Car Question....

Henry Boyd said:
I’ll throw out a new suggestion: the Audi Q5, or it’s cousin the Porsche Macan. My wife has the Q5, but the A6 she had before that went 240000 miles. We had that repaired at an Indy shop and until the last year total annual maintenance costs never exceeded the 12 month cost of car payments.

The Q5 2.0t engine is the same as the Macan base, as is the PDK dual clutch transmission. The sq5 and the S, GTS and turbo Macans all have v6s of various hp rating. The Q5 and Macan base are basically the same car with the Audi being more Comfort oriented and the Porsche performance. I had a Macan S for a year and the wife’s Q5 was by far more comfortable, the Macan on the other hand was faster.
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Sounds like rich people problems.
(Kidding)
 
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I've owned a number of German cars purchased new. They have their quirks but are great cars to own and drive. However, I buy a new one every two years and never see the dealership except for tire rotations, oil changes and whatever the owner guide recommends. For me, they have been flawless. Having said that, buy the GM SUV or a Ford SUV. Lots cheaper if something goes wrong. A good friend of mine gave up his munched loved used Mercedes because the window lifts started to fail. He was looking a few thousand a window to fix them. That is the thing about these older German cars. Unpleasant surprises over simingly simple issues that turn into nightmares.
 
Blueone said:
If I was going to do it for 6 years I would have bought. All three girls only needed a car for 3 years as their first year the school wouldn't allow a car.
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I lucked out. Well sort of.
My daughter went to school in Washington DC here keeping a car would have been dumb and mostly unnecessary. The beater that she drove in High School stayed home and lasted her until halfway through her senior year last year when she knew she was going to be living and working in NYC and didn’t need a car.
My son is a sophomore at RPI in Troy NY. While he wasn’t allowed to park a car on campus last year, he did learn that you don’t want to be “the guy with a car” up at school, especially when there isn’t much time to go anywhere up there (not much in beautiful downtown Troy) so his High School (a 2005) car sits in the driveway while he is away at school.
But if he really needed a car at school I would make him sell his current one and I would do exactly what you do and lease him a Civic.
 
sbw1 said:
View attachment 79740 I've owned a number of German cars purchased new. They have their quirks but are great cars to own and drive. However, I buy a new one every two years and never see the dealership except for tire rotations, oil changes and whatever the owner guide recommends. For me, they have been flawless. Having said that, buy the GM SUV or a Ford SUV. Lots cheaper if something goes wrong. A good friend of mine gave up his munched loved used Mercedes because the window lifts started to fail. He was looking a few thousand a window to fix them. That is the thing about these older German cars. Unpleasant surprises over simingly simple issues that turn into nightmares.
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I advised my brother to convince his wife to get rid of her Mercedes when it went out of warranty. She keeps it because it’s clean and low mileage. She works a short drive from home and shops locally.
For the amount of money they’ve put in to it the last 2 or 3 years she could have used Uber to get wherever she had to go daily instead of owning the car and they would be way ahead of the game.
My sister in law loves the car. My brother wishes he would have heeded my warning.
Oh well........Happy Wife.......Happy Life!
 
Henry Boyd said:
I gather you don’t make capital expenditures decisions for a living. One of the first tests in determining the economic sense of the replacement of an asset is whether the cost to keep exceeds the cost to replace. When the replacement cost exceeds the cost to keep, additional benefits have to be established to offset the fact that the new item will cost more than maintaining the old one. These additional factors can be features that reduce the cost per item manufactured, maintain a higher production rate, or provide some new features that streamline the process. But since a personal car does not generate revenue, there is no economic value to replace a car when the replacement will cost more than the present ownership.

