Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous

stickguy · December 6

oldfarmer50 said:
Ask them to bring it over to Latham, my coworker also drives for Keeler and he likes long trips.

I know they can. Current plan is to go over to Keeler (only 10 minutes from us or so) and check both models out good, then drive them back to back. Can use any they have for that. After that, will probably run over to 155 and check out a few more brands then decide on what she wants. at that point, I can worry about finding the right option!

xwesx · December 6

stickguy said:
they all do. Talked to my wife about the update plan earlier, and got past her "but it is spending money" rebuttal by explaining we need to spend some. But we agreed that if we are getting something, it needs to have all the cool features we are missing. The HUD, heated steering wheel, 3D surround cameras. All that stuff.

Yes on the heated steering wheel. I don't know about all the rest of "that stuff." Sounds like unnecessary complications to me!

nyccarguy · December 6

I was just poking around on the Ford website building my own F150 STX & Mustang GT. I couldn’t believe the destination charges. $2,500 for the F150 and $1,995 for the Mustang.

jmonroe1 · December 6

@nyccarguy said:
I was just poking around on the Ford website building my own F150 STX & Mustang GT. I couldn’t believe the destination charges. $2,500 for the F150 and $1,995 for the Mustang.

——————————————————
This is what happens when guys like our poster buddies @oldfarmer50 and @Sandman6472 get pay bumps. No wonder they don’t want to quit.

jmonroe

kyfdx · December 7

HUD? meh

tjc78 · December 7

@kyfdx said:
HUD? meh

I’ve only had it on one car (2012 LaCrosse). It is a nice to have but I’d pick other things before it.

stickguy · December 7

I think it is neat but not a deal breaker. We do want the 360 surround view. That is very handy.

fintail · December 7

HUD would be fun, heated steering wheel and surround view seem frivolous until you get used to them.

roadburner · December 7

fintail said:
HUD would be fun, heated steering wheel and surround view seem frivolous until you get used to them.

The only options that I wish my C43 had are a HUD and a heated steering wheel.
I wasn't looking for a car with surround view and/or Distronic Plus but now that I've lived with them for a few years I would definitely want them on a newer car.

kyfdx · December 7

I'm not big with heated wheels, but my wife loves them, and it's pretty good, if you've been out for a few hours, sitting outside. The surround view is more or less "free", as the blind sides, rear camera, etc, don't add a lot more, so why not!

laurasdada · December 7

Living in New England, and with one of my two steeds living out of stable, (as I've said before) the heated steering wheel is man's finest creation. I shall not be denied of this joy for the rest of my days.
Although, when I bought the XK, my father gave me a pair of nice leather driving gloves...

jmonroe1 · December 7

@laurasdada said:
Living in New England, and with one of my two steeds living out of stable, (as I've said before) the heated steering wheel is man's finest creation. I shall not be denied of this joy for the rest of my days.
Although, when I bought the XK, my father gave me a pair of nice leather driving gloves...

——————————————————
You can always wear the gloves so you don’t leave any fingerprints if you ever break one of Mrs. @laurasdada’s finer pieces of Christmas China.

jmonroe

xwesx · December 8

fintail said:
HUD would be fun, heated steering wheel and surround view seem frivolous until you get used to them.

One might think that a heated steering wheel is frivolous until the first time they drive to work at -20F.... Then it suddenly seems very, very practical!

I was just thinking about that this morning as I swapped hands and balled each one up, alternating, inside its glove to warm them...

jmonroe1 · December 8

@xwesx said:
One might think that a heated steering wheel is frivolous until the first time they drive to work at -20F.... Then it suddenly seems very, very practical!

I was just thinking about that this morning as I swapped hands and balled each one up, alternating, inside its glove to warm them...

——————————————————-
Get with it man. Why do you think they invented work from home.

jmonroe

Sandman6472 · December 8

Looks like the oil leak has stopped. Cleaned up the area with windex a couple days ago and no new leak since so she'll cancel tomorrow's appointment tomorrow. We are getting a notice in the mail today from Hyundai about some issue but will wait till the mail arrives to see what it is. Could be something really minor.

