CAR THREAD ( ..wheeee) :)

[Artful69]

13 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

What I am finding amazing is the dealership's approach, fancy bow and welcoming message. Such a kind gesture. In Canada, you transfer the funds, get the keys and you're on your own. No class whatsoever. Good for you Rog, that's a pretty sweet ride. Congrats.👍

There are a couple of reasons for this:

1/ TBH probably the main reason is that there is a shortage of vehicles for sale here ATM (actually since the chip factory burned down in 2019 - 2020, slowing international car production worldwide) ... and the Great COVID Scam didn't help. Buying a new car here involves a 6m - 2y wait ... used car sales are at a premium. That all translates into a sellers market with NO negotiation on price ... So I paid full retail price and a small premium for this thing! They'd better throw out the welcome mats!!

2/ Every dealer transaction involves a customer service survey run by the manufacturer ... anything less than a 9/10 and both the dealership and the sales person cop some sort of financial penalty. ANY dealership here will bend over backwards to maximise added wow or smiles during the sales-to-delivery process - and given the amount of shit that can go sideways during that extended wait period - they are willing to do almost anything short of whoring themselves ... and the servicing department doesn't avoid scrutiny either - even though they charge like a wounded bull.

Rog

[Clunkmeister]

New vehicles are trickling in around here, and used vehicle prices have dropped to some extent.

Dealers still seem to want to only bring in the premium models, though, which of course means they will charge top dollar +++++.

For my business, some service parts are still made out of unicorn piss, and convincing customers that I’m truly not letting their car sit unrepaired for weeks on end is not my choice, is sometimes tough.

The best brand to obtain parts is still, and always have been, Mercedes Benz if the dealer or warehouse doesn’t have it, it’s usually available in Germany and only a few days away.  Daimler Benz must not believe in making parts obsolete.  

[ScottsGT]

7 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

New vehicles are trickling in around here, and used vehicle prices have dropped to some extent.

Dealers still seem to want to only bring in the premium models, though, which of course means they will charge top dollar +++++.

For my business, some service parts are still made out of unicorn piss, and convincing customers that I’m truly not letting their car sit unrepaired for weeks on end is not my choice, is sometimes tough.

The best brand to obtain parts is still, and always have been, Mercedes Benz if the dealer or warehouse doesn’t have it, it’s usually available in Germany and only a few days away.  Daimler Benz must not believe in making parts obsolete.  

Took my transmission shop right at two months to get me a new torque converter for my 1990 F-250 with a 351W.  That was this past fall.  He told me if my truck was a diesel, he could have one here overnight. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Got a call from our local Toyota dealer. They finally have an allocation for the RAV4 hybrid we ordered last year. Hopefully delivery will be end of June. We ordered it last October and were told 8-12 months then. So similar to what @Artful69 has waited. 

The RAV will replace our Honda Element as our family car. The E is a 2007 with 230K on it and was starting to have issues. Thankfully it's been small stuff that I've managed to fix but since I'm not a mechanic, it's off the road for a couple days at a time.  Plus it's an absolute pig on gas for something with a 2.4l.  We average around 14-14l /100km. If I'm lucky, I might get 10L/100 km. With a tailwind, off a cliff. 

Originally the plan was to sell the E when the RAV arrived but Sue has decided we're going to keep it and have it as a back up. Plus it's a standard transmission so it'll give the boys something to learn on in a few years. So back to being a 3 car family. Lol. 

[ScottsGT]

Perfect car for the boys to learn on.  Man pedal and a pos so a minor dent won’t matter.  

[BlrwestSiR]

Just now, ScottsGT said:

Perfect car for the boys to learn on.  Man pedal and a pos so a minor dent won’t matter.  

That about sums it up. Although Element prices have been going up recently since Honda started buying some of them back due to a rear suspension failure issue. 

 

[GazzaS]

going out in style....

[BlrwestSiR]

8 hours ago, GazzaS said:

going out in style....

My Beat is small enough I could probably be buried in it and it wouldn't be much bigger than this. 