As for leasing a car for personal use, that is the very definition of economically foolish. Simply because you pay a premium for not putting money down and the convenience of being able to move to something else in 30 to 36 months. The simple fact is buying the car and then selling it when done is cheaper than leasing. How can this be? Because that is exactly what a leasing company does. A leasing company’s cost of capital is on par with individual buyers, and since the FMV of the car is the same regardless of first the operator’s status, and since leasing companies have to make profits, the profits can only come from lease payments.
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The flip side of leasing for me is it makes my life easy.
I regularly pinch pennies when it comes to a lot of things, but sometimes I choose to pay for something that makes me happy even when it makes no financial sense.
That probably explains why I’m a reasonably happy married boater who spends most off season evenings reclined in theatre style seats watching an 80” TV. On nicer afternoons I might even back either the GTO or Corvette out of the garage to spend some quality time with them too.
Between the wife, the boat, the TV and the cars, none of it makes financial sense, but it feels real good.
 
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JVM225 said:
Oh well........Happy Wife.......Happy Life!
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There is much truth in this trope. I decided I knew best about what type of car would be good for my wife to replace her Acadia with engine issues. She wanted to repair the engine and I said no (on advice from my mechanic). I gave her a choice of Honda, Subaru, or Toyota SUV's (also on advice from my mechanic). The Acadia had a TON of room and Honda was the largest so she picked that over a repaired Acadia or or a similar Chevy Traverse. After driving it for a while she very much dislikes the Honda Pilot and talks about trading it in with on 10k miles. I sincerely regret not letting her pick what she wanted. I'll never do that again.
 
b_arrington said:
After driving it for a while she very much dislikes the Honda Pilot and talks about trading it in with on 10k miles. I sincerely regret not letting her pick what she wanted. I'll never do that again.
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My wife drove Suburbans for years since we have 4 kids. I talked her into a small Cadillac SUV when the kids started going to college... That cost me the first years depreciation....not good. Now she picks what she wants
 
b_arrington said:
There is much truth in this trope. I decided I knew best about what type of car would be good for my wife to replace her Acadia with engine issues. She wanted to repair the engine and I said no (on advice from my mechanic). I gave her a choice of Honda, Subaru, or Toyota SUV's (also on advice from my mechanic). The Acadia had a TON of room and Honda was the largest so she picked that over a repaired Acadia or or a similar Chevy Traverse. After driving it for a while she very much dislikes the Honda Pilot and talks about trading it in with on 10k miles. I sincerely regret not letting her pick what she wanted. I'll never do that again.
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When we went to replace my wife's Lexus RX300 I suggested several other SUV's to look at - I think a BMW, Volvo and something else at the time. She obliged but said hated them all and wanted a new car exactly like the one I had, told me to stay out of it and went and got her own car - another white Lexus RX330 - ended up getting a better deal than I thought I could get. That RX now has 132k on it and she wants nothing to do with a new car. I think I will just let her drive the wheels off of it - which for a Lexus is going to be a long time. We have put well over 100k on our Lexus's (have had 3 now) my ES has 175k - only repair on any of them - warranty included - is the alternator on my ES was replaced at 170k and that was so easy I did it myself.
 
BillK2632 said:
When we went to replace my wife's Lexus RX300 I suggested several other SUV's to look at - I think a BMW, Volvo and something else at the time. She obliged but said hated them all and wanted a new car exactly like the one I had, told me to stay out of it and went and got her own car - another white Lexus RX330 - ended up getting a better deal than I thought I could get. That RX now has 132k on it and she wants nothing to do with a new car. I think I will just let her drive the wheels off of it - which for a Lexus is going to be a long time. We have put well over 100k on our Lexus's (have had 3 now) my ES has 175k - only repair on any of them - warranty included - is the alternator on my ES was replaced at 170k and that was so easy I did it myself.
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I would have loved to been able to let her drive the wheels off the Acadia. She loved the car. I was just so concerned the engine would blow up and leave her and our kids on the side of the road.
 
I have a 2015 Mercedes E350, and it is a joy to drive. It never breaks. I have a lift and plenty of tools, but rarely get to use them. If you can do simple stuff, don't be afraid of the MB.
 
