The Car Thread

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

29 minutes ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

This is interesting. How many years old was the 4Runner vs the BMW? I would think the gap would be 3-4 but could be wrong. Never even thought about shopping for the Beemer

So when I say slightly used I mean like 30k miles or less.

Looking at CarMax right now any BMW X5 is between 30-49k

X3's are in the 30-35k range

4Runners are averaging right around 40k used

So I mean if you find the right trim/model of BMW you can absolutely get one for the price of a 4Runner. Audi's (Q5 mostly) are cheaper than Beamers and just as nice, too.

[CBears019]

I am a total beginner when it comes to doing work on my car, however I have recently gotten interested in doing some more routine work on my car myself vs. bringing it in to a shop.  My car currently needs new spark plugs and the one quote I got to replace them was like almost $700.  A quick search of the replacement parts showed that it would cost like $75 to purchase them.  My car is a 2014 Chevy Equinox (v6).  Just wanted to reach out to this thread to see if there's anyone here I can bounce some ideas off of.  Such as - is this something a beginner can do?  what tools would I need?  Is that quote as ridiculous as it seems?  What should I be looking for when getting replacement spark plugs?  etc.  

 

Any insight is appreciated.  

[Tugboat]

On 3/6/2024 at 1:54 PM, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

car and driver has it at a 9.5/10 so I'd say you did alright

Not enough HP for me. I'm becoming somewhat of a HP snob now that I've driven a BMW X5 M and currently an m440i xDrive. I can't do anything under 300HP now even though I don't track anything I just love having it for accelerating.

 

The bolded is probably for the best anyway.  😆  Call me a purist, but ain't nothing that weighs 5500lbs ever belongs on a track anyway.  That's...not their natural habitat.

 

On 3/6/2024 at 5:19 PM, Heimdallr said:

The Mazdas in the higher trims with the 250hp turbo definitely has some kick and I love driving it, but yeah probably not quite comparable to something like a BMW that is more geared for performance. 

 

Mazda seem to be the only real "mainstream" company that is still remotely interested in driving dynamics on their volume cars.  It feels like they've taken the spot VW used to occupy.  The other part of this equation is that 300 or even 250hp can go a lot further if a vehicle sheds a few pounds.  Though even the smaller Mazda SUVs are still...very hefty.  250-300hp can feel like a lot in a 3000lb car and extremely responsive though.  Add a few thousand Big Macs to that and well...it changes things.

It can also have a real impact, just feeling the torque curve.  It's usually actually "torque" rather than horsepower that makes people feel like a car has "pep" or "kick" or "zip" or whatever.  Horsepower is a lot harder for your "butt dyno" to ~feel~ usually.  Big, beefy instant torque curves will sit you back in your seat more than high strung horsepower.  Which is what even most modern "normal" cars are set up for.  Between fat early torque curves and automatic transmissions with a zillion speeds for that gear multiplier...they're made to feel like you've got a lot more juice than you really even do.

 

The antithesis of this is...if you've ever driven a Honda S2000.  It weighs...absolutely nothing.  It barely makes enough torque to tighten the lugnuts on a pickup truck.  But there's something intoxicating about the way cars like that accelerate and drive.  That 230-40hp or whatever it is, it's just such a wildly different experience.  You wait and you wait...and then suddenly it just starts screaming and you want to run it out to 8000rpm or whatever.  It's the complete opposite of a "mash the pedal in any gear at any time and go" sort of experience.

 

But that's obviously not for everyone.  It's not even really practical per se.  Most people prefer to just...mash the throttle and go.  It's a lot more convenient.  Which is why everything is tuned and built that way now.  Especially with 10 speed autos, turbos and direct injection providing for extremely responsive motors that do away with "turbo lag" and give that big early torque curve.  Especially since there are very few "lightweight" vehicles being built anymore.  Need big torque to move big heft.

[Tugboat]

21 hours ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

Yeah, did a ton of research to figure out what I wanted but I knew I would lean Mazda. The scores had to be terrible for me not to go that route lol. 

I'm too cheap to ever get a BMW or any kind of luxury car. The second a bug splatters on it I'd be pissed lol. They're gorgeous vehicles and I would enjoy driving them but just can't get myself to ever pull that trigger.

 

I think you'd be surprised tbh.

People think this because the "branding" is conditioned in and the "new car" MRSPs are beamed into our brains all the time.

But there's a secret efficiency in "slightly used" luxury cars that is kind of fascinating.

 

19 hours ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

I thought the same thing before I realized that buying a slightly used 4Runner and a slightly used BMW cost literally the same lol

The new prices for BMW are actually insanity and I would never do that in a million years.

 

It's pretty much exactly this.  You get so many people who will just go after a slightly used Toyota or whatever, and ignore the fact that they're paying an enormous premium sometimes even beyond the "new" price, just to get a Toyota.

 

When "Luxury" brands often have the exact opposite thing happening.  The old saying about, "it loses half it's value the second you drive it off the lot".  Well...it's not that extreme, but it happens with luxury marques like BMW, Audi, etc. all the time.  Not so much with the really "special" models.  The really sporty, most desirable ones.  But you constantly see relatively "base model-ish" German luxury brand cars on the dealership lot as "Certified Pre-Owned" with tons of warranty left and everything...for a fraction of what they cost new. 

