Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

stickguy

Plus whoever he sells it to wi be saddled with the dirty carfax when they go to sell

andres3

au1994 said:

stickguy said:

And somehow I don’t think a civic Si is going to get out dragged by a semi truck.

I know, of course, but I was hoping for more than 200hp. “Geared” right, it still might be fun. I know the CRX and Civic Si of the late 80’s early 90’s had a whopping 108hp and they were more fun than they should have been.

Back in the 80's and 90's those cars didn't weigh much. Have to imagine anything new these days will be weighed down to have similar HP/LB ratios with only 200 HP.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Plus whoever he sells it to wi be saddled with the dirty carfax when they go to sell

Unless you ride it into the ground. I’d be willing to drive a car like that if the discount was right but I’d never trade it in until the DV was no longer relevant.

suydam

oldfarmer50 said:

corvette said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

I assume this was a ride share.

Nope. My boss rented a car for the trip, and that’s what she got. There were five of us going to dinner. Another employee rented what he called a “Toyota Century,” which I assume was a Corolla.

@breld - great color on that 911.

LOL, she evidently doesn’t know cars. She should have retained you as her car “consultant”. 🤣
Or she’s just cheap.

andres3

I am a big believer in Porsche's suspension and handling engineering and tuning now. If things go right in life I don't see why a little Porsche wouldn't be on my bucket list. I mean the TTS basically is a two seater now that my daughter is 11. However..... do insurance companies see it the same way? The TTS is expensive to insure the last 3 or 4 years they figured out that the 4 seats doesn't deserve a big discount. But is a 911 even worse to insure?

stickguy

911 is way more expensive so that would explain extra cost to insure too.

roadburner

As I've said before, as long as I'm physically able I will drive a sedan or coupe. That said, the iX3 is the first new BMW in years that I find to be attractive. If the PHEV and IC models follow suit my wife might want one. As far as the interior goes, I'll wait until actually sitting in the car before I give an opinion, but at least Munich is ditching the tacked-on Radio Shack surplus touchscreen that most every new BMW is saddled with. And I still absolutely hate the toggle switch gear selector. If the stylists don't want to use a proper shift lever just put the selector on the column as Mercdes does and free up space on the center console

suydam

Wow! Looks very nice!

roadburner

If I have a financial windfall...

stickguy

Mentioned to my son about maybe getting a new X3. He pulled up a picture to show me why not.

fintail

The narrow rounded end kidneys of the iX3 grille make me think of a 2002- type influence maybe.

corvette

suydam said:

LOL, she evidently doesn’t know cars. She should have retained you as her car “consultant”. 🤣
Or she’s just cheap.

IDK. Company would have likely paid for anything or any size other than a luxury/exotic car. I doubt they would bat an eye at a minivan reservation at hundreds of dollars a day if that's what it cost when minivans were overbooked.

roadburner

fintail said:

The narrow rounded end kidneys of the iX3 grille make me think of a 2002- type influence maybe.

Munich is calling the upcoming models the Neue Klasse- harking back to the models first introduced back in 1962 and starting with the 1500. The 2000 looks like it inspired the current Neue Klasse cars to an extent.

breld

I like this Neue Kassel design language.

It looks like they took the grill from the iX and put it in the Shrinky Dink oven.

I’m very interested to see what the i3 looks like.

Sandman6472

OF, our chase vehicle on Fridays is a Rav4. Tuesdays, we have a Pacifica that doesn't need the fix. And on the weekends, gave us a Tucson which drives very nicely. Today, I drove a really beat up Kia Niro hybrid in a bad rain storm coming from Miami to West Palm Beach. Traffic was so bad, it took me almost 2 hours to make the journey which should've taken an hour. 20 minutes of that was my lunch stop after 3 pm.

Sandman6472

I had a DV claim on my 2015 Golf SE after it's accident in 2018. The body shop did an excellent job fixing it and all but, I still heard road noise on the back drivers side. That's where they had to weld in metal that was destroyed so think that was the issue. Always heard road noise after the repair which annoyed me. Still think it should've been totaled for all the money they threw at it. Their lack of caring and interest wasn't fair to me, their customer. They dropped the ball and the shop eventually called me to get a decision made one way or the other. Would've preferred a check to be honest at the time. With all they spent, they put over $9K into the repair & rental car. Ridiculous!!!

