[VIPER_SRT]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Now why will a Bank give 120 % loan ? to spend balance on Vacation or Fuel for couple of months ?

You are right! DCU does that. Its a credit union and works differently. If you have equity on your car, they will loan you the amount equivalent to that. Even if you bought your car in cash, you can always convert that back to a traditional auto loan.
IMO, Credit Unions are recession proof. They are small but very customer friendly. No hidden charges. They have the best Auto loan rates. Best part, You are in control when negotiating bcos dealers make extra money on auto loans getting cash back from the financial institutions.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by VIPER_SRT

.

IMO, Credit Unions are recession proof. s.

Not really. Many credt unions have gotten into troubles the last decades. They are, by law, more limited in how they conduct their business and thus less risky then regular banks. But its not an ultimate certainty. Typically they might not go bust in the same way as a regular bank. They sort of refer with whatever remains back to the share holders, but yes they do get into trouble.

Jeroen

[Aditya_P]

Just bought my 2nd car in US, 2010 Mazda I6 sports. Fine combination of performance, driving pleasure, mileage and amazing look 😎

[bhardwhu]

Hi,

just to give an idea of prevailing used car prices from owners in Chicago are, I picked up a 2013 Honda Civic LX manual, 20k miles done, single owner car for 11500. I looked around on Craigslist and spoke to the owner. He sounded genuine - my evaluation criteria being his interest in the vehicle, his knowledge about the vehicle, service history and his professional details, which he chose to discuss with me.
I have been driving it for last 3 weeks and find it very clean.
BTW, I would seek advise from anyone if Civics are known to hit 2500 rpm in 60mph/100kmph in top gear? I find that to be high rpm.

On a secondary note, i would also like to bring out a bad experience with a Honda accord coupe owner, incidentally a recent graduate Indian student. He had a 2012 coupe, 15k miles done and was asking 16500. during one of the nights, I test drove the car and he did not allow me to take it on any roads where I could drive at speeds higher than 30 mph. I sensed that he did not trust an outsider with higher speed.
During the second inspection, while I had made up my mind to pay since he lowered it to 15200, I did a close visual inspection during the day and found that car had dents. He responded to them that they were because of parking lot hits from other cars' doors. That was my first block since dents do not happen because of doors. Dings and knicks may do.
Further inspection revealed that he had the front bumper broken and re-painted. He tried to cover up saying that there was no re-paint. My friend cleaned up that area and showed him the difference in color. He had to accept. I stopped the inspection then since I felt uncomfortable with a buyer covering up things.
Finally, i walked out of the deal. Hope this experience will help someone looking to buy off craigslist from owners.

Himanshu

[mohit]

Originally Posted by bhardwhu

Hi,

BTW, I would seek advise from anyone if Civics are known to hit 2500 rpm in 60mph/100kmph in top gear? I find that to be high rpm.

An automatic Civic does 120-125 KM/hr at 2500 RPM so 100 in a manual seems OK as AFAIK, manual revs a little higher at the same speed.

[dr.abhijeet]

@bhardwhu strong work buying a stick.



Merry Christmas from my ISM STI.

[Activ8]

Originally Posted by bhardwhu

BTW, I would seek advise from anyone if Civics are known to hit 2500 rpm in 60mph/100kmph in top gear? I find that to be high rpm. Himanshu

Civics are meant to be revved and VTEC will only kick-in at 5200rpm - which you should be activating all the time ;-) I'm not sure what you're worried about. Any 2-2.5l w/ 5-6speed boxes will do around 3200-3400rpm at 78mph and still give you decent fuel economy. So enjoy the car and keep the engine carbon free by actually driving it.

Unless you're used to Corvettes and other big V8s, this is a perfectly fine sweet spot for a 4pot in it's top gear. Just for example - take a look at the 2 graphs: one is the Audi S4 (V8 engine, 6spd manual) and the other a Mitsubishi Lancer (1.6l I-4, 5spd manual). Due to the gearing, both achieve an optimum engine speed for 60mph cruising for different engine sizes and vehicle weights in their top gear

[guyfrmblr]

Just had a small adventure with my Altima on New Year day. I had driven to Crawford Notch in New Hampshire for the usual hike and while taking out the car from parking, some object which was buried under the fresh coat of snow brushed against the bottom of the car. Got down and saw a trail of green liquid. The coolant had started leaking. The temperature gauge started rising at an alarming rate. I was completely helpless in the remote White Mountains area with heavy snow flakes falling from the sky. There was not a single soul around. There were couple of cars parked but the owners had gone for a hike.

Ensured that no other fluid is leaking and drove the car to the nearest gas station at Carroll by ensuring not to overheat the engine. The only small garage at Carroll had closed for New Year. Since the owner of the garage stayed next door, he agreed to just come and recommend something but refused to do any kind of work until following Monday. He asked me to top up the coolant and drive to any nearest Nissan service center. The nearest one was at Gorham 20 miles away but was reported as closed. The next one was at Concord 90 miles away. He called couple of towing services but they were closed. The garage owner then asked me to hit I-93 by setting the cruise control to 70 mph and drive towards Concord by keeping a constant eye on the temperature gauge. He also shared his contact number in case if I face any problem on the way. I could maintain 70 mph until the outskirts of Concord and the temperature stayed normal. As soon as I reached Concord, the topped up coolant had drained out and the engine started overheating. Somehow managed to reach Concord Nissan.

