Automobile Thread

[Panerista]

On 5/11/2018 at 11:17 PM, iamshack said:

Leased a 2018 BMW i3s tonight. Been looking at them for a month or so. First electric vehicle!

Works perfect for our commute (11 miles each way), fun little car to drive, and I really love the way BMW built this car. 

 

On 4/26/2018 at 2:40 PM, brett05 said:

Buying a 2018 Civic Lx this weekend

 

On 5/5/2018 at 2:13 PM, Brian said:

Bought Ford Escape 2018 today. Hate spending money but had to be done.

Congrats on the new cars, guys!  Enjoy them in good health!! 

 

And PICTURES!!!!!!!

 

Here's mine just washed

[Brian]

Don’t know how to post pic from my phone but I’ve been discovering modern technology i didn’t know my car has. 

I can start, lock, an unlock my car with my phone. Can’t wait for winter.

Can get in car WiFi but not going to for $20 a month.

When I charge my phone in car, it charges really fast now.

I’m simple folks.

 

[iamshack]

Joe, it definitely has a boxy look to it, and it’s definitely not as roomy as a Model 3. That being said, it has a lot more room than you’d think. Plenty of room for our son in his car seat in the back, and the rear doors opening suicide style combined with the lack of a middle pillar make it really easy to get him in and out of the car. 

I did a lot of research on this car, and it has a lot of things going for it. I’m not going to lie, it’s like driving around a tricked out go kart, but it’s one hell of a go kart. Built from the ground-up to be an electric vehicle with a plastic reinforced carbon fiber chassis, all kinds of sustainable materials, and built in a factory in Leipzig powered by wind turbines. I’m a big Tesla fan, but this is one hell of a vehicle for the price. Got it at a pretty insane discount.  For our needs, it made a lot of sense. 

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

1 hour ago, iamshack said:

Joe, it definitely has a boxy look to it, and it’s definitely not as roomy as a Model 3. That being said, it has a lot more room than you’d think. Plenty of room for our son in his car seat in the back, and the rear doors opening suicide style combined with the lack of a middle pillar make it really easy to get him in and out of the car. 

I did a lot of research on this car, and it has a lot of things going for it. I’m not going to lie, it’s like driving around a tricked out go kart, but it’s one hell of a go kart. Built from the ground-up to be an electric vehicle with a plastic reinforced carbon fiber chassis, all kinds of sustainable materials, and built in a factory in Leipzig powered by wind turbines. I’m a big Tesla fan, but this is one hell of a vehicle for the price. Got it at a pretty insane discount.  For our needs, it made a lot of sense. 

Were the discounts from EV incentives? I know here in NWINdiana you can get $10K off a Leaf via our electric company, and still qualify for the $7500 government rebate. It ends up being like 60% off.

[RockRaines]

15 hours ago, Brian said:

Don’t know how to post pic from my phone but I’ve been discovering modern technology i didn’t know my car has. 

I can start, lock, an unlock my car with my phone. Can’t wait for winter.

Can get in car WiFi but not going to for $20 a month.

When I charge my phone in car, it charges really fast now.

I’m simple folks.

 

Yeah, you took a pretty giant leap in technology there.  NIce ride.

[iamshack]

6 hours ago, ChiliIrishHammock24 said:

Were the discounts from EV incentives? I know here in NWINdiana you can get $10K off a Leaf via our electric company, and still qualify for the $7500 government rebate. It ends up being like 60% off.

Our electric company does not offer an incentive, however, I qualified for a $10k corporate discount because my company is a subsidiary of a company (Berkshire Hathaway) that has a partnership with BMW. The dealership offered a $6k discount, and so with the corporate discount of $10k, factoring in the tax incentive, the effective purchase price after tax and fees would have been less than $36k on a $55k MSRP vehicle. With that said, they wanted to screw me on the interest rate for a purchase, so I leased instead. For the lease, they kept the $6k discount and passed through the $7,500 tax credit via a rebate. Not as great of a deal as had I purchased, but I didn’t want to assume the risk of depreciation, particularly with the depreciation on EVs as well as potentially a larger battery coming for this particular vehicle later this year. 

I really don’t need any more range, as my wife and I work at the utility company here in Nevada, which has all kinds of chargers we can access for free. So basically, I can trickle charge at home over the weekend if need be, but can’t imagine we’ll even do that much. Between the price of the car and the almost zero fuel costs, it was a prettty simple proposition. 

Friday I have Tesla coming to do a solar site assessment. Pretty amped about that. 

