quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
I've put 800 miles on my loaner so far.
It's spoiling me into wanting one to replace my Malibu.
Averaging the same MPG with double the power & nearly double the space.

N00b!

Between the two Outbacks (so far), I've put about 16k miles on. I didn't track the Forester they started me with -- thankfully I only had that one for a couple of days. (Didn't really like it.)

These Outbacks are spoiling me, though -- I see what you're saying. When I bought the VW, the economics of a running a diesel sedan were good when compared with my daily-driver SUV. Now that diesel is over $5.25 a gallon, today's math tells me would be very little fuel-cost advantage to keeping the VW over buying a similar Roo.

How are you liking that Explorer? I'm curious about those again, having driven a Ford for the last week. I figure if my rich uncle gets out of the poorhouse and brings me a pot o' gold, I'd look at an Explorer ST (though I still really want that Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400.)


On a note of fun stupidness: Carmax has a Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing listed. [vthoky drools just a little...] Rich uncle better hurry up about it!

My loaner is the 2.3T XLT. Got it with 200 miles on the clock, it's a bit over 1k now.
Averaged just over 22mpg on a out & back run to San Antonio today. The little 2.3 has no problem getting up to speed, I imagine the 3.0TT in the ST would be a blast.

Pre-pandemic we had a 2008 MINI Cooper that thank God had a service plan as it was certified pre-owned. That thing LOVED the mechanic. I had something go sideways with the engine and that segued into ATF in the body wiring harness. They tore the whole car apart put a new wiring harness and put it back together. It took months, with a free loaner the whole time. Afterwards, the warranty was extended further to everything they had touched tearing the car apart, which was pretty much everything except the transmission. Knowing the transmission was likely the next thing to go, we ejected from that.

In 2018 we hit a deer in our 2017 Suburban and it swung into the door setting off the side-curtain airbags, but didn't total it. Took months to allegedly try to find a new headliner for it, they eventually gave up and put the old one back in and said "they would keep looking." I think they just ended up pocketing the $4K or so they billed the insurance for that. I can't tell the difference and I never heard from the shop again. At least they gave us a loaner crew cab pickup and waived our deductible for that. I think that deer hit was somewhere around $18,000 and the Suburban looked like it had $500 damage to it from the outside.

Expedition went in on 11/9 for cam phaser replacement.
Just got the call this morning that it's ready. 12 days isn't too bad & they got me wanting to start shopping for a replacement for my Malibu.

Got my third loaner Outback today. It's an XT version (turbo!), in "deep mahogany pearl." It's good looking, and a bunch quicker than the non-turbo version. These Subies are going to spoil me.

Still no progress on VW parts.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Got my third loaner Outback today. It's an XT version (turbo!), in "deep mahogany pearl." It's good looking, and a bunch quicker than the non-turbo version. These Subies are going to spoil me.

Still no progress on VW parts.

At the dealer now picking up the Expedition, we'll see on cold start tomorrow if it's fixed.
Going to miss the Exploder & going back to the Malibu.

I think I win this contest. My 2000 BMW 5 series wagon was in the shop for 8 to 10 months because it wouldn’t pass emissions. Eventually I had a set of converters shipped from Germany. It runs like a top. Had a spare car at the time. Do I win a prize?

No prize, Pal, but thanks for playing!

I'm at 56 weeks now....

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
No prize, Pal, but thanks for playing!

I'm at 56 weeks now....

The revolving door of nice new(er) cars is at least a bit of solace. Especial with diesel at it's current prices.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
The revolving door of nice new(er) cars is at least a bit of solace.

Darn right, sir! Outback #3 came into my hands with just 48 miles on its clock.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Especially with diesel at it's current prices.

At $5.20+, the "normal economics" of owning this Passat trend downwards quickly.

I currently have my 2018 Honda CR-V (160,000 miles) at the dealer. It’s been there since the end of August for what they say is sludge in the engine and it needs a new engine block. Prior to that it spent a month in for new fuel injectors (paid $2100) The next time it was another month for a new turbocharger. Honda agreed to cover 95% of that so I only paid $100. Now the dealer is trying to get Honda to pay for this. Each time it’s been repaired it goes back to doing the same thing - all the systems failure lights come on. I have ZERO faith in this car, Honda or the dealer now.

Fortunately I now get a company car otherwise I’d be screwed.

This was in 2020. Decided to fix the start of rust on one of our aging SUVs, as it is paid off, runs great, and reliable. The rust ended up being a bit more than initially thought, so had to order in 2 rear quarter panels. Had to wait for availability, and shipping. Then the work to replace, rustproof the new panels and the painting. Also had to replace the bumper, as it was rusting out too. Decided on road armor bumper, so they had to make one to the specs, and ship, which delayed it even more. So just about 4 months in the shop. Got a bit expensive, since we had to replace panels, and have a bumper made, but at least it’s not rusting now. And finally got done.

Fifteen months and three weeks, y'all! I got the Passat back today.

I'm going to miss the comfy seats and more-modern technology I enjoyed in those three Outbacks, but it's nice to have the ol' dino-burner back home.

Short summary: the problem was misdiagnosed. Turns out the turbo was not blown and the particulate filter was not damaged. Seems the cold air side of the turbo's charged air pipe had come apart, creating the fault codes and major loss of power. Long story short, it was a very expensive mistake. I have only good things to say about the dealership, though, for they certainly didn't slight me at all in the process.

6 weeks. BMW 528i quit running in the middle of nowhere. Had it towed to an import specialist garage. Guy couldn't figure it out. Finally he called me and said it was fixed. When I went to get it he told me it was a broken ground wire under the fuse block. He said it was one of those aha moments when figured it out' he was so agravated with himself he didn't even charge me. I tried to pay him but he refused.

Glad you're back to 'normal' and that it was a simpler fix.
I'll be putting a new battery in the MiniBus [wife's Expedition] today.
The battery management in the Ford slowly disables features as the battery gets weak, but never informs you there's a potential issue.
The auto-stop hasn't engaged in a while, more recently the rear doors won't lock/unlock via touch (keyless entry) l, and occasionally the door chime plays through a smaller speaker & not through the stereo speakers.

If you're investigative, the auto-stop status screen does say disabled for vehicle charging.

$240 for the AGM battery from Ford [less a $16 core refund].