Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

nyccarguy · October 2020

28firefighter said:
Today’s CL find. Particularly good if you’re into tax fraud...

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/d/seattle-2008-infiniti-g37-6-speed/7210159397.html

Maybe the guy is a CPA and he’s offering his services to whomever purchases the car.

sda · October 2020

The 7 year itch got me. At 99930 miles the 2013 Accord has been replaced. I have a punch! It’s a sedan, same size as the Accord, 2018 CPO, 18400 mi. Any guesses?

cdnpinhead · October 2020

nyccarguy said:
Maybe the guy is a CPA and he’s offering his services to whomever purchases the car.

I'm a fan of anyone who actually knows how to apply proper grammar, especially these days on these platforms. Well done.

stickguy · October 2020

sda said:
The 7 year itch got me. At 99930 miles the 2013 Accord has been replaced. I have a punch! It’s a sedan, same size as the Accord, 2018 CPO, 18400 mi. Any guesses?

Optima or Sonata

nyccarguy · October 2020

sda said:
The 7 year itch got me. At 99930 miles the 2013 Accord has been replaced. I have a punch! It’s a sedan, same size as the Accord, 2018 CPO, 18400 mi. Any guesses?

Acura TLX

28firefighter · October 2020

nyccarguy said:

sda said:
The 7 year itch got me. At 99930 miles the 2013 Accord has been replaced. I have a punch! It’s a sedan, same size as the Accord, 2018 CPO, 18400 mi. Any guesses?
Acura TLX

+1

Michaell · October 2020

28firefighter said:

nyccarguy said:

sda said:
The 7 year itch got me. At 99930 miles the 2013 Accord has been replaced. I have a punch! It’s a sedan, same size as the Accord, 2018 CPO, 18400 mi. Any guesses?
Acura TLX
+1

Keeping it in the family, either an Accord or an A4

qbrozen · October 2020

sda said:
The 7 year itch got me. At 99930 miles the 2013 Accord has been replaced. I have a punch! It’s a sedan, same size as the Accord, 2018 CPO, 18400 mi. Any guesses?

A 2018 Accord. Same size as an Accord, right?

roadburner · October 2020

The M2 isn't a player, it has an oversized aftermarket CF decklid spoiler and a sketchy aftermarket exhaust.

ab348 · October 2020

sda said:
The 7 year itch got me. At 99930 miles the 2013 Accord has been replaced. I have a punch! It’s a sedan, same size as the Accord, 2018 CPO, 18400 mi. Any guesses?

Since you haven't updated your signature line, we don't know. :laughing:

sda · October 2020

This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.

oldfarmer50 · October 2020

tjc78 said:
Yeah and Ford with their plastic intakes on the 4.6. Funny how every make has something that has really hurt their reliability.

Not just domestics either. I was watching Wheeler Dealers yesterday and the 2005 Porsche they were doing had plastic pipes in the intake somewhere that the guy noted were likely to fail. Metal ones were available but Porsche just cheaped out.

nyccarguy · October 2020

sda said:
This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.

Congrats! I'm looking forward to hearing your initial impressions as well as your ownership experiences.

oldfarmer50 · October 2020

28firefighter said:
Today’s CL find. Particularly good if you’re into tax fraud...

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/d/seattle-2008-infiniti-g37-6-speed/7210159397.html

How’s he going to help with taxes? Is he going to do your returns?

I know around here we have to file a sales tax declaration stating the purchase price so tax can be paid upon registration. Some sellers will sign a blank form letting the buyer’s conscience fill in the price.

Stating in an ad that he’s willing to “help” with taxes is inviting a whole lot of misery.

stickguy · October 2020

sda said:
This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.

congrats. So that must have been only around $10K sales price? That is absurdly cheap. I would have bought that on the spot right now for that price. And sounds like it was even at a VW dealer? Unless it has a salvage title, IMO you got a steal.

Nice cars too. I had one as a loaner when the Jetta was in for service, and rented one in NC once, and they are nice driving cars with a ton of room inside. Gets pretty good mileage too.

kyfdx · October 2020

sda said:
This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.

Congrats!

sda · October 2020

stickguy said:

sda said:
This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.
congrats. So that must have been only around $10K sales price? That is absurdly cheap. I would have bought that on the spot right now for that price. And sounds like it was even at a VW dealer? Unless it has a salvage title, IMO you got a steal.

Nice cars too. I had one as a loaner when the Jetta was in for service, and rented one in NC once, and they are nice driving cars with a ton of room inside. Gets pretty good mileage too.

Sorry, I wasn’t clear, that was the otd difference after trading the Accord. The $11k included taxes, doc fee, lic transfer. It was at a very nice VW dealer.