[Chisoxfn]

Chili I'm sure you've already seen this...but interesting report on Consumer Reports not giving the new Tesla a recommendation.  Most of it stemming back to very poor brake / stopping performance.  Other issues as well (basically it sounds like a very buggy 1st generation product)..albeit they do highlight that the car is fun to drive.  Additionally, from what I've read online...Consumer Report isn't the only one to have major issues when reviewing the actual vehicle (Edmunds hasn't had many good things to say about it as well).  

https://jalopnik.com/consumer-reports-says-it-found-big-flaws-with-the-tesla-1826198783

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

4 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

Chili I'm sure you've already seen this...but interesting report on Consumer Reports not giving the new Tesla a recommendation.  Most of it stemming back to very poor brake / stopping performance.  Other issues as well (basically it sounds like a very buggy 1st generation product)..albeit they do highlight that the car is fun to drive.  Additionally, from what I've read online...Consumer Report isn't the only one to have major issues when reviewing the actual vehicle (Edmunds hasn't had many good things to say about it as well).  

https://jalopnik.com/consumer-reports-says-it-found-big-flaws-with-the-tesla-1826198783

I saw that, but one of the greatest advantages of Tesla, and Elon addressed it on the same day, is that Teslas are constantly being updated OTA like our phones. There have been dozens of improvements and new features added since the first Model 3 hit the road. And to this braking issue specifically, Elon said they have already identified a way to update it over-the-air to improve the braking. He said they won't stop working on it until it's the best braking car of it's class, even if that means having to physically change components of existing cars, at no-cost to the owners. Whether he delivers on that can be judged, but I have no doubts that he is going to take care of the issue in one way or another. 

One of the reasons why mine not being manufactured for another 4-5 months is a good thing. 

Edited May 30, 2018 by ChiliIrishHammock24

[Chisoxfn]

I definitely recognize that...but I think it is a pretty scary thing that they are putting out a car that up-front does not meet critical safety issues and has major failures. It is the scary thing about innovating with vehicles. It's one thing if my computer got the blue screen of death (think Windows 95 or whatever operating systems)...its another if my car gets the blue screen of death or shudder that thought literally can't stop properly. 

I also very much question how an OTA update solves a breaking issue...and if OTA can solve the issue...the next question is what can hackers do?  I think of brakes as being pretty mechanical components...yes some electronics involved...but cars stopping has a lot to do with the ultimate equipment. I think it is a real issue Tesla has and why ultimately I view Tesla being a component / technology company vs. a car company.  It is absolutley incredible what they have done and how they have innovated, but I don't believe they have world class QC and safety standards in process because it probably holds back "innovation" and to me that is a scary thing. Long term, they will get there...but I think when done right they will be providing world class components across the auto industry with those companies manufacturing the cars running it through their world class QC systems.

I will caveat that I am not implying that other car companies are perfect either and I'm not knocking Elon Musk. The things that make him and Tesla great are also the things that will inherently lead to these type of weakness. Very hard to accomplish both, imo.  

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

9 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

I definitely recognize that...but I think it is a pretty scary thing that they are putting out a car that up-front does not meet critical safety issues and has major failures. It is the scary thing about innovating with vehicles. It's one thing if my computer got the blue screen of death (think Windows 95 or whatever operating systems)...its another if my car gets the blue screen of death or shudder that thought literally can't stop properly. 

I also very much question how an OTA update solves a breaking issue...and if OTA can solve the issue...the next question is what can hackers do?  I think of brakes as being pretty mechanical components...yes some electronics involved...but cars stopping has a lot to do with the ultimate equipment. I think it is a real issue Tesla has and why ultimately I view Tesla being a component / technology company vs. a car company.  It is absolutley incredible what they have done and how they have innovated, but I don't believe they have world class QC and safety standards in process because it probably holds back "innovation" and to me that is a scary thing. Long term, they will get there...but I think when done right they will be providing world class components across the auto industry with those companies manufacturing the cars running it through their world class QC systems.

I will caveat that I am not implying that other car companies are perfect either and I'm not knocking Elon Musk. The things that make him and Tesla great are also the things that will inherently lead to these type of weakness. Very hard to accomplish both, imo.  

Welp, apparently it is possible to fix the braking issue OTA, because they just did, and Consumer Reports now recommends the car.

 

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/tesla-model-3-gets-cr-recommendation-after-braking-update/

 

They shaved off 19 feet, or about 13% stopping distance.

[Chisoxfn]

6 minutes ago, ChiliIrishHammock24 said:

Welp, apparently it is possible to fix the braking issue OTA, because they just did, and Consumer Reports now recommends the car. 

 

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/tesla-model-3-gets-cr-recommendation-after-braking-update/

 

They shaved off 19 feet, or about 13% stopping distance.

Until now, that type of remote improvement to a car’s basic functionality had been unheard of. “I’ve been at CR for 19 years and tested more than 1,000 cars,” says Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, “and I’ve never seen a car that could improve its track performance with an over-the-air update.”

