The Official Car-Related Shit That No One Cares About, Thread

[radeonboy]

Originally Posted by RabidRat

I love it. That's one ugly rat-faced son of a biatch. With ugly, you have to go all the way. And I believe they accomplished that goal here.

Plus it looks like Rattrap which is cool.

Here's the leaked image of the production iX3 - it'll be officially announced in a few hours (2AM).

[Badhobz]

Fuck that’s ugly. It makes the pig nosed m4 look so good now and that bulbous m2 a super model.

[red kryptonite]

honestly, bmw's design is such hit and miss.
on one hand they given us the current x1 x5 m2 m3 m4.
on the other hand, we got the ix 5 and 7 series... i mean, i like the m5 wagon but thats only because its a M-wagon.

they should have just beefed up the x1 for the new x5.

[EvoFire]

I like the iX3 from pictures. It's clear they took inspiration from the E9 shark nose era of cars. I like the skinny kidneys but of course will reserve judgement until I see the real thing. The tail lights I'm not sure about as it's looking too much like the A7/S7 tail lights and I thought those were ugly.

The 1st gen G chassis SUVs were mostly good, I even like the split headlight X7 and it works better than the 7 series sedan. And of course the X1, too bad it drives so poorly.

[RabidRat]

Originally Posted by red kryptonite

Damn, the X1 looks good. Especially in that blue.

[Badhobz]

the new x1 is so friggin big its like the first gen x5 in size, or more akin to the x3.

I dont get why they keep inflating these sausages. The x5 can already be had with a third row which is moving into x7 territory. I dont get it... what happened to the og x1 size!?

this was basically an allroad 3 series wagon... aka my favorite

[bcrdukes]

Switching gears, time to focus our efforts on hating on more Toyotas! For context, I transitioned away from Japanese cars to European for a while, and this Corolla and the Boxster are the cars I've owned the longest.

So our Corolla iM is hitting the 150,000KM mark, and by the end of the year, I expect we'll hit 160,000KM. With that in mind, I was thinking of getting ahead of some preventative maintenance before the harsh Ontario winters hit and thought of doing the following:

1. Coolant flush - The car is running the factory coolant since we bought the car brand new in 2017
2. Spark plugs - Probably time to replace (as per owner's manual)
3. Accessory belt - It shows no signs of cracking (that I can see) but it is the original belt
4. Waterpump and thermostat - No signs of leaking. Good idea to replace both?
5. Timing chain - Leave it alone or replace?
6. Engine / transmission mounts - leave them alone or replace?
7. Brake fluid flush - it's running on to 3 years, so probably time to flush.

I was thinking DIY'ing but I don't have the time to tackle this while working and in school. I asked a few Toyota dealers and a few independent garages and most of them just laughed at me and only suggested flushing the brake fluid and coolant, and replacing the spark plugs. Everything else was (Replace it when it breaks.)

It's weird to hear that, especially when I've become accustomed to European maintenance. You either replace it as a preventative measure, or deal with it when shit goes south. Crazy how these cars are still well built, despite how much we shit on Toyota. I don't know if I'm complaining or of this is a traumatic reaction to European car ownership. Any thoughts/opinions?

[AstulzerRZD]

What do you think taxi drivers are doing here?

iM are literally cockroaches, you could probably run it without a water pump and it'd still live.

Timing chain sounds more like a 3-400k km kinda thing.

[bcrdukes]

Stupid Toyotas!

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by red kryptonite

honestly, bmw's design is such hit and miss.
on one hand they given us the current x1 x5 m2 m3 m4.
on the other hand, we got the ix 5 and 7 series... i mean, i like the m5 wagon but thats only because its a M-wagon.

The X1 looks better in those photos than in person IMO especially when it doesn't have big wheels or lacks the M package - it looks like it's 2" too high (huge wheel gap) and the cut lines in person make it look really cheap.

The current X3 is such a big step backwards from the previous one (and the interior is cheap-ass!) - there's a couple colours that it kinda works in (and if it's a M50 trim) but the base ones are horrible.