Wife leaves for St. Augustine Wednesday to help daughter do the paperwork for her new place. It's already built with just a few last minute touches to be finished. Since she has her rental till February, she'll take her time moving in. And since she has almost no furniture, she'll need to get a few pieces like a couch. Think she'll have an island so she doesn't need a table quite yet. Wife & I talked and she's not ready to retire quite yet, wants to wait a couple more years which I get. Me, on the other hand, won't wait that long. Thinking more like mid 2026 depending on my health as I want to spend a few weeks up there and down home if I can.

Still dealing with the vertigo and from what I'm reading, it'll never fully go away, just something I've got to live with. Have been home for almost 2 weeks now and figure on a couple more if history repeats itself. Definitely not as bad as last time but still don't feel up to driving all day. It's been coming back multiple times each year since 2021 so retiring again is probably the best course of action but, taking it one day at a time here. Start pt tomorrow with a therapist to get it under control as it deals with the crystals in my ears. Very annoying as I fall each time it happens and it hurts more and more as I age. Am lucky I didn't break my lower back this time! This getting older can really suck!

28firefighter · December 8

We started shopping for replacements for the Jeep over the last couple of weeks. I don't want to elaborate on the Jeep drama, but I'm not expecting it to be around much longer.

We drove the CX-50 Hybrid, CR-V Hybrid, RAV4 Hybrid, and Forester Hybrid. We also looked at a Mustang Mach-E and another Tesla Model Y.

I'll save the suspense, but she went and drove the Forester Hybrid on her own while I was out of town and that sealed it. Working on finding the right one/deal but given that she doesn't want to daily drive the truck, I expect I'll have something nailed down in the next couple of weeks.

stickguy · December 8

my wife is on board with the get a new car plan. But we are both so swamped with this work nonsense (but not for much longer!) and Christmas stuff, plus our wonderful weather that even finding time to go out and look at some stuff has been hard. so I expect anything serious will wait until January. Hopefully we have a chance Saturday while out running errands!

explorerx4 · December 8

@stickguy,
You always have some lame excuse. HA HA.

stickguy · December 8

I'm just exhausted right now. Too much going on.

plus it is cold out.

oldfarmer50 · December 8

xwesx said:

fintail said:
HUD would be fun, heated steering wheel and surround view seem frivolous until you get used to them.
One might think that a heated steering wheel is frivolous until the first time they drive to work at -20F.... Then it suddenly seems very, very practical!

I was just thinking about that this morning as I swapped hands and balled each one up, alternating, inside its glove to warm them...

I was glad to have heated seats and steering wheel this morning when I had to take a car to Burlington (5 degrees) that I discovered had no heat.

venture · December 8

28firefighter said:
We started shopping for replacements for the Jeep over the last couple of weeks. I don't want to elaborate on the Jeep drama, but I'm not expecting it to be around much longer.

We drove the CX-50 Hybrid, CR-V Hybrid, RAV4 Hybrid, and Forester Hybrid. We also looked at a Mustang Mach-E and another Tesla Model Y.

I'll save the suspense, but she went and drove the Forester Hybrid on her own while I was out of town and that sealed it. Working on finding the right one/deal but given that she doesn't want to daily drive the truck, I expect I'll have something nailed down in the next couple of weeks.

I haven't seen any 2026 Forester hybrids at my Subaru dealer. It's a small market so maybe there are some in your locale.

The ones my dealer has show discounts of from $2,600 for a premium to $3,400 for a touring. That's on the website before any negotiations.

28firefighter · December 8

Yeah, no 2026s as far as I can tell. Still 2025s leaving Japan. She wants a Touring Hybrid in River Rock with the black roof. Proving to be a bit harder to find. Plus my local Subaru contact moved on, so it’s requiring a bit more wider of a net.

