Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

kyfdx

mjfloyd1 said:

@clm8 said:

That's where I was born, my wife too. She grew up there, I moved a little north.

Columbus? I work there a couple of days a month.

I grew up in Vincennes- now in Bloomington

Columbus is a beautiful town

kyfdx

@pensfan83 Is that the Acura? Is the wheel broken?!!

kyfdx

It's an Accent. It was barely worth $3K, brand new. No way I'm dropping $2K on it. That $2K won't get you a new engine... who knows what you are getting for that.

mjfloyd1

@corvette said:
Then you're qualified to answer... Bobe's Pizza - worth a trip? And if so, which one?

I asked my high school buddy who still lives there.

Farouk=Sausage, Pepperoni, Mushroom, Onion and Green Pepper

6th Street only has the Farouk

Super Farouk=Sausage, Pepperoni, Mushroom, Onion, Green Pepper, Black & Green Olives, Canadian Bacon

6th street Farouk is the original and probably the best. Brad and Brett Bobe bought the one on Main Street and changed it for the better. We go there a lot. Much shorter wait if you are getting carry out. We always get the Super Farouk.

I had to have my friend translate all of this. I’ve never heard of a “Farouk” before people ordering it there when I was in high school.

venture

mjfloyd1 said:

Looks like classic curb damage to my eye. Metal vs concrete and concrete wins

I was wondering what method.

For example: I had my BMW for about 3 weeks. I was at a high school event in a nearby city I wasn't familiar with. Parked with the nose of the car sticking into a yellow zone near a stop sign.

I had to leave early. A pickup had parked in front of me and was about 2 inches from my bumper. I had no choice but to back up hoping the tire would catch on the little curb before the wheel did. You know what happened.

mjfloyd1

@pensfan83 said:
I'm sad about this

That’s an easy fix by yourself or a wheel repair guy. Sand and re-clear

mjfloyd1

@Michaell said:
OK, I need all y'alls help.

A friend of a friend had her car blow up over the weekend. 2010 Hyundai Accent, bought within the last year with 120K on it, for $3K. Had it inspected by a mechanic, came back clean.

Timing chain broke (current odometer reading is around 133K) and, being an interference engine, the pistons and cylinders danced an unnatural dance. Preliminary estimate is north of $2K to fix.

Should she bite the bullet and invest the money in a repair, or should she hunt for a replacement? Finding anything under $5K is a challenge, as you all know, but I've found several candidates with similar mileage. She's not picky about what she gets, though she did mention she'd like something that can "handle snow better".

Here is an option for a remanufactured motor with a warranty. Looks like they have free shipping this month.

https://shop.powertrainproducts.net/product/2006-2011-g4ed/

nyccarguy

@pensfan83 - I know you keep your cars in perfect shape so this is going to bother you every time you look at the MDX Type S. Is there a mobile wheel repair in your area or a place that will refinish your wheel?

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Sometimes you miss out on a bargain.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2007-ford-mustang-shelby-gt500-coupe-49/

I wonder, that’s not the same 5.4L that cause all those problems in the pick up trucks, is it?

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

OK, I need all y'alls help.

A friend of a friend had her car blow up over the weekend. 2010 Hyundai Accent, bought within the last year with 120K on it, for $3K. Had it inspected by a mechanic, came back clean.

Timing chain broke (current odometer reading is around 133K) and, being an interference engine, the pistons and cylinders danced an unnatural dance. Preliminary estimate is north of $2K to fix.

Should she bite the bullet and invest the money in a repair, or should she hunt for a replacement? Finding anything under $5K is a challenge, as you all know, but I've found several candidates with similar mileage. She's not picky about what she gets, though she did mention she'd like something that can "handle snow better".

I’m pretty sure the 2010 Accent sold new for around $10k so putting that much money into basically a worthless car with a dubious reliability reputation might not be wise. If you have several alternatives lined up I’d go with those.

What are her choices?

explorerx4

@oldfarmer50,
The trouble was with the 3 valve engines.

mjfloyd1

@oldfarmer50 said:
I wonder, that’s not the same 5.4L that cause all those problems in the pick up trucks, is it?

It is the 5.0 = 302

corvette

@mjfloyd1 - thanks! Might have to make a day trip one Saturday or Sunday.

explorerx4

It's a supercharged 5.4 liter with 4 valves per cylinder.

mjfloyd1

Ahh. I was talking about the orange Mustang and @explorerx4 is talking about the grey Mustang

oldfarmer50

mjfloyd1 said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

I wonder, that’s not the same 5.4L that cause all those problems in the pick up trucks, is it?

