The cars and bikes thread!

[geoffbot]

Good. You see stories online and assume its rife, apparently not so much.

[litlmn]

Good. You see stories online and assume its rife, apparently not so much.

Probably only in the rich people areas

[Raza]

Wife got herself a new Audi Q3 today. Managed to snag a discount with my Audi Club membership.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Very nice! Love that color.

[Raza]

New car in 2021, discounted?! Impressive. Many are going for like 20% over msrp

Is that affected by Brexit over there?

[geoffbot]

Is that affected by Brexit over there?

Yeah and covid and chip shortage - perfect storm

[Samanator]

Wife got herself a new Audi Q3 today. Managed to snag a discount with my Audi Club membership.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Congrats.

[Samanator]

I know I had said in the Christmas presents thread that I had reserved a 2022 Lexus GX460 Luxury, and I had every intention of getting this, but something was bothering me. I don't drive much these days, and everything is so close that a gas tank lasted well over a month at the new house. Spending that amount of money was hard to justify, but given our watch obsession, we seem to justify many things that don't make sense. Vehicles that can pull my boat and have a better than average long-term reliability are not a very large list. Several of the midsize trucks are out, all of the full size 1/2 ton pickups are in, and a small hand full of the larger SUV also works. I chose the Lexus GX since it is on the smaller side of things, yet while waiting, I was quite smitten by the Ram 1500 Limited but wanted the Deisel engine and the Limited Longhorn trim level. The Ram is very well developed compared to the similar offerings from Ford (Kings Ranch), Toyota (1794), and the GM twins, which don't offer anything at this level. All of these are coming in over $70K. From the Midsize trucks, only the new for 22 Nissan Frontier fit my needs, but the dealers had not gotten any higher trim levels on those when I was there.


After I sold my Lexus LC Coupe when I placed the Bronco order, I was disappointed when I finally saw one in the metal. It was OK, but not $65K OK, so I canceled the order. This had me back in the Infiniti QX30 AWD that was far too small for me and our needs. If you want a good reason for not buying anything bigger than a microwave oven, own one of these. It is hard to find anything that actually fits in this car. Buy something like a shovel or rake, and it will need to be driven home with the hatch up. Forget about a 2x4 or a 55" TV. The only high point for this vehicle is the seats. You can drive over 8 hours in them, and they are still great. This was my wife's car, but she could not stand it any longer after two years. I took it over as a gap vehicle while I looked for something new. Those kept not working out, and then after we moved, the scope of what we needed to be changed quite a bit.


Monday evening, a marketing flyer in the mail from Nissan stated that the local dealer was offering $2K-$3K over book value on trades. The Frontier and a few others qualified for 0% interest financing. I checked the dealer inventory for the three closest Nissan dealers, and it turns out the one here in Sebring had just gotten in a Pro 4X (Highest trim level) in the pearl gray metallic that I like. I talked with my wife at breakfast, and we planned to go up and drive it if it was not spoken for later that morning. I called the sales guy I had talked to and made an appointment. This turned out to be a good move since three groups were waiting to take it out when we got back from the test drive (kind of the car market these days). When we worked the numbers, they honored the $3K over blue book trade value, and amazingly before the $3K, the offers were $10K above the trade value I quoted back in January when I was looking at cars then. While I could pay cash, it seemed better to use their money for three years for the remaining balance at 0% interest. Amazingly this was the exact color and trim I wanted, had every available package at this level and nearly ever additional option I could want. The dealer included the factory running boards, rear bumper step, and floor liners to complete the list of options. Those arrive next week. The sound system is by Fender, and there is a 10" main screen that has forward, side, and top 360 views when running trails (or parking). There is really no option that is missing tech and safety-wise versus the much more expensive vehicles. The off-road 4x suspension uses Bilstein heavy-duty off-road shocks. It has all the towing electronics built-in and a 2700 lbs safety margin for towing the boat. It does not have the Lexus Dynamic suspension, Ram's air suspension, or Deisel engine, but it will be more efficient and use much lower cost regular fuel. It's also much cheaper on insurance. Most importantly, my wife likes it and the Lexus (the Ram intimidated her). It rides very well, handles good, is very quiet (they did a lot of Lexus things to these like coated class and more insolation), and the turn radius is very tight even versus a car. Here is my Bolder Gray Pearl Nissan Frontier Pro 4X 4x4. I think I'm good now for at least 10 years.

[chuckmiller]

You will really like that truck!

[mlcor]

You left out the most critical option detail—can it make a decent cup of coffee?

Looks like you really lucked out, the car market is just insane. I’m really glad our cars are only a couple of years old, the mere thought of having to look in the current market gives me the willies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Samanator]

You left out the most critical option detail—can it make a decent cup of coffee?

Looks like you really lucked out, the car market is just insane. I’m really glad our cars are only a couple of years old, the mere thought of having to look in the current market gives me the willies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Your not kidding. On the Ram if I ordered what I wanted it was at least a 12 week wait. We have a group down here that is the biggest dealer network for Dodge, Ram, Jeep, Wagoneer, Fiat, Alpha ...They have truck loads already sold as the roll in. They were at least offering some minimum discount. They did ghost me on the Ram Limited I drove when I asked them to at least give me some numbers based on VIN and Photos of the Infiniti for the truck before i drove three hours to get down there. After thee days i gave up believing it was most likely sold. I've never had good luck ordering vehicles. They always seem to arrive with something wrong.