Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

andre1969 · May 2008

How far past the expiration date is 51,000 miles? :P Or are the newer Jags improved in long-term reliability?

british_rover · May 2008

Bah Jag has been in pretty good shape since the mid to late 90s actually. They have problems with niksal blocks like everyone else in the late 90s and cam tensioner problems on the early AJ-V8s but that is it. One of the late 1990s JD power's surveys rated the XJ ahead of the Lexus LS in quality.

The 2006 survey measures 2003 MY vehicles.

woodyww · May 2008

Faucet? Hell, even our custom ordered Delta was like $250, including shipping to our front door.

Do you have any advice for places to order a faucet online? I've been looking at faucetdirect, & efaucets. Both cheaper than home despot by about 15%, but then I know I can return stuff to HD, usually for 90 days, except for lawnmowers & leafblowers & the like.

BTW, I found an online site called "service magic" as I recall. Put in a request for "plumber", got 3 references, all 3 called me w/in 48 hours. The first guy sounded very good, charges $85/hour, & the site has customer ratings for all of it's recomendations......

kyfdx · May 2008

We are finishing our basement (lower level, he says, with nose up in air).. My wife wanted a specific Kohler faucet for the bathroom, that she had seen at Home Depot..

I checked on eBay, and there was a salvage company that must have had a dozen of them...crushed boxes, but all guaranteed to be 100%. Every day, they would put another one up for bid.... Price at Home Depot was $178 plus tax.. Most of these were going for right around $112, including the shipping on eBay.. I got lucky and got one for $86.. It came 5 days later, and it is perfect and complete.. (I'm really an eBay rookie, too..)

From what I've noticed, the two companies you mention are not all that cheap...

My contractor says stay away from Price Pfister and house brands... He recommends Delta, Kohler or Moen...

regards,
kyfdx

corvette · May 2008

The first guy sounded very good, charges $85/hour, & the site has customer ratings for all of it's recomendations......

That sounds more reasonable than the flat fees you were quoted before. When you charge a flat fee for something like that, you have to build in a lot of padding for unexpected complications.

Once you choose a plumber, you could ask him for the supply house he uses, and go there to get the faucet.

fezo · May 2008

That'll do. Bring it on down and we can go confront q! After checking out his cars of course...

BTW, I waved as I passed your neighborhood on the way up to New Hampshire. One day I'll get up that way with time to drop in. No doubt then I'll get the sales side of you....

woodyww · May 2008

well, i guess that's the best we can hope for on this board, huh?

You got a Helluva car there for $18.8, IMO. I'm sure I'd enjoy it--great cars from what I know, & personally, I'd probably keep it for years if not troublesome.

Whatever you do--stick with the G--& don't start looking at used E36 or E46 M3's, or used E39 M5's, or something crazy like that........online, late at night, when your spouse is asleep, that would be a BAD thing.......very, very bad......

tifighter · May 2008

Whatever you do--stick with the G--& don't start looking at used E36 or E46 M3's, or used E39 M5's, or something crazy like that........online, late at night, when your spouse is asleep, that would be a BAD thing.......very, very bad......

Naw, when you have these thoughts, just think about what it would be like to maintain that E46 M3, or worse, that E39 M5. That would knock me back into reality... :P

qbrozen · May 2008

Well ... NOW, at 10:30 pm sitting in bed on the laptop, I'm thinking of '03 Jag XJs for $12k.

This is like really really disturbing pornographic talk, by the way.

british_rover · May 2008

ahah I said I could buy it for 12k I didn't say you could... :P

You could probably buy it for 14k or 14.5k. It is kind of this funky sea foam green though so you won't want it.