The time was 4 PM and the service guy agreed to take a look at the car immediately even though there were lots of other cars at the service center. He confirmed that the coolant pipe is broken and agreed to replace it the same day. The closing time was 5 PM but they stayed until 5:30 PM and completed the work. The hole to the pocket was $230. Thanked the service guy and drove back to Boston. I shudder to think what might have happened if this had happened in the remote areas of Vermont which I usually frequent where there is no human activity for miles together without any cellphone network.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

Just had a small adventure with my Altima on New Year day.

That was quite an adventure!
I had gone to Echo lake a couple of weekends back. There is less than usual traffic this time, since the ski resorts dont have much snow for skiing.
I have pm'ed you my number, in case you want to join the East Coast TBHP whatsapp group.

[VIPER_SRT]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

Got down and saw a trail of green liquid. The coolant had started leaking.

Same thing happened to my GL450 on my way to vacation in Virginia beach. The "Coolant low" warning kept popping up on dash. I kept topping it off every time engine cooled off! There's no way I could open the lid when the engine is hot, it still had some coolant left which violently oozes out Had an appointment for winter tire swap yesterday and luckily the dealer had the part to fix the broken line for the coolant. Covered under warranty but kind of disappointing as its not even 3 yrs old!

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by VIPER_SRT

Few detailed pics of the 911.

This car deserves its very own thread, with videos of that exhaust note!

[VIPER_SRT]

Originally Posted by amitoj

This car deserves its very own thread, with videos of that exhaust note!

That was the initial thought but habitually ended up here Can I move my last two posts to a new thread?
If any of you are planning for a meet anywhere in NY/NJ/PA then loop me in.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by VIPER_SRT

That was the initial thought but habitually ended up here Can I move my last two posts to a new thread?

Just report your own post and a moderator will take care of it i hope. And do add a few shots of the complete car too!!

Originally Posted by VIPER_SRT

If any of you are planning for a meet anywhere in NY/NJ/PA then loop me in.

Tried a few times. There is even a thread of all the meet plans that went straight from suggestion to the grave

[VIPER_SRT]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Just report your own post and a moderator will take care of it i hope. And do add a few shots of the complete car too!!

Requested Moderator. Will take complete car pics! I wish there was snow if not green!

Originally Posted by amitoj

Tried a few times. There is even a thread of all the meet plans that went straight from suggestion to the grave

Count me in this time!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by bhardwhu

Hope this experience will help someone looking to buy off craigslist from owners.

Love Craigslist, but as with anything you buy second hand, be it from Ebay, a dealer, a private seller or via Craigslist you need to be careful.

When we knew we were leaving Kansas City to move to Delhi, we put a lot of our stuff on Craig list. Here are some of my experiences selling on Craig list for what its worth.

At first nothing sold. We had put all sort of stuff on Craigslist. From PC, pool table, furniture, to an electrical drill, etc. etc. All for what I would thought was a reasonable price. But I quickly found out what I thought was a fair price, would simply not get any response. So I just about halved all our asking prices and that got it going.

If you don't get any response within 24 hours, its not going to sell. Either there is nobody interested or the price is to high.

I only left my mobile number. Initially I left an email address as well. Never ever sold anything to anybody responding by email. Endless questions, but never a sale. More or less the same with those folks that just text. Only about half of them would actually buy or show up.

My experience was the best with people who actually call you and talk to you. It gives you a first impression of the potential buyer. There are a lot of weirdo's out there too, and you don't want to be handing out your address unless you have a least spoken to them.

Quite often I was told they wanted the item, but they could not pick it up for another week or so. I always told them, it will be here, unless somebody else shows up with the correct amount of cash in hand before you do!!

Only once did I agree to hold it for a few days. I can't even remember what items we were selling. But a young lady called and she sounded very nice and she told us she was a nurse at the children's hospital not to far away from us. She was doing night shifts for the week and it was difficult for her to come round during the day. She sounded genuine, very nice and appeared to be very keen on whatever it was we were selling. I told her I would keep it for a week and she was so happy. immediately after our call, I got a text from her confirming the sales, the price and she would come and pick it up next weekend, which she did. But that was the only time I did that, only because I spoke to her and I felt she was genuine.

The texting brigade was a whacky bunch. For some reason none of them could even spell and I think they were all a scam trying to get you to commit to selling them and keeping the item for them. They will never show up, but after a week or so a friend of them will text again and inquire if the item is still for sale and offer a lower price.

All in all, an interesting and worthwhile experience. Once you understand the basic of Craigslist it's a very effective way to sell off just about anything!

I never bought on Craigslist, except for once, a VW Beetle.

We have bought lots of stuff on Ebay for decades. I bought my Jaguar in the USA of Ebay as well! Most expensive car I have ever owned straight of Ebay. And it turned out to be a real gem! I still have it, brought it back to the Netherlands with me.

There is a big difference between Ebay and Craigslist; ratings/feedback. Nobody will buy anything on Ebay from sellers with poor feedback! Keeps everybody honest.

Jeroen