New England B.S. Thread

At face value, that's alarming however, I bet every car on that list has headlights that cost over $1k/each to replace. I looked into swapping my halogen housings with factory LED and they were $2,600 plus the wiring and programming needed to make the swap. The overly expensive head and tail lights are becoming way too common now-days.

 

1.5k for the qx56 lol

 

I should add, I just got a text that she's test driving a 2020 Volvo S60 T6 now, used with 15k miles on it...

 

Get the extended warranty

 

Yeah that's fair, LED DRLs are embedded and a new housing itself is probably 500-700 in the Tacoma, let alone the LED head/high housings too!

Don't need a volvo extended warranty if you just don't buy a volvo.

 

I'd suggest that with all of those cars. I wouldn't want to own most of those cars myself. I do all my own maintenance and I've heard nothing but horror stories with the BMW's, Mercedes and VW/Audi cars. I hope she ends up with the TLX, at least you get the Honda reliability behind you. I don't know a lot about the new Volvos. The really old ones were bullet proof, I have a coworker with a newer one and she loves it. Otherwise, no experience with them at all. I know Lexus is a rebadged Toyota but damn they're ugly. I'd rather see her go with the Avalon if she goes that route.

 

I am surprised to here the Lexus's you listed don't have good reviews, but would she look at a higher trim Camry or Avalon? I would buy a Toyota or Honda in a heart beat over the German or European cars!

 

Honestly, the reason it didn't get good reviews I think have to be taken with a grain of salt but also are in line what gets said here about Toyotas in general. They tend to be behind the times with the features in the cabin. They rate based on the initial quality a lot of times and may not address things falling apart in 3-5 years. I have to imagine in that market, those vehicles aren't typically driven into the ground by the original owner.

 

Mercedes are stupid money to service. They have an A and B service with one being a bit more involved than the other. However, they both end up running close to or over four figures. Hell, an oil change is almost $200.00 on my Mom’s GLK350. The bastards won’t reset the maintenance light with only an oil change either. “It’s not MB USA’s policy to do that”. I’ll never buy one. I’d consider an Acura for a sporty luxury car.

 

yeah, the light green one has stage 4 motors/gearboxes with 2

$124 Milwaukee m18 Cordless Lithium-Ion 6-1/2" Circular Saw - 2630-20 - ( MILWAUKEE ) - BARE TOOL

Milwaukee m18 wired parallel with an adjustable speed controller and voltage cutoff along with a “brake reduction module” capacitor/resistor to make the motors not just grind to a stop. The newer dark green Jeep only has stock motors with a power wheels to ryobi battery adapter. No problems thus far.
I get a lot of inspiration from Grind Hard Plumbing on YT

 

True plus I think people they expect as the target market want the latest toys regardless of need or cost of them. Bah, give me something reliable any fucking day..

Says the guy whose truck didn't even have intermittent wipers of course..

 

my mother in law is (less so now ...) in sales and on the road all the time. She has a hybrid and puts in usually 30-35k per year on her cars. She bought a hybrid Lexus 2007 new. Bought a 20....16? New, the 2007 has probably 200k on it and they still own it, it’s the secondary car (and still really nice for that position!). Both awd suvs. Both well maintained and both will be driven into the ground.

but yeah typically a Lexus resale drops like a stone the first few years. A 4 ish year used Lexus or a lease turn in is relatively cheap. My in laws are not your typical new Lexus buyers.

 

I say Lexus or Acura. Can't really go wrong with either.

 

Is a premium brand a requirement?

Something like the Accord Touring would probably provide 75% of the "premium" experience with a lot less hassle. The ultimate resale value will likely be better at a lower purchase price point as well. I'd be fully on-board with leasing German as most of those leases have all the operating costs built in, but the loss in value (and price of repairs) is semi-outlandish. I don't know a ton about the newest 3-series, but a co-worker had a mid-level E60 5-series and the battery was $500 as it wasn't a standard Auto Zone piece.

As much as I'd love a V60 wagon with the plaid interior option, as has been said they're not the same as the old 80s 240s / 740s.

 

Plus did you see that new Volvo commercial. They're going speed govern new cars for safety. Fuck that communist bullshit.

 

The ASL can be deactivated. Are you talking about the 112 MPH limiter? Volvo's always been all about safety, it's not shocking that they'd introduce this.

 

I don't know, most of the newer Lexus's I have been in have ALOT of tech, more than Toyota's. Lexus also rates in the top three for reliability, which I can agree with, though it is usually the people that buy them only drive them 5k miles a year, so of course the reliability is high. But again, I would only look at Toyota/Lexus or Honda/Acura!

 

I’m not sure why the premium brand draw. I agree, and that’s honestly why I’m pushing her towards the TLX. You guys bring up a lot of great points. Premium car prices bring premium car maintenance prices. I think she’s going to test a few premium cars and end up with a high trim Camry or Corolla in the end, just have to give her time to get there I guess.

 

I mean I "get" it, don't get me wrong. In high school a friend's father had a B5 A4 2.8 non-Quattro 5MT I used to "borrow" occasionally and I absolutely loved that car, but the repair costs were nutty. Hell, look at my C5, allegedly a "premium" car. I have more stupid electronics in that car that have a history of going bad and being unobtainium than I'd care to admit. Likely this will not be an issue in your case because the car will be gone before parts stop being produced, but it's just one more level.

The Acura isn't a bad choice, I just haven't been inspired by anything Acura since the 3rd generation TL A-Spec. My good friend just had his 2006 TSX finally die on him with just over 200,000 miles on it. He's the original owner and he's rapidly approaching the "everything is starting to break" stage. It currently won't start and it's consuming some oil. Admittedly, I want it for the cost of the tax donation write-off, but as desirable as it would be to flip (it's a 6MT Nav car which was desirable at one point), it likely needs the motor pulled and I don't know if I want that road with that car.