I am really waiting for the aluminum body XJs to fall into the 18-19k range which is happening about now for 2004 CPO cars. I wouldn't feel bad offering 19,500 for a 40,000 miles CPO XJ without nav right now. If the Jag dealer bought it right they should be making at least 1,500 bucks, which as slow as Jag sales have been for the past few years they would love. I think by about this time next year 2005 CPO XJs will be in the 18-19k range if not a little lower.

lemmer · May 2008

How cheap can you get me a late 90s XK8?

fezo · May 2008

Gak! That's kind of the color of my old 80 Accord....

british_rover · May 2008

Coupe or convertible? It makes a big difference. The last couple of late 90s XK8 convertibles I have seen sell around here went for the high teen range with mileage of around 50,000. They are probably a little cheaper now and so mid teen range wouldn't be out of the question but I haven't seen one yet this year so not sure. I am not sure if I would want a late 90s XK though. Better to pay a little more for a 2000-2002 model where there is no nikisal problem and the chain tensioner issue didn't even exist. Most likely a late 90s jag that has lasted past 50,000 miles doesn't have the nikisal problem and had the tensioner issue fixed under warranty or recall but verifying either of those things can be hard.

andre1969 · May 2008

Gak! That's kind of the color of my old 80 Accord....

LOL...I actually LOVE that color! Although I think the Accord's seafoam is a bit nicer in person. Seems a bit darker, whereas that green on the Jag, IIRC, has kind of a glow-in-the-dark look about it.

fezo · May 2008

Yes, the Accord seafoam green was indeed a little darker and it did work on that car. Well, it worked on the outside of the car at least. Perhaps doing the interior in the same shade was a bit of overkill.

qbrozen · May 2008

ahah I said I could buy it for 12k I didn't say you could... :P

But, as a close personal friend of yours .... ;P

I was wondering, am I just about the only stupid [non-permissible content removed] out there who actually traded for a car that gets WORSE mileage than his current ride??

lemmer · May 2008

Maybe, but I keep thinking this is getting to be a good time to pick up some horsepower on the cheap.

I'll take my XK8 in coupe form, please.

stickguy · May 2008

Well, if I end up replacing the Accord now, most likely th new ride will get worse mileage (even though I will be going to a long commute). But, I will probably offset that now having to spend money repairing my bad left knee!

tifighter · May 2008

I was wondering, am I just about the only stupid [non-permissible content removed] out there who actually traded for a car that gets WORSE mileage than his current ride??

[cough] Um, Forester to Pilot [cough]

qbrozen · May 2008

but what were gas prices back on Feb 20th?
;b

hey, so we're both stupid bastards.

tifighter · May 2008

Great question. Low to mid 3's? I can't even remember what I had for dinner last night...

Mileage has been about what I expect. 17 all city. 22 highway. About 4 to 5 mpg less than the subie, but a reasonable trade off to me for the space, comfort and quiet.

Plus I ride my motorcycle to work 3 days a week anyway; 59mpg on the last tank. 5.8 gallon tank. Not bad for a 650!

kyfdx · May 2008

Everything I read says gas prices at this time last year were around $3.22/gallon..

Today, the news said the current national average is $3.94/gal.

qbrozen · May 2008

ah, but the past year has been quite the roller coaster. We neared $4 at some point (I think it was when the hurricane took out the oil platform??), then dipped back down BELOW $3. That's just one instance. We've been up and down quite a bit in ... I dunno ... the past 3 years maybe? Maybe 5? Like tifighter, I have a bad memory. In any case, just looking at one timepoint can be misleading.

kyfdx · May 2008

Yeah... I can never get my timelines right.. But, I remember a couple of years ago, when it spiked up over $2.50/gallon, there were a lot of the sky is falling posts about gas going up to $4-$5 per gallon...

Of course, I noted that gas had been under $1.50/gal just the year before, and there was no reason it couldn't be back there again by the next year..nothing material had changed.. just wait and see.. yada, yada, yada..

Nostradamus... I'm not..

british_rover · May 2008

Gasbuddy.com has historical price charts...

For the hartford area average retail price over the past two years looks like this.

June of 2006 we start out at around 3.00 dollars a gallon but drop down to a low of 2.23 a gallon by the end of October.

Normal bump up in the winter because of the switch to make heating oil then touches 2.23 a gallon again in Feburary 2007. The price his 3.00 dollars again in June of 2007 but drops back down to around 2.80 by October 2007. The price goes back up over 3.00 dollars a gallon by the end of November then hovers just over or just under 3.00 dollars a gallon for the rest of the winter. By March of 2008 the price is well over 3.00 dollars a gallon and by the middle of April it is over 3.50 a gallon. From that point on it is nearly straight up to now where the price stops at 4.20 a gallon.

