Your vehicle brand of choice?

neo_mao

Been There., Done That., It Was Shit.,
15 Year Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Posts
10,136
So, don’t crucify me, but we’re looking for a truck. We’re not truck people, but the utility of a truck will suit our lifestyle well. This was the first time in my life that I’ve considered a US brand, and we were looking at a Ram 1500. It seems to be the darling of the truck world. But, I think we’ve decided on a Nissan Titan. Just kinda looking for the best deal on a new one right now.

Ajax bud, don’t want to talk you out of a Nissan if you have your heart set on it, but I have to tell you i’ve had a nightmare with my Pathfinder. I bought a new 2014 loaded Platinum Pathfinder. Paid a small fortune for it (don’t know what the hell i was thinking) and soon after it would just shake uncontrollably. Bad driving slow in a parking, bad accelerating on a highway...it was for my wife but the damn the car was so bad she refused to drive it alone.

I ended up leasing a RAV4 for her on the side while we figured out was going on with the Pathfinder. Eventually I got her our current Highlander and I took the Pathfinder.

But it was such a headache. Just even getting Nissan to acknowledge there was a problem was a nightmare. Basically I would spend half my Saturdays driving around with a Nissan tech trying to recreate the problem. Literally took 4 or 5 weeks for it to happen long enough for him to record it on his computer. After many software updates it at least became driveable until the whole fucking transmission died. Thankfully Nissan extended the warranty and replaced it but the whole thing was a nightmare.

I would have sold it long ago but the resale is such shit in them I figured i’d drive it into the ground since I literally drive 4 miles a day.

I haven’t followed Nissan in ages so maybe they cleaned up their act, or maybe the Titan is just better than the Pathfinder, but felt I had to tell you that experience.
 
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Ajax

way more american than wyo, way more
15 Year Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2005
Posts
5,092
God damn... that sounds horrible. Thanks for the heads up. I have been deep in research, and haven’t heard of anything like that happening on the Titan, but that’s some BS man, yikes! May have to continue researching a bit longer.
 

sr20det510

Guerilla Warrior
Joined
Oct 31, 2016
Posts
1,730
I had a 1992 Camry from the time I was 16. It lasted until I got a Ford F-150 in 2008. My Dad bought that Toyota new, and used to swear by their quality but they started having some issues when I was looking for a new car. I loved that 92, it was built so well, but the AC failed and no one had parts for it; to fix it would have cost more than it was worth.

The F-150 is fairly solid, but I’ve always had and still have a spot for Toyota.

Edit: I’ve been toying with buying a 3rd car, something mainly to drive to work and back since the Ford takes $45-$50 to fill up. If I did, I would first look at another Toyota.

You could of picked up the part used on ebay and had the AC up and running for cheap.
 

sr20det510

Guerilla Warrior
Joined
Oct 31, 2016
Posts
1,730
God damn... that sounds horrible. Thanks for the heads up. I have been deep in research, and haven’t heard of anything like that happening on the Titan, but that’s some BS man, yikes! May have to continue researching a bit longer.

Trucks are usually more reliable than cars. The truck that retains the most value is a Toyota Tacoma. Here in Southern California you can usually get a big discount on Chevy Ford, Ram/Dodge, and Nissan. If you haggle you can probably save 10k off the sticker price. You can buy a new truck cheaper than some used car dealers try to sell a used one.
 

LoneSage

A Broken Man
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Posts
44,746
Not a car guy but how about those Kia hamster commercials ten years ago. Every now and then I'll wake up in a cold sweat wishing I could have prevented the birth of those people who came up with those ads.

edit: yeah this one right here

 
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smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
15 Year Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Posts
12,919
Currently, FCA. Yeah...I know the horror stories.

Locally, they are the only brand willing to do incredibly great deals on new vehicles with next to 0% financing.

I used to be a Ford person, but their pricing got out of hand and locally, dealerships will not budge an inch on pricing. We liked Mazda, but their vehicles are small and have crept up in pricing over the years. Our '09 Honda Accord was superb, but we no longer want a sedan and fuck any vehicle with a CVT so that rules out a CRV for my wife...never again will I own a car with a CVT, I despise them. Subaru is a solid car, but our '13 Impreza rode like a wagon, the CVT was terrible in it, and it was one of the slowest vehicles I've ever owned. Getting a new Subaru with any level of moderate HP requires some $$.

