25th July 2013, 20:50
| #2941 | ||
| BHPian  Join Date: May 2007 Location: Bay Area
Posts: 263
Thanked: 93 Times
| Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Quote:
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What a wonderful situation to be in. I keep on dreaming about a similar scenario every other day. My pick would be either S4 or GT 500, I am going to get flamed for suggesting GT 500 . I have had the privilege of keeping a GT 500 with me for close to 2 months, so If I ever were to upgrade my car, it would be either GT 500 or S4. | ||
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25th July 2013, 21:50
| #2942 | |
| BHPian  | Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Quote:
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25th July 2013, 21:54
| #2943 | |
| BHPian  | Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Quote:
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25th July 2013, 22:12
| #2944 | |
| BHPian | Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Quote:
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25th July 2013, 22:33
| #2945 | |||
| Senior - BHPian  | Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Quote:
We faced something similar for my friend's Hyundai Elantra. I am not sure i wrote that story here before but briefly, even after repeated nos', my friend bought an elantra for $4000. Within 3 miles of buying, engine light and airbag light came on. Didn't come on for 10 mile test drive. Took it back and they said its not related to engine so won't be covered and will need to be done outside. Since it was a as-is buy, we couldn't do anything. Again the nationality of the seller was very close to being Indian.  But i have found good repair shops by Indians that do good work. So there are always such few nut cases. We had something similar happen with a Russian seller too and they have even worse reputation in auto market then any body else. Carfax and autocheck are just basic pointers. There are many things that may go unreported. Best is to get an inspection from independent shop before buying. Those $100 is worth the peace of mind. It also becomes a good tool for negotiation. As far as haggle policy, its an unwritten rule, a car cannot be bought without negotiation unless it is a Tesla.  Quote:
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Here are my pretty long 2 cents. Sorry! If you are planning on getting a luxury car, forget about good resale value. A couple of years old BMWs are available in $30k range when they are $50k new. Same thing with Audi and Mercs. If you want reasonable resale in luxury, look for Acura, Infiniti or Lexus. Lexus IS250 is very underpowered. So atleast one of your criteria of it being quick won't match. Handling and Power is available in IS350. Resale won't be an issue especially with AWD. Its a good market for entry level luxury sedan especially coming from Lexus. The price of spares that you mentioned are regular wear and tear items that is bound to cost a lot. But apart from that, you won't have any visits to dealer. You may be able to get more life out of tires/brakes if you are not exploring its handling limits all day. For Q50/37, i suggest you wait a month if possible. There is going to be a big shuffle in prices of both. Since Q50 is priced similar to G37, major cuts are expected for G37 and it has been confirmed that G37 will be sold along side Q50 till Dec atleast. So you will be able to get sweat deals. Q50 on its own is getting rave reviews especially the S version. You may wanna do a back to back drive of G37 and Q50 to determine if its worth the jump. I am sure it is. Its a pretty good evolution of G37. Stay away from Hybrids if you are looking for resale. They lose more value is what i have observed. I don't know how Jeep GC will fit your requirements except that it can be had for <50k. Again, not quick, handling - its a SUV afterall and resale. This lose resale just like German counterparts. Audi Q5 is a decent option, again, its not quick, decent handling and ride for a crossover and doesn't hold value after 3-4 yrs. I just sat in a brand new Q5 loaner vehicle. The interior are fantastic. I found the space a little less. Alternate to this is GLK350. If you are going to get rid of Germans <3 yrs, you may do good but anything after that is a big gamble. Consider leasing Germans though i am not very favorable to that idea. But time to time, there are awesome deals to have on those. Since you have considered Honda in your list, You can give Acura TL-SH-AWD a try. It is pretty awesome and has one of the best AWD systems on market. TSX is also an option and so is RDX. Acura has pretty good deals going on for their cars. You should be able to negotiate quite good. After 3-4 years, resale won't be a problem. Cadillac ATS is a good car. But it is no scorcher. But is a good handler. It is cramped in space at rear and in cargo. As others have mentioned, $50K is a decent budget. The question is why you are considering $6k in insurance? A few under rated options are Evo and WRX. Hope this helps. Enjoy your hunt. The best part of car buying process. | |||