EDIT: Hey cool the chart came out I was afraid it wouldn't work on this forum.

qbrozen · May 2008

But, I remember a couple of years ago, when it spiked up over $2.50/gallon, there were a lot of the sky is falling posts about gas going up to $4-$5 per gallon

yup. Seems we saw that kind of discussion around here every summer and every winter for the past couple of years.

au1994 · May 2008

Cool chart. Confirms what I was thinking. I thought I had remembered paying under 2.50 with my grocery store discount card late last year here in Georgia.

Kirstie_H · May 2008

A reporter would like to talk drivers above the age of 50 who chose a vehicle because of a specific feature that made your driving experience more comfortable. Please respond to ctalati@edmunds.com with your daytime contact information along with the vehicle you chose and the feature that you really liked no later than Tuesday, June 3rd.

lemmer · May 2008

Yesterday I drove my mother-in-law's Mazda6 V6 to and from work. WIth its cheap interior, coarse engine, and disappointing handling, I was more than ready to get back in my trusty old BMW today. Today, it is really hot and here in Birmingham and it will only get worse. As I sweated profusely on the way back from lunch, I began to ponder why I drive a black convertible with a black top and a marginal air conditioner in such an environment. The Mazda6 still doesn't appeal to me, but something sportier with four seats, a manual transmission and a strong ac might catch my attention at this point.

guss · May 2008

The Mazd6 I-4 was on my short list. My company is thinking about going to company cars and we can pick from the following UAW list

link title

The main criteria are it gets 24mpg on the EPA combined mileage and be under $22k., althoug we may be ableto make up anything that goes over.

My top choices are Corolla, Mazda6, Aura and the Malibu.

qbrozen · May 2008

Where do you live? I got an '06 Accord V6 6-speed with your name on it.

woodyww · May 2008

Thanks to kyfdx & corvette & others for the plumbing advice. I wound up ordering a Kohler "Forte" from.....FaucetDirect.com for $104. For my standards, a pretty fancy nice looking faucet with "ceramic valves"--I think? About $20 less than Home Depot.

I did look on fee-bay (sellers on ebay know what than means). I didn't see any screaming bargains, & the major seller there had those listings with like 9 paragraphs of fine print, & you have 27 seconds to return it if something goes wrong, etc. etc.

But sounds like you got a great deal on yours. And yeah plumbers seem to hate Price Pfister (I have one, of course).

(It's bad enough being obsessed with cars, but now.....faucets.......oy!)

fezo · May 2008

And he could probably work me a deal on the Bimmer while he's up here...:shades:

kyfdx · May 2008

I'd add the Ford Focus, assuming lower price is better...

kyfdx · May 2008

Oh, Nooooooooo!!! NOT the Kohler Forte!!

Everyone knows that is cheap Bolivian knock-off (come on, how many Bolivians can be on the forums).. Anything but the Forte!!

just kidding..

Sounds like a good deal...
kyfdx

woodyww · May 2008

LOL!! Some of my bad house repair stories over the last few years have me assuming that: it won't work; or won't fit; or the plumber will screw it up, or the chimney will collapse in the meantime.....

And For some reason all the workmen I hire look like the plumbers Tom Hanks hired in "The Money Pit".........(like the cast of a Road Warrior movie, with similar vehicles).....this wierd Fellini cast (mixing movie metaphors) roaring up to the house in odd vehicles & then totally screwing everything up........ :confuse:

woodyww · May 2008

why I drive a black convertible with a black top and a marginal air conditioner in such an environment

Black interior too? I hope not. You must be young to be surviving that punishment! I had a '73 Mercury Capri (German Ford) in summer Florida once, Black interior, useless A/C. You could fry eggs on the seats after it sat in the sun.

