Car Shopping: Anything Good?

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That's the "Man, I went through all this to help the dude out and he didn't even make me tacos!" look
 
Word. I generally drive cars into the ground, so I foresee this as being a pretty long relationship.

Do you use all the extras? I mean, the remote start I can see but, what about all the stuff like the lane drift warning, that brake feature for traffic and the one where it’ll stop you from rear-ending somebody? Do you really find that useful?

Is there a favorite “must have” feature you’re really geeked about?

I’m totally coming from a car with a CD player, electric seats and windows, and cruse controls as my only “upscale” features. I’m afraid I’m gonna wuss out and buy the base when I see the prices. There could be a Yellow Santana Retro in the differences.

Haven't used the remote start yet, but I suspect it will come in handy when the weather gets cold. I find the lane drift function somewhat annoying, so I turn it off when I'm driving. Although I think it would be great if you're sleepy behind the wheel or are prone to texting while you drive. The rear end function would have prevented me from totaling my old Civic when I smashed into a drunk who veered into my lane. So I do like that feature. I like the blind spot notification on the side mirrors and I like the cruise control function that slows you down as you approach traffic. You can set the distance between you and the car ahead of you from 4 seconds, down to 1 second. I set it at one second. But ultimately I bought it because I've had amazing experiences with Honda over the last 15 plus years.
 
I drove a 2019(?) Touring (top of the line) model today.

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Paco’s car seat fit well and there was enough room up front that my knees still had about 2-3 inches of space between them and the dash.

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I called an old family friend who has one for advice, and to see how he liked his, and he was gracious enough to pop over with it to let me take it for a spin.

It was a pleasant experience, and I got to drive it for longer than a dealer test drive. He let me shoot it over potholes, drive it into my garage (it fits!), and entertained my son the whole time.

I think I enjoyed it more than he did.

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Now I just have to send my wife out to buy it.

After we bought our, my in laws liked it so much, they traded in their Mercedes Benz SUV and bought the CR-V with touring package.
 
I like the current Giulias but I wonder how long Alfa Romeo will stay in the US.

But hey, Sergio needs a new battlewagon.
Out of curiosity I was checking out the Buick. Only one here in town, a 2018. Found several in Phoenix, all 2019, with big discounts. Doesn't show up as a 2020 model at the moment.

Well, Fiat owns Alfa and Chrysler, so I’d guess it’d be until they sell Chrysler off.

Incidentally, I’m seeing a lot of the Alfa SUVs on the road in my area. They’re pretty nice.
 
Les is UNBELIEVABLY BLESSED when it comes to his cars, obviously. I have had the EXACT OPPOSITE luck with Chrysler Products. Here's what I've owned and their problems - please note I've never owned a single car more than 3 years, and always bought showroom new:

1999 Dodge Durango - Turned the wipers on one time (it was less than 2 years old at the time) and one wiper arm completely flew off into the bushes.
2004 Chrysler Town and Country - spark plugs went completely bad 3 times with less than 70k miles. Car would jump and stall, transmission clunked everytime it shifted. Various electrical issues. Chrysler wouldn't admit to any issues, but platinum plugs should never go out before 100k
2011 Dodge Ram - the best of the bunch, only had power windows and door locks go out within first year
2012 Dodge Grand Caravan - power sliding door track fell apart, everytime you'd open it plastic pieces fell out, transmission felt and sounded like it hit the ground everytime you went from reverse to drive, power windows stopped working, battery died with less than 30,000 miles while on vacation, leaving me and the kids stranded in a parking lot

I swore I'd NEVER buy another Chrysler product ever again. So far its been nearly 8 years that I've stayed true to that!
 
Les is UNBELIEVABLY BLESSED when it comes to his cars, obviously. I have had the EXACT OPPOSITE luck with Chrysler Products. Here's what I've owned and their problems - please note I've never owned a single car more than 3 years, and always bought showroom new:

1999 Dodge Durango - Turned the wipers on one time (it was less than 2 years old at the time) and one wiper arm completely flew off into the bushes.
2004 Chrysler Town and Country - spark plugs went completely bad 3 times with less than 70k miles. Car would jump and stall, transmission clunked everytime it shifted. Various electrical issues. Chrysler wouldn't admit to any issues, but platinum plugs should never go out before 100k
2011 Dodge Ram - the best of the bunch, only had power windows and door locks go out within first year
2012 Dodge Grand Caravan - power sliding door track fell apart, everytime you'd open it plastic pieces fell out, transmission felt and sounded like it hit the ground everytime you went from reverse to drive, power windows stopped working, battery died with less than 30,000 miles while on vacation, leaving me and the kids stranded in a parking lot

I swore I'd NEVER buy another Chrysler product ever again. So far its been nearly 8 years that I've stayed true to that!
Wow, man. It only took one Astro van for me to swear off GM for a lifetime.

