General Auto Chat

I actually had a similar discussion with my car buddies yesterday. We all own old cars and new cars except for one friend who's newest car ever was an 80s C20 and his newest currently is a 71 D100 (the years of cars he currently owns: 71, 67, 66, 54, 53, 26).

All of us, except for the friend with ONLY old cars, thought old cars were easier to work on. He assumed OBD2 made diagnosing super easy. What he didn't understand is that sensors can be bad, wiring can be bad, and that all can give false readings. Sure, on an old car (I'm talking early 70s or older, mid 70s to 90s is a weird middle ground with 900 vacuum lines, smog pumps, dumb computers, etc) there's no computer to tell you what's wrong, you have to use your knowledge and senses. There's only so many things that can be wrong on a car with points ignition and a carburetor. With a modern car, there's an order of magnitude more things that can be wrong. When you understand the handful of mainstream carb designs and the handful of different ignition systems, you're pretty much set to diagnose any problem.

I won't get into GM vs Ford vs Mopar, because I'm slightly biased against Fords, but I will say that for the most part, any of them from the early 70s or back will run forever with proper maintenance, and you don't need a college degree in mechanics/electronics to do it.

 

I've leased a few cars. I bought my previous car after the lease was up, and I also bought the extended warranty at the same time. Four years factory and three years extended. Extended warranty was about 4K, and I just happened to have about 4K worth of work done under it so it was break even for me. Well worth the peace of mind in case something major broke though.

 

The engineering for 4 yrs just seems off vs my anecdotal experience, but maybe that's because of the cars we're buying...

We've purchased low mileage certified pre-owned cars lease vehicles for the last 20yrs or so... and typically keep them until 10-12 yrs old and 150k-200k miles (Mercedes, Volvo, Toyota, Subaru). Getting a CPO has traditionally been about 2k more than the same car without CPO... but no idea what the current pricing is in this environment.

The CPO definitely paid off on the Mercedes (outrageous labor, but not much went wrong) & the Volvo (replaced the alternator at 75k miles rebuilt the engine at 90k - probably won't get another Volvo). The Toyota never needed anything other than oil and brakes while the Subaru is too new for us to tell (but I suspect we'll have paid for peace of mind).

 

The 4 year thing is what's coming, not what has been. These guys are working in engineering and design on future systems. It's a target they are trying to hit. Planned obsolescence. They've been doing it since the 50s but they used to overshoot it by decades.

 

Ugh

 

I can't see purposefully creating a reputation for building cars that are unreliable as being any sort of competitive advantage, but fortunately we have the internet so we will find out who they are soon enough and we can avoid them.

 

People who buy based on reliability are the minority these days. Most people see a giant touchscreen and interior RGB underglow and are sold.

 

Dude, too many people rely on screens in their cars these days. If I could nuke every Tesla that cannot blink and/or mirror check I would do it.

I want my vehicles to be analogue. On the road my eyes need to be on the road.

 

I've wondered about the Consumer Reports grades for new cars' reliability. How do they know? (That's only partly a rhetorical question). Presumably they draw on data for individual models over a certain amount of time - but surely there's something of a lag?

I guess the question for auto manufacturers is whether the Consumer Reports sample for reliability ever extends beyond 4 or 5 years.

 

Toyan Mini-Rotary Engine: https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a40431975/tiny-rotary-engine-30000-rpm-video/

 

Back in the Toyota habit! '22 SR5 Trail Edition. Already put some 255/85r16 Yoko Geolandar MTs on it and got rid of the shitty car tires that came on it stock. So far I love it! Time to put some dents in it!!



Tho, I promise it won't turn out like my old rig:

 

Been on the hunt or look out for a new car for almost a year. Besides the car market being awful for the past year when it came to availability or dealerships having insane mark ups, things have just kinda sucked all around.

The new GR Corolla and Z caught my eye for differing reasons but just recently I hit 4 dealerships near me. First Toyota, GR Corolla no word yet on ETA for it but the salesmen was being koi about their pricing and availability. With how things are looking on it, I wouldn't expect to be able to get one anytime soon. Curiously asked about the GR86 and Supra and no stock.

I was talking to my local Nissan dealership since I saw the Z last year at LA Auto Show, been texting and coming in every so often but delays upon delays. Now that its finally coming out, the car looks cool to me still but probably a lot less practical of a daily. With the way the dealer was hinting, looks like I could get one for the price of Supra. Ended up passing.

Went to Acura to inquire about the new Integra, they had one on the lot as an employee got one but they had no word on availability.

Honda was utterly amazing and funny. The rep straight up just told me on the new Type R, its a $20k mark up, they have no ETA, they can take deposits for it but I would get zero choice in color, whatever comes in, I will need to buy it.

Lost hope, Honda left such a bad taste in my mouth, I appreciate the honestly maybe in that the guy was basically telling me I don't want the Type R unless I want to put down $20k extra on a $38k car. Randomly took a shot with Subaru since the WRX was on my radar so I went in.

Was bummed that Subaru isn't doing an STI this generation, the dealership told me since they are going electric they heard the STI wasn't happening same time as everyone else. Did the test drive on the WRX and it was quite fun and man could it handle well. Been so jaded so far with my past experiences at dealerships and working in sales before I told the salesmen I was ready for the markups.

Then he surprised me, they are doing MSRP on the WRX and had the WR Blue I was eyeing. Decided I was going to trade in my 2017 Rogue with 12k miles on it, they offered less than I was expecting but ultimately decided to pull the trigger.



First car I bought on my own, 2022 WRX GT, only comes automatic but at least its improved from old WRX autos. Heat plus talking all day exhausted me so I have done pretty much just the drive home on it but excited to put some work in it!

