Vehicle shopping

[K Frame]

Slowpoke. 

My self-reflection afterwards wasn't terribly different from yours.

I sometimes have a moderately heavy foot on the open road, but I've since avoided triple digits or double the posted limit.

A lot of automotive scribes were wondering if Alfas were going to be more reliable when they re-entered the US market after leaving it in 1995, when they had a TERRIBLE reputation for reliability. I guess now we know.

Oh, I was fully intent on going a LOT faster until I realized what I was doing.

[K Frame]

"
Prices are up, but dealers ARE negotiating prices. At least, more than they were during the Covid supply chain shortages."

I think I mentioned what neighbors went through when they were looking to replace their one car in, IIRC, early 2022.

They went to either a Toyota or Honda dealership (they're like me, they go where the standard transmissions are).

Dealer essentially said "There's a $5,000 non negotiable upcharge on top of the MSRP window price, which is non-negotiable, you'll take what you get (as in, no package ordering and no guarantee that they would get a standard transmission or the color they wanted), you'll get it when you get it, we have no idea when that will be, and you have to pay for it up front, but since we don't know what will come off the truck, you'll have to pay for the most expensive version of the car you want."

They walked out, of course, went to the Subaru dealership where I got my current Forester.

No up charge, they ordered what they wanted, in the color they wanted, only had to leave a relatively marginal deposit, and it got there in, IIRC, less than 3 months.

[Opportunity]

I sincerely envy you, friends. Almost nothing has changed in your driving life )))
Everything in our automotive life has changed absolutely dramatically! If until recently probably 80 percent of cars were European cars, now 80 percent of cars sold are Chinese cars, the names of which make your head spin.
I have already bought a Chinese car for my wife, and for now I drive a Mazda, but I feel that the next car will be Chinese.
Of course, I can buy any European (American, Japanese) car, but they will all be significantly more expensive (due to logistics) and they do not have a factory warranty.

[K Frame]

"Of course, I can buy any European (American, Japanese) car, but they will all be significantly more expensive (due to logistics) and they do not have a factory warranty."

Where do you live?

Here in the United States more and more cars are coming with warranties up to 10 years/100,000 miles.

[Opportunity]

Where do you live?
Here in the United States more and more cars are coming with warranties up to 10 years/100,000 miles.

In Russia.

Surprisingly, many Chinese automobile factories now provide a fairly long warranty as well, for example, my wife’s car has a warranty of 8 years or 100,000 km.
In China itself, as far as I know, many manufacturers give a lifetime (infinite) guarantee to the first owner of the car. Theoretically, this is quite reasonable and gives a good marketing advantage, because in the modern world, most car owners use a new car for no longer than 5-6 years.

[dogmush]

I sincerely envy you, friends. Almost nothing has changed in your driving life )))
Everything in our automotive life has changed absolutely dramatically! If until recently probably 80 percent of cars were European cars, now 80 percent of cars sold are Chinese cars, the names of which make your head spin.
I have already bought a Chinese car for my wife, and for now I drive a Mazda, but I feel that the next car will be Chinese.
Of course, I can buy any European (American, Japanese) car, but they will all be significantly more expensive (due to logistics) and they do not have a factory warranty.

I'm curious about the higher end of the growing Chinese car manufacturing sector.  The only Chinese cars I have personal experience with were complete *expletive deleted*it boxes, but they were also notably the cheap end of the range.  The absolute cheapest American car is a shitbox as well.  I wonder what the mid-range and higher CHinese cars are like.

You guys still build Лады?  I drove one of those for two weeks on a trip in the early '90's. 

[K Frame]

About 10 years ago Top Gear did an update on the state of the Chinese auto industry, and their prediction was that in something like 20 years China was going to be the world's dominant car manufacturer worldwide.

[HankB]

I really prefer passengers to fulfill that function for me.

OH MY *expletive deleted*ing GOD WHAT THE *expletive deleted*ck ARE YOU DOING WE'RE GOING TO DIE YOU ahole!!!!

I can relate. I pulled out to pass a truck, and it turned out there was a long line of trucks to pass, so I pressed the pedal to the floor and went.

My passenger told me I was going awfully fast as I zipped past the first truck in line, and . . . well, I didn't look at the speedometer until I'd pulled back in line and it was going down past a number I won't repeat here. But she was right.

About 10 years ago Top Gear did an update on the state of the Chinese auto industry, and their prediction was that in something like 20 years China was going to be the world's dominant car manufacturer worldwide.

So maybe all those single male Chinese illegal aliens coming across the border from Mexico aren't actually spies and saboteurs, but a pre-positioned workforce for the Chinese car factories that will be built on our soil as soon as their Manchurian Candidate in the White House (that would be Joe Biden) arranges for US government subsidies?

[Opportunity]

I'm curious about the higher end of the growing Chinese car manufacturing sector.  The only Chinese cars I have personal experience with were complete *expletive deleted*it boxes, but they were also notably the cheap end of the range.  The absolute cheapest American car is a shitbox as well.  I wonder what the mid-range and higher CHinese cars are like.

You guys still build Лады?  I drove one of those for two weeks on a trip in the early '90's.

Cars in the middle segment are quite well equipped. Usually even the most budget version has a full set, incl. for example, a heated windshield, sunroof, all-round cameras, radars, lane control, automatic stopping system, etc. For me, the very small engine size is very unusual and suspicious. As a rule, for gasoline and diesel engines it is no more than 2 liters of engine displacement, and more often - 1.5-1.6 liters.
As for the higher segment, either hybrids or fully electric cars are the most common. Most of them look very interesting and not as tacky as Chinese cars were 10 years ago.

[Kingcreek]

Somebody should market a new truck, call it the Geezer.
Straight 6 cyl with a carb and mech fuel pump, manual transmission with traditional clutch, hand crank windows, and a couple ball pivot outside mirrors.
They could sell them cheap and sell the heck out of them. But of course the gubmint wouldn’t allow that because fuel economy and gay planet crisis and safety etc.
Yesterday a guy told me he had to replace a headlight assembly on a ford escape. $1300 a headlight used to cost $17.
With all the electronics and cameras and sensors, I’m glad I bought the ext warranty. I’m covered 6 years and 100k on everything and 10 years/200k on power train. I’ve never bought an ext warranty on anything before.