Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

jmonroe1

roadburner said:

jmonroe1 said:

explorerx4 said:

Here's another Colorado EV lease deal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqksxc6m69o

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You can’t beat free but the only way I’d take that deal is if the dealer threw in a 27 month supply of paper bags so no one would know who I was when I got out of that beast. However, as to how I’d be able to live with myself for putting up with that freebie, we’ll, that’s gonna take a lot of work.

jmonroe

Now you know how I felt the day I needed to drive my father-in-law's Park Avenue with the fake convertible top and gold trim. I had to pick up some oil and filters at the BMW Store in Cincy; I parked several blocks away so no one would see me.

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Yes, but that was a temporary situation. Signing up for a 27 month lease is almost a kin to a death sentence.

jmonroe

tjc78

@au1994 said:
I had a Suburban as a rental in Texas this week. Very appropriate to have a cowboy Cadillac!

Let’s just say I understand the appeal. Ate up roads like no tomorrow. Super quiet and comfortable. The most surprising thing was it did not drive as ponderously as you would think. I was honestly intimidated when they brought it up, especially since I had a stop in downtown Dallas.

Full size SUV is the closest thing you’ll get these days to an old fashioned body on frame sedan.

mjfloyd1

We rented what was supposed to be an intermediate size SUV. They gave us a Wagoneer. Luckily the wife noticed a ding on the front bumper and grille and snapped a picture even after the rep said “that’s less than 6 inches so you would not get charged for that”. I noticed an icon on the bottom left of the dash and on looking it up - front emergency braking unavailable. The grille damage was right below the front sensor for the emergency braking and automated cruise control sensor.

It rode ok up till 70 mph then the driver’s rear seemed out of balance. On filling it up with a Quick Look around, it had an Accelera iota tire on drivers rear with very little tire tread. The other three tires had Bridgestones with good tread. We called the Enterprise line who arranged a swap. Now we are in a lime green Hyundai Kona N line with 4 matching tires.

kyfdx

I would have turned down that Wagoneer immediately.. 😂

Sandman6472

How do you like the Kona? We got a mess load at work but I've yet to get any seat time in one yet. Curious how it compares to our 2023 Kona Limited. Sure, it's just over 6" longer so that will have changes in the handling plus other things. How'd you like that new small funky shifter? Used one on a new Hyundai Sonata last week and took a couple of tries to get comfortable with it. It's a different kind of shifter but think I could get used to it. Definitely want to get some extended seat time in one to see if I could be happy with one on a long term basis. I'd either go with a "Limited" or an "N" model at this point as I do expect to keep my next vehicle for a good ten or so years if all works out like it should. Will be interested in how you liked it, or didn't, to be honest.

mjfloyd1

@Sandman6472 said:
How do you like the Kona? We got a mess load at work but I've yet to get any seat time in one yet. Curious how it compares to our 2023 Kona Limited. Sure, it's just over 6" longer so that will have changes in the handling plus other things. How'd you like that new small funky shifter? Used one on a new Hyundai Sonata last week and took a couple of tries to get comfortable with it. It's a different kind of shifter but think I could get used to it. Definitely want to get some extended seat time in one to see if I could be happy with one on a long term basis. I'd either go with a "Limited" or an "N" model at this point as I do expect to keep my next vehicle for a good ten or so years if all works out like it should. Will be interested in how you liked it, or didn't, to be honest.

It’s a lot easier to navigate size wise than the Wagoneer. The shifter is a normal shifter T shaped. It is a 2024. I will never lose it in a parking lot since it is lime green. Wow it’s ugly.

mjfloyd1

@kyfdx said:
I would have turned down that Wagoneer immediately.. 😂

If we didn’t have the time stamped picture, I think we would have been charged for the damage.

corvette

They shouldn’t have rented that car out with a safety feature nonfunctional.

jmonroe1

corvette said:

They shouldn’t have rented that car out with a safety feature nonfunctional.

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There’s a chance they didn’t notice it but there’s a better chance they didn’t care. Rental companies have to keep cars on the road, right?

jmonroe

mjfloyd1

@jmonroe1 said:
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There’s a chance they didn’t notice it but there’s a better chance they didn’t care. Rental companies have to keep cars on the road, right?

jmonroe

I think it was just turned in and only got a wash and vacuum.

