven a couple as loaners, and it's night and day difference.

ab348

Sandman6472 said:

Still need help changing the auto's in the family. I know it isn't that hard to do but...I've forgotten how. Anyone out there...???

Click on your icon over on the right side of the screen just above where it says "Quick Links". That brings up a pop-up box where you can click "Edit Profile", so click that. That brings up a list of choices that included Signature settings" where you should be able to edit what is there now.

stickguy

Confirm instructions are accurate I just did mine.

qbrozen

@ab348 said:
Click on your icon over on the right side of the screen just above where it says "Quick Links". That brings up a pop-up box where you can click "Edit Profile", so click that. That brings up a list of choices that included Signature settings" where you should be able to edit what is there now.

Just to clarify, that means click signature settings. Changing the signature line on that first page in profile does nothing. Go figure.

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

The tires were close to $2K, and I spent $2300 in late 2021 for the 60K service, which included a small repair or two.

So, I don't feel like it's that much of an outlay. YMMV.

Was that a t-belt service?

Guess I'm too spoiled doing things myself.

No on the timing belt. I'm following the recommendations from the owners manual. I'll have to look and see when that gets done. Or even if it needs to be done - I've got the 3.6 boxer 6, and I don't know if it has a timing chain or belt.

whoa whoa. Now I need to know. What was done at 60k for $2300?

According to my notes ....

Brake flush, Brake pads and rotors (F & R), cabin air filter, engine air filter, spark plug replacement, oil change, transmission secondary pressure sensor replacement, replace serpentine belt, 4 wheel alignment

I imagine that sensor was not part of the normal 60k service, correct? I'm going to blindly hope that was a difficult job. lol.
Dealerships do overcharge grossly for brake jobs, though, too.

Yes. I have found they do charge a lot more for brake jobs. I had to put front brakes on my Tacoma and The dealership wanted (they didn't get it) well over $500 for pads & rotors. Air filters and Cabin filters are another dealership source of gross profit. They charge the close to an hour of labor to do something that takes 2-3 minutes.

stickguy

almost always the case, but there are some cars that are more complicated (enough so that some people would not want to try0. I think at one point BMWs needed to have the cowl removed (not sure about wiper arms) to get to the cabin filter. And my current RDX requires removing half the air intake system to unearth the air filter. Not terribly difficult but it does take tools (a socket with an extension) and some research. The tools along probably eliminates most owners!

at least my cabin one is still easy. The last RDX was a normal air filter (pop 2 clips on the box and lift the lid to get the filter out). I will still do this one at some point, but would have to watch the youtube video again. Or be lazy and see how much they want for the job at the next oil change!

au1994

On the X1 it requires taking off multiple pieces of dash and kick panel trim for the cabin filter. One look at the YouTube videos and I noped out of that real quick.

Even the engine air filter requires a little extra finagling. Typical...

You should have seen what an ordeal the battery change was. Once again, nope!

stickguy

thankfully I never had a car with a hidden battery but have watched enough videos on youtube to know that dealing with one in the fender well or under the front seat is a nightmare. I think the hybrid Maverick has it under the back seat maybe? Or that might just be the hybrid battery pack. In any case, the seat flips up so still easy to get to.

my favorite was when a car was dead, so you could not move the power seat to get access to the battery, or even get to the bolts to remove the seat.

stickguy

I remember now the cabin filter from Hades. My Volvo S40. I never changed it, and the dealer wanted IIRC about $125 (10 years ago) to do it so I passed. 10 year old car, might have been original. It resided under the dash on the firewall, on the drivers side for some reason. so had to contort yourself upside down in the footwell to get to it, and required removing the brake pedal assembly for access. that definitely went past my "I ain't doing that" threshold.