[ScottsGT]

Wife said she’s cooking me.  I guess I need to build a Viking ship for my send off. 

[Martinnfb]

Mojave in its natural environment, Rockies 😂 

[Artful69]

9 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

Mojave in its natural environment, Rockies 😂 

I thought the Mojave is a Desert?!?

Rog

[Martinnfb]

Exactly 😀

 

 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Picked up the new family car this afternoon. 

It  arrived a few weeks earlier than it was expected. Even last week the sales rep passed on to us that it was then end of the month. So now we get to try the new car out over the weekend. Whee!!!

 

 

[Martinnfb]

Whee indeed

[BlrwestSiR]

Well, it's just over 2 months with the new car and we've managed to rack up 6,000 kms already. Which is a bit over half our annual average! So I guess we like it. 

The hitch finally arrived today. I had it installed in about 30 min. I think it took longer to get the tools out than it did putting it on. The jack stands held it in place while I bolted it on. 

With that done, I put the new bike rack together and put it on the RAV.  That took longer as I had to go out and get a 24mm socket. Tomorrow I get to find out how well it works when we go biking. 

[DocRob]

6 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Well, it's just over 2 months with the new car and we've managed to rack up 6,000 kms already. Which is a bit over half our annual average! So I guess we like it. 

The hitch finally arrived today. I had it installed in about 30 min. I think it took longer to get the tools out than it did putting it on. The jack stands held it in place while I bolted it on. 

Wow, nice rack, Carl. Are you allowed to drive such a wide thing on normal streets, here in Europe that would never be allowed. Driving through my old home town of Berlin with that rack in rush hour would get me some more bikes, than I had before .

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

Thanks Rob! It's 73" wide so about the same as our car. The top bar is slightly offset to one side to facilitate loading. 

I'll get a pic later today with the bikes on. 

[ScottsGT]

My son called me up after visiting and read me the riot act for letting the paint on my 2015 Mustang get so bad.  He’s right though.  I don’t drive it very much now that I’m retired, so I ordered a car cover the other night.  When the miserable heatwave breaks I’ll clay bar and polish it and keep the cover on it.  UV is starting to take its toll. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Here's a better pic of our rack. 

With bikes on it. 

It's about 7 1/2' tall to the top of the tires. 

[Martinnfb]

I wonder about the reception of that thing , probably like 40 stations.

[BlrwestSiR]

1 hour ago, Martinnfb said:

I wonder about the reception of that thing , probably like 40 stations.

It's not bad. Haven't tried satellite yet. 

[Bomber_County]

Over here the Old Bill would pull you over for being too wide, obstructing rear window and obstructing the vehicle number plate………..I had a ladder on a Landrover where one rung ran across the number plate. The rung was 5mm thick, I got pulled…….

[BlrwestSiR]

1 hour ago, Bomber_County said:

Over here the Old Bill would pull you over for being too wide, obstructing rear window and obstructing the vehicle number plate………..I had a ladder on a Landrover where one rung ran across the number plate. The rung was 5mm thick, I got pulled…….

 There is a similar law here for obstructing your license plate but I've found that cops ignore it unless you're driving a compact car which might be belong to some young punk into going fast. I got stopped once in our old Civic and the bicycle cop said that we should leave the rack folded down so it didn't block out plate. No ticket though. A friend who owns a bike shop and drove a VW GTI was stopped several times for the same thing. The last cop who stopped him said if he owned a bike shop a pickup might be a more appropriate work vehicle. 

So anyone driving an SUV or pickup gets a free pass. 

[biggtim]

17 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Here's a better pic of our rack. 

With bikes on it. 

It's about 7 1/2' tall to the top of the tires. 

That is one helluva contraption!!!

[BlrwestSiR]

27 minutes ago, biggtim said:

That is one helluva contraption!!!

Isn't it? It has hydraulic dampers so when you lower it with the bikes on, it doesn't slam into the ground. Our other rack is very similar except it held the bikes by the fork crown. So in order to get the bikes on or off, you had to lift them much higher. This one you can almost roll the bikes into it.

Here's that one on our Element.