Too many "cheap car" problems... Selling the G
After about 9 or 10 trips to the dealer in the past 2 months and plenty of heartache I think I'm reluctantly deciding to sell my 2005 G35x. She was a beauty in her time, but that time was short and sweet lasting only 10,000 miles. I really wanted to love this car, I was patient and persistent, but in the end it was the aggregation of all the minor problems that drove me mad.
Squeak, rattle, creak, pop... I bought a car not a box of Rice Krispies. For over $30K this car should not be making a peep, and the fact that it wasn't when I first bought it makes me never want to buy a new car again... ALWAYS buy a used car, this way you know what you're getting, its been used and perhaps abused, but all its faults are brought to the surface by then.
A sad story indeed, but I've reached my limit. These problems may be acceptable to some, but I am the kind of guy that takes pride in the car I drive and the love of driving, and this car has stripped me of that.
Granted many of the problems have been fixed... but they have been fixed over and over again. The cost cutting evident in this car will always come back to haunt me and I just can't deal with that.
The only question left is - what next? I am already breaking the bank to pay for the car and I don't want to lose too much money in selling it. It is in IMMACULATE condition apart from the occasional body creak (finally seems to have been fixed for the most part after the 3rd attempt), the dash / sunroof pop or rattle that I know you all hear every now and then, and a steering wheel creak that comes to play in freezing weather. I waxed this car every week up until a month or two ago when it became too cold to do so, and I care for the inerior religiously. So now my question is - Where should I sell it and how much can I get for it? It has around 10,500 miles and is fully loaded except for the GPS system. I was thinking ebay motors, but I don't have a reputation built up on ebay so I'm not sure I would be able to get a good price there.
Now if I do sell it, I'm still left without a car. Without question I still need one, and without question it will be a used one. But what car? I don't want to hear anything from it, I don't care if the engine explodes after I drive it off the lot, if I hear a single squeak or creak i'm going to set the thing on fire. I have a lot of experience with Audi. I drove a 91 A8 back in the day and it exemplified what a quiet cabin should "sound" like. The problems started coming in around 150K miles, but I suppose a 150K mile life span is alright for a car. I was thinking of a used S4, but I'm unsure of its track record. I want a car with the fewest problems... and if that means a Honda or Toyota then I guess I'm going to have to do some soul searching to see what I really care about more - look or reliability.
Sorry for the long post. I would love to hear any comments or recommendations from the audience.
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I've bought 3 new vehicles in the past 18 months. A 2004 Accord EX-V6, an 05 Silverado and an 05 G35. I've had some sort of problem or frustration with each one! The Honda being the worst by far (major lemon). The Silverado is actually the best with rattles, not one yet.