Of course current bmw's have Wonderful A/C; at least my e39 does (knock wood). Like a Meat Locker inside, if you want it. I think Modern bmw A/C came in the mid-90's? Like the e39 A/C is way better than in the e34's, & so forth.....

lemmer · May 2008

My BMW is a '98 with a tan interior. My wife had a '00 323i sedan and the ac was around a milliion times better. I'd trade in straight up for an E46 coupe in a heartbeat.

roadburner · June 2008

My 1995 318ti has great A/C, as does the wife's 2004 X3. For that matter, the HVAC system in my 1999 Jeep Wrangler soft top is also excellent. The Mazdaspeed3 is the one with a mediocre HVAC system(no, it's not black). I say can't say that my 1973 Bavaria was much worse. On the brighter side, my local BMW dealer just took a Titanium Silver 2003 M3 and an Imola Red 2004 330ci ZHP in trade.
What to do??? :P

guss · June 2008

If I remember correctly Volvomax gave you a pretty good trade number on the Mazda3. If you are coming to this forum expecting us to tell you to hold it until the wheels fall off, the door is the upper right hand corner.

What are the miles on the 330ci ?

I test drove a Malibu on Friday. It is so far removed from the '97 I had has a company car previously that Chevy should have changed the name. I drove the 4 cylinder LTZ that was loaded. I wanted to try the hybrid but the salesman said Chevy was having trouble getting the hybrid systems...typical. I thought the Malibu handled real well and had plenty of power even with the 4 cyl., I thought the paddle shifters were cool for the first 5 minutes but that fun wore off quickly . It also was just a little to big for my taste, if they had left it the size of the the old Malibu I would be a lot more interested. I just can't see myself driving it for the next 4 years and still be excited by it.

I will try the Corolla later this week, has anyone driven the '09 yet ?

kyfdx · June 2008

Details on the ZHP? Is that Swope?

woodyww · June 2008

(I'm not sure which or if either link will work)

http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?sby=6&lid=1099791896&sid=

http://www.3highviewrd.com/

I assume it's "under agreement" already, since every house I call about that really turns me on from the pics, is "under agreement", even if I call a day or 2 after it's listed. At least with cars, you usually have a chance to actually buy them.....

fezo · June 2008

Wow! Nice house and great location.

Good luck!

kyfdx · June 2008

No garage?

Lots of mauve.. It looks like my MIL lives there.. :surprise:

It would be really cool with some contemporary furniture...

Only $500K? I love the mid-west!! :P

lemmer · June 2008

Here in Birmingham, $500K will get you a 4 br, 3.5 bath with a full basement and a half acre lot in the best school district around. Of course, we don't get paid like the fine folks in NYC, but that is to be expected.

kyfdx · June 2008

Yeah... same here.. A real McMansion for $500K.. 3800 sq.feet, with amenities..

We are in the middle of finishing about 1100 sq.feet in our "lower level".. Not sure why 3 people need more room.... but, I got out-voted..

Now.. we'll have 3.5 baths for 3 people... That's one more toilet to leak...

lemmer · June 2008

We are in the same boat - 4.5 bathrooms for 4 people. We have about 1000 feet finished on the lower level (for no apparent useful reason). The good news is that the basement still holds 3 cars, a golf cart, a lawnmower, all the kids toys, and 6 or seven bikes and this doesn't even include a workshop of about another 200 sq ft.

I love the South.

michaellno · June 2008

Well, I guess I don't feel too bad. Most of the year we've got 2.5 baths for 2 people, but when the daughter is home for the summer (as she is now), we have 3 in the house.

No lower level for us. Ground was too hard to dig basements and the series of homes from the builder didn't include them.

Garage is large enough for 2 cars, lawnmower, snowblower, extra fridge, some storage shelves and a small workbench.

kyfdx · June 2008

I don't have a 3800 sq.ft. McMansion.. My house is only around 2200 sq.ft, not counting the lower level... (though, it's very nice..

).

I'm just amazed at the variance in price between the East Coast and the rest of us real Americans..

michaellno · June 2008

I may not have downsized my cars, but I believe that I've downsized my living space.

1600sf on a 5000sf lot. Bought for $160K 8 years ago.

East Coast? You should also look at prices on the West Coast. My folks live in a 40 year old track home in southern California (3+2 ranch, 1450sf on a 7200sf lot) and last year it was probably worth $550K. Don't know what it could sell for today, given the state of the real estate market.

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