In a pickle, car pickle. Help!?!

[Encap]

The only way to find out what the various terms and conditions are and what you can do is go to a Dealer and give them all your information and find out what they can/will do for you---if they will give you a lease or will get you a car loan.

Most car leases and all car loans require you to maintain full-coverage auto insurance to protect both you and themselves. This means both liability and collision/comprehensive coverage. The details of exactly what and how much is required is specified in the small print of your lease contract--so another expense. Consider GAP insurance if the car is stolen or totalled to cover the difference between what you owe and the value of the car.

Anyway you work it out if you want to be driving around someone else's money/vehicle they are going to be making money on you and you don't own anything---even with a loan purchase the car is not actually yours until fully paid off and you receive a title --- a loan makes it hard to sell before the end of the loan or fully paid off because you don't own it/have a title yet---so nothing to sell until you have the title.

EIther way all you can do with any car, generally speaking, is lose money so the question is how much you can afford to lose/spend of after tax dollars you earn.

You have money invested in your Volvo --what are you going to lose on that is also a consideration.

 

[GSS]

On Encap's subject of the Volvo what's the a repair that may be waiting? Have you gotten a trade in value estimate on it?

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Depending on the upcoming repair it may also make sense to dump the volvo sooner rather than later.

Gap insurance is a must, if you end up leasing or buying a new car. Let's say you buy the car for 20k, total it in a year, the insurance is going to cover the value of the car at that time, not the price you originally bought it for, and for many cars that can mean a significant difference. So even after insurance pays out you'll still end up owing the difference.

Certified used, with warranty is best. After that, just in general used is good.

There is really no point to buying domestic vs import, cars are manufacturer more or less globally now. Personally I have found "imports" to be much more expensive to repair, but to break down less often as compared to the 5 different Fords I owned.

 

[Rivem]

Depending on the upcoming repair it may also make sense to dump the volvo sooner rather than later.

Gap insurance is a must, if you end up leasing or buying a new car. Let's say you buy the car for 20k, total it in a year, the insurance is going to cover the value of the car at that time, not the price you originally bought it for, and for many cars that can mean a significant difference. So even after insurance pays out you'll still end up owing the difference.

Certified used, with warranty is best. After that, just in general used is good.

There is really no point to buying domestic vs import, cars are manufacturer more or less globally now. Personally I have found "imports" to be much more expensive to repair, but to break down less often as compared to the 5 different Fords I owned.

Good advice. I'd change "imports" to European though.

Volkswagen, Volvo, Mini, Fiat, Land Rover, Merceded, BMW, etc. are all ridiculous to maintain despite not necessarily being luxury vehicle brands (some are admittedly higher end). They tend to break more, and the cost to fix the same issues is more. Japanese and US built vehicles are much cheaper and easier to maintain.

Not a fan of Ford's smaller cars at all. I'm pretty indifferent on the Ford vs GM vs Ram truck argument, but I feel like Ford puts out an inferior product in their SUVs and cars. My family is a little car crazy, and we seem to get a lot more reliability with the GM, Subaru, Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai cars than Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Euro, and Ford cars. Not that experienced of a mechanic to shoot people down when they say they want one, just my opinion.

 

[NightExplorer96]

On Encap's subject of the Volvo what's the a repair that may be waiting? Have you gotten a trade in value estimate on it?

These are the repairs so far:

New alternator: $350
New catalytic converter: $1,200
New window motor(driver side): $50

My car now misfires and when checking the "Check Engine" light got a problem with cylinder 2, they switched a couple cables around and the problem jumped to cylinder 3. Interestingly enough, the misfires only happen when the car is warming up. Either way, I refuse to spend more money I this thing. Would rather save & buy a better car! :yh:

-Alex

 

[GSS]

Good advice. I'd change "imports" to European though.

Volkswagen, Volvo, Mini, Fiat, Land Rover, Merceded, BMW, etc. are all ridiculous to maintain despite not necessarily being luxury vehicle brands (some are admittedly higher end). They tend to break more, and the cost to fix the same issues is more. Japanese and US built vehicles are much cheaper and easier to maintain.

Not a fan of Ford's smaller cars at all. I'm pretty indifferent on the Ford vs GM vs Ram truck argument, but I feel like Ford puts out an inferior product in their SUVs and cars. My family is a little car crazy, and we seem to get a lot more reliability with the GM, Subaru, Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai cars than Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Euro, and Ford cars. Not that experienced of a mechanic to shoot people down when they say they want one, just my opinion.

Yep, BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover= Rolex, beautiful and crafted but needs expensive love and care.
GM, Ford, Toyota, = Timex, alot cheaper but reliable.
I will say simple Honda parts can be surprisingly expensive, as an example my friends Accord.s drivers window switch panel cost $100 compared to my Buick Lesabre's at $25,
Alot has to do with lack of after market parts support and this be considered with any purchase if your on a super tight budget to begin with.
I tend to stay away from any car that has alot options and gadget's as it just adds to more possible issues.

