Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

fezo

Speaking of old Chrysler products, how goes the DeSoto?

graphicguy

Q.....got one of those Fiat "test drive" offers. I was planning on making a trip to the Fiat dealer this weekend to collect. Like you, not in the market, however.

stickguy

how did I miss out on this? I figured I would be on all the lists, after using the Ford and Toyota ones earlier this year.

graphicguy

stick....that's the reason....you used up your "test drive coupon" quota. :P

kyfdx

I didn't get one, either....

ateixeira

Any one got a link to that Fiat test drive offer? Or are we too late?

I sat in a 500C and the back seat was too small. Thought about getting an Abarth to replace the Miata eventually, but my kids are tall so no way.

tifighter

Well, whatever the Ridgeline is, the Japanese have figured out a good use of the platform. Check out that interior at the end.

graphicguy

It never ceases to amaze me what some will choose to do to a vehicle....moreover, the amount of money wasted on such useless "stuff".

andre1969

Speaking of old Chrysler products, how goes the DeSoto?

Funny, Isellhondas asked me that same question, over in one of the classic car forums.

The DeSoto's still at the mechanic's shop, in multiple pieces. Every time I've talked to the mechanic, he keeps bringing up this '59 Imperial that's ahead of my car and supposedly almost done, but I've been hearing that one for awhile now. I'm not complaining...too much at least, because, while he's not working on the car, it's also not bleeding my bank account dry.

Plus, I don't have garage space for the DeSoto anymore. Right after I had it towed out of my grandmother's garage, my uncle suddenly cluttered up the garage so much that the only way to get a car back in there would be to have Charleton Heston part it like the Red Sea!

So, when the DeSoto does finally come home, it's going to have to kick one of the lesser cars out of my garage...namely my '79 5th Ave.

ateixeira

What an oddball.

To be fair, that just might be the least-often customized trucks. You'll see 1000 custom Escalades for each one of those.

jayrider

The Fiat website specifically excluded hosts from Edmunds for the test drive promotion. You folks are only interested in the gift card. :P

qbrozen

I just know I had signed up for updates on their website a long time ago and became a facebook fan a few months back.

tifighter

The cost and hours on this thing must be crazy. And Range Rover Sport front end? At Japan prices? Crazy.

isellhondas

Your "restorer" sounds SO familiar! I do wish you well!

kyfdx

Hey! Come on..

I think I can write off the mileage, as well...

oldfarmer50

Talk about odd rare cars. As a performer I don't think it's much to write home about although some of them came with a 200hp turbo. Maybe some bragging rights to own a car that comes with BOTH a removable hardtop and a convertible top.

http://albany.craigslist.org/cto/3050546690.html

ateixeira

I bet it only has 53,000 miles because it wasn't running most of the time between 1989 and today.

It's like a LeBaron, only you get Maserati parts prices and reliability!

I drove one way back in college, during a valet parking gig, for a wedding. Funny. It even had a manual trans, IIRC.

tjc78

Just rode in an 04 Merc S430. Very nice ride and has the Nappa leather which is amazing. The guy has had it since new and it has been pretty good to him. He has about 79K on it and its due for major service including its first tune up. 16 spark plugs and who knows what else, cha-ching!

It has certainly aged well, looks brand new. The only thing that was funny is compared to my new LaCrosse the NAV display looks like Atari. Things in that department move really quickly.

ateixeira

Nothing is more amusing that really old high-tech stuff.

fintail

Hope he has no deferred issues, those cars have a very complex air suspension system. At least it's not a high model (S430 was base), so some of the gadgetry won't be present. Those cars were the first to have quite a few features still seen as modern. Could be picked up today easily in the mid-high teens, the later cars like that tend to be better sorted than 00-01 cars, there's some value for the money there now.

You should see the nav in my E55 - that S430 is half a generation ahead. I don't even get street labels. I do get 16 spark plugs though, can't wait to deal with that.

ateixeira

very complex air suspension system

That was a $2000 job on an early 90s Subaru.

We can imagine what it would cost on a Benz. Not to mention a PhD to install it.

Most Subarus were converted to springs. Wasn't even a difficult task. paisan swapped his air suspension to springs for a fraction of that price.

tjc78

there's some value for the money there now.

