Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

breld · September 2023

Based on our experience with the Polestar and Mach E, leasing is definitely the way to go with a new EV I’d say, with the exception of Tesla.

With lease incentives of $12.5k, plus $1,500 for Costco members, plus another $4,500 of dealer discount, we got to the desired 1% lease payment. Plus there’s a $5k tax rebate from Colorado that’ll come next tax season.

What changed with this refresh and rebrand of the e-tron to the “Q8 e-tron” was a significant increase in range to 285 miles. What didn’t change is that Audi/VW/Porsche still won’t implement a true one-pedal mode. You can modulate the speed pretty well at the max regen setting, but you’re not gonna come to complete stop. And the car is quick, but not by EV standards. For my driving, it’s certainly brisk enough.

What you get in exchange though is a high build quality and a very supple ride. And while the acceleration isn’t the push-you-in-the-back-of-the-seat type, it is very smooth and linear.

And aesthetically, I like the subtle approach to styling versus the other German competitors.

au1994 · September 2023

breld said:
I ran out of patience to get into my next EV. 2.5 years in the Polestar and I was ready for something different.

I went so far as to order an inventory Model Y at a great discount, but ended up changing my mind at the last minute. I continue to prefer the EV driving experience Tesla offers, but chose to go with a bit more (IMO) luxury feel.

Unlike my wife, I am very unoriginal when it comes to colors.

Thats one heck of a garage. That must be a record with the Polestar.

breld · September 2023

au1994 said:

breld said:
I ran out of patience to get into my next EV. 2.5 years in the Polestar and I was ready for something different.

I went so far as to order an inventory Model Y at a great discount, but ended up changing my mind at the last minute. I continue to prefer the EV driving experience Tesla offers, but chose to go with a bit more (IMO) luxury feel.

Unlike my wife, I am very unoriginal when it comes to colors.

Thats one heck of a garage. That must be a record with the Polestar.

Thank you. And yes, I’m not sure how far I have to go back to find the last 2+ year ownership experience.

qbrozen · September 2023

breld said:
I ran out of patience to get into my next EV. 2.5 years in the Polestar and I was ready for something different.

I went so far as to order an inventory Model Y at a great discount, but ended up changing my mind at the last minute. I continue to prefer the EV driving experience Tesla offers, but chose to go with a bit more (IMO) luxury feel.

Unlike my wife, I am very unoriginal when it comes to colors.

congrats. good thing, too. I don't know how you were getting by with only 2 SUVs.

28firefighter · September 2023

Congrats, @breld! I really like the white over brown color combo.

nyccarguy · September 2023

Way to go @breld! The Audi Etron vehicles are stunning. Congrats!

corvette · September 2023

au1994 said:
Jeez. Maybe its not too late for me to consider a career in education given those salaries.

The admin jobs pay super well, and at least here, so far as I know, qualify for a pension on the same very generous terms as a teacher (which is one of the few perks of working in the trenches as a teacher, those jobs don't pay nearly so well).

tjc78 · September 2023

Sweet ride Breld. Congrats.

corvette · September 2023

@breld - congrats on having the first two 2024 punches in our group! Great looking Audi. The interior is the same color scheme as my parents' Q5.

mjfloyd1 · September 2023

@nyccarguy said:
Thanks. We are trying. Unfortunately it isn't the only issue we are dealing with. We believe my daughter is also on the spectrum, again very high functioning. We enrolled her at a private Jewish day school in town with a lot of support and small class sizes. My wife has been hospitalized 2 separate times for a week in the last 4 weeks.

Wow @nyccarguy , your plate is full. Sounds like you are doing an excellent job navigating a difficult system and advocating for your children. I hope that your wife is doing well now.

mjfloyd1 · September 2023

@breld color me shocked that you have a new vehicle. Did another go bye bye?

I’m sure that EV is @driver100 approved😂

roadburner · September 2023

mjfloyd1 said:
@breld color me shocked that you have a new vehicle. Did another go bye bye?

I’m sure that EV is @driver100 approved😂

That's really low-hanging fruit...

ab348 · September 2023

28firefighter said:
Congrats, @breld! I really like the white over brown color combo.