If you can do simple stuff, don't be afraid of the MB.
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simple stuff is right. I learned the hard way that even the simple stuff can be hazardous. I have been working on cars since I was a teenager (i'm now 75) So when the shop I take my car to for hard stuff, said I need a new battery. I said, Oh I can do that. I have been swapping out batteries on cars and boats all my life. So I bought one and put it into my 2005 Trailblazer. Immediately the car started acting up, stalling, dying at the light etc. Turns out on that model (not all cars) you have to save the Computer's (the ECU) memory before you swap out the battery but only if you have the battery out for more than 5 minutes. OOPS. And to do so you either need a computer with the appropriate software and connection cables, or a device you can plug into the computer connection under the dash. Cost me about 500 bucks to get the ECU remapped and the injectors cleaned etc etc. So on new cars don't mess with it unless you really (and I do mean really) know what you are doing and have the right tools and equipment. Oil changes, filters, fan belts those things are ok,
 
Ike said:
simple stuff is right. I learned the hard way that even the simple stuff can be hazardous. I have been working on cars since I was a teenager (i'm now 75) So when the shop I take my car to for hard stuff, said I need a new battery. I said, Oh I can do that. I have been swapping out batteries on cars and boats all my life. So I bought one and put it into my 2005 Trailblazer. Immediately the car started acting up, stalling, dying at the light etc. Turns out on that model (not all cars) you have to save the Computer's (the ECU) memory before you swap out the battery but only if you have the battery out for more than 5 minutes. OOPS. And to do so you either need a computer with the appropriate software and connection cables, or a device you can plug into the computer connection under the dash. Cost me about 500 bucks to get the ECU remapped and the injectors cleaned etc etc. So on new cars don't mess with it unless you really (and I do mean really) know what you are doing and have the right tools and equipment. Oil changes, filters, fan belts those things are ok,
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Wow. What a dumb design. Right up there with the headlights on my friends Saab. You have to remove the entire front bumper / facia assembly to change the bulb.
 
It's an odd coincidence that you should say that, because why I took the car in in the first place was because both low beam head lights stopped working. Wasn't the fuse, and nothing wrong with the lamps. They had to put it on the computer to find that it was a problem with a relay. Never seen both lights go out at the same time. Like you said. dumb design. But all auto manufacturers do dumb stuff. The 76 Mercedes 240D I had was a great car. Wonderful to drive. Very rare to have any problem, except the tailights. The tail lights had a printed circuit in the back of the assembly that connected the lights and determined which bulb came on for what. However, the printed circuit wasn't copper, it was aluminum. It corroded like mad and I had to replace it several times. I got stopped several times by cops to tell me my brake lights weren't working. Fortunately they never gave me a ticket. Dumb design. I could go on about dumb design. I'm an engineer. I find this kind of mistake to be inexcusable especially in a high end automobiles
 
Ike said:
simple stuff is right. I learned the hard way that even the simple stuff can be hazardous. I have been working on cars since I was a teenager (i'm now 75) So when the shop I take my car to for hard stuff, said I need a new battery. I said, Oh I can do that. I have been swapping out batteries on cars and boats all my life. So I bought one and put it into my 2005 Trailblazer. Immediately the car started acting up, stalling, dying at the light etc. Turns out on that model (not all cars) you have to save the Computer's (the ECU) memory before you swap out the battery but only if you have the battery out for more than 5 minutes. OOPS. And to do so you either need a computer with the appropriate software and connection cables, or a device you can plug into the computer connection under the dash. Cost me about 500 bucks to get the ECU remapped and the injectors cleaned etc etc. So on new cars don't mess with it unless you really (and I do mean really) know what you are doing and have the right tools and equipment. Oil changes, filters, fan belts those things are ok,
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The stalling issue after the Trailblazer battery replacement is common. As carbon builds up in the throttle body and injector flow rates change slightly, the computer makes minute adjustments to the idle speed and fuel mapping to keep it running smooth.

When you disconnected the battery, everything the computer “learned” was erased and it ran at the original base setting.

