Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

stickguy · September 14

the phone navi (google maps) is fine. The issue with the Acura is that it can be fussy about connecting and staying connected. Not good when you are in the middle of a bunch of turns and the navi lady stops talking to you!

The RDX has navigation. We have never actually used it to get anywhere. I just keep the Map up on part of the screen so I can take a look at upcoming roads (I never plug in and start carplay unless I am using google maps for directions, or happen to wany Spotify up on a trip). Not even sure how to get it to do routing. And a minor issue is that the Maps have not been updated in over 5 years (and I am not paying to get it done, Acura wants a lot for that). I know my wife would never figure it out, because she still can't remember how to answer a call when she is driving.

stickguy · September 14

I think the wife decided she wants (deserves?) a new car. The connectivity issue seems to be a hot button now that she has to drive by herself more (to her babysitting job). At breakfast she started talking about it again, and said we should look at a mini because that might be OK for getting in and out of (we did look at those last time we were shopping, and she actually liked it). And that she wasn't sure if there was much out there that she would like that would be exciting for me too (well, maybe the Macan...)

I suggested a simple solution, which was she could use the Maverick when she needed something. She actually said that could be fine, but she should drive it around a few times to make sure, and that it would probably not be much different than driving a minivan like she used to. That would be real easy. As an enticement, if we went that route, I offered to upgrade to a 2016 and get the new features (AWD, front and 360 view cameras, adaptive cruise, 4K towing, and wireless carplay) to make it even nicer and more practical (keeping an AWD in the family). that would not have to be an immediate move either.

So if this ~~scheme ridiculousness idiocy~~ great plan gets greenlighted, we are all set for the boss, and can just start doing some looking for something that would be cool to have as a 2nd car, and when it turns up, flip the Acura for it (heck, maybe another Acura while the Integra still exists, or a Prelude when they come out). Much simpler, and cheaper, with no need to add to the fleet!

roadburner · September 14

Michaell said:
The Subaru doesn't have CarPlay embedded into the head unit, and the factory nav hasn't been updated since we bought the car in 2015. Since our house was built in 2016, when we use it, it shows we are driving in an empty field in our development.

On the rare occasions I need to map a location, I just use the phone (in an approved mount, so it's not in my hands).

The nav in the M245i showed our relatively obscure driveway; later BMWs as well as the C43 and Wrangler no longer show it.

stickguy · September 14

having lived in new(er) build areas since we moved up here 3 years ago (hard to believe it has been that long already) I am used to driving where there are no roads, at least in the opinion of the car.

jmonroe1 · September 14

qbrozen said:
Dang. So I was actually dead on with my imaginary math that brought me to $31k. I would never have guessed a $10k additional incentive, though. That’s crazy. I can’t fathom why they would do that and miss out on the remaining interest. Oh well.

Holding on a wire transfer but not a bank check makes no sense. WT is the only thing that can’t be faked. With my purchases, WT was the only option to get the car shipped immediately.

————————————————
You’re forgetting banks are thieves and always have been. They’ve stolen more money from their depositors than bank robbers. Banks are not in the banking business for no reason.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50 · September 14

Sandman6472 said:
I like all the modern tech on the GTI and sure was missing a lot in the 2015 Golf I had. Just the push button start is a joy as is the blind spot monitoring so I know that there's something next to me in the blind spot so I don't make a stupid move. Don't use the charging pad as much as I should but my phone is usually charged up to about 80% most of the time.

I use an antique Garmin and seldom have any problems. Most places we go to these days I’ve been to before so I don’t even use that.

oldfarmer50 · September 14

qbrozen said:
Dang. So I was actually dead on with my imaginary math that brought me to $31k. I would never have guessed a $10k additional incentive, though. That’s crazy. I can’t fathom why they would do that and miss out on the remaining interest. Oh well.

Holding on a wire transfer but not a bank check makes no sense. WT is the only thing that can’t be faked. With my purchases, WT was the only option to get the car shipped immediately.

