Underhanded used car dealer tricks
- Thread starter Farmhand
- Start date
RobRoy
It's just stuff - but fun
I live in KY and own three Scions and a Z71 (4x4). I drive the FR-S most of the year, but when they salt the roads I drive the 2006 xB that hit a deer a couple of years ago. It's got well over 200k on it now so if one of my cars is gonna rust out, I prefer it be that one.
But so far, near as I can tell, it's made out of stainless steel.
Just another thing I love about California -- you wash your car and it stays clean for weeks on end.
RobRoy
It's just stuff - but fun
I have a quarter mile long dirt and gravel driveway in KY. I wash my FR-S twice a year, whether it needs it or not.
not necessarily....that rocker sill rots out first on todays cars and it ties the floor to the sill brace...seriously degrades the structure...cars and trucks both suffer there first....in a salty state like mine...that would be a 4-5 year old car
I'm not sure that's fair.
In the 70s or the 80s if you got a 100k out of a,car it didn't owe you anything.
It's not uncommon for many modern cars to hit 2 or even 3 hundred k.
There are many things I liked about older cars but saying they were more reliable (I think) is looking back with rose colored glasses.
There are exceptions both ways
Older cars rotted even without the salt on the roads. The insides of the panels on many were uncoated and effectively they came with factory-installed rust. They didn't start getting decent until the 80s really. The more recent trend of bathing the roads in the super salt potion just destroys everything unfortunately.
Also have to agree about the longevity with a caveat. Modern stuff goes and goes with minimal fuss, but if something really horrible goes wrong you're done. There was a sort of goldilocks period there from the late 80s through the late 90s with a lot of things. Modern enough to have fuel injection, but old enough to not have massively computer integrated everything. It still wanted more frequent servicing than a new car, but not so much as something from the 70s or before.
Also have to agree about the longevity with a caveat. Modern stuff goes and goes with minimal fuss, but if something really horrible goes wrong you're done. There was a sort of goldilocks period there from the late 80s through the late 90s with a lot of things. Modern enough to have fuel injection, but old enough to not have massively computer integrated everything. It still wanted more frequent servicing than a new car, but not so much as something from the 70s or before.
only if you got the 4bbl carb, otherwise it was dealer installed.....
faber12
Addicted Member
Sorry, but here in Ohio my neighbor has one of these I think a 1990 and I would not drive it for the rust on the bottom scares me. Holes rusted through the body too.
usedto
Lunatic Member
And I have a '97 that damn near looks like new. Of course, there's no snow where I live. It has spent half of it's life in the garage, and half outside. 90% of the time it was pulling either a 16' car trailer or a 20' gooseneck hauling things from auctions.
nasadowsk
Bow:good, hunt:needs work
The thing is, when a modern car breaks, typically, it's everything, all at once. I dumped my '06 Mustang at 247,000 miles, after the fuel pump gave up. But, the timing chains were getting sloppy, the interior was tired, the ball joints were gone, the suspension, etc etc etc. Gave it to a coworker who was a mechanic years ago, he's got it up to about 300,000. But it's basically done for, now. Oddly, original clutch, still.
Other thing, which wasn't the car's fault, was it got hit about 6 times over the years.
My Mazda 3 (2014 - Skyactive, no balls at all) has 217,000 and is still fine. Hopefully I can get it to 300,000. Or maybe 350,000. Biggest issue is the front end is a bit bashed up because deer. NJ drivers put the *bam!* into Bambi...
Farmhand
Super Member
I’m thinking ahead to my next vehicle, which will be in a couple of years. After years of driving responsible small cars, and being around 50, and being 6 foot four, i’m finding myself leaning toward European cars, Scandinavian in particular. So I’m starting to do research and reading about how to get the most bang for my buck. In my work I’ve had the opportunity to drive all sorts of vehicles, And I’m really drawn at this point to Saabs and Volvo’s. So far I’ve learned that a meticulously maintained, one owner vehicle makes it to over 200,000 miles due to a variety of factors. Geography is part of that since corrosion eats metal regardless of engineering, so south and west are the places to car shop.
Once you hit a quarter million it really doesn't owe you much. I'm sort of there with my Mark VII, but its rust related. Mechanically its good, but I had a screwup and nailed a curb at 60. That led to some body damage, and I'm debating if I want to fix that considering the other issues.
savatage1973
Addicted Member
Just be aware that since Saab no longer exists, you may run into "issues" down the road if you plan on keeping one long-term.
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
My first job was at a small used car lot up on Fordham Road in The Bronx. I cleaned up the "new" heaps brought onto the lot by Buddy and Richie, the two twenty-something schlockers who owned the business. These guys were real animals, there was nothing they wouldn`t try to make a car more saleable....they had a full stock of STP (remember that stuff ?), Motor Honey, Bardahl radiator & block sealant, you name it, they had (and used) it. They once brought in a `58 Ford with a hum in the diff. Richie told me "Run over to Nooch (Mr. Antonucci, the greengrocer), and get a bunch of the softest, most rotten bananas that he has".
When I returned, they had removed the fill plug on the rear end, and they began stuffing those bananas into the the housing. I guess that helped a little, they actually sold that piece of junk to some unsuspecting sucker.
When I returned, they had removed the fill plug on the rear end, and they began stuffing those bananas into the the housing. I guess that helped a little, they actually sold that piece of junk to some unsuspecting sucker.
Bananas?
That's a new one on me.
I'm thinking pretty quick failure on top of the original issue.
I'm sure the bananas diminished the effectiveness of the gear oil
Not as quickly as sawdust, another popular fix.
2011etec
Super Member
Up here the more shady dealers in the seventies use to use graphite in rear ends ,motors ,and even trannies to sucker some poor sod into buying some old beater.Us guys that played with lots of old cars knew about those shysters but lots of people got suckered .
