Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

carnaught · January 2015

One of the first year punches? 2015 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring purchase, every option, white with beige leather, black carpeting.

Dealership was open even though a holiday, was "just looking" and voila.... this for Mrs. Carnaught. My car's lease is up in Nov...so ah oh.

abacomike · January 2015

carnaught said:

One of the first year punches? 2015 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring purchase, white with beige leather, black carpeting. Dealership was open even though a holiday, just looking, and voila.... this for Mrs. Carnaught. My lease is up in Nov.

My congrats to you and the Mrs. Honda has been pulling out all the stops to sell cars. Let's face it, they still make great cars that seem to last forever.

Good luck!

Sandman6472 · January 2015

Xwesx, ditto here also except with this last punch I made, totally illogical and definitely not practical but fun so that's so worth it to me. As I age, have decided that it's time to just do some things in life...do not think everything to death like I usually do but just get out there and do. I didn't break the bank here and now enjoy driving that much more so all is good. After the other half was satisfied with the reasons I gave as to why I was purchasing so soon, I was good to go. So now, once I get my smartphone situation in order, I plan to save, save, save, As much as I don't really need to swap out my HTC One VX for a Samsung S4 or S5, really want the bigger screen and the better phone...the HTC is a mid quality one while the Samsung is really a top tier phone but since AT&T no longer subsidizes their phones and since I don't want to sign up for another two year contract, that would raise our bill $25/month, I'd have to pay for the phone outright. So, since it's not a real necessity, a want and not a need, not sure where this is going.
The one kid has an old phone of mine so figured I'd give her mine, it looks new since I've always had a cover on it plus a screen protector but the wife says to let her get a new one. She don't care as long as she has a phone and is fine with taking mine again even though I agreed for her to get her own new one. So we'll see how this pans out. Again, I want a Samsung but don't need one. Might be best to wait till the new S6 comes out in April and then get the S5 after it goes down in price. Decisions, decisions!!!

The Sandman

stickguy · January 2015

a punch already? Man, no grass growing under the feet around here.

graphicguy · January 2015

stickguy said:
a punch already? Man, no grass growing under the feet around here.

Carnaught....oooohhh....nice car. Congratz! First punch in '15! We're on our way!

corvette · January 2015

Yes, congrats on the first punch! I like that color combination as well.

rayainsw said:
Currently no spousal unit in the picture...

Me neither--nobody to tell me no!

stickguy · January 2015

OK, this one I like. A lot. a real lot. And a nice 15K discount.

http://www.holmancadillac.com/VehicleDetails/new-2014-Cadillac-CTS-Performance_RWD-Mount_Laurel-NJ/2387517573?cs:o=47506250

qbrozen · January 2015

go for it

stickguy · January 2015

I just cut the check for the princess' 2nd semester tuition. I am not going for anything for a long, long time.

She is going to Dubai and Abu Dahbi for 2 weeks though on a school trip. Must be nice.

My adventure will be going to the Philly auto show in February and sitting in all the nice cars that maybe I can look at as CPOs in 3 years when I have to replace mine!

ab348 · January 2015

@stickguy - the color is a love it or hate it thing. Personally I'm not a fan of that shade. But maybe it's just me.

stickguy · January 2015

The color does not really show that well on my laptop, in those pictures. Not sure what I would think of it in person.

ab348 · January 2015

The ATS my dealer had for me to drive was that color. Unless it is in direct sunlight it reads as a very drab sort of gray. The "plum" only appears in the sun. But to me it looked very dull most of the time.

nyccarguy · January 2015

@carnaught‌

Way to go! Start 2015 off with a bang!

nyccarguy · January 2015

Just wanted to share my annual miles driven with you guys:

Pilot: 12,614 (grand total of 58,105)
BMW: 11,486 (grand total of 46,045)
Prelude: 4,021 (grand total of 155,009)
Legacy: 5,319 (grand total of 5,319)

That's a cumulative total of 20,826 miles for me;)

stickguy · January 2015

and your wife of course.

stever · January 2015

This could be fun.

