I know all of you love to change the oil in your own cars, in the driveway, but I sure don't want to know what you do with the used oil. I know if I mention that Subaru gives me free maintenance for two years or 24,000 miles someone will snarkily claim that the service was priced into the original price of the car. I'm pretty sure that whatever brand or model of car I purchased several commenters will quickly "educate" me about why I've made a horrible and life-crushing mistake with my own choice which will haunt me for years. With all that in mind I thought I'd just write a jaunty and upbeat synopsis of my adventure today.
I worked hard at swim practice yesterday so I decided to sleep in this morning and just chill. Eventually I dragged myself out of my toasty warm bed and padded down the long hallway to the kitchen to make a cup of (perfect) coffee (hand ground, Columbian Supremo) and take a bit of sustenance. I read the news, checked MJ's site for updated diet, car and medical advice, and then answered a few emails.
I looked across the dining room table and noticed that B. left me a mailer that came in the mail. It was from my Subaru dealer reminding me that I'd be smarter to do my every six month or every six thousand mile oil change, filter change, tire rotation, and 24 point inspection timely than I would be if I put it off for too long. Now, I don't drive nearly as many miles as I did when I was working too many hours in too many days. And, if we drive on vacation we generally do it in the family car as opposed to the business vehicle. I noticed that I only had 20K miles on the car but I do understand that Texas's hot weather tends to break down oil over time, not just driven miles.
So I grabbed the old laptop, my phone and an M series Leica and jumped into the Subaru at 10:45 a.m. I was at the dealership at 11 a.m. and checked in by 11:10. The service advisor went over the scheduled maintenance with me and suggested that it might take a bit longer than usual. Maybe two hours instead of one. Would I need a loaner? Naw, I've got stuff to work on.
The baristas were holding court in the very clean, very well appointed waiting area and I got a very nicely composed and presented latté to sip on. Popped the lid on the laptop, plugged in my noise reduction ear buds and settled in. This is the second new Forester I've owned and I've had nothing but great experiences with the vehicles. I think the secret is... to do the scheduled maintenance and use the recommended oils, fluids and authentic parts.
The dealer's wifi was quick and perky. The staff young and personable. The cost? Zero. The upsell? Non-existent. When I hear horror stories about predatory car dealerships and larcenous repair shops I think back to my days as a BMW driver. That was a horrible experience. Subaru? So far nothing but smiles and saved money.
I don't buy fancy cars anymore. The turbo-charged Volvo 960 wagon was a gut wrenching disaster the minute it eluded its warranty. How many turbo chargers can one car destroy? And really, before you tell me it was driver error, I have to say that I used to let the damn thing idle for at least two minutes at the end of every ride. The BMW 540 was the worst product I ever bought. It was well mannered for exactly 48 thousand miles (and very fun to drive) and then, the day after the warranty clicked off it transformed into an on again, off again, car invalid. Front suspension issues, a blown radiator, the "marvelous" theft proof ignition system died and had to be special-ordered from Germany, along with a set of very, very pricey ignition keys that were an integral part of the anti-theft system.
Since my car trauma of owning and delivering intensive care to the BMW ( would be cheaper to take it to a hospital ICU and have a surgeon look at it...) I permanently swore off any German car and any "luxury" car. At 5 mph on Mopac expressway in rush hour the ability to accelerate wildly, or cruise at speeds over 100, becomes absolutely meaningless. Now I am an avowed Honda, Subaru and Toyota fan. In fact, the day I decide that I'll never put a couple hundred pounds of photo gear in the hatchback ever again is probably the day that I'll buy a base model Toyota Corolla and never look back. Ben's hand me down Corolla is a 2003. He does the basic maintenance (or, rather, his mechanic does it), changes the oil, rotates the tires, replaces stuff when it's needed and continues to drive for, basically, pocket change.
Since I now think driving anywhere more than 200 miles from home is a waste of time things like "Oh, my Suburban is such a great highway car!" are meaningless to me.
And here's one more thing to enrage all the car fanatics out there... everyone in my family replaces their car batteries every three years. No exceptions. So much cheaper and more efficient than getting stuck somewhere and tossing away a half a day of your own precious time. Further inflammation and outrage? The Subaru dealer will charge me $225 to replace my "perfectly good" battery. And I'll smile and gladly pay it as I remember the BMW battery that left me helpless and furious one late night at the parking garage at the Austin airport. I vowed: Never Again.
Ooops. Gotta go. The car is ready...early.
Just one more thing. The car, brand new and ordered just the way I wanted it was $26,000 plus tax, title and license. Just slightly more than half the average price that American consumers pay for the average car. Cheap enough to buy without the need for financing. But... everyone's mileage will vary. A lot.
25 comments:
I agree. I have been buying Toyota Rav4s for about a quarter of a century and pay a monthly service plan charge. Completely reliable and rugged,not too expensive, so I pay cash for them. Our daughter sold her Range Rover, (the software didn't like the absence of road white lines, but we live in a very rural area without road markings and it kept needing updating). So she too has a new Rav4. I have had a BMW M528, very nice, but no wish to go German again.
To your list I would add Hyundai/Kia. My wife and I have had six Hyundais. They have never turned a wheel wrong. My wife’s old Elantra went to our granddaughter who passed it on to her mother when I gave her a Kia Soul upon graduating college. My daughter uses it to transport people to their medical appointments all over the central South. My Santa Fe lasted five years and 129,000 fault free miles. All of these cars came with three year complimentary maintenance. I extended it on the Santa Fe for two years for a very reasonable price. The cars have been a joy to own. And our dealer is fabulous with the most non-aggressive sales people I have seen. And, like your Subarus, they are a bargain.
It's nice that Austin Subaru is part of the Continental Cars group that gives great service.
I'm right there with you on the Toyota/Subaru/Honda thing, although both my wife and I are driving Mazdas and the moment. My grown daughter's Kia went to heaven (actually, probably hell) two months ago, and I strongly advised her to purchase new, inexpensive, and reliable. She took me along, and we negotiated a good price on a base model Subaru Crosstrek, which should serve her well. It was about $26K, which was less expensive than almost every low mileage used car we looked at, and you get the full warranty.
I've owned 4-5 Toyotas and two Hondas, and they never failed me. Of course, we keep up the regular maintenance.
You've mentioned it before and it kills me that the dealership has a barista. The place I go to doesn't even have real cream/milk, they use that powered stuff that they give you on some airlines.
To RR, I think he is kidding about the barista.
That was the service manager, ha!
I have a Porsche Cayenne PHEV. One year ago, in March of 2023, I took it to the Porsche dealer for routine service, and they noticed that it was leaking transmission fluid. I got the car back in October, about seven months after I took it in.
I went from a Benz 500 series to a 2010 KIA Soul. Retirement is GREAT!! The car is awesome and fun the drive. The EX has a Toyota Tundra, 2009 vintage. Hasn't cost us anything. If I ever need to get something bigger (doubt it) it will be either a KIA/Hyundai or Toyota.
Eric
I’ve owned three Subarus, the latest being a 2016 Forester that I bought just days before I was laid off from my job in September 2015. This week, after 57,000 miles of ownership, I experienced the first mechanical malfunction in any of my Subarus.
While driving to pick up some gear for physical therapy (bad knee), almost every dashboard warning light began to flash - one after the other. Transmission fluid temperature, traction control, downhill descent control, vehicle emissions control.. and one or two more. The car appeared to otherwise be operating normally, so I pulled over to the side of the road, switched off, waited 30 seconds and restarted the car. It fired right up but the check engine light was on.
Since I was in the neighborhood, I dropped by my dealer’s service department, where they ran an electronic diagnosis right there in the parking lot. It turned out to be CVT (transmission) valve body - a part known to occasionally act up but at no particular mileage or under any particular conditions.
By now it was almost closing time and they had no loaners left. But the service adviser gave me a lift home and said they’d have the fix complete around noon the following day. The best part: The module and labor were covered under an extended warranty on the transmission that Subaru gave me well after I purchased the car. Good thing, because my Forester was otherwise out of warranty and the job would have run in the $900-$1200 range.
I’ve been pleased by my Subaru ownership experiences thus far. And I’m with you, Kirk: No super-expensive or luxury vehicles for me. My Forester is a base model and I like it that way just fine. I’m not sure what the future holds in terms of my next vehicle. I used to do all of my own work on cars and trucks. But I’m getting a bit old for that now, so I don’t see myself putting mega-miles on vehicles. On the other hand, the electronic safety nannies in new cars and their transfer of personal information for sale to third parties (including insurance companies) really puts me off.
We’ll see what happens.
Good thinking on the car battery replacement strategy. The blistering Texas heat accelerates internal chemical reactions, even when parked, thus accelerating aging.
Hi Robert Roaldi, No, I was not kidding around. The dealership I take my car to as well as the Honda dealer I also worked with previously understand the need for a welcoming and well appointed area for customers to wait in while having their cars serviced. Lots of space. New furniture. Tables and chairs. Sofas and nice chairs. Clean Well kept bathrooms. There are coffee bars in each of those dealerships. They make coffees of all kinds to order. They provide this for free. We pay the same prices for our cars here as do people in the rest of the country. This morning there were three baristas working the counter at the Subaru dealer. If a car dealer offered me powdered coffee and powdered fake creamer I would turn around and walk out. Austin must be quite different from the car markets in your part of the country. Bad service and bad customer treatment wouldn't last long here. But it's up to customers to demand better, or vote with your feet. To put up with bad service or bad treatment demeans you.
I respectfully suggest that you stop putting up with shitty service and find a better dealer.
When I ordered my latté this morning the barista had one question for me: "Would you prefer whole milk, skim, almond, soy or oat milk? As a purist I asked for whole milk. Then he offered a choice of power bars. Etc.
If this kind of service can't be found in your area I suggest you move to a nicer part of the country. Stat.
And I am afraid RR is flying on the wrong airlines.
R.A.
I am still driving a 1998 Nissan Altima. Four cylinders. Manual transmission. Just passed 153,000 miles. Regular maintenance always.
re welch
I hope you're wrong JoeB, I really like the thought of a dealer with a barista.