In Florida my BIL wanted to pay with a cashier’s check and they refused, insisting on wire transfer only.

sda · September 14

I've had the Arteon one year as of today. It had 26100 miles on it, now 39300. I am very happy with it. I find it intriguing that I can go months at a time without seeing another Arteon in the wild. I treated it to a nice cleaning yesterday, though a fresh waxing would be nice.

explorerx4 · September 14

@stickguy,
If you retire you can spend your Saturday afternoon like this.

Was posing for the picture, I had the Georgia Tech Clemson game on with the sound off so I wouldn't wake up my grandson.

corvette · September 14

qbrozen said:
Dang. So I was actually dead on with my imaginary math that brought me to $31k. I would never have guessed a $10k additional incentive, though. That’s crazy. I can’t fathom why they would do that and miss out on the remaining interest. Oh well.

I don't know how the math maths, but the remaining interest they would have gotten would have been something less than my $179 payment x 3 remaining payments, plus the disposition fee (they also charged a $300 buyout fee in lieu of that, but it was included in the $21k). It seems like they are scared about how the end of the government incentive will play out on used EV prices. I think $21k for something with the Ariya's features and capabilities is quite reasonable, incentive or not.

nyccarguy · September 14

@sda - nice job on your VW! I can’t believe it has been a year already. Definitely a lot to be said about having a unique car.

oldfarmer50 · September 14

explorerx4 said:
@stickguy,
If you retire you can spend your Saturday afternoon like this.
Was posing for the picture, I had the Georgia Tech Clemson game on with the sound off so I wouldn't wake up my grandson.

It doesn’t get any better than that.😊

stickguy · September 14

I get to spend plenty of time holding the grandprincess! My wife is doing 1 day a week watching her, and I am going to be going with her as much as possible to be an extra set of hands.

Sandman6472 · September 15

I usually have the navi screen on when driving, takes up a good half of the screen, give or take. I still haven't played with the infotainment system that much as I'm sure I can do a lot more stuff. I should stop in & see my sales guy to get some instruction, if he's still there. Sales folk seem to come & go frequently in the auto business and doubt I'd like that job. Seems like making a steady paycheck could be difficult.
Must admit, the feature I like the best on the GTI is automatic folding side view mirrors. Just turn the tuning knob to the left, and they fold up into the car. Sure, they automatically fold up when ever the vehicle is turned off but love that I can do it while it's still running if danger is approaching. I've broken or scratched every right side mirror I've had since we moved here in 1987! My other half called dibs on the left side of the garage due to it being longer and the wall being on her left. So I was left with the other side, the one with the shorter space and the wall on my right. Think I still had the 1979 Datsun B210 hatch at that point, so wasn't an issue as it was a small vehicle to begin with. But when I bought the 1988 Toyota Corolla FX hatch in '88, I only looked at smaller vehicles because of the size limitations. And since I only had $8K to spend, my choices were very limited. To this day, am still a bit pissed that our house builder did such DUMB things like putting the a/c air handler where it is, taking up valuable real estate in the garage! Lucky I prefer smaller vehicles as I always had planned to use the garage for it's intended purpose if we ever had gotten one.

