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Cars: With that New Thread Smell


A True Kaniggit

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What do you have? What have you had? What do you look for in your vehicles?

Or any other car aspect you'd like to discuss. Buying, selling, prices.

 

I've only ever had two.

My dad got me a '97 Thunderbird in my senior year of high school. The thing was a beast. It survived two wrecks (hydroplaning) and that suicidal deer. Though the thing was still drive-able it would've cost more than he paid for it for me to get it back in inspection order.

After that I bought a 2012 Focus new which I've been using ever since. The basic one where you have to manually roll up the back windows with that revolving handle thing. I’ve just had the one accident in this one. Someone merged without looking and caved in my passenger side door. At least the repairs for that didn’t cost me anything.

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I have only owned my current car. It's an 06 focus that I bought when I moved out of london to oxfordshite age 41 and finally needed transport. I passed my test age 17 then didnt drive until the day I bought it 24 years or so later. 

When this one dies I may spend up to 5 grand on a new car. I'm definitely buying an automatic next time. I had to drive the in laws car recently as mine was off road, it's like driving a go cart, so much fun. 

Car people are weird. If I had unlimited money I would probably still not spend more than 30 grand, I just couldnt see the point. 

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I currently have two cars

My daily driver is a 2019 Buick Regal Sportback I bought because a had an early 90s LeSabre in high school that made it to 360,000 miles with the original drivetrain and I wanted to not have to worry about fixing it or buying a new one for a long time.

My other car is a 1977 Chevy El Camino I am restoring with Fury Sr. (mechanical stuff is done, just paint and interior swap left).

 

cars I have had-

82 Chevy Z28

80 Chevy k10 pickup

66 Chevy Impala

2016 Chevy Cruze

2006 Chrysler 300

84 Chevy Blazer

early 90s Pontiac Sunbird

Early 90s Pontiac Bonneville

 

I do not recommend the Chrysler 300.

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Oh...let's see if I can even remember?

76 Chevy Impala

77 Ford LTD II

78 Dodge Aspen

88 Ford Tempo

93 Pontiac Grand Am

2006 Chevy Silverado 1500

And currently we have:

2011 Chevy Silverado 1500

2015 Chevy Equinox LT

I definitely drove some beaters back in high school and college.  But Dad's an auto mechanic so we could definitely keep them getting me from point A to point B between the two of us (and I bought them all myself).  And I could never afford to be a first owner of a vehicle before we got married and we've have never bought a brand new vehicle after we got married either.

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71 Cutlass was my first car in HS. It had the Rocket v8 350 in it, had airbag suspension race stripes and custom paint. Real cool first car, bought it myself from working summers in my teens.

Unfortunately I rolled this vehicle in a ditch before I even graduated.

Next vehicle was the Chevy S-10 a 6 cylinder truck.

Had a few Jeep Wranglers which I enjoyed while living in and around the canyons of Utah.

Currently have F-150 and a Ford Fiesta.

Of all these my favorite has been the current ride the F-150 by a very long margin.

None of the others are near the vehicle as my dear, dear truck:D

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I have a 2016 Ford Fusion Energi (plug-in hybrid) and a 2017 Nissan Leaf (full electric). Bought the former from a dealer next town over (since our city didnt have too many options) and the latter through Carvana since our state didnt have too many options. The Leaf only has a range of 110 miles, but I use it to go to work mainly. The Fusion has a 25 mile pure electric range, but gets ~46 mpg in hybrid mode.

The next step is for me to install a Level 2 charger in the house (much faster than regular grid charging); right now work has a charging station so it works great for the Leaf. Our utilities company also offers a generous rebate for installing a charging station so it definitely makes sense to me.

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First car was an older VW Golf which I bought for like 2 grand and was awesome. Had it 4 years with zero issues until I crashed it at 60mph and wrote it off. Then had a Seat Leon because I had to get a car ASAP for work but ended up having loads of annoying issues with. Eventually got rid of it and I don't drive anymore as I don't need to. Live on the same street as where I work and the City Centre is a 15 minute walk away. 

