Car Thread - VROOM VROOM

[God's drunkest driver]

I was looking at used cars for about over a year and nothing interested me. I am very terrible at making these kinds of decisions.

Nothing probably interested you because there is probably nothing interesting in that $15-20k price range you are looking at until you start going older than 5 years. Newer cheap cars are the doldrums, none of them offer anything different or unique so there is nothing likely to catch your eye unless you're go full NPC and fall for one of the manufacturer's flavors of aggressive design language. You can buy some really neat stuff if you're willing to go older and work on them yourself or deal with paying more to a mechanic, but those bottom of the market new cars aren't there to make you happy, they're just something you buy because you want a new car. I went on auto trader and set the price range to $15-20k 10 years old max and within 500mi and there was maybe one car that wasn't just total snoresville excluding the completely retarded (a 10 year old maserati) in the first 300 results. Seems to me there are <5 year old Civic LXs with under 30,000mi in that price range, I doubt those will be 300,000mi trouble free cars like that '04, but they probably offer the best driving and ownership experience in that segment. If the market is just really bad in your area you may have to be willing/able to take a little trip and drive back or have a car shipped. That's the norm for people like me who are into classics/oddities, my last car I had to fly out to see, buy it, and drive it 1,400mi to get home.

 

[WhatInTheActualFuck]

I am in need for another car. I driven beaters my entire life and I would like something newer if not brand new since the used market in my area is still dogshit.
I was thinking about getting a '23 Elantra or Verssa since their prices is lower than a lot of used cars I looked at, but after researching them I keep seeing horror stories about their engines. My knowledge in cars and car sales is terrible, I was planning on buying either of those cars and drive them for about 4-5 years, hope their resale value is still good and trade it in for something better. I might just budget more and buy a Civic and keep it longer. My mom bought a brand new 2004 Civic and it lasted 300k+ before it blew a head gasket from hitting a deer. It also handled great on winter roads.
I was looking at used cars for about over a year and nothing interested me. I am very terrible at making these kinds of decisions.

If you're just looking for good reliable practical transportation and don't have any other requirements, you could do a lot worse than a Corolla or Civic.

 

[Doggo]

I am in need for another car. I driven beaters my entire life and I would like something newer if not brand new since the used market in my area is still dogshit.
I was thinking about getting a '23 Elantra or Verssa since their prices is lower than a lot of used cars I looked at, but after researching them I keep seeing horror stories about their engines. My knowledge in cars and car sales is terrible, I was planning on buying either of those cars and drive them for about 4-5 years, hope their resale value is still good and trade it in for something better. I might just budget more and buy a Civic and keep it longer. My mom bought a brand new 2004 Civic and it lasted 300k+ before it blew a head gasket from hitting a deer. It also handled great on winter roads.
I was looking at used cars for about over a year and nothing interested me. I am very terrible at making these kinds of decisions.

If you’re worried about the engine, make sure you change the oil on time, every time. Or even more frequently, you could change it twice as often as the recommended interval. Modern engines are quite sensitive to abuse, so keep the oil clean and you shouldn’t have any problems. Also get the intake cleaned from time to time; direct injection engines are notorious for carboned up intakes, because there’s no fuel from a port injector to clean them. Some cars have dual injection, so direct and port injection. Toyota comes to mind here. These don’t need intake cleaning. I think the system is called D4-S.

If you can stretch the budget, get a Toyota. You won’t be disappointed.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

I am in need for another car. I driven beaters my entire life and I would like something newer if not brand new since the used market in my area is still dogshit.
I was thinking about getting a '23 Elantra or Verssa since their prices is lower than a lot of used cars I looked at, but after researching them I keep seeing horror stories about their engines. My knowledge in cars and car sales is terrible, I was planning on buying either of those cars and drive them for about 4-5 years, hope their resale value is still good and trade it in for something better. I might just budget more and buy a Civic and keep it longer. My mom bought a brand new 2004 Civic and it lasted 300k+ before it blew a head gasket from hitting a deer. It also handled great on winter roads.
I was looking at used cars for about over a year and nothing interested me. I am very terrible at making these kinds of decisions.

I would avoid Hyundai/Kia like the plague. They attract potential customers with their lower cost and techy gizmos that you can find in more expensive cars, but the heart of the car, the engine, is usually crap. Main issues are in their inline 4 cylinder engines, which is is what a lot of those cheaper Elantras and Sonatas have. The GDI engines are known for excessive oil consumption, eating rod bearings, and spontaneously grenading themselves for the worst case. The V6 don't have these issues but you'll also be paying more. Might as well get a quality built car at that price from Toyota or Benz. Support tends to be better with cars that have enthusiast followings once you're out of warranty if you're going the used route.

