General Car Conversation 2024 - part 1
06-24-24, 10:47 PM
#4966
Mainly use the Prime as an in town daily in which it lives in EV mode. It’s been on 3 road trips I believe with at least 2 more scheduled this year.
Example, over the weekend my wife made a 400 mile turnaround roundtrip so with just her in the car she took the Prius. She daily the LX.
06-25-24, 07:52 AM
#4968
Lead Lap
Few things. The worst rental car I ever had was a 2012 VW Passat. It was noisy, thrashy, and uncomfortable. Also, it’s not really a great car if you are hanging out with *** hole grad school buddies 15 years after graduation. They said it’s too bad our grad school didn’t have a Greek system because I could have rushed a sorority lol. The close second was an awful Citroën crossover in Germany.
I briefly worked in the rental car industry 30 years ago. An acquaintance told me they like to buy used rental cars because they’re confident all of the maintenance is performed on schedule. I almost spit out my drink laughing. The strip mall rental places don’t have maintenance staff or facilities. They also deliberately run lean on cars to maximize revenue and profit. This means removing a car from service is expensive. The service schedule for each car would pop up on our computers and we would override the alerts which marked the service as completed when it wasn’t. Our only vehicles that got regular service were Astro Vans because the fuel pumps would crap out, so the service would be done along with the fuel pump replacement. I recall that every Astro Van I rented out that headed to Vegas had a fuel pump failure on the trip. Fun.
Lastly, an American Airlines 747 was a rare bird. I don’t think they had many and I don’t believe they were in the fleet for long. They went heavily into DC10s. I disliked flying on those. Of course, flying is not pleasant now either, but it was miserable when smoking on planes was permitted. I am old enough to remember those days. I am also skeptical that the truck in the commercial could tow a 747. Cool story though.
I briefly worked in the rental car industry 30 years ago. An acquaintance told me they like to buy used rental cars because they’re confident all of the maintenance is performed on schedule. I almost spit out my drink laughing. The strip mall rental places don’t have maintenance staff or facilities. They also deliberately run lean on cars to maximize revenue and profit. This means removing a car from service is expensive. The service schedule for each car would pop up on our computers and we would override the alerts which marked the service as completed when it wasn’t. Our only vehicles that got regular service were Astro Vans because the fuel pumps would crap out, so the service would be done along with the fuel pump replacement. I recall that every Astro Van I rented out that headed to Vegas had a fuel pump failure on the trip. Fun.
Lastly, an American Airlines 747 was a rare bird. I don’t think they had many and I don’t believe they were in the fleet for long. They went heavily into DC10s. I disliked flying on those. Of course, flying is not pleasant now either, but it was miserable when smoking on planes was permitted. I am old enough to remember those days. I am also skeptical that the truck in the commercial could tow a 747. Cool story though.
06-25-24, 08:00 AM
#4969
Lexus Champion
Few thiink they had many and I don’t believe they were in the fleet for long. They went heavily into DC10s. I disliked flying on those. Of course, flying is not pleasant now either, but it was miserable when smoking on planes was permitted. I am old enough to remember those days. I am also skeptical that the truck in the commercial could tow a 747. Cool story though.
06-25-24, 09:08 AM
#4970
Lexus Test Driver
OT but I can't belieeeeeeeeeveeeeee you could smoke on planes. I never remember it but was alive when they did it. My parents' honeymoon thew went to Hawaii and my mother still has horror stories, my stepdad smoked though. Imagine a flight that long in an enclosed plane with cigarette smoke.
06-25-24, 12:17 PM
#4972
Lexus Fanatic
So my car is a "pinched seal up front", they have to order the seal and it will be there a few days.
The negotiations on a new one, right now they're at $450 a month more than what I pay for my car, which is a really tough pill to swallow. I told myself if they could get it within $250-300 I would do it. I'm owed another counter offer.
Negotiating with dealers today is wild. Its like they try to gaslight that discounting a car from MSRP is some foreign concept. Right now they have come down $10k and I'm using a $5,500 rebate I have through AMEX, so its $15,500 off, they're also marking up the money factor, and turning my car in which means I'm going to have to pay the mileage overages. The deal I have from the broker is $16,000 off before the rebates.
The negotiations on a new one, right now they're at $450 a month more than what I pay for my car, which is a really tough pill to swallow. I told myself if they could get it within $250-300 I would do it. I'm owed another counter offer.
Negotiating with dealers today is wild. Its like they try to gaslight that discounting a car from MSRP is some foreign concept. Right now they have come down $10k and I'm using a $5,500 rebate I have through AMEX, so its $15,500 off, they're also marking up the money factor, and turning my car in which means I'm going to have to pay the mileage overages. The deal I have from the broker is $16,000 off before the rebates.
06-25-24, 12:27 PM
#4973
Lead Lap
OT but I can't belieeeeeeeeeveeeeee you could smoke on planes. I never remember it but was alive when they did it. My parents' honeymoon thew went to Hawaii and my mother still has horror stories, my stepdad smoked though. Imagine a flight that long in an enclosed plane with cigarette smoke.
Back to cars. I did see a lot of cars I liked in Germany. I like wagons and they were and still are everywhere in Germany. I was a broke *** student on a student visa with no work permit. My German friends who had cars (3 guys) had cars nobody wanted. Having a car you would want in Europe is very expensive. They do have so many wantable cars that we don’t get here.