ab348

I've recently begun watching some of The Car Wizard's videos on YT, that's the guy who is Hoovie's mechanic. He isn't as annoying as Hoovie (who has set the rumor mills abuzz with talk that he is going thru a divorce!), but this fellow has his own quirks as well so he can annoy too, just not as much. It is interesting because he has certain makes/models that he absolutely hates, and others that he loves, seeing them from a mechanic's perspective. I doubt the ones he likes are as good as he says and the ones he hates are as bad as he claims, although it is one credible data point. Even though Hyundai engines like to blow up it is hard to totally blame the company when a car is presented where the owner had never changed the oil and there is just 1 qt of black guck remaining in the crankcase. He loves Toyotas and Lexii which really isn't a surprise. Some of the repair gymnastics required on certain vehicles are eye-opening. Oddly, he has had several Cadillacs with the Northstar engine and doesn't seem to hate them, which I can't quite figure out.

corvette

Mom's Volvo S80 was like that, except thankfully, it was on the passenger side, so no brake pedal removal, but you definitely wanted to take out the floormat to get that extra 1/4" of clearance. And at least one time, we got the wrong cabin air filter shipped from a Euro-specific online parts store.

tjc78

Most cars I’ve owned have been very easy for filter replacement with two exceptions.

The 2003 Avalon needed some dash disassembly and dropping the glove compartment to get to the cabin filter.

The 2015 and 2017 Enclaves the air filter required some torx bits and a good bit of the intake plumbing to be removed in order to do the air filter.

Neither of them were particularly difficult to do, but I wouldn’t say in scope for the vast majority of owners.

On the subject… I successfully poured one gallon of washer fluid into the truck last night without incident… so there’s that

nyccarguy

ab348 said:

I've recently begun watching some of The Car Wizard's videos on YT, that's the guy who is Hoovie's mechanic. He isn't as annoying as Hoovie (who has set the rumor mills abuzz with talk that he is going thru a divorce!), but this fellow has his own quirks as well so he can annoy too, just not as much. It is interesting because he has certain makes/models that he absolutely hates, and others that he loves, seeing them from a mechanic's perspective. I doubt the ones he likes are as good as he says and the ones he hates are as bad as he claims, although it is one credible data point. Even though Hyundai engines like to blow up it is hard to totally blame the company when a car is presented where the owner had never changed the oil and there is just 1 qt of black guck remaining in the crankcase. He loves Toyotas and Lexii which really isn't a surprise. Some of the repair gymnastics required on certain vehicles are eye-opening. Oddly, he has had several Cadillacs with the Northstar engine and doesn't seem to hate them, which I can't quite figure out.

The Wizard can be very dry, but has his moments. Have you seen the video where he says there is a reason the Taliban and ISIS use Land Cruisers and not Suburbans, Grand Cherokees, & Explorers?

carnaught

Wondering about our poster buddy, @graphicguy. Anyone hear from him lately?

mjfloyd1

Interesting IIHS safety pick article

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/here-are-all-the-cars-that-just-lost-their-iihs-top-safety-pick-top-safety-pick-plus-ratings.html/?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_account=edmunds_insider&utm_targetid=9a146020-b189-11e4-84ef-0ab87879bbdd&utm_campaign=editorial_newsletter&utm_term=2022_03_01_editorial_newsletter&utm_adgroup=11042&utm_content=module_2&mkt_tok=NDYxLU5NSi01OTgAAAGKPO0tsFzlE84gGfz1lFNZPrnfDPYcU4uQThZPXer38YWhEJP894eBW49VMuTlMAAcH4JsMppkce9tg0pvuqiumzBIjkSHY5iQcVPEvrAaxYec

henryn

nyccarguy said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

The tires were close to $2K, and I spent $2300 in late 2021 for the 60K service, which included a small repair or two.

So, I don't feel like it's that much of an outlay. YMMV.

Was that a t-belt service?

Guess I'm too spoiled doing things myself.

No on the timing belt. I'm following the recommendations from the owners manual. I'll have to look and see when that gets done. Or even if it needs to be done - I've got the 3.6 boxer 6, and I don't know if it has a timing chain or belt.

whoa whoa. Now I need to know. What was done at 60k for $2300?

According to my notes ....

Brake flush, Brake pads and rotors (F & R), cabin air filter, engine air filter, spark plug replacement, oil change, transmission secondary pressure sensor replacement, replace serpentine belt, 4 wheel alignment

I imagine that sensor was not part of the normal 60k service, correct? I'm going to blindly hope that was a difficult job. lol.
Dealerships do overcharge grossly for brake jobs, though, too.

