Innocuous posted:

loving awful BMW sales experience (that went from a salesperson swerving at 80 mph on city surface streets with pedestrians around before giving me the wheel

Residency Evil posted:

You'll never believe how much this Audi wagon repair costs! Like and subscribe!

McKracken posted:

More info for the responses:

It is the TL with automatic transmission.

Mechanically the car is fine other than things I've mentioned but because it's nearing 17 years in age a lot of other smaller things have failed.

The upholstery on the top of the cabin has come undone, the entire navigation/touchscreen/audio system is out, heated seats no longer work, the rear view mirror can't go into night mode, dashboard has started to crack apart...

Between all of that and recently moving to a more urban area I'd just like to sell the TL and get something better on gas but a little more sporty/less boring than a Prius. I've driven a friend's Prius before and I know the TL isn't anything to brag about, but the Prius felt totally lifeless.

E: Underwhelmed specifically about the gas efficiency/price ratio for the RLX compared to the Lexus 300 which I imagine runs on a similar platform as the other Toyota hybrids. I realize it's a V6 vs a 4 cylinder but that's more of what I was looking for.

I don't need a luxury badge but I definitely want something with a good audio/entertainment system.

Nitrox posted:

You're right, of course. I'm changing my advice to hire a professional buyer, they usually take around $500, but are skilled negotiators and know where and how to look. Including auctions. You do need to know exactly what you want and how much you're willing to spend.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

carvana is making up their negative margin in volume burning through vc money so i would definitely try them

disaster pastor posted:

My 1999 Camry is giving up the ghost and I need a replacement. I know almost literally nothing about the process, since it's the only car I've ever owned. Luckily, I make a pretty good living and can afford to splurge a little bit.

Proposed Budget: $20K tops.
New or Used: Used, most likely.
Body Style: I'm still most comfortable with four-door sedans. I haven't enjoyed rental SUVs, and I've been unenthused in my couple of goes at driving my girlfriend's Prius.
How will you be using the car?: Commute is generally 10–15 minutes. When we travel for trips, four hours is generally the max we go by car.
What aspects are most important to you?: I'm not expecting another twenty-year life, but I don't want to be looking again in three years, either. Ideal nice-to-haves are smart keys, heated seats, sunroof, Android Auto; I'm coming from a 1999, I want to play with the new stuff (but also, "remote lock/unlock" is new stuff...). Hybrid or at least high-MPG is nice.

I've mostly been looking at Camrys again and Civics. I peeked at Nissans but people who Seem To Know are telling me to avoid Nissans of the last few years (including a couple posts up). Open to Hyundai and Subaru but I just don't know very much about them; people who Seem To Know are saying I can get a good new Hyundai with some of my wants in this price range.

Sextro posted:

I wish they didn't give a gently caress. I've been getting daily phone calls and emails from a bunch of local dealers after I just gave the basic info to see their online inventories (including the info that I am in the 4-6 month window).

The Door Frame posted:

Man, why does responsibility have to be so boring. I guess I can get another Scion

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

After not responding to the guy's email stating they won't service the recall prior to sale, a week of silence goes by and I get an email from left field saying "we can have it serviced if you want to come take a look at it." We schedule a test drive and they had it serviced before we got there.

We went in to test drive it yesterday afternoon and the interior was filthy as all gently caress. Marks all over the roof, cookies in the pockets behind the front seats (that was my favorite). It drove really well, but it was dirty AF inside. We had our infant twins with us, and they were starting to lose it after being there for 90 mins, so I just said "yeah it drives really well and checks all our boxes, but this is filthy as hell." We left and he had a full interior detailing done within 3-4 hours. We came back later that evening and it looked like a brand new car. I haven't the slightest clue why they didn't clean it up in the 2-3 weeks they previously had it on the lot. Even the pictures they had online showed the interior dirty as hell, which is super weird.

