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monsterzero posted:Gonna need an extending tongue, for sure. That's what she said.
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Jan 20, 2017 05:55
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Thanks! I'm looking at TrailBlazers now. Are the badge-engineered siblings okay? Can I get a 9-7x?Michael Scott posted:That's what she said. Damnit, Michael!
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Jan 20, 2017 06:04
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Boys who love boys
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Hi all. I'm the guy who wanted to hedge buying/leasing a car against a possible move overseas in a couple of years. In an update that will interest precisely nobody, the initial diagnosis:Trabant posted:I've certainly babied my G35, and if it weren't for the ABS pump/controller crapping the bed, I'd probably drive it for a good while longer. has been proven wrong. The problem was neither the pump ($2,200 to replace) nor the controller ($2,400), but a bad relay between the two ($570). That's -- thankfully -- much less than the car is worth! Lesson: if you have a mechanic who'll spend an extra hour on diagnosing the issue, they can save you a poo poo-ton of hassle and money. Well, that's my story, please like and subscribe.
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Jan 20, 2017 06:56
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Trabant posted:The problem was neither the pump ($2,200 to replace) nor the controller ($2,400), but a bad relay between the two ($570). That's -- thankfully -- much less than the car is worth! Lesson: if you have a mechanic who'll spend an extra hour on diagnosing the issue, they can save you a poo poo-ton of hassle and money. I had a similar but somewhat less expensive problem on my BMW. Something in the ABS/TC system was causing the system to throw an error and stop functioning. The initial diagnosis was that the control module crapped out to the tune of about $1200 part + several hours of labor and a full brake system flush. Well, after they replaced the control module the error came right back. Fortunately my indy mechanic did some further diagnosis and found it was a hydraulic pressure sensor in between the brakes and control module that was sending bad data, which was a much cheaper ~$150 part. He put my old control module back in, refunded me the part cost for it, and knocked off a few hours of labor. Turned a $2000 repair into a $500 repair. A lesser mechanic or dealership would have likely just kept throwing parts at it and kept racking up the bill. A good indy mechanic willing to spend the time to truly diagnose a problem and admit when they're first diagnosis was wrong is worth so much.
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Jan 20, 2017 07:36
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You can get similar service anywhere if you're persistent and ask the right questions. I had some ridiculous electrical issues with my Focus ST that were able to be traced to a bad ground, total cost about $500 in diag, repair + a new battery. This was from a Ford dealer.
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Jan 20, 2017 14:26
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monsterzero posted:Thanks! I'm looking at TrailBlazers now. Are the badge-engineered siblings okay? Can I get a 9-7x? The GMC and Olds versions are exactly the same except for trim, never actually worked on the Buick or Saab. Wikipedia tells me the Saab is slightly different in terms of suspension. I, personally, would try to stay with Chevy/GMC because they're the most common in boneyards and if you buy a cheap one you're most likely going to have to buy parts occasionally.
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Jan 20, 2017 14:32
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JnnyThndrs posted:I, personally, would try to stay with Chevy/GMC because they're the most common in boneyards and if you buy a cheap one you're most likely going to have to buy parts occasionally. Good point. If I feel like telling my friends to meet me at the marina and go with a truck, would the i6 Silverado/F150 and the like be good tow rigs? Would single-cab/short-bed be undesirable with a boat/trailer that will end up being at least 26' long?
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Jan 20, 2017 18:59
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Qashqui DIG-T 115 vs Ioniq Hybrid Premium SE Hi, my grandparents are looking at new cars after their 2014 Honda Civic Auto was written off in an accident in a car park. They were returning to their car when an uninsured 17yo mistook the accelerator pedal for the brake in his car and stoved in the side of the Civic! If they had gotten back the their car 30 seconds sooner they could have ended up squished. Anyway they have been round the showrooms today and narrowed it down to these models. I think they are pre-registered. My granddad likes the Hyundai as they are giving him a good discount apparently because he has an army pension!? He also prefers the styling. My grandma prefers the quashqai as it is slightly higher so easier to get into/out of (she has had both hips replaced). They asked me because I am into cars but I don't know much about these particular models. They would be getting the Auto-transmission versions of both. Does anyone have any views on these cars? Are they good buys, are there any known faults or issues with them? We're in the UK if it makes a difference.
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Jan 20, 2017 19:00
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Nissan is the Chrysler of japan and the cvt is terrible.
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Jan 20, 2017 19:50
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i mean if i were a filthy euro i'd buy like one of the weird dumb peugeot crossovers or something but you people now seem to be obsessed with down market asian garbage so if those are the choices yes the Hyundai is better
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Jan 20, 2017 20:05
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W wasn't an insane misogynist racist
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Jan 20, 2017 20:06
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JnnyThndrs posted:The GMC and Olds versions are exactly the same except for trim, never actually worked on the Buick or Saab. Wikipedia tells me the Saab is slightly different in terms of suspension. I think the only repair parts you might need on a 9-7x that aren't the same as on other models would probably still be shared with the Trailblazer SS. The only real problem is bodywork (and comprehensive insurance, as a result) because they just didn't make many.