'97 Subaru - 1,812 (sold in May with 96,100)
'99 Quest - 5,472 (sold in May with 200,301)
'09 Grand Caravan - 16,569 (total of 141,569, purchased in May)

Total 23,853, two drivers (no commute)

nyccarguy · January 2015

stickguy said:
and your wife of course.

The 20,826 is just from the 328, Prelude, & Legacy

Adding the Pilot's would give me a cumulative total between my wife & I of 33,440

stever · January 2015

That's a lotta miles!

au1994 · January 2015

Congrats on the year end (and New Year) punches. @Q the CTS-V is stunning.

Happy New Year and Happy Car buying in 2015!

I may be good for one at the end of the year as the lease on the 335i matures so I have all year to flip flop on what I want to replace it with.

qbrozen · January 2015

We total somewhere in the 40-45k range. Commuting is 35k alone. We are at the dojo 5 days a week, which is 14 miles roundtrip, and 2 cars do that 4x a week. So thats 41k before adding shopping, going to relatives houses, parties, etc. YIKES why did you make me think about it?

is it any wonder I have so many cars?

kyfdx · January 2015

I commute 33 miles roundtrip, 5 days/week.. Been putting around 11K/yr on my car..

My wife is retired (no commute) and we average around 12K/yr on her car. It's the only automatic, so between her running around all week, we also use it as the family vehicle when we are out together on the weekends. (you know, in case there is beer involved.... and, there is almost always beer involved).

My son probably averages about 400 miles/month, mostly because college is too close to home..

graphicguy · January 2015

stickguy said:
OK, this one I like. A lot. a real lot. And a nice 15K discount.

http://www.holmancadillac.com/VehicleDetails/new-2014-Cadillac-CTS-Performance_RWD-Mount_Laurel-NJ/2387517573?cs:o=47506250

You know you wanna!!!!!

nyccarguy · January 2015

My commute is 65 miles round trip. 6 days a week. I'll drive the Prelude once or twice a week depending on the weather & traffic during the spring & summer.

My wife works less than 3 miles from the house. We use the Pilot for weekend stuff & anytime someone has to go somewhere with our daughter (her seat is LATCHed into the Pilot).

rayainsw · January 2015

My yearly average has been almost exactly 15,000 miles
per year - for the past 10 years.
[ 1 vehicle - 1 driver. ]
When I traded in the 2007 Corvette I had, it was 2 years
old - and had 30,000 miles on it.
That is \ was a VERY high mileage 2 year old Corvette.
- Ray
Still waiting...

Michaell · January 2015

nyccarguy said:
My commute is 65 miles round trip. 6 days a week. I'll drive the Prelude once or twice a week depending on the weather & traffic during the spring & summer.

My wife works less than 3 miles from the house. We use the Pilot for weekend stuff & anytime someone has to go somewhere with our daughter (her seat is LATCHed into the Pilot).

No commute for me as I work from home, but I deliver 3 times a week and have been averaging about 50-60 miles a night.

Wife and daughter work together - 22 miles one way. They often ride together. Daughter travels to some sites as well.

roadburner · January 2015

I put 21899 miles on the MS3, Ti, '02, and TJ.
My wife and I put 14854 on the 328i.

henryn · January 2015

My 2013 Ford F150 XLT is now 15 months old, and has a total of 5,400 miles. I have had the 2005 Tahoe for about 5 months, and have driven 1,418 miles in it.

My daily commute is 5.3 miles each way, 5 days a week (well, 4.5 as I have off every other Friday), so roughly 2,500 miles per year commuting.

I lived out in the country from 1999 to 2009, 33 miles one way to work, around 15,000 miles per year commuting. Not any more. I now live inside the loop, short commute. I like driving, I HATE fighting traffic.

Fighting traffic is NOT driving.

Michaell · January 2015

henryn said:
Fighting traffic is NOT driving.

+1 to that.

When I first moved to Denver, I worked in a downtown office building. I always lived in a suburb, so had to commute downtown.

First was from the east, with no direct highway access. Four lane arterial roads, choked with traffic.

Next was from the north, with decent highway access.

Then I moved south of downtown, also with decent highway access.

Then my company moved offices to a business park on the south side of town. Score! My commute was cut by 1/3 on miles (30 to 20) and over 50% on time.