Suddenly I’ve got a hankering for a peanut butter sandwich…. 😃

breld · September 2023

@ab348 said:
Suddenly I’ve got a hankering for a peanut butter sandwich…. 😃

Maybe a fluffernutter!

stickguy · September 2023

how did you get rid of the polestar, or is that just parked in the corner someplace until the lease term runs out?

nyccarguy · September 2023

roadburner said:
My favorite school administrator story is from my days as a judge. A principal charged a student’s parents with educational neglect because their kid was frequently absent. At trial it was shown that the absences were due to a chronic medical condition, but the on top of that the kid was on the all A honor roll. I told the principal that I wished more parents were as educationally neglectful.

In all fairness, most all of the school officials and teachers I worked with were top notch, but there are always a few that make you wonder.

My middle son, the hockey goalie is a freshman in High School this year. His 1st year of middle school (6th Grade) was a hybrid year and only 1/2 the kids were in school every other day. His 2nd year (7th Grade) was his 1st full year of middle school. The middle school we are districted for is also the same middle school that we had my older son transferred out of after 2 years because he was bullied. We had written many emails and spoken to this associate superintendent about not wanted our middle son to step foot in that particular school. About 1/2 way through 7th grade, my middle son couldn't take the fighting in the hallway, kids being disruptive during class, and just the general terrible attitude. He refused to go to school. He missed about 3 weeks. This is while my wife was sick with COVID and I couldn't miss work because my Dad had a broken ankle. We did all the right things. Called & spoke to the administrators and guidance counselors. Finally we got a meeting for the district to switch him to a different middle school. My wife said something in the meeting to the effect that we had previously spoken to this particular associate superintendent about the middle school and we didn't want our middle son going there because of what happened to my older son. This associate superintendent didn't like that my wife called her out and opened up a DCF investigation on us.

breld · September 2023

@nyccarguy - wow. Just wow.

oldfarmer50 · September 2023

breld said:
I ran out of patience to get into my next EV. 2.5 years in the Polestar and I was ready for something different.

I went so far as to order an inventory Model Y at a great discount, but ended up changing my mind at the last minute. I continue to prefer the EV driving experience Tesla offers, but chose to go with a bit more (IMO) luxury feel.

Unlike my wife, I am very unoriginal when it comes to colors.

Nice car. Is this a lease also?

oldfarmer50 · September 2023

nyccarguy said:

roadburner said:
My favorite school administrator story is from my days as a judge. A principal charged a student’s parents with educational neglect because their kid was frequently absent. At trial it was shown that the absences were due to a chronic medical condition, but the on top of that the kid was on the all A honor roll. I told the principal that I wished more parents were as educationally neglectful.

In all fairness, most all of the school officials and teachers I worked with were top notch, but there are always a few that make you wonder.

My middle son, the hockey goalie is a freshman in High School this year. His 1st year of middle school (6th Grade) was a hybrid year and only 1/2 the kids were in school every other day. His 2nd year (7th Grade) was his 1st full year of middle school. The middle school we are districted for is also the same middle school that we had my older son transferred out of after 2 years because he was bullied. We had written many emails and spoken to this associate superintendent about not wanted our middle son to step foot in that particular school. About 1/2 way through 7th grade, my middle son couldn't take the fighting in the hallway, kids being disruptive during class, and just the general terrible attitude. He refused to go to school. He missed about 3 weeks. This is while my wife was sick with COVID and I couldn't miss work because my Dad had a broken ankle. We did all the right things. Called & spoke to the administrators and guidance counselors. Finally we got a meeting for the district to switch him to a different middle school. My wife said something in the meeting to the effect that we had previously spoken to this particular associate superintendent about the middle school and we didn't want our middle son going there because of what happened to my older son. This associate superintendent didn't like that my wife called her out and opened up a DCF investigation on us.

Talk about abuse of power.

nyccarguy · September 2023

@roadburner said:
That's really low-hanging fruit...

