Is anyone else depressed looking at new vehicles?

I'm in a very unremarkable '23 Nissan Altima as my rental while in California. I despise touchscreens! I will give the car kudos for having actual heat/air knobs, versus icons on a damned screen! One great thing is the incredible brakes this car has! A car stopped in front of me on the 1 highway. I had nowhere to go left or right, so I shoved that brake pedal to the floor. It stopped remarkably quick, and it IS possible to lock up a set of anti-lock brakes! The car is so quiet that it's difficult to know when you push the "off" button, to know whether the car is actually off or not, unless you glance at the tach.

Would I buy one? No. There really is nothing about this transportation module that captures my interest. It is incredibly boring. Very generic. Silver with black cloth-like interior. Something lost immediately in a parking lot. This would be the car a bank robber might use, like the ubiquitous beige Tauruses of years past. Plus, the Nissan CVT is notorious for failure at the 100K to 125K mile point...just out of warranty, of course. I owned an '08 a few years back. Traded it off at the 99K mile point. Wasn't taking a chance with that car.

My wife has an '08 Buick Enclave that has 189K on it right now. We've done all of the expensive repairs on it over our nearly eight years of ownership, such as the million-dollar transmission replacement (new, not r/b!), the half-million dollar water pump/molded heater hose fix, the quarter-million dollar rack & pinion replacement with alignment, and a couple of other things; plus I replaced the brake rotors and pads, front struts and rear shocks myself, along with battery, tires, and one headlight bulb. I figure she'll drive that until it dies...unless I can find a decent Honda CRV, Toyota RAV4 or VW Tiguan cheap enough and not newer than 2015.
 
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commando1 said:
This week, I just spent 2,400 bucks rebuilding the transmission in my 91k mile, 06 F-150 (I purchased new) that's currently worth $2,500 bucks.
Duplicating my 25-hundred dollar truck (my DD, btw) is now $40k.

Was I smart or stupid?

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Smart. That's less than the depreciation of that $40k truck would be once you drove it off the dealer lot.

I'd put a trans in my '10 Ranger rather than buy something else in a heartbeat.

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And that is why I like my 2010 Challenger se/Rallye. It's got a real radio w/ buttons, climate control dials, and switches for heated seats. One thing that bothers me is who had the bright idea of no exterior trunk lock.
Glanced at a newish Challenger GT awd. It got me wondering how good is the whole touch screen in well below zero temps. I bet it is compatible with thick snow covered gloves.
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I love all my cars, even the Metric Charger. They all get driven about the same miles a year, which isn't much. Each has its own identity and creature comforts that make the experience unique. I'm pretty sure I'll never buy another new vehicle in my lifetime.
 
commando1 said:
This week, I just spent 2,400 bucks rebuilding the transmission in my 91k mile, 06 F-150 (I purchased new) that's currently worth $2,500 bucks.
Duplicating my 25-hundred dollar truck (my DD, btw) is now $40k.

Was I smart or stupid?

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you defiantly could not have replaced it for $2400. here is what $3700 in oh will get you in ohio. if the bed is that bad you now the frame is getting bad. with 154k on this the trans might be going also

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Yes I prefer knobs to menus in screens.
Sure do like 717hp and the computers that make that work as a DD.
Sure do like the airbags that would save my family's lives if ever they needed to be deployed.
 
No, I don't look at new model year cars anymore. Haven't for decades.
Not just because they are expensive, or big depreciation, or they are non-user serviceable, or parts support will be questionable, or out of warranty repairs may put them in the junk yard in ten years.
But mostly because of things like the suspension travel in my 72 New Yorker is about 8 inches and the suspension travel in my 98 Deville is about 4 inches.
I've decided to keep the 96 Roadmaster wagon and the 93 V8 Dakota. Everything else after 89 is going down the road.
If I got the hots for a "really" nice 75 grand car that had some distinction from others on the road, and I liked looking at it, and driving it, and the way it feels on the road, it sure wouldn't be anything recent. Probably a 68-72 American iron intermediate.
Mopar B body or Buick Grand Sport. Maybe a Firebird or E body.

The owner satisfaction from a current model would be nil for me.

Desperately missing air bags.
 
MoPar~Man said:
Starting either next model year or the next, cars have to be equipped with remote disable mechanism. As in the gov't can remotely disable the vehicle. This was added supposedly to combat DUI.

Meanwhile, none of my cars make any sound at all if I don't have the seatbelt buckled (that started after '04).
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I have a 2000 Phord 1 ton van with no rust and only 64k miles on it. It is my work van and it cost me less 3 grand. Paid cash and insurance is cheap. My dd is an ‘04 300M that I bought with 109k miles on it and it’s a great looking, clean car with heated seats that cost me less than 3k and is cheap to insure. I would get in either 1 of these cars and drive across the country.
^^^^Both of these cars beep at me if I don’t buckle up.^^^^
My wife drives a ‘10 VW Tiguan 4 cylinder turbo with awd and getting close to 165k on it, still runs and drives great and she loves it. That has been a year round Michigan car all of its life and will not rust. I can’t find a spec of rust on it, wtf did VW make these things out of??? If this were say a ’10 Phord Explorer driven the same way there would be nothing left of it by now I’m quite sure. Anyway she paid 5K for it years ago, I can’t remember how many miles but probably around 120k And it’s cheap to insure.
So we are all in at less than 12k initial investment for 3 “modern” vehicles that haven’t been expensive to maintain, never cost a penny in interest and depreciation? Wtf is that even?:thumbsup:
 
