The :baby: :baby: :baby: chronicles

[Johnny_P]

Yeah the CRV lost a lot in the last year too. All cars did.

Sucks man. Not sure what the play is. If you’re going to keep it I’d do all of the recommended work. If you’re going to fix it and dump it then yeah as cheap as possible to stop the leaks.

How bad is the rust? Everything else sounds manageable. But rust will kill a vehicle.
Also the transmission. Hondas aren’t known for durable automatics. If that’s acting up then nope.

[max225]

Sorry bro I'd just track all of the maintenance and see what it's really costing you over all per month. Still probably a lot less than interest/depreciation on a new van.

It 100% depends on how you look at it. I have, without question, spent WAY more money by buying this one used than I would have had I sold the GR86 back in 2022 and bought a new Odyssey at the time. I paid $17k OTD for this one, and I've put $4k into it in maintenance and repairs already. $2k of that was the timing belt job I knew it would need when I bought it, so it's more like $19k OTD and $2k into maintenance & repairs. But that's before the repairs it needs right now.

I rode two depreciation curves down from 2022 until now instead of one. I'm into the Odyssey for $21k+, and private party I could maybe get $10k for it. On trade I'd bet it's worth about $6k. I had a trade offer from the Honda dealership for the GR86 of $37k at the time, now it's worth maybe $29k.

I've lit essentially $20k on fire in 18 months for the privilege of driving the GR86 3,000 miles. Had I bought a new Odyssey then, I bet I'd have lost $10k at most over that same amount of time, and I'd be well on my way toward having that paid for.

None of that matters now, though. What matters is what to do from here, and to your point, I'm sure keeping it would still be cheaper than going out and buying something else now. I've already taken the beating on depreciation, now it's just maintenance, repairs, and the misery of driving and looking at the thing. There's also the fact that we are a one car payment household (at most), and so there would be no weekend car until the replacement is paid for.

Was a new Odyssey even available ?! Vans turned into some sort of unobtanium shitshow back then in my recollection and honderp dealers we asking for markup and or stupid accessories and “paint protection”

That would have been a 50k van post tax easy if not 55k new

[coogles]

Was a new Odyssey even available ?! Vans turned into some sort of unobtanium shitshow back then in my recollection and honderp dealers we asking for markup and or stupid accessories and “paint protection”

That would have been a 50k van post tax easy if not 55k new

I had a new '22 EX-L at MSRP reserved. Would've been $42k, and with the $37k trade offer on the GR86, I only would have had to pay sales tax on ~$5k of that purchase price.

[max225]

Was a new Odyssey even available ?! Vans turned into some sort of unobtanium shitshow back then in my recollection and honderp dealers we asking for markup and or stupid accessories and “paint protection”

That would have been a 50k van post tax easy if not 55k new

I had a new '22 EX-L at MSRP reserved. Would've been $42k, and with the $37k trade offer on the GR86, I only would have had to pay sales tax on ~$5k of that purchase price.

Interesting 20+ local honda dealers here were not willing to at all back in 22... They are back to reality now but it was really brutal back then. I mean yea the rest sort of makes sense... cars depreciate unfortunately. Especially now. I am starting to hear trade in values are dipping like crazy for Tacomas for ex. One forum breh had a 43k msrp truck (fancy color and interesting spec) that would have been 39-40k on trade all day in 23... and the dealer just hit him with a 28k trade quote...

[coogles]

I had a new '22 EX-L at MSRP reserved. Would've been $42k, and with the $37k trade offer on the GR86, I only would have had to pay sales tax on ~$5k of that purchase price.

Interesting 20+ local honda dealers here were not willing to at all back in 22... They are back to reality now but it was really brutal back then. I mean yea the rest sort of makes sense... cars depreciate unfortunately. Especially now. I am starting to hear trade in values are dipping like crazy for Tacomas for ex. One forum breh had a 43k msrp truck (fancy color and interesting spec) that would have been 39-40k on trade all day in 23... and the dealer just hit him with a 28k trade quote...

Midwest flyover country vs California. It makes a difference.

[D Griff]

Interesting 20+ local honda dealers here were not willing to at all back in 22... They are back to reality now but it was really brutal back then. I mean yea the rest sort of makes sense... cars depreciate unfortunately. Especially now. I am starting to hear trade in values are dipping like crazy for Tacomas for ex. One forum breh had a 43k msrp truck (fancy color and interesting spec) that would have been 39-40k on trade all day in 23... and the dealer just hit him with a 28k trade quote...