[Chisoxfn]

I got to say...kudos to them.  It still makes me wonder how a car went from one braking distance to bad and back to good all from a minor OTA update. I think that is a scary factoid.  

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

1 minute ago, Chisoxfn said:

Until now, that type of remote improvement to a car’s basic functionality had been unheard of. “I’ve been at CR for 19 years and tested more than 1,000 cars,” says Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, “and I’ve never seen a car that could improve its track performance with an over-the-air update.”

Yup, that's why I said it's a unique advantage that Tesla has; the ability to upgrade their fleet remotely.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

1 minute ago, Chisoxfn said:

I got to say...kudos to them.  It still makes me wonder how a car went from one braking distance to bad and back to good all from a minor OTA update. I think that is a scary factoid.  

I won't pretend to know how code can improve mechanical functionality, or why they wouldn't maximize that code to begin with, but it's still nice to see it can be addressed so quickly.

[StrangeSox]

5 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

I got to say...kudos to them.  It still makes me wonder how a car went from one braking distance to bad and back to good all from a minor OTA update. I think that is a scary factoid.  

Yeah, that's the scary part. Like you said above, why don't they have a stringent QC program to catch this sort of thing before the car gets shipped out? Having the end-users beta test your products is crappy enough in the software world. We shouldn't be doing it with 3 ton machines driven at 80+ mph.

[Chisoxfn]

2 hours ago, StrangeSox said:

Yeah, that's the scary part. Like you said above, why don't they have a stringent QC program to catch this sort of thing before the car gets shipped out? Having the end-users beta test your products is crappy enough in the software world. We shouldn't be doing it with 3 ton machines driven at 80+ mph.

Exactly...that is legitimately what terrifies me the most of that prospect...especially given the fact that the car stopped one time at X difference and than couldn't repeat that functionality. The whole thing seemed extremely odd. I will say I don't follow consumer reports regularly but when I am in the market for a car, I typically read all of the various publications to see what people are saying about all the models in the class I'm interested in buying and I've never read an article that had the tone in it that the consumer reports one had around stopping distance (as well as some other issues). I've seen lots on more long-term follow-ups where there are issues...but again, some of the things that CR was commenting on (and Edmunds as well) were just fundamentally bad.  

[Texsox]

My guess is the brakes pulsate at some frequency to avoid skidding (anti-skid). They probably found a way to increase the frequency. It kind of makes sense in that regard but I'm a little concerned, like you, that it was shipped that way.

[Panerista]

On 6/3/2018 at 5:09 PM, Texsox said:

My guess is the brakes pulsate at some frequency to avoid skidding (anti-skid). They probably found a way to increase the frequency. It kind of makes sense in that regard but I'm a little concerned, like you, that it was shipped that way.

Elon has a lot of nerve using his customers as crash test dummies

[Balta1701]

So Tesla's hundred-million dollar assembly line is working so poorly that they rented a huge tent and set it up in their parking lot and are now building their cars with limited automation in that tent while they struggle with the assembly line.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

On 6/26/2018 at 2:59 PM, Balta1701 said:

So Tesla's hundred-million dollar assembly line is working so poorly that they rented a huge tent and set it up in their parking lot and are now building their cars with limited automation in that tent while they struggle with the assembly line.

And it's apparently been very fruitful for them.

[Iwritecode]

We currently have a 2003 Suburban and the AC doesn't work. We've taken it to 4 or 5 different places and spent 100's of dollars on it but nobody seems to be able to fix it. We had a 1993 Suburban prior to this and the AC went out in that as well. My parents have a 2007 and their AC isn't working right either. So for some reason, Suburbans seem to have a lot of AC trouble. Replacing brake lines is a common occurrence as well. 

With all that being said, we still want the option of having an 8 passenger vehicle. So we started looking at the Traverse. A little smaller, not as much cargo space but can still seat 8 people. 

We've been doing most of our searching online so this weekend, we went to a dealership to see one in person. This is literally the first one we've driven and we still aren't 100% sure it's exactly what we want. Plus it had 97,000 miles on it which is a little higher than we wanted. The salesman so far has been extremely overbearing. He mentioned the price and what a great deal it was no less than 5 times on the test drive.

We told him that we wanted to think about it and keep looking. After reluctantly giving him my cell number, he called us 5 minutes after we left saying he'd take $1000 off the price if we wanted to do a deal. Then he called and texted me later that day. 

After he called me again this morning I texted him saying we are going to pass because of the high mileage and that we are a little worried about the towing ability. (We need to be able to tow a golf cart back and forth to a seasonal camping site twice a year).  Then he texted me back about 2 other vehicles, neither of which have 8 passenger seating.

