Why I buy what I buy (cars)

[007]

I had a 1974 Pontiac Grand Prix. One of my most favorite cars. Just loved the way it drove. Liked the interior too. Had a 400 in it.

 

[Sunni Man]

You couldn't give me a Dodge. Everyone I know that owns one has TROUBLE with them. Have a friend that bought a Dodge Challenger SRT new, and that thing spent more time in the shop than it did out. Now it's out of warranty and the dash lights are all screwed up. He also has a 2006 Dodge truck and it's a rusted out POS. The thing drives like a lumber wagon and looks like shit. His son ran it out of gas and even though he filled the tank, he couldn't get it restarted, had to have it towed to the shop to get the thing running again. Had two other friends that bought brand new Dodge trucks and traded them off for Chevy's before they even had 10,000 miles on them. They had so many problems it was ridiculous. I don't know what it is with Dodge, but they build CRAP. Their reliability is in the toilet, and their vehicle bodies and paint are garbage.

Chrysler / Dodge anything is junk and they have terrible resale value. ...

 

[007]

This is the new toy... 2017 Chevrolet 2SS Camaro...

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

I am about to sell or trade my '08 Chrysler Pacifica on something newer. Although I love the Pacifica and it has and does everything I want a vehicle to do, I am a little freaked out about it being more than ten years old now (after the first of the year), so I'm going to move it.

As I review the other similar cars (Journey, Edge, Acadia, Sorento, Pilot), I find that ALL of the knowledgeable people bad-mouth the vehicle I'm leaning toward,, specifically a '17 or '18 Dodge Journey GT. This one is a little quicker, this other one handles a little better, that one over there gets one or two miles per gallon more, they all have more high-tech bullshit, they all have better repair records...

None of this stuff ever makes the decision for me. My question is, which of the vehicles in the target group has all the stuff I want, performs well enough to get out of its own way, and provides the most vehicle for the money. And by those criteria, the Dodge wins, hands down.

I can easily find a 2017 or even 2018 LOADED GT, with low miles for twenty thousand or less. And that vehicle has everything I could ever want (except, apparently, adaptive cruise control). For the same money, I couldn't get anywhere near as much content in a car that new. In fact, the Journey's lousy resale value works very much to my advantage. The one car I'm looking at - a 2018 black one - had an MSRP of $35 thousand, and I can get it for $19,000, with only 15 thousand miles on it. And this is not some special one-of-a-kind thing. There are a dozen or so similar vehicles all around the country.

I look at dozens of sites where they evaluate new and used cars, and I don't see any of them that looks at the proposition the way I do, and by my way of thinking I always come out ahead. My Pacifica is another vehicle that the Consumer Reports people badmouth violently. But I had it for three years of trouble-free service; it is loaded with comfort and convenience stuff, it gets 25mpg on the highway, and runs on crap gas. I found one with 26,000 miles on it in Texas, flew down to get it, and it has been great.

Find the best vehicle you can for the money you are prepared to pay. Look for cars with terrible resale value. It almost always works out great.

I swore never to own a Chrysler or GM product ever again, because back in the day of those 2 going bankrupt, they didnt do the stock holders very well, and denied warranties for cars built before the bankruptcy, and only protected the Union Workers who were the reason those companies went belly up. So you buy a new Chrysler and in a year they go bankrupt again, demand an auto bailout but this time president Trump tells the union to kiss his ass, and then no more Chrysler. Want to take that risk, go for it, not me, ever again....

Answers to Some Questions About G.M.’s Case

about the same as the GM and Chrysler shit cars in cost but so much better.

 

[Sunni Man]

I'm a big fan of Mobile1 oil. ...

 

[007]

I'm a big fan of Mobile1 oil. ...

Absolutely... Mobile 1 in everything, best oil there is.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

I had a 1974 Pontiac Grand Prix. One of my most favorite cars. Just loved the way it drove. Liked the interior too. Had a 400 in it.

Nothing like 10 miles to the gallon on a good day, right? When you stomped it, you went to 10 gallons to the mile. I have a 75 Cadillac Coup De Ville, 500ci and boy that wasn't a fuel efficient car at all....

 

[Sunni Man]

I once worked with a guy who was a Tribologist.

He knew everything about oil and lubrication.

Told me that Mobile1 was the best. ...

Tribology - Wikipedia

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

I once worked with a guy who was a Tribologist.

He knew everything about oil and lubrication.

Told me that Mobile1 was the best. ...

Tribology - Wikipedia

I bet MDK knows what is best for Oil and Lubrication...…..

 

[petro]

For 17 years I drove a 96 Grand Cherokee. Ran it to 340,000 miles.
Replaced with a one owner lease return of a 2011 Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi with tow package and trail rated 4X4. Thing is awesome in the snow. Still based on the Mercedes ML platform.

Tow a boat and snowmobiles and wanted plenty of power. Not a pickup truck guy. Just added roof rack for a canoe.
Despite the electronics, I can still do most work on this vehicle myself. YouTube is a home mechanics dream. If it broke, someone has fixed and recorded it.

