Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

ab348 · 11:51AM

corvette said:
The Big Dig was used as an example of the sunk cost fallacy in my undergrad macroeconomics course. No idea how I remember that all these years later, but my first time visiting Boston, it was long since completed.

Referring to an underground project as a sunk cost is economics prof humor at its best.

The NPR station in Boston, WGBH, did a lengthy podcast series looking back on the entire project a year or two ago. it's available on YouTube. It certainly had its share of mismanagement and poor planning, but once they got into it, it was kind of hard to get out of it. Thank goodness for federal money.

suydam · 12:07PM

stickguy said:
got to ride in my friend's BMW i4 (we spent the night with them). my 2nd time ever riding in an EV (first was 2.5 years ago in a Mach E). very impressive overall. A bit lower than we are used to being a sedan (well, 5 door) but nothing like a sports car!

loved the interior. great seats, and seeing the big dash screen in action was impressive. And the surround view cameras and heads up display were addictive. Ride was comfortable. And typical quiet and operation. Even as an ICE version (so, a 3 series?) an impressive car. and the wife liked it (just would prefer it sits a bit higher).

I got to drive it too (first experience). That thing is quick, and you get going much faster than you should be without realizing it. The lack of engine roar feedback does not help.

the other difference was the regen braking. Took a while to get used to that. letting off the accelerator pedal felt like slamming on the brakes. after 10 minutes it was a bit better but still not really smooth. Probably something you quickly get adjusted to. At least for me, no clue how my wife will react to it. But will find out when we finally hit up the dealer for some test drives.

You don’t have to use regenerative braking if you don’t like it. My spouse never does. I have it set to very mild on the steering wheel and have gotten used to that.

stickguy · 12:26PM

If I could get a tacoma lease for close to that without putting a bunch of money up front, I would take one and sell both current cars and buy outright something nice.

au1994 · 12:39PM

sda said:
I saw this when browsing this morning. Was this an optional paint finish?

Wrap?

au1994 · 12:40PM

ab348 said:
Watching the NFL today, I see Toyota is advertising (I believe nationally) $289/mo leases on base RAV4 penalty boxes (the old style, clearing out what inventory they still have) and $259/mo leases on Tacoma pickups. Don't remember seeing them promote like this in recent years.

Would have to see what the fine print on the Tacoma is but I wouldn’t think an SR 2WD would bee too far off that.

Sandman6472 · 1:24PM

Drove through the big dig back in 2004 I believe. Very strange driving underground.

Wife came home Saturday night, had a nice time. Spoke with my daughter today and seems like she found a house! New construction which is great. Wife came in my office just before and asks me if it's a good idea her buying instead of renting another year? Replied let's be supportive and go along with whatever she wants to do. Best to start getting some equity I'd imagine at this point because paying rent is over the end of each month. Owning, she can build up equity in a place she chooses knowing she'll be there for a bit. I'm staying very optimistic here and have resolved to the fact that we'll be moving either by the end of 2026 or early 2027. We knew eventually we'd have to leave South Florida. Might as well do it when I'm holding my own because in a few years, who knows. And being near at least one of our kids is the right thing to do for her, Stan the dog & us.

It's going to be a very interesting year!!! But, I'm ready for the adventure!

stickguy · 2:02PM

if she is doing it soon anyway, and that is what she wants, makes the most sense to do it now if she has the money available to do it.

I have been consulting with our daughter on her pending purchase (officially under contract, and going through the mortgage approval process) so seeing the costs. Putting 20% down, and all-in (mortgage, taxes and homeowners) their monthly outlay will be right about $2,000 compared to their rent in Boston. It is nuts.

28firefighter · 2:55PM

Doing truck things today - donations and a dump run!

jmonroe1 · 4:30PM

@28firefighter said:

Doing truck things today - donations and a dump run!

——————————————————
What size bed is that?

jmonroe

28firefighter · 5:19PM

Small. 5ft.

stickguy · 6:40PM

I love doing truck things. my "mini" bed is only 6" shorter than that one and holds a surprising amount of stuff.

also my post above was supposed to say $2,000 less per month.

stickguy · 6:43PM

one thing I do plan to get is a bed extender. A net type that will let me put the tailgate down and still contain cargo, making the bed effectively about 6' long. Ford has a (pretty expensive IIRV) metal bar one that attaches to the bed wall and flips over when the bed is down. I just don't want to have to deal with it in the bed when I don't need it.

corvette · 6:52PM

@stickguy - I think the Nissan Frontier first popularized the bed extender. I remember seeing a lot of them at auto shows with that equipment. I rarely use my bed for anything other than a giant trunk, although I will also say it excels at that function.

laurasdada · 7:00PM

corvette said:
The Tesla universal wall mounted charger is the best from a usability standpoint, very easy to charge NACS or J-1772. I went another route because it was cheaper and I prefer not to give money to Tesla.

The Big Dig was used as an example of the sunk cost fallacy in my undergrad macroeconomics course. No idea how I remember that all these years later, but my first time visiting Boston, it was long since completed.

This is what is installed at Mohegan Sun. Quite simple to undock and charge the Audi (J-1772).
And, free (for player card holders above the entry level. Although that area was open to all Saturday, probably for the college basketball games at the arena)! Well, free if you exclude what happened inside the building...

Michaell · 7:19PM

I ~~did~~ tried to do truck things with the Outback again, today.

I think my wife and daughter are single-handedly keeping Amazon and Wayfair in business, given the amount of cardboard we've accumulated.

Yes, I took a car load to the recycle bin a few weeks ago, towards the end of the basement project. I thought that would, at the very least, slow down the purchases.

Nope. Filled the Outback again today and went to the recycle bin, which was .... already full! Bother. Not sure when the bin gets emptied (it's behind the cooking studio we own and run, so it's shared with a number of other businesses).

I'm off tomorrow, so I may try again late in the afternoon, else it will be Thursday before I get another chance.

(and before anyone asks, yes, we have recycling pickup in our neighborhood every other Friday, but the boxes I broke down were 5-6' long, and I didn't want to fill our bin too quickly - plus, I have probably a couple dozen "regular" sized cardboard boxes that need to be broken down)

corvette · 7:52PM

@Michaell - I was about to ask, lol. It's not uncommon for me to have a stack of cardboard or other bulky items that I dole out into the recycling pickup over several weeks. Granted, most of "recycling" ends up in landfills, from what I hear.

Michaell · 9:13PM

corvette said:
@Michaell - I was about to ask, lol. It's not uncommon for me to have a stack of cardboard or other bulky items that I dole out into the recycling pickup over several weeks. Granted, most of "recycling" ends up in landfills, from what I hear.

Most of the "regular" Amazon boxes are small enough to collapse and put into our normal recycling bin, along with aluminum, plastic and inside cardboard (cereal boxes, etc).

But, at the moment, there are so many of them in the garage that I'm not sure that's where I want to put them. Recycling was just picked up last Friday, so it will be two weeks before they come back.

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