Sandman6472 · September 15

Seems that the other half is going up to St. Augustine for six days in November to help our daughter look for a new place to live. It's either going to be a new house or a larger apartment so we can start spending more time there. And if they decide on a house, won't be surprised if she looks for one for us also. Have decided that we don't want to live with her & the pup full time as we all need our privacy. But for a shorter period of time, we could make it work. And we could also wait to buy and just stay with her for a bit at first. We'd just need to put whatever furniture & boxes we take into storage for awhile. Had to do that when we moved in '87, so not a big deal. Three weeks turned into just over three months , but would be easier this time since the wife won't be pregnant with two kids under two years old! Not sure how it happened, but we already had two kids, one born in 1984 & the other in 1986 and another due later in 1987. For one month every year, they are each one year apart! It was sheer chaos everyday but we got through it all! Luckily, we had my in-laws coming over six days a week to help us get through it all.
Hopefully we'll find a nice sized 3/2 place so we can each have an office. Since we plan to live very close to our daughter, any family can bunk at her place. And they're planning to look in both St. Augustine and south Jacksonville for new homes. So should be plenty to look at we're hoping. I'd prefer to get a smaller place then we have now, just under 1900 square feet, and be able to bank a good $100K if not more with zero mortgage. Hoping they'll be able to find a one story place with a 2-car garage and north/south exposure, my only two requirements. Luckily I've had some time to think all this through and am over the fact that I know nothing of the area up there. It'll be an adventure and at this point, I will no longer want to work anymore.

ab348 · September 15

stickguy said:
interesting thing happened tonight. on the way back from dinner, my wife (completely unsolicited by anything I said) came out with a comment that maybe it was time for her to get something new. She actually drove someplace yesterday on her own (she babysits the granddaughter on Fridays now and I could not go this week). One annoyance with the RDX is that sometimes carplay is glitchy (not sure if it is an issue with the port on the phone). But she has no sense of direction so not having reliable navigation is not a good thing.

Her and I would be a perfect match in that regard. I have (or at least used to have) a good innate sense of direction but am absolutely allergic to nav systems and that sort of in-car tech which never works for me.

It is getting to be more and more of a pain as I get older. Keep in mind that for a time in my previous life I was deploying PCs throughout my organization in the late ‘80s and then later was using ‘90s tech as part of a major conversion of property registry systems here. Now both the Apple tech (to a lesser extent) and Windows 11 just baffle and confound me. I spent an hour yesterday wrestling with File Explorer in W11 trying to make it look something like it used to look and failed miserably. I actually thought I had wrestled it into submission but this morning I went to do something and the new awful look was back. Grrrr.

qbrozen · September 15

@corvette said:
I don't know how the math maths, but the remaining interest they would have gotten would have been something less than my $179 payment x 3 remaining payments, plus the disposition fee (they also charged a $300 buyout fee in lieu of that, but it was included in the $21k). It seems like they are scared about how the end of the government incentive will play out on used EV prices. I think $21k for something with the Ariya's features and capabilities is quite reasonable, incentive or not.

Oh, I didn’t realize you had only 3 mos left.

Remind me of the trim and mileage. I’m curious what MMR is.

Speaking of Nissan EVs, I asked my son what they have sitting there that they may want to blow out before end of Sept. He said the only EV on the lot is a solitary Ariya in the highest spec.

Michaell · September 15

Sandman6472 said:
Seems that the other half is going up to St. Augustine for six days in November to help our daughter look for a new place to live. It's either going to be a new house or a larger apartment so we can start spending more time there. And if they decide on a house, won't be surprised if she looks for one for us also. Have decided that we don't want to live with her & the pup full time as we all need our privacy. But for a shorter period of time, we could make it work. And we could also wait to buy and just stay with her for a bit at first. We'd just need to put whatever furniture & boxes we take into storage for awhile. Had to do that when we moved in '87, so not a big deal. Three weeks turned into just over three months , but would be easier this time since the wife won't be pregnant with two kids under two years old! Not sure how it happened, but we already had two kids, one born in 1984 & the other in 1986 and another due later in 1987. For one month every year, they are each one year apart! It was sheer chaos everyday but we got through it all! Luckily, we had my in-laws coming over six days a week to help us get through it all.
Hopefully we'll find a nice sized 3/2 place so we can each have an office. Since we plan to live very close to our daughter, any family can bunk at her place. And they're planning to look in both St. Augustine and south Jacksonville for new homes. So should be plenty to look at we're hoping. I'd prefer to get a smaller place then we have now, just under 1900 square feet, and be able to bank a good $100K if not more with zero mortgage. Hoping they'll be able to find a one story place with a 2-car garage and north/south exposure, my only two requirements. Luckily I've had some time to think all this through and am over the fact that I know nothing of the area up there. It'll be an adventure and at this point, I will no longer want to work anymore.

