Car Talk

[Suspended in Time]

14 minutes ago, Old said:

And why not?

No reason I can think of.

 

We have one pioneer sister here who drives a car that cost less than $1,500.

 

It takes all sorts.

 

[SoCal4me2]

A lot of discussion about the relative expense of assorted cars, and that’s exactly what it all is, “relative”! I drove an older Porsche 911S for 13 years. It was always filled going out in service. Never saw or heard any whiff of any issue, and even had a Samoan sister happily squeeze into the back seat, such as they are. That was all a long time ago, and I only paid $6,500 (not $65,000) for it.
 

Now I have only bought one car brand new, in 2006, had for about 65,000 miles and totaled it. I’m 68, a car fan, and every car has been used. My only regret is selling some of them too soon. Never expected them to Increase in value as much as they have!

 

I never worry about what my brothers & sisters do about cars unless I think they perhaps made (or are about to make) a costly mistake. Then it’s only to help them make the best choice their circumstances allow. Sometimes that $1,500 car IS the best choice. In the last year I bought a ‘94 Toyota pickup with 312,000 miles on it and a ‘06 Chevy HHR LT with about 285,000 miles on it. For the two of them I spent around $7,500, and they both purr, I know all that is wrong with them and that I expect to get another 100,000 miles out of each one.

 

But my favorite thing about the Porsche is that it was air cooled. I have hated more water pumps, radiators, heater cores all water flow pipes, hoses and connections. Love bugs also.

[SoCal4me2]

And Donald I am so jealous of all those fun Aussie cars made over the years. Over those years we have gotten some nice hipo Holdens that became Chevys & Pontiacs along with at least one Aussie Ford that became a Lincoln.

[Suspended in Time]

54 minutes ago, SoCal4me2 said:

And Donald I am so jealous of all those fun Aussie cars made over the years. Over those years we have gotten some nice hipo Holdens that became Chevys & Pontiacs along with at least one Aussie Ford that became a Lincoln.

They seem to go a bit crazy for certain brands of American car over here. Jeeps are the ones that really get me. Anytime I am driving down a stretch of road about the size of 1 block I am almost guaranteed to pass at least 1 Jeep. The things are everywhere!

 

I got a lend of a late-model Jeep Grand Cherokee from work last year while my regular daily driver was getting 'serviced'. It has a push-button to start and stop the ignition. You can hardly hear the engine, I mean you can barely even tell if it's running or not.

 

That day I had to attend a worksite about 3 hours drive away. I pulled up, turned the car off, went in to do the job and came out 4 1/2 hours later. The engine was still idling !!!  It had been sitting there idling away for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS !!!!   I could hardly believe it.

 

Even worse, the next time I borrowed it, I went to fuel up. Filled the tank with gas (incidentally the thing was like a bottomless pit, took about $95 in gas to fill it) and suddenly realized that the engine had been running the whole time WHILE I'D BEEN FILLING IT WITH GAS. Dangerous !!!

 

So I was left with the conclusion that either something was seriously wrong with Jeeps, or with me. Besides the hulking big thing took $40 more in gas for the trip than my regular vehicle. Needless to say, my impression of Jeeps is extremely low (also they had a bit of a checkered history in Australia in the past with some serious reliability and distributorship issues).

 

[SoCal4me2]

Br Donald, Early Jeeps were reliable workhorses and were loved by many in the same way early Land Rovers are. Middle years Jeep built a rep for lack of reliability and they made me afraid to buy any, even low mileage ones. Jeep’s purchase by Chrysler really turned it around, and led to new and exciting model revamps with higher performance and reliability. Ya gas mileage is not a priority.

[Pabo]

I have only owned 4 cars during my 30+ years of driving.

 

First car was a '78 Mazda 323 (or Mazda GLC) 4 door hatchback. I bought this off a pioneer brother in another local cong nearby. I paid $300, it has 1 month's rego left and needed a little work on the cancer it had. It had a 1.4L UC 4 cyl motor, after market extractors with a sports exhaust system with a hotdog. It had 2inch KYE lifted springs which made the vehicle somewhat fun when cornering with it being a little taller. It was originally the bright lime green, but when i resprayed it, it was Sherwood metallic green with metallic gun metal grey skirting, grill and light surrounds and around the window trimming. I also installed 2 x 100W driving lights and 130W spotlights behind the front grill.