Bought mine in 07, it was an 04 with 19K miles, but just out of warranty by a few months. A/C compressor imploded twice. Rear differential failed and had to be rebuilt. Brakes would make a "brrrrr" sound and push back at you and fail to work effectively if you were braking and hit a bump in the road like train tracks, which caused me to clip mirrors with a guy once (and that was the day I told my wife I was through with it and we'd be buying something else). Also, I had a special compartment for all the broken plastic pieces that would fall off on the inside. These panels would be reasonably sized and have one small 1/8" clip holding the whole thing on. Designed by bean counters, not engineers.
 
Wow, man. It only took one Astro van for me to swear off GM for a lifetime.

Bought mine in 07, it was an 04 with 19K miles, but just out of warranty by a few months. A/C compressor imploded twice. Rear differential failed and had to be rebuilt. Brakes would make a "brrrrr" sound and push back at you and fail to work effectively if you were braking and hit a bump in the road like train tracks, which caused me to clip mirrors with a guy once (and that was the day I told my wife I was through with it and we'd be buying something else). Also, I had a special compartment for all the broken plastic pieces that would fall off on the inside. These panels would be reasonably sized and have one small 1/8" clip holding the whole thing on. Designed by bean counters, not engineers.

haha, an Astro van was definitely back in the day of crap. I've owned plenty of GM products without an issue, so I don't mind them. I've owned so many cars over the years, its a little embarassing.
 
Mrs did a 2 for 1 trade today. VW Atlas so she can take three seasons of clothes on vacation and still have room for a guitar and amp. And three bicycles.

It will bring the average age of our cars down to 10 years old.

Just looked it up, that’s cool looking!
 
Mrs did a 2 for 1 trade today. VW Atlas so she can take three seasons of clothes on vacation and still have room for a guitar and amp. And three bicycles.

It will bring the average age of our cars down to 10 years old.

Sweet ride!
 
You can get product treatment on interior for wiping stuff off, diamond something over here

Best thing is rear cabin, kids never get travel sick and doors open 90deg for easy access

Enjoy
 
Les is UNBELIEVABLY BLESSED when it comes to his cars, obviously.

I could be unbelievably blessed, or you could be unbelievably unlucky!

Then again, I’m probably the only person on earth who ever had trouble with a Honda, the one I got my daughter when she turned 16. Urgh! That car was nothing but problems. I even hated the dealer.

But I’ll take having good luck!

Here’s what I’ve had over the years from Chrysler, so yeah, I realize I’ve been very lucky:

1985-1990, I had a new Grand Cherokee Ltd. as a winter beater with the idea that I’d save my BMW 633CSi from winter wear and tear. It a was tank. I don’t know if I even bothered with recommended service on the damn thing. Nothing ever broke, though in those years the Jeep’s interior was kind of cheesy. I didn’t care, it was my beater. I only drove it in Michigan winters.

1998 - 2001 my wife had a new Grand Cherokee, the car was no trouble.

2001-2005 - I got my oldest daughter a new Cherokee to take to college in CA. No issues. Driven back and forth from Michigan to CA a few times. Later, my son drove it in high school. Another tank.

2006-2009 - I had a new Pacifica model that was pretty fancy inside. No issues, it was a car I really liked. I should have kept it longer.

2003-2010 - Got my middle daughter a new Jeep Liberty. No issues. She did a lot of driving with that thing, and it took her through college and beyond.

2010-2018 - Wife had a new Jeep Liberty, later version. No issues, though I wasn’t fond of the interior (she liked it, which just proves, to each their own).

2009-2018 - I had a new Town and Country. No issues. I figure 9 years was good service. In 2018 the brakes finally needed work, and I figured it was time to get a new car. Despite the car having no issues, and despite the fact that I drove it for 9 years, I really felt nerdy driving it. But at the time, I had to drag gear to recording sessions. So it made sense.