Sandy, why the focus on North/South exposure?

Here in Colorado, any houses where the front faces north has more snow that melts slowly, given the position of the sun in the winter this far north. The front of our house faces west, so not that big of a deal.

carnaught · September 15

@Michaell, hot climate’s lead to a very hot house having an east/west location with the sun hitting you directly on the west side.

corvette · September 15

qbrozen said:
Remind me of the trim and mileage. I’m curious what MMR is.

I'm curious, too! 2023 Ariya Engage AWD (not the Plus model with the larger battery) with 8,000 miles.

I think most Nissan dealers got rid of nearly all their EV inventory after Nissan put those huge incentives on them a little over a year ago. I also highly suspect the fallout from the end of the EV tax credit is already baked into the price I paid to buy out the lease.

Michaell · September 15

carnaught said:
@Michaell, hot climate’s lead to a very hot house having an east/west location with the sun hitting you directly on the west side.

Got it. Same reasoning, just different season.

xwesx · September 15

stickguy said:
I might be looking after all. Will see what is out there, but I may have talked myself into the new splurge being a CUV that she can drive. But if it is nice enough, and roomy enough for our beach vacations, I might just go ahead and trade in the Maverick for a sports car and a utility trailer!

Don't throw me out, but maybe take a look at the newest Escape, either Platinum or ST-Line Elite trims. They feel pretty snazzy, roomy, and comfortable to me. It is not going to cost an insane amount (by today's standards) for a vehicle that is going to see light duty at best. Also the option of hybrid like your truck. Granted, these have less room in terms of all-out capacity versus the current ride, but if you're driving most of the time, then it seems completely reasonable to take the pickup on those occasions when max space is truly needed.

Sandman6472 · September 15

Most family rooms are in the back of the house down here in Florida. If it faces west, it'll be the hottest room during our long summers which will require more a/c time to cool it down. Personally, I'd like to leave Florida all together as I don't like the hot weather or the political climate but getting older and dealing with more health issues, know I need to be close to the girls just in case things go downhill quickly. Hoping they won't but don't want to take that chance. And since I'm still pretty mobile now, just makes sense to make it happen within the next 18 months or so. And since tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us, just want to make things easier for us all. And now that we have no other family down south here, no reason to stay. Figure once we do relocate, we'll just have to learn the new area. Since I don't plan to be working then, will have plenty of time to learn the lay of the land. Could be kind of fun too, just will depend on how I'm feeling, healthwise.

qbrozen · September 15

@corvette said:
I'm curious, too! 2023 Ariya Engage AWD (not the Plus model with the larger battery) with 8,000 miles.

I think most Nissan dealers got rid of nearly all their EV inventory after Nissan put those huge incentives on them a little over a year ago. I also highly suspect the fallout from the end of the EV tax credit is already baked into the price I paid to buy out the lease.

$22k-$22.5k MMR. So a good deal for you. And probably about what they would have gotten after expenses on their part.

Of course, like you said, that could have been even lower in a few months when they actually had it in hand.

oldfarmer50 · September 15

Michaell said:

