Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

nyccarguy · December 2016

http://www.arnoldchevroletbuick.com/VehicleDetails/certified-2015-Buick-Regal-GS-West_Babylon-NY/2708414743

Same dealer also has this 2015 Regal GS AWD
Less than 3K miles
Red Metallic Paint
$27K GM CPO

kyfdx · December 2016

Dead battery today.. about 4 years since last replacement.

xwesx · December 2016

kyfdx said:
Dead battery today.. about 4 years since last replacement.

Bummer! Have you been doing a lot of short trips with it? It could just be slowly drained over time because it doesn't have enough time to adequately recharge. Modern vehicles have a lot of parasitic draw, so they can do a number on a battery if they sit way more than they go.

I just realized that the battery on my plow truck is twelve years old! April 2004.....

kyfdx · December 2016

xwesx said:

kyfdx said:
Dead battery today.. about 4 years since last replacement.
Bummer! Have you been doing a lot of short trips with it? It could just be slowly drained over time because it doesn't have enough time to adequately recharge. Modern vehicles have a lot of parasitic draw, so they can do a number on a battery if they sit way more than they go.

I just realized that the battery on my plow truck is twelve years old! April 2004.....

Nope, it's my daily driver. You know how you get that feeling, when it hiccups a few times? Went out this morning, and nothing but clicking.

I have this second car to drive, though. It's a diesel.

jeffb0101 · December 2016

I have always liked the Flex. It's was a great alternative to the 03-10 Explorer, which stayed around way too long.

Speaking of the XC90, I had the 2.5T. It was a great engine, and even with only 208 hp it moved without much effort.
Had it not had an electrical problem that Volvo was unable to diagnose, I would probably still have it instead of my relatively boring Accord.

stever · December 2016

Had to go to El Paso today, which is an hour down the Interstate. Took our friend's 2013 Cruze. Wished my wife liked it better since I enjoy driving it.

Did 80 part of the way and had no issues passing anyone or stoplight racing in heavy traffic in town. 138 hp. Weighs a bit over 3,000 pounds.

So tell me again why I need more hp?

stickguy · December 2016

Vette, the 2.9 was the old 6 that was in the original S80. Would not surprise me if it traced its lineage back to the old 900 series. Maybe even the 160s!

This is the newer 3.2l 6, also found in the newer S80s. I drove my SILs XC90 with it (actually, just like this one, though it have Navi too I think) and recall it being a nice engine. just a bit thirsty.

suydam · December 2016

stever said:
Had to go to El Paso today, which is an hour down the Interstate. Took our friend's 2013 Cruze. Wished my wife liked it better since I enjoy driving it.

Did 80 part of the way and had no issues passing anyone or stoplight racing in heavy traffic in town. 138 hp. Weighs a bit over 3,000 pounds.

So tell me again why I need more hp?

I think you'll be happy with either the Encore or the Soul, then!

jeffb0101 · December 2016

Yes, the XC90 had either the turbocharged 2.9 (around 268 hp IIRC), or the 2.5t with 208 until the 2007 refresh. The refresh replaced the 2.5t with the 3.2 na with around 230hp. The 4.4 V8 was offered until 2011 or so.

Sorry, I'm a Volvo lover full of useless information.

rny421 · December 2016

corvette said:

stickguy said:
This seems like a pretty good deal, for a budget family car, or a very useful 2nd car. Wonder if my wife would let me trade her RDX for a fancy MB sedan, then buy one like this for 2nd car? Of course, would have to let her drive the fun car, or would be hearing from a divorce attorney.

http://www.royaleasing.com/detail-2008-toyota-sienna-5dr_7~passenger_van_xle_fwd-used-15732265.html
It's pushing 10 years old.

XC90, white over beige is a good color combo (ask how I know!), but I really liked the spunkiness of the older 2.5T over the 2.9 I6 (I've never actually drive the 2.9 in the XC90, but my parents' S80 has it and it feels a little sluggish).

The 2.9 I6 in the first generation XC90 (the T6) was discontinued in 2005. In 2007, Volvo only offered the naturally aspirated 3.2L inline 6. It's pretty much unanimous that the 2.5 T5 was the engine to get, which I agree. My mom had the T5, and the 3.2L I6. The 3.2L felt slower, rougher, and had an extremely short first gear, which felt awkward to me. The T6 was a ticking time bomb with a transmission that was guaranteed to fail. The V8 was quick, but had some transmission issues, as well as weak bevel gears.

Speaking of, the first generation XC90 might be one of the longest running model runs without any significant changes (2003 - 2014).

henryn · December 2016

ab348 said:

henryn said:
I have been driving the Passat every day (free miles, and unbelievable fuel mileage), but Saturday evening I had a date so drove the truck (newer, nicer). We leave the restaurant, and my date says she's cold. I offer to turn on the heater, even though it didn't seem the least bit cold to me. She said, "Never mind, I'll just turn on the seat warmer. I love heated seats!"

I was admit to fess up that I was too cheap to ever buy a truck with heated seats when lo and behold she turned on the seat heater. Or turned on something. I'm still not sure what, and I'm still fairly certain that this truck does not have heated seats.
Maybe it's my weakened state (I've been fighting a cold or something for 10 days now and still feel crummy) but this just amused me to no end.

Hope the date went well.

Yes, thank you, the date did go well. Trying to get a second date, but this woman is unbelievably busy.

And, on the subject of "seat warmers" -- my truck does have heated seats! Which makes me very glad that I kept my mouth shut.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt -- Abraham Lincoln

tjc78 · December 2016

stickguy said:

tjc78 said:
What's the residual on the Sonata?
no clue actually. But more than I would pay for it. Not necessarily because it would be a bad deal (only because of the low miles) but by then, if I have to buy something anyway, why would I want to buy something I just had for 3 years?

My wife likes it though, and wouldn't mind. But she will live with something new.

my guess is the residual is around $18-19,000 at least, but would have to dig out the paperwork to know for sure.

Yeah, that's too high, if you really still wanted a Sonata may as well just lease another one. I don't even know what I was thinking..I know I'd never buy one of my leased cars at the end

qbrozen · December 2016

stickguy said:

Q, just curious. I know you been there, done that, but for the miles and $$ (both on the low side), would one of these work? At least you know they got great seats. And this is the newer 6 cyl model FWIW. actually, this would be on my list too! http://www.royaleasing.com/detail-2009-volvo-xc90-awd_4dr_i6_w_slash_sunroof_slash_3rd_row-used-15768830.html

I am not a fan of the 3.2 in our LR2. It is quick off the line but that is it. Passing power is pretty dismal and it most definitely drinks a lot (averages 18mpg).

houdini1 · December 2016

xwesx said:

jeffb0101 said:
Ford still makes the Flex. When I looked at their site a minute ago, the first picture was the 2017 Flex.
Interesting! Two years ago, I read an announcement that they discontinued it, and last spring when I was looking at the 2015 model, they didn't have a 16 listed on their site. I wonder when they decided to reverse that decision? Perhaps they decided to float it a while longer since they had so much invested in the tooling. Their sales numbers pretty much flatlined at about 20,000 units a year, which is *nothing* for a Ford vehicle.

Ford's Lowest production vehicle

I'm thrilled to know that, actually. No need to rush to buy one at this point. I can still get an off-lease two-year-old unit years from now!

My son has had a Flex as a company vehicle for the last 2 years. He loves the thing, says it is great road vehicle. I have ridden it it a few times and it is shocking has nice it rides. He picked it over a Taurus, which he had before. Also great for his personal use, as he has 3 teen sons. AWD too.

His personal car is a Mercedes (CL I think) and he has owned Porsche's, Corvettes, etc. in the past, and is fairly knowledgeable about cars. His 3 teen sons could care less about cars.

Mr_Shiftright · December 2016

stever said:
Had to go to El Paso today, which is an hour down the Interstate. Took our friend's 2013 Cruze. Wished my wife liked it better since I enjoy driving it.

Did 80 part of the way and had no issues passing anyone or stoplight racing in heavy traffic in town. 138 hp. Weighs a bit over 3,000 pounds.

So tell me again why I need more hp?

You need to spend another $3,000 for a cold air intake, cat-back exhaust, MSD coil and wires and a throttle body spacer---then you'll have 148 HP

stever · December 2016

Or spend $5 on some stickers.

Mr_Shiftright · December 2016

That'll work. Or some 20 HP racing stripes. The 20 HP only shows up on the dyno after a couple of beers however.

ab348 · December 2016

Yellow spark plug wires alone are worth at least 10 HP.

henryn · December 2016

Aren't yellow spark plug wires covered in the prohibition against religious talk here on these forums?

qbrozen · December 2016

Buying story in progress.

nyccarguy · December 2016

Hmm. What's @qbrozen going to punch the card with?

stever · December 2016

Something with plenty of HP and torque.

ab348 · December 2016

The suspense!!!

stickguy · December 2016

I guess at least 300 HP. Wrapped inside an Infinit.

henryn · December 2016

^^^ that would be my guess as well. Me, I'm hanging tough, waiting to actually get the money for my TDI.

qbrozen · December 2016

oh, well, not quite, stick. Its only 297hp. ;b

Went to check out this one.

So I had requested the truecar price on it, since they had it advertised there with "additional discount." The email I received showed $19,750 but with $499 doc fee and $595 prep fee. I thought about it. A couple of recent auction sales with similar miles have sold for $21.5k each. So, even with the $150 too high doc fee and ridiculous prep fee, that puts the true purchase price at $20,500, which is what I would peg for trade-in value. Still an incredible deal.

Went there, saw it sitting on the front line, looked it over. Wheels don't even have a mark on them. Couple of light scratches here and there. Nothing much. Went in, got a salesman, he got the key, and we went for a spin. Car was nice and tight and quiet. Everything good.

to be continue...

stickguy · December 2016

does look nice and clean. Miles certainly are good. Would not be my first choice of colors, but that is the nature of shopping used cars. Gotta take em as they come.

Enjoy it (assuming this story ends up with it in your garage). And try to keep it long term. a good one to roll on up to 100K, so what, another 3-4 years? Will get your money's worth out of that.

qbrozen · December 2016

Went back inside. He commented about the tag on the car, which said Original price $30,995 and sale price $25,995. Yeah, OK. Figured I'd cut to the chase and save some time by showing him the truecar quote. He asked I forward the email to his work address, which I did. He does a bunch of clicking around on his computer through various forms. Wonders aloud how that could possibly be the price, and goes to talk to the man behind the curtain.

Comes back a little while later with a sheet. The bottom price on it is $25k and change. I see the $20,844 total price from truecar and a list of other fees. $995 spit shine, $995 for 90-day warranty, $595 prep fee, $499 doc fee, $150 DMV. He wanted to talk for a while, so I let him finish before I took the paper, circled the doc and prep and drew an arrow to the $20,844 and explained those are included in that price. I then crossed out the spit shine and said "not interested" and crossed out the warranty and said "not interested." He said, "oh, well, that's already on the car so we can't take that off." I thanked him for his time and reached out to shake his hand. He would not take my hand and asked me to hold on. He pulled up the email I sent and asked me to show him the fees, so I pointed them out. He asked if I'd wait a few more mins for him to go explain all this. Fine.

Little more time passes, he comes back and asks if I'd be interested in the spit shine for $500. "No." So he sits down and crosses out all the other stuff and says "Ok, so we have a deal at the $20,844 with nothing else?" I told him yes. He tells me the GM isn't happy about it and doesn't understand how the other partner or whatever he is put it online for so little, but he'll do it to make me happy. Yeah, Ok.

Thing is, the deal isn't officially done. They only had 1 finance person working today, a Saturday, so he asked if I'd take the car home and come back Monday to sign the paperwork. Sure. So we'll see what happens. Hopefully they honor the deal. If not, I got a nice loaner for a couple of days.

suydam · December 2016

Sure hope it works and you get what you want! Keep us posted.
Meanwhile we test drove a new Chevy Cruze Premier this afternoon. It's a very nice car but they have gone the route of adding options even to the Premier level, so that to get what I think should be in a Premier Vehicle, it stickers at almost 30k! It is definitely not worth $7 grand more than the Mazda 3 we looked at. And they aren't taking much off them. So the Chevy Cruze has been ruled off our list. The Volt is looking better and better, although we are a little nervous about dealing with new tech. And rear visibility isn't great. Drives beautifully though. We took it up some winding hills and were very impressed with the "Mountain Mode" in terms of power available. Right now they are offering a lease price that's almost the same as the lease offer on the Mazda. Stay tuned.

