Set a new record yesterday at my shop

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The German car stories make me wonder why the Japanese cars tend to have slightly lower prestige in the market place. Lexus is up there reputation wise but Acura, not so much. Yet our experience with Acura has been stellar. I will say I am not a great fan of the new automatic transmissions they are currently using, but blame that switchover on EPA fuel economy regs. Like others, would not want to own an out of warranty Audi. Would not think twice about a well cared for old Honda product. Once you establish a relationship with a good dealer, Japanese cars become great values, even if you trade them often as opposed to driving them into the ground.
 
Mazda. I bought a 2010 Mazda 6 mostly because of the room in the rear seat and trunk. Well, and the venerable Ford 3.7 litre V6 that has been bullet proof. Had never owned a Mazda before. It had 4 miles on it new. 8 years and 170,000 miles later, I have only changed oil and tires, and 1 set of brakes. No warranty work ever. Liked it so much I bought my wife 2014 AWD CX 9 to replace her rapidly declining Honda Pilot. Same thing, oil and tires. It has almost 100,000 miles. 6 months after the warranty expired I noticed the powder coating chipping off of the wheels. Took it to the dealer and he said $800. I asked him to show pictures to the factory rep. Mazda covered having them recoated and provided a new CX 9 as a loaner. She fell in love with the new one (although she found the HUD distracting). So we know what her next car will be. I have looked at new Infinitys, Lexi and Acura. I think I'll stick with Mazda
 
sbw1 said:
View attachment 62814 The German car stories make me wonder why the Japanese cars tend to have slightly lower prestige in the market place. Lexus is up there reputation wise but Acura, not so much. Yet our experience with Acura has been stellar. I will say I am not a great fan of the new automatic transmissions they are currently using, but blame that switchover on EPA fuel economy regs. Like others, would not want to own an out of warranty Audi. Would not think twice about a well cared for old Honda product. Once you establish a relationship with a good dealer, Japanese cars become great values, even if you trade them often as opposed to driving them into the ground.
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Acura has not done as good a job of going full luxury like Lexus did. They purposely stay one step down to avoid direct competition with the German brands I believe. I traded my 2009 MDX on the 2018 MDX at the Acura dealer and they gave me CAD$11,000 for it with over 150K miles (only paid CAD$42K for it in 2009). The dealer told me that they export them overseas and can get top dollar for them there.

I like the 9 speed auto in the MDX, but it there are a few harder shifts than some cars. In normal driving its great. The sport mode is a bit to high revving and sharp shifting IMO. But the regular one is very smooth. The one in the 2009 MDX was great. The worst transmission I have had was a BMW X5. If you slowed to say 5 to 10 mph going around a corner and then floored it coming out of the corner, the transmission/engine "bogged" and there was a long delay before it would start to accelerate. Same in a straight line. I complained about it every time I brought it in for service so it would be "on record" if something failed later. They could never fix it.
 
Seems like the Japanese cars have the best resale. Second only to Jeep Wranglers around here.
My son and I were looking around for a used car for him when he got his Learner’s Permit. It had been many years since I had been used car shopping. I was surprised at the money they were getting for 10 or 11 year old Japanese cars with nearly 200k miles on them.
We wound up with a 2005 Grand Prix GT from a local middle aged woman with 80k on it at the time. Nice straight, tight, clean little car for less than a comparably sized Japanese car of the same vintage with more than double the miles.
Lots of cheap 10 year old 3 series BMW’s around at the time. Much cheaper than the Japanese cars, but I wouldn’t touch one with a 10 foot pole.
 
Creekwood said:
Acura has not done as good a job of going full luxury like Lexus did.
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This has been the rap on Acura forever and it is deserved. Much of the interior materials in a Acura can be found in a Honda Civic. That being said, I love my Acura TLX but am hoping my wife wants a new car soon so I can get her Audi S5. (Really love that car!)

Worst quality car I have owned recently... Infinity Q50s. I just about got to the point where I wanted to make an appointment at the dealership for the following week even when nothing was wrong because I knew something would go wrong before the week was up. When we got to the $2800 repair (not including labor) for the driver side seat motor, that was the end.
 
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northshore said:
I had a Fiat X1/9 in high school.
Spent considerably more time under it than in it, but I still miss that car.
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I had a 124 spider for 2 weeks in high school the PO was kind enough to give me my money back... never again... that was after my dad talked me out of a 240Z....
 
Creekwood said:
Acura has not done as good a job of going full luxury like Lexus did. They purposely stay one step down to avoid direct competition with the German brands I believe. I traded my 2009 MDX on the 2018 MDX at the Acura dealer and they gave me CAD$11,000 for it with over 150K miles (only paid CAD$42K for it in 2009). The dealer told me that they export them overseas and can get top dollar for them there.