Most employees there seemed to be recent college grads waiting for a “real” job so I suspect that @jmonroe1 is correct and they were just moving the metal.

oldfarmer50

mjfloyd1 said:

We rented what was supposed to be an intermediate size SUV. They gave us a Wagoneer. Luckily the wife noticed a ding on the front bumper and grille and snapped a picture even after the rep said “that’s less than 6 inches so you would not get charged for that”. I noticed an icon on the bottom left of the dash and on looking it up - front emergency braking unavailable. The grille damage was right below the front sensor for the emergency braking and automated cruise control sensor.

It rode ok up till 70 mph then the driver’s rear seemed out of balance. On filling it up with a Quick Look around, it had an Accelera iota tire on drivers rear with very little tire tread. The other three tires had Bridgestones with good tread. We called the Enterprise line who arranged a swap. Now we are in a lime green Hyundai Kona N line with 4 matching tires.

That’s a weak spot on Chryslers. We were in a Pacifica once and the car in front tossed up a piece of wood. Hit right on that spot and all sorts of bells and whistles went off.

Sandman6472

Did enjoy the Kia EV6 yesterday and today, got to drive a Ford Bronco with just under 19K on the clock. Tires looked pretty new but, they sure were noisy at mid to higher speed. Not something the average renter would be too pleased with. Something was off, just don't know what. Same brand of tires I have on my Golf and mine are super quiet at any speed. No way I'd drive it for long if they gave it to me.

anonymousposts2025

suydam said:

tjc78 said:

@Michaell said:

My local Hyudai dealer sent me an email.

$0 down, $69/mo for IONIQ5 SEL AWD.

Can't really get much better than that.

Those and the VW ID4 are the two most common cars I see at the chargers. Must be deals on them!

They are also really nice vehicles.

We owned a 2022 ID.4 Pro S AWD. LOVED everything about it... except ... the glitches and software. My better half was parking in the garage one day when the car decided to suddenly accelerate, I was driving it and the seat decided it wanted to be on my husband's setting.. he's 6'6 and I am 5'2 .. not a good situation. A few other minor glitches. The software was also problematic. Slow, glitchy, didn't like to switch between driver 1 and driver 2. With all of that said, it felt like a tank. Solid, fast. I would totally buy another one.. if I didn't know better from the first one. I think they have updated the software, but there are still reliability issues.

We sold it after 5 months and moved to a Model 3 Long Range. The Model 3 was the opposite. Every Tesla we owned had quality control issues but the software and other parts of the car were awesome.

corvette

Every time I have a Model Y as an Uber, I love the glass roof! Definitely on the list when the Ariya lease is up.

xwesx

corvette said:

Every time I have a Model Y as an Uber, I love the glass roof! Definitely on the list when the Ariya lease is up.

I'd like to have a Model Y at some point, but I really don't want to be an Uber driver. Oh well. There are other cars out there.

roadburner

stickguy

was on the highway tonight behind a lime green Civic (not sure if a type R, or a sport. It was dark!) Wife noticed it and asked what it was so I told her it was a Civic. She seemed surprised, though I think just because of the color. I did say if she liked it, they came with a Stick and I would be fine getting one. She did not commit.

Michaell

stickguy said:

was on the highway tonight behind a lime green Civic (not sure if a type R, or a sport. It was dark!) Wife noticed it and asked what it was so I told her it was a Civic. She seemed surprised, though I think just because of the color. I did say if she liked it, they came with a Stick and I would be fine getting one. She did not commit.

For 2025, only the Si and CTR have manual transmissions.

stickguy

bummer they got rid of the sport touring (whatever the hatch with the power seats and a stick model was called). A discount Integra!

Michaell

stickguy said:

bummer they got rid of the sport touring (whatever the hatch with the power seats and a stick model was called). A discount Integra!

The Sport Touring trim still exists; they are all automatics now.

(note: it's a hybrid for 2025)

anonymousposts2025

The Integra is a better deal right now than the Civic. Discounts + a little dealer cash. The A-Spec + Tech with a manual has an MSRP of $40k, we were getting quotes around $36k. It has features not available in the Civic. We also noticed dealers, at least in the Atlanta metro area, have tons of Integras sitting on the lot right now. We might have been able to get even more of a discount if we were serious.

There’s an Acura dealer half a mile away from the Honda dealer we bought the Civic. My husband and son stopped negotiations on the Civic to go to Acura, he couldn’t get past the styling of the back and ended up not driving one.

qbrozen

@anonymousposts2025 said:
The Integra is a better deal right now than the Civic. Discounts + a little dealer cash. The A-Spec + Tech with a manual has an MSRP of $40k, we were getting quotes around $36k. It has features not available in the Civic. We also noticed dealers, at least in the Atlanta metro area, have tons of Integras sitting on the lot right now. We might have been able to get even more of a discount if we were serious.