Sandman6472 said:
Seems that the other half is going up to St. Augustine for six days in November to help our daughter look for a new place to live. It's either going to be a new house or a larger apartment so we can start spending more time there. And if they decide on a house, won't be surprised if she looks for one for us also. Have decided that we don't want to live with her & the pup full time as we all need our privacy. But for a shorter period of time, we could make it work. And we could also wait to buy and just stay with her for a bit at first. We'd just need to put whatever furniture & boxes we take into storage for awhile. Had to do that when we moved in '87, so not a big deal. Three weeks turned into just over three months , but would be easier this time since the wife won't be pregnant with two kids under two years old! Not sure how it happened, but we already had two kids, one born in 1984 & the other in 1986 and another due later in 1987. For one month every year, they are each one year apart! It was sheer chaos everyday but we got through it all! Luckily, we had my in-laws coming over six days a week to help us get through it all.
Hopefully we'll find a nice sized 3/2 place so we can each have an office. Since we plan to live very close to our daughter, any family can bunk at her place. And they're planning to look in both St. Augustine and south Jacksonville for new homes. So should be plenty to look at we're hoping. I'd prefer to get a smaller place then we have now, just under 1900 square feet, and be able to bank a good $100K if not more with zero mortgage. Hoping they'll be able to find a one story place with a 2-car garage and north/south exposure, my only two requirements. Luckily I've had some time to think all this through and am over the fact that I know nothing of the area up there. It'll be an adventure and at this point, I will no longer want to work anymore.
Sandy, why the focus on North/South exposure?

Here in Colorado, any houses where the front faces north has more snow that melts slowly, given the position of the sun in the winter this far north. The front of our house faces west, so not that big of a deal.

Solar panels?

When I built my house I oriented it facing south and placed most of the windows on that side. That also put the most roof surface available for solar panels. The rest of the house has fewer windows and the west side has none at all. The house gets enough passive solar gain that even in January at zero degrees I need no extra heat on a sunny day. We originally intended to put solar panels on the roof but 40 years ago the cost/benefit was pretty bad so it never happened.

xwesx · September 15

That's great for winter, but how do you keep the heat gain down in the summer, @oldfarmer50 ?

oldfarmer50 · September 16

xwesx said:
That's great for winter, but how do you keep the heat gain down in the summer, @oldfarmer50 ?

The roof overhangs are extra wide so as the sun gets higher in the sky in spring the windows are shaded. On some of the larger windows we have thermal shades that act as insulation to keep heat in or out as needed.

imidazol97 · September 16

That's exactly how our house operates. The sun comes in through the E-glass in winter and is blocked by the roof overhang in summer. We picked the house over others when we bought it because of its south-facing windows. Having only a heat pump available for heat meant we needed to be efficient. No gas available due to the gas freeze back when house was built.

suydam · September 16

Happy news for me! I finally got a 240 v. charging station installed in my garage! It was tricky because the only way to do it was to extend the dryer line (since I DO have a gas dryer) out to the garage to get it on my personal electric account instead of the condo association’s. Thanks to all here, especially @jmonroe1 for alerting me to the strong likelihood that it was only a 30 amp line. It is so nice to be able to charge at home! Cheaper too.

andres3 · September 16

suydam said:
Happy news for me! I finally got a 240 v. charging station installed in my garage! It was tricky because the only way to do it was to extend the dryer line (since I DO have a gas dryer) out to the garage to get it on my personal electric account instead of the condo association’s. Thanks to all here, especially @jmonroe1 for alerting me to the strong likelihood that it was only a 30 amp line. It is so nice to be able to charge at home! Cheaper too.

How fast would one have to ride a bicycle to power a 30A charging 240V line for a car?

suydam · September 16

Don’t know, but it will easily charge overnight.

jmonroe1 · September 16

andres3 said:

suydam said:
Happy news for me! I finally got a 240 v. charging station installed in my garage! It was tricky because the only way to do it was to extend the dryer line (since I DO have a gas dryer) out to the garage to get it on my personal electric account instead of the condo association’s. Thanks to all here, especially @jmonroe1 for alerting me to the strong likelihood that it was only a 30 amp line. It is so nice to be able to charge at home! Cheaper too.
How fast would one have to ride a bicycle to power a 30A charging 240V line for a car?