It is the 5.0 = 302

The ad says 5.4L. I know that some versions used a 5.2L flat plane crank too. With all the different configurations of the 5.4L, 5.2L and 5.0L it’s very confusing.

explorerx4

That Parnelli Jones Mustang is a 3 valve 4.6 enlarged to 5.0.

pensfan83

venture said:

pensfan83 said:

I'm sad about this

Man! That's about a 9.8 on the suck-o-meter. How did that happen?

Navigating parking at the airport. I normally take the truck but it was needed so I took the MDX and when I was leaving I made a tight turn into the exit lane and yeah...

@kyfdx not broke, just scraped. I think it's the way the light is reflecting. @nyccarguy, yes I plan to use the same shop that's done work for me before. If it was a lease I'd let it slide (probably) but since it's not, I'll get it fixed.

roadburner

pensfan83 said:

I'm sad about this

I nicked the LF wheel on the C43; I hate doing that.

nyccarguy

au1994 said:

If I am going to get a Maverick, the dealer I’m using says it’s a 4 month lead-time now. That means within the next 30-45 days I’ve got to make my decision and place my order. Not that he’s going to hold me to it if I change my mind.

So today I drove of all things, a 4Runner. Is it old school and analog? Yes. A little crude and rough? Yes. But I have to say, it wasn’t bad. I was able to get comfortable which had been a problem with Toyotas and their flat floor. The old V6 and 5spd automatic isn’t going to win any races but it’s fine. MPG estimates are terrible though, 17-19. Rode well and very roomy on the inside. This was an SR5 Premium 4x4 and stickered for $51k with a bunch of SE Toyota add on BS. I don’t think I’d kick it out of the garage. I like the tougher, truckier look of it over the Pathfinder. I think there is a redesign for ‘25 so maybe they will start incentivizing the ‘24’s.

Not hearing of any deals on the new Tacoma or Frontier right now.

I did get an email from Chrysler Financial or whatever they call themselves today with a copy to the dealer saying I have equity to roll into another Jeep. I know at best I am even but I still sent a note to the dealer “hey I’m interested” but heard nothing. As I said, I wouldn’t kick a JGC out of the garage either.

The Maverick is certainly the cost and value leader in this game. Even a Lariat is going to come very well equipped at ~$40k which I am not touching in any of the SUVs above.

I just picked a random 4 Runner SR5 Premium off of the broker's spreadsheet. A little more than $5,400 off MSRP. Sticker was $51K & change.

au1994

@nyccarguy said:
I just picked a random 4 Runner SR5 Premium off of the broker's spreadsheet. A little more than $5,400 off MSRP. Sticker was $51K & change.

I’d take that right now. Especially if the local guy would take the Jeep on trade.

kyfdx

@pensfan83 Yeah, that shadow at the back of the inside had me freaked out.. lol

nyccarguy

au1994 said:

@nyccarguy said:

I just picked a random 4 Runner SR5 Premium off of the broker's spreadsheet. A little more than $5,400 off MSRP. Sticker was $51K & change.

I’d take that right now. Especially if the local guy would take the Jeep on trade.

Take a test drive in a Limited if you get a chance. Supposedly much smoother ride.

When is your Jeep lease up?

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

au1994 said:

@nyccarguy said:

I just picked a random 4 Runner SR5 Premium off of the broker's spreadsheet. A little more than $5,400 off MSRP. Sticker was $51K & change.

I’d take that right now. Especially if the local guy would take the Jeep on trade.

Take a test drive in a Limited if you get a chance. Supposedly much smoother ride.

When is your Jeep lease up?

Our company is having some problems with Stellantis products of late. Several truck loads of brand new Ram pick ups and Jeeps went right into the shop on delivery. Unrentable.

The bosses are not happy.

au1994

nyccarguy said:

au1994 said:

@nyccarguy said:

I just picked a random 4 Runner SR5 Premium off of the broker's spreadsheet. A little more than $5,400 off MSRP. Sticker was $51K & change.

I’d take that right now. Especially if the local guy would take the Jeep on trade.

Take a test drive in a Limited if you get a chance. Supposedly much smoother ride.

When is your Jeep lease up?


Jeep is up in September.

mjfloyd1

@corvette said:
@mjfloyd1 - thanks! Might have to make a day trip one Saturday or Sunday.