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Jan 20, 2017 23:04
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monsterzero posted:Good point. The problem with trying to really low-buck a used pickup is that all the full-sized poverty-spec pickups have had V-6's since ~1995(when Ford's torquemonster 300 I6 went away), and none of them are up to the task of towing much at all. So you're probably going to have to find one with the low-end V8 in it, if you want to go with a pickup. As for length, it's true that a long tow vehicle helps stability, but a full sized pickup with some gear in the bed should be fine if you're careful.
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Jan 21, 2017 06:18
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Sanity check I've got a 2014 Subaru Outback with around 34k miles. I've had oil consumption issues with it since I bought it. In November, Subaru replaced the short block under warranty. It's part of the class action lawsuit against Subaru for oil consumption. Am I crazy for considering getting rid of it and getting something else? Not sure what the something else would be yet. No signs of high oil consumption yet but I also haven't driven it enough. The car had 31k miles when the short block was changed. I'm at 34k now and usually the low oil light would turn on around 4k miles between oil changes.
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Jan 21, 2017 09:59
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Sell it and buy a 2014 CTS-V wagon.
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Jan 21, 2017 14:49
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mariooncrack posted:Sanity check Why do you want to sell it?
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Jan 22, 2017 00:19
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Why do you want to sell it? I assume that he's worried that the issue will re-occur and he'll be up poo poo creek. I'd ask the subaru thread if they know if the issue is fixed.
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Jan 22, 2017 00:31
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Thanks for the advice, everyone. We managed to get out and test drive some things today. The CR-V so far is the stand-out favorite, with the RAV-4 and Prius V coming in 2nd and 3rd. My wife hated driving the Prius; unlike me, she actually is a car enthusiast and hated the way the Prius handled, which I can understand. I just don't care as much. We also looked at the iM and the Civic hatch, but they were indeed too small to really fit our reasons for moving to a bigger car. The HR-V was a similar sort of deal; once I got my wife to look at it, she agreed that there was no drat point to it, just get a CR-V. On a whim, we also checked out the Nissan Rogue, but goddamn, was it bad compared to the others. Noisy on the road, poor brakes thanks to a brake pedal that seemed designed to cause knee pain, it was set so high up. We can take our time buying, so we're going to watch and wait, see what kinds of deals we can get at a couple of dealerships. I might also give the Costco thing a try, since I'm a member and it's apparently decent if not amazing savings. Thanks again for the help, car nerds.
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Jan 22, 2017 07:23
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The Costco savings are poo poo. Just e-mail dealerships asking for their best out the door price given the trim and other details you want. You will save money over any Costco/Truecar/etc. CRV is a solid choice.
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Jan 22, 2017 19:50
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AriTheDog posted:The Costco savings are poo poo. Just e-mail dealerships asking for their best out the door price given the trim and other details you want. You will save money over any Costco/Truecar/etc. CRV is a solid choice. The Costco price for my Mazda3 was by far the best price I was able to get out of a half-dozen dealerships.
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Jan 23, 2017 03:39
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You weren't trying hard enough then. It's just TrueCar pricing.
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Jan 23, 2017 03:53
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It's like $100 above invoice. TrueCar is like $100 under MSRP (or, as in the case with the Civic hatchback I was pricing, MSRP).
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Jan 23, 2017 04:31
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Ammanas posted:It's like $100 above invoice. TrueCar is like $100 under MSRP (or, as in the case with the Civic hatchback I was pricing, MSRP). Where do trim levels fit in all of this? Are you saying Truecar is base MSRP, or MSRP with trims included?
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Jan 23, 2017 05:28
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AriTheDog posted:The Costco savings are poo poo. Just e-mail dealerships asking for their best out the door price given the trim and other details you want. You will save money over any Costco/Truecar/etc. CRV is a solid choice. Costco pricing for a high-volume transportation appliance like a CR-V will generally be pretty good. It'll come with the added hassle of not dealing with, "oh, yeah, sorry, that online quote we gave you just sold, guy signed a couple minutes before you pulled up. But today's your lucky day, I've got a much better one set aside for you, fully loaded!" or "oh, when I wrote 'out the door price' in email I wasn't including our standard documentation, title, trade-in appraisal, delivery, detailing, dealership branding, VIN etching, and miscellaneous fees." With anything even slightly unusual, sure, you can dig up a better price. But there's just no incentive to cut you a screaming deal on a CR-V or Prius or whatever. Large volume means that the dealership is going to figure out the exact price it's willing to sell for well before you walk in the door, and if you don't like that price, it won't be hard to find somebody else who will. At that point Costco has better negotiating levers than you do, and it'll be less work for you. Michael Scott posted:Where do trim levels fit in all of this? Are you saying Truecar is base MSRP, or MSRP with trims included? MSRP on pretty much any car is "MSRP with trims included." Manufacturers come up with a suggested retail price for every trim line and factory option.