I don't mind the iX3 - it's a bit too slab sided like the X3 but definitely cleaned up.

[Badhobz]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Switching gears, time to focus our efforts on hating on more Toyotas! For context, I transitioned away from Japanese cars to European for a while, and this Corolla and the Boxster are the cars I've owned the longest.

So our Corolla iM is hitting the 150,000KM mark, and by the end of the year, I expect we'll hit 160,000KM. With that in mind, I was thinking of getting ahead of some preventative maintenance before the harsh Ontario winters hit and thought of doing the following:

1. Coolant flush - The car is running the factory coolant since we bought the car brand new in 2017
2. Spark plugs - Probably time to replace (as per owner's manual)
3. Accessory belt - It shows no signs of cracking (that I can see) but it is the original belt
4. Waterpump and thermostat - No signs of leaking. Good idea to replace both?
5. Timing chain - Leave it alone or replace?
6. Engine / transmission mounts - leave them alone or replace?
7. Brake fluid flush - it's running on to 3 years, so probably time to flush.

I was thinking DIY'ing but I don't have the time to tackle this while working and in school. I asked a few Toyota dealers and a few independent garages and most of them just laughed at me and only suggested flushing the brake fluid and coolant, and replacing the spark plugs. Everything else was (Replace it when it breaks.)

It's weird to hear that, especially when I've become accustomed to European maintenance. You either replace it as a preventative measure, or deal with it when shit goes south. Crazy how these cars are still well built, despite how much we shit on Toyota. I don't know if I'm complaining or of this is a traumatic reaction to European car ownership. Any thoughts/opinions?

dont diy it, all those fluids are annoying and poisonous. Plus disposal of such fluids are a pain in the ass... if you spill that shit anywhere, youre going to regret it. Dont forget to do the transmission fluid flush, at 150,000km this should be your 2nd or 3rd tranny flush.

Waterpump, thermostat you usually do with the belts. i think that should be a 1-1.5k job at the dealer. You can do this yourself but why? what a pain in the ass... you fuck up a tensioner and youre gonna have a bad day.

plugs id do that yourself, easy with a 4 banger. all accessible and dont really require much in way of specialized tools.

timing chain and mounts are only done as needed. its a toyota, so its never needed.

[whitev70r]

Originally Posted by red kryptonite

honestly, bmw's design is such hit and miss.
on one hand they given us the current x1 x5 m2 m3 m4.
on the other hand, we got the ix 5 and 7 series... i mean, i like the m5 wagon but thats only because its a M-wagon.

they should have just beefed up the x1 for the new x5.

Saw one on the road on the way to work today after seeing this post. It wasn't the M sport version but nice strong lines, like the overall styling and didn't look bad at all. it was this blue as well. Only thing I'd do right away is find a set of lowering springs and really make it a wagon, not a compact SUV.

But does it come in a hybrid?

[RabidRat]

I think there's even an EV iX1 that looks just like the gas version, in Europe.

Damn shame they didn't bring it over.

[radeonboy]

Originally Posted by RabidRat

I think there's even an EV iX1 that looks just like the gas version, in Europe.

Damn shame they didn't bring it over.

That's what my sister picked up last month and the EV powertrain fixes everything lacking in the ICE powertrain. 313hp and 364 lb-ft of instant torque is pretty potent for its size, and more than enough for city driving.

Canada does get the same powertrain, but only in Countryman SE guise.

[bcrdukes]

She needs to bring her car to the meet so we can confuse its colour.

[AstulzerRZD]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

dont diy it, all those fluids are annoying and poisonous. Plus disposal of such fluids are a pain in the ass... if you spill that shit anywhere, youre going to regret it. Dont forget to do the transmission fluid flush, at 150,000km this should be your 2nd or 3rd tranny flush.

