Musings on shopping for a new vehicle.

squatting dog said:

I wish they still used chrome... a lot of chrome.
Back in the day, it took about 2 or 3 workers just to put on those heavy chrome bumpers.



View attachment 431157

Click to expand...

Victor said:

I hate dealerships and their blatant dishonesty. They will say anything to get you to come in and bait and switch. I have been lied to twice in the last month going to a Kia and Subaru dealer, and others. The sales rep didn't even meet me after I drove 23 miles. I wonder if the car even exists. It doesn't help calling before you go. They lie.
Nothing but frustration for me...their info is not worth the paper it's written on. Deceit is their job. They are rewarded for it. And their negative feedback seems unnoticed.

Click to expand...

Muskrat said:

As to your 2009 with only 169000….i would still be driving that

Click to expand...

C50 said:

You can shut it off each time you get in the car but I have yet to find a way to permanently disable that feature on my car.

Click to expand...

Trade said:

I am for the time being but I can see a list of things that are going to cost me some big bucks in the future. The A/C works fine right now, but it's 16 going on 17 years old. At that age it could go any time. Ka Ching. I've replaced the starter but the alternater is the original one. How much longer is that going to last? Ka Ching again. Brakes. They are working fine now but the lining on the pads are down to about 1/8 of an inch. It won't be long till the squeelers start hitting the rotors. Ka Ching.

The tires still have good tread on them but according to the code they were manufactured in early to mid 2017. When they hit 10 years old I'll need to replace them even if they still have decent tread left. Ka Ching. The engine runs like a top but it does leak oil. Not a lot. I put a quart in every 1,000 to 1,500 miles, but that could get worse. Rebuilding the engine would cost a lot more than the car would be worth after the engine is rebuilt. Same goes for the Transmission which is also working just fine for now, but for how long?

I've put the Subaru on the back burner and have narrowed by contenders down to a Toyota Rav-4 or a Honda CR-V. I don't like the idea of a little diminutive 1.5 liter engine on the Honda. It's turbo charged to get 190 hoursepower. But that comes to 2 horsepower per cubic inch. That seems to be wringing too much out of that little tiny engine. That concerns about it's longevity. So that puts the Rav-4 in first place. I looked at the Nissan Rouges too but they have a 3 cylinder engine. That is just plain wrong! Engines are supposed to have an even number of cylinders!

Click to expand...

Trade said:

If I do decide to buy a new vehicle I will do all my negotiating by email over the internet. Why? Because I find it's a lot easier to be a hard ass over the internet than it is in person.

For example take the Subaru Outback I was looking at. After test driving it I waited a day, then requested an OTD (out the door) price by email. The salesman bumped my request to "the manager" who came back with $39,522. This was on a vehicle that had an MSRP of $36,031. Then there was tax tag and title, doc fees, and some other nebulous charges that brought it up to the $39,522. I replied by telling him via email that I don't see any reason to continue this and left it at that. A couple hours later he came back to me by email with $37,427 with the caveat that I had to come back that very day and complete the deal. I just ignored that one.

The next day the salesman emailed me asking if I had thought about the offer. I replied that I wasn't interested in any offer that had a deadline on it. A couple hours later the sales manager emailed me and said the offer would be good whenever I was ready. And that's where it stands today. So they came down 5.3% from their first OTD quote. So I'm going to use that as my benchmark for any vehicle I might decide to buy. First I'll ask for their OTD price. Then I'll make a counter offer of 5.3% less. If they take it, I'll buy the vehicle. If they try to counter offer I'll reply thanks , but no thanks, end of conversation.

Click to expand...

Trade said:

My current vehicle is a 2009 Honda accord with 169,000 miles on it. It's been a very dependable car but just recently I had a $1400 repair bill on it and I am starting to feel like it might be getting to the point where things start to go on it. So I've been looking at new cars. I've got it pretty much narrowed down to three options. A Subaru Outback, a Honda CRV, ot a Toyota Rav4. But one thing I am finding to my dislikeing is all the damned technology on these new ones. One example is this auto stop start feature.