Yes. I have found they do charge a lot more for brake jobs. I had to put front brakes on my Tacoma and The dealership wanted (they didn't get it) well over $500 for pads & rotors. Air filters and Cabin filters are another dealership source of gross profit. They charge the close to an hour of labor to do something that takes 2-3 minutes.

When I was young, my father worked as a mechanic in new car dealerships. Later on, heavy diesel and construction equipment, but I still remember hanging out after school at the dealership instead of riding the school bus home. Later on, my younger brother was a line mechanic at dealerships for several years, and even a service manager for a short while. I heard many stories over the years about the “easy jobs” and the hard feelings generated inside the shop about who got the “easy jobs” and who got the “impossible jobs”.

I think most here know of the “flat rate”. When a mechanic does a job at a dealership, the customer is charged and the mechanic is paid according to a “flat rate manual”. A brake job on a particular automobile may pay 3 hours for instance. If the mechanic can do that job in 1.5 hours, then he is making twice his nominal pay rate. Brake jobs are some of the easiest work that a dealership mechanic will perform, and they can almost always easily beat the flat rate. Hence there is intense competition for those jobs, and a lot of ill feelings if it is perceived that the service manager is giving the easy jobs to one of his cronies (or worse, relative or in-law).

Changing filters is so easy that work is usually given to some youngster who isn’t yet a real mechanic, and is being paid a flat weekly sum instead of by the flat rate manual.

roadburner

au1994 said:

On the X1 it requires taking off multiple pieces of dash and kick panel trim for the cabin filter. One look at the YouTube videos and I noped out of that real quick.

Even the engine air filter requires a little extra finagling. Typical...

You should have seen what an ordeal the battery change was. Once again, nope!

The 318ti has the filter located behind the firewall. A real pain.

corvette

henryn said:

When a mechanic does a job at a dealership, the customer is charged and the mechanic is paid according to a “flat rate manual”...

Yes, and to add to this, I've heard that newer mechanics entering the field often end up getting pigeonholed as "the tech guy" and assigned all of the infotainment issues, which are less desirable because generally can't be tested, diagnosed, and repaired in less time than the book rate or flat rate.

stickguy

ab348 said:

I've recently begun watching some of The Car Wizard's videos on YT, that's the guy who is Hoovie's mechanic. He isn't as annoying as Hoovie (who has set the rumor mills abuzz with talk that he is going thru a divorce!), but this fellow has his own quirks as well so he can annoy too, just not as much. It is interesting because he has certain makes/models that he absolutely hates, and others that he loves, seeing them from a mechanic's perspective. I doubt the ones he likes are as good as he says and the ones he hates are as bad as he claims, although it is one credible data point. Even though Hyundai engines like to blow up it is hard to totally blame the company when a car is presented where the owner had never changed the oil and there is just 1 qt of black guck remaining in the crankcase. He loves Toyotas and Lexii which really isn't a surprise. Some of the repair gymnastics required on certain vehicles are eye-opening. Oddly, he has had several Cadillacs with the Northstar engine and doesn't seem to hate them, which I can't quite figure out.

look back a few months for his videos on an XLR he bought. he went through the whole process of making the engine "bullet proof" (and dry). Replaced all the gaskets and seals that like to leak, and pulled the heads (I think they came off) to install a kit that replaced the head bolts (I think with studs) to solve the head gasket issues for good. Not a job for the average DIYer, since it required separating the body from the chassis, and a lot of precision drilling and torqueing. But cool to watch the process, though I imagine incredibly expensive if you pay a shop to do it (one that actually knows what they are doing).

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

Most cars I’ve owned have been very easy for filter replacement with two exceptions.

The 2003 Avalon needed some dash disassembly and dropping the glove compartment to get to the cabin filter.

The 2015 and 2017 Enclaves the air filter required some torx bits and a good bit of the intake plumbing to be removed in order to do the air filter.

Neither of them were particularly difficult to do, but I wouldn’t say in scope for the vast majority of owners.