I like the 9 speed auto in the MDX, but it there are a few harder shifts than some cars. In normal driving its great. The sport mode is a bit to high revving and sharp shifting IMO. But the regular one is very smooth. The one in the 2009 MDX was great. The worst transmission I have had was a BMW X5. If you slowed to say 5 to 10 mph going around a corner and then floored it coming out of the corner, the transmission/engine "bogged" and there was a long delay before it would start to accelerate. Same in a straight line. I complained about it every time I brought it in for service so it would be "on record" if something failed later. They could never fix it.
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Interesting thought about the competition with the Germans. Had not heard that view before.
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MB do last a long time. I have friends who have driven them for more than 10 years without issues. They do not seem to rust. In Germany lots of old MBs with medallions on them for 500,000 miles and more. My Porsche was on the lift at the dealership awhile back having winter wheels and tires mounted. It looks like a brand new car underneath after being driven all winter last year. The Germans build nice cars. I noticed that the fasteners for things like exhaust systems were still fresh looking with no hint of rust.
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Funny, my 2005 Honda with 275K MILES! has only ever needed brakes, tires, shocks, and a recent battery. And I bought it for a song........
 
My son bought his 2006 BMW 325Xi in 2015 with about 90,000 miles on it for just over $10,000. The car was spotless. He traded it in 2 years later on a 2017 Subaru WRX and they gave him $4500 on trade. It had about 130,000 on it by then and he did hit a deer in that time. The insurance paid for the repairs but it still showed up on the carfax with a $3500 accident claim.

On to the next part, he bought the WRX brand new. He looked at used ones but they were almost as much as a brand new one. My daughter also bought a brand new 2016 Wrangler but had looked at used ones. They were only a couple thousand less than a brand new one.
 
boatman37 said:
My son bought his 2006 BMW 325Xi in 2015 with about 90,000 miles on it for just over $10,000. The car was spotless. He traded it in 2 years later on a 2017 Subaru WRX and they gave him $4500 on trade. It had about 130,000 on it by then and he did hit a deer in that time. The insurance paid for the repairs but it still showed up on the carfax with a $3500 accident claim.

On to the next part, he bought the WRX brand new. He looked at used ones but they were almost as much as a brand new one. My daughter also bought a brand new 2016 Wrangler but had looked at used ones. They were only a couple thousand less than a brand new one.
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Used Wranglers go for crazy money around here. Even beat to crap ones.
 
I have had great luck with Toyota (and Honda). 14 year old sequoia lasted for 200k miles (needed new starter on vacation hauling boat, so instead of waiting a day to get it fixed, we bought a used 06 Tundra to get back on the road and the daughter still drives that today. My current car I have had for 50k miles (currently has 70k) and I have only done tires. No oil changes, no gas, no maintenance, nothing but 1 set of tires. I dont love the car, but I enjoy that part of it. And the acceleration is fantastic. It only goes about 70 miles on a charge (Nissan Leaf ‘13), but great for a daily driver. Next car will be a used Tesla, or hopefully a US manufacturer like GM will make a good looking 200 mile range electric and I’ll go with that.
 
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Even the Germans like American cars... saw this while I was in Konstanz Germany last June. Freaked me out because I live only 4 miles from Elgin, IL.
 
Yikes ...I used to have a 2007 CLS550. It was a great car ...never an issue and man did it GO! I do miss that car, but glad I got rid of it before anything like this happened.

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[QUOTE="Creekwood, post: 1028360, member:]. I traded my 2009 MDX on the 2018 MDX at the Acura dealer and they gave me CAD$11,000 for it with over 150K miles (only paid CAD$42K for it in 2009). The dealer told me that they export them overseas and can get top dollar for them there [/QUOTE]

Exporting cars is an interesting topic. Apparently the prices for cars are all over the place. When I bought my new Porsche a year ago, I had to sign a contract as a part of the closing that I would not export the car to Europe for a specified period of time. I believe it was 12 months although it could have been 24. When ask why this was required they said it had to do with pricing. I believe Americans pay less than Europeans for new cars. They difference might be enough that we could sell our new used cars abroad at a profit. This probably has to do with high European taxes, although I don't know that this is the case.
 
sbw1 said:
View attachment 62872 [QUOTE="Creekwood, post: 1028360, member:]. I traded my 2009 MDX on the 2018 MDX at the Acura dealer and they gave me CAD$11,000 for it with over 150K miles (only paid CAD$42K for it in 2009). The dealer told me that they export them overseas and can get top dollar for them there
Click to expand...

Exporting cars is an interesting topic. Apparently the prices for cars are all over the place. When I bought my new Porsche a year ago, I had to sign a contract as a part of the closing that I would not export the car to Europe for a specified period of time. I believe it was 12 months although it could have been 24. When ask why this was required they said it had to do with pricing. I believe Americans pay less than Europeans for new cars. They difference might be enough that we could sell our new used cars abroad at a profit. This probably has to do with high European taxes, although I don't know that this is the case.[/QUOTE]

That is a funny thing that the auto companies try to do in order for them to maintain pricing in volatile currencies and across markets. Its a big issue for Canada/US as the CAD to US went from $0.65 to 1.10 and back down to $0.75 now. They force dealers to not sell cross border and try dupe customers about warranties not being valid across border. They also have a process where they charge a customer a "Canadianization" fee to ensure that the car is legal for use on Canadian roads and to make it eligible for warranty work here. The cost is quite high and offsets a lot of the savings from buying a new US car and bringing it to Canada.
 
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