Of course, for many years, I was traveling 2 weeks a month, so I commuted to the airport (first Stapleton, then DIA when it opened).

About 6+ years ago, I changed jobs within my company and realized there wasn't any reason to commute to the office - my team was all virtual, so I could do everything remotely and work from home.

On the rare occasion I have to drive into town, I'm reminded how lucky I am to be able to work from home.

nyccarguy · January 2015

"I have off every other Friday"

I need to get a job like that:) 6 days a week, 50 weeks a year plus about 8 holidays for me. But I do have job security like nobody else:)

abacomike · January 2015

nyccarguy said:

"I have off every other Friday" I need to get a job like that:) 6 days a week, 50 weeks a year plus about 8 holidays for me. But I do have job security like nobody else:)

Well, when you compare your job to Civil Service (VA, SSA, IRS, State Dept, Defense Dept, Labor Dept, etc.) your job is not so secure, or am I off base?

nyccarguy · January 2015

abacomike said:

nyccarguy said:

"I have off every other Friday"

I need to get a job like that:) 6 days a week, 50 weeks a year plus about 8 holidays for me. But I do have job security like nobody else:)

Well, when you compare your job to Civil Service (VA, SSA, IRS, State Dept, Defense Dept, Labor Dept, etc.) your job is not so secure, or am I off base?

One day, someone could theoretically fall victim to budget cuts, get replaced by a computer, get laid off, get fired... not me:)

abacomike · January 2015

nyccarguy said:

nyccarguy said:

"I have off every other Friday" I need to get a job like that:) 6 days a week, 50 weeks a year plus about 8 holidays for me. But I do have job security like nobody else:)

Well, when you compare your job to Civil Service (VA, SSA, IRS, State Dept, Defense Dept, Labor Dept, etc.) your job is not so secure, or am I off base?
One day, someone could theoretically fall victim to budget cuts, get replaced by a computer, get laid off, get fired... not me:)

I like the word "theoretically", because it is almost impossible to lose your job if you work for the Fed. Govt. Take teachers - after getting tenure, it's a guaranteed job until retirement. But I would agree, working for your family corporate business is pretty secure.

ab348 · January 2015

I like the word "theoretically", because it is almost impossible to lose your job if you work for the Fed. Govt. Take teachers - after getting tenure, it's a guaranteed job until retirement. But I would agree, working for your family corporate business is pretty secure.

Well, maybe. I used to be internet friends with a guy whose family founded/owned a big consumer credit reporting operation. He worked there. Then the company merged with another, new management came in, and everything changed. He was OK financially, I think, because of the profit the family made on the buyout. But work life was no more. Whether he had to work I do not know. But I had the sense he at least wanted to, even if he didn't necessarily need to, and was unhappy by the changes in what had been his family's business.

laurasdada · January 2015

Congrats, Q!

And thanks for allowing me to continue to be an island of Jaguar amongst a sea of Audi, BMW, Caddy and MB! Hey, there lonely boy, lonely boy...

Unlikely I punch in '15. But, I do have an unscratched lottery ticket from Xmas...

qbrozen · January 2015

haha. Somebody has to be the holdout.

Put on my winter setup tonight. Tires are quite a bit taller than stock, but they happen to be the stock all seasons from the Mustang, and the wheels are the aforementioned aftermarket I had for the 135i. Surprised GM and BMW are sharing a bolt pattern. I just had to go out and buy new lugs this morn.

Sandman6472 · January 2015

But Q, will they fit? Wheels can be a tricky thing as I remember. Anyways, still having the vibration issued with the new car, the passenger seat vibrates and shakes from 70 to 85 and they've had it in twice to fix it. Last week they force balanced the wheels and tires but the vibration is still there. What can we do next? Swap out the tires for a different make? The rims I swapped out were the same size so they should not be a problem. What else can the dealer do here to eradicate this issue??
Any help would be appreciated here, I've emailed and called the service manager telling her of my unhappiness with this ongoing issue and hopefully, she will respond by Tuesday. Besides this annoying issue, I love my new Golf...and the wife's Audi!!

