Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

breld · August 2023

Finally got my youngest son a new car and the 2012 MDX has been officially retired after 155k faithful miles.

Unlike his older brother (and much of the buying population), he really keyed in on sedans, liking the sleeker style over an SUV. His mom insisted on AWD, so that narrowed the choices down considerably. We considered the Altima, Legacy and a Mazda3 before landing on a Kia K5. After testing all these options, he was clearly most enthusiastic about the Kia, and I couldn’t blame him. Handsome styling that you don’t see every day, the 1.6T engine, a traditional 8-speed auto and a nicely tuned suspension make it a very impressive vehicle for the price.

All our kids like and appreciate their vehicles, but my youngest is the only one who shows the kind of enthusiasm that could carry on our family ~~obsession~~ tradition.

au1994 · August 2023

Good looking ride!

qbrozen · August 2023

stickguy said:
Happy Bradd reveal day everyone!

say what? Is that like in gender reveal?

qbrozen · August 2023

Alright... who wants a maintenance bill shock?

Here is the tally on the Sprinter.
$129 tire rotation. Yeah, $129 labor to move 4 tires. My kid would take half that in a heartbeat.
$121 top off DEF. Cost me $25 and 10 mins when I did it myself.
$322 oil change. 12 qts of oil @$8 ea, rings, filter insert, solvent(?), and 0.8 hr labor
$11 to print the repair order (???)
$39 tax

I've rounded off, but total was $622 and change. Guess I'll be doing my own for now on after all.

We apparently did have other issues in need. Had a minor complaint that it gives us a battery warning after it sits for a few days. Repair order says something about a battery having excessive resistance and they had to "R&R systems battery." I also told him the list of service items in the car's menu, which included "particle filter." He had not idea what that was. Repair order was "particulate filter" which the menu definitely didn't say, unless they just didn't know how to spell it when programming the car's menu. But reading was "found the DPF fill level too high. performed manual DFP regeneration to bring levels to normal operation parameters." Of course, none of this was any charge.

corvette · August 2023

@breld - nice ride! I didn't realize the K5 offered AWD. Is this a 2024?

breld · August 2023

@corvette said:
@breld - nice ride! I didn't realize the K5 offered AWD. Is this a 2024?

Thanks! I actually hadn’t realized it was offered in AWD at first either. I think @Michaell reminded me.

It is a 2024 - they had a couple 2023s that had some better incentives, but not in the gray over red that my son became obsessed about. Who am I to argue with that!

28firefighter · August 2023

Cool car! Congrats!

28firefighter · August 2023

We had a base model Kia K5 when we were in Hawaii and even that was very very good - probably one of the best rentals I’ve ever had. Can’t go wrong!

kyfdx · August 2023

28firefighter said:
We had a base model Kia K5 when we were in Hawaii and even that was very very good - probably one of the best rentals I’ve ever had. Can’t go wrong!

Same.. 3 days in Oahu, last year.

ab348 · August 2023

I like that K5, especially that interior. I could see myself in that if I could get over my bias against H/K long-term durability given the many recalls and catastrophic failures they have had. It's a good-looking rig.

EDIT: I just looked at Kia Canada's website and no red interior is available here. If you go for the high-zoot GT top-line model you allegedly can get a brown interior, but all other models are black-only inside. The US website offers more choices there.

tjc78 · August 2023

Nice ride. I like those, can’t argue with the color combo either!! Congrats

nyccarguy · August 2023

@breld - congrats on the K5 for your son! Beautiful color combination!

roadburner · August 2023

28firefighter said:
Cool car! Congrats!

Ditto!

nyccarguy · August 2023

Drove to PA to pick up (no pun intended) this 2023 Tacoma SR V6 4WD Tacoma for my son. He’s going to be SHOCKED when he comes home from work and sees it!

roadburner · August 2023

nyccarguy said:
Drove to PA to pick up (no pun intended) this 2023 Tacoma SR V6 4WD Tacoma for my son. He’s going to be SHOCKED when he comes home from work and sees it!

Nice!

roadburner · August 2023

A local dealer put this on the lot yesterday- a 2016 SLK with 41k miles. My wife is in love:

sda · August 2023

nyccarguy said:
Drove to PA to pick up (no pun intended) this 2023 Tacoma SR V6 4WD Tacoma for my son. He’s going to be SHOCKED when he comes home from work and sees it!

Wow! Very nice.

tjc78 · August 2023

@nyccarguy
Excellent!! I’m sure he will be very happy!

@roadburner
Break out the check book!

roadburner · August 2023

On a more practical note, I did find this- a 2017 Wrangler Sahara Winter Edition:

roadburner · August 2023

tjc78 said:
@nyccarguy

Excellent!! I’m sure he will be very happy!

@roadburner

Break out the check book!

The M-B and the Jeep are at two different dealers, but they are asking $1,500 more for the Jeep- and it has over double the miles...

tjc78 · August 2023

I’m just about at a year of ownership with the Ram.

