Suspending Sales? Wow!

[FIREd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I think I am going to go for a joy-ride in my new Venza in a little while. FIREdreamer, I hope you are having fun with your beautiful new Camry as well!

Yes I am! I took her on a spin yesterday to test her highway performance. At least that was my excuse and I stick by it.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREdreamer Yes I am! I took her on a spin yesterday to test her highway performance. At least that was my excuse and I stick by it.

I'll bet that was fun! My 4-cylinder Solara had lots of get-up-and-go and I loved to take it on the Interstate. I got the 6-cylinder this time and it is hard not to speed with it under those conditions.

I just took mine out for a drive around town. It is a joy to drive. I ended up at Office Depot and the grocery store, but went "the long way" to each and was out for an hour or so.

Got some fresh baked French bread rolls, and other stuff for a home-made po'boy for lunch.

[bbbamI]

People talk about joy rides. Here's how I define a joy ride in my car.....

.....turn it up, say your prayers and hang on...once we start it's too late to turn back...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw9CzSSk218

[W2R]

bbbamI, if I didn't keep an eye on the speedometer, I would be in trouble! This 6-cylinder has too much zoom in it for a mild mannered person like me. It's kind of fun, though....

[bbbamI]

You GO girl!

[W2R]

Here I go!!!!



Zoom, zoom.

[NW-Bound]

A few years ago, I had a speeding ticket - one of the 2 I ever had in my life - due to driving a nice and new rental car in a vacation. Yes, it was so smooth...

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Here I go!!!! Zoom, zoom.

Soooooo, driving around in a MAZDA

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I think I am going to go for a joy-ride in my new Venza in a little while. FIREdreamer, I hope you are having fun with your beautiful new Camry as well!

I'm envious...not so much of your new cars, but of your ability to go joy-riding anytime you want!

Right now I would love to be joyriding on a long and lazy road trip across North America, stopping whenever I see something of interest or some quirky attraction. But I can't. I'm tied to w*rk. I think this is one reason why I am hesitant to buy a new car. I won't have time to enjoy it until it is already old.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh Right now I would love to be joyriding on a long and lazy road trip across North America, stopping whenever I see something of interest or some quirky attraction.

It is still my plan to do that, but in an RV. And the goal is not to drive as fast as I can without getting a ticket, but rather how slow I can drive without getting them irate drivers behind me honking mad.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh I'm envious...not so much of your new cars, but of your ability to go joy-riding anytime you want! Right now I would love to be joyriding on a long and lazy road trip across North America, stopping whenever I see something of interest or some quirky attraction. But I can't. I'm tied to w*rk. I think this is one reason why I am hesitant to buy a new car. I won't have time to enjoy it until it is already old.

You can drive it to w*rk and back. What a way to cheer yourself up on the way to work! Also this gives you a built in reason why you HAVE to take your new car out for a spin (even if the route and length of the drive is constrained...)

The reason I didn't buy my new car right before retirement, is that I would have had to park it in the parking lot at work and it would have acquired some dings and dents.

[NW-Bound]

Following is some recent news on this topic. Yes, the simple floor mat is the source of the problem in some cars. On others, the real cause remains in dispute, as discussed in the attached link.

Toyota's Electronics Said to Be a Focus of U.S. Recall Probe - Bloomberg.com

[Trek]

Toyota Told by Japan to Investigate Prius Amid Brake Complaints - Bloomberg.com

I don't have anything against Toyotas, I've owned one in the past (mechanically perfect, electrically problematic). However, I don't think they're worth the premium you pay for them anymore. Much better value to buy another brand IMO.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trek I don't have anything against Toyotas, I've owned one in the past (mechanically perfect, electrically problematic). However, I don't think they're worth the premium you pay for them anymore. Much better value to buy another brand IMO.

We have a Toyota (a 2005 Matrix which is apparently not affected). But one of the selling points Toyota (and Honda) have had over the years is in holding resale value much better than most of Detroit's products. I can't help but wonder if this will damage the resale value of Toyotas and speed depreciation.

[NW-Bound]

Now, Steve Wozniak (the other Steve who cofounded Apple and is said to be more technical than Steve Jobs) suspected that the problem is not mechanical but a software bug.

Apple Co-Founder Says His Prius Has Acceleration Flaw (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

[Trek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 We have a Toyota (a 2005 Matrix which is apparently not affected). But one of the selling points Toyota (and Honda) have had over the years is in holding resale value much better than most of Detroit's products. I can't help but wonder if this will damage the resale value of Toyotas and speed depreciation.

Yeah, but to a LBYM guy like me, auto depreciation never plays a role in my buying decisions. I always buy used cars that have already been depreciated the most by the original owner when he drove it off the lot. I also don't look at car buying as an investment as it's one of the worst things you can spend your money on IMO (due to the way it depreciates.)

But I agree with you that lower depreciation has been one selling point and people who upgrade cars frequently probably like that.

[kumquat]

Don't drive recalled Toyotas: U.S. - The Globe and Mail

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trek I always buy used cars that have already been depreciated the most by the original owner when he drove it off the lot.

Depending on the make and model, this is one of those things that used to work so well as a "secret" that it stopped working as well once more people caught on to it. Cars are depreciating more closely to a "straight line" than ever before and generally no longer depreciate anywhere near the proverbial 20-25% "just for driving it off the lot."

Sometimes, given new car incentives, the full warranty and not wondering how the used car may have been abused by the previous owner means it's worth buying new if buying a car with 10% of its expected life (and half its warranty) used up only saves about 15-20% off the new price.

[Trek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 Cars are depreciating more closely to a "straight line" than ever before and generally no longer depreciate anywhere near the proverbial 20-25% "just for driving it off the lot.".

Ah, didn't know that, I thought they still took a big hit after you bought them. Shows you how often I've bought a new car (never.)

Still, I can't stomach paying more than 10K for a car, so new is really never in the cards for me.

I totally get what you're saying though.

[W2R]

Trading in my 1992 Plymouth Acclaim in 2000 for a new 2000 Camry Solara had a big impact on my retirement dreams. The Acclaim had intermittent problems and moderate but continual and neverending repair bills. It also made me late for work at my new job several times per week, which wasn't any help.

The Solara not only had no repairs necessary at all until some minor repairs last summer, but also ran on almost no gas. I never had to have it towed. My car expenses were unbelievably low for the nine years from summer 2000 to summer 2009. How could I not appreciate that?

I think that with American auto-makers faltering last year on the verge of bankruptcy and having to be assisted by taxpayer money, we need to think about the publicity surrounding this recall with a grain of salt and "follow the money". Toyota did the responsible thing by recalling these cars.

For the record, I had a similar thing happen to me with the accelerator on my ex-husband's Dodge van back in 1980, causing me to careen down a 2-lane 50 mph road in San Diego at 85+ mph while desperately trying to pull the accelerator back with my hands while driving. Couldn't reach it so I careened off into a residential subdivision, figuring an 85 mph crash might be better than an (85+50) mph head on crash with another car. My baby (at the time) was in her car seat in the car with me!!! Anyway, at that point using superhuman/adrenaline strength while going up a steep hill I finally managed to brake it down to a low speed and then threw it into Park, jolting me to a stop. Didn't think about Neutral.

Anyway, not only was the van not recalled, and not even reported to Dodge ("these things happen" said my ex ), also I got chewed out by him for throwing it into Park instead of Neutral while still moving. Luckily the transmission was not damaged. The problem was something we could never replicate though I was reluctant to ever drive the van again.