Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Mr_Shiftright · November 2016

May God have mercy on you. Guards, take him away.

kyfdx · November 2016

I like the simplicity of it. No turbos.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2016

Well at least it has 110,000 miles on it, which eliminates any possible excuse for buying it.

kyfdx · November 2016

Eleven years old. Only 10K mi/yr.
Low miles!

Mr_Shiftright · November 2016

Low miles for a city bus. High miles for an Audi

qbrozen · November 2016

kyfdx said:

I like this for under $10K (pretty sure it's a 2005 1/2 model) http://www.autosruslex.com/2005_Audi_S4_Lexington_KY_5778480.veh

And your closest Audi dealer will like it, too!

graphicguy · November 2016

Saw a Satrun SKY Redline in the parking lot at Costco this weekend. I remember Bob Lutz saying GM could produce a car from the ground up in 36 months, and the Solstice and Sky were the results. Not sure I remember reading much about how well they drove, other than the turbo Sky (Redline) was the one to get.

Sharp when they were introduced. Still sharp today. Wouldn't mind having one. Aside from the fact that Saturn bit the dust, is there any reason these cars are "duds"?

nyccarguy · November 2016

So we've all had our reasons for punching ye 'ole CCBA card: Lease is up? Punch! Need new tires? Punch! Hey, it's Tuesday, so why not? Punch! Here's one that probably has never crossed any of our minds as a reason to punch & is despicable at the same time:

My friend who married wealthy (not rich, wealthy*) and has a B7 Alpina X-Drive (leased, spare car), an Escalade (wife's car), a Tesla Model S P85D (His Daily Driver), and a Suburban LS (Stays at their house in Florida) got arrested for DWI a few weeks ago. He got stopped at a checkpoint right off the highway about a mile from his house and blew a .18 (in NY State, anything .18 & above is considered aggravated DWI). He showed up to his hearing and the judge took his license away for 30 days pending trial. He hired a driver to take him to and from work every day. His lawyer advised him that since it is his first DWI offense and he has a clean license that the judge will most likely make him install a breathalyzer in his car in order for it to start up for a period of time. Don't worry, I'm getting to the reason for the punch.

The Caddy is his wife's car, the B7 goes back in a couple of months, and he thinks his Tesla will be completely ruined if somebody tries to install a Breathalyzer to it. So he's buying himself a new car. A 2017 2 Door Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Hard Rock Edition with a 6 Speed Manual Transmission. He plans to drive it here until the breathalyzer gets taken away, then send it to Florida so he can have a convertible down there. I can't make this stuff up people!

fintail · November 2016

There's a good case for progressive penalties if there ever was one. Amazing, sad.

Friend of mine's Lincoln MKZ lease is up relatively soon. He wants to walk away and get a cheaper car, but his other half wants to buy it out and keep it, surprising. It'll be interesting how that plays out.

Michaell · November 2016

graphicguy said:
Saw a Satrun SKY Redline in the parking lot at Costco this weekend. I remember Bob Lutz saying GM could produce a car from the ground up in 36 months, and the Solstice and Sky were the results. Not sure I remember reading much about how well they drove, other than the turbo Sky (Redline) was the one to get.

Sharp when they were introduced. Still sharp today. Wouldn't mind having one. Aside from the fact that Saturn bit the dust, is there any reason these cars are "duds"?

When we were in our Saturn phase (1 L-series, 2 VUEs, 1 ION), I eagerly anticipated the release of the Sky.

I'm 5'11" with a 30" inseam, and when I sat in it, I was looking straight at the windshield header. No deal.

I've not hear anything bad about either engine used in the Sky - the 2.4L NA or the 2.0T. I don't think these were bought by folks who were going to tune the cars, so I suspect the engines are relatively unmolested.

These can be serviced at Chevrolet dealers.

ab348 · November 2016

Yeah, the thing about the Sky and the Solstice is that they have zero space for either people or cargo. They have a trunk but you can only fit a sandwich in it. The cockpit is very tight indeed. The Solstice coupe is even worse. You have to be a contortionist to get in, and if you need headroom, you're out of luck.

The few tiny people I have talked to think they drive great and the turbo model has plenty of power. I liked the Sky better than the Pontiac version.

sda · November 2016

I like the Sky and Solstice as well. I do remember reading that the top is somewhat difficult to put up and down and the tactile feel of shifting the manual transmission could use improvement. There is a black Sky that travels up and down our are roads, generally with top down. Fun.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2016

qbrozen said:

kyfdx said:

I like this for under $10K
(pretty sure it's a 2005 1/2 model)

http://www.autosruslex.com/2005_Audi_S4_Lexington_KY_5778480.veh

And your closest Audi dealer will like it, too!

