Realtors half-truths and full lies

[Coronita]

I agree that the BMW from factory feels a little tighter than the G sedan and the auto G coupe. My feeling was that, tires and suspension can be upgraded easily if I were to track my car more often but it's much harder to get more power unless you have turbo. Since the G35 is priced like a 325/328, it has about 80HP advantage. The big seller for me was the Brembo on the G35 6MT. Both the G and the 3-series have AWD option w/out the massive overhang the Audi have ;-).

I agree with you about DSG. DSG is an amazing transmission and would make it very easy to get peak performance every time. However, it will never give me the grin I get heel-toeing into corners. It's definitely a hard choice for me.

 

Audi has started correcting most of my gripes in the past, namely.

1) Starting with the RS4, quattro is now more rear-wheel biased.

2) TT is now a pretty good, light(er) weight car with better distribution.

3) the latest S5/A5 and next gen A4/S4 has corrected the overhang and also made quattro more rear wheel bias.

4) The next generation s4 most likely will return to a bi-turbo setup, and hopefully the rs4 will be a turbo charged v8. Odd that the current S5 will be V8 normally aspirated while the s4 will be bi-turbo. But turbo ==> nice aftermarkets mods ==> creating an insane sleeper grocery getter ==> unfortunately, ultimately leads to AoA voiding warranties.

Sorry, I do have to draw a line. Except for the Nissan GTR, no other car in we mentioned above in awd format I think matches audi's quattro. Buying an audi without quattro is like buying a male pet for reproducing and neutering it at the same time. Why do people buy an an audi with FWD is beyond me.

 

Audi also changed their lineup. The correct competition right now is

Audi A4/a5 3.2 <–> BMW 328 <–>no direct infinit <—>Lexus IS250

Audi S4/S5 <–> BMW 335 <–>Infiniti G37 <–>Lexus IS350

Audi RS4/RS5(expected) <—>E90 BMW M3 sedan(expected)/coupe <—>no current Infiniti <—> IS-F

If I was in the market for a performance car, I would consider the e90 m3 or the S5 (though in different leagues… Unfortunately, some of us wants to retire earlier and spend more time with family, and don't have millions in stock options to throw around, and are just peons working as an average joe at a company. So, some of our dreams will have to be deferred to when/and if excessive consumption can be realized. 

On the economics side, it will be interesting to see how these foreign car companies keep pace with the falling dollar. I can see Audi start exporting from their factories in Shanghai (oh god no), BMW start using their US manufacturing sites more in N Carolina (great, good old fashion X5-like quality labor from america (sacasm)), and Nissan shift production down here. We might end up with radiators from AC/Delco, and oil filters from Fram in German cars, leaving only the real uber sports cars attainable Germany that only rich people can afford to buy. See, the falling dollar really hurts us in ways that really matter:) Good thing I stocked up on every maintanence parts for my audi for the next 5 years. I'm not even kidding, prices of parts have gone up significantly.

 

 

[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]

—– Sour grapes for everyone!

[Coronita]

All the comments about nifty cars aside – and I plan on picking up some nice used Realtor car in the next year or so – I stand by my vehemence.

Lying about a used car is one thing. These guys are running around lying about houses that cost 10x – 50x. People's personal finances are being devastated.

Whatever. I got my ass out, so I don't personally care, and am frankly profiting off the macroeconomic situation. It just sickens me to see people lying in their self interest, and to the detriment of others. How can the guy look in the mirror each morning and feel good about encouraging people to buy houses now?

 

That's pretty funny. Doing so would be like catching a falling dagger. One of the worst things you could do is to buy a used german car. But even if you went that route, ultimately the worst thing you can do is buy it from people who most likely leased the car and had little or no respect for the car wrto maintanence. Come on, think about it. Why do you think BMW decided to no longer allow you to check the oil in the latest e90 series with a dipstick. Take your stereotype "bimbo/idiot" realtor you described (which I don't necessarily agree all are like that), and picture them ever opening up the hood of their leased car to ever check whether the oil was low (or even know where the hood release is).

Or take the latest 335, with a bi-turbo. How many people who lease these cars do you think actually know what a turbo does, and know running a turbocharged car hard and then shutting off the engine immediately is a big no-no. BMW I assure you doesn't list this in their owner's manual. After all, they only need to worry about it for 4 years while it's under warranty.