My '14 RAM 1500 was flawless, the only reason why I traded it was that it got an AVE of 12mpg and taking my "commute" from 3 miles to 30 changed the game.

Our '15 Chrysler T&W was also flawless, never gave us a single issue and was a wonderfully handy vehicle. We owned it for over 5 years before getting rid of it.

My '17 RAM 1500 with the god-awful ecodiesel made by VM Motori was the one exception...it was a complete lemon. Yes, it's FCA's fault but no, I don't pin that on the rest of their cars given that their V6 and V8 gas engines are solid.

We currently have a '20 Cherokee and a '21 Grand Cherokee...both with Pentastar V6's, I didn't want the new turbo 4cyl Cherokee. Both have been on the market for years and both get fairly solid reliability reports for the drivetrain. I hope to get years out of both of them, an absolute minimum of 5, if not more. I really do not like buying cars anymore...I'm kind of past that stage in my life. The Jeeps have already proven themselves worthy with the shit 3-weeks of sub freezing temps and snow we had to drive through.
 

SignOfGoob

Butthurt Enthusiast
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2003
Posts
2,857
Man, your expectations are shit. You HOPE they last 5 years? That’s a very very low bar.

Also, if the good cars cost too much...buy them two years old. POW. There’s the price difference. Instead of a brand new Kia just get a three year old Honda. I don’t know why people insist on new cars as it almost never makes any fiscal sense. Some cars become increasingly less practical to own as they age, I admit, just avoid those cars. Don’t buy a A8 or a S55 or minivans with power doors, etc and you won’t have bonkers bills later. The only time it makes sense to buy new is when you have a limited window to buy a specific car or option that owners tend to keep a long time. I bought a new TDI Sportwagon in 2014 for this reason. When I got my Fit though I just went Certified Preowned. They make SO MANY F150s and Civics there will never be an issue finding a good one a year or two later with low mileage.

I agree that the Pentastar is the way to go. They invested in a low cost design instead of just throttling their suppliers to keep the cost down.
 

SignOfGoob

Butthurt Enthusiast
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2003
Posts
2,857
So you suck dick in slow motion. Goooooooood tooooo knooooooooow.

What car I have doesn’t make me fast or slow. When I’m on public roads I obey the law, when in on the track I go as fast as I can. People like you are the reason 40,000 Americans die on the roads every year despite cars being safer and safer every year. Tailgating morons like you kill people faster than technology can save them.

The list of OEMs you mentioned is the majority of cars on the road. So you are unhappy with %60+ of the people out there being “slow”...these are all your claims. You’re great, but everyone else is the problem. You are confessing to being a road raging asshole. This is a confession. Your next post will also likely be a confession of some sort. You don’t even see what a prick your kind is.

It’s as if I made a post that said, “Pedophiles suck!” and someone comes out of nowhere to request pictures of my sexual conquests and they then complain that most girls are too old. You’ve outed yourself in a moment of zero self awareness.

What I drive or how I drive it has nothing to do with what you do. On the road I’m in the right hand lane doing the speed limit. If that’s a problem then you’re the one who sucks.

So in this scenario...what possible reason could there be for posting photos of my cars? So you can slash my tires?
 
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evil wasabi

The Jongmaster
20 Year Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2000
Posts
60,434
Settle down beavis. I just want to laugh at your taste in cars, since you said you own the cars I listed. No one is hunting down your cars over an internet flame.
 

FAT$TACKS

Not Average Joe., Not Average Homeowner., Not Aver
15 Year Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Posts
4,263
I don't really have a brand I am loyal to. I do have brands that I don't choose to buy from, the main one being GM, though I would love to have a Corvette. It's just that over all they have become such a crap company with an awful record. I know most of the companies suck, but it's like they go out of their way for a chance to fuck over the consumer.

A normal car company, "Okay, doing this will save a tiny bit of cash on each car, but doing it will kind of fuck over the consumer."

General Motors, "Okay, doing this will cost us a tiny bit of cash on each car, but doing it will really just Ass Fuck hell out of the consumers!"
 
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smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
15 Year Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Posts
12,919
Man, your expectations are shit. You HOPE they last 5 years? That’s a very very low bar.