Michaell · October 2020

@sda - congrats on the punch! I, too, had a Passat once as a loaner, and found it to be a great vehicle. Just enough power (wife even commented on it), good tech, and tons of space.

You should be very happy with it.

Pictures, please?

graphicguy · October 2020

@sda ....BIG CONGRATS. I like the Passat. Yet, we don’t hear much about them.

roadburner · October 2020

sda said:
This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.

Nice!

roadburner · October 2020

I picked up a copy of Motor Trend yesterday. There were a couple of interesting group tests- one on hi-po SUVs and the other on hot hatches at different price points. Spoiler Alert: The Cayenne Turbo Coupe was 1st, followed by the X6 M. The Type R was the top hot hatch and a CLA(?) was second.

Jack Baruth has blogged at length about the ineptitude of many auto journalists, and one of the Motor Trend long-term test writers lives up(down?) to Baruth's opinion. He's currently driving a 228i Gran Coupe. Now, I'll be the first to admit that the 228i is at best an average car, and worse, it's a pathetic BMW. It's aimed directly at wearers- the nitwits who think "trailing throttle oversteer" is a band that used to open for Kansas. Here I actually think the writer likes it(that almost says it all). However, what I took issue with was his evaluation of the iDrive interface.

What does our "expert journo think? Well, he claims older iterations took hours to learn. True, in the case of the early versions, but patently false about the iDrive systems fitted to cars from around 2014-up. True, the first implementation of iDrive in the E65 7er was terrible- there was nothing at all intuitive about it. Still, while denying anything was wrong, Munich continually improved it to the point that it was one of, if not the best driver interface going. Most people I dealt with at the dealer picked up the basics in 30 minutes or less.

But for the sake of argument, let's assume that the average driver is as slow to catch on as our hapless writer. What he likes about the latest iDrive is the touchscreen- calling it "the most intuitive way to interact with the system." Would anyone like to explain how having to take your eyes off the road to find what icon to touch is superior to the iDrive controller and/or the voice recognition system? I guess the magazine assigns long-term test cars to writers who are the target market for the car that they are allegedly evaluating. If that's the case, Motor Trend hit it spot on.

tjc78 · October 2020

@sda Congrats!

Solid deal for sure!

28firefighter · October 2020

roadburner said:
I picked up a copy of Motor Trend yesterday. There were a couple of interesting group tests- one on hi-po SUVs and the other on hot hatches at different price points. Spoiler Alert: The Cayenne Turbo Coupe was 1st, followed by the X6 M. The Type R was the top hot hatch and a CLA(?) was second.

Jack Baruth has blogged at length about the ineptitude of many auto journalists, and one of the Motor Trend long-term test writers lives up(down?) to Baruth's opinion. He's currently driving a 228i Gran Coupe. Now, I'll be the first to admit that the 228i is at best an average car, and worse, it's a pathetic BMW. It's aimed directly at wearers- the nitwits who think "trailing throttle oversteer" is a band that used to open for Kansas. Here I actually think the writer likes it(that almost says it all). However, what I took issue with was his evaluation of the iDrive interface.

What does our "expert journo think? Well, he claims older iterations took hours to learn. True, in the case of the early versions, but patently false about the iDrive systems fitted to cars from around 2014-up. True, the first implementation of iDrive in the E65 7er was terrible- there was nothing at all intuitive about it. Still, while denying anything was wrong, Munich continually improved it to the point that it was one of, if not the best driver interface going. Most people I dealt with at the dealer picked up the basics in 30 minutes or less.

But for the sake of argument, let's assume that the average driver is as slow to catch on as our hapless writer. What he likes about the latest iDrive is the touchscreen- calling it "the most intuitive way to interact with the system." Would anyone like to explain how having to take your eyes off the road to find what icon to touch is superior to the iDrive controller and/or the voice recognition system? I guess the magazine assigns long-term test cars to writers who are the target market for the car that they are allegedly evaluating. If that's the case, Motor Trend hit it spot on.

So you enjoyed their writing, then?

qbrozen · October 2020

roadburner said:
He's currently driving a 228i Gran Coupe. Now, I'll be the first to admit that the 228i is at best an average car, and worse, it's a pathetic BMW. It's aimed directly at wearers- the nitwits who think "trailing throttle oversteer" is a band that used to open for Kansas.

Just so I’m clear: you are saying the 228 handles poorly, has lousy interior and comfort, and poor build quality compared to better BMWs?

mjfloyd1 · October 2020

Isn’t a 228 what Breld had? (I’d ad “briefly” but that goes without saying...)

kyfdx · October 2020

mjfloyd1 said:
Isn’t a 228 what Breld had? (I’d ad “briefly” but that goes without saying...)

He had a coupe, not a Gran Coupe.

Two different platforms. FWD vs. RWD

roadburner · October 2020

qbrozen said:

Just so I’m clear: you are saying the 228 handles poorly, has lousy interior and comfort, and poor build quality compared to better BMWs?

I think the handling is average for a FWD/FWD biased AWD car. The interior is so-so and the build quality is decent. But it's not much of a BMW; it's a calculated way to leverage the UKL platform to suck in some status-conscious rubes.

breld · October 2020

Yeah, the 2-series line is getting a bit confusing. It’s one thing to have different body variants (sedan, coupe, hatch, GT, etc.), but when the 228i and m235i gran coupe are on a FWD platform shared with a MINI, and the 230i (which used to be the 228i) and the m240i (which used to be the m235i) are on a RWD platform....confusing is an understatement.

But I agree with the overall assessment on the “new” Gran Coupe versions of the 2-series - they look very downscale and unattractive. And based on reviews, the driving experience doesn’t do anything to offset that.

28firefighter · October 2020

I’d remind everyone that the 228 @breld had is of the same generation/era as the M235 that @roadburner currently has. Very different from the current four door two series which seems closer to the FWD based X1/X2 than anything else

Michaell · October 2020

Salvage or no? Member needs advice:

https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/63444/acura/tl/salvage#latest

mjfloyd1 · October 2020

kyfdx said:

mjfloyd1 said:
Isn’t a 228 what Breld had? (I’d ad “briefly” but that goes without saying...)
He had a coupe, not a Gran Coupe.

Two different platforms. FWD vs. RWD

That makes sense.

I know nothing about current BMWs

roadburner · October 2020

28firefighter said:
I’d remind everyone that the 228 @breld had is of the same generation/era as the M235 that @roadburner currently has. Very different from the current four door two series which seems closer to the FWD based X1/X2 than anything else

I actually like the UKL based X1 and X2- I drove some for long jaunts on dealer trades; the 2 Series GC just doesn't impress.

xwesx · October 2020

sda said:
This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.

Yeah, so you did get an A4! Under a different nameplate.

I had a 2013 Passat SEL TDI for a short while... It was marvelous; I legitimately miss that car. I was sad last fall when I learned that it had finally made it out of TDI Purgatory and gone on to another owner.

qbrozen · October 2020

Well our X2 is certainly built well with very high quality materials. Easily excels in the luxo car dept. Not in the sports dept, but we obviously didn’t get it for that.

nyccarguy · October 2020

xwesx said:

sda said:
This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.
Yeah, so you did get an A4! Under a different nameplate.

I had a 2013 Passat SEL TDI for a short while... It was marvelous; I legitimately miss that car. I was sad last fall when I learned that it had finally made it out of TDI Purgatory and gone on to another owner.

I took a lengthy test drive and seriously considered a 2015 Passat TDI before I bought my Legacy. If I knew I was going to end up putting snow tires on the Legacy, I’d have probably gone with the VW.

corvette · October 2020

nyccarguy said:

xwesx said:

sda said:
This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.
Yeah, so you did get an A4! Under a different nameplate.

I had a 2013 Passat SEL TDI for a short while... It was marvelous; I legitimately miss that car. I was sad last fall when I learned that it had finally made it out of TDI Purgatory and gone on to another owner.
I took a lengthy test drive and seriously considered a 2015 Passat TDI before I bought my Legacy. If I knew I was going to end up putting snow tires on the Legacy, I’d have probably gone with the VW.

And you could have cashed in on that sweet TDI arbitrage... I still kick myself for only buying one instead of a handful of them.

xwesx · October 2020

nyccarguy said:

Why do wheel bearings seem to be such a common failure point with Subarus? I had the right rear wheel bearing replaced on my 2015 Legacy before it hit 50K miles?

I don't know. I've heard a lot about wheel bearing failures on Subaru, but this is the first I've ever experienced. Somewhat ironic considering I have had six of them, and this is the lowest mileage example of them all. Even still, the car is nearing 98,000 miles.

The project itself is nowhere near 15-20 minutes! I think that estimate is crack-pipe territory! I would say that, if it was a new install, maybe you could hit that. However, in the real world, this job is likely closer to two hours... per side!

xwesx · October 2020

I started the project last night at around 1830 (about an hour of workable light left to me) and hoped/expected to get it wrapped up then. Not to be... and still not done!

So, I lifted the car and put it on jack stands. I checked for looseness in the bearing before pulling the tires, and the passenger side was wickedly bad! Driver side did not have much movement. I then pulled both tires, brake calipers, and disc/drums. At this point, things started getting tricky....