You want to catch this money pit, be my guest. Then, not only will you be pissed that these folks ran around "lying and devastating people's finances" as you say, you'll be pissed that their used bimmer's and benzes you picked up thinking it was a great deal end up devestating YOUR finances. I can't think of a single person that bought a used german car from an unknown seller that was happy with the decision 4-5 years down the road, unless they had a lot of money and didn't mind the inconvenience of trips to the shop. Like I said, before, buyer beware.

 

 

 

[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]

—– Sour grapes for everyone!

[Coronita]

All the comments about nifty cars aside – and I plan on picking up some nice used Realtor car in the next year or so – I stand by my vehemence.

Lying about a used car is one thing. These guys are running around lying about houses that cost 10x – 50x. People's personal finances are being devastated.

Whatever. I got my ass out, so I don't personally care, and am frankly profiting off the macroeconomic situation. It just sickens me to see people lying in their self interest, and to the detriment of others. How can the guy look in the mirror each morning and feel good about encouraging people to buy houses now?

 

That's pretty funny. Doing so would be like catching a falling dagger. One of the worst things you could do is to buy a used german car. But even if you went that route, ultimately the worst thing you can do is buy it from people who most likely leased the car and had little or no respect for the car wrto maintanence. Come on, think about it. Why do you think BMW decided to no longer allow you to check the oil in the latest e90 series with a dipstick. Take your stereotype "bimbo/idiot" realtor you described (which I don't necessarily agree all are like that), and picture them ever opening up the hood of their leased car to ever check whether the oil was low (or even know where the hood release is).

Or take the latest 335, with a bi-turbo. How many people who lease these cars do you think actually know what a turbo does, and know running a turbocharged car hard and then shutting off the engine immediately is a big no-no. BMW I assure you doesn't list this in their owner's manual. After all, they only need to worry about it for 4 years while it's under warranty.

You want to catch this money pit, be my guest. Then, not only will you be pissed that these folks ran around "lying and devastating people's finances" as you say, you'll be pissed that their used bimmer's and benzes you picked up thinking it was a great deal end up devestating YOUR finances. I can't think of a single person that bought a used german car from an unknown seller that was happy with the decision 4-5 years down the road, unless they had a lot of money and didn't mind the inconvenience of trips to the shop. Like I said, before, buyer beware.

 

 

 

[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]

—– Sour grapes for everyone!

[Coronita]

All the comments about nifty cars aside – and I plan on picking up some nice used Realtor car in the next year or so – I stand by my vehemence.

Lying about a used car is one thing. These guys are running around lying about houses that cost 10x – 50x. People's personal finances are being devastated.

Whatever. I got my ass out, so I don't personally care, and am frankly profiting off the macroeconomic situation. It just sickens me to see people lying in their self interest, and to the detriment of others. How can the guy look in the mirror each morning and feel good about encouraging people to buy houses now?

 

That's pretty funny. Doing so would be like catching a falling dagger. One of the worst things you could do is to buy a used german car. But even if you went that route, ultimately the worst thing you can do is buy it from people who most likely leased the car and had little or no respect for the car wrto maintanence. Come on, think about it. Why do you think BMW decided to no longer allow you to check the oil in the latest e90 series with a dipstick. Take your stereotype "bimbo/idiot" realtor you described (which I don't necessarily agree all are like that), and picture them ever opening up the hood of their leased car to ever check whether the oil was low (or even know where the hood release is).

Or take the latest 335, with a bi-turbo. How many people who lease these cars do you think actually know what a turbo does, and know running a turbocharged car hard and then shutting off the engine immediately is a big no-no. BMW I assure you doesn't list this in their owner's manual. After all, they only need to worry about it for 4 years while it's under warranty.

You want to catch this money pit, be my guest. Then, not only will you be pissed that these folks ran around "lying and devastating people's finances" as you say, you'll be pissed that their used bimmer's and benzes you picked up thinking it was a great deal end up devestating YOUR finances. I can't think of a single person that bought a used german car from an unknown seller that was happy with the decision 4-5 years down the road, unless they had a lot of money and didn't mind the inconvenience of trips to the shop. Like I said, before, buyer beware.