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Currently have a 2009 GMC Sierra and a 2020 Honda CRV.  The latter was purchased for incoming baby otter more than any other consideration, but I have to say it’s a pretty nice car. Definitely the nicest one I’ve ever had. Some people see cars as a status symbol, which I do understand because nice cars are awesome, but I’ve always been in the more utilitarian camp as far as how my money is spent. 
 

slightly off topic. I’ve never understood the dudes who take normal cars, an older used Honda Civic would be a good example, and switch out the exhaust to make it louder, put a giant spoiler on there and a few performance brand stickers and then obnoxiously drive around town. Having once been a young man myself I know in my soul that the deepest motivation for this is to impress women. I just need to know if in the history of the human race anyone has ever gotten pussy out of having a loud ass muffler. I feel like the numbers are grim. And yet! To this day, here I am walking my dog through a quaint colonial era town and chin strap beard dickwads are still zooming around in their unnecessarily loud and poorly disguised pieces of shit just like when I was in high school 20 years ago and Fast and Furious first came out. How has this propagated? It’s not working is it?

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4 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

I think at the end of the day, when they turn 35 or so, they realize it’s to impress other men. 

lol yea you may well be right about that. That would explain why it continues even though it’s a futile tactic for picking up women. Though for the record the Dodge Hellcat is a lot more legit than what I’m taking about, which is disguising your ordinary car as a race car of some kind.

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29 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

I think at the end of the day, when they turn 35 or so, they realize it’s to impress other men. There’s this event called “Caffeine and Octane” every first Saturday of the month in the parking lot of a local mall, where all the dudes with their souped-up muscle cars gather.

My best friend’s husband always goes, in his $70k+ Dodge Hellcat. I admit, the Hellcat is a damn fine vehicle, and whenever we all went to the strip club, the valets would always park the Hellcat up front.

However, he’s 40, and he knows that this is alllll just to impress the other dudes. Also, they have all watched all the Fast & Furious movies SO MANY TIMES :rofl:

I am also in the “utilitarian” camp. I spend my money on other things.

 

ETA - like my eyelashes. Do you know how much Latisse costs?? And the only men who ever notice are eye doctors - lol. But, I have gotten *so many* compliments from other women!!!

There's a lot to unpack here, but it's all positively awesome! 

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Great timing for this thread because I’m in the market for a new car and have been researching ideas in recent weeks. 

We lived in downtown Chicago for nine years and I walked to the office most days (taking a taxi occasionally), so we’ve been a one-car family for a long time, which was driven by my wife more than me — daily school run, grocery store, etc.

We have a 2016 Audi A7, which we bought new for a ridiculous price, but it has been an excellent car and has quite low mileage after 5.5 years (~32k) and I fully intend to hold it for ten years or more, which is ultimately a good payback on investment.  I love how it drives (335hp turbo V-6 with a great sport mode), how it feels and how it looks, plus the sportback design is very practical for capacity.

Before the A7, we had a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe (V6 model) for 8 years and it served us really well.  I’d highly recommend that brand and model.  We made the jump to a luxury brand because it felt like a fun indulgence after being abstemious for so long relative to all of our friends and neighbors.  (My wife felt looked down upon for years at the school run, but that didn’t motivate me to get rid of our Hyundai early).  I don’t like spending a lot on a depreciating asset but I do enjoy a good driving experience.

So now I’m looking for a second car that would be my daily commute vehicle, with ~10 miles round trip daily on local roads.  That gives me a lot of latitude — almost anything would suffice.  It can be something fun without the burden of practicality (doesn’t have to be an SUV or a family sedan), but I also don’t want to spend stupid money to try to impress anyone.

I’ve thought about an EV, with the Tesla 3 as the obvious contender.  But I’m not thrilled about the absence of a tax rebate subsidy on Tesla or the generic looks, plus the extra costs like a home charger, and the build quality still isn’t great — we looked at a Model S when we bought the A7 and my wife didn’t like the cheap plastic interior or how it felt (I was just grinning at the acceleration and handling).  Another EV option would be to wait for the BMW i4 to go on sale — which would have the $7.5k tax rebate subsidy — but that means several months of my wife driving me to and from the office each day in the meantime.  The new Audi etron GT looks like it would incredible fun but that would cost a really stupid amount of money.  I’m not excited by the Polestar or any of the other current EV models.