 

Behind the motor, it had a Miata 5 speed box, which was the strongest box Mazda had made (equal to the Toyota Celica 5sp metal gearboxes). However, the rear gear mount was actually 6 inches from where the factory one was, so it had 2inch steel angle sections (1/4inch thick) about 8 inches long with a bolt welded to it. However, it had a small quirk, if you are in first gear and you took your foot of the gas pedal, the gear would disengage. A brother in our cong who had a cousin that reconditions gearboxes for a living, took it down to him for a rebuild when I was rebuilding the motor. When his cousin asked him what this gearbox came out of, he then told the brother that this box is very rare, and highly sort after by hill-climber racers due to it's strength. The gearbox casing was worth aver a $1,000 at the time, regardless of the condition of mechanicals in it. When he told him about the first gear issue, his cousin said that this happens to the boxes over time, but it cannot be fixed, but the advantage is that with practice when you release the power off in first gear, you can slide it into second without the use of the clutch and then power on. So it was fun taking off at lights, as it was somewhat of a semi automatic.

 

Sadly, after a hail storm the cancer got back into it and it was relegated to a paddock basher on our property. But the car was well known for it's ability to get to places where 4WD's only dared to go in our territory. It was impossible to get bogged, as the 185mm wide tyres and the lightness of the vehicle was it's strong points, and we did go through a causeway where the water was 1/4 of the way up the windscreen. It was a cheap car to run, and for field service it went everywhere. This car has many a legend story to it.

 

The second car I had was a '78 Ford TE Cortina station wagon that my old man transferred to me (as he owed me cash for the car that he just purchased - the day the hailstorm hit my Mazda). It had a 250ci 6cylinder, with the cast iron crossflow head and standard Stromberg carburetor and Lucas distributor. It had 380,000km's when I got it (he put 200,000km of it himself when he owned it for 7 years) and it was still the original condition.

 

A brother (the same one above) who used to race stock cars when he was younger had thought the motor had to be tricked up, as it did have lower suspension (they have cut the front springs themselves with a grinder by removing one coil) and it had torque to boot. If you were on a highway and you were doing 100km and needed to overtake someone, you just put your foot down and you hitting warp speed. It performed better then his Ford XF Falcon (4.1L cyl Alloy Head II) which he had done worked to a 4.3L, stage 2 cam with a 4 barrel carburetor. When I found that water was getting into the cylinder (which we thought was the head gasket, but the water jacket around the cylinder had corroded which I had a pin hole in it). I rebuilt the motor where they inserted cylinder sleeves in it, 20 thou oversized pistons, replaced to cat iron head with an alloy head with it's Weber carburetor  that i got form my uncle off his XE Falcon, along with the Bosch electronic distributor. Installed some Charlton headers a new sports exhaust system and she was even more gruntier that it was before, and about 50kg lighter on the front end.

 

However, my stepson was borrowing the car to do a pressure cleaning job and accidentally run up a Toyota Camry in the rear making the Camry's boot capacity to half it's size. the Cortina had only damaged the grill (plastic), broken headlight lenses and pushed the radiator back onto the fan causing it to leak, and the bonnet (hood) to be slightly bent up. I went down to him with a spare radiator i had and made some repairs for him to drive it back home. However he continued to drive it for another 2 weeks doing this job, after which we sat the poor old girl in the paddock to retire.

 

The third car I owned was a '96 VW Polo that I purchased off my step daughter in 2000 as she purchased a new model for herself (which her brother now owns to this day). I had it for about 5 1/2 years before I was reared at a set of lights, which wrote the poor car off. This car like the Mazda 323 went everywhere, especially for witnessing. It handled the rural territory with ease and was also cheap to run as well. I still miss it, as it was a lovely small beast.

 

For the fourth and current car, it is a '89 Ford Courier single cab long bed ute, which I refer to as a Mazda B2200. As the 2.2L (F2) engine is petrol, whereas you look up the Ford equivalent it only shows the diesel variant, and most of the other running parts are Mazda parts, as they use different size bearings for their tailshaft etc. I have had this for about 10 years now, as I used my wife's car when I didn't have one or my step son's or father-in-laws.

