So... what car do you guys drive when not flying?

Can't believe I've never come across this thread before [pokes head out from under rock ;)]

Humble 2010 Subaru Forester X. Not really much into cars - no desire to spent too much $$ on a depreciating asset
 
Gold Member said:
Trust me, I tried. Most they were willing to accept on CC (without passing on exorbitant fee) was $3k.
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yes that's usually the issue.

I cant believe the credit card companies don't offer them decent rates to encourage people to buy on card! Surprised they only allowed $3k - usually you can "talk them up" by leaving a large deposit (pay by card). I've done up to $5k before without even trying very hard.

Still, nice choice of car - forget about the points!
 
Hawkeye said:
Great to see a post from you Keith!
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Great to hear from you too!

I love my A5 however am rather over the very poor Audi aftersales service. They appear to be stuck in the 'suffer for the brand' mentality when their fellow Germans have made leaps and bounds in customer service. Otherwise, it's a really nice car and I've been really happy with it. However the Lexus didn't provide that much of an incremental improvement in terms of comfort, refinement, isolation from the road etc so I abandoned plans to change vehicles as it'd just be for the sake of getting a 'new car' (well, the value proposition was good too - they do undercut a lot) and am waiting for the forthcoming C250 Coupe (assuming the engine variants mirror the sedan).
 
A May 2004 Toyota Camry with 45,000 Kms on the clock. I do more klicks in the air than on the ground!
 
QF WP said:
Can't believe I've never come across this thread before [pokes head out from under rock ;)]

Humble 2010 Subaru Forester X. Not really much into cars - no desire to spent too much $$ on a depreciating asset
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From a financial perspective +1 from me. I always advise buying a car about 2 years old.

In a previous life I spent mega bucks on cars as motor racing was my hobby. Scary* fast and safe on a race track, wearing all the gear + all the officials etc etc.

*have not yet discovered a speed at which I am scared.
 
Buzzard said:
From a financial perspective +1 from me. I always advise buying a car about 2 years old.

In a previous life I spent mega bucks on cars as motor racing was my hobby. Scary* fast and safe on a race track, wearing all the gear + all the officials etc etc.

*have not yet discovered a speed at which I am scared.
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One of the more expensive hobbies.. I'm serioulsy considering getting into karting at the moment. Just doing the sums etc
 
We've got a 3 year old Forester petrol and a newish VW Passat diesel.

Forester is probably the best car I've ever owned. Versatile, roomy, very comfortable and well equipped (although I don't know who came up with the stupid GPS that won't allow you to enter anything while the car is moving ). Only grip would be the around town fuel consumption. 12-13 is on the highish side for a 4cyl. 160ks old and still going as new.

The VW however... Biggest mistake ever. In its very short life it's been towed back to the "couldn't care less" dealer 5 times. In short, something is not shutting down when the engine is turned off so once it's been left for 2-3 days, the battery is totally drained. This has meant getting off overnight flights and finding it parked in the airport carpark refusing to start. VW have now replaced the battery 5 times and keep stating that "it's just a faulty battery".

Two of VWs best one liners;

1) it's perfectly normal for a car to have a flat battery after a few days. There's nothing wrong with it.

2) you didn't have an appointment and we're busy so we can't look at it for two weeks. What did you expect us to to? (After the car was towed to them from the airport carpark)

VW have probably the worst dealer support I've ever experienced and I wont ever buy one again. I did make this point to the service manager who simply stated "well that's probably a good idea".

As soon as it's warranty expires, a new IS300h shall replace it.
 
Buzzard said:
From a financial perspective +1 from me. I always advise buying a car about 2 years old.

In a previous life I spent mega bucks on cars as motor racing was my hobby. Scary* fast and safe on a race track, wearing all the gear + all the officials etc etc.

*have not yet discovered a speed at which I am scared.
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We need to possibly talk offline - you may know people I know (depends on whether you're talking drag racing or similar)
 
How about the finance deals? I got some numbers from the dealer of a car I was interested in. Ran them by the accountant and he said run a mile - they were charging over 10%. The word I get is that you should be able to get a car loan at around 6% and you see "crazy deals" on some cars around 2-3%.

A bit of a change from the old days with 25% down and 20% interest (and that's not even when housing rates were 18%).
 
No chance of me being anywhere near Lakeside in my lifetime as I'm not a racing fan... I'd have gone for the convivial atmosphere, the ladies and the beverages ;) At the end of the day, I'd be the one asking "who won?"
 