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Jan 23, 2017 06:14
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Why do you want to sell it? nm posted:I assume that he's worried that the issue will re-occur and he'll be up poo poo creek. Basically this. After 2 years of taking it to the dealership every 3,000 miles or so, I'm just tired or dealing with the burning oil issue. Unfortunately, I don't think the Subaru thread knows. I think I was the first to have my short block replaced under warrranty Regarding Costco pricing, for me it was a few hundred off of invoice. Echoing what the others are saying, you may be able to do better but if all else fails, you've got that.
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Jan 24, 2017 01:57
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Space Gopher posted:Costco pricing for a high-volume transportation appliance like a CR-V will generally be pretty good. It'll come with the added hassle of not dealing with, "oh, yeah, sorry, that online quote we gave you just sold, guy signed a couple minutes before you pulled up. But today's your lucky day, I've got a much better one set aside for you, fully loaded!" or "oh, when I wrote 'out the door price' in email I wasn't including our standard documentation, title, trade-in appraisal, delivery, detailing, dealership branding, VIN etching, and miscellaneous fees." My parents had this exact experience with Costco pricing. Dealer did the switcheroo. The fine print apparently doesn't forbid them from doing this. Either that, or they don't care.
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Jan 24, 2017 20:37
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AriTheDog posted:My parents had this exact experience with Costco pricing. Dealer did the switcheroo. The fine print apparently doesn't forbid them from doing this. Either that, or they don't care. So costco pricing doesn't include things like taxes and dealer fees afaik, nor does it include things like manufacturer incentives etc. But if a dealership played a game with a Costco customer, your parents should really contact costco about it.
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Jan 24, 2017 20:45
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Ammanas posted:So costco pricing doesn't include things like taxes and dealer fees afaik, nor does it include things like manufacturer incentives etc. But if a dealership played a game with a Costco customer, your parents should really contact costco about it. I had a similar experience and the dealer claimed that it was a 'computer mistake' when it was clearly bait and switch behavior. And the same dealer did the same thing with TrueCar. Hilariously, in the end, I was able to get them to basically honor the 'mistake' TrueCar discount but I would not wish upon anyone what I had to go through, and then how I had to fight to get the refund check. I think there are cases where doing the legwork yourself if the best deal and others where a Costco or TrueCar would be best. Highly variable and lots of factors involved for sure. In other news, anyone have an opinion on the 'no haggle' price system that some Lexus dealers are piloting?
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Jan 24, 2017 21:12
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I'm in favor of no-haggle pricing wherever possible for new vehicles, and used too in many cases. I studied economics in undergrad and the economic benefit of haggling by the consumer for a perfectly fungible good never made much sense to me. The only positive argument that I've studied is that it lets the value of a good shift in turn with how valuable each good is to each individual consumer, and that in turn allows more consumers to afford each good and pay the price most appropriate for them. But I see most of the benefit for the dealer, not the consumer. Why not let dealers compete with dealers on the lowest possible price and good service instead of customers competing with dealers in an adversarial negotiation? Michael Scott fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Jan 24, 2017 |
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Jan 24, 2017 21:19
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There's nothing preventing dealers from competing with each other on "low, no-haggle prices", and there are some dealerships moving to similar models. But as long as there are suckers out there willing to get hosed on haggling and there is money to be made on screwing them, then some dealers will continue to do that. Which is also why car-buying services like TrueCar, CostCo, now Walmart, and others are successful and growing. For most people, it's worth getting a "good-but-not-necessarily-THE-BEST" price through a service like that, rather than dealing with haggling. Perhaps if car-buying services rise in popularity enough, dealers will cut out the middle man and move to low, fixed pricing. But there's probably always going to be a place for haggling. Most big-ticket items that you buy in stores are price negotiable if you ask. For example, furniture and appliances are frequently negotiable if you are buying the mid to high end. Guinness fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Jan 24, 2017 |
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Jan 24, 2017 21:38
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Crosspost from AI Stupid Questions thread Can someone please describe the process of using an auto broker to buy a car? Like can I give them a checklist of things I won't compromise on, things I might compromise on, things I don't care about, etc? What are fees like? With a broker's fee included, will I really save more over doing my own negotiating with a dealer? Is a broker really that much more effective than I could be at finding exactly what I want? Thanks.
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Jan 24, 2017 23:00
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Tom McParland from Jalopnik will do that for you. He's got everything clearly laid out on his website and will even do a free intro call. I'm totally using him the next time I need to buy.
