New car / automobile buying & leasing tips for CPK'ers

Jsega51 said:
My wife’s ‘13 Subaru Forester is theee biggest headache and piece of shit car I’ve ever experienced. I’ve been advocating for her to make it tempting for someone to steal and total it since it’s worth more in insurance than trade in. After she bought it (used in 2018) I’ve been trying to get her to take it back. She wouldn’t, so she’s out a lot of money and has had to fix more on the car than it’s worth and the millisecond something gets fixed, something else shits the bed, like the timing chain and sensors that just got replaced to the tune of $2500.

Please, if anyone Subaru lover is interested, come to the house and either pay a few thousand for it or throw a Molotov cocktail through the hatch window since she expressed interest in a VW Golf Sport…now is my chance! Get this POS GONE!!
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Welp first time I’ve ever seen someone talk about replacing a car with a VW because they think it will be more reliable…
 
Burke said:
Welp first time I’ve ever seen someone talk about replacing a car with a VW because they think it will be more reliable…
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I’m happy that she‘s finally willing to go look at something else and looking to get rid of the Forester. If she wanted to trade it in on a John Deere D140 to drive to work, I wouldn't care, I know just about anything will be more reliable and dependable than this particular car.

Have any firsthand experience with a VW Golf Sport? She just borrowed one (2018) for a week and loved it, especially getting about 32 mpg with it.
 
SwarthyGnome said:
The CVT takes some getting used to for sure. The lack of gumption of subarus has me iffy on buying another. But.. their price and overall reliability are tough to over come.
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Had an 06 Legacy GT that was great until it swallowed the turbo at 90k. That turned me off for a bit, but they weren't totally off my list until the CVT thing.
 
I've owned 2 VW's in sedan version. They have electrical gremlins as well. Engines are reasonably sound, provided the timing belt and water pump are changed out at 100k km.

Honestly, I have turned full luddite when it comes to vehicle tech. 19" tablets and 50 steps to turn on a/c. No thank you.

Not sure what I would be after if I needed a vehicle tomorrow. Maybe a Toyota, as their interior has been the same for a decade or more. Tried and true.

I do like the new Honda Civic Type R. It is much less gaudy.
 
benchrest308 said:
Honestly, I have turned full luddite when it comes to vehicle tech. 19" tablets and 50 steps to turn on a/c. No thank you.
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No kidding.
My biggest pet peeve is the stop-start crap, push button ignitions and the cylinder deactivation mumbo jumbo that they’re putting on nearly every car or truck now.
Gone are the days of keeping shit simple.
 
benchrest308 said:
I've owned 2 VW's in sedan version. They have electrical gremlins as well. Engines are reasonably sound, provided the timing belt and water pump are changed out at 100k km.

Honestly, I have turned full luddite when it comes to vehicle tech. 19" tablets and 50 steps to turn on a/c. No thank you.

Not sure what I would be after if I needed a vehicle tomorrow. Maybe a Toyota, as their interior has been the same for a decade or more. Tried and true.
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We shall see where this new vehicle search takes us but here’s my experience with vehicle shopping/owning since I’m still very green in respect to knowing or owning all brands, their models, reliability concerns etc.

At 17 I got my first car, a used Saturn SC2. Never had any issues other than a leaky clutch cylinder. It had 101k miles, sold it with 164k.

Traded it when I was 23 for a two year old, 2003 Tundra that had nothing go wrong other than a clogged injector and the 4x4 actuator needed to be changed out. The one thing I hated was that it had the 3.4L v6, it was simply underpowered. It had 24k miles, I traded it with 116k…

When I had the ‘03 in for the rusted frame recall-replacement, I was in a prime position to haggle and traded it in on a brand new 2011 Tundra that’s still sitting in the driveway and has been a total dream to own over it’s 170k miles.

24 years of driving any only owning 3 vehicles almost sounds unheard of nowadays haha.
 
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yoko said:
Slightly tempted to sell my 1996 impala ss and 1971 monte carlo for money down on a ct5v blackwing..... my lord I like those cars
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I just fell into a deal on a 2012 CTS-V, and it's really an incredible car. I've ordered long-tube headers and a bunch of other upgrades for it to make it even more fun. It doesn't appear that the 2023 CT5-V blackwing is available as a coupe with a 6-speed manual transmission any more?
 
moparsbob said:
I just fell into a deal on a 2012 CTS-V, and it's really an incredible car. I've ordered long-tube headers and a bunch of other upgrades for it to make it even more fun. It doesn't appear that the 2023 CT5-V blackwing is available as a coupe with a 6-speed manual transmission any more?
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I don't believe they are :(

And I really like cts-vs , theres one near my neighborhood that's over a thousand horse , I see him at the gas station all the time because he only runs e85 !
 
moparsbob said:
I just fell into a deal on a 2012 CTS-V, and it's really an incredible car. I've ordered long-tube headers and a bunch of other upgrades for it to make it even more fun. It doesn't appear that the 2023 CT5-V blackwing is available as a coupe with a 6-speed manual transmission any more?
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It does but probably not after this model year since Cadillac caved and will be killing the V8 so they can fill the car with lithium like every other hip automaker.
 