Stop by the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park on the banks of the Wabash

qbrozen

Fun day.

Last night, I get home and kid says "can we swap my wheels?" Guess I shoulda said no. Back to that in a sec.

This morn, I figure I'll go to the MVC and try to register the Sierra and Quattroporte. No go on either one. They can't seem to get past the fact they were sold to my business. Unfortunately, the sellers didn't leave the buyer field blank on the titles and wrote my company name. I had proof it is my company, I'm the owner, etc. And they didn't contest that. But they insist I need to register them in the biz name and then transfer ownership to myself, if that's what I want. Why can't we skip the useless middle step? Government workers at their finest. And, can I register them to the business then and there? Nope! I have to apply to the MVC for a business ID of some sort that will allow me to register cars as a business. That was a tough one to understand because she kept asking for biz ID and I was showing her both my NJ biz license and my Fed biz ID paperwork. After some back and forth, it was finally clarified that what she is looking for is this MVC biz ID. Crazy. I applied later in the morn and have to wait to see if it even gets approved since I technically dissolved the business. I don't know if they will find that out.

Back to the kid: New wheels are sharp, that's for sure, BUT driving home from school the lugs on one of the fronts let go. No idea why. Seems like the threads in the rotor stripped out. I definitely did not overtighten. He said he had no warning, no noise, just saw the wheel leave the road without him. He managed to stop in his lane. And the car is surprisingly OK. The tire gave a good whack to the fender, but the rotor managed to absorb everything the road had to dish out, keeping the underside seemingly unharmed.

When I arrived, state troopers were directing traffic around him. I took a look and decided I had enough to work with. Jacked it up, took the spare and the 3 bolts they managed to find and crossthreaded them on with all my might applied to the lousy 14" wrench. Good enough to get it out of the road. Tow truck appeared 15 mins later. Troopers neglected to tell me they even called for a truck.

While awaiting parts, son is going to drive the wife's Fiat. Go to start that up and... chug chug whhhiiiiiiirrrrrrrr.... Huh. Tried it a dozen times, tried it with jump pack, tried it with a different battery, but everytime the same one quick crank and then starter spinning freely. Quite odd. Came in and did a bit of research and managed to find the video below. If this ain't some goofy Italian engineering, I don't know what is. And, yes, it worked! https://youtu.be/8aJuiVhgsNw

SIGH. I'm bushed.

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
There are tow truck drivers that monitor the police radio for vehicle breakdown calls.
One showed up when we had a collision with an out of control driver on I 95 in Maryland.
He offered to tow us back to CT but luckily I had enough sense to decline.
There's a lot more to the story but I'm glad your son was ok.
That was a great little video.
Let's if that photo posting is working.

explorerx4

Here's the 2024 version of the sleeper supercharged F150.
You can forward to 2 minutes in so skip the fluff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azzGqzEDKR8

xwesx

qbrozen said:

Fun day.

.....................

SIGH. I'm bushed.

Wow! That's a lot to pack into a day! Good thing you're four hours ahead of me... not much more that can go wrong! (typed while knocking on wood....)

About that business thing.... makes no sense! Isn't your business a car dealer?! How many dealerships do you know that title the vehicle before reselling? That's essentially what you're doing here.... just selling it to yourself from inventory. I feel like the person at the MV office was off the rails. I think I relayed how the Alaska MV office wanted a special affidavit from the person who sold my son his car because the prior owner had signed it over to his father to sell on his behalf, then the father sold it to us a few weeks later without ever having titled it himself. Ultimately, the prior "transaction" was just one of convenience so his dad could sell it while he was off in parts unknown, but the person I was working with (long distance) was not budging on her stance. I ended up going to Ohio MV to get temp tags, and they thought the chain of ownership was odd, but they issued the temp anyway. Once back in Alaska, *with* the special affidavit, I might add, (the dad was a fantastic seller!), my son took his paperwork to the local office. The guy assisting him laughed when he mentioned the story and the affidavit; they didn't need or want it. /facepalm

Crazy deal with the wheel falling off. That's the last time he asks his dad for help! Hahaha... I'm glad it worked out okay for all of you!

Go get some rest.

qbrozen

Oh one other small thing: I convinced American Collectors to insure the Charger (the Coronet is already with them). Cut my premium about in half.

laurasdada

Yes, the seeming demise of Jag weighs heavy upon my heart.
I've read that they're stopping production of their ICE cars, to reemerge in '25 with the new electric (and expensive) models. Of course, there's a pantheon of Lucas jokes just waiting to be told.