Waterpump, thermostat you usually do with the belts. i think that should be a 1-1.5k job at the dealer. You can do this yourself but why? what a pain in the ass... you fuck up a tensioner and youre gonna have a bad day.

plugs id do that yourself, easy with a 4 banger. all accessible and dont really require much in way of specialized tools.

timing chain and mounts are only done as needed. its a toyota, so its never needed.

isnt there a filter in the cvt pan as well?

has battery been replaced? i rmb my ontario cars were running through them in like 3 years

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Switching gears, time to focus our efforts on hating on more Toyotas! For context, I transitioned away from Japanese cars to European for a while, and this Corolla and the Boxster are the cars I've owned the longest.

So our Corolla iM is hitting the 150,000KM mark, and by the end of the year, I expect we'll hit 160,000KM. With that in mind, I was thinking of getting ahead of some preventative maintenance before the harsh Ontario winters hit and thought of doing the following:

1. Coolant flush - The car is running the factory coolant since we bought the car brand new in 2017
2. Spark plugs - Probably time to replace (as per owner's manual)
3. Accessory belt - It shows no signs of cracking (that I can see) but it is the original belt
4. Waterpump and thermostat - No signs of leaking. Good idea to replace both?
5. Timing chain - Leave it alone or replace?
6. Engine / transmission mounts - leave them alone or replace?
7. Brake fluid flush - it's running on to 3 years, so probably time to flush.

I was thinking DIY'ing but I don't have the time to tackle this while working and in school. I asked a few Toyota dealers and a few independent garages and most of them just laughed at me and only suggested flushing the brake fluid and coolant, and replacing the spark plugs. Everything else was (Replace it when it breaks.)

It's weird to hear that, especially when I've become accustomed to European maintenance. You either replace it as a preventative measure, or deal with it when shit goes south. Crazy how these cars are still well built, despite how much we shit on Toyota. I don't know if I'm complaining or of this is a traumatic reaction to European car ownership. Any thoughts/opinions?

Just do the coolant and spark plugs, it's a Toyota. Realistically you can probably skip those two as well.

Don't touch the thermostat until it leaks, it can probably go 350k so it's a waste of money.
Timing chain, if you can touch it from the oil filler cap (I can do that in my Mazdas) give the chain a tug to see how the slack is. If it's just a small amount of deflection, leave it. The chain on my Mazda didn't have problems and it's a hipo turbo. I don't think Toyota chains are known to stretch or break, it's not a Vitara.
You should know how to check for engine mounts, if it's not vibrating excessively, leave it alone.
You could do brake flush, but some people never flush the brakes after the first few years of maintenance.

Originally Posted by supafamous

The X1 looks better in those photos than in person IMO especially when it doesn't have big wheels or lacks the M package - it looks like it's 2" too high (huge wheel gap) and the cut lines in person make it look really cheap.

The current X3 is such a big step backwards from the previous one (and the interior is cheap-ass!) - there's a couple colours that it kinda works in (and if it's a M50 trim) but the base ones are horrible.

I don't mind the iX3 - it's a bit too slab sided like the X3 but definitely cleaned up.

The X3 is terrible, but overall BMW has been cost cutting the hell out of it's lower end cars with the 1 and 3 series cars. The G01 was already losing little things here and there at the end of it's cycle. My take is they spent a fuck ton of money developing the G01 and it shows, for this generation they are just phoning it in.

Originally Posted by whitev70r

Saw one on the road on the way to work today after seeing this post. It wasn't the M sport version but nice strong lines, like the overall styling and didn't look bad at all. it was this blue as well. Only thing I'd do right away is find a set of lowering springs and really make it a wagon, not a compact SUV.

But does it come in a hybrid?

There's a iX1 in the rest of the world, the reception for that car seems to be quite good.

[bcrdukes]

BRB replacing everything on the Corolla because deep down inside, I still love BMW.

[RabidRat]

Someone should build a website that lets you project the total cost of ownership of a vehicle, over years & kms of ownership as inputs:

-MSRP minus the residual resale value
-typical aggregate maintenance cost (including replacement tire or oil cost because maybe this particular model is using something weird)
-typical aggregate repair cost
-typical insurance cost
-typical fueling cost

All this data is available, just nobody's slapped it all together yet.