7600 miles. One service at $90, no other repairs needed.

I really have to say I do enjoy it. The ride is almost old fashioned Town Car, Park Avenue ish…. It’s extremely comfortable and way too fast for its size. Super quiet inside too.

Chrysler’s U connect system with wireless CarPlay works well with the occasional connection glitch that isn’t a huge deal. All other features work as designed.

Gas mileage sucks, but that’s to be expected with a 400HP old school V8 and a moron like me behind the wheel. I think I’m sitting at 15.6 average for the last few months.

All in all the only gripe I have is that I went light on options. I miss a moonroof and I’m not sure I want another ride without laser cruise. The upgraded Alpine stereo is good, but would want the top tier HK next time.

Depending on what we replace the XC with it will be taking us from NJ to FL and back in December.

roadburner · August 2023

A RAM would be my pick if I was going with a full-size truck. They are really nice.

oldfarmer50 · August 2023

breld said:
Finally got my youngest son a new car and the 2012 MDX has been officially retired after 155k faithful miles.

Unlike his older brother (and much of the buying population), he really keyed in on sedans, liking the sleeker style over an SUV. His mom insisted on AWD, so that narrowed the choices down considerably. We considered the Altima, Legacy and a Mazda3 before landing on a Kia K5. After testing all these options, he was clearly most enthusiastic about the Kia, and I couldn’t blame him. Handsome styling that you don’t see every day, the 1.6T engine, a traditional 8-speed auto and a nicely tuned suspension make it a very impressive vehicle for the price.

All our kids like and appreciate their vehicles, but my youngest is the only one who shows the kind of enthusiasm that could carry on our family ~~obsession~~ tradition.

That’s a very happy young man. I hope he’s not dreaming about all the things he wants to do with speed and picking up girls.😫

jmonroe1 · August 2023

oldfarmer50 said:

breld said:
Finally got my youngest son a new car and the 2012 MDX has been officially retired after 155k faithful miles.

Unlike his older brother (and much of the buying population), he really keyed in on sedans, liking the sleeker style over an SUV. His mom insisted on AWD, so that narrowed the choices down considerably. We considered the Altima, Legacy and a Mazda3 before landing on a Kia K5. After testing all these options, he was clearly most enthusiastic about the Kia, and I couldn’t blame him. Handsome styling that you don’t see every day, the 1.6T engine, a traditional 8-speed auto and a nicely tuned suspension make it a very impressive vehicle for the price.

All our kids like and appreciate their vehicles, but my youngest is the only one who shows the kind of enthusiasm that could carry on our family ~~obsession~~ tradition.

That’s a very happy young man. I hope he’s not dreaming about all the things he wants to do with speed and picking up girls.😫

————————————————
Well, based on the smile he has, I’d say he’s already in high gear on those thoughts.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50 · August 2023

nyccarguy said:
Drove to PA to pick up (no pun intended) this 2023 Tacoma SR V6 4WD Tacoma for my son. He’s going to be SHOCKED when he comes home from work and sees it!

Is it new or slightly used? I seem to remember you had a fondness for those trucks, are you planning on borrowing it from him?

jmonroe1 · August 2023

@nyccarguy, I’m sure he’ll be more than shocked and why not. All the best of luck with the new ride.

jmonroe

28firefighter · August 2023

Congrats @nyccarguy! I think you made a good move.

Michaell · August 2023

@nyccarguy - congrats on the new truck for your son! Was this a lease?

explorerx4 · August 2023

A good week for some of the kids!

qbrozen · August 2023

@nyccarguy said:
Drove to PA to pick up (no pun intended) this 2023 Tacoma SR V6 4WD Tacoma for my son. He’s going to be SHOCKED when he comes home from work and sees it!

Well someone went over budget

stickguy · August 2023

wow. you guys like your sons a lot more than I liked mine. He got a 145,000 mile hand me down Acura TL for HS/College, then when he graduated and got a real job I took it back and made him buy his own car!

OK, that was all true other than the not liking him part. He just had to live on a budget! which he did not continue to do on his own (he currently has an Audi S4).

stickguy · August 2023

took the wife to the Acura dealer today. Only because her car was in for an oil change ($59.99, OFL and inspection/fluid top up) walked the lot and showed her some Integras but did not drive anything. She did fall in love with a new RDX (same as hers) because they now have a very dark purple color (dark violet I think) that is her favorite (she is still made she had to give up the dark iris pearl Voyager, a similar very dark purple).

stickguy · August 2023

might have her ready to flip her car (the RDX). Were out driving home and got stopped next to a 1 series BMW convertible. Pointed it out and said one of those, or a mini convertible, would be a good fit since she could get in and out without flopping onto the road, and fit once in. She agreed about both.

her concern was that I would sell "her" car and not let her drive either of the remaining ones. So I told her that she could drove either one whenever she felt like. And will have her take the Maverick out for a joyride tomorrow to get a feel for it.

Sandman6472 · August 2023

Drove a K5 at work today, they asked me to work due to poor vacation scheduling. Was happy to do it though. Only worked from 9 to 3 but we were quite busy!

tjc78 · August 2023

@stickguy
I fear trading in that RDX will only lead to tears….

stickguy · August 2023

tjc78 said:
@stickguy

I fear trading in that RDX will only lead to tears….

Never look back!

we were out today looking at new houses, and only have had this one for 1 year as of last week. The RDX is 3.5 years old already (does not seem at all that long) so basically, old news.

ab348 · August 2023

tjc78 said:
@stickguy

I fear trading in that RDX will only lead to tears….

Indeed.

stickguy · August 2023

not sure why it would. I guess it depends on exactly what replaces it. Need to take an open Saturday and go find a couple of options to look at. I assume the Mini and BMW dealers are together. Not too far from us (maybe 20 minutes).

nyccarguy · August 2023

OK guys, so as you all know, I’ve been searching far and wide for a nice decent quality used vehicle for my son who just got his license. I believe the best contender would have been that 2007 matrix, but as the old saying goes, I literally came up a day late. Most of what I found was cars with under 100,000 miles are priced at $12,000 and up, while most of what I saw that had between 120 and 150,000 miles was not worth the price. So yes, @qbrozen , I went over my budget. $1105 (includes broker fee) due at signing, plus $3150 in MSD, $350 a month for 36 months/10,000 miles per year. My name is Bradd and I am a Chronic Car Buyer.

sda · August 2023

Tell us more about the Tacoma, trim, equipment, etc. I bet your son can’t sleep tonite, dreaming of his new ride!

corvette · August 2023

That's a fair price to rent a Tacoma for three years... It may be that the residual value is less than fair market value when the lease is up, so you would then have the option of buying it cheaper than a similar used Tacoma.

oldfarmer50 · August 2023

stickguy said:
not sure why it would. I guess it depends on exactly what replaces it. Need to take an open Saturday and go find a couple of options to look at. I assume the Mini and BMW dealers are together. Not too far from us (maybe 20 minutes).

Keeler in Latham has both lines. A bunch of our drivers work over there.

oldfarmer50 · August 2023

corvette said:
That's a fair price to rent a Tacoma for three years... It may be that the residual value is less than fair market value when the lease is up, so you would then have the option of buying it cheaper than a similar used Tacoma.

A coworker just bought out his Acura lease and found out it was worth $8k more than his $19k residual.

stickguy · August 2023

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:
not sure why it would. I guess it depends on exactly what replaces it. Need to take an open Saturday and go find a couple of options to look at. I assume the Mini and BMW dealers are together. Not too far from us (maybe 20 minutes).
Keeler in Latham has both lines. A bunch of our drivers work over there.

I saw they were together. Not much inventory though but there are a couple floating around the area. Prices of course, are "ambitious" to put it politely.

Michaell · August 2023

OK, this member question might be a bit easier....

Used Murano?

oldfarmer50 · August 2023

stickguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:
not sure why it would. I guess it depends on exactly what replaces it. Need to take an open Saturday and go find a couple of options to look at. I assume the Mini and BMW dealers are together. Not too far from us (maybe 20 minutes).
Keeler in Latham has both lines. A bunch of our drivers work over there.
I saw they were together. Not much inventory though but there are a couple floating around the area. Prices of course, are "ambitious" to put it politely.

Bring a sandwich and negotiate.😂

nyccarguy · August 2023

@sda said:
Tell us more about the Tacoma, trim, equipment, etc. I bet your son can’t sleep tonite, dreaming of his new ride!

The Tacoma is a Black/Grey Cloth SR 4WD V6. It is the Double Cab (4 full doors) and has a 5’ Bed. The only option listed on the MSRP is the All Weather Rubber Floor Mats. I’ll have to take a look at the window sticker for a full list of the standard features. It has adaptive cruise control, Apple Car Play, dual zone automatic climate control, power windows, locks, & mirrors.

We told my son that we are going to split the cost of the car with him, so instead of laying out a few thousand dollars in cash each, we will be each be paying $175 per month. Adding the truck to our policy cost $750 for the year.

graphicguy · August 2023

laurasdada said:
I've bought us two robot vacuums, one of the best investments I've made. She's very particular and likes to keep a home looking like nobody actually lives there.
Me? Floors and gravity were invented for a reason...

I have two of them…one for upstairs, one for downstairs. Both a Roborock. They have sensors that “see” anything blocking their was (like shoes or cords). Both mop and vacuum and do a good job at both. Pricey, but I don’t futz with any of that anymore. They even empty themselves out. Which is for me, my simple laziness coming through.

graphicguy · August 2023

Congrats for your son Bradd.

@breld …nice. Congrats to your son, too. Looks eerily similar to my lamented and departed Stinger.

tjc78 · August 2023

@nyccarguy
Such a good option for you and your son. Safe, reliable and not a total wallet breaker.

Hey gang… what is everyone’s thoughts on the new Santa Fe? Did Hyundai go too far this time?

Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

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