Sandman6472 · October 2020

Congrats on the Passat, they are really very nice vehicles. And to have such a long warranty is really great. Even though my Golf has been a bit "problematic", I'd have no issue getting another VW next time. And will probably go with a new generation GTI in a couple of year if my plan works out like I hope. Going into the mechanic Monday morning to fix a couple of issues and hopefully it'll behave for the next couple of years. With the low miles I drive now, think this is very possible to be honest.
Enjoy the Passat and may it give you no issues at all!

xwesx · October 2020

In theory, once you pull the four bolts that hold the wheel hub and bearing against the spindle, it should just pull (without too much struggle) out. However.... if it is bound in there due to (most likely) rust or some sort of damage, then trying to get it out while the brake shoes and hardware are in there is just not going to happen. Which, of course, mine was (and very well, at that).

So, all that stuff comes out, too. And, I had to make I took some photos... otherwise, I was not going get it back in there!

Once the brake parts were out, I found that the large backing plate in the image above was not bolted on, but instead was sandwiched between the hub assembly and the spindle. So, hub comes off, THEN the backing plate can come off. After taking a break to do some searching for "what happens when things don't go as planned," I was confident that the old tried and true "just beat the living snot out of it" method was a potential winner (my other reasonable option was to remove the whole spindle from the suspension so that I could use the press hardware I bought last year for the Q7, but the amount of work that adds is substantial).

So, using a 2# sledge and some well-aimed blows (by some I mean like fifty per side), I finally beat the hubs loose enough to work them off the spindles.

xwesx · October 2020

At this point, though, it was after 2000 hrs and it was all-but-dark outside...

Success is success, though, so I sanded down the rust in the spindles, backing plates, and rotors, then called it a night.

xwesx · October 2020

I went back out there first thing this morning (it was about 30 degrees.

) to clean up the surfaces with some isopropyl alcohol, then added rust inhibitor to them. I managed to get one new hub on the car and just started putting the brake shoe components together on that side when I had to go into town. So, I'll hopefully wrap it up when I get home in a couple hours.

28firefighter · October 2020

Changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter in the zhp today. Quite literally the heavens opened up and lightening and thunder struck all around. Maybe I should have taken that as a sign and stopped...ah well, too late now!

xwesx · October 2020

28firefighter said:
Changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter in the zhp today. Quite literally the heavens opened up and lightening and thunder struck all around. Maybe I should have taken that as a sign and stopped...ah well, too late now!

Hey, done is done!

stickguy · October 2020

sda said:

stickguy said:

sda said:
This one surprised me too. A 2018 VW Passat SE Tech, Reflex Silver, black interior, very clean, fully serviced, 12 mo/12k added to 6/72 VWWarranty, which equates to 57 months and around 65k remaining. For $11k otd , no money out of pocket, I thought it to be a solid buy.
congrats. So that must have been only around $10K sales price? That is absurdly cheap. I would have bought that on the spot right now for that price. And sounds like it was even at a VW dealer? Unless it has a salvage title, IMO you got a steal.

Nice cars too. I had one as a loaner when the Jetta was in for service, and rented one in NC once, and they are nice driving cars with a ton of room inside. Gets pretty good mileage too.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear, that was the otd difference after trading the Accord. The $11k included taxes, doc fee, lic transfer. It was at a very nice VW dealer.

I told the story to the wife this afternoon (I was talking about cars, she might have been listening!) and it finally dawned on my you must have traded in the Accord as part of this deal

stickguy · October 2020

Wes, probably goes faster if you have a nice post lift and a full set of pneumatic air tools, and all the specialized equipment possible. Like the pros, or the fancy Youtubers, have!

corvette · October 2020

Exactly - it looks like JR is about to rent or buy a shop building.

xwesx · October 2020

stickguy said:
Wes, probably goes faster if you have a nice post lift and a full set of pneumatic air tools, and all the specialized equipment possible. Like the pros, or the fancy Youtubers, have!

This is my version of a lift and air tools.

xwesx · October 2020

Anyhow, it only took maybe an hour after I arrived home this afternoon. It all went back together without fanfare.

I noted already that I cleaned up the spindles and added some rust inhibitor....

Then, I put the hub bolts in, added the backing plate, and bolted the hub in place.

xwesx · October 2020

Once done there, I had to put the brake shoe assembly back together... that was probably the most complicated and time consuming, but maybe only about ten minutes each.

I then put the rotor and caliper back onto the assembly, put the tires on, and tested.... so much better! SOOOOOO much better....

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