There’s an Acura dealer half a mile away from the Honda dealer we bought the Civic. My husband and son stopped negotiations on the Civic to go to Acura, he couldn’t get past the styling of the back and ended up not driving one.

Which trim Civic? I assume the Si? That starts at $30k, right? What quotes have you been getting?

nyccarguy

@qbrozen said:

@anonymousposts2025 said:
The Integra is a better deal right now than the Civic. Discounts + a little dealer cash. The A-Spec + Tech with a manual has an MSRP of $40k, we were getting quotes around $36k. It has features not available in the Civic. We also noticed dealers, at least in the Atlanta metro area, have tons of Integras sitting on the lot right now. We might have been able to get even more of a discount if we were serious.

There’s an Acura dealer half a mile away from the Honda dealer we bought the Civic. My husband and son stopped negotiations on the Civic to go to Acura, he couldn’t get past the styling of the back and ended up not driving one.

Which trim Civic? I assume the Si? That starts at $30k, right? What quotes have you been getting?

They bought an Si at MSRP + insane Georgia doc fee.

anonymousposts2025

We paid MSRP, $31,500 with the up charge for white, plus the dealers $799 doc fee. Then they took off the $500 military rebate, but said the Si isn’t eligible for loyalty / conquest cash. Accessories were at cost. They didn’t have a bunch of “mandatory” add-ons (lo-Jack, maintenance package, etc). It was a fair deal, not great, but fair. We found one other dealer in south Atlanta that was at MSRP.

We were quoted $36,900 for the Integra and it is eligible for $1,500 in rebates (military, conquest).

cdnpinhead

Charging extra for white.

Oh boy.

jmonroe1

cdnpinhead said:

Charging extra for white.

Oh boy.

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Nice work if you can get it, and from everything I was taught, white ain’t even a color. What’s next paying extra for Old Man’s Gray?

jmonroe

mjfloyd1

It is a three stage metallic white and that is why it costs extra.

BMW does alpine white (nonmetallic) with no upcharge but metallic white with an upcharge

kyfdx

My wife’s X3 was Mineral White metallic. Upcharge

nyccarguy

@cdnpinhead said:
Charging extra for white.

Oh boy.

Biting my tongue so I don’t get kicked off of here!

That being said, I think there are a few manufacturers that charge extra for metallic white.

Speaking of paint colors with an up charge, I dropped off our ‘22 Ruby Flare Highlander for service tomorrow. Oil change & tire rotation. 62K miles and counting. My 18 year old told son swapped out the cabin filter and engine air filter before we left. Not exactly @xwesx ’s son buying a parts car to swap a 5 speed transmission with a 6 speed, but it is a start.

While waiting to be picked up, I checked out that Sequoia they had on the lot. Captain’s chairs in the 2nd row. No good.

nyccarguy

The Toyota dealer was stuffed with inventory. They had quite a few non hybrid, fwd, Corolla SEs in stock that had $28-$29K stickers. I know the Corolla is a great value, especially in the mid $20K sticker. But upper $20K and you are encroaching on Camry territory.

They had A LOT of trucks on the lot. The few notables were the $66K Tacoma Trailhunter & the $69+K Tacoma TRD Pro. I saw a very nice Lunar Rock Tundra SR5 with a 6 1/2’ bed and a $54K sticker.

anonymousposts2025

We’ve considered the Grand Highlander as a replacement for the Odyssey and RAV4. They are still hard to find around here.

corvette

I have to say, the 2024 Altima SV I had as a rental was well equipped, considering it stickered for $27k, and I preferred the driving experience to the previous 2018-2024 Camry (haven't driven the 2025).

Also, @nyccarguy - I wasn't replacing my own filters at age 18, but I definitely am now! Start with the easy stuff, and more will follow.

stickguy

That I could do when I was in HS. Spinning off a wing nut and taking the top of the air cleaner off was not really that hard! Plus, there was enough room in the engine bay to stand next to the engine, inside the fenders.

and not surprising, no cabin air filter on a '67 Camaro. Or '75 Duster. Also no power steering or brakes. Or AC. So really, not much to maintain!

jmonroe1

corvette said:

I have to say, the 2024 Altima SV I had as a rental was well equipped, considering it stickered for $27k, and I preferred the driving experience to the previous 2018-2024 Camry (haven't driven the 2025).