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25th July 2013, 23:15
| #2946 | |
| BHPian  | Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Quote:
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25th July 2013, 23:34
| #2947 |
| Newbie  Join Date: May 2012 Location: BOS/DEL/BLR
Posts: 6
Thanked: Once
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25th July 2013, 23:51
| #2948 | ||
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Detroit, MI,USA
Posts: 834
Thanked: 335 Times
| Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Quote:
As far as I heard, the supercharged v6 is a workhorse on many cars. S4, A6, A7 etc. Shoud be reliable (heard from a cousins borother kinda), i haven't seen any in my workplace though. There are quite a few 2.0 T's around. Quote:
Last edited by Jomz : 25th July 2013 at 23:54. | ||
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26th July 2013, 02:10
| #2949 | ||
| Senior - BHPian | Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Quote:
'2 days later there was a check engine light which was taken to the owner who took it to his uncle who fixed it up. This problem arose more times during the past 2 years(this car was bought in Aug 2012). So today my friend messaged me saying this car was bought from a auction. And even provided a link from the auction house for its ad. It is the exact same ride. This had some mechanical problems due to which it was auctioned off.' So the CEL came 2 days later, was fixed as temp solution and they faced this problems for 2 years. He found out auction stuff after 2 years. i wonder how even after 2 years they have the ad up on the auction. So if they had taken hard action 2 days later, it would have been worth it but usually, nothing can be done when buying as-is from a dealer or private party. Quote:
Q50 will have good deals after 3-6 months of honeymoon period. You may be able to get some deals on labor day but i won't bet on it. That would be a killer day for G37 though. Many dealers would want to get rid of it asap so Q50 sells more as they will have more profit in it. Since you mentioned you don't drive much in a year - 12k miles, i thought you may give lease a chance. But if you are planning long trips all the time, you are better off buying it. I don't know about community taxes. I have heard that for first time. Since you mentioned state tax separately, i was confused why would you pay so much for insurance. Please do inquire about this taxes as you may over pay if you are not sure what that is. As for insurance, do get local license if you plan to keep it long. That will help a lot to keep your insurance down. There have been many pages of discussion on insurance, license. You may want to go through those. Anyway, that is moot point for now. The old jeeps had problems that you mention. New ones are much better. They won't bother you for atleast 3 years for sure. A couple of members here has Jeep. One has a Grand Cherokee and another has Wrangler. You can talk to them. I know one member name is Gujarati who has wrangler. Don't remember other member's name. If you are considering GC, also consider Ford Explorer. You always have S4 as others have suggested. Don't know if it fits your budget. It starts at $47k, so you are looking at atleast $50k with taxes and insurance extra. Last edited by chevelle : 26th July 2013 at 02:31. | ||
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26th July 2013, 06:41
| #2950 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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26th July 2013, 12:40
| #2951 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Quote:
But i agree, research is very important when buying as-is vehicle even though buying from a known acquaintance. May be someday i should pen down such experience too. Most of the time we write about our car buying experience that mostly had a happy ending. A different climax would be entertaining and eye opener too. Guess i will bite it tomorrow. P.S: Found a couple of great articles on Lease. Hope this helps buyers deciding between lease and buying. http://www.edmunds.com/car-leasing/f...tid=nl62514150 http://www.edmunds.com/car-leasing/1...tid=nl62514149 Last edited by chevelle : 26th July 2013 at 12:41. | |
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26th July 2013, 22:22
| #2952 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Maratha Country
Posts: 289
Thanked: 252 Times
| Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Small things can make a day. In the annual Woodward Cruise of 2008, I snapped a few pictures of a very handsome vintage car that rolled past me. The aesthetic beauty of this car was stunning. I had never heard of the brand either, and I assumed it was some low production car from the WW2 era. Later, upon research it turned out it wasn't actually a vintage car, but a product of the "era" car manufacturer Zimmer. I've been intrigued by this brand since then, as they make some really beautiful looking cars based on modern platforms and engines. Coming back to the made my day part. I discovered today that the very same Zimmer I had snapped in 2008 and admired ever since, lives right in my neighborhood, bang next door to my friend of 15 years, and hardly 1 mile from my residence! I must have been visiting this friend like a dozen times a month for the past 10 years, but I had never chanced upon this car until today. The friend, unfortunately, is one who thinks of cars as just another commodity (bread, apples, lawnmowers, cars, pots and pans). When I told him my story about this car, he said he already knew his neighbor had some old long and ugly car hidden in the garage for a long time, that he can never take to work.  I'm going to chat with the owner the next time I'm around. Attached are the photos of this Zimmer I took from 2008. Last edited by NinadJoshi : 26th July 2013 at 22:25. |
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27th July 2013, 05:14
| #2953 |
| BHPian  | Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America I always loved this car. Been around for a while now. Don't know if you can still get it, though. Kinda wonder whether these cars get a pass on the 5 mph bumper (if that is still a requirement) and the 3rd REAR BRAKE light requirements, 'cause those bumpers ain't cutting it and does not have the 3rd Brake Light. You just need a garage big enough to park a BUS. |
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27th July 2013, 05:46
| #2954 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Nice find, Ninad! Tomorrow I am going to the annual New England Mopar Club's annual Meet and Greet at 6K. There will be a scenic drive through the White Mountains, a drive to the Mount Washington peak and tons of crazy Mopar cars from New England, and some from Canada too! Will get some interesting pics. I am just a little apprehensive about being the only Indian family among a sea of whites!! But they are all nice people so... Quote:
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27th July 2013, 22:38
| #2955 |
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Maratha Country
Posts: 289
Thanked: 252 Times
| Re: Buying, Owning, Driving and Maintaining a car in North America Vloct, I'd never have thought of your questions The Zimmer web site is not too informative, although their 'latest' models seem to be no different than the old ones (w.r.t. the 5mph bumper and the 3rd tail lamp).They come with pretty steep prices though, for something non-complaint with basic modern safety norms, especially considering the potent modern V8's under the hood. The car in my photos is from the 80's, and probably has the 5L Mustang V8 (from internet hearsay). I am not sure if the modern Zimmers are still loyal to Ford V8's or V6's. Amit, happy horsing! Post some pics when you can. I have a bunch of recent pictures to post from an annual summer car meet in my town (really neat vehicles from the past kept like Gold), but am too lazy to post them. I just might after you do In the summer of 2010 I once got caught at a run down one-lane unmanned toll booth (=EZ pass or exact change only) on the ramp for GSPkway in NJ. At such booths they leave a stack of envelopes in which one can snail-mail the pending toll or submit the toll at any manned toll station within 14 days. On the 5th day itself my postman delivered to me a bill for ~$25 from the NJ road authority (toll was about $1 or something, administrative charges were the remaining $23-some). The bill carried a nice photograph of my car at the booth too. I appealed back in writing saying I still had 9 days to pay my toll, inserted some change in the envelope, and sent it off. Apparently they accepted my appeal because I never heard back from them. Crooks. Speaking of toll, there is another toll trap in Canada, somewhere along the Eastward 401-407 highway exchange approaching Mississauga. No toll booths, no toll info (amounts, distances), just a quick warning that your toll will be assessed remotely by traffic cameras. I was surprised to receive a hefty toll bill in my mail a few days later, for a stupid 2 mile 10 minute detour I took on this stretch just to have my kids take a bathroom break..must be the costliest piss I'd taken to date Last edited by NinadJoshi : 27th July 2013 at 22:41. |
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