For those who own or have owned european cars, do you guys keep them for the first few years and then upgrade? and how do you guys rate the reliability?

My father just retired and we're thinking of buying replacing his coughpy MY2002 E240 - which is pretty unrelable junk, loads of electrical issues, dashboard warnings left right and centre - for something like a small C200. I know it's another Merc but when I first saw the newest C200 I was like very very impressed with the looks, then it won COTY 2014 so it must mean its good but my biggest question is "how reliable are these brand new, very late model european models?". My father isn't a fan of buying new cars, he thinks its a waste of money as they all lose value anyway, but we thought we - the kids - might just go ahead and surprise him, and with cars, he likes to hold on to them for deal life - so long term reliability is what he is after. Otherwise we'd go look a used Lexus LS600hL that I think covecruises around Perth in :)

I have owned an Alfa 156, looked pretty good in the monza red, but reliability again was pathetic and costly when it came out of warranty. So I have been put off by european cars and gone for safe, yet boring, japanese built machines. Now I drive a MY14 Forester XT but am tempted by the Lexus RC.
 
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Question from me :
Any GL350 owners with feedback for me ? I need a seven seater and not keen on people movers at all.
I'll be ditching my XC90 mid next year and thinking of getting a Merc. Likely a second hand one as its a bit exxy brand new. I've looked at the X5 but that's ugly and very little room in the back, same with the Q7.
What I'd really like is a Chevy Suburban but can't see a way to get that here , or park it in Westfield :lol:
 
My father has had 2 Mercs - an E300 that lasted 15 years and now a E320 that has just hit 13 years. They've been lucky with (lack of major) issues. But then again he's 83 and even he admits that his driving days are numbered. HAven't seen the latest models, but not sure whether he's going to buy new again (not that he can't afford it, but very likely will be his last car).
 
Alanslegal said:
For those who own or have owned european cars, do you guys keep them for the first few years and then upgrade? and how do you guys rate the reliability?
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Have had my CLC200 for 6 years, regularly serviced and I'm a pretty passive driver. Had some teething issues that were not really serious and got looked after via warranty with loaner vehicles when my car was off the road - nothing that really niggled me too much as previous different brands have always had a few little things go wrong within warranty.

As for regularly upgrading, I think thats probably the smart thing to do if you can afford the depreciation hit you will inevitably wear. I don't want to still have this car if serious things start needing replacement as all cars will need with enough km and/or years on the clock. I haven't done the figures yet but my feeling is that buying say a 2-3 year old merc via their preferred vehicle program (or whatever its called) that gives 2 years factory warranty extension is probably the go - then keep the car for 2-3 years and wash/repeat. After the first 3 years the major big hit of depreciation is already covered and the warranty extension should cover you for any unforeseen and possibly eye wateringly expensive repairs that might randomly crop up.

As a bit of a gauge on how bad things can get, was recently quoted circa $8K for a new air conditioner compressor on my wifes SLK which is hitting 10 years old with 140K on the clock. I'd expect a trans to probably top 10K$, an acquaintance of mine was quoted something in the order of 8-10K for a replacement Kompressor for a C class. Granted, these are abnormal things to be replacing on relatively young cars, but my point being that you don't want to be holding the baby when (or if) these things go bad.

First three years on the CLC was great though, bought it via Mercs corporate program, so got a decent discount + 3 years of no cost servicing, money permitting I think the most pleasant driving/owning experience would probably favour a change at year 4 for another vehicle with the same buy-in perks.
 
Reading the stories about Euro cars is amusing.

Back in the 80's when I was young and broke I loved Euro cars and had a couple, but now I'm older and wiser I'm am so not interested in Euro and the costs that go with them.

Now I'm wise it's Australian or Jap for me and love it when a big service costs me $275 and my mates are spending $4K on an Aldi, Benz or BMW.

I just think of that money coming off my mortgage. :D

Matt
 
BAM1748 said:
Reading the stories about Euro cars is amusing.

Back in the 80's when I was young and broke I loved Euro cars and had a couple, but now I'm older and wiser I'm am so not interested in Euro and the costs that go with them.

Now I'm wise it's Australian or Jap for me and love it when a big service costs me $275 and my mates are spending $4K on an Aldi, Benz or BMW.

I just think of that money coming off my mortgage. :D

Matt
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Best typo of the year :)!!!
 

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