Midwest flyover country vs California. It makes a difference.

when I was shopping 86s there were a few at MSRP in Indiana but they didn’t want to sell out of state at the time (which honestly made sense then). There was an allocation available in IN at MSRP for another orange one for a couple months, I think it painted the sales guy and me every time we talked and I couldn’t get it. Meanwhile everywhere on the East Coast was $5-10k over even on just regular GR86 Premiums.

Best deal I got this side of the country was my Mississippi dummies, but they still charged $1k markup and $500ish of dumb ass accessories.

[D Griff]

I had a new '22 EX-L at MSRP reserved. Would've been $42k, and with the $37k trade offer on the GR86, I only would have had to pay sales tax on ~$5k of that purchase price.

Interesting 20+ local honda dealers here were not willing to at all back in 22... They are back to reality now but it was really brutal back then. I mean yea the rest sort of makes sense... cars depreciate unfortunately. Especially now. I am starting to hear trade in values are dipping like crazy for Tacomas for ex. One forum breh had a 43k msrp truck (fancy color and interesting spec) that would have been 39-40k on trade all day in 23... and the dealer just hit him with a 28k trade quote...

Yep, gravy train is over, it’s both good and bad. Carvana/dealership letter offers on our :Jeep: went from high 30s in 2022 to mid 20s.

[J-Ho-Fo-Show69]

Interesting 20+ local honda dealers here were not willing to at all back in 22... They are back to reality now but it was really brutal back then. I mean yea the rest sort of makes sense... cars depreciate unfortunately. Especially now. I am starting to hear trade in values are dipping like crazy for Tacomas for ex. One forum breh had a 43k msrp truck (fancy color and interesting spec) that would have been 39-40k on trade all day in 23... and the dealer just hit him with a 28k trade quote...

Yep, gravy train is over, it’s both good and bad. Carvana/dealership letter offers on our :Jeep: went from high 30s in 2022 to mid 20s.

I walked into a Toyota dealership before getting the cawk, they marked up the 4Runner over $20k!!

Guy was trying to talk me into ordering some 4Runner off road, then having them add on to it at the dealership to make it a TurdPro, for the same price the TurdPro was supposed to be at MSRP.

That time was insanity. Car defaults are on the rise and the increased supply will tank that used car market.

Funny enough I was curious during Covid what it took to get my dealers license. You get access to all the police auctions, etc. the NC rules and regs were something else man. I was like even if I pass the test, I need a retail front where I keep files, with signage of the business somewhere. And a list of other shit so I was like not worth the extra $500.

I just wanted it for my personal reasons.

Anyway. Wish I would waited to buy the GC until now, but it was time for Kats CompASS to move on. Although I will say, that thing was a testimate to jeeps quality. It literally took a beating and kept on ticking.

[coogles]

Whelp, the van is fixed. The shop just ended up doing the top half as requested. Cost was $410 versus ~$240 to do it myself, but a) I don't have time, and b) It's nice to know they inspected the bottom half after it was all cleaned up and confirmed there's no additional leak. No new spots on the driveway after the overnight park, either. So far so good.

Next up is new shocks. I'll need an impact and a second jack for the job, but there's about a $350 difference between their estimate and the cost for the shocks alone, so in a way I can buy some tools for free.

[CaleDeRoo]

Dude math FTW

[SAWCE]

Next up is new shocks. I'll need an impact and a second jack for the job, but there's about a $350 difference between their estimate and the cost for the shocks alone, so in a way I can buy some tools for free.

This is the proper way to

[coogles]

Next up is new shocks. I'll need an impact and a second jack for the job, but there's about a $350 difference between their estimate and the cost for the shocks alone, so in a way I can buy some tools for free.

This is the proper way to

[Johnny_P]

Whelp, the van is fixed. The shop just ended up doing the top half as requested. Cost was $410 versus ~$240 to do it myself, but a) I don't have time, and b) It's nice to know they inspected the bottom half after it was all cleaned up and confirmed there's no additional leak. No new spots on the driveway after the overnight park, either. So far so good.

Next up is new shocks. I'll need an impact and a second jack for the job, but there's about a $350 difference between their estimate and the cost for the shocks alone, so in a way I can buy some tools for free.

Shocks aren’t too difficult to DIY if you have the time.

[max225]

I helped my buddy do the shocks on his 155k mile quest he sunk $4500 into… the shocks were $110. The quote was $450 parts and labor … we did it in 45min for both sides.

Most van rear shocks are quite easy. There is no “time” excuse as driving to - from shop and waiting etc takes more time than this job. But I can see some vans having tough to access top mounts … which would be toughest part of the job.

[MexicanYarisTK]

It 100% depends on how you look at it. I have, without question, spent WAY more money by buying this one used than I would have had I sold the GR86 back in 2022 and bought a new Odyssey at the time. I paid $17k OTD for this one, and I've put $4k into it in maintenance and repairs already. $2k of that was the timing belt job I knew it would need when I bought it, so it's more like $19k OTD and $2k into maintenance & repairs. But that's before the repairs it needs right now.

I rode two depreciation curves down from 2022 until now instead of one. I'm into the Odyssey for $21k+, and private party I could maybe get $10k for it. On trade I'd bet it's worth about $6k. I had a trade offer from the Honda dealership for the GR86 of $37k at the time, now it's worth maybe $29k.

I've lit essentially $20k on fire in 18 months for the privilege of driving the GR86 3,000 miles. Had I bought a new Odyssey then, I bet I'd have lost $10k at most over that same amount of time, and I'd be well on my way toward having that paid for.

None of that matters now, though. What matters is what to do from here, and to your point, I'm sure keeping it would still be cheaper than going out and buying something else now. I've already taken the beating on depreciation, now it's just maintenance, repairs, and the misery of driving and looking at the thing. There's also the fact that we are a one car payment household (at most), and so there would be no weekend car until the replacement is paid for.

Was a new Odyssey even available ?! Vans turned into some sort of unobtanium shitshow back then in my recollection and honderp dealers we asking for markup and or stupid accessories and “paint protection”

That would have been a 50k van post tax easy if not 55k new

When my cousins dad bought his wife the new crv hybrid, he literally went nope to all the extras (wheel tire protection, paint protection where you could do it a lot cheaper 1/5th of the price elsewhere, cause he knows they get commission for it. He when he noticed he gotten annoyed that my cousin dad did not eat it up.

[D Griff]

I helped my buddy do the shocks on his 155k mile quest he sunk $4500 into… the shocks were $110. The quote was $450 parts and labor … we did it in 45min for both sides.

Most van rear shocks are quite easy. There is no “time” excuse as driving to - from shop and waiting etc takes more time than this job. But I can see some vans having tough to access top mounts … which would be toughest part of the job.

It’s pretty well documented here that everything takes me like 4X the time the internet claims things take but I still find DIY is typically less work than dealing with ‘pros’.

[D Griff]

Whelp, the van is fixed. The shop just ended up doing the top half as requested. Cost was $410 versus ~$240 to do it myself, but a) I don't have time, and b) It's nice to know they inspected the bottom half after it was all cleaned up and confirmed there's no additional leak. No new spots on the driveway after the overnight park, either. So far so good.

Next up is new shocks. I'll need an impact and a second jack for the job, but there's about a $350 difference between their estimate and the cost for the shocks alone, so in a way I can buy some tools for free.

Glad the van let you do the cheaper option.

I got a Milwaukee impact, it’s quite I wish I’d been rich enough to get it back when I actually worked on cars all the time.

[coogles]

Glad the van let you do the cheaper option.

I got a Milwaukee impact, it’s quite I wish I’d been rich enough to get it back when I actually worked on cars all the time.

I already have some Milwaukee stuff and a couple batteries, so that's probably what I'll do. The Harbor Freight stuff would probably come out cheaper even with having to buy a battery and charger, but I don't need multiple lines of batteries and chargers all over the place. The little cheap Pittsburgh jack to compress the suspension and get the mounting holes lined up will do just fine, though.

Next paycheck.

[D Griff]

I have a Shittsburgh heavy duty low profile floor jack and it's awesome. I would skip their powah tools if you have the money to do so. I mean, they are perfectly adequate if is required, I've owned a Drillmaster, Shitcago sawzall, some other stuff, but in time it all burns out if you do a bigger job.

[coogles]

I never posted up after getting the spool valve fixed, but that did seem to resolve the leak. Once I cleaned off the cradle it's been dry since, and no new stains on the driveway.

Just ordered the other two trim trim pieces I needed for the driver's side doors and new rear shocks. Once those things are done I think (hope?) it should be good for awhile.