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by red kryptonite

honestly, bmw's design is such hit and miss.
on one hand they given us the current x1 x5 m2 m3 m4.
on the other hand, we got the ix 5 and 7 series... i mean, i like the m5 wagon but thats only because its a M-wagon.

they should have just beefed up the x1 for the new x5.

Agreed with you, except the M2, M3, M4.

The M2 is decent looking (neither good nor bad), and I detest the pig-nosed M3 and M4.

[radeonboy]

Originally Posted by RabidRat

Someone should build a website that lets you project the total cost of ownership of a vehicle, over years & kms of ownership as inputs:

-MSRP minus the residual resale value
-typical aggregate maintenance cost (including replacement tire or oil cost because maybe this particular model is using something weird)
-typical aggregate repair cost
-typical insurance cost
-typical fueling cost

All this data is available, just nobody's slapped it all together yet.

I do this for my cars, but in a spreadsheet instead of a website.

I imagine the hardest part for most people is consistent and accurate data entry, which is a very difficult standard for most people to meet without at least some gamification or reward. Plus, the resale value is quite dependent on so many factors and takes years to determine for any one vehicle (unless you find a niche group of people that flips cars often).

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by RabidRat

Someone should build a website that lets you project the total cost of ownership of a vehicle, over years & kms of ownership as inputs:

-MSRP minus the residual resale value
-typical aggregate maintenance cost (including replacement tire or oil cost because maybe this particular model is using something weird)
-typical aggregate repair cost
-typical insurance cost
-typical fueling cost

All this data is available, just nobody's slapped it all together yet.

The really detailed amounts down to the dollar really only matters if you are buying a Rav4 or CRV comparison and trying to figure out which one is going to give you more trouble free and low cost mileage.

Once you get into the luxury brands, it's become more of an emotional purchase. Yes badge buying makes it an emotional purchase.

When I bought the X5, the purchase price mattered, but that's because an equivalent Cayenne is worth 30k more. Insurance cost really didn't matter because compared to daycare costs it was just a small part of life. Saving $300 a year only pays for a year of daycare.

A portion of it was "we need a bigger car" and a portion of it was "I don't want to pay so much for gas" which justified the PHEV part of the equation. We weren't going to buy a Highlander hybrid at roughly the same cost of entry but with significantly cheaper maintenance moving forward - that part was emotional.

[AstulzerRZD]

Edmunds does this but it's pretty stupid

1) doesn't consider maintenance in year 5-10
2) doesn't consider leasehacking and other shenanigans
3) doesn't consider dealer discounts (10%+ for many brands in the US)

[RabidRat]

Originally Posted by radeonboy

Plus, the resale value is quite dependent on so many factors and takes years to determine for any one vehicle

Just as a first-order starting point, you could dump the used listing data from FB Marketplace, Car Gurus, AutoTrader, CL, etc, and look at pricing vs model year vs kms.

I think there's enough there that you can do some rough projections.

I think a lot of us could reasonably accurately guess how much a particular car of whatever year and kms should cost, even taking into account how much to scale the actual purchase price by, vs the listed price. If we can intuit that without numbers in front of us, I'm sure we could do the curve fitting on the ton available data.

For very niche models with sparse data, then yeah, this tool would just have to say something like "insufficient data, can only guess based on the market segment this vehicle is in (e.g. european luxury sub-compact SUV) with a "YMMV" disclaimer lol.

[AstulzerRZD]

The closest thing scraping auction data:
https://www.dashboard-light.com

A great tool would need MMR auction access + some combo of forum scraping. ChatGPT could do a good job if MMR provided the data feed in an MCP server.

FWIW, I don;'t think there's a market for a TCO tool:

Reliability/TCO buyers probably going straight to Toyota/Honda.
Lease/TCO buyers like me are shopping brokers/incentives/payments.

Used German buyers probably don't care - it's big body Benz or bust.
Low credit buyers probably don't care - finance department matters most.
Buyers in smaller markets don't care too - their used options are limited.