detmatt said:
I have a 2000 Phord 1 ton van with no rust and only 64k miles on it. It is my work van and it cost me less 3 grand. Paid cash and insurance is cheap. My dd is an ‘04 300M that I bought with 109k miles on it and it’s a great looking, clean car with heated seats that cost me less than 3k and is cheap to insure. I would get in either 1 of these cars and drive across the country.
^^^^Both of these cars beep at me if I don’t buckle up.^^^^
My wife drives a ‘10 VW Tiguan 4 cylinder turbo with awd and getting close to 165k on it, still runs and drives great and she loves it. That has been a year round Michigan car all of its life and will not rust. I can’t find a spec of rust on it, wtf did VW make these things out of??? If this were say a ’10 Phord Explorer driven the same way there would be nothing left of it by now I’m quite sure. Anyway she paid 5K for it years ago, I can’t remember how many miles but probably around 120k And it’s cheap to insure.
So we are all in at less than 12k initial investment for 3 “modern” vehicles that haven’t been expensive to maintain, never cost a penny in interest and depreciation? Wtf is that even?:thumbsup:
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What are you going to do when those time out? Maybe there will be a supply of good 3K cars available then, it don't look like it.
My clean 98 Dodge 1 ton van has 80k on it. It'll probably go a while more. Hoping the trans don't quit. Many $$$$$$$$$ if it does. Like the van, but decided to sell. Won't miss the 12 mpg.
 
Just Carbs said:
What are you going to do when those time out? Maybe there will be a supply of good 3K cars available then, it don't look like it.
My clean 98 Dodge 1 ton van has 80k on it. It'll probably go a while more. Hoping the trans don't quit. Many $$$$$$$$$ if it does. Like the van, but decided to sell. Won't miss the 12 mpg.
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I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it but I’ve been replacing vehicles that cost me certainly no more than 10k to buy with other vehicles that cost less than 10k to buy for over 3 decades now and I’ve never bought a new car in my life. I bet I have less into 3 decades worth of ”modern” cars for my own personal use than the cost of one new on the lot cars available today.
 
detmatt said:
I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it but I’ve been replacing vehicles that cost me certainly no more than 10k to buy with other vehicles that cost less than 10k to buy for over 3 decades now and I’ve never bought a new car in my life. I bet I have less into 3 decades worth of ”modern” cars for my own personal use than the cost of one new on the lot cars available today.
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I think it's the trickle down from "the cost of one new on the lot cars available today" that's getting ready to put a hitch in our collective giddy up.
The last reasonably enthusiastic car lot purchase I made was a clean 1996 Explorer 302 with 36k for 3K. That was 5 years ago.
 
Strange. None of my 300m's beep if I don't buckle up. One beep initially I think when I start the car, but only a red seatbelt light on the dash after that. Is that a Canada/US difference?
 
MoPar~Man said:
Strange. None of my 300m's beep if I don't buckle up. One beep initially I think when I start the car, but only a red seatbelt light on the dash after that. Is that a Canada/US difference?
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I don't think so.....My 05 300C don't complain when I don't buckle up. Maybe the newer ones do.
 
For my F-150, I found a hack on the Internet on how to turn off the seat belt nanny chime. Consisted of one of those 12 step procedures of turning things on and off.

My Lincoln drove me crazy with that honk-honk if you left the car running if you got out. Thanks again to the Internet, bought a little black box that you plugged into the OBD II plug which killed that effing feature.
 
commando1 said:
For my F-150, I found a hack on the Internet on how to turn off the seat belt nanny chime. Consisted of one of those 12 step procedures of turning things on and off.

My Lincoln drove me crazy with that honk-honk if you left the car running if you got out. Thanks again to the Internet, bought a little black box that you plugged into the OBD II plug which killed that effing feature.
Click to expand...
My '19 Edge would shut off at every stop light and then restart when you went to move. Hated it.. You can turn that feature off, but it's still a pain and you have to turn it off every time you drive.

A bad battery will solve that easy enough... It goes into a mode where the engine doesn't shut off and when you put a good battery in, it stays in that mode and only the dealer can turn it off.

So my car doesn't shut off at stop lights anymore.
 
My BIL had to fly into Denver every Monday for a couple of years and then drive the rental up to somewhere Wyoming. I remember him complaining about getting to the car/SUV and starting it and not being able to turn on any heat because the screen would just stay black for a matter of minutes, but when it's cold as f"+# out and you are stuck listening to whatever radio crap the previous renter left on. Basically can't do anything but sit there listening to.a.station you did not choose in the cold waiting for a screen to warm like a old tube TV. No thanks.
I know Chrysler put the controls back on knobs and buttons I'm guessing it was a widespread problem.
I'm sure Teslas, and their big screen TV's on the dash that control everything will have no problems, in the below zero temperature range.
 
While in Idaho / Wyoming my Winter spent there yielded a coldest temperature of minus 36.
Lots of days below zero. Electronics were NEVER an issue.
 
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