06-25-24, 01:32 PM
#4974
Lexus Fanatic
We're about $50 apart. They're agreeing to take mine in on trade instead of turning it in, which relieves me of the excess mileage and runflats. Honestly I would have just done it but the guy was a little nasty to me, so he can worry about it all night and we'll talk again in the morning. They're marking up the MF and I called him on it and he didn't appreciate that
06-25-24, 01:36 PM
#4975
Lexus Test Driver
Even when done in a nice way.
Maybe because they know their nice guy cover is blown. Lol
I'm surprised they didn't do the good cop bad cop routine too.
06-25-24, 01:48 PM
#4976
Lexus Test Driver
Few things. The worst rental car I ever had was a 2012 VW Passat. It was noisy, thrashy, and uncomfortable. Also, it’s not really a great car if you are hanging out with *** hole grad school buddies 15 years after graduation. They said it’s too bad our grad school didn’t have a Greek system because I could have rushed a sorority lol. The close second was an awful Citroën crossover in Germany.
I briefly worked in the rental car industry 30 years ago. An acquaintance told me they like to buy used rental cars because they’re confident all of the maintenance is performed on schedule. I almost spit out my drink laughing. The strip mall rental places don’t have maintenance staff or facilities. They also deliberately run lean on cars to maximize revenue and profit. This means removing a car from service is expensive. The service schedule for each car would pop up on our computers and we would override the alerts which marked the service as completed when it wasn’t. Our only vehicles that got regular service were Astro Vans because the fuel pumps would crap out, so the service would be done along with the fuel pump replacement. I recall that every Astro Van I rented out that headed to Vegas had a fuel pump failure on the trip. Fun.
Lastly, an American Airlines 747 was a rare bird. I don’t think they had many and I don’t believe they were in the fleet for long. They went heavily into DC10s. I disliked flying on those. Of course, flying is not pleasant now either, but it was miserable when smoking on planes was permitted. I am old enough to remember those days. I am also skeptical that the truck in the commercial could tow a 747. Cool story though.
I briefly worked in the rental car industry 30 years ago. An acquaintance told me they like to buy used rental cars because they’re confident all of the maintenance is performed on schedule. I almost spit out my drink laughing. The strip mall rental places don’t have maintenance staff or facilities. They also deliberately run lean on cars to maximize revenue and profit. This means removing a car from service is expensive. The service schedule for each car would pop up on our computers and we would override the alerts which marked the service as completed when it wasn’t. Our only vehicles that got regular service were Astro Vans because the fuel pumps would crap out, so the service would be done along with the fuel pump replacement. I recall that every Astro Van I rented out that headed to Vegas had a fuel pump failure on the trip. Fun.
Lastly, an American Airlines 747 was a rare bird. I don’t think they had many and I don’t believe they were in the fleet for long. They went heavily into DC10s. I disliked flying on those. Of course, flying is not pleasant now either, but it was miserable when smoking on planes was permitted. I am old enough to remember those days. I am also skeptical that the truck in the commercial could tow a 747. Cool story though.
Yeah AA got rid of their few 747's in the 80's or 90's.
06-25-24, 02:45 PM
#4977
Lexus Fanatic
06-25-24, 02:49 PM
#4978
Lexus Champion
We're about $50 apart. They're agreeing to take mine in on trade instead of turning it in, which relieves me of the excess mileage and runflats. Honestly I would have just done it but the guy was a little nasty to me, so he can worry about it all night and we'll talk again in the morning. They're marking up the MF and I called him on it and he didn't appreciate that
06-25-24, 03:13 PM
#4979
Lexus Fanatic
Ikr.
Mainly use the Prime as an in town daily in which it lives in EV mode. It’s been on 3 road trips I believe with at least 2 more scheduled this year.
Example, over the weekend my wife made a 400 mile turnaround roundtrip so with just her in the car she took the Prius. She daily the LX.
Mainly use the Prime as an in town daily in which it lives in EV mode. It’s been on 3 road trips I believe with at least 2 more scheduled this year.
Example, over the weekend my wife made a 400 mile turnaround roundtrip so with just her in the car she took the Prius. She daily the LX.
06-25-24, 03:26 PM
#4980
Lexus Fanatic
So my car is a "pinched seal up front", they have to order the seal and it will be there a few days.
The negotiations on a new one, right now they're at $450 a month more than what I pay for my car, which is a really tough pill to swallow. I told myself if they could get it within $250-300 I would do it. I'm owed another counter offer.
Negotiating with dealers today is wild. It's like they try to gaslight that discounting a car from MSRP is some foreign concept. Right now they have come down $10k and I'm using a $5,500 rebate I have through AMEX, so its $15,500 off, they're also marking up the money factor, and turning my car in which means I'm going to have to pay the mileage overages. The deal I have from the broker is $16,000 off before the rebates.
The negotiations on a new one, right now they're at $450 a month more than what I pay for my car, which is a really tough pill to swallow. I told myself if they could get it within $250-300 I would do it. I'm owed another counter offer.
Negotiating with dealers today is wild. It's like they try to gaslight that discounting a car from MSRP is some foreign concept. Right now they have come down $10k and I'm using a $5,500 rebate I have through AMEX, so its $15,500 off, they're also marking up the money factor, and turning my car in which means I'm going to have to pay the mileage overages. The deal I have from the broker is $16,000 off before the rebates.