What’s he driving these days? Does he still have the C-Class without the backup camera in FL & the E Class in Canada?

nyccarguy · September 2023

@breld said:
@nyccarguy - wow. Just wow.

I swear I can’t make this stuff up. The woman from DCF called my wife on a Friday afternoon and said she needed to speak to my wife and investigate our home in the next 1/2 hour, because it couldn’t wait for after the weekend because she is required to investigate within 72 hours of the complaint. At the time she called my wife was the PTO president and running an event at my daughter’s elementary school which she had to leave.

tjc78 · September 2023

My SIL had an argument with a nasty friend and they called on her for her kids. Same deal .. had to meet them at the house immediately.

Agent walked in saw a fully stocked, clean home, kids had no signs of abuse. They were out in 5 mins.

It’s about a low a blow as you can do to someone… messing with their kids.

breld · September 2023

@oldfarmer50 said:
Nice car. Is this a lease also?

Yup - it’s a lease.

[Deleted User] · September 2023

Michaell said:

au1994 said:

nyccarguy said:

breld said:
@nyccarguy - every situation is different of course, but many years ago my wife had to pursue legal action against the school district with regard to the programs available for her son. It’s no fun to have to do that, but the end result was the implementation of an entirely new program at his high school. My impression is the school/district will not act on their own, but it only had to get to a mitigation process with an attorney involved before they started responding.

Best of luck…it’s tough but you clearly have the best attitude.
Thanks. I'm trying. It isn't easy, believe me. From what you've told us, your wife's son needs a tremendous amount of care and services. I'm glad things worked out in their favor. One of the biggest hurdles we faced was getting my son diagnosed with ASD in the 1st place. He is on the extremely high functioning end of the spectrum. He is intelligent and articulate to the point that most adults can't tell that he is neuro-divergent. Even the school district tested him and "didn't find any abnormalities." We had to spend a significant amount of money to have my son tested privately, then take legal action to get them to accept the results. Many of the other school districts in our area will offer services and act on their own, but where we live is a large "city" school district where they deny services and don't tell you what your rights are or what services are available that you may or may not qualify for. That's why we have had to hire a legal team (attorney, paralegal, advocate). Truthfully it is sad. The amount of money I pay in taxes and the amount of assistant superintendents that make over $200K per year, the superintendent who makes over $400K per year, they should be on our side working with us. It is evident their goal is to push my son through to graduate high school, while we want him to graduate and be on a path to be successful in life.
Jeez. Maybe its not too late for me to consider a career in education given those salaries.
I think I live in the most dysfunctional school district in the country (look it up - there have been national media articles on "Douglas County Colorado School District").

When I moved here, the district was one of the top performing in the state, if not the country. People flocked here specifically because of the schools.

What happened? Politics. COVID. Infighting amongst the school board. Firing the superintendent without casue. Racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills and lawsuit settlements. Now, teachers are fleeing for other, better paying districts.

I'm glad my stepkids are long past attending schools here.

We're happy our three are out of there!!!

sda · September 2023

I was out this morning canvassing new car lots which I haven't done in weeks. The Honda dealer marked up an Accord EXL hybrid $4k but had a relatively small markup of $1k on the EX. I think this is a new shade of blue for Cadillac for 24. I like it on the CT4/5. For @fintail I saw this 2017. It has around 43k mi. The interior I think is the same color as yours but looks to need a better cleaning. I like the metallic

blue. It is at Cadillac of South Charlotte.

fintail · September 2023

2017 is the first model year for that style. Surprised the interior shows wear, maybe a neglected leather car. I have read in some groups that a few people are experiencing issues with the wood not aging well - I've never had a similar experience in a modern MB though, which makes me think either harsh sun or harsh cleaning.

On the Caddy note, my friend with the CT6 is really itching to get rid of it now - a lesson learned, don't let a spouse talk you into getting a car when the marriage fails 6 months later.

sda said:
I was out this morning canvassing new car lots which I haven't done in weeks. The Honda dealer marked up an Accord EXL hybrid $4k but had a relatively small markup of $1k on the EX. I think this is a new shade of blue for Cadillac for 24. I like it on the CT4/5. For @fintail I saw this 2017. It has around 47k miles. The interior I think is the same color as yours but looks well worn. I like the metallic
blue. It is at Cadillac of South Charlotte.

stickguy · September 2023

Don't let a spouse talk you into a car you don't want, even if you don't expect the marriage to end in 6 months!

ab348 · September 2023

Better advice would be not to get married to someone who will want out (or drive you out) in 6 months.