Also, @nyccarguy - I wasn't replacing my own filters at age 18, but I definitely am now! Start with the easy stuff, and more will follow.

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A lot of folks are afraid to try repairs, almost any repairs, because they don’t have ALL the skills to do any one specific job. But no one does when they start out. A fair amount of the skills you get from doing one job can be applied to others. So start slowly and don’t give up because you can reward yourself sooner than you might think. Simply put, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

jmonroe

roadburner

On my SBC I started with changing the oil and air filter , moved on to an intake/carburetor swap, and ended up changing the camshaft twice. Nowadays my engine work is limited to oil/filters/plugs/coils, but I'm more willing to take on suspension work/mods.

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

Speaking of paint colors with an up charge, I dropped off our ‘22 Ruby Flare Highlander for service tomorrow. Oil change & tire rotation. 62K miles and counting. My 18 year old told son swapped out the cabin filter and engine air filter before we left. Not exactly @xwesx ’s son buying a parts car to swap a 5 speed transmission with a 6 speed, but it is a start.

While waiting to be picked up, I checked out that Sequoia they had on the lot. Captain’s chairs in the 2nd row. No good.

Haha, thanks, @nycarguy! I got a good laugh out of that, and I shared it with my son, who also got a good laugh. He says, "what, did you share that story with people on a forum or something?" I said, "yes! I talk about cars all the time. I started the story with, 'So, I got a call from my son last night....'"

nyccarguy

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:

Speaking of paint colors with an up charge, I dropped off our ‘22 Ruby Flare Highlander for service tomorrow. Oil change & tire rotation. 62K miles and counting. My 18 year old told son swapped out the cabin filter and engine air filter before we left. Not exactly @xwesx ’s son buying a parts car to swap a 5 speed transmission with a 6 speed, but it is a start.

While waiting to be picked up, I checked out that Sequoia they had on the lot. Captain’s chairs in the 2nd row. No good.

Haha, thanks, @nycarguy! I got a good laugh out of that, and I shared it with my son, who also got a good laugh. He says, "what, did you share that story with people on a forum or something?" I said, "yes! I talk about cars all the time. I started the story with, 'So, I got a call from my son last night....'"

Spoke too soon. My service advisor called and said the rear brakes are worn down to the point of almost being shot. Even if I could squeeze another 5K miles out of them until the next service, I'd rather go into winter with full confidence that the Highlander can stop when we need it to. As always, the timing isn't the best. We had my daughter's Bat Mitzvah on 12/7. The day before the Bat Mitzvah, my septic system needed $3,000 worth of repairs.

kyfdx

5000 miles is 10 months for me... I'd let it ride.

Sandman6472

Told me my fronts were down halfway to 5 mm, so for the time being, am letting it ride. I do notice that the pedal is quite lower then other newer vehicles I drive at work, but that doesn't necessarily mean the pedal will go up a bit more once the new brakes are installed. That could be the normal distance with either new or used front brakes. Decided to wait till after the new year to get things taken care of. Would be nice if the 2025 GTI's hit the dealers sooner then later so I could decide if I'm going to purchase one. But maybe waiting until year #2 or #3 would be better. Something I'll need to see after I get my first test drive.

stickguy

@kyfdx said:
5000 miles is 10 months for me... I'd let it ride.

Probably 10 months for me too. For both cars combined.

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

Spoke too soon. My service advisor called and said the rear brakes are worn down to the point of almost being shot. Even if I could squeeze another 5K miles out of them until the next service, I'd rather go into winter with full confidence that the Highlander can stop when we need it to. As always, the timing isn't the best. We had my daughter's Bat Mitzvah on 12/7. The day before the Bat Mitzvah, my septic system needed $3,000 worth of repairs.

Excellent timing! Grab a new set of pads from NAPA (or similar) and have another bonding session with the kids!

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

@qbrozen said:

@anonymousposts2025 said:

The Integra is a better deal right now than the Civic. Discounts + a little dealer cash. The A-Spec + Tech with a manual has an MSRP of $40k, we were getting quotes around $36k. It has features not available in the Civic. We also noticed dealers, at least in the Atlanta metro area, have tons of Integras sitting on the lot right now. We might have been able to get even more of a discount if we were serious.

