Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

That club sounds crappy to be honest.

It's totally worth it. I'd rejoin in a second.

B7 RS4 never had such problems, so that's the best way to do it.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

It's totally worth it. I'd rejoin in a second.

B7 RS4 never had such problems, so that's the best way to do it.

If you want to rejoin the club I’ve got an ‘08 going cheap!!

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by edslunch

If you want to rejoin the club I’ve got an ‘08 going cheap!!

I'm in a B8.5 right now and I think my life fork goes like this:

Not rich: B7 RS4

A little richer: B7 RS4 Avant

Rich: New RS6 & B7 RS4

The not rich path needs a Miata in there at some point I suppose.

[Weitz]

The 2021 RS6 Avant looks quite nice.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Counting the RS6 seems like cheating. That's just an oddball car that doesn't really fall in line with the model structure before or after.

I'm confused. I thought we were talking about performance wagons here!

[pylon]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

it seems so odd to me that such low Km's are celebrated.

I fully expect a vehicle to last 200,000km, give or take, without any major issues.


Am I alone on this or have I just had great luck with vehicles?

In 5 years of being a used car manager I can tell you, that with good maintenance, most cars, with proper maintenance will get you 200k easy. This is where the problem lies......

To have a mint, top mechanical condition say.... Ford Escape for example, at 220,000 kms, would cost you VASTLY more, than any future value on it. A Super nice, 14 Escape with 220,000 kms would be worth $7-8000, a beat to hell one, would be worth $3-4000.

To keep that vehicle absolutely perfect, and fix everything along the way, would in most cases, cost you far more than the spread. You might get lucky, but odds are, you are replacing one high ticket item along the way, that will cost thousands.

The worst examples of this (sorry guys), are old German Cars. A mint condition 200,000 km 2008 Honda CR-V, will appraise for more money, than a 2008 A6, S Class, & 5 series, Land Rover......etc. The costs of repairing those old German/Euro Cars, is no different than it was in 2008. I sell 12 + year old X5s at the Auction for $1000-1500 on the regular. More than one warning light, usually means they are just parts.

My worst one was a 2012 Land Rover Range Rover. It got called for a supercharger, a rear main leak and the sway bar was leaking as well. Well this thing had some new fangly, way more complicated than required sway bar setup that was pressurized, and did all this crazy stuff. The part alone was $14,000. It also needed tires and brakes. Bear in mind, this vehicle was 10/10 cosmetically, and had 82,000 kms on it. The estimate to pass a safety through my shop..... $34,600. I paid $26000 for the truck, and it was a $31,900 retail piece in the best case scenario. The repairs exceeded the retail value. Land Rover gave me an estimate as well, $37,000. Auctioned it full disclosure for $18,000 and had to lick my wounds.

Certiguard aint gonna be able to get your self levelling Xenon headlight for $80 bucks like the you can for the Halogen on the CR-V. Rear main seal leak on your 535.... $5000 minimum. Where Toyota, Honda, VW, Domestics etc do it right, is they have econo parts programs, where it can actually be cost effective to keep the old girl running.

There are a few exceptions to the rule with Audi S4's, BMW M cars, some AMG Benz's, but even those I am seeing getting binned because they have accumulated so many problems, the only reason you are fixing it, is simply for enthusiast/sentimental purposes.

[pylon]

Oh, and new Bronco gives me wood.

One of my buddies is the GM at a Ford Dealer and has promised me dibs on a base 2 door 4 banger with a stick. I figured nobody under 40 will want one that way anyway, so the wait should be short.

I will then proceed to bastardize it with a lift kit, Snorkels, Jerry Cans, and whatever other unnecessary accessory I deem to be of value.

[nik-]

Sounds awful

[pylon]

Originally Posted by nik-

Sounds awful

If you are giving it the Rock Star Energy drink, Fuel wheels, Iron cross accessory, spacer lift, Dude-Bro 1500 Ram Brodozer treatment....then, yes.