Also, if the good cars cost too much...buy them two years old. POW. There’s the price difference. Instead of a brand new Kia just get a three year old Honda. I don’t know why people insist on new cars as it almost never makes any fiscal sense. Some cars become increasingly less practical to own as they age, I admit, just avoid those cars. Don’t buy a A8 or a S55 or minivans with power doors, etc and you won’t have bonkers bills later. The only time it makes sense to buy new is when you have a limited window to buy a specific car or option that owners tend to keep a long time. I bought a new TDI Sportwagon in 2014 for this reason. When I got my Fit though I just went Certified Preowned. They make SO MANY F150s and Civics there will never be an issue finding a good one a year or two later with low mileage.

I agree that the Pentastar is the way to go. They invested in a low cost design instead of just throttling their suppliers to keep the cost down.

I'm realistic...modern cars have weird problems. I can't think of a single brand where I don't know someone that doesn't have an issue with one, even trusty old Honda. At this point, the second revision of the Pentastar has proven to be a really reliable engine and there are plenty of high mileage examples out there, so I have trust in it. The 8spd trans in my GC and the 9spd in my wife's C are also pretty reliable at this point, especially the 8spd. I know Jeep ironed out a few issues with the 9spd when they rolled out with it a few years back.

Post cash for clunkers, the used market has never been the same. For many vehicles, there's just no purpose for buying used, and that's coming from someone who never bought new, ever. When I got my new 2013 Impreza hatch, a 2 year old used model was only in the ballpark of $2K cheaper.

There's just too many great incentives and super cheap financing available on new cars.

Case in point, I got my hair under $49K sticker 21 Jeep GC for $41K and also with great financing. I would maybe save myself $3-5K tops getting a 2019 with 15-25K miles on it with the same features. To be 100% specific, mine had a really nicely outfitted "80th ann package" that I literally couldn't get used as it is a 21 feature, it also came with options that are hard to find on a 19/20 used model. I also got the color I wanted...weak, but it's true.

Either way...if we were talking $10K+ savings apples for apples buying used, I'd bite. Honestly, with the way new car prices are heading...I'll be forced to buy used sooner or later anyway.

I really hope we're done buying cars for a long while...I really don't want to do that again anytime soon.
 

mainman

CPS2 Person.,
20 Year Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2001
Posts
3,721
I prefer Chevy. Plan on getting a 2020 corvette soon.
 

evil wasabi

The Jongmaster
20 Year Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2000
Posts
60,434
Either way...if we were talking $10K+ savings apples for apples buying used, I'd bite. Honestly, with the way new car prices are heading...I'll be forced to buy used sooner or later anyway.

I really hope we're done buying cars for a long while...I really don't want to do that again anytime soon.

There’s an illusion of value when we factor in the abstract MSRP. It’s a bullshit number, as are the receipts from the manufacturer for the cars. When you go in and tell them you found the same Grand Cherokee 1000 miles away in Texas (or in my case, telling the dealer that I found it at the best price in IL, and was willing to fly there for it), they’ll bend. And if they don’t, the next dealer will. Just gotta make sure it’s apples to apples. Every dealer is desperate to sell right now, except Tesla. They’re mostly down since covid started.
 

100proof

Insert Something Clever Here
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Posts
3,579
No real preference as far as make goes other than only driving 4-door sedans. I'm too tall to fit in little econo shitboxes (or most muscle cars) and I always prefer a car that doesn't feel like it might choke and die when I put my foot in the floor (my wife's Prius, for example). While I don't mind pickups or SUVs, I don't have any kids and I rarely haul anything bigger than luggage so I'd rather just get better packages/engines than spend the extra money on space I'll never use.

My first car was an '84 Mercury Cougar... perfect first car. Steel fucking beast that I beat to shit. It guzzled gas like a frat boy during hell week but that bitch roared when I stuck my foot in it. Then I had a Camry that lasted me a solid decade and served me well but was boring as shit, and have had a couple of Dodge Chargers since then. I'm probably "ready" for a new car (current one's almost 7 years old) but I just can't justify another car loan when the old one runs fine and nothing out there really excites me.
 

NeoSneth

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2000
Posts
11,084
you are better off being a fan of models and not brands. Every brand has shit cars.
 

radiantsvgun

They call him Mr. Windy
15 Year Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Posts
1,687
You could of picked up the part used on ebay and had the AC up and running for cheap.

To fix the AC in that car would have cost 800+ . At the time the car was valued at $500... There was no point in trying to sink more money into it. Sixteen years is a good run, hopefully I can get more than that out of my truck.
 
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