I thought that there would always be a Jaguar.
Shocking.
Carry on.

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
I looked at American Collectors for an agreed value policy on the Mustang.
Their quote was over 3 1/2 times what I'm paying with a regular policy.
Of course, I wouldn't get much if the car was totaled as currently insured.

qbrozen

explorerx4 said:

@qbrozen,
I looked at American Collectors for an agreed value policy on the Mustang.
Their quote was over 3 1/2 times what I'm paying with a regular policy.
Of course, I wouldn't get much if the car was totaled as currently insured.

wow. I'm at $568 annually for $25k agreed value Coronet and $17.5k on the Charger. Geico was that price alone for just the Charger and, as you said, if something happened to that, I'm sure they'd never pay its value as a limited edition.

roadburner

laurasdada said:

Yes, the seeming demise of Jag weighs heavy upon my heart.
I've read that they're stopping production of their ICE cars, to reemerge in '25 with the new electric (and expensive) models. Of course, there's a pantheon of Lucas jokes just waiting to be told.

I thought that there would always be a Jaguar.
Shocking.
Carry on.

The smart manufacturers are hedging their bets with platforms that can be configured for ICE, PHEV, and EV versions. I fear the demise of Grace and Pace is imminent.

explorerx4

Jaguar has been trading their heritage and scamming for a while.
Crap and Drivel tries to put a good spin on it, but really?
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15349070/block-party-creating-a-v-6-by-declaring-two-cylinders-redundant/

corvette

@qbrozen - sounds like a crazy day!

qbrozen

Cap it off with an auction win.

Oddly, that Honda I canceled my bid on went for an obscene amount of money. From past results, these should have been similarly valued. But the Honda hit 1.177M yen, while I got the Toyota for my max bid of 300K.

xwesx

Phase one of your evil plan is complete! No surprises so far.

stickguy

had to look up what a Progres was. Not my cup of tea but good luck with it!

explorerx4

Watching this auction. Started strong and will have to wait a couple of days for it to play out.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1998-porsche-911-carrera-4s-20/

corvette

$300k with two days left. Are they really that desirable? I always liked the Targa versions of the 993, since it was the first implementation of the retractable glass roof on them--which we now see on many different makes today.

corvette

explorerx4 said:

Jaguar has been trading their heritage and scamming for a while.
Crap and Drivel tries to put a good spin on it, but really?
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15349070/block-party-creating-a-v-6-by-declaring-two-cylinders-redundant/

IIRC, the three-cylinder modern MINIs were basically a four with one cylinder missing.

explorerx4

@corvette,
In another day or two we'll find out about that Porsche.
The opening bids were very high but I'll be watching it to it's conclusion.

qbrozen

I never owned a Lexus, which is basically what the Progres is, from what I’ve read. Heck, maybe I’ll let my son keep it and sell the Opel. We’ll see how it is.

corvette

My comment to this photo in the Big Altima Energy FB group.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

Watching this auction. Started strong and will have to wait a couple of days for it to play out.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1998-porsche-911-carrera-4s-20/

I can’t imagine not driving those cars.

stickguy

what a waste. and unless you have a museum that needs one, I guess it is just speculating on a high HP tulip bulb since it is going right into storage hoping it appreciates more, and will never be driven.

Sandman6472

What happened to your son reminds me of what happened to my Izuzu Opel back on my first day of work at the post office. Had orientation in West Palm Beach as I was living in Boca Raton and the carrier position was also in Boca. Getting onto I-95 at Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., accelerate but car starts to lurch and then I hear pieces of metal fall off the engine, all the while I'm losing speed. Pull over to the side of the road and the car stops dead! Turns out the auto tranny imploded and cost me, or the bank of dad, $500 at Aamco to fix. As if I wasn't stressed out enough, it was the first day of orientation!

This happened on December 27th of 1980 and in early February, a front axle died so after that repair, again with a loan through the bank of dad, got rid of that death trap! Since the bank of dad closed it's doors right about then, took out a $2500 bank loan on a slightly used 1979 Datsun B-210 hatchback, an ex-rental it turned out. But had no choice as I needed reliable wheels and since I had a steady paycheck by then, all was good. And the funny part is, that steady paycheck is still coming in monthly in the form of my civil service pension.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Watching this auction. Started strong and will have to wait a couple of days for it to play out.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1998-porsche-911-carrera-4s-20/

As much as I like low mileage, it’s a shame that car wasn’t driven for 26 years.