There used to be a GM dealer here in town where clients could have catered dinners delivered from a local restaurant, but I don't know if they still provide that service. There's a different GM dealer near home whose client waiting area looks like a dark classy bar, stools, tables, couches, etc., sort of like an VIP airport lounge. I say that having only seen VIP lounges in movies.
Vehicles, expensive or otherwise, shouldn't be leaking transmission fluid till they get really old. I recently traded in a 2016 Golf Wagon with 260,000 km. The only part that broke on it that really shouldn't have was the thermostat housing, which sprung a leak 6 months after the warranty ran out.
The warranty isn't always a promise. Sometimes it's a warning...
I am also on my second Forester. When I replaced the first one (passed on to my youngest son) the decision to buy another was easy. As someone who learned to drive in the late 1960’s, the idea of a car (other than a VW Beetle) that would not rust out and fall apart within 40,000 miles is just remarkable. Even my used 2003 Chevy Silverado purchased for retirement projects is reliable. Thankfully, they don’t make them like they used to.
Well, somanabeach (from the Italian)--a barista! Even my fine Subaru dealership in Albany CA doesn't have one of those. My neighbor who is a master mechanic says he would only recommend Toyotas and Subarus.
I agree with most of what has been said. My last American car was a big Ford Bronco, which went out of alignment every time I took it off road or hit a pothole. I finally got tired of having the dealer realign the thing so often and started just buying two new front tires every 3,000 miles. I've been driving Hondas and Toyotas ever since with complete satisfaction.
This is why I skipped hybrids and went from all-gas to EV, with no remorse. Skipping out on gas, oil and transmission fluid has been liberating.
Regarding changing my own oil and what do I do with the dirty oil, the auto accessories store where I buy the oil from will also accept the cans returned with the used oil in them, from where they recycle it responsibly. No charge. Yours might do the same.
Regarding car brands, here Down Under we no longer make any in-house, so patriotism is put aside briefly when it comes to buying cars. I buy through brokers who are industry insiders and brand agnostic. Their insights are consistent: Hyundai and Kia have caught up to the leading brands which are all Japanese: Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru…with Honda having in recent years fallen half a notch, especially with their withdrawal of their dealer network here in recent years. They do NOT recommend the Euro brands, most of them being unreliable and all of them being overpriced. They almost call you a fool to your face if you are interested in the American brands, using typical Aussie cheery swearwords to describe the product, and darker ones to describe the corporate attitudes. As for the Chinese brands, they say maybe one day, but not yet.
Cheers
Grant
I must've missed when you replaced the Honda Element(?)/Fit(?).
I have a 2010 Toyota Corolla; my dad is amazed at how much photo gear I can stuff in there for trips down to his house. Due to the hot Florida sun its cosmetically showing its age but has been perfect in regards to exceedingly low cost of ownership (the scary recalls were replaced before they reared their ugly potential).
I might get a new hybrid RAV 4, new crown signia, or new hybrid Toyota Camry because I want something on the quieter side with a bit more cargo space that also gets better gas mileage as a hedges if/when energy prices increase.
Exact same experience with a BMW 5 series. Never again!
At one point in my life, changed my own oil. Heck, I even spent two days under a particular German car, replacing the clutch. Now, getting too old and creaky to get the wrench to just the right spot. I let someone else deal with it.
Our son just recently texted a photo of the odometer on the 2007 Toyota Matrix we passed on to him in 2017 (with 135,000 miles on it at the time). The photo shows the odometer now at 299,999 and he said it wouldn't go any higher. No idea how long that thing will last.
You never know. I bought a 2010 VW GTI new (made in Germany), and people laughed at me because of its faulty rep Drove it for ten years, not a single problem.
Also bought a new 2013 Subaru Outback. The most problem riddled car I ever had since the domestics of the 70s. Had to get rid of it, and after the dealer and manufacturer experience will never buy another.
So we go with the broad surveys, but it often comes down to the individual vehicle itself.
I believe that here in Ontario, oil change places and perhaps all auto repair shops must accept used oil from consumers, you don't have to be a customer. I've done that myself when I used to change my own oil. The used oil that is collected is sold to reclaimers. it can be used in other applications, including re-refining. Hardware stores and others must accept batteries for re-cycling but I don't know if that's a municipal or provincial mandate. The service appears free to the consumer but of course it's priced into other things. Why would you do it any other way. There are probably still people who pour used oil down the drain or in nearby fields, but there has never been a shortage of nitwits.
I used to own a Pontiac Vibe, sister car to the Toyota Matrix. Bought it second hand when it was 2 years old and drove it every day for 8 years. It had 250,000 km on the odo when we traded it in when we retired. We wanted something newer for long driving vacations. In hindsight, I might have been better off keeping the VIbe and renting vehicles for vacations. What would be much better would be the convenience of riding trains for long distance travel and renting cars at the destination, but we in N.A. decided it's better to drive for 6 to 10 hours every day on a trip instead of riding in trains reading a book because then then we have freedom.
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