It was a no-haggle price, but after checking out the KBB, it was actually priced a few hundred under the low point of the "fair market price" green range, so we pulled the trigger and my wife went from a mama van to a mama tank. It took her like 5 tries to back it into our driveway and we have to take it to SF this upcoming weekend, which will be a blast.

Solumin posted:

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

Seller is absolutely a flake, three poo poo quality pictures on a listing for a Cayman? Idiot. Don't buy his car.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

Exception to the "no rentals" part of the title: If you want to buy one of the extremely on-sale Corvette C7 Z06s that Hertz is dumping, I bless your choice to buy an ex-rental. Low mileage 95K Corvette for 60K.

HAMAS HATE BOAT posted:

Thanks, this helps. I'm planning on taking small numbers at a time on a one-way trip from a small organic outdoor farm.

Lpzie posted:

my lease on a a honda civic (paying like 400 usd/month) ends on july 4th. wife needs a car just to go to work (1 mil away) and campus (3 mil away). we do groceries once a month. that's probably all the use it'll get. def. want something i can get rid of with a few years and that doesn't cost so drat much per month.

Loan Dusty Road posted:

What country are you in?

Twelve by Pies posted:

So I have a 2003 Mazda Protege with about 182,000 miles on it, it's always had belt issues (the belt would squeal loudly when you started the car up, or at low speeds) which led to me having to replace the alternator about every year and a half to two years. Lately it had been stalling when I was sitting idle, and refusing to accelerate when I pressed the gas, so I brought it into the shop. I just got a call a bit ago and apparently the issue is low compression in the cylinders. The mechanic says it's an internal issue and as such it'll probably be 2500-3000 dollars to repair.

I'm thinking about getting a new (used) car. This is a lot of money to spend on a car I've already been having frequent issues with and while I know it's cheaper in the short term to just get it repaired, as far as the long term goes it might be better to just move on. The only issues I have are budget and to an extent my credit rating. My credit score is 512 (having a couple of major surgeries with no insurance tends to be bad for credit rating, who knew?) so I'm a bit worried I won't be able to find something decent due to that. I also don't have that much money, I have about 5500 in the bank right now and that's pretty much it. I don't do much with my car except drive to work every morning (about a ten mile drive) and occasional trips to visit other family one state over, which is around a 60 mile drive or so. I also do sometimes make longer trips with it (I drove it to Florida two years ago) but those are pretty rare. I don't do any moving really, so no need for a truck and I don't need an SUV either. The most people I ever have to drive around is 3, and even that's not often, it's usually just me and one other person. Just a simple car that runs well is good enough for me.

I guess what I'm asking is is there a chance I can get a decent car without having to spend everything I have, and what should I look for?

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

Again, if you're gonna drive it til it dies, it makes sense to buy. But for current BMW 2-series sequential lease vs finance (and the current finance deal is $3,000 off MSRP plus 0.9% for 60 mos, which is strong), the break-even point where it's advantageous to finance means keeping the purchased car for minimum six years and eight months. That ignores any repair costs on the financed vehicle, which will have been out of warranty for two years and eight months.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

nah it's perfectly effective. AWD in any variety pretty much only helps with go. sure if you have a managed center diff on a STi or whatever, that has some additional benefits, but if you're comparing say, a CR-V to an automatic Forester, there's functionally no difference in capability. The CR-V has a 100-0 default split and the Forester has a 90-10 default split which is uh pretty front biased.