I’m pretty close though.

ab348 · December 8

stickguy said:
my wife is on board with the get a new car plan. But we are both so swamped with this work nonsense (but not for much longer!) and Christmas stuff, plus our wonderful weather that even finding time to go out and look at some stuff has been hard. so I expect anything serious will wait until January. Hopefully we have a chance Saturday while out running errands!

I think you should just shoot the works and get one of these. I bet she’d love this shade of green.

https://youtu.be/4C1y_vCP9iQ?si=13jgBg7sbdhCOlRI

corvette · December 8

@28firefighter - back in the day, wasn't there a Subaru salesperson in the PacNW who created his own website with vehicle specs and photos, brochures, etc. and kept it up, separately from his dealership's website? I think it was called "All about cars" or something generic like that. It reminded me a little of Planet Subaru in Boston, which also generates a lot of its own website instead of using generic "content" which I'm sure is provided by Subaru corporate. Anyway, if he's still working, and you can find him, and you live within his dealership's service area, he's probably your best bet to get a car.

ETA: Found it! I was slightly off on the name.

Looks like it's no longer being updated.

28firefighter · December 8

Yeah from what I can see, he retired. And the dealer he worked for is…not great anymore. They couldn’t show us the door fast enough when they realized they didn’t have what we wanted in stock.

corvette · December 8

That stinks on all fronts, but yeah, things can change on a dime, anymore. When I have to book hotels more than a few weeks in advance, I set a calendar entry to look at the most recent reviews shortly before my scheduled stay... I've been burned once by a hotel that went seriously downhill in the year between my booking and my stay. I got a refund, but I'd much rather have paid full price at any other hotel.

stickguy · December 8

AB, love the color. But I can tell by looking at it that car will definitely fail the "is it too low to get in and out of" test!

tifighter · December 8

@corvette said:
@28firefighter - back in the day, wasn't there a Subaru salesperson in the PacNW who created his own website with vehicle specs and photos, brochures, etc. and kept it up, separately from his dealership's website? I think it was called "All about cars" or something generic like that. It reminded me a little of Planet Subaru in Boston, which also generates a lot of its own website instead of using generic "content" which I'm sure is provided by Subaru corporate. Anyway, if he's still working, and you can find him, and you live within his dealership's service area, he's probably your best bet to get a car.

ETA: Found it! I was slightly off on the name. Looks like it's no longer being updated.

I bought my one and only Subaru from Joe way back in the day. Interesting guy, had a side thing where he collected bought and sold mystery novels. Hopefully he’s enjoying that gen 1 Miata he had now in retirement.

benjaminh · 4:23AM

There's a Subaru dealer in Bremerton near Seattle (but a ferry ride) that offers free oil changes for as long as you own your car. Subaru of Auburn is the first dealer I've seen offering 3k off of a Forester hybrid. Although the Forester hybrid would save about $250 a year in gas over an Outback, the Outback's 0% financing compared to 3.9 for the hybrid would save a lot more than that.

Interesting that in a few months Subaru is coming out with an all-new 375 hp EV station wagon called the Trailseeker starting at c. 42k, which is almost 10k less than an awd Model Y. I wonder how they can price this so low. Seems like they must be losing a lot of money on it. But perhaps the price is just recognizing realistically what an EV can sell for. My sister and brother-in-law are now considering getting a Trailseeker to replace their 2014 Accord hybrid.

https://www.subaru.com/subaru-trailseeker-ev.html

https://www.subaruofauburn.com/inventory/new-2025-subaru-forester-limited-hybrid-awd-suv-jf2slsrd8sh423884/

stickguy · 5:11AM

That looks interesting. Wonder if the boss will like it?

explorerx4 · 5:42AM

Nice that the Subaru dealer gives Free Oil Changes for Life on your EV.

ab348 · 6:23AM

I like the looks of that Trailseeker. Different from the usual (and worsening) styling of recent Subies. Tough time to be rolling out a new EV though. Maybe we will finally start to see more competitive prices on them.

stickguy · 6:32AM

Sent the link to my wife. Her response was “it’s not a BMW but looks interesting”. Then she asked if it was a plug in so I think the fact it was an EV went over her head.