 

First, congratulations @netforce ! Love blue gt subarus.

Second though...what is up with USA and automatic cars?! Serious question. It hurts my soul

 

They had the lower trims with manual or AT I could have gone for. I was kinda thinking for months if I wanted to go manual and learn it myself. Ultimately decided since I live in LA, and most of my time actually driving was being stuck in traffic that it is a little more practical to go automatic.

Its probably for us Americans, its just kinda more convenient to go automatic. Though had I copped a manual, that would be my anti-theft system

 

Congrats! Also very curious about the GR, new Z, new Type R, etc. myself - although realistically I'm just big enough to where I would realistically be constrained to a WRX or Z to be comfortable for any drive over 1hr or would have to buy a 2nd car.

@Walderstorn - yes, but also yes to LA / southern CA traffic. 4 years later and sometimes I still kick myself for getting my car in auto, but every time that traffic appears...

Outside of areas with major traffic though, I don't get it either. Maybe it's why most of our cars feel like "karen cars" here and it ties back to my rant about the excessive number of people driving generic jellybean dumbed down SUVs who don't actually have any real need for them while also paying about 1/100 attention most of the time... actually... , in most scenarios, I can't think of any practical reason most current SUVs exist.

 

Welp, the R8 didn't last very long in my garage, I traded it in last weekend. It was an incredible car, but it turned out to not be the car I needed.

I was ready for the inconvenience of not having much storage space, only one seat, parking in the boonies to avoid parking next to people, etc. These were all mostly things I was already doing with the Supra I had. But starting the weekend of the big meet another inconvenience I hadn't really considered started to crop up. I didn't want to drive it downtown and park it there all day. whether at a random parking lot or valet. I ended up Lyft-ing both ways both days that weekend.

The following weekend, I was home on vacation, but a friend was chatting online about going to some conventions, which I obviously haven't done in a few years, and I started considering going to some in Dallas or Houston, etc. And as soon as I did, my first thought was "how will I get there? I don't want to drive the R8 and park it there all weekend", that was when I knew I needed a different car.

I ended up getting a black Model 3 Performance. I test drove one of these when I bought the Supra, but decided against it since it was the first time I was buying a nice car, and I knew if I got an electric, I would never go back, so I wanted to get a nice normal car first. Well, now I've had several so I decided it was time. the Model 3 Performance was the fastest car I'd ever driven in 2020, and that is still absolutely the case. Neither the Supra or the R8 can come even close in terms of speed. It even handles pretty well, with the low center of gravity due to the battery helping a lot. Though when it comes to looks, there is a reason I won't even be bothering to attach a pic here. I don't think the Model 3 is a bad looking car, but it's entirely unremarkable.

One thing it is though is incredible convenient, in ways I wasn't expecting. Many people look at EVs and think charging is this huge inconvenience, and maybe if you road trip all the time, or take similarly very long drives frequently, it would be. But for normal commuting its a god send. Never going to the gas station and always having a "full" car that is ready to go is incredible. Another thing is just the interaction with it, and not just the auto locking and unlocking, which many other cars have. But the fact that there is no starting it, or stopping/turning it off. You just climb in, put it in drive and off you go, and similarly, when you arrive, you just hit the park button and climb out. It might be a small thing, but the car really does just get out of the way of your life. Using the phone to lock and unlock is seamless, I haven't had any issues so far.

Another huge convenience, is that due to the sort of appliance nature of the car, I don't care about it? Unlike the Supra or R8, id drive this thing anywhere and park it anywhere as well. I don't bother finding spots in the boonies. Its just one less thing to worry about. And this isn't cause its a shitty car, its certainly spartan, and the materials aren't like Mercedes quality, but they are plenty fine. I guess this is a mental thing on my part, but its real.

Side note, even for roadtrips I don't really consider charging an issue. You can stop at a super charger every 1.5-2 hours for 15 minutes, just don't stop till you're between 10-20% charge to maximize the charging speed and miles of charge gained. I would be stopping that often to get out and walk around/pee/get a snack/etc anyways.

Anyways, the EV life is pretty nice, specially if you can wrangle your way into low cost charging at work/school/etc

 

I love manuals, most of my cars throughout my life have been manual. It had been on my bucket list to try a modern automatic though, so that is what I did when I bought my current car. It's actually very good, not like the slushboxes of old. Put it in manual mode and use the paddles, shifts are fast and crisp, rev matching is perfect, and it has 8 gears so they are spaced closer than with my former 6-speed. I'm sure I will own a manual again but right now I am enjoying the novelty of something new.

 

I can't fit too many things in a standard card trunk, but with a hatchback like system on most hatchbacks and suvs that is super easy to do.

Also I don't drive cars for fun, I drive for point A to B. This is why I am cheapish on cars with basic trim levels, too much technology gadgets. But I wouldn't mind getting a Corolla Hybird in the future since I'll be planning to do a crap ton of driving in FL...woo.

 

Yeah, it's no fun owning a car if you can't treat it like a car.

My first car, I had an alarm, wheel locks, one of those ridiculous Clubs on the steering wheel, and I wouldn't park it where I couldn't see it. But I eventually realized that a) that's no way to live, b) comprehensive insurance is a thing, and c) people generally don't mess with expensive cars anyway.

Now there's no place I wouldn't park my cars.

 

Makes sense, just because i never liked it and, fortunately, i can still find a lot of shift cars here but i also live somewhere much calmer and almost no traffic. Probably if i was in the same situation i would feel that an automatic would benefit me much more.