 

 

 

[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]

—– Sour grapes for everyone!

[Coronita]

All the comments about nifty cars aside – and I plan on picking up some nice used Realtor car in the next year or so – I stand by my vehemence.

Lying about a used car is one thing. These guys are running around lying about houses that cost 10x – 50x. People's personal finances are being devastated.

Whatever. I got my ass out, so I don't personally care, and am frankly profiting off the macroeconomic situation. It just sickens me to see people lying in their self interest, and to the detriment of others. How can the guy look in the mirror each morning and feel good about encouraging people to buy houses now?

 

That's pretty funny. Doing so would be like catching a falling dagger. One of the worst things you could do is to buy a used german car. But even if you went that route, ultimately the worst thing you can do is buy it from people who most likely leased the car and had little or no respect for the car wrto maintanence. Come on, think about it. Why do you think BMW decided to no longer allow you to check the oil in the latest e90 series with a dipstick. Take your stereotype "bimbo/idiot" realtor you described (which I don't necessarily agree all are like that), and picture them ever opening up the hood of their leased car to ever check whether the oil was low (or even know where the hood release is).

Or take the latest 335, with a bi-turbo. How many people who lease these cars do you think actually know what a turbo does, and know running a turbocharged car hard and then shutting off the engine immediately is a big no-no. BMW I assure you doesn't list this in their owner's manual. After all, they only need to worry about it for 4 years while it's under warranty.

You want to catch this money pit, be my guest. Then, not only will you be pissed that these folks ran around "lying and devastating people's finances" as you say, you'll be pissed that their used bimmer's and benzes you picked up thinking it was a great deal end up devestating YOUR finances. I can't think of a single person that bought a used german car from an unknown seller that was happy with the decision 4-5 years down the road, unless they had a lot of money and didn't mind the inconvenience of trips to the shop. Like I said, before, buyer beware.

 

 

 

[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]

—– Sour grapes for everyone!

[Coronita]

All the comments about nifty cars aside – and I plan on picking up some nice used Realtor car in the next year or so – I stand by my vehemence.

Lying about a used car is one thing. These guys are running around lying about houses that cost 10x – 50x. People's personal finances are being devastated.

Whatever. I got my ass out, so I don't personally care, and am frankly profiting off the macroeconomic situation. It just sickens me to see people lying in their self interest, and to the detriment of others. How can the guy look in the mirror each morning and feel good about encouraging people to buy houses now?

 

That's pretty funny. Doing so would be like catching a falling dagger. One of the worst things you could do is to buy a used german car. But even if you went that route, ultimately the worst thing you can do is buy it from people who most likely leased the car and had little or no respect for the car wrto maintanence. Come on, think about it. Why do you think BMW decided to no longer allow you to check the oil in the latest e90 series with a dipstick. Take your stereotype "bimbo/idiot" realtor you described (which I don't necessarily agree all are like that), and picture them ever opening up the hood of their leased car to ever check whether the oil was low (or even know where the hood release is).

Or take the latest 335, with a bi-turbo. How many people who lease these cars do you think actually know what a turbo does, and know running a turbocharged car hard and then shutting off the engine immediately is a big no-no. BMW I assure you doesn't list this in their owner's manual. After all, they only need to worry about it for 4 years while it's under warranty.

You want to catch this money pit, be my guest. Then, not only will you be pissed that these folks ran around "lying and devastating people's finances" as you say, you'll be pissed that their used bimmer's and benzes you picked up thinking it was a great deal end up devestating YOUR finances. I can't think of a single person that bought a used german car from an unknown seller that was happy with the decision 4-5 years down the road, unless they had a lot of money and didn't mind the inconvenience of trips to the shop. Like I said, before, buyer beware.

 

 

 

[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]

—– Sour grapes for everyone!

[temeculaguy]

ditto what paramount said, having owned most of the aforementioned brands, my Infiniti/Lexus experience cost me less per year out of warranty than my BMW/Mercedes experience did while under warranty. Maintenance wise after warranty the difference wasn’t even close, probably a ten fold difference in maint costs and a negligible difference in performance/luxury.