A year or two back he considered getting a new one. The trade in value was so low, he right then and there decided to run it till it dies.

jayrider

16 spark plugs isn't the problem. It's what components have to be removed to get access to those rascals. Have fun. My 75 VW rabbit had all 4 right in front with no stuff in the way. I'd change them every time I changed toothbrushes.

ateixeira

I wonder if it's as hard as people think, though.

There are lots of old wives' tales about having to drop the engine on Car X to change plugs.

stickguy

I still remember the mechanic who PPI'd a '75 Monza i was looking at back in '79 (damned, I am old) telling me don't bring it in for a tune up to him, because you had to jack up the engine (it was the little V8, maybe a 260?) to get at the rear plugs.

Wonder how many of those ended up just having 6 plugs replaced? On a mid-70's domestic, would you even notice if it wasn't running right?

tjc78

It doesn't actually look that bad.

Clicky

ateixeira

My van's engine bay looks real crowded. If the spark plug change interval is 100k, I may just trade it in at 99k!

stickguy

My honda is not as bad as the Voyager was. But yeah, I looked under the hood, saw the rear bank of the engine up under the cowl, and decided to never do anything but check the oil.

The only way to get to those plugs on most vans is from undernearth (on a lift) with a specialized tool. And for anything more (like a leaky valve cover) you probably have to take it out!

or at least pull it forward. I seem to recall that being needed on some car (maybe an odssey?) where you had to loosen up the motor mount, and wedge the engine forward with a block to get access to something.

an inline transverse engine, much better access!

fintail

They probably offered him like 10K-ish if he was lucky. Better to run it into the ground at that point, the car isn't bad so much as the market is scared of it.

fintail

I think for a W220 with airmatic failure, a dealer will stick you with a good 4K or so. Indy will be a lot less, and there are ways to stop the bleeding now. Later cars with active body control can cost even more.

They ride amazingly nice when they are working anyway.

fintail

It's the cost of the plugs that hurts - not a tough job, but these aren't $3 spark plugs from Pep Boys.

The fintail is amazingly easy, I6 without much junk in the way, you can reach right down without obstruction.

tjc78

$20 a pop, he was quoted for the iridium tipped models.

fintail

That's exactly what I have heard. At least they last a long time.

isellhondas

I believe those small block Chevy engines were 262 cubic inch. Real oddballs and those plugs wre an absolute [non-permissible content removed] to change.

Those Monzas were basically a glorified Vega and they weren't all that fast either!

qbrozen

Worst car I've yet to change plugs on was a Chevy celebrity with the transverse v6. 3 plugs blocked by the firewall. Not my car, BTW.

fezo

Wit those old Monzas with the V8 engine it was teh number 7 plug that was the problem. I'm sure if you found one still on the road it would have the original spark plug there.

isellhondas

The plugs on that Celebrity were a "walk in the park" compared to a V-8 Monza.

390 Mustangs and Cougars weren't much fun either and there were some others I can't think of right now.

fintail

I remember my dad saying a Mopar 383 had a really difficult plug or two.

corvette

I didn't think the British believed in DIY... Then again, I'm part British, and I tackle a lot of projects that I probably shouldn't.

My cars seem to run just fine with one spark plug per cylinder, I guess dual plugs were in vogue at the time Mercedes designed that engine.

qbrozen

I've never met a Monza, but I worked on that Celebrity when I was about 12 years old, so I'm sure that skews my perception a bit.

It was assigned to me because nobody else wanted to do it and it was kind of a hazing thing. Good ole dad.

oldbearcat

I owned a 75 Olds Starfire - the Olds version of the Monza. They weren't exactly glorified Vegas. The Buick and Olds versions had 231 Buick V6s in them, coupled to a Turbo Hydromatic 350. The V6 variants were actually a little quicker than the Chevy V8 version. At the time, the Monzas, Starfires, and Skyhawks were originally intended to be equipped with GM's rotary engine - which would have given them about 300 HP on tap. Unfortunately, the GM Wankel engine got scrubbed just before it went into production because of problems with it. The only significant Vega contribution to these cars was, unfortunately, the brake system. The brakes on these cars were woefully inadequate for the cars performance and weight. GM's bandaid fix was really soft front disc brake pads - which typically meant they wore out about every 12K miles. One nice thing about my Starfire, with the 231 and its tall axle ratio, the fuel economy was excellent. On trips the car typically got around 35 MPG. After a couple of years, I sold the car to a friend. It ended its life when it got totalled in an accident - it had 250K miles on it at the time of its demise.