What the Hell? Who would want their vehile to shut off every time you stop at a stop light? First of all I learned that starting up a car takes as much gas as idling for 10 minutes. So how does having it shut off save gas? Well I looked it up and apparently my knowledge is now obsolete. The 10 minute rule applied to carbureted vehicles. Supposedly fuel injected vehicles only use 10 seconds worth of gas at idle to restart. At least that's what it says on the internet. I'm having a hard time buying that.

On top of that when I have to stop on a road for whatever reason I am always checking my rear view mirror to see if some yayhoo behind me is asleep at the wheel and is barreling down the road and about to crash into me. So I'm looking to see if I have an escape route. And I don't want to have to wait for my car to restart.

Then there's the wear and tear on your starter having to restart your car over and over and over. How long before I'm going to need a new starter? Mine went out in my Honda a couple of years ago and it cost me about a thousand bucks to get it replaced.

Click to expand...

Teacher Terry said:

... I ended up taking a car loan for half of it because they offered me 2.9%. At that rate, my investments are making more money so I will keep the loan for the four years.

What had happened to a couple of my older friends as they kept driving their old cars was eventually they started to need many repairs. They both said before you know it you have spent a lot of money on repairs and you still have an old car where things are breaking.

So they then bought new cars but by that time being in their mid 80s, they realize they didn’t have that many years left to drive them and they wish they would’ve bought the new cars when they were younger. That also influenced my decision.

Click to expand...

MoBeans said:

I did computer security for a living so this one really ticks me off. Unless you really want it, avoid signing up for the extras where you can start your car remotely, find where your car is, anything that lets them communicate with your vehicle. Unfortunately this includes the remote help button which most people our age want. Either way in the setup there should be a privacy option. My Honda Accord has that on the opening screen, enable it. ALL car companies are known to sell your data to anyone who wants to pay for it.

Many people say they don't care but there have been cases where the data was bought and found it's way to the persons insurance company. Sudden braking? One guys insurance doubled because of that event, which does get recorded and if they can they will download it. His insurance went up without them even knowing the reason was that caused it. Should have hit that squirrel.

Also and even worse... We just bought a used Toyota Corolla hybrid in California. Many manufacturers now install a "security device" to all their cars adding anywhere from $1k to $2k to the price which is not optional and is nothing but a GPS tracking device (see above). They originally used the GPS for financed cars so they could locate them to repo them if necessary. Now that data is so valuable everybody gets one. Even new cars. At least with Toyota , and if one manufatuurer does it you can bet most others do too.

So even if you don't enable the extras they can still track you. You can opt out of this too but most people don't even know it's there. They won't remove it until you buy the car and maybe not even then. One problem is that they are so poorly designed that if the car sits for an extended peirod it drains the battery because it never turns off. Even the OEM ones installed in cars have had issues with battery drain. Especially Subaru.

Plus be sure it's not a hidden item not on the sticker price until you sit down to negotiate. Then it will appear as a security device and they will offer to give it to you for free and say they just dropped the price of the car $2000, back to the sticker price. Negotiation over. This is exactly what they tried to pull on us. We went to a different dealer and same story except the security device was only $1k. Keep an eye out for that scam and make them remove it.

Here is what I am talking about .

Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.

Click to expand...

seadoug said:

The 4-cylinder turbo is a beast (for that size engine) and it is a blast to drive. It has plenty of torque down low. The engine growls when you step on it.

Click to expand...

Trade said:

Today I test drove a Toyota Rav4 and a Mazda CX-5. I liked the Mazda a lot more than I did the Toyota. So now it's in the number one position if I decide to buy a new vehicle.

Click to expand...

C50 said:

I just purchased a 2025 CX5 last month, I've been driving a 2015 CX5 I purchased new and the car has never needed a thing other than routine maintenance, has 148,000 miles on it now. I actually tried very hard to talk myself into buying something different simply to change things up but kept circling back to another Mazda.

Click to expand...

Trade said:

May I ask what kind of deal you were able to get on it? The MSRP on the one I am looking at is $30,785.

Click to expand...