 

I bought this off a brother who was a concreter, and he only owned for 2 years before purchasing a brand new vehicle. He hadn't serviced it while he owned it, but said the motor was rebuilt by the previous owner (at 250,000km) who purchased the vehicle new. It had just on 290,000km on the clock when I got it off the brother whom I paid only $1,200 for it (basically one repayment of his new vehicle he purchased on a 5yr loan). 

 

So you could image the condition it was in. No oil changes for 40,000Km! So when i got it, all the fluids where drained, refilled, then drained again to get the gunk out. I even had to use a pressure cleaner inside the cab to clean it, even blasted the dash and air vents. the vehicle is very basic, no A/c, no power steering and a AM radio (that doesn't work).

It has damage from a hail storm, the rear bed is heavily scratched, there had been some repair work don to it previously. As for the engine rebuild, I had to replace the head gasket and found that 2 bolts where only basically finger tight and there were 3 different brands of head bolts, and the only gaskets that I found was the head gasket, and the rocker cover gasket. No inlet, exhaust, thermostat, as these where done with gasket goo. It was amazing she held up for 70,000km before it happened.

 

So I have treated it with some loving, as with vehicles that are at this age they need it. But I have some things I need to do as the original parts are needing to be replaced, replace the factory carburetor with a Weber carb conversion, stainless steel extractors, install a electric fan for the cooling, upgrade the brake discs to slotted vented discs. These are all under the bonnet, so no-one will know what she has done. Mind you, when traveling on the highways even now, she is no slouch. She may have nearly 400,000km on the clock, but she keeps moving.

 

She is a workhorse for me, as having property, you are always doing something in the yard, and picking up goods is what I use her for. When we do the maintenance of the KH grounds, it gets filled to the brim with hedge clippings, tree branches etc. A brother asked me whether I would buy his later model Mazda Bravo ute off him, but I couldn't renege on my girl. She is what I need her to be, and she does what I want of her. 

[Tortuga]

I have a Chrysler 300 and the air conditioning recirculation hasn't worked for years. When you press the Recirc button, it would flash a few times and go out. The air conditioning system will continue to draw in outside air if the recirculation system doesn't work, so on hot days the A/C unit couldn't cool off the car because it was still letting in hot air.

 

I recently read that Chrysler/Dodge have a humidity sensor mounted on the windshield behind the rearview mirror. The sensor controls the car interior humidity by adjusting the A/C recirculation setting. Apparently, the sensor has failed in a lot of vehicles.  I purchased one on Amazon ($75) and it fixed the problem. YEAH!

 

If you have a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep product and the A/C Recirculation setting doesn't stay on, replace the humidity sensor.

[Cushi]

 

[Cushi]

 

[Cushi]

Please excuse the Halloween theme…

 

 

[Cushi]

 

[Cushi]

 

[Lee49]

You will never beat the dealership in working out a "fair price " They are geniuses on wheeling and dealing! I have leased my last 3 cars, only to purchase my 2020 Chevy Equinox after 3 years with only 20,000 miles on it! So, it just may be my Armageddon car! I retired from GM, they ( the stealer ships ) really don't care where you are from or who you worked for , they are all about profits!

[Cushi]

1 hour ago, Lee49 said:

You will never beat the dealership in working out a "fair price " They are geniuses on wheeling and dealing! I have leased my last 3 cars, only to purchase my 2020 Chevy Equinox after 3 years with only 20,000 miles on it! So, it just may be my Armageddon car! I retired from GM, they ( the stealer ships ) really don't care where you are from or who you worked for , they are all about profits!

I agree that car manufacturers and dealerships mainly care about their bottom line, however I respectfully disagree that you can never work out a fair price. A lot of people end up paying more than they should because they are not persistent enough with negotiating things like out the door price and interest rates. Other people just get too stressed over the buying process and want it to be over as quickly as possible, so they accept whatever the dealership throws at them. 
 

I’ve bought 4 new cars and was able to get all but 1 of them under MSRP with tax, title and license. I understand that dealerships need to make a profit, so I’m ok with them making a reasonable amount of money as long as I can get the car near invoice price before taxes and fees. I’ve never paid MSRP for a car, except for my 2022 Lexus… but I was given $2,900 more for my 2 year old trade in than I paid and didn’t have to pay the $1,000 in customization that I was supposed to be charged. That’s fair to me. I do think that dealerships are taking advantage of people because of the chip shortage. But before COVID, it was easy to get a car under MSRP with TTL. For example, according to the Lexus forum I frequent, it was very easy to get a brand new lexus for 10% off MSRP, including models that retail for over 100K. That’s a savings of over 10K. That’s more than fair.

Edited December 2, 2022 by *Jack*

[Lee49]

If it works for you , that's good, I've bought 8 new cars /trucks, never paid over $ 30 k for any, I'm frugal, my 4 children took my $ 1 million ! I'd like to have my 69 Camaro back that I bought new, $3000!

[Amygdala]

In Germany there are a couple of websites where you can buy new vehicles online discounted by percentage, and more if buying a vehicle for business reasons. You configure the car yourself and choose what features you want. We normally test drive at the dealership, but then purchase online. 😁 We also use it as a comparison if we decide to buy with a dealer if the car is faster to get or already available, knowing how much a car can be discounted for. It’s in German, but this website is an example:

 

https://www.neuwagen24.de/

[Amygdala]

Also cars are sold cheaper in Germany if they are not domestically made. So if original origin wasn’t registered in Germany, EU cars go for a bit cheaper. But that has to be declared at the time of sale.

[Tortuga]

On 7/24/2022 at 7:24 AM, Tortuga said:

I have a Chrysler 300

I want to share my joy!

The windshield stopped working correctly earlier this week. The windshield wiper control is in the turn signal lever and sometimes when I would twist it to Mist it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. The normal settings for Delay, Low and High would occasionally work when I tried them but didn't do anything most of the time. 

 

I did a quick Google check and read that generally an erratic behavior like this means the Wiper/Turn Signal control arm module has failed and needed to be replaced. Generally, over $500 for parts, plus labor. I figured it would be over $1000 to get it fixed.

 

I did find out there was a possibility that it was a relay. The relay is easily accessible in the fuse box in the engine compartment and a relay on Amazon was only $9. So it was worth trying that first before I took it to the shop.

 

Five minutes after the relay arrived my wipers are working normally!!!

 

"And when he has fixed it, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have fixed the car that I have.’ " - Lukish 15:9
 

[Cushi]

Great information

 

 

[New World Explorer]

On 12/2/2022 at 6:10 PM, Woanders said:

In Germany there are a couple of websites where you can buy new vehicles online discounted by percentage

I Australia we still experience shortage of a new cars, even used ones are going up in price. 

Although some manufactures like Honda and Nissan are slowly getting stock now. 

Bottom line is ...no discounts at the moment. (I paid full price for my Honda, not even $1 discount. )

Dealer attitude is:  take it or leave it ... next customer will buy it in half an hour. 

https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/sick-of-waiting-for-that-toyota-rav4-hybrid-heres-how-long-it-will-take-to-get-the-new

 

It's a tough market right now. 

[Amygdala]

Well wait times are normal for new cars in Germany. One time we waited almost a year for our new vehicle, another time more than half a year. And these are cars that are made in Germany. This was pre-pandemic times, too.

[Amygdala]

This also didn’t matter if we bought our car online or at the dealership, unless the car being sold was an in-house special, in which we were able to get it right away.

[Amygdala]

Plus buying and selling our new car every few years is cheaper than keeping the car because of it being a business expense purchase, deregistering it to private after a couple of years, and selling it as a private. Because of loss of value every year, the longer we have it the bigger the loss. (though good at reducing taxes). That same money is used for the new car, and no need to worry about car repairs.

Edited December 12, 2022 by Woanders

[Cushi]

 

[Esined]

Hi fam! I am in the market for a new used car. I want a compact SUV because in the Northeast, weather is getting really unpredictable and I need something that's safe and drives well in snow, rain, flash flooding, everything. And having a good amount of cargo room is practical for me and my kiddo. I'm also short (5'2) and have been driving a little Honda Fit for the past 11+ years so I'm looking forward to the feeling of sitting up a lil bit higher on the road. 

 

Important to me are fuel efficiency, a comfy driver's seat, and great reliability ratings. I know Hondas rank high but I've always had Hondas and I'm Honda'ed out. I have done a ton of research on Toyota RAV4s, Nissan Rogues, and similar options. Consumer Reports is recommending me a Subaru Forester. Thoughts? Recommendations?