[temeculaguy]

ditto what paramount said, having owned most of the aforementioned brands, my Infiniti/Lexus experience cost me less per year out of warranty than my BMW/Mercedes experience did while under warranty. Maintenance wise after warranty the difference wasn’t even close, probably a ten fold difference in maint costs and a negligible difference in performance/luxury.

[temeculaguy]

ditto what paramount said, having owned most of the aforementioned brands, my Infiniti/Lexus experience cost me less per year out of warranty than my BMW/Mercedes experience did while under warranty. Maintenance wise after warranty the difference wasn’t even close, probably a ten fold difference in maint costs and a negligible difference in performance/luxury.

[temeculaguy]

ditto what paramount said, having owned most of the aforementioned brands, my Infiniti/Lexus experience cost me less per year out of warranty than my BMW/Mercedes experience did while under warranty. Maintenance wise after warranty the difference wasn’t even close, probably a ten fold difference in maint costs and a negligible difference in performance/luxury.

[temeculaguy]

ditto what paramount said, having owned most of the aforementioned brands, my Infiniti/Lexus experience cost me less per year out of warranty than my BMW/Mercedes experience did while under warranty. Maintenance wise after warranty the difference wasn’t even close, probably a ten fold difference in maint costs and a negligible difference in performance/luxury.

[an]

FLU, I hope you know the AWD system in the G35 (soon to be G37) sedan is the same AWD system in the GT-R. Which means, w/out slip, you’re 100% RWD. Only when it sense slip does it start transferring power to the front wheels.

I do agree that Audi is starting to fix the overhang problem and the weight problem w/ the TT as well. Returning to bi-turbo in the S4 is also a great thing for them as well. I’m never a fan of Audi though.

I don’t agree with your competition analysis. Unless you’re referring to competition by power, then I agree. But I tend to compare them in price bracket instead. Which would make:

A4/A5 2.0T AWD -> C300 -> 328i/Ci -> G35sedan/G37coupe -> IS250
The base MSRP of these cars are $31-34k.

A4/A5 3.2L V6 AWD -> C350 -> 335i/Ci -> Nothing from Infiniti -> IS350
The base MSRP of htese cars are $36-40k.

What Audi did w/ the S4/RS4 is kind of odd in term of price because where the C63/M3/IS-F are priced similar to each other @ around $55k MSRP, Audi priced the S4/S5 @ $48-50k and RS4/RS5 @ $68k. So, while the current S4/S5 is still being spanked by the 335, it’s priced very close to the M3 range. I always find Audi to be the most over priced of the Germans. Maybe that’s why I like them least. There’s rumor of that Nissan is considering an Infiniti version of the GT-R, which would put it in the M3/C63/IS-F camp.

This is the reason why I got the G35 coupe, they priced the G in the 328/C300/S4 2.0T/IS250 camp but give the performance of the C350/S4 3.2/IS350.

In regards to maintenance, since it’s the same engine as all the other Nissan V6, I can bring it to Nissan dealer for maintenance if I want. I won’t get the “pampering”/loaner like @ the Infiniti dealer, but it’s also much cheaper.

[an]

FLU, I hope you know the AWD system in the G35 (soon to be G37) sedan is the same AWD system in the GT-R. Which means, w/out slip, you’re 100% RWD. Only when it sense slip does it start transferring power to the front wheels.

I do agree that Audi is starting to fix the overhang problem and the weight problem w/ the TT as well. Returning to bi-turbo in the S4 is also a great thing for them as well. I’m never a fan of Audi though.

I don’t agree with your competition analysis. Unless you’re referring to competition by power, then I agree. But I tend to compare them in price bracket instead. Which would make:

A4/A5 2.0T AWD -> C300 -> 328i/Ci -> G35sedan/G37coupe -> IS250
The base MSRP of these cars are $31-34k.

A4/A5 3.2L V6 AWD -> C350 -> 335i/Ci -> Nothing from Infiniti -> IS350
The base MSRP of htese cars are $36-40k.

What Audi did w/ the S4/RS4 is kind of odd in term of price because where the C63/M3/IS-F are priced similar to each other @ around $55k MSRP, Audi priced the S4/S5 @ $48-50k and RS4/RS5 @ $68k. So, while the current S4/S5 is still being spanked by the 335, it’s priced very close to the M3 range. I always find Audi to be the most over priced of the Germans. Maybe that’s why I like them least. There’s rumor of that Nissan is considering an Infiniti version of the GT-R, which would put it in the M3/C63/IS-F camp.

