Car ?'s

Palum said:

I don't see how dealers aren't going to get killed at some point over the next year. I mean it was silly to buy new in 2019, now it's idiotic.

I bought a used car in 2021, drove by a similar one at a small dealer for a year priced at 50% more. Eventually it disappeared, no idea if it sold. The replacement car has been there almost a year now. I have to imagine they are basically only surviving on warranty work and fleet sales at this point.

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Dealerships that focus on excellent customer service will do fine. For instance, I bought a used Highlander for cheap from out of state dealer, that was 5 months ago. Smooth transaction, car was delivered the day they said it would be. I asked if they had extra fob for sale, but they had none. They sent me one free a few weeks ago.

Local Honda dealership didn't jerk anyone off on covid pricing. Prompt, service at great prices, too.

All these dealerships who made coin by jerking people off will absolutely be fucked when the economy goes south.

I went to a RAM Jeep dealership last fall. Silly prices on all the cars and not a single salesperson asked if I needed help. This is not how to run a business. Best part is all the scumbag salespeople will have no where to work because the good dealerships have low turnover and don't hire idiots.

I actually dislike a lot of the new features. I turned off my lane assist as an example. I do not need the truck to drive for me. I am so glad it does not auto cut off when it stops. My wife's Subaru does that shit and it pisses me off. Hurray she saves money on gas, as I think about how much a fucking starter/fly wheel will cost when it burns out. I thought about putting on a grill guard for the truck, but most block the camera/sensors. I am thinking that does not matter if I plan to not use them. I think having something that protects the under carriage and the front grill area would be more beneficial too me. Deer can do some real damage.

I honestly think that sales dealerships might be going the way of movie theaters in the next 5 years or sooner. All that will remain are warranty/maintenance locations that accept deliveries. If this happens, Ford will be the first too do it. Their dealerships royally fucked Ford's reputation with all of the greed bullshit they pulled in the last 3 years.

Thing is, all Dealerships try to get extra money out of the customer. The maintenance shops can be a scam all their own. I had Toyota wanting to charge me $56.00 to replace the Cabin Air Filter. They took a picture of it and showed it too me. It was pretty bad. What was funny was that it had a couple of leaves on it. I declined as I am not that fucking lazy. I went and bought a good one at Autozone and replaced it for $14.00. I bring up the leaves because these asshats could not even be bothered with shaking it off. They put the filter right back in, leaves and all. Fucking tools...

Then I get a text a month later saying they have a deal where they would take off 15% for changing my Cabin Filter. I then explained that opening a glove compartment box and then opening the small door at the back of the glove compartment box was not that difficult. The only trick is to make sure you get the flow direction right. The job takes three minutes. Fuckers should just do it for free and just charge for the part.

So much of these features are just fluff and it only becomes more apparent once you go back to a car without them. Sold my 2017 5 series last month since I was shopping for an electric car, and for now I am back to daily driving a 20 year old E46. Doesn't have any cameras, screens, radars or much of anything really. A week later, I forgot any of that stuff existed, I don't miss any of it.

I'm sure I'll buy something newer again at some point but right now I am not feeling the need at all. Might be becoming old and boring.

I remember the days when the only trim level was with or without CD player. Well fuck you buddy, I just bought that adapter that is a cassette tape that plugs into my portable cd player, checkmate!

Actually kinda looking at a tundra again maybe. I had wanted a maverick for light loads and being able to commute. Reliability seems to have been shit and price gouging badly.
I wanted to wait a few years on my mustang that's been very underwhelming and see what Dodge/Toyota come out w/. However on top of already heavy depreciation, I feel like going to be an even bigger bath with interest rates getting absurd and not improving in near future, so thinking about gettting what I can back out of it now and grabbing either an utter shitbox, or the Tundra which at least should last a long time (my first went 0 issues 140k miles) and have enough tow rating to actually take a trailer with my loaned tractor from my dad etc. I think the biggest killer is the 15mpg commute even worse than 22 on the mustang. So might still try to swallow my pride and find some 30mpg shitbox maybe to pair with it.

Likewise, hardly ride my $20k kawasaki H2 out here, Got pretty good positive equity on it, thinking of paying it off and ditching it for no bike, or possibly just something really dopey basic occasionally for fun but wont cost me $110 a month sitting in my garage in insurance.

TJT said:

Thinking of getting a Toyota Tacoma or Tundra. Anyone have experience with these? A few friends of mine love the Tundra.