The use cases where early Haldex AWD systems failed to engage happened in lab environments where there was zero (literally zero) available traction to the front wheels, so therefore the rear diff would not engage. this will never happen in the real world.

fknlo posted:

I drove the Prius and it drove like what I assumed a Prius drives like. There are a couple minor issues that I noticed. The spoiler is popped up a little and the rubber weather seals on the outside of the drivers side windows are disintegrating. Outside of that it has the typical dings and scratches I'd expect. The guy apparently used it as an airport car when he had a job he traveled for. Those things are pretty minor so I'm definitely going to think it over. It seems like it's still a good price for the mileage compared to what else I'm seeing locally.

androo posted:

That's a really good idea. Unfortunately, I don't think I have an option to charge an EV from my current apartment, except to run an extension cord 30 feet out to the parking area. Too bad, since my apartment isn't individually metered so rent includes electricity

KillHour posted:

Also, I think this is taken for granted, but a lease makes absolutely no sense at your budget. Buy lightly used. It's already been said, but avoid extended warranties. They are scams that prey on your fears and are almost never worth anything.

Toyota and Honda were already posted for obvious reasons. I would strongly consider Kia and Hyundai as well - they don't quite have the same reputation, but they have class-leading transferrable warranties and they're just generally good cars for the money now.

Lastly, this is going to sound weird, but the absolute best way to keep costs down is to be obsessive about maintenance. We're going to assume by "low maintenance" you mean "doesn't crack a charge cooler in 30k miles" not "I expect to be 6 months and 5k miles late on an oil change." Even the venerable Prius can still have unexpected issues and being proactive about fluid changes, rotations, brakes, inspections, etc. makes a huge difference in catching things early or preventing things together. Just remember that the most reliable car in the world will still cost money to maintain. If you're worried about that, shave a few grand off your budget and set it aside for potential future work and consider it part of the purchase price.

But a Prius is probably the closest you can get to worry free.

clockworkjoe posted:

Thanks for the recommendation - I have 2 friends with prius' so I'll talk to them about their experiences.

Deteriorata posted:

We have a 2013 Odyssey, which has over 100,000 miles with very few problems. I can thoroughly recommend them, but at the lower trim levels. You don't actually need seat-back DVD players or automatic doors, they're gimmicks to jack the price up.

feelix posted:

That's why I'm shocked at being turned down by a CU and then being offered 6% by the dealer. I could obviously shop around way more but before I got into this I thought I was hot poo poo and lenders would be begging for a chance to give me a loan

skipdogg posted:

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Emailing dealers trying to buy a car is a complete waste of time for all parties involved.

Space Gopher posted:

On the west coast, "chains or AWD required" is a fairly common restriction when the first few snowflakes start hitting the passes. Checking that box is especially important for skiers and snowboarders, who like to go to mountain passes when it's snowing.

The styling isn't beautiful, but it doesn't have the mom-ish stigma of the CR-V, RAV4, or Forester, and a lot of people buy into Subaru's lifestyle marketing of slightly quirky AWD cars for slightly quirky active people.

There are a lot of twentysomethings who tick all those boxes, have an early-career job where they can afford an inexpensive new car, and don't mind a slow drivetrain so much because they're coming from an early-2000s car with a tired engine that probably struggles to make 100hp and a four speed torque converter auto. Judging by what I see in Seattle, they buy an awful lot of Crosstreks.

Throatwarbler posted:

Your in-laws are in their late 30s?

Evelyn Nesbit posted:

I've managed to survive in Seattle for 6 years without a car, but my husband and I are finally in a comfortable enough financial position to buy something! This is the first time in my life that I'll own a car that's not 20 years old and $1500, and I could use some guidance so I don't just go and buy the first thing I see OR overthink it and give myself an ulcer.

Proposed Budget: $8000 cash
New or Used[/b]: Used
Body Style: Compact or midsize, 4 door.
How will you be using the car?: Occasional work commute (30-40 minute drive, highway, a few times a month), but other than that mostly city driving and occasional road trips.
What aspects are most important to you? (e.g. reliability, cost of ownership/maintenance, import/domestic, MPG, size, style) Reliability, ease of maintenance, automatic transmission. Husband wants something Japanese, but that's negotiable.

meanolmrcloud posted:

We bought a 2018 Rogue. less than 30k miles and it was less than 19k, which is why we bought it. How bad did we gently caress up?