You'll even get a coffee cup in the break room with your name on it!

nyccarguy · November 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:

qbrozen said:

kyfdx said:

I like this for under $10K
(pretty sure it's a 2005 1/2 model)

http://www.autosruslex.com/2005_Audi_S4_Lexington_KY_5778480.veh

And your closest Audi dealer will like it, too!

You'll even get a coffee cup in the break room with your name on it!

They'll name the customer lounge after him!

Mr_Shiftright · November 2016

Aw....a little brass plaque perhaps? "In appreciation of your years of support".

kyfdx · November 2016

I have a good independent that I found when I bought the A3 TDI.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2016

That'll help but it'll still be painful. The TDI is way easier to work on.

kyfdx · November 2016

Chance of me actually buying it? 2%

It helps that it's 80 miles from me.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2016

Lightweight. In California, we drive 100 miles for a good taco.

henryn · November 2016

Another reason to avoid California. Here in Houston, we have great (not good, great) tacos on most street corners.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2016

We don't even have street corners.

qbrozen · November 2016

My search for the right car can go as far as 200 miles, although I don't believe I have yet to drive more than 100 to actually get one.

And, for the record, we have driven 30 miles for a taco.

Michaell · November 2016

qbrozen said:
My search for the right car can go as far as 200 miles, although I don't believe I have yet to drive more than 100 to actually get one.

And, for the record, we have driven 30 miles for a taco.

How common are taco places in NJ, anyway?

30 miles takes you through 3 states, doesn't it?

Mr_Shiftright · November 2016

The problem is getting a pre-purchase inspection on a car that's 80 miles away. What a pain. Maybe not every car needs a PPI but an Audi S4 sure does.

kyfdx · November 2016

It's not the distance.. I've flown to Chicago and Baltimore to buy specific cars. (8 hour and 5 hour drive back).

But, I wouldn't do that just to look at one..

80 miles is four hours out of my day, round-trip. (including tire-kicking time)

qbrozen · November 2016

GOOD taco places are extremely rare. This is an authentic place in the slums of Trenton. $7 for a place of 3 heaping hand-shredded chicken tacos with a whole jalapeno on each one. We live very near the center of the state. 30 miles gets us to the border of Philly or to Staten Island or to Atlantic City (roughly). :b

graphicguy · November 2016

kyfdx said:
Chance of me actually buying it? 2%

It helps that it's 80 miles from me.

I'll give you a ride. Drop you off with your checkbook. I'll come back, leaving you there until you make a deal.

Michaell · November 2016

qbrozen said:
GOOD taco places are extremely rare. This is an authentic place in the slums of Trenton. $7 for a place of 3 heaping hand-shredded chicken tacos with a whole jalapeno on each one. We live very near the center of the state. 30 miles gets us to the border of Philly or to Staten Island or to Atlantic City (roughly). :b

I've spent a fair amount of time in NJ - my godparents lived in Moorsetown. Used to travel to Maple Shade for work, plus a few other trips over the years (Morristown, Princeton, etc.).

A very pretty state, once you get out of the Newark area.

tjc78 · November 2016

Worked in Moorestown for years, now stuck in the middle of no-where (well as much as that can be in NJ).

We drive about 60 miles for an amazing deli (Harold's in Edison), but not a taco!

@nyccarguy interesting story.

I'm liking the Elantra more than I ever thought. I've put about 170 miles on it and so far the trip computer is saying 32. I've never had anything get close to that kind of mileage. The Enclave doesn't break 17 and the Grand Marq stayed in the low 18s.

corvette · November 2016

The Murano got about 21 MPG on the trip to New Orleans and Houston. I was driving slightly over 80 when I could.

Michaell · November 2016

tjc78 said:
Worked in Moorestown for years, now stuck in the middle of no-where (well as much as that can be in NJ).

We drive about 60 miles for an amazing deli (Harold's in Edison), but not a taco!

@nyccarguy interesting story.

I'm liking the Elantra more than I ever thought. I've put about 170 miles on it and so far the trip computer is saying 32. I've never had anything get close to that kind of mileage. The Enclave doesn't break 17 and the Grand Marq stayed in the low 18s.

You work with the Jersey Devil in the forest? I used to spend a lot of time in Moorsetown, but now that my godparents are both gone, it's been years since I've been there.

I'm getting about 30 MPG with the Jetta, in mostly city driving. Still under 1500 miles on it after 12+ weeks.

If I keep enough miles off of it, I can take a road trip to CA without blowing through the mileage allowance (2200 mile round trip).

sda · November 2016

Michaell said:

tjc78 said:
Worked in Moorestown for years, now stuck in the middle of no-where (well as much as that can be in NJ).

We drive about 60 miles for an amazing deli (Harold's in Edison), but not a taco!

@nyccarguy interesting story.