C50 said:

My CX5 has the Premium Plus package, and believe it was listed at $37,585. When the arm wrestling was finished I had the price reduced by $2,944, that included a $750 Mazda loyalty discount since I had purchased Mazdas before. It took three months from the first test drive till I purchased the car, I'm never in a hurry and am always willing to walk away.

I started off looking at luxury SUVs, Audi, Volvo, Discovery, BMW, Buick, then decided a car wasn't worth me spending that kind of money on. Then looked at the RAV4, Honda CRV, Subaru Forrester, Mazda CX50 and CX5.

All in all I feel you get more for the money with the CX5, and frankly I like the way the car looks and drives.

Click to expand...

Teacher Terry said:

I had a 17 year-old Toyota Corolla that only had 73K miles on it. The only thing I ever needed was tires, brakes, and oil changes. When I decided I wanted a new car, I looked at Toyota, Honda and Subaru. Subaru had overtaken the other two and was number one in many areas now.

I did want some of the safety features such as a back up camera. I was able to get the safety features that I wanted with buying the base model. I bought the Subaru Impreza. It was also less expensive than the other brands of cars. Ended up snowing here on three different occasions where I absolutely had to drive and I love the all wheel drive that you can turn on so you don’t slide around in the snow. We don’t get a lot of snow but when we do, that’s a real benefit.

I originally thought I would drive my Toyota forever, but I have to say that I’m really enjoying driving my new car. I’ve now had it six months and it’s been worth every penny. I ended up taking a car loan for half of it because they offered me 2.9%. At that rate, my investments are making more money so I will keep the loan for the four years.

What had happened to a couple of my older friends as they kept driving their old cars was eventually they started to need many repairs. They both said before you know it you have spent a lot of money on repairs and you still have an old car where things are breaking.

So they then bought new cars but by that time being in their mid 80s, they realize they didn’t have that many years left to drive them and they wish they would’ve bought the new cars when they were younger. That also influenced my dIts

Click to expand...

Trade said:

Thanks! One thing I didn't like about the RAV4 was that you apparently need a smart phone to use the navigation. Or if you don't you need to buy a subscription that has a monthly fee.

With the Mazda the salesperson said in order to use the navigation all I would need is to buy a sim card from them which would be a one time fee of about $400 or $500. That's a little steep but I'd much rather do that then get stuck with a monthly subscription fee. As far as you know is that correct?

Click to expand...

C50 said:

I don't believe the salesman mentioned a monthly subscription for navigation but yes to either buying a sim card or use your phone. I prefer using my phone over in car navigation because its always up to date with road closures and such, the phone links to the car so its still shown on your cars screen and turn directions thru the speakers.

Paid subscriptions for car functions really tick me off. Mazda, Honda, Subaru and others give you a year free for remote start using their app, then you need to pay for it, which I never will.

Click to expand...

Trade said:

With the Mazda the salesperson said in order to use the navigation all I would need is to buy a sim card from them which would be a one time fee of about $400 or $500. That's a little steep but I'd much rather do that then get stuck with a monthly subscription fee. As far as you know is that correct?

Click to expand...

Trade said:

Thanks! One thing I didn't like about the RAV4 was that you apparently need a smart phone to use the navigation. Or if you don't you need to buy a subscription that has a monthly fee.

With the Mazda the salesperson said in order to use the navigation all I would need is to buy a sim card from them which would be a one time fee of about $400 or $500. That's a little steep but I'd much rather do that then get stuck with a monthly subscription fee. As far as you know is that correct?

I hear you about taking your time. If you miss out on the one you are looking at there will always be another car for sale. My philosophy on cars is buy new, take good care of them and drive them forever. I bought the 2009 Honda Accord I have now new and have had it for about 16 and 1/2 years. Since I'm 78 years old now I figure this will be the last car I buy so I'm going to make sure it's as close to exactlywhat I want as possible.

Click to expand...

Victor said:

And also the older I get, the less driving I do. Or no driving at all some days. So it barely pays to spend a lot on the car.Plus the insurance when I am the only driver...down Waste of Time Street
I need a digital built in compass and CD player. A few cars have them.Like Mustangs.

Click to expand...