I currently have a 2013 Mazda CX-5 and loads of disposable income. Will only buy used as I hate buying cars. Looking to spend $35k or less, crew cab for the fam.

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The smaller cab still fits adults quite well while keeping a 6.5ft bed unless you find a unicorn 8ft. The crew cab is silly big but then has Tony bed. Forget if it's 2018 or when it got a small refresh on the dash and some other small niceties before the 22 gen 3 which I wouldn't touch.

I just bought my 2nd after a few years of sports cars. I don't know ask the features of the refresh in 18 or whatever, the older ones mega reliable but are pretty stone age on features. no tire gauge, blind spot, auto lights/wipers, adaptive cruise. But mega reliable and comfy.

TJT said:

Thinking of getting a Toyota Tacoma or Tundra. Anyone have experience with these? A few friends of mine love the Tundra.

I currently have a 2013 Mazda CX-5 and loads of disposable income. Will only buy used as I hate buying cars. Looking to spend $35k or less, crew cab for the fam.

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If you're on the taller side, definitely test drive a Tacoma first. My head almost grazes the headliner with the seat all the way down and I've bashed my head several times getting into the thing.

If you're not going to use it for truck things very often, the Honda Ridgeline might be worth looking at. The ride is a bit less truck-like on account of the unibody.

Kobayashi said:

If you're on the taller side, definitely test drive a Tacoma first. My head almost grazes the headliner with the seat all the way down and I've bashed my head several times getting into the thing.

If you're not going to use it for truck things very often, the Honda Ridgeline might be worth looking at. The ride is a bit less truck-like on account of the unibody.

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The thing I hated about the Tacoma when I test drove them is the car seating, where your legs are always out straight ahead of you. With a truck you have a seat where your legs can swing down, like a chair, if that makes sense. Just weird getting into a "tall car seat" vs a tall truck seat.

TJT said:

Thinking of getting a Toyota Tacoma or Tundra. Anyone have experience with these? A few friends of mine love the Tundra.

I currently have a 2013 Mazda CX-5 and loads of disposable income. Will only buy used as I hate buying cars. Looking to spend $35k or less, crew cab for the fam.

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TJT said:

I'm 6'4 and have plenty of space in the relatively tiny CX-5. I will check out this Ridgeline. Thank you!

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Ridgeline ok. It is the Honda Pilot SUV with a bed. Ridgleline w 6-speed OK. 9-speed junk. Because it is an SUV, it inherits the platform's tow capacity of just 5k lbs.

2007-2021 Tundra is a nice truck. Reliable. Can get an almost new one for $40k and get something that will last a long fucking time. CrewMax is HUGE inside and comfortable as fuck. I drove mine a good distance moving across states and was 100% comfortable the entire way.

Easy to drive like big Camry. Fuel economy is poor which is the only downside.

It doesn't have all the bells/whistles as Ford/RAM/GM. I had a fully loaded 2018 F250 and will take my Tundra over it all the time.

TJT said:

I'm going to go with the Tundra.

As much as I am getting a new truck just for the sake of wanting a different car I don't really want something that's basically a truck shaped version of the CX-5 spacewise. So I'll just go bigger with the Tundra. I drive like 20k miles a year maybe.

I drive cars forever and this will be the 4th vehicle I have ever owned. I had a Kia Sorento for 10 years and this CX-5 for the Past 7.

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Shop for 2014+. 2nd Gen came out in 2007, with new fenders and interior in 2014. From there unchanged until 2021.

Only real issue with them is cam tower leak. Check to see if it isn't leaking or has had the fix done. Mine leaks a few drops here and there, not a big deal. Others leak more. Fix is up to $3k. This is due to misapplied sealant during manufacture.

CrewMax has 5.5ft bed. Double cab has 6.5ft bed.

Oh yeah, make sure the frame is in good condition. Toyota doesn't salt proof them. Mine is 2012, frame looks like new.

I'm thinking about a RAM truck. I've never been a fan of Dodge Rams but the current generation looks great.

RAMs have a lot of crazy discounts right now, 10-20% off MSRP depending on the dealer. My local dealer is trying to gouge my eyes out though but dealers a cpl hours away are much better.

Break said:

I'm thinking about a RAM truck. I've never been a fan of Dodge Rams but the current generation looks great.

RAMs have a lot of crazy discounts right now, 10-20% off MSRP depending on the dealer. My local dealer is trying to gouge my eyes out though but dealers a cpl hours away are much better.

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it’s better lookin, has a much nicer interior, and is more reliable than ford and gym.