 

[Negev]

Search. There is definitely information out there about it because Z31 owners have been having those problems for 20 years. There used to be a small independent website about DIY Z31 dash repair, like those little websites people who were also university faculty used to run on the university servers, most of those are gone now but it might still be around. I used that one back in the day but that was something like a decade ago.

Luckily my uncle is a mechanic so I am having him look at it first so best case I don't have to buy a new one and can just fix it.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Apparently they were known in the US as the Nissan Frontier. I was also wrong about the power and torque figures. Despite being significantly smaller, it has almost as much power, and *more* torque than the 3800. After trip report? It towed the trailer empty like it wasn't there, and when laden with stuff (along with stuff in the tray and inside) it was also pretty good. It went into limp mode once because I let the cruise control go full throttle up a large hill, and sustained high revs and load caused it to shit itself. It scared the shit out of me because the sudden and almost complete loss of power whilst going uphill was like hitting a brick wall. It also locked itself into third gear. Luckily there was a petrol station (or servo as we call it down here) at the top of the hill where I could pull in and see what was going on.

I have an OBD II ELM tool, and the code was for exhaust gas temperature, which makes sense. I cleared the codes and went easier on it and it never happened again, despite some even longer hills. But I let the car slow down to sometimes significantly below the speed limit, and let it catch up at the top of the hill. I was watching various engine stats the whole time on my phone with the ELM tool, and boy that is handy. I had it reading out calculated engine load (which is a more useful figure than just RPM. It shows how much load the engine is actually under. That's how I know it was going full throttle up hills on cruise, because this gauge was pegged.), as well as coolant temp, boost (also a useful figure of engine load), fuel economy and one or two other things. I can't remember what.

You don't get full access to every last thing on the car, but for basic stuff, the tools are great. Pairs to your phone over Bluetooth, and it was cheap. My friend gave me mine because when he ordered one, two showed up. It's useless on my car, but useful on almost everything else, so I keep it in the car for if I ever have a reason to look at someone else's car.

Dang man seems like a spicy trip lol. Glad you were able to figure shit out.

. Six cylinders don't have to be bad on fuel. The nice thing is that you can drive them gently, and still keep up in traffic. My car runs on LPG (propane basically) and that uses more fuel per kilometer; about 30% more. The car is dual fuel, so it runs on either standard petrol or gas. But even on gas, I'm seeing 9L/100km, so 26mpg. On petrol it can be as low as 7.5L/100km, or 31mpg. It could do even better on highways, but either way, for a 3.8L V6 that is in no way technologically advanced (it's a very simple engine with basic, no frills engine management), it *can* give good fuel mileage if you drive it right. Use the low down torque to your advantage. The advantage to LPG is that it's sometimes half the price of petrol, so if yo

I mean I do have paddle shifters but I like the simplicity of the automatic, and it's at a rate that I can replace my gas without burning a hole in my pocket. Also thanks for the conversions man. I usually can do metric pretty well due to my job ( if you're in construction in the US, you better know both metric and SAE/Imperial) but I admit liters trip me up compared to gallons because you almost never use that in welding lol. I love you guys saying petrol though, it's funny.

I would avoid Hyundai/Kia like the plague. They attract potential customers with their lower cost and techy gizmos that you can find in more expensive cars, but the heart of the car, the engine, is usually crap. Main issues are in their inline 4 cylinder engines, which is is what a lot of those cheaper Elantras and Sonatas have. The GDI engines are known for excessive oil consumption, eating rod bearings, and spontaneously grenading themselves for the worst case. The V6 don't have these issues but you'll also be paying more. Might as well get a quality built car at that price from Toyota or Benz. Support tends to be better with cars that have enthusiast followings once you're out of warranty if you're going the used route.

I have to agree with the engines especially on older ones. My old man had his replaced because the milling machine had been leaving shavings in the cylinders until they realized it and recalled it. Mileage isn't half bad though. I agree with the V6 but in a more positive light; it's about the only part of my current car that hasn't shit itself. If you're gonna buy a Hyundai, do research on that specific model and year. Otherwise a 2004 Honda civic or Toyota corolla ain't half bad and parts are dirt cheap.

 

[FamicomGorby]

I've been thinking of swapping out my Escape for something new. My issue though is I'd only really want a smaller hatchback and there aren't a whole lot of options for that kinda thing in the US now. Like I like the size of a Honda Fit but they don't bring that in and they cost as much with 50K miles on em as they did when new.