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

As I've said before, as long as I'm physically able I will drive a sedan or coupe. That said, the iX3 is the first new BMW in years that I find to be attractive. If the PHEV and IC models follow suit my wife might want one. As far as the interior goes, I'll wait until actually sitting in the car before I give an opinion, but at least Munich is ditching the tacked-on Radio Shack surplus touchscreen that most every new BMW is saddled with. And I still absolutely hate the toggle switch gear selector. If the stylists don't want to use a proper shift lever just put the selector on the column as Mercdes does and free up space on the center console

I find the column mounted Mercedes shift lever to be a stupid idea. Not only is it confusing to first time drivers but it looks so much like a turn signal that it could be dangerous. Sadly, GM has adapted that same configuration on some of it’s larger vehicles.

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

If I have a financial windfall...

Now THAT is a nice looking car.

stickguy

I really like the exterior styling of the BMW. But the interior, not feeling it.

graphicguy

ab348 said:

graphicguy said:

Guy I do PT with just bought an Integra....white with red interior. Very sharp. It's new and this is his first Acura, so he says he LOVES it. Looked inside and although the drivetrain is Civic, the interior is quite different even though it has Civic bones. Wanted to take me for a ride, but I was in a hurry. Took a rain check.

Sad that the TLX is going away. I was really looking forward to seeing a new one. Maybe somewhere else down the road.

Apparently the Integra is not longer for this world either. Automotive News reporting today that Acura is going all S/CUV and all hybrid.

Honda announced the new Prelude today. Apparently a rebodied Civic. C&D had pics here: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a65972130/2026-honda-prelude-revealed/

Not bad looking on the outside. Reminds me of something I can’t quite put my finger on. Interior looks like tarted-up Civic pieces. Comes in the standard 5 paint colors these days: white, black, gray, bright blue and red.

Well...that's too bad. I think the Integra is the best looking Acura on the market and arguably one of the best looking mainstream sedans in North America.

suydam

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

As I've said before, as long as I'm physically able I will drive a sedan or coupe. That said, the iX3 is the first new BMW in years that I find to be attractive. If the PHEV and IC models follow suit my wife might want one. As far as the interior goes, I'll wait until actually sitting in the car before I give an opinion, but at least Munich is ditching the tacked-on Radio Shack surplus touchscreen that most every new BMW is saddled with. And I still absolutely hate the toggle switch gear selector. If the stylists don't want to use a proper shift lever just put the selector on the column as Mercdes does and free up space on the center console

I find the column mounted Mercedes shift lever to be a stupid idea. Not only is it confusing to first time drivers but it looks so much like a turn signal that it could be dangerous. Sadly, GM has adapted that same configuration on some of it’s larger vehicles.

I prefer it to the knob shifter on our Kia. Different strokes . . .

qbrozen

@roadburner said:
If I have a financial windfall...

I’m just not feeling it. To each their own, of course, but I’m seeing all the worst elements of the FRS/BRZ, mustang, and Stinger, but then a big ugly grille and badge to top it off.

oldfarmer50

suydam said:

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

As I've said before, as long as I'm physically able I will drive a sedan or coupe. That said, the iX3 is the first new BMW in years that I find to be attractive. If the PHEV and IC models follow suit my wife might want one. As far as the interior goes, I'll wait until actually sitting in the car before I give an opinion, but at least Munich is ditching the tacked-on Radio Shack surplus touchscreen that most every new BMW is saddled with. And I still absolutely hate the toggle switch gear selector. If the stylists don't want to use a proper shift lever just put the selector on the column as Mercdes does and free up space on the center console

I find the column mounted Mercedes shift lever to be a stupid idea. Not only is it confusing to first time drivers but it looks so much like a turn signal that it could be dangerous. Sadly, GM has adapted that same configuration on some of it’s larger vehicles.

I prefer it to the knob shifter on our Kia. Different strokes . . .

Yeah, I don’t like that either. Fortunately, my Kia has a regular shifter.

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

As I've said before, as long as I'm physically able I will drive a sedan or coupe. That said, the iX3 is the first new BMW in years that I find to be attractive. If the PHEV and IC models follow suit my wife might want one. As far as the interior goes, I'll wait until actually sitting in the car before I give an opinion, but at least Munich is ditching the tacked-on Radio Shack surplus touchscreen that most every new BMW is saddled with. And I still absolutely hate the toggle switch gear selector. If the stylists don't want to use a proper shift lever just put the selector on the column as Mercdes does and free up space on the center console

I find the column mounted Mercedes shift lever to be a stupid idea. Not only is it confusing to first time drivers but it looks so much like a turn signal that it could be dangerous. Sadly, GM has adapted that same configuration on some of it’s larger vehicles.

On the Mercedes it's located on the right side of the steering column so as not to be confused with anything else.

tjc78

@roadburner said:
On the Mercedes it's located on the right side of the steering column so as not to be confused with anything else.

Our EQE has that. Kinda retro in a way. I like it.

suydam

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

As I've said before, as long as I'm physically able I will drive a sedan or coupe. That said, the iX3 is the first new BMW in years that I find to be attractive. If the PHEV and IC models follow suit my wife might want one. As far as the interior goes, I'll wait until actually sitting in the car before I give an opinion, but at least Munich is ditching the tacked-on Radio Shack surplus touchscreen that most every new BMW is saddled with. And I still absolutely hate the toggle switch gear selector. If the stylists don't want to use a proper shift lever just put the selector on the column as Mercdes does and free up space on the center console

I find the column mounted Mercedes shift lever to be a stupid idea. Not only is it confusing to first time drivers but it looks so much like a turn signal that it could be dangerous. Sadly, GM has adapted that same configuration on some of it’s larger vehicles.

On the Mercedes it's located on the right side of the steering column so as not to be confused with anything else.

Same with the Blazer EV.

explorerx4

My F-150 has this little party trick. I discovered it by mistake when I turned it off when still in Drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWh47k3Ixzs

xwesx

Speaking of rentals, I have a Ford Edge in platinum trim for my rental while our Crosstrek is getting its boo-boo fixed. The seats are super-comfy! Sadly, I'm pretty sure that a prior user smoked in this thing. People are so disgusting.

jmonroe1

xwesx said:

Speaking of rentals, I have a Ford Edge in platinum trim for my rental while our Crosstrek is getting its boo-boo fixed. The seats are super-comfy! Sadly, I'm pretty sure that a prior user smoked in this thing. People are so disgusting.

————————————————
I thought rental companies didn’t permit smoking but if you did you had to pay a fierce penalty. Our rental car company owners should be able to confirm that.

jmonroe

explorerx4

Mt sister in law/kid/grandkids picked up a rental in Norfolk VA.
They had to wait hours to get it and they had pictures of how trashed it was when they got a 'take it or leave it' option.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

xwesx said:

Speaking of rentals, I have a Ford Edge in platinum trim for my rental while our Crosstrek is getting its boo-boo fixed. The seats are super-comfy! Sadly, I'm pretty sure that a prior user smoked in this thing. People are so disgusting.

————————————————
I thought rental companies didn’t permit smoking but if you did you had to pay a fierce penalty. Our rental car company owners should be able to confirm that.

jmonroe

We tell customers no smoking or a $200-250 cleaning charge. They ignore it. The big problem these days is smoke of a different nature which is even harder to get out.

fintail

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

As I've said before, as long as I'm physically able I will drive a sedan or coupe. That said, the iX3 is the first new BMW in years that I find to be attractive. If the PHEV and IC models follow suit my wife might want one. As far as the interior goes, I'll wait until actually sitting in the car before I give an opinion, but at least Munich is ditching the tacked-on Radio Shack surplus touchscreen that most every new BMW is saddled with. And I still absolutely hate the toggle switch gear selector. If the stylists don't want to use a proper shift lever just put the selector on the column as Mercdes does and free up space on the center console

I find the column mounted Mercedes shift lever to be a stupid idea. Not only is it confusing to first time drivers but it looks so much like a turn signal that it could be dangerous. Sadly, GM has adapted that same configuration on some of it’s larger vehicles.

On the Mercedes it's located on the right side of the steering column so as not to be confused with anything else.

I like it. Makes the console area feel a lot more open, and it worked fine on old cars. Turn signal is on the left of course, is that in a different location on some other cars?

MB brought back the column shift nearly 20 years ago for the W221 S-class (late 2005/early 2006 launch for the 2007 model year) and slowly filtered it in to other models, E-class has had it since 2010, Tesla started off with the same switchgear.

stickguy

still force of habit to me to reach for a lever in the console. Probably residual from the almost 40 years of driving a manual. And until the 2020 RDX came along, every AT was a normal prindel lever in the center. Now I have that car with the Acura pushbuttons, and the Ford with a rotary dial. But both still where my hand automatically goes to find the shifter!

one selling point I trotted out to the wife about a new Prelude (to counteract her assumption that she won't be able to get out of it) is it has the same shifter buttons as her current car. Probably not going to be enough of a selling point for her though.

28firefighter

Almost every rental I’ve had lately has been vaped in. You can just tell. Not as offensive as smoke but still annoying.

fintail

The column shift becomes muscle memory too, I know more than once I think I've swiped the wipers or grasped for air in a rental or someone else's car when looking to select a gear. Fortunately for me anyway, both of my personal cars are column shift, so the embarrassment is rare.

suydam

I like the Blazer EV column shifter. There’s no start button either. So the whole center area between the seats has a lot of room — a place for wireless, charging, cupholders, and an enormous center console big enough to stash a laptop in.

corvette

Any guesses on what happens to the price of previously-eligible EVs when the used EV tax credit expires at the end of the month? Will used Chevy Bolts and the like get about $4k cheaper?

breld

I suspect we’ll find the incentive was more a subsidy for the manufacturers than the consumers. The market won’t all of a sudden be willing to spend more on EVs.

Dealers/manufacturers will try to hold on to higher effective pricing for about a month before offering incentives or outright adjusting pricing as year end approaches.

My guess anyway.

benjaminh

corvette said:

Any guesses on what happens to the price of previously-eligible EVs when the used EV tax credit expires at the end of the month?...

My guess is that after this blowout month for EVs inventories will be low. But whatever is left they'll still need to sell, and probably for the next few months after that, until the end of 2025, automakers will put whatever incentives are needed on the hood to move the remaining EV metal. But probably even now EV production plans going forward for almost everyone beyond Tesla have already been slashed.

Ford is going to lose around $5.5 billion on EVs this year, which is something like $80k for each one sold. With loses like that, and no more EV incentives, it's likely EV production will be cut even more.

This press release from Ford from 2022 already seems like a completely different era....

"DEARBORN, Mich., April 26, 2022 – Today marks the launch of the all-new, electric F-150 Lightning pickup – a milestone moment in America’s shift to electric vehicles.

F-150 Lightning trucks are now being built for customers across America. F-150 Lightning is the fastest-accelerating F-150 yet and the only full-size electric pickup available now with a starting price less than $40,000.

Ford has unprecedented demand for F-150 Lightning with 200,000 reservations and is expanding the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center to ramp up production to a planned annual run rate of 150,000 in 2023...

“America’s real transition to electric vehicles starts now,” said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley...

Ford is on track to deliver more than 2 million electric vehicles annually by 2026, equal to about one-third of the company’s global volume, on the way to 50% by 2030."

https://corporate.ford.com/articles/products/f-150-lightning.html#:~:text=Ford has unprecedented demand for,the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.

It looks like the F-150 Lightning will probably sell about 30k or so this year, even with the incentives, and so in 2026 maybe c. 20k. Total Ford EV sales in 2026 will probably be less than 100k, and maybe as low as c. 50k, rather than the 2 million imagined in 2022. As a guess, EV sales might reach 5% at Ford by 2030, rather than the 50% imagined three years ago.