Edit on your last post Hap. Are they saying the engines firing order is all correct now?

 

[Rivem]

Yep, BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover= Rolex, beautiful and crafted but needs expensive love and care.
GM, Ford, Toyota, = Timex, alot cheaper but reliable.
I will say simple Honda parts can be surprisingly expensive, as an example my friends Accord.s drivers window switch panel cost $100 compared to my Buick Lesabre's at $25,
Alot has to do with lack of after market parts support and this be considered with any purchase if your on a super tight budget to begin with.
I tend to stay away from any car that has alot options and gadget's as it just adds to more possible issues.

Yeah. GM and Toyota vehicles are the best if you do your own work. Parts are usually pretty cheap/common, there's lots of documentation, and it's like the vehicles are made to be worked on. Still super reliable for the most part though.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Edit on your last post Hap. Are they saying the engines firing order is all correct now?

Hey GSS,

They didn't really say anything. Just that the misfire switching from cylinder 2 to cylinder 3 dosen't explain anything :/

Either way, I'll start saving up for a better car. A certified used car from a dealership! :yh:

-Alex

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

I know two mechanics who I trust, and the advice from them, on getting a hassle free car has been consistent, get a 3-5 year old toyta, camry or civic, honda civic or accord, or nissan. Or their luxury counterparts. They last well if moderately maintained, and not abused.

I'm definitely not a "car" guy, just need to get from point A to point B, and generally put about 8-12k miles on a car per year, but I do like to drive, and tend to be a more abusive driver to cars. Currently driving my 7th car in 11 years. Two tauruses, one escort (oh god what a piece of crap!), three crown vics, and currently a toyota camry.

The repairs on european cars can get VERY expensive, and watching my friends suffer with bmw's, VW's and even mercedes, I seriously question their worth, aside from the bragging rights. Have one particularly unlucky friend who had the engine block on his VW golf gti crack, bought the car brand new, and it happened after less then a year and 8k miles. Same guy, BMW 1 series coupe, randomly locked into "dealer" mode with limited speed while on the highway doing 80. Same car had part of the exhaust literally fall out.

As of this time I would not go for buying a ford/gm car unless it had a VERY appealing price. The way I look at it, is I don't want a car to cost me more than $120 a month through it's lifetime, including repairs. Rather spend that money on other things like lights, lasers, vacations, etc,. Also worst come to worst, I'm out a max of 4-5k, and can buy a replacement in under a week.

Edit: Toyota aftermarket parts are not cheap at all either. They are rarely available from junkyards. The driver's window on my car stopped working. The proper fix would be to replace the panel, internal mounting, and motor, since it doesn't close exactly right. Total price $600 to repair. $500 in parts $100 labor. Instead my mechanic offered to swap the motors from the rear left window, and route the switch on the panel to the rear left, for the driver window. Doesn't quite close correctly, but it works, and cost me $50.

Also invest in an error code reader... will give you a lot of peace of mind, and let you know when it's serious or when it's an oxygen sensor that's a bit buggy.

 

[ElectricPlasma]

These are the repairs so far:

New alternator: $350
New catalytic converter: $1,200
New window motor(driver side): $50

My car now misfires and when checking the "Check Engine" light got a problem with cylinder 2, they switched a couple cables around and the problem jumped to cylinder 3. Interestingly enough, the misfires only happen when the car is warming up. Either way, I refuse to spend more money I this thing. Would rather save & buy a better car! :yh:

-Alex

Holy crap, only 50 for a repair? That's pretty good, considering the mechanic shop near me charges 150 minimum for a repair, in our Canadian rupees I'll never get over how cheap things are in America compared to Canada. Including cell phone bills, oh boy you guys got some really good plans over there.

 

[diachi]

These are the repairs so far:

New alternator: $350
New catalytic converter: $1,200
New window motor(driver side): $50

My car now misfires and when checking the "Check Engine" light got a problem with cylinder 2, they switched a couple cables around and the problem jumped to cylinder 3. Interestingly enough, the misfires only happen when the car is warming up. Either way, I refuse to spend more money I this thing. Would rather save & buy a better car! :yh:

-Alex

Hey GSS,

They didn't really say anything. Just that the misfire switching from cylinder 2 to cylinder 3 dosen't explain anything :/

Either way, I'll start saving up for a better car. A certified used car from a dealership! :yh:

-Alex

Was going to say don't bother with the cats unless they are plugged and affecting fuel efficiency/performance but you guys probably have emissions testing down there so you can't really get away with that. No such thing up here. I'll probably just saw mine off if they get plugged up and spend the money on some new headers instead... As if it's not loud enough already.

Cause of the misfire on that is going to depend on what the ignition system is like on that engine. On older vehicles it was often bad distributor contacts which sometimes you could clean up and have it work fine, other times you needed a new distributor. Bad cables from distributor to spark plug happen too.