[D Griff]

I never posted up after getting the spool valve fixed, but that did seem to resolve the leak. Once I cleaned off the cradle it's been dry since, and no new stains on the driveway.

Just ordered the other two trim trim pieces I needed for the driver's side doors and new rear shocks. Once those things are done I think (hope?) it should be good for awhile.

[coogles]

I never posted up after getting the spool valve fixed, but that did seem to resolve the leak. Once I cleaned off the cradle it's been dry since, and no new stains on the driveway.

Just ordered the other two trim trim pieces I needed for the driver's side doors and new rear shocks. Once those things are done I think (hope?) it should be good for awhile.

It's kind of a pile, but at least it's a cheap and paid off pile.

[Johnny_P]

You guys have an Atlas too, right? What's your assessment on that vehicle versus the van if you're only using the first two rows regularly? How it drives, ease of use, MPG, etc type daily use.

[coogles]

You guys have an Atlas too, right? What's your assessment on that vehicle versus the van if you're only using the first two rows regularly? How it drives, ease of use, MPG, etc type daily use.

Oh dude it's not close. If you're stopping at two crotchfruit, go with the Atlas.

We've had ours since June or so of 2019 and it's been just awesome. Ours is the VR6 4MOTION SE w/tech package, which consisted of I believe radar cruise and blind spot monitoring. In our 57k miles it had to go in once for a recall on a batch of bad ball joints, and once to have the heat shield around the converter replaced. It was buzzing a bit at certain RPMs/loads but the replacement fixed that. I've heard some other Atlases making the same noise so that seems to be a pretty common thing, but it doesn't hurt anything, it's just mildly annoying. Other than that it's been flawless and received only the normal 5k services.

Just like all MQB cars I've heard the sunroofs can be problematic - the drain plugs can get clogged causing interior leaks. The pano roof is really but we opted to go without a sunroof. Sometimes I wish we had it, but we plan on keeping this thing for 10-12 years and so we figured for long-term ownership it'd be best to go without one. The only feature the SE w/tech trim is missing that I really wish it had is memory seats. Other than that, it has everything you need. Oh, and I wish you had the option of using standard cruise control if you want to. In this car it's either radar cruise or nothing.

In terms of driving and tech the Atlas is just great. Some reviews say the VR6 is underwhelming but I find it to be a really pleasant thing, and with the 8 speed trans it's always got plenty of power for me. You can tell it shares a platform with the MK7 GTI when you drive it, it has a very familiar feel. 4MOTION seems to apply power to the back pretty readily as well, in the snow it'll kick the tail out really quickly if you don't put it in snow mode, but it's super easy to control. I was drifting it around several weeks ago like I would my STi and was genuinely having a good time.

On dry pavement I'd almost call it sporty. It's no GTI, but compared to the minivan it sure feels like one. The 20s comes with 255 width rubber, which is nice for a car this big. It turns in well, doesn't complain, and doesn't roll excessively. It handles sharp impacts well, the only area I'd log a small complaint is in the kind of whumps that can produce secondary body motions. It feels slightly underdamped sometimes, so you'll get that second up and down motion occasionally, but it isn't bad. It's done this from new, so it isn't an issue of the shocks being worn out, and for me it isn't at all a deal-breaker.

The tech is great, very typical of last-gen VW. Easy to get in and use in 30 seconds. No adjustment period, it's intuitive and uncluttered, just perfect IMO.

It gets better MPGs than the Odyssey but it isn't a huge difference. The Odyssey gets surprisingly bad gas mileage. I track every fillup because I'm a nerd like that, and I've averaged 19.6mpg combined. I think that's been impacted by two things, one being the VCM delete I installed (https://www.vcmtuner.com/products/copy- ... 8651827359), and the other being the tires. It had some eco-focused tires before, but they were downright dangerous in snow, so I installed some snow peak rated Vredesteins that seem to be a bit less efficient. A worthwhile tradeoff, but a tradeoff nonetheless. I'd guess the Atlas does 1-3mpg better in all scenarios.

Get one!!

[Johnny_P]

20 on the van is pretty bad but I guess it’s a rolling shipping container. Weird the atlas does better on fuel.

Did you test a 2.0T one or just the VR6? I wonder how laggy that motor feels in something this large.

Not surprising that it drives better than it should. Nice to hear. And I keep reading that they don’t really feel slow with the 6 cyl motor. Used ones are pretty decently priced, certainly lower than a pilot or highlander, and seem large enough.

Thanks for the input!