houdini1 · December 2016

That thing looks brand new. Sweet. Good luck and congrats !!

stickguy · December 2016

Q, interesting. I would be more worried about it if they still had the car, and you just had some paper. But, sounds like you must have something signed, to be sitting with the car. And since you are, you have a whole lot more control! Go back to sign the papers, but take the Jetta, so they can't have it back even if they want it.

stevedebi · December 2016

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:
Hey @stevedebi! Congrats on the punch & welcome to the Subaru owner's club here on CCBA (me, @Michaell, & @tyguy). If you have any questions about the car, ask away. I've got 2 + years & over 41K miles under my Legacy belt. What model did you get? What motor?
Outback 3.6R Limited for us, with Eyesight. About 17,000 miles in 21 months, and the wife loves it. She and my step-daughter alternate driving responsibilities (they work at the same place), which helps keep the miles off.

We've been seeing 20-22 MPG around town, and on the one road trip we took to Sedona, AZ, we saw almost 28 for the 2000 mile trip. Phenomenal range - 450 miles, easy, on the highway.

Just did a trip to Albuquerque - 1800 miles. Averaged just under 30, but I was doing 80 MPH most of the way. The wife is managing exactly 30 on her daily trip, but that maxes out at around 65 MPH on LA freeways.

qbrozen · December 2016

Only thing I had to sign was a paper stating I'd return the car if they could not obtain financing.

Michaell · December 2016

My sister finally got a car for her middle son today.

Woke up this morning to a flurry of texts from her - she'd found an '06 Civic coupe and an '05 Altima V6. Could I look into those for her?

Sure, sis. Happy to help. Q gives me some prices over on RWTIV, but I didn't check the forum until tonight.

In the meantime, I get a text from her saying the dealer they're at the dealer (some local place in Escondido; I'm sure @andres3 knows about it), and they just took in an '06 Mazda 3i with 127,000 miles. Dealer was asking $6K, but they knocked it down to $5K as my sister was paying cash.

And, the dealer beat the CarMax quote on their Navigator by $500 ($2500 total). She left both the Navigator and the 3 at the dealer - the 3 is getting detailed (previous owner had dogs and there is a lot of fur on the black cloth seats) and they'll pick it up Monday.

Grey exterior. 2.0L engine with an automatic. Looks sharp in the pre-detail pictures she sent.

Everyone is happy. Oh, and now my sister has them looking for 2008-2010 Lexus RX350 for her. If that happens, her family fleet will be:

G37 coupe (BIL)
RX350 (sister)
GTI (son #1)
Mazda 3i (son #2)

akangl · December 2016

All this talk of new cars has me eyeing my Explorer.....I do get x-plan pricing......maybe a new something should be in my driveway.....nah, can't do that. I do have to say at 63k miles the Explorer has been the most trouble free car I've ever owned. I still get the "want for a new car" sometimes but overall the Explorer is serving me well. Now if I could just get my hands on hubby's Fusion sometimes.....

sda · December 2016

qbrozen said:
Went back inside. He commented about the tag on the car, which said Original price $30,995 and sale price $25,995. Yeah, OK. Figured I'd cut to the chase and save some time by showing him the truecar quote. He asked I forward the email to his work address, which I did. He does a bunch of clicking around on his computer through various forms. Wonders aloud how that could possibly be the price, and goes to talk to the man behind the curtain.

Comes back a little while later with a sheet. The bottom price on it is $25k and change. I see the $20,844 total price from truecar and a list of other fees. $995 spit shine, $995 for 90-day warranty, $595 prep fee, $499 doc fee, $150 DMV. He wanted to talk for a while, so I let him finish before I took the paper, circled the doc and prep and drew an arrow to the $20,844 and explained those are included in that price. I then crossed out the spit shine and said "not interested" and crossed out the warranty and said "not interested." He said, "oh, well, that's already on the car so we can't take that off." I thanked him for his time and reached out to shake his hand. He would not take my hand and asked me to hold on. He pulled up the email I sent and asked me to show him the fees, so I pointed them out. He asked if I'd wait a few more mins for him to go explain all this. Fine.

