Buying a new car/truck. (1 Viewer)

I agree with Andrus on Dodge over Chevrolet…. Ive only had one Chevy vehicle , a 2017 Impala that i had as a company car for a couple of years.. everything on it felt cheap; whenever tuning the radio or adjusting the A/C, it felt like the parts were going to break if i wasnt really careful.. and things that should have been intuitive felt like they were designed to be confusing; little things like checking the trip odometer and tire pressure were unnecessarily confusing.. even the key fob sucked… ive had multiple Jeeps (Dodge family) and they offer good bang for the buck, and mine have knock-wood been relatively trouble-free.
I’ve only owned Chevy trucks. I have had several other Chevy vehicles as rental vehicles and they fit the one you described. I did have a loaded out suburban as a rental that I drove back and forth between my home and Orange Texas. That vehicle was amazing and for a big vehicle got great gas mileage. That’s been the biggest knock on Ram trucks for me. The Ram as the best looking and preforming interior in my book. My wife loves the Nissan Titan as she drove one as a rental while I was in the hospital after losing my left leg.

I hope to be making my mind up soon. Matt Bowers Chevrolet is drawing me in with their lifetime warranty which is hard to beat. I’ll admit I have to read the specifics before I make my mind up with them.
 
Got a question...my car was totaled by a tree falling on it. Geico says after they pay the bank (I also have Gap), they will pay me whatever equity I had in the vehicle. I owed less than what it was worth. Is that what they mean by equity? Or does it have to do with how much I had paid on it? I'm just not sure if auto equity works like home equity.
As I understand it, say that you owe $10K and the NADA or whatever price guide they use shows that the vehicle is worth $15K, then you have $5K in equity.
 
As I understand it, say that you owe $10K and the NADA or whatever price guide they use shows that the vehicle is worth $15K, then you have $5K in equity.
Thanks, that's what I was hoping because I'll need it to get another vehicle and not be upside down with the financing.
 
I agree with Andrus on Dodge over Chevrolet…. Ive only had one Chevy vehicle , a 2017 Impala that i had as a company car for a couple of years.. everything on it felt cheap; whenever tuning the radio or adjusting the A/C, it felt like the parts were going to break if i wasnt really careful.. and things that should have been intuitive felt like they were designed to be confusing; little things like checking the trip odometer and tire pressure were unnecessarily confusing.. even the key fob sucked… ive had multiple Jeeps (Dodge family) and they offer good bang for the buck, and mine have knock-wood been relatively trouble-free.

I've been driving RAM 1500 Laramie 4x4's for the most part since 1997. Never had one see the shop with the exception of maintenance and recalls. The caveat is that I always sell them prior to reaching 100K miles. So, it could be that they fall apart afterwards, but I'll never know.

Still, what I do each time I buy a new truck is go and test drive them all. Well, at least I did the last three times I bought a new one. I drive all of the others brands first and then drive the new RAM, It's not the fastest in the bunch anymore. It doesn't get the best gas mileage of the bunch anymore, but it's still the smoothest riding, best handling, most comfortable and has the most features of the bunch, and it's still a very powerful truck with decent gas mileage.
 
Yea, I can see why many are saying that but it isn’t the case. They shut down a lot of Fabs last summer. Some were shut down to the point that they were no longer sterile. It takes a long time and a lot of money to sterilize a chip fab. Beyond that, it takes at least 6 months to make a new chip. So if you shut down manufacturing and restart it will be 6 months before the next chip is ready to go. There are actually several new fabs being built right now in Arizona.

I honestly don’t think we’ll be back to normal until next summer at the earliest.
My bet is that you are right on all counts.

Back to your Ford Lightning electric Truck recommendation. I was thinking about that, and here is my problem with it...

I drive long distances fairly often. When on trips I don't like to stop for more than a few minutes to fill up or to eat. So if I am driving say, from Lafayette to Denver, I am not making five or six 30-45 minute stops waiting for battery charges.

I don't understand why they don't set those things up for battery exchanges. So, perhaps someone can create a vehicle where you fit a large removable battery with male poles on the bottom that drops into a hatch either on the hood or the trunk of the car where you have female pole receptacles that the battery fits tightly into. When you go to the station, you pay for the exchange, then a robotic A.I. machine automatically identifies the car, opens the hatch, removes the battery, hooks it up to a charger, then grabs a charged battery and places it in the vehicles battery receptacle, closes the hatch, and off you go. In and out in 5 minutes or less. When they can do something similar to that, I am a buyer. Otherwise, I am not interested in spending a bunch of time waiting for a charge a 1000 or so times over the life of the car.

Oh! And I am so not a fan of Ford.

Question for the green energy experts out there: Pardon my ignorance, but what are the reasons for the lack of interest in switching automobiles to use natural gas? It burns clean. It's easy to convert engines to run on natural gas, and there is a huge world supply in Natural Gas reserves, a lot of which is right here in the U.S.A..
 
I spent about 7 years in the car business and I always believed new cars was never the way to go. But I never saw the COVID changes coming. Has the advice flipped? My car has IDA issues so I found myself in the market suddenly:(
 
I spent about 7 years in the car business and I always believed new cars was never the way to go. But I never saw the COVID changes coming. Has the advice flipped? My car has IDA issues so I found myself in the market suddenly:(

Right now, I'd stay away from most used cars. The prices are overly inflated. Buying a new car depends heavily on what model you're buying. For instance, I've seen some discounts on the new VW Taos crossover but F150s, and most pickups, are going above MSRP.
 
Right now, I'd stay away from most used cars. The prices are overly inflated. Buying a new car depends heavily on what model you're buying. For instance, I've seen some discounts on the new VW Taos crossover but F150s, and most pickups, are going above MSRP.
Tacoma is one that I was looking at. Fortunately I’m not locked in to a truck. On NOLA streets though, it makes a lot of sense in other regards.
 
Tacoma is one that I was looking at. Fortunately I’m not locked in to a truck. On NOLA streets though, it makes a lot of sense in other regards.

It's a solid truck. You should also consider looking at the Ford Ranger.
I don't know about NOLA but, here in Colorado, Taco's are hard to come by.
 
It's a solid truck. You should also consider looking at the Ford Ranger.
I don't know about NOLA but, here in Colorado, Taco's are hard to come by.



wind-taco.gif
 
How can you check how much a particular vehicle has inflated? Like historical blue books. I’m looking at a 2018 Kia Sportage for $21,000 that only has 20,000 miles. I feel like I can pay that but I’m going to be peeved to say the least when values start to fall. I hate being in need at the worst time.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom