Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Corrales, New Mexico

Corrales, NM Car Consumer Discussions

Other sales happenings.....

by graphicguy on Sat Nov 08 08:01:56 PST 2008

I took a hiatus from SFTSF to get my home back in order. But, had some sales stories I ran across in the interim. Took the Merc GM to get it detailed last week. Washed, waxed, shampooed....did the full boat. Anyway, while all this was happening, I struck up a conversation with the guy who owns the place as I have him detail my corral of cars twice/year. This guy has been in business for a pretty long while. As such, he runs across all sorts of cars people are trying to unload their cars, and they come to him to get them "pretty". He relayed a story to me about a local businessman who had an '04 Lexus LS that he bought new. Guy was trying to sell it to get (moo you'll appreciate this) a new 911. The guy who owns the detail place says he might be interested in buying the LS. I don't know what an '04 LS is worth, but they settled on a price of $24K. Come to find out the guy didn't actually own the car....it was a lease. As such, it was going to take an extra $14K out of the owner's pocket to make the deal. That deal went south real fast. You'd think that the LS owner, supposedly a successful businessman, would know he was going to be upside down by a substantial amount. That begged the question...."how long did he actually least the car for?......how can you possibly be upside down that amount after 4 years?" But, it's a little bit of "trickle down" economics. Lexus as a no sale. But, that meant the 911 sitting at the Porsche dealer was also a "no sale". Another one.....after getting the GM all pretty, I put a 4 sale sign in it. Taped the original MSRP sticker in the window, together with the CARFAX report. Got a call last night from someone who had seen it. I'm asking $4,500 for it. Clearly states that on the sign. Guy agrees to buy it for that amount. He begins writing a personal check. I tell him I prefer a money order or a cashier's check, otherwise I'd have to keep possession of the car until his check clears. He starts doing the back pedaling and asks me if I'd accept 11-$400 monthly payments with $100 cash down payment. I decline and suggest he find a good BHPH lot.

Re: Electronic throttle control issues [kenspoptop]

by ybnormal on Mon Oct 06 05:58:12 PDT 2008

We just purchased a used 2008 GC SXT with 15K on the OD. Stow n Go, motorized sliding doors and adjustable pedals were what convinced us, along with a very quite and stable ride. The day we brought it home, the ETC light came on. After reading the owners manual, where it says to "immediately return it to the dealer" if this happens, we brought it in. The dealer provided a loaner as we had a few other minor items that needed fixing (rear wiper didn't wipe across the top portion, 2nd row seats missing the plastic leg covers, tire rotation needed) and my wife picked it back up the following day...and the light was off. The dealer gave no explanation as to why it was on in the first place, but I haven't had a chance to speak to them yet either. This is now week two and last night, the ETC light came on again. No rain, temps in the low 60s. When it happens, the throttle response becomes non-linear in that you really can't judge the acceleration that will be provided based on foot pressure, so this is clearly a safety issue. Plus, it feels like it is ideling a bit rough so I suspect that gas mileage is suffering also. The onlly corralation we can think of for the moment is it may have something to do with the adjustable pedals. There is about a 10" difference in height between my wife and I, so she moves the pedals all the towards the seat when she drives. I had been driving the van earlier that day, and she had to move the pedals up when she drove it last night. I had been out of the country the previous week so the action of moving the pedals never had to occur since we brought it home. We will be taking it back in today and hopefully they will be able to see the history in the ECU via the OBDII port connection. I'd like to hear if anyone besides the 3 posts to date have experienced this issue, and if you did, did the dealer give any insight as to the cause? Do you also have adjustable pedals and did you perhaps use them perior to light coming on? Regards, Scott

Re: . [fintail]

by andre1969 on Fri Sep 05 05:29:11 PDT 2008

I noticed that about those old XJ6es too, that they look like big cars at first, but inside they're downright subcompact! As much as I gripe about the comfort of cars like the xA, Yaris, and Fit...the Jag is worse! :sick: I think it's mainly the styling that does it...this is the perfect example of a car that was created by stylists, with little regard as to how to get adults to fit comfortably inside. The thing is beautiful from every angle, and just about perfectly proportioned. But I think that slim, tapered body might make it look longer than it really is. And to get that kind of proportioning on a car that's really not that big, with a long hood and long rear deck, you have to give up length somewhere...in this case, the passenger cabin. A couple years ago, at a car show, in the car corral there was a 70's Jag XJ6, next to a mid-70's Chrysler New Yorker. Talk about opposite ends of the luxury spectrum! It's a shame you couldn't combine the best traits of both cars...the handling and build quality and nice interior materials of the Jag, with the room, comfort, and (relative) reliability/durability of the Chrysler. That would've made one heck of a car, if you could do it!