On the Caddy shown, I like the paint color. It reminds me of a '60s/early '70s shade. I might buy it. But man, did GM Design ever mess up the rear end styling on the CT4. That is just ugly. A shame, compared to what it replaced.

stickguy · September 2023

new one has a lot of bangle butt going on.

au1994 · September 2023

stickguy said:
new one has a lot of bangle butt going on.

Yeah, that dude should never be allowed near a CAD terminal again.

jmonroe1 · September 2023

oldfarmer50 said:

nyccarguy said:

roadburner said:
My favorite school administrator story is from my days as a judge. A principal charged a student’s parents with educational neglect because their kid was frequently absent. At trial it was shown that the absences were due to a chronic medical condition, but the on top of that the kid was on the all A honor roll. I told the principal that I wished more parents were as educationally neglectful.

In all fairness, most all of the school officials and teachers I worked with were top notch, but there are always a few that make you wonder.

My middle son, the hockey goalie is a freshman in High School this year. His 1st year of middle school (6th Grade) was a hybrid year and only 1/2 the kids were in school every other day. His 2nd year (7th Grade) was his 1st full year of middle school. The middle school we are districted for is also the same middle school that we had my older son transferred out of after 2 years because he was bullied. We had written many emails and spoken to this associate superintendent about not wanted our middle son to step foot in that particular school. About 1/2 way through 7th grade, my middle son couldn't take the fighting in the hallway, kids being disruptive during class, and just the general terrible attitude. He refused to go to school. He missed about 3 weeks. This is while my wife was sick with COVID and I couldn't miss work because my Dad had a broken ankle. We did all the right things. Called & spoke to the administrators and guidance counselors. Finally we got a meeting for the district to switch him to a different middle school. My wife said something in the meeting to the effect that we had previously spoken to this particular associate superintendent about the middle school and we didn't want our middle son going there because of what happened to my older son. This associate superintendent didn't like that my wife called her out and opened up a DCF investigation on us.
Talk about abuse of power.

————————————————
There should be a price to pay when you do that and until there is it won’t stop.

jmonroe

stickguy · September 2023

I would be so ticked off I would retaliate (especially after the kid was relocated). File formal complaint with the district (or whatever entity oversees her) to get it on her record and make her have to answer for it. And would seriously consider filing a lawsuit or a police complaint (whatever works!) accusing her of bad stuff (abuse of power, false statements, whatever I could come up with). Just dump so much crap on her trying to ruin her career that hopefully something works.

jmonroe1 · September 2023

stickguy said:
I would be so ticked off I would retaliate (especially after the kid was relocated). File formal complaint with the district (or whatever entity oversees her) to get it on her record and make her have to answer for it. And would seriously consider filing a lawsuit or a police complaint (whatever works!) accusing her of bad stuff (abuse of power, false statements, whatever I could come up with). Just dump so much crap on her trying to ruin her career that hopefully something works.

————————————————
I would too but that costs money and the last thing @nyccarguy needs now is another expense. But if he starts a Go Fund Me, I’m in and I’m sure I ain’t the only one in here who is.

jmonroe

stickguy · September 2023

filing complaints with the district, state regulatory board, that does not cost anything. Just have to be prepared for the "system" to circle the wagons and come after you. So yes, a lot easier to do after your kids are out of the school system.

jmonroe1 · September 2023

stickguy said:
filing complaints with the district, state regulatory board, that does not cost anything. Just have to be prepared for the "system" to circle the wagons and come after you. So yes, a lot easier to do after your kids are out of the school system.