Newer vehicles are all electronically controlled with either "Coil Over Plug" ignition (Ignition coils directly attached to spark plugs) or individual coil packs and short HV jumper cables to the spark plugs. Source of the issue may be different with either of those, though it could also be the same... Depending on what they moved it could be a bad coil pack, bad cable to the coil pack, bad cable from the coil pack or something funky going on with the electronic control.


Agreed with everyone saying go for Toyota/other Japanese make. They are known for their reliability, at least if you do the basic maintenance - oil changes and such. IE is right - get an error code reader - you can pick up OBD II WiFi enabled readers on eBay for like $15-20 - then all you need to do is stick an app on your phone and connect it up - super simple.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Holy crap, only 50 for a repair? That's pretty good, considering the mechanic shop near me charges 150 minimum for repair, in our Canadian rupees I'll never get over how cheap things are in America compared to Canada. Including cell phone bills, oh boy you guys got some really good plans over there.

Well im sure it was more then $50 but it wasn't too expensive. What sucks is trying to find a reliable mechanic these days. All of them seem to be in it just for the money, and nothing else. Not trying to build a customer base for example. I am considering taking it to a Volvo dealer but the labor is EXTREMELY expensive, but they do know what they're doing.

I took a quick look at some certified used cars. They tend to hover around $9,000-$28,000 so not too bad. I'm just like I.E. U like driving & just want a car to get me there.

We shall see what happens! :yh:

-Alex

 

[Encap]

Good comments and advice from GSS and InfinitusEquitas

You have already done the "big" cost repair the catalytic converter.

It sounds like the "problem" could be as simple as a fresh set of the 2 spark plug wires if the the problem jumped from cylinder 2 to cylinder 3 by changing wires around--cost about $45 for a set of two---even if you need the 2 direct ignition coils they are only $61 each see: Amazon.com: Genuine Volvo Ignition Spark Plugs Wire Set S40 V40 See List NEW OEM: Automotive
Assuming that is all it is a complete change would be set of two wires and 2 coil packs --about $160 of parts. Could be somethng else---get it all nailed down as to what the problem is before you go over the edge with "change the entire car" --that no matter how you do it is going to be really expensive.

Just the service charge + license and registration fees at a Dealer if you buy a used car can run $500 easy

I would say save your money---save save save and resist spending money you have not earned yet. Why foreshadow your future when it is not absolutely necessary at this early point in your life.

If you had $20,000 or even $10,000 in the bank and another or better purpose for that money or just wanted to keep it available---yeah OK maybe get a car loan or lease a new car

With your new and minimal credit and not much if anything in savings -- a new car loan or lease is a crazy expense and limits your ability to do anything else for a long time.

 

[GSS]

Yeah. GM and Toyota vehicles are the best if you do your own work. Parts are usually pretty cheap/common, there's lots of documentation, and it's like the vehicles are made to be worked on. Still super reliable for the most part though.

Yes its like clockwork how they build them that every 4 years you need an alternator or O2 sensor etc. Like you said plenty after market support especially for the do it your self guys with cheap prices on these GM or Toyota's.
EP: that has to be a mistake its not that cheap here lol. There is a ton of work getting to window motor
Diachi: I did bypass my converter with a straight pipe but there is a model year limit. In CA though its a whole strict different world as far as emissions. They had systems in CA based cars from even the 60's crude as they might of been.
Yes Hap like Encap said I have seen a simple spark plug change make all the difference in the world!

 

[diachi]

Diachi: I did bypass my converter with a straight pipe but there is a model year limit. In CA though its a whole strict different world as far as emissions. They had systems in CA based cars from even the 60's crude as they might of been.

I've got a straight pipe from the two cats (V8, one for each bank with a Y split) so no middle box IIRC and of course no muffler either - figure taking the cats off would just make it even louder and maybe give me a little more power - especially with non-stock headers, if I can find any that'll fit the 07 model that is ... All the aftermarket parts other than air intake/exhaust seemed to stop at 06...

I noticed that about CA actually when I was pricing cats, there were units labelled "NOT CA LEGAL" which were a fair bit cheaper than the "CA LEGAL" alternatives. Emissions regulations must be nuts down there - guess that's where the CA Prius driving hipster stereotype comes from!

Anyway - will stop derailing the thread - good look with your vehicles search Alex!

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Catalytics and sensors can be VERY expensive to replaced. I got the OBD scanner because I have two oxygen sensors that in an idea world should be replaced, but that would run me $700. Meanwhile they have very minimal impact on gas mileage if any. The catalytic on my car, would also run $1400. Definitely not spending that... the car passed inspection until January 2018, fall 2017 I'll probably get rid of it.

With your new and minimal credit and not much if anything in savings -- a new car loan or lease is a crazy expense and limits your ability to do anything else for a long time.

Not to mention a loan will very negatively impact the credit rating in the short term. It's a BIG gamble, and not worth it without a specific need.