The Sandman

Sandman6472 · January 2015

Wife does about 15k/year and I do about 15k also id I work both gigs. My Hertz job is just under 30 miles round trip and I do that 3 days one week/3.5 days the next. The West Palm gig is 38 miles each way, about 80 round trip which is really too long for what they pay me. Not sure If I'm going back to my other gig right now, the wife mentioned my back hasn't gone out badly since I scaled back to only one job and I haven't called out since I was out the first week in April...I need some time off! We are planning a trip to Westchester New York come October for a high school reunion and possibly a long weekend to Chicago to see our son and his lady this summer if all goes well i.e. if I am well enough to travel. I don't get paid if I don't work being part time and all so I work, a lot! Hope to retire for the 2nd time in about 5 years G-d willing!! Want to just do nothing again as it was fun, really!!! Also hoping Hertz will up the hours a bit since they haven't hired anyone and we've already lost 4 from our team of 9.

abacomike · January 2015

sandman_6472 said:

But Q, will they fit? Wheels can be a tricky thing as I remember. Anyways, still having the vibration issued with the new car, the passenger seat vibrates and shakes from 70 to 85 and they've had it in twice to fix it. Last week they force balanced the wheels and tires but the vibration is still there. What can we do next? Swap out the tires for a different make? The rims I swapped out were the same size so they should not be a problem. What else can the dealer do here to eradicate this issue?? Any help would be appreciated here, I've emailed and called the service manager telling her of my unhappiness with this ongoing issue and hopefully, she will respond by Tuesday. Besides this annoying issue, I love my new Golf...and the wife's Audi!! The Sandman

My 2013 Lexus GS350 had the same issue. They were Dunlop tires. They checked balancing 3 times both on the car, off the car and with the pressure testing. They never solved the problem. Between 55-70 mph, the front seats would shake and the steering wheel would shake. They checked the tire treads and said the tires were not out of round. Lexus refused to change the tires to solve the problem.

I was in contact with Lexus consumer affairs and they, too, refused. So I sold the car and went back to Mercedes and bought one.

That is the reason I will never, ever buy another Lexus.

I sure hope you don't have the same aggravation because nothing bothers me more than a car that vibrates because of poor balancing or bad tires.

Good luck.

qbrozen · January 2015

You couldnt lemon law that lexus?

sandy - i just went for a drive and all seems good. No rubbing and no squawks from the tpms for whatever reason. Ride is softer now, too, with the higher profile non-runflats. Not something I'd want on the track of course, but it will be nice for the winter.

as for your car, so you swapped out the wheels? But used the same old tires? Am I getting that right?

graphicguy · January 2015

sandman_6472 said:
But Q, will they fit? Wheels can be a tricky thing as I remember. Anyways, still having the vibration issued with the new car, the passenger seat vibrates and shakes from 70 to 85 and they've had it in twice to fix it. Last week they force balanced the wheels and tires but the vibration is still there. What can we do next? Swap out the tires for a different make? The rims I swapped out were the same size so they should not be a problem. What else can the dealer do here to eradicate this issue??
Any help would be appreciated here, I've emailed and called the service manager telling her of my unhappiness with this ongoing issue and hopefully, she will respond by Tuesday. Besides this annoying issue, I love my new Golf...and the wife's Audi!!

The Sandman

Kind of at a loss....broken belt in the tire! Maybe?

graphicguy · January 2015

laurasdada said:
Congrats, Q!

And thanks for allowing me to continue to be an island of Jaguar amongst a sea of Audi, BMW, Caddy and MB! Hey, there lonely boy, lonely boy...

Unlikely I punch in '15. But, I do have an unscratched lottery ticket from Xmas...

Slacker....

graphicguy · January 2015

qbrozen said:
haha. Somebody has to be the holdout.

Put on my winter setup tonight. Tires are quite a bit taller than stock, but they happen to be the stock all seasons from the Mustang, and the wheels are the aforementioned aftermarket I had for the 135i. Surprised GM and BMW are sharing a bolt pattern. I just had to go out and buy new lugs this morn.

Suprised at that myself. So, you had all season rubber from the Mustang mounted on other wheels for the BMW, and they fit the CTS?