 

And it's not because they're super unreliable or expensive to repair by comparison (with the exception of Benzes), it's just that a lot of people are really weirdly scared off by how "expensive" luxury cars are and how they're not "luxury sports car people" and don't bother to cross-shop like that.  They also just have a weird proportion of very short term lease returns after a year or two because that "prestige customer" wants the newest model year or the latest thing or whatever.  Nothing wrong with the vehicle other than the fact that it's a model year old and that's not as trendy as the current year.  People are weird about it.  But it's actually a really exploitable market distortion if you're ever in the market for something a lot nicer than you thought you could afford.

 

That's how i converted my mother to the dark side.  lol.  She was looking for a new car to replace her completely awful constantly problematic Volkswagen and insistent that she wasn't interested in all these "fancy" cars i was suggesting.  Really a "car of the people" person.  Looking at Yoters and hateful Hyundais and all the whole gamut of yuck and she hated all of them.  I even tagged along on some test drives because she wanted my input.  Just really didn't believe me when i said...you can get a massively better one or two year old BMW with barely any miles for less (and with a legit AWD system).  Then she randomly ended up with my sister at an automall and found the exact sort of car i was telling her about in the perfect color...took it for a test drive...and fell in love...it's game over.  She'll never go back.

 

Downside...a lot of her coworkers at the time who drove terrible vehicles that cost twice as much...would occasionally razz her over her "fancy" BMW.  But it's like...if you know...you know.  And you really don't care.

[Tugboat]

7 hours ago, CBears019 said:

I am a total beginner when it comes to doing work on my car, however I have recently gotten interested in doing some more routine work on my car myself vs. bringing it in to a shop.  My car currently needs new spark plugs and the one quote I got to replace them was like almost $700.  A quick search of the replacement parts showed that it would cost like $75 to purchase them.  My car is a 2014 Chevy Equinox (v6).  Just wanted to reach out to this thread to see if there's anyone here I can bounce some ideas off of.  Such as - is this something a beginner can do?  what tools would I need?  Is that quote as ridiculous as it seems?  What should I be looking for when getting replacement spark plugs?  etc.  

 

Any insight is appreciated.  

 

As someone who does...most of my own work on my car.  I'm going to suggest that plugs aren't necessarily where i'd start.

 

It's also not an unreasonable thing to do.  It kind of depends on what level of general mechanical aptitude you're coming in with.  Also just the layout of your engine bay sometimes.  

 

First question would be...are we talking plugs?  What about the coils?  We sure those are still good too?  Is it a problem with the "plugs" or just...a mileage interval/preventative maintenance?  If it's the latter, i might not even bother.  Modern plugs last forever usually.

Second question would be...can you open up the hood and identify the location of all 6 spark plugs, and are they reasonably accessible?  That should maybe the first question.  Because...i might be wrong, but the Equinox is a Transverse mount probably?  Which means...there's potential yikes on 3 of them in terms of convenience.

Are you familiar with the idea of gapping spark plugs?  Do you know what sort of plugs your vehicle even requires?  Are the $75 set of 6 actually quality at all?  You're also going to require a specialized socket, gapping tool, who knows what else.  

 

That's all stuff that will probably be telling if it's a good idea or...maybe not.

 

Personally...i really prefer not to even **** with the stupid plugs if at all possible.  Not all cars are designed with ten pounds of horsepower stuffed into a one pound bag, but for me...3 of the plugs are basically unserviceable without removing other things.  One of them is basically impossible to pull without lifting the coolant overflow reservoir.  Two of the others are buried to various degrees awkwardly beneath charge piping.  Not to mention trying to thread the needle to get the cover off in the first place.  I learned that you can kind of coax the one if you can blindly feel things basically.  If i had an ultra low profile socket wrench, i might even be able to finesse all three.  But idk.  I ain't got one.

 

 

Just makes me miss my first car that i learned so much of this stuff on.  Where it was so much easier.  😭  Just pop the hood (even if it flipped up the opposite way) and you can get in there and reach and see stuff.  It was so much easier to deal with.  Perfect car to learn on...probably because it was basically as old as i am.

 

But all that should probably either terrify or embolden you.

[bigbadbuff]

On 3/7/2024 at 11:22 AM, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

I thought the same thing before I realized that buying a slightly used 4Runner and a slightly used BMW cost literally the same lol

The new prices for BMW are actually insanity and I would never do that in a million years.

That’s because the 4Runner is going to be worth way more in 5 years lol.

I get it though, some people buy the cars because they like the sportiness, some for reliability, some for resale value. But the price is the price for a reason

[Tugboat]

On 3/12/2024 at 9:58 PM, bigbadbuff said:

That’s because the 4Runner is going to be worth way more in 5 years lol.

I get it though, some people buy the cars because they like the sportiness, some for reliability, some for resale value. But the price is the price for a reason

Ehhh...i'm not sure that's broadly true.  Some specific things, like older Tacomas and 4Runners maybe.  Specifically because they didn't really meaningfully change the model for like...Two Decades.  lol.  But there are also BMWs like that, where the specific older models are worth more than the newer ones, or actually had growth in their prices as they age.

 

For most BMWs and luxury marques like that though...they have a really steep initial depreciation curve because they quickly become no longer the "latest and greatest" prestige model.  But then tend to plateau for quite a while once they stabilize from that initial huge drop.  So you're not going to see that same sort of "off a cliff" depreciation if you scoop one up after it's already taken that huge hit.

 

But it also comes down to what your intentions are in buying a car.  Are you going to dump it in a couple years for something else?  Are you going to keep it and drive it into the dirt?  Somewhere in between?  That's where the impact of value holding/resale value can shift depending on the timeline.  But at the end of the day...all cars are terrible investments.  All in, you're gonna take a bath on anything in the grand scheme of things...even a Yoter.