I'm liking the Elantra more than I ever thought. I've put about 170 miles on it and so far the trip computer is saying 32. I've never had anything get close to that kind of mileage. The Enclave doesn't break 17 and the Grand Marq stayed in the low 18s.
You work with the Jersey Devil in the forest? I used to spend a lot of time in Moorsetown, but now that my godparents are both gone, it's been years since I've been there.

I'm getting about 30 MPG with the Jetta, in mostly city driving. Still under 1500 miles on it after 12+ weeks.

If I keep enough miles off of it, I can take a road trip to CA without blowing through the mileage allowance (2200 mile round trip).

I bet it will get 40+mpg without trying. That's a great engine/trans set up in that Jetta.

Michaell · November 2016

sda said:

Michaell said:

tjc78 said:
Worked in Moorestown for years, now stuck in the middle of no-where (well as much as that can be in NJ).

We drive about 60 miles for an amazing deli (Harold's in Edison), but not a taco!

@nyccarguy interesting story.

I'm liking the Elantra more than I ever thought. I've put about 170 miles on it and so far the trip computer is saying 32. I've never had anything get close to that kind of mileage. The Enclave doesn't break 17 and the Grand Marq stayed in the low 18s.
You work with the Jersey Devil in the forest? I used to spend a lot of time in Moorsetown, but now that my godparents are both gone, it's been years since I've been there.

I'm getting about 30 MPG with the Jetta, in mostly city driving. Still under 1500 miles on it after 12+ weeks.

If I keep enough miles off of it, I can take a road trip to CA without blowing through the mileage allowance (2200 mile round trip).
I bet it will get 40+mpg without trying. That's a great engine/trans set up in that Jetta.

I really enjoy it ... would love to take it on a road trip to see what kind of mileage I get.

The 184 torques are really nice, here at altitude. Actually more than my daughters MINI (177)

stickguy · November 2016

40 should be easy. the 2 Jettas in my family (both 1.8l AT) have pulled in the 38-39 range on a trip, without babying them. So the 1.4l should easily beat that.

I just took the Sonata on a trip from S. Jersey to central CT (near Hartford) last weekend. That finally put me over 14K miles, just after my 2 year anniversary last week. So I can either get a job with a long commute, or decide to circumnavigate the lower 48 (heck, through in a lap of Canada and a trip to see Wes up in Alaska) and still not burn off the remaining 22K miles I have to play with.

daughter will pass my by the end of the year with a couple more trips from NC on the Jetta. Next summer, she is working in Delaware and living home, so that will be about 90 miles/day for 10 weeks. Going to have her take the Sonata 1-2 days a week to spread out the miles and exercise!

xwesx · November 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:
Lightweight. In California, we drive 100 miles for a good taco.

Oh yeah? Well, in Alaska......

roadburner · November 2016

kyfdx said:
It's not the distance.. I've flown to Chicago and Baltimore to buy specific cars. (8 hour and 5 hour drive back).

But, I wouldn't do that just to look at one..

80 miles is four hours out of my day, round-trip. (including tire-kicking time)

I bought two BMWs and my Mazdaspeed in Cincinnati. My Club Sport was bought in Chicago. My M6 came from Memphis, TN and the '02 was a Lexington KY purchase.

henryn · November 2016

That’s another reason I will probably never lease a car. The idea of “saving up miles” so that I can take the car on a road trip, or a vacation, just does not appeal to me.

tifighter · November 2016

Fun adventure in the Kia last night. I got T-boned in an intersection by a guy in a E90 3-series who then fled the scene. Pretty good driver's rear side impact. No airbag deployment. Rear wheel bowing out. Looks expensive...

sda · November 2016

We learned the hard way last time we leased, and paid for it. Between moving from NC to SC and also my wife's office location changed, increased her commute considerably. On our 42 month lease we were allowed 42k. When we turned it in it had 64k. Ouch and lesson learned. Because we bought instead of leased another Honda, that's when we bought the '09 Civic EX, they discounted the price of the Civic enough to offset the mileage charge. It is indeed a pain 'saving up miles' and my wife is of the mind set, it is my car, I will drive as much as I want to.

Sandman6472 · November 2016

Getting close to 40 on the Golf and very pleased with that, a lot better than in the Tucson and the real reason I told the wife I was swapping out so early. Had the recall done a few weeks ago, same time as the battery replacement, and am seeing better mpg's. I did smell gasoline in the vehicle after picking it up from VW so think it had something to do with the fuel tank. Still waiting on Audi to let us know when the parts come in...as of a week ago Saturday, nothing in yet.
Weather finally broke so using the moonroof/sunroof daily to and from work. Much much better than using the a/c and think I'd love a convertible.
Have been driving a bunch of new vehicles lately, mostly Elantra's and Cruze's. Must admit, they really did a great job with the Cruze and we get the LT models right now, no LTZ's as of yet. Great seats, instrumentation and drive train. Hate to admit it but I'd actually consider one if I needed a new vehicle! Can't believe it but it's that good.