Sandman6472 · January 2015

No, seems they just took off the wheels and tires from the diesel model and swapped 'em with the originals on my vehicle...easy peasy. Really think it might just be a tire issue since these tires came on these rims from the factory. Be interested to see if and when they contact me about some sort of solution. I did leave a phone message for the service manager since her card didn't have her email address, something I found peculiar. Just want this issue to go away!!! I will be driving high speeds of 70 to 80 whenever I go to work and it is annoying!!! Not something I want to live with anymore!!

The Sandman

breld · January 2015

Sandy - I can't imagine it's any problem with fitment or anything like that. Other Golf/GTI wheels should be a straight swap. Worst case, see if they'll put the stocks back on and see if the problem still exists. Then at least you'd know if it was the car or the wheels/tires.

Has the dealership acknowledged something's not right?

corvette · January 2015

Sandy, did yours come with Continental ContiProContact tires? I had those on an Audi A4 and a Nissan Altima, and never had any problems with them. Continental makes a very good tire, but it's still possible there is a tire problem. Can you actually feel the vibration, or is it just the empty seat shaking? In a lot of cars, the seats will vibrate slightly because the seatbacks aren't held perfectly tight.

That said, mistakes happen. When I had new Goodyear tires put on my mother's Volvo, I knew something was wrong as soon as I drove it on the highway. Took it back to the tire shop and they agreed. One of the rear tires had a cord that had shifted, and it was shaking bad enough that you could feel it in the (front wheel drive) Volvo! They ordered another tire from Goodyear and that solved the problem.

Dealers are often not tire experts, even if they have a road force balancer. It may be better for your sanity to have a professional tire shop check the thing out. One of the VW dealers here in the Louisville area overlooked a bent wheel on my dad's Beetle when he brought it in and complained of a vibration! The tire store caught it right away.

ab348 · January 2015

Sandy, are the wheels/tires on the A3 the same size? Maybe a temporary swap to see if it is a wheel/tire issue or something in the driveline?

sb55 · January 2015

All of this talk about commuting makes me nostalgic (NOT!!).
My commute used to be 110 miles/day from Northern Westchester to LIC (Queens), NY. A bridge (either Whitestone or Triborough, depending on traffic) was also involved.
I also owned a summer property on Lake Champlain in Northern VT that I also used to commute to on weekends, which was 300 miles each way. (Wife and kids stayed here all summer). In addition to all of my vacation in the summer, I would stretch it out by would leaving work at about 3:30 pm on Thursdays and drive the 6+hours to get here, then leave again at about 4:00 am on Mondays to get to work at about 9:30 am. I did own the company so was able to pull it off. Those years I drove about 50K miles/year. After 30 years of doing it, I finally gave it up and sold the company (ornamental metal work).
Now I live full time at our "summer" place and rent lakeside cottages May-November. We call ourselves "semi-retired" but do have to be on call 7 days/week in season. So my commute is now a 100 yard walk to the lake. I barely drive 5K miles/year anymore.

qbrozen · January 2015

graphicguy
Suprised at that myself. So, you had all season rubber from the Mustang mounted on other wheels for the BMW, and they fit the CTS?

Exactly. Well, almost. I didn't have them already mounted. Had to remove my track tires from the aftermarket wheels first, then mount the all seasons from the mustang (and balance them of course). Whole thing took me a couple of hours, but not having to spend anymore money right at the moment (other than the lugnuts, because the stock nuts have a shoulder too fat for the aftermarket wheels) is nice.

roadburner · January 2015

I was really blessed- my job didn't involve commuting so much as traveling- I was sent to various counties in the state. On multi-day gigs I was allowed to get a motel close to the courthouse so any "commute" was usually under ten minutes.

breld · January 2015

qbrozen said:

Exactly. Well, almost. I didn't have them already mounted. Had to remove my track tires from the aftermarket wheels first, then mount the all seasons from the mustang (and balance them of course). Whole thing took me a couple of hours, but not having to spend anymore money right at the moment (other than the lugnuts, because the stock nuts have a shoulder too fat for the aftermarket wheels) is nice.

You have the equipment to do all that tire removal and mounting yourself?

Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Comments

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles

Your Privacy