Little more time passes, he comes back and asks if I'd be interested in the spit shine for $500. "No." So he sits down and crosses out all the other stuff and says "Ok, so we have a deal at the $20,844 with nothing else?" I told him yes. He tells me the GM isn't happy about it and doesn't understand how the other partner or whatever he is put it online for so little, but he'll do it to make me happy. Yeah, Ok.

Thing is, the deal isn't officially done. They only had 1 finance person working today, a Saturday, so he asked if I'd take the car home and come back Monday to sign the paperwork. Sure. So we'll see what happens. Hopefully they honor the deal. If not, I got a nice loaner for a couple of days.

Looks nice. By having it over the weekend it really gives you the opportunity to check it out, and perhaps return it if necessary. And I hate the pricing game you went thru.

qbrozen · December 2016

This is the 3rd Hyundai dealer I have been to, and every one of them has played games. I wonder why that is.

breld · December 2016

Yeah - really makes you wonder on the decision to roll out the Genesis brand before creating a separate dealer network.

On the EX35, congrats (pending finalizing tomorrow)! My favorite cliche, but very accurate here - lots of car for the money! Compact luxury brand SUV with a great engine - what's not to like?

ab348 · December 2016

qbrozen said:
This is the 3rd Hyundai dealer I have been to, and every one of them has played games. I wonder why that is.

Our local Hyundai dealer is the exact same. Maybe it has to do with their origins in N.A. as a low-price brand and they think this stuff works for buyers at that end of the market?

corvette · December 2016

qb, you must really want that car to put up with those kind of games!

stever · December 2016

The Hyundai shop here is a one price dealer and the same store does Honda, Mazda Ford and Lincoln. They have a good rep but their prices are high.

Not sure about the Kia dealer now. They were okay before they changed hands although their sister shops had poor reps.

Mr_Shiftright · December 2016

Now here's a German hand grenade with a loose pin if I ever saw one. I may go take a look at it though, as it's close by.

https://www.kovacsmotors.com/vehicle-details/used-2004-audi-s4-WAUPL68E04A213276

These put out...what?....350 HP or so?

28firefighter · December 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:

Now here's a German hand grenade with a loose pin if I ever saw one. I may go take a look at it though, as it's close by. https://www.kovacsmotors.com/vehicle-details/used-2004-audi-s4-WAUPL68E04A213276 These put out...what?....350 HP or so?

It'd be a lot of fun. You know right until the end...

qbrozen · December 2016

corvette said:

qb, you must really want that car to put up with those kind of games!

As long as they come around to being reasonable quickly, I don't mind too much. Besides, if I wrote off every dealer who played games, I'd have very very few dealers to shop at, and that is no way for a CCBA'er to live!

Mr_Shiftright · December 2016

Yeah, I know, I can picture myself over at Hi-Tec Automotive in San Rafael, with Deven looking down at the engine and saying in his laconic style: "Huh....this doesn't sound good...."

kyfdx · December 2016

The next model, starting with 2005.5, has 340 hp, out of virtually the same powerplant, so it's close to that.

kyfdx · December 2016

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

We drove by to put an eyeball on this one. They were closed that day, though (Thanksgiving). It's actually a 2005.5 model ( next generation).

tjc78 · December 2016

qbrozen said:

corvette said:

qb, you must really want that car to put up with those kind of games!

As long as they come around to being reasonable quickly, I don't mind too much. Besides, if I wrote off every dealer who played games, I'd have very very few dealers to shop at, and that is no way for a CCBA'er to live!

Yeah, they all do it to an extent. When I leased the Elantra from first pencil they were "no haggle" that lasted right until I was ready to leave and we started talking. In a few minutes they met my number and all was easy from there.

roadburner · December 2016

qbrozen said:
This is the 3rd Hyundai dealer I have been to, and every one of them has played games. I wonder why that is.

I went to look at the Genesis Coupe soon after it was released. Got the whole "What can I do to put ya in this car today?" spiel...

Mr_Shiftright · December 2016

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

We drove by to put an eyeball on this one. They were closed that day, though (Thanksgiving). It's actually a 2005.5 model ( next generation).

I kinda prefer the older style body in this case. I find the front end of the 2005.5 a tad...(sniffing slightly while drinking a dainty coffee with pinky raised).....vulgar.

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