The EV slowdown in the US seems real, which seems unfortunate. And yet without incentives the high msrps for most EVs mean that they are pretty costly for most people.

graphicguy

More EV deals......I've driven that Ioniq9. It's a very, very nice piece. I just didn't need anything that big.
https://electrek.co/2025/09/05/best-ev-lease-deals-september/

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

More EV deals......I've driven that Ioniq9. It's a very, very nice piece. I just didn't need anything that big.
https://electrek.co/2025/09/05/best-ev-lease-deals-september/

Wow! $3800 for 2 years? What’s that, like $158 a month? I wonder what kind of fees come along with that deal.

qbrozen

@oldfarmer50 said:
Wow! $3800 for 2 years? What’s that, like $158 a month? I wonder what kind of fees come along with that deal.

I wonder where they are seeing that deal. It’s not like a dealership is going to say “oh, this unknown online pub stated it? It must be true.”

corvette

benjaminh said:

My guess is that after this blowout month for EVs inventories will be low.

I agree. I checked the website of the dealer where I got the Ariya, and they have zero Leafs (Leaves?) in stock, and one Ariya, so it looks like they've already gotten rid of their inventory.

Michaell

The saga of mom's Sonata has come to a close.

With all the additions to my sisters fleet, it was time for the Sonata to find a new home. I'll admit that I've coveted it for some time now, but it just wasn't a practical fit into my automotive life --- too far away, and I really don't need another car in the household.

The good news is that it's staying in the family. I've purchased it from my sister and gifted it to my son. His 2018 Elantra GT has been giving him problems lately, and was in need of something more reliable. This was a good solution for everyone. The handoff was completed yesterday, where my sister and my son met in Orange County for some lunch and the transfer.

He's over the moon, because the Sonata has:

1. Working AC
2. Sunroof
3. Updated head unit with Apple CarPlay

Only 60,000 miles on it, and my sister had the oil changed, the tires rotated, and a full inspection completed, coming back with no issues.

The Elantra GT was sold to Carvana for a price about $1K more than CarMax offered.

Michaell

My son and granddaughter in front of their new car.

stickguy

good plan all around. Nice to be able to help out. In our family, a lot of upcoming moving parts (daughter looking to move out by us from Boston in the spring) and get a house, and that will likely create a need for a 2nd car for her and the hubby. If my father's Sentra becomes available between now and then, will most likely pass it along to them. I certainly don't need it! Though I am sure I can come up with some convoluted plan to incorporate it into our fleet.

benjaminh

With stickguy's skill at getting good deals, I'm a little surprised he hasn't gotten one of these amazing EV or plug-in hybrid SUV leases for the spouse, and then traded in the RDX on a sports car for himself. But we still have another few weeks before the end of the month...

(It feels kinda strange that some of us have purchased more cars that he has in 2025.)

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

My son and granddaughter in front of their new car.

You’re a good dad.👍

xwesx

oldfarmer50 said:

We tell customers no smoking or a $200-250 cleaning charge. They ignore it. The big problem these days is smoke of a different nature which is even harder to get out.

That is true, and I would say that it is far more likely that I will get a pre-smoked rental than not. It is actually surprising to me, considering how relatively few folks still have that nasty habit. As for the different natured smoke, I haven't come across that one yet... but I'm sure I will!

stickguy

benjaminh said:

With stickguy's skill at getting good deals, I'm a little surprised he hasn't gotten one of these amazing EV or plug-in hybrid SUV leases for the spouse, and then traded in the RDX on a sports car for himself. But we still have another few weeks before the end of the month...

(It feels kinda strange that some of us have purchased more cars that he has in 2025.)

that would entail having the time and energy to actually go out and research, look, and test drive. And now that year end at work has crashed down hard on both of us, we will be lucky to have time to go grocery shopping until January.

and I have not bought a car since May, 2023. I am surprised I have not been thrown out of the group for inactivity. Must be all my fun plans keeping the real buyers entertained. Odds of getting on in 2025 are very low at this point.