Car lovers?

My car delivery got delayed again, this time to the 30th, which is 10 days after the original date and 4 days after the 10-day payoff on my current loan expires. So I have to deal with the bank again, and insurance again, and another 6 days of anticipation.

I’m not surprised that this is an issue with the supply chain issues and COVID. I just wish I’d known in advance that it was likely, I guess. I wouldn’t have gotten so ramped up in anticipation.

The most annoying part is probably that I fully cleaned the car out, took out my daughter’s car seat, and put in just the right amount of gas to get me through tomorrow.

That sucks! Carvana isn’t the most well run company, I had similar scheduling problems when I sold them a car a couple of years ago before COVID. They are good if everything goes normal but anything a little outside and it seems like a problem they aren’t prepared for.

I haven't been super active on the forums for a while now, but I wanted to share what I was able to do this past June when visiting family in California:

Got my 2L Type 4 Porsche-powered Beetle running again, with new wiring and a Bluetooth-programmable distributor! It was so exciting and cathartic to finally get to work on my car after years of dreaming about it. It'd been financially and physically out of reach for so long, it was really good to hear it rev again.

Now we're in the planning stages for owning a home, and my one requirement is a garage where I can work on this car in my spare time. I have big plans to make this a track-day monster.

LeapingGnome wrote:

That sucks! Carvana isn’t the most well run company, I had similar scheduling problems when I sold them a car a couple of years ago before COVID. They are good if everything goes ok normal but anything a little outside and it seems like a problem they aren’t prepared for.

Apparently sourcing a replacement tire took longer than expected so it missed the long-distance truck to New England. They’re 19” so I guess it’s kind of understandable.

The negative side effect is it’s giving me a bit of a wandering eye. 3 liter Audi A6, Lexus GS, and maybe Audi S4 are in the price range and have the kinda performance I want, but I really don’t think a sedan is going to keep my attention.

Car finally came! I’m working from home so I only got to take it around the block a few times, but I’m very impressed. The most surprising thing is how they manage to engineer such a spacious feeling interior into a car that looks quite small from the outside. The blend of luxury feel and sportiness inside is also great. I don’t care what youtubers say, I love piano black lol.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Car finally came! I’m working from home so I only got to take it around the block a few times, but I’m very impressed. The most surprising thing is how they manage to engineer such a spacious feeling interior into a car that looks quite small from the outside. The blend of luxury feel and sportiness inside is also great. I don’t care what youtubers say, I love piano black lol.

Congrats!

I love black. I just don't like maintaining black. I went from three black cars in a row to two blue ones and a white one (wife's SUV).

Blind_Evil wrote:

The most surprising thing is how they manage to engineer such a spacious feeling interior into a car that looks quite small from the outside.

Oh, so it's the opposite of an Xterra? My wife's looks big on the outside and feels quite small inside, especially as soon as you start attempting to load it with anything.

It’s really a feat of engineering. For comparison my wife’s Merc GLC is 4 inches wider, 8 inches taller, and 16 inches longer. Despite this the Golf has more head and leg room in the front, more head and one inch less leg room in the rear. The Golf has two more feet of space in the hatch with the seats up, and only about a foot less with the seats folded. The Golf also is about 600 lbs lighter.

Maybe the opposite is a thing with off-roady SUVs? When I was looking at older ones for a winter beater the 2002-2009 4runner felt like a compact SUV on the inside.

My wife's old CRV was like that. Big on the inside.

VW has always been good at maximizing interior space. The modern ones are great compared to other modern cars, but they have nothing on the older ones (that didn't devote space to crash protection). My '84 Rabbit had so much space inside that if you folded the rear seat I swear you could fit a Volkswagen Rabbit in there.

ElectricPi wrote:

VW has always been good at maximizing interior space. The modern ones are great compared to other modern cars, but they have nothing on the older ones (that didn't devote space to crash protection). My '84 Rabbit had so much space inside that if you folded the rear seat I swear you could fit a Volkswagen Rabbit in there.

Case-in-point:
IMAGE(https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/volmac_seatrecliners_inst.jpg)

WipEout wrote:

Case-in-point:
IMAGE(https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/volmac_seatrecliners_inst.jpg)

It's interesting that the price is in dollars, the spelling seems to be american, but the picture in the uper right is either flipped or of a RHD VW.

They can't be American, they're nowhere near fat enough!

Yeah, I didn't think about that! But on closer inspection, the speedometer is on the left, and the "oh-sh*t" dash handle is on the right. Looks like they moved the steering column for more headroom, but set it on the passenger side for some reason. :shrug:

You can tell by the VW emblem on the hood it's not flipped.