A throttle body cleaning, idle relearn procedure and some driving would have eventually restored the drivability.
 
I have had 3 GM pick ups in 30 years. All made it to 100k+. But all had moderate repair issues in that time frame. Driven mostly on weekends. My daily driver's of 25-30k per year have all been Toyota products.
Never had anything other than brakes & tires. I get 120k+ and still get 30%+ of the original price on trade. They are easy to sell and actually retain some value. Never could achieve that with other brands.
 
Ike said:
simple stuff is right. I learned the hard way that even the simple stuff can be hazardous. I have been working on cars since I was a teenager (i'm now 75) So when the shop I take my car to for hard stuff, said I need a new battery. I said, Oh I can do that. I have been swapping out batteries on cars and boats all my life. So I bought one and put it into my 2005 Trailblazer. Immediately the car started acting up, stalling, dying at the light etc. Turns out on that model (not all cars) you have to save the Computer's (the ECU) memory before you swap out the battery but only if you have the battery out for more than 5 minutes. OOPS. And to do so you either need a computer with the appropriate software and connection cables, or a device you can plug into the computer connection under the dash. Cost me about 500 bucks to get the ECU remapped and the injectors cleaned etc etc. So on new cars don't mess with it unless you really (and I do mean really) know what you are doing and have the right tools and equipment. Oil changes, filters, fan belts those things are ok,
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Total BS! Sorry but you got ripped off. (ECU "remapped" Lol) Why did the deposit resistant injectors need to be cleaned and how did they do that?
 
techmitch said:
Total BS! Sorry but you got ripped off. (ECU "remapped" Lol) Why did the deposit resistant injectors need to be cleaned and how did they do that?
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Its because the flux capacitors need reset after the ECU gets remapped. And it also impacts the suspension alignment. Have you noticed that the tires seem to bounce around more on roads when you drive? That is the alignment failing. It should re redone every year anyway, so might as well do it now--- you know, to be safe for your children. And we noticed that most of your marker lights are burned out too, so we can replace those for you. When was the last time you had your coolant flushed? I know the car is only two years old, but you drive it in cold weather and the heating and cooling wears it out. Have you noticed it is taking longer for the car to warm up in the morning? That is the first sign it is failing.

That is why I never let the stealerships get authorization from my wife or children for any service without me talking to them. But I spent much of the first 25 years of my life tearing apart and rebuilding cars so I could afford to have one. The dealerships are making a fortune off of millenials that have no clue. They think it is silly to repair your own car or to know anything about it. Can you imagine the money they will spend/waste over their lives.
 
Creekwood said:
Its because the flux capacitors need reset after the ECU gets remapped. And it also impacts the suspension alignment. Have you noticed that the tires seem to bounce around more on roads when you drive? That is the alignment failing. It should re redone every year anyway, so might as well do it now--- you know, to be safe for your children. And we noticed that most of your marker lights are burned out too, so we can replace those for you. When was the last time you had your coolant flushed? I know the car is only two years old, but you drive it in cold weather and the heating and cooling wears it out. Have you noticed it is taking longer for the car to warm up in the morning? That is the first sign it is failing.

That is why I never let the stealerships get authorization from my wife or children for any service without me talking to them. But I spent much of the first 25 years of my life tearing apart and rebuilding cars so I could afford to have one. The dealerships are making a fortune off of millenials that have no clue. They think it is silly to repair your own car or to know anything about it. Can you imagine the money they will spend/waste over their lives.
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I see its still winter
 
Espos4 said:
The stalling issue after the Trailblazer battery replacement is common. As carbon builds up in the throttle body and injector flow rates change slightly, the computer makes minute adjustments to the idle speed and fuel mapping to keep it running smooth.

When you disconnected the battery, everything the computer “learned” was erased and it ran at the original base setting.

A throttle body cleaning, idle relearn procedure and some driving would have eventually restored the drivability.
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Although I agree with most of this, it was in no way absolutely necessary as the ecu would have relearned where it was after 1 good road test.
 
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