The Sandman

xwesx · November 2016

tifighter said:
Fun adventure in the Kia last night. I got T-boned in an intersection by a guy in a E90 3-series who then fled the scene. Pretty good driver's rear side impact. No airbag deployment. Rear wheel bowing out. Looks expensive...

Ouch! Hopefully you're okay (not mentioning it makes me think 'yes')? So, what are you getting next?!

nyccarguy · November 2016

tifighter said:
Fun adventure in the Kia last night. I got T-boned in an intersection by a guy in a E90 3-series who then fled the scene. Pretty good driver's rear side impact. No airbag deployment. Rear wheel bowing out. Looks expensive...

Ouch! Glad you are OK. The guy fled the scene in his car or on foot? Did they catch him? Pics please? Let us know if you are going to replace it with another Soul EV.

ab348 · November 2016

tifighter said:
Fun adventure in the Kia last night. I got T-boned in an intersection by a guy in a E90 3-series who then fled the scene. Pretty good driver's rear side impact. No airbag deployment. Rear wheel bowing out. Looks expensive...

Sorry to hear. Curse those damn BMW drivers! Those guys think they are better than the rest of us!

Wait, what?

tifighter · November 2016

The BMW was driveable, I guess, so they took off. I haven't heard anything about them being caught at this point. Given the car is only 6 mos old, I can't imagine it will be a total. So I guess I will have to suppress the CCBA urge for a bit longer.

Later, I did drive down the direction the car bolted towards and found plastic bits from their bumper cover and foglight parts etc on the road. But didn't see much more, unfortunately. Unreal.

I think the big question will be if the impact pierced into the battery pack, which is under the rear seat. I don't think it did, but the jury is still out.

Michaell · November 2016

henryn said:
That’s another reason I will probably never lease a car. The idea of “saving up miles” so that I can take the car on a road trip, or a vacation, just does not appeal to me.

This is my car - we also have the Outback (that is not leased) we usually use for road trips as a couple.

If I go to CA, it's usually by myself.

roadburner · November 2016

tifighter said:
Fun adventure in the Kia last night. I got T-boned in an intersection by a guy in a E90 3-series who then fled the scene. Pretty good driver's rear side impact. No airbag deployment. Rear wheel bowing out. Looks expensive...

Glad you are okay!

fintail · November 2016

Wow, at least it wasn't a driver's door impact. Glad there are no injuries. Stuff like this seems to be a good dashcam encouragement. And a BMW, say it aint so

tifighter said:
Fun adventure in the Kia last night. I got T-boned in an intersection by a guy in a E90 3-series who then fled the scene. Pretty good driver's rear side impact. No airbag deployment. Rear wheel bowing out. Looks expensive...

Sandman6472 · November 2016

Think I would try a lease. Have owned my Golf for 23 months as of the 12th and will hit 24K tomorrow, so doing about 1100 a month, give or take. So a 15K/year lease would've worked just fine but doubt they'd have given me a 3 year lease, probably a 2 year one and right now, not ready to really swap out into something else. A 0% lease with nothing down would work but those are few and far between. Doubt even the new Cruze could be done for that and I'd have no issue doing a lease on a LT or even LTZ model, none at all! But with leasing, seems best to continue doing it for a few rounds and then decide what one's needs will be. And since I'm liking the German experience so much, always having one under warranty is probably ideal I'd think.

The Sandman

corvette · November 2016

tifighter said:
Fun adventure in the Kia last night. I got T-boned in an intersection by a guy in a E90 3-series who then fled the scene. Pretty good driver's rear side impact. No airbag deployment. Rear wheel bowing out. Looks expensive...

Geez, that sucks. Hope you are OK!

Michaell · November 2016

sandman_6472 said:
Think I would try a lease. Have owned my Golf for 23 months as of the 12th and will hit 24K tomorrow, so doing about 1100 a month, give or take. So a 15K/year lease would've worked just fine but doubt they'd have given me a 3 year lease, probably a 2 year one and right now, not ready to really swap out into something else. A 0% lease with nothing down would work but those are few and far between. Doubt even the new Cruze could be done for that and I'd have no issue doing a lease on a LT or even LTZ model, none at all! But with leasing, seems best to continue doing it for a few rounds and then decide what one's needs will be. And since I'm liking the German experience so much, always having one under warranty is probably ideal I'd think.

The Sandman

Sandy, with my last two leases, I started each with only the first month's payment due at signing.

No such thing as a 0% lease - the lowest MF I've seen is .00001, which equates to .024%.

The current MF on the Golf is .00202, or about 4.85%, which is pretty high for a lease.

For the Cruze, the MF is .00085, or 2.04%.

You'll pay some amount of interest on a lease.

Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Comments

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles