BMW 4 sale

woodstock said:
Why not keep it a few years for your oldest kid to drive? I'm keeping the Benz as the official "snow, DC-driving, and guest-lending" car...

Good luck at any rate!
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The kid gets the Honda. If it doesn't sell, we will keep it and park the SUV except when we need its capabilities, or we may just put it down at the beach house with a solar trickle charger on it ...
 
Ken Ibold said:
The kid gets the Honda. If it doesn't sell, we will keep it and park the SUV except when we need its capabilities, or we may just put it down at the beach house with a solar trickle charger on it ...
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I was wondering about that - I had also thought about putting it down at the beach house, but, having it sit for potentially months on end isn't all that good for it. I've never heard of a solar trickle charger - what else do you need to do for a car that may sit for a long time?
 
I'm suspicious of the $7599. Does it not warrant that extra dollar to round up?

Perhaps a past life as a use car salesman? :)
 
KennyFlys said:
I'm suspicious of the $7599. Does it not warrant that extra dollar to round up?

Perhaps a past life as a use car salesman? :)
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Its actually $7599.99, but as we are special and fellow pilots, Ken dropped the $.99.



:D
 
La lee la la....
 
woodstock said:
Why wouldn't you have power at a house? I'm confused. Plus, this would sit in my garage.

Would you actually want to have your battery hooked up to a power outlet if you aren't in residence for periods of time? I'd think you'd be more worried about hoses and oil and all the other fluids.
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I'm asking if you keep the power on in the summer home. If so use this:
http://www.pacificbattery.com/batteryminder.html

And it's no problem to keep it on all of the time.

I'll have mine doing 3-4 batteries at once.
 
Yup, yup, all the time. And water sprinklers merrily watering the grass regularly and so on.

I wouldn't turn off the power, I don't want "hot and humid" in the house in the summer or (less likely) frozen pipes in the winter. I turn it to a more sane number and turn down the water heater but that is about it...
 
woodstock said:
Why not keep it a few years for your oldest kid to drive?
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It wasn't that long ago that I was a 17 year old new driver. While I'm sure that Ken is a responsible parent teaching his kids how to drive well, there is a lot to be said for giving your child something as a first car that isn't a luxury whatever. Personally, I'm in favor of a beater.

Although the Pilot isn't exactly a beater... ok, I give up.

woodstock said:
I was wondering about that - I had also thought about putting it down at the beach house, but, having it sit for potentially months on end isn't all that good for it. I've never heard of a solar trickle charger - what else do you need to do for a car that may sit for a long time?
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The real question if you leave it down at the beach house is are you going to need it there. In other words, it makes sense if you're going to fly down or when you go down you'll travel in one car but need two cars, but otherwise what's the need?

Leaving cars sit for months at a time isn't a problem if done properly. Once the first road salting of the year comes, I park the Jag in the garage and it doesn't run for something on the order of 4 months, until I have reason to believe that the last salt of the year has come and it's been washed away. I just put it in the garage, park it, and then look fondly at it for the next few months. It hasn't caused me problems yet. In the summer, the truck will sit usually for weeks at a time between use (sometimes over a month) since I'm driving the Jag. I do nothing special to prep the car, other than make sure I've taken the thing on a good, long drive to get all the water out of the oil. Then I'll put a charger on it once every now and then.

That said, having a spare car is nice, but I've found probably unnecessary. I keep two because I need the truck for a number of things I do (and to get up my driveway in the winter), and then the Jag is my toy. If I was more logical, I'd just keep the truck and drive it, but the Jag puts a good smile on my face. :)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
It wasn't that long ago that I was a 17 year old new driver. While I'm sure that Ken is a responsible parent teaching his kids how to drive well, there is a lot to be said for giving your child something as a first car that isn't a luxury whatever. Personally, I'm in favor of a beater.
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Agreed. The first car should be a disposable one. By the time the Steven starts driving, the Pilot will have 120K miles on it and will be worth about $5K. That's pretty close to disposable when it comes to price, but it's in good shape and will probably still be reliable then.

Ted DuPuis said:
The real question if you leave it down at the beach house is are you going to need it there. In other words, it makes sense if you're going to fly down or when you go down you'll travel in one car but need two cars, but otherwise what's the need?
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We have pretty much concluded that sitting a car at the beach house doesn't make sense, even when we fly back and forth. The money tied up in the car will pay for a rental car a whole bunch of times, and then you don't have to worry about batteries and such.
 
Ken Ibold said:
...We have pretty much concluded that sitting a car at the beach house doesn't make sense, even when we fly back and forth. The money tied up in the car will pay for a rental car a whole bunch of times, and then you don't have to worry about batteries and such.
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IMO, that's only because you think car is a new one from Deutschland.

Mine are near or sub-$1000, on the border the the land of "anything that runs is worth $1000," and my liability insurance on all 3 is under $900 a year. The only maintenance after the additional $1000 "get it in shape" pain is oil changes. Parking one would therefore cost me maybe $400 a year, or about a week of car rental.

That said, I rented the PT cruiser to drive to Gastons because at the time I couldn't trust any of them. :rolleyes2: A cross country trip through the Ozarks is a bit more of a stringent requirement than a putt around car at the summer home.

For example, I'd park one at a train station, if allowed, if I got into that kind of work commute situation.
 
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Ken Ibold said:
Agreed. The first car should be a disposable one.
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Amen. I was teaching my daughter to drive and she managed to total my Volvo 240 wagon with 198,000 miles on it. Actually it wasn't her fault... I was in the car so I know. The other driver ran a red light as confirmed by many witnesses. But could a more experienced driver have anticipated that and taken evasive action? We'll never know. The Volvo did its job and gave its all, and the family didn't receive a scratch.

-Skip
 
Ken Ibold said:
Agreed. The first car should be a disposable one. By the time the Steven starts driving, the Pilot will have 120K miles on it and will be worth about $5K. That's pretty close to disposable when it comes to price, but it's in good shape and will probably still be reliable then.
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Yep, that's pretty disposable. My first car was 18 years old and had 130,000 miles on it, and I rebuilt it. But I doubt your kids are as interested in rebuilding cars as I am/was.

We have pretty much concluded that sitting a car at the beach house doesn't make sense, even when we fly back and forth. The money tied up in the car will pay for a rental car a whole bunch of times, and then you don't have to worry about batteries and such.
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Yeah, I have to agree with that. My mom and I have talked about getting her some sort of car so she could drive out here (other than the fact that I've prohibited her from driving), but the truth is she spends more time in Europe than visiting me, and that wouldn't change just because she had a car. It's far cheaper to rent for the use she'd need, even getting on the Mike plan of $1000 cars.
 
My remote airport car is a 1991 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon, and it may be the best car I own... it is, for sure, the best $2,000.00 car in the known universe.

It sleeps at the airport, solar panel in the window, waiting for the next time it can be of service. Great car.
 
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