Anyone know when these will hit dealers?

28firefighter · 7:00AM

We’re going to lease and the money factor on a Forester Hybrid equates to .19% interest. No brainer.

benjaminh · 8:35AM

stickguy said:
Sent the link to my wife. Her response was “it’s not a BMW but looks interesting”. Then she asked if it was a plug in so I think the fact it was an EV went over her head.

Anyone know when these will hit dealers?

Seems like usually once pricing is announced a new model is going to hit dealers in 2-3 months. So maybe February or March?

Even the loaded Touring model with destination of 1.5k lists for $48k, which seems like a good price.

I'm wondering if like Ford and others Subaru is going to lose tens of thousands of dollars on every one of these EVs. They must have spent billions developing it during what now we realize was a different era. But how long will corporate put up with big loses before they cancel it? Or will they just keep it going at low volume. Time will tell.

Here's the press release...

https://media.subaru.com/pressrelease/2397/1/all-new-2026-subaru-trailseeker-combines-375-horsepower

"December 4, 2025 Camden, N.J.
ALL-NEW 2026 SUBARU TRAILSEEKER COMBINES 375 HORSEPOWER WITH LEGENDARY ALL-WHEEL-DRIVE PERFORMANCE FOR $39,995 MSRP...

The 2026 Subaru Trailseeker will be available in three trim levels: Premium, Limited, and Touring. The Trailseeker features 8.3 inches of ground clearance and X-MODE® Dual-Mode System with Snow/Dirt and Deep Snow/Mud Modes, Grip Control and Downhill Assist Control for off-road adventures. On the road, the Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel-Drive system was designed to deliver excellent straight-line stability and control on varying surfaces. That’s due to acceleration sensors at the front and rear of the 2026 Subaru Trailseeker, which adapt to dynamic load while accelerating, braking, or turning and help power the correct wheels for improved traction and stability. With 375 horsepower, the 2026 Subaru Trailseeker launches from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, making it the quickest production Subaru model sold in the U.S. yet."

tjc78 · 8:39AM

28firefighter said:
We’re going to lease and the money factor on a Forester Hybrid equates to .19% interest. No brainer.

Always a good way to start hacking a lease with a subsidized MF!

tjc78 · 9:06AM

All this car talk has me very curious what will replace the Mercedes in October next year.

I haven't been following EV leases but without the $7500 I'd assume a deal like I got on the Mercedes isn't going to happen again.

Wife really has no input for me --- I mean she probably has only driven 2000 miles since we got the EQE with me putting on the rest.

Then there is the whole commute thing for me. They just announced the moving of our corp office to a new facility 11 miles further which equates to 30-40 mins longer for me. This means 90 mins minimum in and 120 mins home. I had a meeting with the Pres today and said that isn't sustainable. He said he already expected this and most likely I'll go to a very flexible schedule where I'll WFH 3 days a week with some weeks being 2 days depending on what is going on. "They want to keep me"

This means a little less overall mileage which would at least keep me in a 7500 or 10K / mile lease for her car. I'd like to stay EV, but will not pay more for it on a lease than a regular powertrain. Too early to really dig in, but the one thing I think my wife and I will both agree on is it will be a sedan.

nyccarguy · 9:17AM

28firefighter said:
We’re going to lease and the money factor on a Forester Hybrid equates to .19% interest. No brainer.

That's way cheap! What does the rest of the program look like? Is it the same across all Forester Hybrid models? Kudos to your wife for going to drive a Forester on her own. My wife despises car dealers. She thinks everything takes forever.

explorerx4 · 9:21AM

.19%? I'm paying 10 times that on my car loan.

venture · 9:22AM

ab348 said:
I like the looks of that Trailseeker. Different from the usual (and worsening) styling of recent Subies. Tough time to be rolling out a new EV though. Maybe we will finally start to see more competitive prices on them.