There’s an Acura dealer half a mile away from the Honda dealer we bought the Civic. My husband and son stopped negotiations on the Civic to go to Acura, he couldn’t get past the styling of the back and ended up not driving one.

Which trim Civic? I assume the Si? That starts at $30k, right? What quotes have you been getting?

They bought an Si at MSRP + insane Georgia doc fee.

When I was at a Honda dealer in February the salesman proudly stated that they only had a $2500 ADM on the Si. He then said seriously that if it was a type R the mark up would be $10k.

I guess the market has cooled a bit since then.😃

roadburner

@nyccarguy said:
Spoke too soon. My service advisor called and said the rear brakes are worn down to the point of almost being shot. Even if I could squeeze another 5K miles out of them until the next service, I'd rather go into winter with full confidence that the Highlander can stop when we need it to. As always, the timing isn't the best. We had my daughter's Bat Mitzvah on 12/7. The day before the Bat Mitzvah, my septic system needed $3,000 worth of repairs.

That sucks- it always seems to come in threes.

roadburner

Today I emailed my staff and told them that, while I appreciated the thought, I neither wanted or expected any retirement presents and I repeated that I did not want a retirement party. I did promise to reward anyone who ratted out anyone attempting to organize anything along that line.
I hope that works.

jmonroe1

roadburner said:

Today I emailed my staff and told them that, while I appreciated the thought, I neither wanted or expected any retirement presents and I repeated that I did not want a retirement party. I did promise to reward anyone who ratted out anyone attempting to organize anything along that line.

I hope that works.

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That wouldn’t have worked where I worked. We worked hard and played harder. We only needed an excuse to have parties. Back in the 80’s one guy said if we had a retirement party we shouldn’t expect him to attend. We knew he meant it (he was that type of a guy) but we had the party anyway. The best part was that his wife showed up and told the planners she wanted to say something so she gets up and said something like, “this is a very nice party. Who did you say it was for, again? About an hour later his son and daughter showed up almost dragging him into the party room. After a few drinks he began to soften up and came around and socialized like the rest of us partyers.

jmonroe

stickguy

My home office is 2,000 miles or so away. pretty sure when I go it won't be with a lot of fanfare!

roadburner

jmonroe1 said:

roadburner said:

Today I emailed my staff and told them that, while I appreciated the thought, I neither wanted or expected any retirement presents and I repeated that I did not want a retirement party. I did promise to reward anyone who ratted out anyone attempting to organize anything along that line.

I hope that works.

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That wouldn’t have worked where I worked. We worked hard and played harder. We only needed an excuse to have parties. Back in the 80’s one guy said if we had a retirement party we shouldn’t expect him to attend. We knew he meant it (he was that type of a guy) but we had the party anyway. The best part was that his wife showed up and told the planners she wanted to say something so she gets up and said something like, “this is a very nice party. Who did you say it was for, again? About an hour later his son and daughter showed up almost dragging him into the party room. After a few drinks he began to soften up and came around and socialized like the rest of us partyers.

jmonroe

As I like to say, that's notgonnahappen.com.

roadburner

The Jeep navigation update saga continues...
As I mentioned previously, it involves a lot of steps. After jumping through all the hoops I inserted the map update USB. The instructions state that the update takes around 30 minutes. Nope, it takes much longer. The problem with the 4xe is that it will eventually shut down- even if you leave it in ICE mode. Once the car turns off you have to restart the update. So it looks like I'll have to drive it around for at least an hour or so in order to complete the update. And did I mention that the access to the touchscreen is unavailable while the system is updating?
Coincidentally The C43 received a free OTA map update for my local region. No problems with that. I decided to go ahead and update several surrounding regions (also free). The download to the USB took about 90 minutes. I plugged it into the car and the entire update downloaded in about 40 minutes, and shutting off the car didn't require restarting the update.
Crazy

corvette

We had our office holiday lunch today. Catered by the local Cuban place where I frequently spend my evenings. The two people they sent were great--didn't recognize the lady, but the guy is a server there, and he pointed me out and said, "this guy knows what's up, but for everyone else, I'll tell you what these dishes are..."

We don't do a holiday "party" that involves closing the office early in December because it's our busy season and we need to be reasonably staffed, but it's on the books for next month. Laser tag was more fun than I thought it would be!

Michaell

RIP Jean Jennings (aka Lindamood) - former writer and editor at both C&D and Automobile magazine.

Gone too soon at the age of 70.