Been a while

by larsb on Wed Sep 03 14:17:49 PDT 2008

Been a while since I posted something to get ridiculed about, so here goes....:) link title So looks like the warming trend, at least in our hemisphere in the last decade, is unequivocal now. Maybe that was the peak of the warming - only time will tell.... Past decade warmest in 1,300 years Tom Spears , Canwest News Service Published: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 Another week, another study showing Earth is warming up - with a twist. This time researchers say there's firmer confirmation for their theory that the past decade has been warmer than anything in the previous 1,300 years. In fact, that might stretch to 1,700 years, they say - depending on whether they rely on the controversial evidence of tree rings showing fast and slow growth as the climate varied centuries ago. The new study, headed by chief researcher Michael Mann of Penn State University, shows what many previous models have shown. Today's climate is about 0.9 degrees warmer than the long-term average for a period of more than 1,000 years. "We were able to show you can get a reconstruction back more than 1,000 years without tree ring data at all, and you still come to that conclusion" that today's climate is the warmest, he said. "We feel we've removed the asterisk," or the mark of doubt beside earlier models of past climates. The study is published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The evidence is firmer for the Northern hemisphere, he noted. Southern oceans have fewer useful corrals and less land than the north. The uncertainties become greater as the model reaches back more than 1,700 years, he said. "You can't conclude with certainty that the past couldn't have been warmer than the present."

Re: It's been a long time coming... [fintail]

by andre1969 on Fri Aug 29 10:27:31 PDT 2008

Yeah, that's one thing I always like about that particular show is that it always has a wide variety of stuff. And since it's run by the AACA, they at least have SOME standards, such as 25 years or older, no street rods, etc. I think they relax the rules for the car corral though, which is where that 7-series BMW was...I forget what year it was, but it may have been newer than 1983. I felt a bit weird at first, bringing that '79 New Yorker to that show, but heck, that car IS almost 30 years old now! And I definitely felt better about it once the two K-cars, the '80 Accord, and the '81 Bonneville showed up. It rained on and off all day during that show, so I think that might have kept some of the older stuff away. There's usually a bit more mid-50's stuff there. Oh, and I have been checking eBay periodically to see if a hubcap comes up! I see LeBaron/Diplomat hubcaps all the time, and they're actually a similar pattern. They usually pop up for like 10 bucks or two for 15 or so. I want to hold out for one of the "proper" ones, though. I did have an extra hubcap in my garage that fit...even came off of a Chrysler, but I think it was an early 70's. Better than the exposed wheel I guess, but it still bugs me that I lost that hubcap!

Re: 72 MBZ 280SE - $1850 [Mr_Shiftright]

by andre1969 on Sat Aug 23 08:20:32 PDT 2008

I sat in one of those that was in the car corral at Hershey PA a couple years back. Here's a pic I took of it. I sat in it and didn't like it at all. The steering wheel was too big and the seat didn't go back far enough, so I had to practically bend into positions that mother nature never intended to get myself behind the wheel. Even if they were well-built, quality automobiles, they were probably simply too small to be taken seriously by most domestic buyers of the time. Most people still equated luxury with Cadillac, Lincoln, Imperial, or even a nicely decked out Caprice, LTD, or Fury VIP. That type of buyer would associate these Benzes with Darts, Novas, and Mavericks. It wasn't until the first oil embargo that people really woke up and took notice of these cars. And it wouldn't be long after that, until the domestics started responding with Valiant Broughams, Dart Special Editions, Granadas, Nova LNs and probably the most serious competitor, the Seville. Interestingly, there was a first-gen Seville for sale at that Hershey meet, too. I sat behind the wheel, and was really disappointed. It was more comfy than the Benz IMO, but still pretty cramped. Probably the biggest difference was that it had thicker seats and a more normal-sized steering wheel. Still, there was no denying the fact that these things were compact cars, after all!