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Jan 24, 2017 23:31
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Those deals invariably have a VIN on them. Demand that they show you their computer screen showing the status of that VIN if they won't bring the car around. If it's legitimately sold then whatever, but most of the time it's just dealer antics.
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Jan 24, 2017 23:50
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Could someone give me a quick rundown on goods/bads on this list? And maybe expand it for more of the same kind of thing? I'm looking for a smallish car that sits low and is decently fun to drive without going to the track, for ~25k or less. Hyundai Veloster R-Spec Toyota 86 Ford Focus RS Ford Fiesta RS Subaru WRX Fiat 124 Mazda MX-5 What's the good ones? Why shouldn't I look at the bad ones? signalnoise fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Jan 25, 2017 |
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Jan 25, 2017 23:34
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signalnoise posted:Could someone give me a quick rundown on goods/bads on this list? And maybe expand it for more of the same kind of thing? I'm looking for a smallish car that sits low and is decently fun to drive without going to the track, for ~25k or less. Skip the Veloster, it's a fake sporty car compared to everything else on your list. The Fiesta RS doesn't exist, you're likely thinking of the Fiesta ST. The Focus RS feels out of place compared to the rest, it's more like a $40k car not $25k. Good list overall, and you should go drive each of them, as well as a GTI just to be sure you don't want something a little softer.
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Jan 25, 2017 23:47
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Twerk from Home posted:Skip the Veloster, it's a fake sporty car compared to everything else on your list. Honestly I was looking at the Veloster due to price but I admit it's a bit of a compromise. As far as soft, nah I am looking for something to recapture the feel of the 240SX I had 15 years ago, but relatively lightweight RWD ain't cheap from what I've seen.
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Jan 25, 2017 23:50
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I'd buy the miata over the fiat because the drivetrain won't catch on fire.
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Jan 25, 2017 23:53
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signalnoise posted:Could someone give me a quick rundown on goods/bads on this list? And maybe expand it for more of the same kind of thing? I'm looking for a smallish car that sits low and is decently fun to drive without going to the track, for ~25k or less. I own a Fiat 124 and can vouch for it. It's fantastic. It and the MX-5 are close, so there's a bunch of subjective criteria differentiating them that will push people one way or the other. What pushed me to the Fiat is that it has a significantly better suspension, having a softer ride and yet flatter cornering than the MX-5. Engine is mostly a wash depending on whether you prefer NA or turbocharged. The Fiat is quieter, but also a bit heavier (in part due to the extra noise deadening). The long hood makes it feel much larger when you're in the car - it's surprising how small it is when you get out. The Fiat also has a significantly larger trunk, which may seem silly for a two-seater - but it's big enough to fit the luggage for you and your spouse to take it on a weekend jaunt somewhere. The Miata's is borderline useless. If you don't plan on doing any modding or track days, the Fiat is the better choice, IMO. Drive both (and the others) and see what you think for yourself. In all, even though they're very similar and come off the same assembly line, their souls are quite different and it's a very individual choice as to which is better for you.
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Jan 26, 2017 00:44
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signalnoise posted:Could someone give me a quick rundown on goods/bads on this list? And maybe expand it for more of the same kind of thing? I'm looking for a smallish car that sits low and is decently fun to drive without going to the track, for ~25k or less. There's also the GTI and the 500 Abarth, depending on which company is more desperate to sell cars these days. Probably VW.
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Jan 26, 2017 00:56
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My 2003 VW Passat is about to die and I need a new car but I have no real knowledge of cars. My Passat is a 5 speed that has been fairly enjoyable to drive, it's the 4cyl turbo model, and I'd like something comparable. With that said though I don't really care what make or model my new car is. I just want it to work for a long while and be fun to drive since I seem to be always on the road. Budget: 15-20k New or Used: Used, preferably a car no more then five or six years old. Body Style: Two or four door small to midsize car. I prefer small cars but I don't care to much as long as its not a full size SUV. How will you be using the car?: Regular hour long commutes, occasional road trips, transporting groceries and small electronic equipment and paperwork. What aspects are most important to you?: I'd love a manual transmission and a car that's fun to drive around on country roads and hills as I live outside of my local city. Good gas mileage is a plus so is the ability to drive up a hill without feeling like it's going through molasses. In a toss up though I'd prefer performance. I also did a lot of the simpler maintenance on my car up to the level of changing rotors so something I could work on would be lovely. Gadgets/Features I only really need the basics, powered windows, bluetooth phone compatibility, etc. but extra do-dads could be cool. Heated seats, a sun roof or hardtop convertible would be nice but not necessary. I know this seems wishy washy but I really have no idea what to get, most cars are the same to me and I don't really have the money to buy myself some sexy sports car.
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Jan 27, 2017 01:21
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