This is the reason why I got the G35 coupe, they priced the G in the 328/C300/S4 2.0T/IS250 camp but give the performance of the C350/S4 3.2/IS350.

In regards to maintenance, since it’s the same engine as all the other Nissan V6, I can bring it to Nissan dealer for maintenance if I want. I won’t get the “pampering”/loaner like @ the Infiniti dealer, but it’s also much cheaper.

[an]

FLU, I hope you know the AWD system in the G35 (soon to be G37) sedan is the same AWD system in the GT-R. Which means, w/out slip, you’re 100% RWD. Only when it sense slip does it start transferring power to the front wheels.

I do agree that Audi is starting to fix the overhang problem and the weight problem w/ the TT as well. Returning to bi-turbo in the S4 is also a great thing for them as well. I’m never a fan of Audi though.

I don’t agree with your competition analysis. Unless you’re referring to competition by power, then I agree. But I tend to compare them in price bracket instead. Which would make:

A4/A5 2.0T AWD -> C300 -> 328i/Ci -> G35sedan/G37coupe -> IS250
The base MSRP of these cars are $31-34k.

A4/A5 3.2L V6 AWD -> C350 -> 335i/Ci -> Nothing from Infiniti -> IS350
The base MSRP of htese cars are $36-40k.

What Audi did w/ the S4/RS4 is kind of odd in term of price because where the C63/M3/IS-F are priced similar to each other @ around $55k MSRP, Audi priced the S4/S5 @ $48-50k and RS4/RS5 @ $68k. So, while the current S4/S5 is still being spanked by the 335, it’s priced very close to the M3 range. I always find Audi to be the most over priced of the Germans. Maybe that’s why I like them least. There’s rumor of that Nissan is considering an Infiniti version of the GT-R, which would put it in the M3/C63/IS-F camp.

This is the reason why I got the G35 coupe, they priced the G in the 328/C300/S4 2.0T/IS250 camp but give the performance of the C350/S4 3.2/IS350.

In regards to maintenance, since it’s the same engine as all the other Nissan V6, I can bring it to Nissan dealer for maintenance if I want. I won’t get the “pampering”/loaner like @ the Infiniti dealer, but it’s also much cheaper.

[an]

FLU, I hope you know the AWD system in the G35 (soon to be G37) sedan is the same AWD system in the GT-R. Which means, w/out slip, you’re 100% RWD. Only when it sense slip does it start transferring power to the front wheels.

I do agree that Audi is starting to fix the overhang problem and the weight problem w/ the TT as well. Returning to bi-turbo in the S4 is also a great thing for them as well. I’m never a fan of Audi though.

I don’t agree with your competition analysis. Unless you’re referring to competition by power, then I agree. But I tend to compare them in price bracket instead. Which would make:

A4/A5 2.0T AWD -> C300 -> 328i/Ci -> G35sedan/G37coupe -> IS250
The base MSRP of these cars are $31-34k.

A4/A5 3.2L V6 AWD -> C350 -> 335i/Ci -> Nothing from Infiniti -> IS350
The base MSRP of htese cars are $36-40k.

What Audi did w/ the S4/RS4 is kind of odd in term of price because where the C63/M3/IS-F are priced similar to each other @ around $55k MSRP, Audi priced the S4/S5 @ $48-50k and RS4/RS5 @ $68k. So, while the current S4/S5 is still being spanked by the 335, it’s priced very close to the M3 range. I always find Audi to be the most over priced of the Germans. Maybe that’s why I like them least. There’s rumor of that Nissan is considering an Infiniti version of the GT-R, which would put it in the M3/C63/IS-F camp.

This is the reason why I got the G35 coupe, they priced the G in the 328/C300/S4 2.0T/IS250 camp but give the performance of the C350/S4 3.2/IS350.

In regards to maintenance, since it’s the same engine as all the other Nissan V6, I can bring it to Nissan dealer for maintenance if I want. I won’t get the “pampering”/loaner like @ the Infiniti dealer, but it’s also much cheaper.

[Author]

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