My wife's '25 Forester is pretty good looking (for an SUV). The secret is getting a dark enough color to hide the horrible black cladding that seems to get worse every year.

One day I actually slowed down to see what was coming up in the left lane because it was so ugly. It was a Solterra.

Michaell · 9:27AM

I hate to break it to you, but you've got the MF to APR conversion wrong for the 2025 Forester Hybrid Premium.

The equivalent APR is actually .12%, not .19%.

Ironically, the same MF that I had on my 2016 Jetta SE lease. I think I paid all of $50 in interest over 3 years.

xwesx · 9:49AM

28firefighter said:
Yeah from what I can see, he retired. And the dealer he worked for is…not great anymore. They couldn’t show us the door fast enough when they realized they didn’t have what we wanted in stock.

Yes, that was Joe Spitz. He was great to work with. I bought one Forester and one Outback from him, and almost bought a second Outback, but I needed that one in a pinch, and, price-wise, it was close enough to what I could get in Anchorage that the extra time/drive was not worth the initial savings. Had it not been such a time pinch, I probably would have pulled the trigger.

xwesx · 9:55AM

Michaell said:
I hate to break it to you, but you've got the MF to APR conversion wrong for the 2025 Forester Hybrid Premium.

The equivalent APR is actually .12%, not .19%.

Ironically, the same MF that I had on my 2016 Jetta SE lease. I think I paid all of $50 in interest over 3 years.

Ouch. That's a deal-breaker, for sure! @28firefighter is going to have to start from scratch now!

au1994 · 10:13AM

@tjc78 its good that they are willing to be flexible with you.

28firefighter · 10:24AM

We’re picking up on Friday. But having to take a roadtrip for it. I thought going to Kirkland was annoying…

corvette · 10:37AM

@tjc78 - even two days a week, I would find that commute unacceptable. But, I lived a mile away from my old office for ten years, and I'm fully remote at the new gig.

tjc78 · 10:40AM

au1994 said:
@tjc78 its good that they are willing to be flexible with you.

Yes it is, I didn't say anything until they came to me. I was curious how it was going to shake out.

tjc78 · 10:45AM

corvette said:
@tjc78 - even two days a week, I would find that commute unacceptable. But, I lived a mile away from my old office for ten years, and I'm fully remote at the new gig.

I know where you are coming from. I have to weigh everything out. Most likely if I switch jobs again I'll end up on the road more. So - I suck up two days of crap commute for 3 WFH and minimal travel. The company knows I don't need to be in office at all in my role, so what I'm figuring is it is a win-win. It isn't like the ride is that far (42 miles) it is the insane traffic and then the new place is really only accessible from one non-highway road (8 miles of it)

nyccarguy · 10:48AM

tjc78 said:
All this car talk has me very curious what will replace the Mercedes in October next year.

I haven't been following EV leases but without the $7500 I'd assume a deal like I got on the Mercedes isn't going to happen again.

Wife really has no input for me --- I mean she probably has only driven 2000 miles since we got the EQE with me putting on the rest.

Then there is the whole commute thing for me. They just announced the moving of our corp office to a new facility 11 miles further which equates to 30-40 mins longer for me. This means 90 mins minimum in and 120 mins home. I had a meeting with the Pres today and said that isn't sustainable. He said he already expected this and most likely I'll go to a very flexible schedule where I'll WFH 3 days a week with some weeks being 2 days depending on what is going on. "They want to keep me"

This means a little less overall mileage which would at least keep me in a 7500 or 10K / mile lease for her car. I'd like to stay EV, but will not pay more for it on a lease than a regular powertrain. Too early to really dig in, but the one thing I think my wife and I will both agree on is it will be a sedan.

90 mins minimum in and 120 mins home.

That sucks. Big time. AWD Camry fits the bill. Not that I'm one to recommend, but you might find an attractive lease price on a Model Y.

kyfdx · 10:51AM

He can't hang out at the Shore with a Camry..

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