Started looking at electric cars, since I have a fairly short commute and even with a cheapo one I could go a week and a half without charging. They'll have a seven thousand dollar battery replacement somewhere down the line but could be worth it if I save more in maintenance and gas. Main hurdle is I live in a condo building, so no charging in my parking spot, unless maybe I find a spot in the garage that near an outlet and convince someone to swap with me.

 

[Nguyen Van Phuoc]

>makes the best looking car they've made in many years
>decides to make it a $200K 50 unit limited edition run even though its literally just a Z4

Why is BMW like this?

 

[Car Won't Crank]

>makes the best looking car they've made in many years
>decides to make it a $200K 50 unit limited edition run even though its literally just a Z4
View attachment 5232518
Why is BMW like this?

It's not just BMW. Toyota is probably the worst offender with the GR Corolla. Tons of people who are cross shopping a Golf R or Civic Type R would go for the GR Corolla but Toyota doesn't seem to want to make too many of them and the ones that are for sale are marked up by dealers. At least BMW has their normal M2/3/4/5/6/8 that can be had for closer to msrp. M2, M3, and M4 come in manual too.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

I would avoid Hyundai/Kia like the plague. They attract potential customers with their lower cost and techy gizmos that you can find in more expensive cars, but the heart of the car, the engine, is usually crap. Main issues are in their inline 4 cylinder engines, which is is what a lot of those cheaper Elantras and Sonatas have. The GDI engines are known for excessive oil consumption, eating rod bearings, and spontaneously grenading themselves for the worst case. The V6 don't have these issues but you'll also be paying more. Might as well get a quality built car at that price from Toyota or Benz. Support tends to be better with cars that have enthusiast followings once you're out of warranty if you're going the used route.

Its worth a mention Kia/Hyundai vehicles are remarkably easy to steal. The ones imported into the US with a regualr key ignition are being stolen left and right. The ones made for Canada and the ones with a "Start/stop" button-ignition are not as vulnerable.

 

[SocialDislocationAuto]

snip

Eyeballing the running story about your mystery issue I'm inclined to think you're dealing with a heater core what took a shit- The quick diagnosis for us cold climate types is your heat gets gradually weaker over the course of a week when it's 50 below but it sounds like you're in a hot(ter) climate so you're not running the heat to notice it. When a head gasket goes it tends to be an all or nothing thing to introduce water jacket to combustion and that'll take boost to lift a head gasket (not your case) or somebody got the fucker hot as a two dollar pistol and ignored it long enough to warp the cylinder head and that doesn't really sound like the case either. Either way the easy tell for head gasket is if you're puffing big white vape clouds out the tailpipe that's the propylene glycol in the coolant burning, puffs of blue out the tailpipe is oil burning, black puffs mean it's running pig rich. If you feel the carpet around the heater box against the interior side of the firewall it might be wet from a shit heater core (the audible burbling from the dash makes me lean toward this too, the heater core suckin and blowing coolant from up under there) but not guaranteed; you can more fully el cheapo diagnose by taking the heater core out of the equation by taking the heater core out of the equation by looping (connect one to the other) the two small supply/return heater bungs on the water pump to each other with a short section of hose, burp the system and see if the issue persists. There's also possibility you're losing coolant and introducing air via a pinhole leak from like a small crack in the water neck/t-stat housing, I had that issue on a jeep the heat always felt weak in and I only noticed it spending like three hours burping it and realizing there was a rainbow being cast under the popped hood I could only notice at twenty paces, crack in the casting on the water neck pissed a fine mist. If you want extra assurance whether or not a head gasket went, pull the plugs and if you see one or a couple with a like white chalky deposit on them that's coolant burning.

 

[Yamamura]

I drove a Corvette for the first time yesterday. It's not hard to see why people like these things so much, you sit a couple inches from the ground and the shifts are super easy because of the amount of torque it has. What surprises me is how the suspension doesn't feel as hard as you think it would be for a sports car. Not going to lie I am tempted to want one now.

 

[God's drunkest driver]

Get yourself a chance to drive a Z06. Worlds better than a normal C6. They're great, I would own one myself but I wouldn't replace any of my cars with it, especially not the car that currently occupies that role; my RX7.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

View attachment 5238851
I drove a Corvette for the first time yesterday. It's not hard to see why people like these things so much, you sit a couple inches from the ground and the shifts are super easy because of the amount of torque it has. What surprises me is how the suspension doesn't feel as hard as you think it would be for a sports car. Not going to lie I am tempted to want one now.