2011 - present - Middle daughter bought a Chrysler sedan that she’s still driving. It never had a problem. I’m pretty sure that if you like to keep a car nice, the city of Chicago is a maddening place to own a car; people seem to feel that the correct method of parallel parking is you back up until you bang into the car behind you, and then pull forward until you bang into the car in front, rinse and repeat, and then you’re parked! Geez.

I would go nuts living there. If you did that in Detroit, people would be waiting outside for you with tire irons.

2015 - present - My son-in-law drives a Grand Cherokee Ltd. on a 30 mile commute each way from their suburban house to downtown Chicago. And it stayed so nice (except for people leaving their paint on his front and rear bumpers) despite him being very hard on a car that in 2018...

2018 - present - Both my wife and I got new Grand Cherokee Ltds. They’re wonderful cars for us. For some inexplicable reason, the cars that were equipped the way we wanted happened to be the same color, and we got them within a month of each other, so, yes, we have matching cars, which is kind of cute but also kind of weird.
 
I could be unbelievably blessed, or you could be unbelievably unlucky!

Then again, I’m probably the only person on earth who ever had trouble with a Honda, the one I got my daughter when she turned 16. Urgh! That car was nothing but problems. I even hated the dealer.

But I’ll take having good luck!

Here’s what I’ve had over the years from Chrysler, so yeah, I realize I’ve been very lucky:

1985-1990, I had a new Grand Cherokee Ltd. as a winter beater with the idea that I’d save my BMW 633CSi from winter wear and tear. It a was tank. I don’t know if I even bothered with recommended service on the damn thing. Nothing ever broke, though in those years the Jeep’s interior was kind of cheesy. I didn’t care, it was my beater. I only drove it in Michigan winters.

1998 - 2001 my wife had a new Grand Cherokee, the car was no trouble.

2001-2005 - I got my oldest daughter a new Cherokee to take to college in CA. No issues. Driven back and forth from Michigan to CA a few times. Later, my son drove it in high school. Another tank.

2006-2009 - I had a new Pacifica model that was pretty fancy inside. No issues, it was a car I really liked. I should have kept it longer.

2003-2010 - Got my middle daughter a new Jeep Liberty. No issues. She did a lot of driving with that thing, and it took her through college and beyond.

2010-2018 - Wife had a new Jeep Liberty, later version. No issues, though I wasn’t fond of the interior (she liked it, which just proves, to each their own).

2009-2018 - I had a new Town and Country. No issues. I figure 9 years was good service. In 2018 the brakes finally needed work, and I figured it was time to get a new car. Despite the car having no issues, and despite the fact that I drove it for 9 years, I really felt nerdy driving it. But at the time, I had to drag gear to recording sessions. So it made sense.

2011 - present - Middle daughter bought a Chrysler sedan that she’s still driving. It never had a problem. I’m pretty sure that if you like to keep a car nice, the city of Chicago is a maddening place to own a car; people seem to feel that the correct method of parallel parking is you back up until you bang into the car behind you, and then pull forward until you bang into the car in front, rinse and repeat, and then you’re parked! Geez.

I would go nuts living there. If you did that in Detroit, people would be waiting outside for you with tire irons.

2015 - present - My son-in-law drives a Grand Cherokee Ltd. on a 30 mile commute each way from their suburban house to downtown Chicago. And it stayed so nice (except for people leaving their paint on his front and rear bumpers) despite him being very hard on a car that in 2018...

2018 - present - Both my wife and I got new Grand Cherokee Ltds. They’re wonderful cars for us. For some inexplicable reason, the cars that were equipped the way we wanted happened to be the same color, and we got them within a month of each other, so, yes, we have matching cars, which is kind of cute but also kind of weird.
Must be that the cosmic goodwill epicenter resides close to your house.

I had a Grand Cherokee in the late 90s. It was constantly leaking differential fluid from the back axle, to the point that I bought more cat litter to put under it than the cat. On the fourth time I was having it fixed in three years I asked the service writer if this was a common problem, to which he replied "The shop guys just press the gasket in with a screwdriver so that they can beat the book time". Figuring that I was definitely at the wrong dealership I asked the salesman if they were interested in buying it and it was gone the next day for a good price (I thought).
 
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