On the subject… I successfully poured one gallon of washer fluid into the truck last night without incident… so there’s that

————————————————
Years ago when I was a working stiff a guy kept forgetting to add washer fluid to his wife’s car that she kept asking him to do for weeks. So, one day she took matters into her own hands and found a way to pop the hood then poured about a gallon of washer fluid into the coolant over flow bottle which had to be low for that to happen. Anyway, she was so proud of herself that when the guy got home she had to show him her handy work. Needless to say he had a conniption and promptly did a coolant system flush. Luckily he never had a problem from that and felt it might have even helped clean out the system better than a typical home owner drain and flush method.

I’d never have that problem with Mrs. j since she’d have absolutely no clue how to pop the hood and I like it that way.

FWIW, back in the 70’s and 80’s Prestone sold a flush kit where you installed a heavy plastic T into the heater hose line permanently then you’d remove the cap from the T and screw on the garden hose. That back flushed the system. They even provided the hose clamps for the T and a plastic piece to snap into the radiator fill opening shaped like an L to direct the water away so it didn’t just flow out of the top of the radiator and fall wherever it fell. Worked like a champ.

jmonroe

mjfloyd1

Ford and GM shut down pickup truck production (each for a different reason)

https://www.autoweek.com/news/industry-news/a43100897/ford-gm-pickup-truck-production-shutdown/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_aut&utm_medium=email&date=030123&utm_campaign=nl30696922&user_email=aa8fb836422a392012af3c9116972e4ed85fd20fd898fd1602bc92f77eeabc60&GID=aa8fb836422a392012af3c9116972e4ed85fd20fd898fd1602bc92f77eeabc60&utm_term=AAA -- High Minus Dormant and 90 Day Non Openers

explorerx4

Those shutdowns are only for certain models.

ab348

The GM one seems reasonable enough given that it is apparently tied to a desire to manage inventories amidst soft sales, really no surprise given high gas prices. The Ford one is different as it is tied to unexpected fires in Lightning pickups.

qbrozen

ab348 said:

The GM one seems reasonable enough given that it is apparently tied to a desire to manage inventories amidst soft sales, really no surprise given high gas prices. The Ford one is different as it is tied to unexpected fires in Lightning pickups.

so if only they expected the fires, everything would be still running.

mjfloyd1

@explorerx4 said:
Those shutdowns are only for certain models.

I didn’t write the headline😂

ab348

jmonroe1 said:

FWIW, back in the 70’s and 80’s Prestone sold a flush kit where you installed a heavy plastic T into the heater hose line permanently then you’d remove the cap from the T and screw on the garden hose. That back flushed the system. They even provided the hose clamps for the T and a plastic piece to snap into the radiator fill opening shaped like an L to direct the water away so it didn’t just flow out of the top of the radiator and fall wherever it fell. Worked like a champ.

I bought/installed one of those kits on one of my cars back in the '70s. Amazingly it worked quite well and I didn't mess it up. I think they are still selling the kits. Back then I just let the antifreeze/water mix run down the driveway and to the curb storm drain. Not advisable nowadays. I think I hosed it all down afterwards, but still...

ab348

qbrozen said:

ab348 said:

The GM one seems reasonable enough given that it is apparently tied to a desire to manage inventories amidst soft sales, really no surprise given high gas prices. The Ford one is different as it is tied to unexpected fires in Lightning pickups.

so if only they expected the fires, everything would be still running.

Well, it IS a Ford...

ab348

I watched Harry Metcalfe's review of the Civic Type R the other day:

https://youtu.be/ePXpl8LBc2I

You know it's a good car when Harry laughs and smiles while driving it and he did that here. It really seems appealing, especially those red seats (too bad they couldn't have found a few yards of the same upholstery to make the back seats match the front). The lack of an automatic transmission limits its appeal to people like me with knee issues but otherwise it seems like a hoot to drive. A shame it is so expensive though.

stickguy

I just finished catching up on a couple of issues of car and driver, and they had some performance car of the year type tests. The type R did quite well, and was easily the quickest FWD model (and faster around the track than some rear and AWD entrants). Also raved about the composure, feel, and shifter quality.

but pricey!

ab348

$51,979 in worthless Canadian dollars. Can't get the blue paint like Harry's test car had up here either, just white, gray or red.

mjfloyd1

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

Michaell said:

The tires were close to $2K, and I spent $2300 in late 2021 for the 60K service, which included a small repair or two.