You keep it classic off road, with true functional stuff. Top end suspension gear (Bilstein/Fox) proper bead lockers, safari racks, steel bumpers with winch....etc, etc. It's a total different animal. Whenever I do off-road builds, I go with the design language, "I want this thing to look like it belongs on a military base." Not in the parking lot of a Trump Rally.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by nik-

I'm confused. I thought we were talking about performance wagons here!

I'm all over the place. I forgot my initial statement, which I heard in the Doug Demuro video, and foolishly took at face value. I was then hung up on the lineage of the RS2 -> RS4 model line.

[8sPOT]

I'm not certain this is the right thread so my apologies, but I'm in a position where I want to sell my car (approx. value $25k, and $15k owing) and get a car in the $7-10k range.

2018 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited...82k km's. Just wondering if anyone has gone through a similar transaction?

[81MC]

Originally Posted by pylon

If you are giving it the Rock Star Energy drink, Fuel wheels, Iron cross accessory, spacer lift, Dude-Bro 1500 Ram Brodozer treatment....then, yes.

You keep it classic off road, with true functional stuff. Top end suspension gear (Bilstein/Fox) proper bead lockers, safari racks, steel bumpers with winch....etc, etc. It's a total different animal. Whenever I do off-road builds, I go with the design language, "I want this thing to look like it belongs on a military base." Not in the parking lot of a Trump Rally.

But does it ever actually do anything that requires that? The only hardcore off-roaders I’ve ever known never bought a brand new truck to beat up.
But that might be purely be a function of my economic class than anything.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by 81MC

But does it ever actually do anything that requires that? The only hardcore off-roaders I’ve ever known never bought a brand new truck to beat up.
But that might be purely be a function of my economic class than anything.

My last JK wrangler I built up, in fact I did a thread on here on the build, I took that thing to hell quite a few times. In fact I almost lost it in a crevasse, small canyon.... whatever you would call it, off a logging road side road to another side road. Learned very fast the benefits of carrying a snatch block. Without it, that thing would still be in the woods somewhere near Cranbrook.

Easily one of the most uneasy feelings ever, is remote winching your prized Jeep, out of a precarious place, knowing if the winch cable snaps, if it doesn't decapitate you, you're now 30 kms in the middle of nowhere with a vehicle a couple hundred feet below in a smoldering heap. lol

I don't believe in building something you won't use, and scrapes/dings are a badge of honor on a true off roader. Even though they suck when they happen, you learn to love em.

[FCAV]

Originally Posted by 8sPOT

I'm not certain this is the right thread so my apologies, but I'm in a position where I want to sell my car (approx. value $25k, and $15k owing) and get a car in the $7-10k range.

2018 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited...82k km's. Just wondering if anyone has gone through a similar transaction?

I did this once. Over a decade ago so the memory may be foggy, but basically came to an agreed price and then had them do two certified cheques/drafts. One for the exact payout of the vehicle in the name of the manufacturer, and the balance in my name. Met at the dealership. Handled the financials to remove the lien on the spot, deposited mine at the bank, then turned over the keys.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by 8sPOT

I'm not certain this is the right thread so my apologies, but I'm in a position where I want to sell my car (approx. value $25k, and $15k owing) and get a car in the $7-10k range.

2018 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited...82k km's. Just wondering if anyone has gone through a similar transaction?

Yes, when I decided I never wanted car payments ever again, I did something similar.

The cleanest way is to write Subaru a cheque for the remainder and deliver it in person, where they will give you a letter stating the title is clear, before the official paperwork comes in the mail.

If your buyer is cautious they may want to come to the bank and the dealer with you.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

That club sounds crappy to be honest.

It's a unique situation, because it's literally the only manual transmission, naturally aspirated V8 wagon you can realistically buy. That's the club we're talking about here. There's the CTS-V I guess, but then you're spending big bucks (at least 60k, probably more like 70k now) for an old cadillac, if you can actually find one in manual.