Regards:
Oldbearcat

kyfdx

Well.. my '77 302 V-8 Mustang II would dust those Monza/Starfire/Skyhawk twins... with a massive 135 HP..

Gobs of torque.... tiny little 2-bbl carb...

stickguy

had some time to kill, so took the wife to revisit the previously evaluated options. So, swung through the mazda, Hyundai, Honda and Acura dealers (all right in a clump, so very easy to do).

All the options were nice, and very comparable in size (and cargo room). CRV might be a tad smaller than the Santa Fe, but pretty close.

Interesting is that my Wife was much less enthused by the Santa Fe than when we first drove it. not anti it, but not in love (but that was one that drove nice). CRV was fine. She was iffy on the Mazda CX5, but really loved the Acura RDX. of course the most expensive option!

though now she wants to see the Volvo XC 60, so it continues...

roadburner

The only significant Vega contribution to these cars was, unfortunately, the brake system.

I remember a Road & Track test of one of those Monza/Skyhawk/Starfires back when they were first introduced; the test featured a picture of one of the plastic front wheel covers that had melted and fallen off during R&T's standard braking tests...

kyfdx

New C&D says the CX-5 is nice, but pretty darn slow... even compared to a CR-V....

What do you say?

michaellno

Not sure if the planets were aligned or what, but I was able to get my wife to go to the Mazda dealer here in the Springs after her class let out today.

To bring everybody up to speed, she has an interview with the state next week; if she were to get the job, she would be responsible for early childhood grants for school districts in Colorado. She looked up the districts, and they range from metro Denver and north and a bunch of districts that are in the extreme southeast part of the state. A fair amount of driving would result (with mileage reimbursement), so the idea of a smaller, more fuel efficient car has been discussed.

Anyway, we found a Mazda 3i Grand Touring with the SkyActiv engine and 6-speed auto transmission in a color combo she liked and took it for a quick drive.

Her impressions:

* Not terribly slow; a merge onto I-25 showed it had enough pep for her
* Ergonomics are very similar to the CX-7, so she was pretty comfortable behind the wheel from the get go.
* A bit of orientation of the size of the car was needed, especially with the small rear window (this was a 5-door hatch)
* Overall, she really liked it and was impressed with the mileage (28/38) - this is actually better than the EPA rating for the daughter's MINI (27/35, IIRC)

The car was loaded with the tech package (Xenons, nav) and a couple of other options such as fog lights, so the MSRP was just a touch over $26K.

Guess we'll see if she can get the job first, then figure out how much driving she would be doing and the amount of reimbursement she would be entitled to, then go from there.

Still, was a pleasant surprise for a Saturday afternoon.

stickguy

I actually didn't drive the Mazda (just my wife did). I drove the CRV, but just on local roads. I did find it a little noisy when I punched it to get up to speed pulling out onto the main road but I can't say it was particularly slow.

fintail

If this was (a lot) cheaper, I would be tempted - looks great in that color...but I think my current ride is the last gas guzzler I will seek.

isellhondas

I would guess that is a lease return they bought at the auction.

Talk about "back of book" cars!

stickguy

Was up early this morning, so cleaned the pool and walked the dog, and came back in to find my wife up too on the computer. And when I looked to see what she was doing, she was on MSN comparing cars. And she proceeded to start asking me questions about the Lexus RX F sport.

Then at dinner, completely out of the blue, she came out with "I really think I want an RDX". After our looking yesterday, that was clearly her favorite (and shockingly, the most expensive!)

I think it is all over but picking a color, and figuring out how the heck I am going to pay for this! on the positive side, she is going to have to keep whatever she gets for a long, long time, so if we are going to have something for 10 years, it better be something nice! I would like better MPG and non-premium gas, but it isn't too bad.

I do want to stall until the new Santa Fe comes out in September, since I expect that to be a seriously nice piece I need to contact the guy I know that works for Hyundai and usually has new stuff months in advance, and see if he can bring a pre-prod unit by!

We will also go to the Volvo dealer this week, since she really likes my S40.