————————————————
Fast enough to earn you a trip to traffic court.

jmonroe

xwesx · September 16

Congrats, @suydam ; that's going to be a huge QoL improvement!

corvette · September 16

@suydam - congrats! My Level 2 charger should be here in the next few days... If it can be placed where I prefer, it should only need about five feet of cable, so I'm hopeful I can go with the full 60 amp breaker and corresponding cable without it costing a lot more than a 40 or 50 amp one. Yes, the Ariya maxes out at about a 30 amp charge, but given the reports of even hardwired chargers catching fire, I'd rather have the larger cable and breaker for a margin of safety. Most other 240V appliances don't continuously draw as much as charging an EV, so they may work fine with a marginal connection, whereas EV charging would stress it.

benjaminh · September 17

About much does it cost to get an EV charger installed in a garage?

stickguy · September 17

I’m hoping that if you already have the dedicated plug you just buy one, hang it on the wall, an plug it in!

tjc78 · September 17

benjaminh said:
About much does it cost to get an EV charger installed in a garage?

Not sure about the labor, but just the parts aren't cheap even for installing right under the breaker panel in the garage.

I just ordered everything I need to do mine -

6' of 6/3 Romex
4" Box w/ Mud Ring
EV Specific Nema 14-50 (much beefier than a regular one, see Corvette's comment for reasoning)
2 Pole 50 Amp Breaker - not arc fault
Cover plate, romex connectors

$140

Lowe's sells the 6/3 by the foot where Home Depot's smallest roll is 15', so there is significant cost savings buying the wire at Lowe's.

kyfdx · September 17

benjaminh said:
About much does it cost to get an EV charger installed in a garage?

By a contractor? $500-$1000

graphicguy · September 17

I've seen prices from $50 to $1,200 for a charger.

graphicguy · September 17

My neighbor had an estimate for $4K from a local guy for a charger. I helped him install it for a 12 pack.

corvette · September 17

kyfdx said:
By a contractor? $500-$1000

I'm hoping that's the case. Mine will be installed outdoors. My garage is detached and is serviced by a single 15 amp circuit, so it would be a pretty big/expensive deal to bring 240V out there, plus the Ariya sits in the driveway when I'm planning to drive it, so it makes sense for the charger to be there.

suydam · September 17

It’s expensive because we had to run a line from the dryer, through the water heater room, out the exterior wall, then around the edge of the courtyard and into the garage wall. It’s because the garages in our condo are on common electricity and I have to have the charge connected to my own electric account. For my plug-in hybrid, I just use the 120 v garage outlet and pay a $10 monthly fee to the HOA and they’re fine with it. But a full EV would be more every time you charge (around once a month for us, more if we go out of town). And take a lot longer too.

au1994 · September 17

Outside of installing a new light fixture or ceiling fan, I don't mind farming out electrical work but $4k is insane.

suydam · September 17

Yes, $4k would be crazy. You can see more reasonable estimates from everyone else here.

oldfarmer50 · September 17

benjaminh said:
About much does it cost to get an EV charger installed in a garage?

For me, $10,000+.

kyfdx · September 17

oldfarmer50 said:

benjaminh said:
About much does it cost to get an EV charger installed in a garage?
For me, $10,000+.

How far is the garage from the electric service?

corvette · September 17

@suydam - is the $10 monthly fee on the honor system? Not sure how’d they know whether you were charging in the garage. That said, if I’m paying an extra $10 per month for it, I’d use the slower garage charger whenever possible to take advantage of the $10/month unlimited electrons.

suydam · September 17

All vehicles have to register with the Association. A PHEV easily charges overnight on a 120 v outlet due to its limited range, so no big deal. But yeah, kind of honor system. It’s a small condo and most everyone knows everyone, even the renters.

clm8 · September 17

benjaminh said:
About much does it cost to get an EV charger installed in a garage?

I paid $300 including labor, but I already had a line running to my detached garage that could carry the 30 amp load. They had to install a new breaker box in the garage and install the plug and additional wire.

corvette · September 17

Quicken gave me an interesting stat, so I decided to take a poll… one person messaged me to say they voted before they noticed the last option.

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