Wait till you hear the rear suspension in the C6 and C7 use leaf springs instead of coil springs.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Its worth a mention Kia/Hyundai vehicles are remarkably easy to steal. The ones imported into the US with a regualr key ignition are being stolen left and right. The ones made for Canada and the ones with a "Start/stop" button-ignition are not as vulnerable.

How old is the key problem? I got a 05 Hyundai XG350.

As for me, I'm finally taking advantage of my car's 8 disc CD changer. Sounds great pumping Bob Saget and the Silver Bullet Band thru it.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

How old is the key problem? I got a 05 Hyundai XG350.

As for me, I'm finally taking advantage of my car's 8 disc CD changer. Sounds great pumping Bob Saget and the Silver Bullet Band thru it.

All Kia/Hyundai vehicles made for import into the united states that use a traditional key based ignition have this problem. The 2005 XG350, like the other Hyundai vehicles meant for import into the USA, has no transponder in the security system, it is a metal key without a "chip" meaning, if you force the ignition over with lets say a big flat head screwdriver and a pair of vice grips for extra leverage, the car will start. A 2005 Toyota Camry for example, has a transponder inside the key meaning if you broke the ignition in a 2005 camry, forcing the ignition on, you could put the car in neutral and unlock the wheel but, the engine will not start.

 

[WelperHelper99]

All Kia/Hyundai vehicles made for import into the united states that use a traditional key based ignition have this problem. The 2005 XG350, like the other Hyundai vehicles meant for import into the USA, has no transponder in the security system, it is a metal key without a "chip" meaning, if you force the ignition over with lets say a big flat head screwdriver and a pair of vice grips for extra leverage, the car will start. A 2005 Toyota Camry for example, has a transponder inside the key meaning if you broke the ignition in a 2005 camry, forcing the ignition on, you could put the car in neutral and unlock the wheel but, the engine will not start.

Ah. Well glad my area is pretty safe lol

 

[Yamamura]

Ah. Well glad my area is pretty safe lol

You could try tapping a hidden kill switch into the ignition or fuel pump wire. It's not the most secure but at least it will slow the thief down enough where they might rethink if it's worth doing.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

You could try tapping a hidden kill switch into the ignition or fuel pump wire. It's not the most secure but at least it will slow the thief down enough where they might rethink if it's worth doing.

Want to make any car almost impossible to hotwire for free? Go under the hood, into the fuse bay and remove the starter relay. When I was a broke as fuck college student living in a shit neighborhood I did this every night before I went to bed. It costs nothing and even a professional car thief that knows what they are doing will not understand why the car isn't starting, very few will take the time to diagnose why the car isn't turning over, they will just assume they failed at hotwiring the car and move on. This doesn't stop a tow truck though, if the repo man wants your car if he can find it he will take it.

A hidden kill switch can be installed for like $10 if you know what you are doing. The best one I ever saw was linked to the overhead cabin lights, you had to turn on the lights inside the car before cranking it over, I've seen a couple that were linked to the high-beams, you had to turn the high-beams on before you cranked the car over.

If you have any further questions, ask away. I know quite a bit about car theft, I've been lawfully hotwiring cars for over 15 years.

 

[WelperHelper99]

You could try tapping a hidden kill switch into the ignition or fuel pump wire. It's not the most secure but at least it will slow the thief down enough where they might rethink if it's worth doing.

Want to make any car almost impossible to hotwire for free? Go under the hood, into the fuse bay and remove the starter relay. When I was a broke as fuck college student living in a shit neighborhood I did this every night before I went to bed. It costs nothing and even a professional car thief that knows what they are doing will not understand why the car isn't starting, very few will take the time to diagnose why the car isn't turning over, they will just assume they failed at hotwiring the car and move on. This doesn't stop a tow truck though, if the repo man wants your car if he can find it he will take it.

A hidden kill switch can be installed for like $10 if you know what you are doing. The best one I ever saw was linked to the overhead cabin lights, you had to turn on the lights inside the car before cranking it over, I've seen a couple that were linked to the high-beams, you had to turn the high-beams on before you cranked the car over.

If you have any further questions, ask away. I know quite a bit about car theft, I've been lawfully hotwiring cars for over 15 years.

Well thank you for the recommendations, I sincerely mean it. Fact is though I'm just not in a sketchy enough area right now to go through the hassle, that and my car just  looks like a old man car from the late 90s when it was designed. If i move into niggerville ill take measures, but until then, that's why I park in a garage and carry a pistol