My default option would be an Audi A5 or S5 sportback (the S5 price premium is probably too indulgent), but that seems boringly similar to what I already have.  And I don’t know if a 2-3 year old used car is a good deal these days.  Used car prices went up a lot during the pandemic, so it might be better value to actually buy new now.

I’ve also thought about buying a used model of something really fun to drive.  The Jaguar F-Type is surprisingly affordable without being as expensively unreliable as a Maserati.  It’s even possible to get an Aston Martin DB9 used at reasonable prices.  But those also sound like I’m vying for attention, which I don’t like in a car.

I’d like the chance to drive a Porsche, but they’re very expensive even for used models.  The Macan base model is reasonably affordable but seems underpowered and not close to the driving experience of a Panamera or 911, or even Cayenne S.

OTOH something less luxurious like a Nissan Z has always been an intriguing model.

But so far nothing looks really compelling relative to price.

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5 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

You could sell me on the right one of either of these mob cars. :P

Yeah, the LTD II was the car I drove through late high school and college undergrad.  It was gray and, thus, was affectionately known as "The Grey Whale" (yes, with an "e");)  It took about 40 acres to turn that thing around and, I swear, it seemed like I should be able to get up to speed, push those two doors open, and lift off because they were so long!  And, of course, to say the back seat was "roomy" is quite the understatement:P 

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I've only owned Hondas.

My second car was by far my favorite, a 92 Honda Prelude that I bought before actually knowing how to drive a stick. I bought it at ~100k miles, and I bet I did more damage to that poor transmission in the first hundred miles than it had in its long life before me. Once I had the feel, though, boy was that car absurdly fun to drive. I'm shocked I didn't ever get a speeding ticket the way I tore around. Had it in my mid 20's, when my roommates and I were big party animals. When it was my turn to DD, it was always hilarious to see me, nearly 6-3", and my two roommates, a 6-8" mammoth of a man and a second guy my height, somehow wedge ourselves into that tiny little thing. In those years, I feel like every guy I knew had either a quick little coupe with a sound system, or a pickup truck.

I drive a dinky little Civic now that feels like a golf cart, but the thing got damn near 36 miles a gallon my last long trip, and I haven't had a single issue with the engine in the 20k miles I've put on the past few years.

Honestly, I miss living in a city where I had no need of a car. I went nearly 10 years living in NYC without one. I don't enjoy car commuting whatsoever, although I do like a long cruise every now and then.

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4 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Nice!!! I looked into the condos above my office, but they started at $2 million. The others around are $1 million-ish. This for a fairly plain 2 bedroom condo. And I’m so glad in this pandemic that Pumpkin and I aren’t staring across a two-bedroom condo at each other.

Insane. A million dollars would get you a freaking mansion where I live hah. 

We purposely looked for a place as close to the gym as possible and happened to find a house on the same street. 

I don't miss driving, on the rare occasions where I do need a vehicle (like yesterday where I needed to go pick up some equipment) I just rent a van for a day. 

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4 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Nice!!! I looked into the condos above my office, but they started at $2 million. The others around are $1 million-ish. This for a fairly plain 2 bedroom condo. And I’m so glad in this pandemic that Pumpkin and I aren’t staring across a two-bedroom condo at each other.

Ouch.  In Chicago a great two bedroom condo (downtown, stunning lake view, great neighborhood, custom modern decor, beautiful building, good amenities) costs around $850k.  I know because I sold one.  And the price has been declining over the years as more and more new supply has been added (and moreso this year as people fled city living).  A big three bedroom would cost around $1.6m if you want to stretch to it.  They only go above $2m if they have amazing custom decor.

But lots of cities don’t have as much high rise construction as Chicago, so downtown condos can be really expensive compared to the suburbs. 

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