/s

Was looking to replace the 2012 G37x with an X3/Q5/GLC but really felt the features and engines were lackluster without having to shell out for an M/S/AMG version that makes it closer to price of the X5/Q7/GLE. I also had a loaner QX50 but found it to be terrible in several ways. We decided to keep the smaller G37x for now at least (only has 59k miles) and got the 2022 X5.

Also looked at the Model Y but find the styling unappealing and has absolutely terrible rear visibility. I'm sure I would get used to it with all the camera and sensor support but was almost shocking to me during the test drive.

If they fix their current front end and actually bring this to the states, I might get rid of my Mazda 3.

IMAGE(https://cdn.carbuzz.com/gallery-images/840x560/973000/0/973058.jpg)

EverythingsTentative wrote:

If they fix their current front end and actually bring this to the states, I might get rid of my Mazda 3.

IMAGE(https://cdn.carbuzz.com/gallery-images/840x560/973000/0/973058.jpg)

If they fix the front, they'll just move back to screwing up some other part of the car. Remember the Bangle Butt?

lol I've never heard it called that. The fact that that came after their best looking car ever, the 2001 740i, is baffling. I wish I still had mine.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

lol I've never heard it called that. The fact that that came after their best looking car ever, the 2001 740i, is baffling. I wish I still had mine.

Anytime you get any of that wistfulness, go watch some Hoovie's Garage.

(I like what BMW tries to do, they just seem to always engineer in massive mechanical time bombs.)

Speaking of German engineering.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/advice...

Is anybody excited about the GR Corolla? 300hp AWD 4dr hatchback. Just in time since there won't be a new STI.

I really wanted the 2008 STI hatch but settled for a Mazdaspeed 3 back in the day.

I swore off Toyota / Lexus after they continued to donate to the politicians that tried to overthrow our democracy and then they defended the donations after getting PR blowback.

Unfortunately I don't really like the look of that GR corolla

I have a question for y'all - where do you go for oil changes / regular maintenance? Seems like these days many dealerships give you a certain number of free oil changes to get you used to bringing the car to them for service, but that's probably not necessary. Any thoughts?

And if you're such a chad that you change your own oil, feel free to brag here, but don't expect me to follow suit. I feel accomplished that I once changed my own tire!

Jiffy lube for oil changes.

Indie mom & pop mechanic based on recommendations from friends/colleagues for service.

Dealership for buying the car and recalls ONLY.

For my wet sump cars, Jiffy Lube or similar.

I take my dry sump car (R8) to a local well recommended independent mechanic that specializes in that type of car.

When we've needed mechanical work, the same - a local mechanic recommended for that make of car (different for each one).

I do my own basic maintenance, but when it gets over my head, I go to independent shops that specialize in my brands of cars. I'd probably check with them on maintenance stuff if I couldn't do it. Lots of cars these days have things that run of the mill quick lube shops may not have the tools do handle, such as resetting maintenance schedules on some cars (my Audi requires a scan tool specific to VAG branded cars for instance).

Your car may not have anything unusual and you're probably fine at one of the chains. I'm just picky on what type of fluids and filters I use, and have recently seen what happens when my daughter took a car in to have serviced. They ended up selling her things I knew she didn't need, because I'd done the service last time.

Valvoline quick change place has been good for oil mostly. I tried a coupon to a decent car shop once but scheduling appt, waited 45 min, and still only saved about $10 over Valvoline. But in and out there is so much more convenient. Extra half hour of my time is worth more

I do have a trusted car shop that was down the street from my office, after I got a nail in a tire and they fixed it for $8. Some co-workers had work done there and recommended and the Google reviews are fantastic. I thought about doing regular oil changes there too but since I don't go to the office anymore it's kind of a pain to drive over there. Having them watching for any car issues might be worth the time over Valvoline but I dunno.

The quick change oil places do always try to upsell you an air filter or new wiper blades, stuff that's easy to change yourself, and they charge double what you can buy the part for at Amazon, Walmart, or auto zone, etc

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I have a question for y'all - where do you go for oil changes / regular maintenance? Seems like these days many dealerships give you a certain number of free oil changes to get you used to bringing the car to them for service, but that's probably not necessary. Any thoughts?

And if you're such a chad that you change your own oil, feel free to brag here, but don't expect me to follow suit. I feel accomplished that I once changed my own tire! ;)

My local Nissan dealership constantly sends me coupons for their services that makes them cheaper than any of the other places so I usually take my Altima to them.