Jsega51 said:
We shall see where this new vehicle search takes us but here’s my experience with vehicle shopping/owning since I’m still very green in respect to knowing or owning all brands, their models, reliability concerns etc.

At 17 I got my first car, a used Saturn SC2. Never had any issues other than a leaky clutch cylinder. It had 101k miles, sold it with 164k.

Traded it when I was 23 for a two year old, 2003 Tundra that had nothing go wrong other than a clogged injector and the 4x4 actuator needed to be changed out. The one thing I hated was that it had the 3.4L v6, it was simply underpowered. It had 24k miles, I traded it with 116k…

When I had the ‘03 in for the rusted frame recall-replacement, I was in a prime position to haggle and traded it in on a brand new 2011 Tundra that’s still sitting in the driveway and has been a total dream to own over it’s 170k miles.

24 years of driving any only owning 3 vehicles almost sounds unheard of nowadays haha.
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I’d check out the Honda Ridgeline like someone mentioned before or a Toyota 4 Runner if you are dead set at avoiding Subarus from now on. If not, the newer Foresters and Outback’s are pretty damn good.

Now if you really want a car that’ll never die, hunt down an late 80’s Volvo 240dl wagon or a Camry because they only seem to get taken off the road when they’re creamed by another car.
 
Few makes and models recently mentioned in here, so without further ado unsolicited opinion from someone in the business (both directly and ancillary) for 30+ years:

- Honda Ridgeline: Very good but not a dedicated off-roading truck. Very capable for most purposes but layer ones are mow AWD as opposed to 4WD (4x4) which means that the computer, not the operator, distributes power to the 4 wheels if and when required. It will serve you in wet, snow, cold, hot but you'll need something else if your off the beaten path is rough terrain.

- 4Runner: prices are currently out of sight for a rig which is stuck stuck in 2010. It's a cult classic rig and there are no incentives on it whatsoever. I sold my used 2016 Trail Premium with 143K on the clock, because there was a faint knocking sound coming from the bottom of the engine which I didn't like but it was quite benign. Lots and lotsa the 5th Gen 4runners and older (pre 2016) Tacomas with the same 4.0L V6 have some sorta "rod knock" sound from the engine if you have very sensitive ears but they don't throw a rod and keep going for another 300K miles! Could've gotten a GREAT deal on a brand new 2021 model TRD Off-Road in Nov 2020 which I foolishly passed up on and then by Jan/Feb 2021 all the Covid stimulus $ gushed into the system and combined with the factory closures, microchip backlogs and the other matters related to the Covid sh*tshow, scoring 4Runners (still all made in Japan) at good deals are going to be fantasies unless you can live with a RWD as opposed to a 4WD.

Subaru, VW, Volvo, etc... The older that they are with more miles and less known history you better be mechanically savvy and also have the means to upkeep. At the expense of coming across as a complete chauvinist, I would not buy any older models of these makes (throw in Mercedes Benz, BMW and Mini into the mix) to give to a female kin as a daily commuter.
 
Burke said:
Everyone I know who has an old Volvo insists on how unkillable they are while being on first name terms with their mechanic and dumping a new car payment into fixing it monthly.

I’m with you on the Camry or Corolla though.
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Dang I guess my family got lucky the 3 240’s we had between 1980-2021 then.
Other than water pumps and timing chains, I can’t think of any other major issues. The last 240 wagon that my mom had was at 419,000+ before it was totaled out because a druggie rear ended it at over 40mph when it was parked and pushed into the Accent and through the garage nearly totaling another old Volvo. After all of that, it started right up and drove fine, but a little crooked.
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Standard78 said:
Dang I guess my family got lucky the 3 240’s we had between 1980-2021 then.
Other than water pumps and timing chains, I can’t think of any other major issues. The last 240 wagon that my mom had was at 419,000+ before it was totaled out because a druggie rear ended it at over 40mph when it was parked and pushed into the Accent and through the garage nearly totaling another old Volvo. After all of that, it started right up and drove fine, but a little crooked.
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I'm not a huge Volvo fan, but living in Sweden they are kind of hard to avoid. The old rear wheel drive models can live forever. Of course some parts gets worn etc, but very unusual they straight up die as long as you give them at least some basic service. The more modern models are more average, not bad, but unfortunately it seems like the more modern they are, the less special they are in the reliability department.

And I agree with Casinostock, I wouldn't recommend old cars with unknown history to anyone who isn't mechanically inclined, female or not, and no matter what make of car really, especially if they really have to rely on it every day.
 
We have a 2017 Toyota Camry and love it. The best mileage we got was 40 on a trip to Illinois from Missouri, and the average is always in the mid to upper 30's. No problems with it so far. We also drove around the outskirts of the plant where it was built in Lexington Kentucky, assembled in the U.S.A. ;):thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
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