And the car itself is fine for 200k. Longer, really. Almost everything about it is quite reliable. It's just that this particular model has a design flaw, which is that the guides for the timing chain can crack, because they're made of, essentially, plastic. If they do, they're simple enough to replace... except that they can't be accessed without taking the whole engine out of the car. Nik says that's 8k and I think he's being optimistic. I think it's 12-15, which is more than the value of a lot of S4 avants (not the ones in top condition, but a lot of them). The RS4 used metal guides (as did the V8 R8, which has almost the same engine) and thus doesn't suffer from that issue.

So, basically, if you want a manual V8 wagon, you have only one realistic option, and that option might break at some point. But until or unless it does, the risk of failure actually drives the entry price down enough that it actually makes it a club very much worth being in. And you can mitigate the risk of the chain issue by shortening the window of your oil changes to 5000 km.

Put it this way: a new 2020 A4 Allroad is about 1k/mo on a 36 month lease - so, over $30k to drive for 3 years. A very good condition B7 S4 is half of that to buy outright. I'd easily rather drive the B7, no contest, even if it does break after 3 years, and even if it does, and it isn't worth fixing, you can still sell the parts and make something back. And hey, so far so good on mine, knock on wood.

[pylon]

What website is everyone using for photo sharing right now? I used to use photobucket, but apparently they think their service is worth $400 a year now. I want to share pics of my summer project.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Maybe there's some reason not to use Imgur but if there is I'm not aware of it.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Maybe there's some reason not to use Imgur but if there is I'm not aware of it.

Just realized I had a stale dated account there apparently I set up years ago.

[pylon]

So back in March when the Pandemic started taking hold, we took this on trade.... 2017 Mustang GT Premium 6 spd with 9,200 kms on it. Business was a bit slow, I was bored, so I said, "F*** it, I miss my Vette, we're all gonna be dead in 2 months, and I really miss me a RWD Manual Transmission V8 car on the cheap."



Not bad, but kinda bleh. It's plenty fast, but all the previous owner did was tint the thing. Now I view Mustangs a lot like Jeep Wranglers which are basically Mr. Potato head cars. No two should be the same, and they beg to be customized. But there's a fine line between wrecking it with a hack job, and doing something cool and classy.

My design language all along was, "I want this thing to look like a car a movie hitman would drive." Also, if you drew a picture in 1970 of a what you thought a 2017 Mustang would look like, that's what I want this one to look like. Kinda future-retro. Biggest thing of all, I wanted to this without blowing the bank.

So obviously we need a skunk stripe....



I love the old GT500 side stripes, but I didn't want to be 'that guy' and have GT500 on the side of a GT, so I had my Stripe guy replicate the OEM GT logo....



Nothing screams retro like shark gill side window louvers....



Wheels were definitely suck sauce, and too narrow in the rear. So I put 295s on the back on 10 X 20 rims, and 245s in the front on 8.5 X 20s on BBS LM replicas, clad with Falken Azenis High performance tires.



As far as performance, I wasn't looking for a total corner carver, but this car got very LOOSE at higher speeds. So that had to be dealt with. So I put in Eibach springs lowering the car 1" in the front, and 1.5" in the rear, while we got this on the hoist, we might as well piss off the neighbour, and put on a 4" Catback MBRP exhaust....



Under the hood, K and N Cold Air intake and the GT 350 Strut tower brace....



These two things woke up the car big time. Most guys online were getting about 35HP from the combo bringing it up to 470ish. I haven't had the car dyno'd but there's definitely way more punch out of the gate. Oh, and it sounds downright evil. The handling is absolutey night and day. In fact the car felt better than a Performance pack car in corners from a spring swap and a better tire combo.

Anyway, finished project:







All-in for under $32,000.

Now time to go mow down some pedestrians at a cars and coffee meet.....wait, maybe I'll do that after I install the 670HP Roush Supercharger kit I ordered last week.... stay tuned.