I had almost forgotten how much I hate dealing with car salesmen... ?

Edited July 9, 2018 by Iwritecode

[BigSqwert]

47 minutes ago, Iwritecode said:

We currently have a 2003 Suburban and the AC doesn't work. We've taken it to 4 or 5 different places and spent 100's of dollars on it but nobody seems to be able to fix it. We had a 1993 Suburban prior to this and the AC went out in that as well. My parents have a 2007 and their AC isn't working right either. So for some reason, Suburbans seem to have a lot of AC trouble. Replacing brake lines is a common occurrence as well. 

With all that being said, we still want the option of having an 8 passenger vehicle. So we started looking at the Traverse. A little smaller, not as much cargo space but can still seat 8 people. 

We've been doing most of our searching online so this weekend, we went to a dealership to see one in person. This is literally the first one we've driven and we still aren't 100% sure it's exactly what we want. Plus it had 97,000 miles on it which is a little higher than we wanted. The salesman so far has been extremely overbearing. He mentioned the price and what a great deal it was no less than 5 times on the test drive.

We told him that we wanted to think about it and keep looking. After reluctantly giving him my cell number, he called us 5 minutes after we left saying he'd take $1000 off the price if we wanted to do a deal. Then he called and texted me later that day. 

After he called me again this morning I texted him saying we are going to pass because of the high mileage and that we are a little worried about the towing ability. (We need to be able to tow a golf cart back and forth to a seasonal camping site twice a year).  Then he texted me back about 2 other vehicles, neither of which have 8 passenger seating.

I had almost forgotten how much I hate dealing with car salesmen... ?

You may want to give Carmax a shot. No haggle pricing.

[StrangeSox]

Definitely at least give them a shot for the trade-in. They will generally pay you much more than a regular dealership will. They gave me about $5k more for my Tacoma last year than a couple of other dealerships offered. The dealerships tried playing their bs games about how my truck with a total of 35k miles was literally about to fall apart, really, they're doing me a favor by even offering to take it and they're going to have to rebuild the whole thing! Car dealerships are the absolute worst.

 

The flip side with carmax is that you will pay a little more if you buy a car from them than you would elsewhere, but there really is (nearly) zero bs. It was also great to be able to look at a dozen different models and various trim levels in each model all on one lot and without a super annoying salesguy hovering over your shoulder.

 

[raBBit]

Background: I currently drive a 2007 Dodge Charger RT. I bought it in March of 2014 and was hoping to get 6 years out of it. It has 144k of miles on it. I had to pass my emissions test for July and I couldn't get the damn light off. I took it two shops and the computer always read "oil sensor." I had replaced the sensor and the belt related and the light still wouldn't go off. So the guy at my local shop told me I had to take it to the dealer. I take it to the dealer in the middle of July and still haven't picked it up. When I went to pick it up the check engine light was still on and my stick shift unit was entirely taken apart with the cables all over the place. When I asked the dealership guy what the hell happened he basically just kept telling me it wasn't their fault. They said I need some clip for the cables of the shifter. They told me it was be in on August 4th. They have since delayed the item saying it is on back order. I am supposed to get it back in two weeks.  They wouldn't give me a courtesy car. They told me how small my business was to them relative to the dealership. Needless to say I am good on Dodge and really American cars.

In the meantime, I have been borrowing an extra car my parents have but it's been longer than expected and they are expecting it back sooner than later so I have to figure something out. 

Problem 1:  Selling the Charger.

2007 Dodge Charger RT with a ~144k miles on it.  It runs well but seems to have some sort of electric issues with the lights fading a little bit in the center counsel. The inside of the car is in outstanding shape. I took good care of the leather, always kept it clean and there was little back seat use. The body does have some damage on the bumper under driver tail light that got caved in by a 4 foot metal pole. 

The only other car I have had was a POS and sold for scrap so I am a little unsure on how to go about it. I got the KBB value and all that. Do you guys think I am better off a.) trying to use the car for a trade in credit b.) selling privately (craigslist, other self listing site) or c.) selling to a dealer, carmax, etc. Any resources or experiences would be appreciated.

 Problem 2: Buying a new car

I am embarrassed to say this but the car I am looking at is a Toyota Prius. I've also looked at a Lexus hybrid that was only available for a few years. I am looking for cars with great fuel economy that typically last a long time. Preferably in the 2011-2016 range. I am planning to drive uber on the evenings/weekends of my non-busy season for work. Any resources or tips would be appreciated as far as sites, experiences, rules when buying would be appreciated. 

[southsider2k5]

I got a great deal last year on a regular gasoline Jetta last year.  Because of the Diesel scandal, they were cheaper than the equal domestic cars of similar size.  I get 40 mpg on the highway on it.