Some folks give Jeep a bad rap.
I believe the Grand stands far above the rest of their lineup.

 

[Sunni Man]

I highly recommend any YouTube video by the old school mechanic Scotty Kilmer.

Just type in Scotty Kilmer and several dozen will show up.

His video's which cover a wide range of automotive subjects, are usually only about 5 min. long, and packed full of information in easy to understand layman's terms. ...

 

[007]

I had a 1974 Pontiac Grand Prix. One of my most favorite cars. Just loved the way it drove. Liked the interior too. Had a 400 in it.

Nothing like 10 miles to the gallon on a good day, right? When you stomped it, you went to 10 gallons to the mile. I have a 75 Cadillac Coup De Ville, 500ci and boy that wasn't a fuel efficient car at all....

I had a 1969 Coup DeVille and a 1970 Fleetwood Brougham. I loved me some Caddy's. They both had the 472ci in them.

 

[007]

I've spent more money on cars in my life than I have homes...

 

[007]

Traded this beast in on the Camaro... a 2015 Chevy, 2500HD, Silverado, Z71, LTZ... I miss it... almost wish I hadn't traded it off... awesome truck...

 

[Sunni Man]

Some folks give Jeep a bad rap.
I believe the Grand stands far above the rest of their lineup.

Jeeps used to be great vehicles. ...

But now Jeep is owned by Fiat and their quality and reliability has gone downhill big time.

Fiat, who makes terrible cars, also owns Chrysler / Dodge. ...

 

[Sunni Man]

Recently bought an Autowit batteryless car jump starter off Amazon. ...

A link for them is right below the video.

No more carrying around a set of jumper cables and having to position another car for a jump, or lugging around a heavy portable battery charger that has to be recharged every couple of months.

 

[HenryBHough]

Toyota SUVs should be avoided by anybody over about 5' 6" tall. There's good headroom once you get in but you'll scrape half your hair off trying to get through the doors. Had it happen with an early 4-Runner, a 2008 Highlander and a 2004 4-Runner. Friend just bought a Tundra pickup - same thing. who do the Japs hate tall people? When I was in the market for a new SUV a couple of years ago I didn't even consider Toyota for that reason (they do last well, to their credit) and stayed with Ford. No problems and (at the time) simple enough with real gauges and no "glass" dashboards. OK, not so anymore, but the little (still truck chassis model) Escape should last my lifetime.

Question about 2017 Toyota headlights. Friend turns on parking lights, sees a little LED lighting. Turns on normal low-beam headlights; LEDs get brighter but as headlights are about worthless. Turns on high-beams and lots of LEDs turn on and give a nice light. There is a round projector lens in the middle of each fixture that never turns on. No, it's not a fog light - those are down low and and work OK. Shouldn't that round projector lens come into play as low-beams? I have similar lights on a Hyundai Sonata and the round lens IS the low beam. Friend is afraid to call the dealer (half-the country away) for fear of being laughed at (she's female and hyper-sensitive about asking anybody about anything).

 

[007]

Recently bought an Autowit batteryless car jump starter off Amazon. ...

A link for them is right below the video.

No more carrying around a set of jumper cables and having to position another car for a jump, or lugging around a heavy portable battery charger that has to be recharged every couple of months.

That's cool.

 

[007]

Toyota SUVs should be avoided by anybody over about 5' 6" tall. There's good headroom once you get in but you'll scrape half your hair off trying to get through the doors. Had it happen with an early 4-Runner, a 2008 Highlander and a 2004 4-Runner. Friend just bought a Tundra pickup - same thing. who do the Japs hate tall people? When I was in the market for a new SUV a couple of years ago I didn't even consider Toyota for that reason (they do last well, to their credit) and stayed with Ford. No problems and (at the time) simple enough with real gauges and no "glass" dashboards. OK, not so anymore, but the little (still truck chassis model) Escape should last my lifetime.

Question about 2017 Toyota headlights. Friend turns on parking lights, sees a little LED lighting. Turns on normal low-beam headlights; LEDs get brighter but as headlights are about worthless. Turns on high-beams and lots of LEDs turn on and give a nice light. There is a round projector lens in the middle of each fixture that never turns on. No, it's not a fog light - those are down low and and work OK. Shouldn't that round projector lens come into play as low-beams? I have similar lights on a Hyundai Sonata and the round lens IS the low beam. Friend is afraid to call the dealer (half-the country away) for fear of being laughed at (she's female and hyper-sensitive about asking anybody about anything).

Usually anything with a lens like that is either an LED or an HID headlight. Sounds like they're not working to me. Check the fuse maybe?

I have the lens on my new Camaro, which is called a projector headlight, and it's an HID which are the brightest headlights you can have, although costly to replace, and the LED running lights below it...

 

[Sunni Man]

That's cool.

I read a ton of reviews before I bought mine Autowit jump starter and they were overwhelmingly positive. Just gave my daughter one to carry in her car trunk just incase of a dead battery.

Now she can easily jump her own car and not have to deal with strangers trying to help. Plus, with all of the electronics in new cars. You can't accidentally reverse the cables and have a $1500 repair bill for a damaged electrical system. ...