So, I don't feel like it's that much of an outlay. YMMV.

Was that a t-belt service?

Guess I'm too spoiled doing things myself.

No on the timing belt. I'm following the recommendations from the owners manual. I'll have to look and see when that gets done. Or even if it needs to be done - I've got the 3.6 boxer 6, and I don't know if it has a timing chain or belt.

whoa whoa. Now I need to know. What was done at 60k for $2300?

According to my notes ....

Brake flush, Brake pads and rotors (F & R), cabin air filter, engine air filter, spark plug replacement, oil change, transmission secondary pressure sensor replacement, replace serpentine belt, 4 wheel alignment

Subaru had a TSB on that in 2016

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2016/MC-10111091-9999.pdf

sda

corvette said:

henryn said:

When a mechanic does a job at a dealership, the customer is charged and the mechanic is paid according to a “flat rate manual”...

Yes, and to add to this, I've heard that newer mechanics entering the field often end up getting pigeonholed as "the tech guy" and assigned all of the infotainment issues, which are less desirable because generally can't be tested, diagnosed, and repaired in less time than the book rate or flat rate.

Yet they may be considered more tech savvy due to their age, not necessarily true and can more easily address the task.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

I've recently begun watching some of The Car Wizard's videos on YT, that's the guy who is Hoovie's mechanic. He isn't as annoying as Hoovie (who has set the rumor mills abuzz with talk that he is going thru a divorce!), but this fellow has his own quirks as well so he can annoy too, just not as much. It is interesting because he has certain makes/models that he absolutely hates, and others that he loves, seeing them from a mechanic's perspective. I doubt the ones he likes are as good as he says and the ones he hates are as bad as he claims, although it is one credible data point. Even though Hyundai engines like to blow up it is hard to totally blame the company when a car is presented where the owner had never changed the oil and there is just 1 qt of black guck remaining in the crankcase. He loves Toyotas and Lexii which really isn't a surprise. Some of the repair gymnastics required on certain vehicles are eye-opening. Oddly, he has had several Cadillacs with the Northstar engine and doesn't seem to hate them, which I can't quite figure out.

With all the luxury cars Hoovie gives his wife she’d be a fool to divorce him.

The Wizard has videos on which models never to buy and one of them was the Northstars. Then he went out and bought one for himself. He had to pull the engine to fix the oil pan and the head bolts.

xwesx

tifighter said:

Nearly $40k for an over-40k mile Kia. I know I’m biased, but I’d rather buy a new Model 3 at that point.

I think that's probably his most practical route for a daily driver. The performance will blow the doors off of anything on that list, and it should suite the need pretty well in terms of range and cost.

xwesx

Sandman6472 said:

Still need help changing the auto's in the family. I know it isn't that hard to do but...I've forgotten how. Anyone out there...???

Hello?! Is it me you're looking for?

andres3

ab348 said:

If Andres buys that Kia, I pray to all that is holy that he gets 2 key fobs with it.

I won't buy a car without 2 key fob's or more. If it has 1 they are throwing in a second or discounting $1,000.

corvette

oldfarmer50 said:

With all the luxury cars Hoovie gives his wife she’d be a fool to divorce him.

Funny you mention that, that was the rumor going around after the Ferrari sale video.

oldfarmer50 said:

The Wizard has videos on which models never to buy and one of them was the Northstars. Then he went out and bought one for himself. He had to pull the engine to fix the oil pan and the head bolts.

At least his labor is free... the "never buy X" and "buy a Toyota/Lexus" ad nauseum is very overdone, but I get that it's meant for the viewers looking for a reliable daily driver and who won't be doing any of their own repair work.

stickguy

it isn't always buy a toyota. and the reasons are valid. And he does note the caveat on some of them about if you have to pay to have the work done.