————————————————
If that’s the case we’ll have to raise enough money to put his kids in private schools. Just have to open our wallets a little wider.

jmonroe

mjfloyd1 · September 2023

@breld - I’m glad you got the black optics package on the new Audi - I’ve swapped grilles and it is a PITA

jmonroe1 · September 2023

mjfloyd1 said:
Oops. Wrong thread

————————————————
If you made it all the way to September before screwing up that’s pretty good. I once made it to Thanksgiving. Thought I could finish another piece of pie but I couldn’t.

jmonroe

nyccarguy · September 2023

@stickguy said:
filing complaints with the district, state regulatory board, that does not cost anything. Just have to be prepared for the "system" to circle the wagons and come after you. So yes, a lot easier to do after your kids are out of the school system.

And that’s the whole problem. They have a lawyers on retainer. I don’t.

nyccarguy · September 2023

@sda - hybrids seem to be the only vehicles left that are being marked up. There is a broker on this hacker, who seems to always have EX non-hybrid accords at the discount.

imidazol97 · September 2023

nyccarguy said:

@stickguy said:

filing complaints with the district, state regulatory board, that does not cost anything. Just have to be prepared for the "system" to circle the wagons and come after you. So yes, a lot easier to do after your kids are out of the school system.

And that’s the whole problem. They have a lawyers on retainer. I don’t.

I believe in most states reports to child services on the part of the school leave them with no responsibility for wrong reports or info. But did the person do exactly the right steps. Did it have to go to the principal involved or to the superintendent or did she report it herself if that was outside school policy. Who and how on the part of the district does the child services report.

Is the district operated using a school board in your area? Get to know some of the school board members. You can drastically affect that lady's career with the right information.

corvette · September 2023

@breld - did the Polestar lease end, or did you bite the bullet and sell it to a Polestar dealer?

mjfloyd1 · September 2023

breld said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

Nice car. Is this a lease also?

Yup - it’s a lease.

12-24 months?😂

jmonroe1 · September 2023

mjfloyd1 said:

breld said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

Nice car. Is this a lease also?

Yup - it’s a lease.

12-24 months?😂
————————————————
Does it matter?

jmonroe

mjfloyd1 · September 2023

Stay tuned for the next edition of “”As the @breld cars turn”

sda · September 2023

sda said:
I was out this morning canvassing new car lots which I haven't done in weeks. The Honda dealer marked up an Accord EXL hybrid $4k but had a relatively small markup of $1k on the EX. I think this is a new shade of blue for Cadillac for 24. I like it on the CT4/5. For @fintail I saw this 2017. It has around 43k mi. The interior I think is the same color as yours but looks to need a better cleaning. I like the metallic

blue. It is at Cadillac of South Charlotte.

When I visited my parents today, I showed the picture of the blue CT4 to mom knowing she loves blue. Oh! she exclaimed, it reminds me of our 72 Cutlass. It was Nordic blue with a black vinyl top and blue cloth interior. It was the car I took my driver’s test in at age 15 and passed in May 74.

ab348 · September 2023

sda said:

When I visited my parents today, I showed the picture of the blue CT4 to mom knowing she loves blue. Oh! she exclaimed, it reminds me of our 72 Cutlass. It was Nordic blue with a black vinyl top and blue cloth interior. It was the car I took my driver’s test in at age 15 and passed in May 74.

When I bought my ATS in 2017, it was on the dealer lot next to another new ATS in a color called Moonlight Silver Metallic that was really a bluish shade (that’s my car in the background). It was a very pretty color, and I’ve never seen it again anywhere. If it did not have a black interior I might have had a tough decision to make.

cdnpinhead · September 2023

I very much prefer the red you ended up with, FWIW.

breld · September 2023

@corvette said:
@breld - did the Polestar lease end, or did you bite the bullet and sell it to a Polestar dealer?

I plan to turn it in and just pay it out, which is much cheaper than selling it back. Market values for the Polestar horrendous, even by EV standards.

stickguy · September 2023

might as well just keep it then and use it in bad weather maybe, since you are paying for it anyway!

breld · September 2023

@stickguy said:
might as well just keep it then and use it in bad weather maybe, since you are paying for it anyway!

Definitely a consideration. The only incremental cost is insurance.

Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

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