maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
My plan, at the moment is to buy out the lease but we'll see. 3 years from now is far enough away that nothing is going to be written in stone.
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The Car Thread ... !
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MacBH928
macrumors G3
which year model is it? was it reliable? i have this idea that chevrolet are junk. They tell me american cars are built different now but i still have a stigma from early 2000s.
chevrolet It used to be a household name back in the day but now they are probably just a modified GMC truck with a different label.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
It was a 2021 Chevy Colorado Z71 and it was a solid truck, that was largely defect free. the issue that I think many of us car owners face is the ever increasing cost to repair and the age of the vehicle was such that I was facing some issues that will happen regardless if you're driving an Audi or a Chevy.
What largely bothered me the most is that so many of the typical repair/maintenance things are over a grand and that's crazy. I was on borrowed time on one item - the thermostat was needing replacement and if I went to the dealership, that repair was very expensive. The muffler was starting to go, nothing surprising after being in the salty air for 6 years but would run me over a grand easy. The scheduled maintenance were in the pricier categories as I was approaching 60k of miles.
Basically, it was cheaper for me to trade this in, get a lease and have low car payments, a brand new warranty and lower my monthly payment which was an added bonus. Will I buy out this lease in 3 years? Maybe, I don't know what the future holds, but its on my radar to do that.
I have to disagree with that sentiment. I probably would have gotten another Colorado had there been better incentives, but at the time, brand, or the dealership were not that hungry for a sale (it seems).
When I was looking to get a new truck, I was comparing Chevy, with honda, Toyota, and Ford. Toyota has a great reputation, but the price was high. Fords (At the time) didn't sell a midrange truck, their smallest model was the F150, something I didn't want. Honda was good, but they were not leasing them at the time - crazy. The chevy was a solid truck, and for the price, I got a ton of great features that the Toyota couldn't touch at the same price point.
AustinIllini
macrumors G5
Don't confuse Chevrolet cars with Chevrolet trucks. Chevrolet trucks are brilliant and reliable.
I had its brother the GMC Canyon around that same time and it was a really nice truck. Never had any trouble with it other than maintenance items.
MacBH928
macrumors G3
i'd call that brand new for a car, you can get a warranty on cars for 5 years. As for maintenance, $1000 is crazy. I have decade old toyotas , mostly oil and filter replacement 😆
That is what i am looking for. I am not looking for the horror story of a friend who was told to replace his mostly new porsche break pads for $2k IIRC. Cars should not break down and if they do the repair should be cheap, if its going to cost me couple of grand every few months or so they might as well put them on a "subscription" model.
I must say the entry model has a very attractive price point in these crazy inflated economy. The price of ~$33K is near 2000s prices!
Honda is an interesting choice as it seems to be dropping in populairty. Honda truck is a weird specimen. I just checked it seems like a US only model to meet american high demand for trucks.
Note: I checked colorado engine and I found it more than funny that their website tried hard to hide how many cylinders it was. turned out to be 4 🤣 now i know why. Was the compartment quiet? in my mind 4 cylinders is weak and noisey
MacBH928
macrumors G3
i usually go by brand name not specific models. there is a reason why a brand name has its own price!
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
That's fine, I'm not talking about oil changes, but the maintenance work that revolves around the engine, that occurs in the 40k, 50k, and 60k mile ranges.
Here in the US, you largely get 3 years or 36,000 miles, which coincidentally is my lease term. I won't disagree, but also by the same token, its largely less expensive for me to run with this Jeep for the next 3 years then it would have been for the truck.
Meh, mine was a 6 cylinder. Also people look at the window sticker for the specs. 2.7L turbo pretty much describes a a 4 cylinder. Maybe its my generation, or maybe its my location but we go to the dealerships to view, the cars, take test drives, and that's when we find out what the details
Why? Most of the popular midrange trucks in 2026 are sporting a 4 cylinder engine (Chevy, Ford, Toyota)
No louder then any other truck I've driven.
Now my jeep has a 4 cylinder turbo engine, as well, Not sure why you keep trying to throw shade at the Chevy, it was a great truck, that getting a new vehicle made more financial sense. While this jeep is great, my initial intention was to another Chevy Colorado because it was a great truck.
At the end of the day, I got a great Jeep, I love the color, and the size, the fact its a soft top. I'm looking forward to driving this in the summer, winter and doing some winter camping in the woods with it
MacBH928
macrumors G3
I will not argue with your calculations. Surely you made the better financial choice but in my mind paying out right for a car then hardly any maintenance (toyota) should set you free and relaxed for a long time about your vehicle without having to worry about fixes.
I did a research and it seems like the Colorado lease is around $300-500/month. Thats a crazy good price even cheaper than renting i think (just checked rent is like ~$1000). With a deal like this, everyone should be leasing because with ~$500/month you will forever have a new 0 maintenance fees car.
in the automotive world, 4 cylinder is tied to economy low tier cars like toyota corolla and honda civic. to claim your truck is a 4 cylinder you will be the joke of the town. Its a consumer perspective kind of thing. Kind of like saying a luxury car have a roll up windows.
i always fancied a single door convertible wrangler but the prices are $50K where I am 💀
maybe just rent will do. A chinese knockoff called BAIC BJ40 is selling for about $30K 🤣
AustinIllini
macrumors G5
Anyone on here have VWs or more specifically the MK3 era cars? Still some of my favorite designs in VWs history
Been over 10 years since I picked up this 1994 VW Jetta from Seattle and drove it back to MN with a friend. At the time it only had 99,000 miles on it, and was in a neglected state, but to this day still has 100% original paint, Well besides the grill I repainted. I am still pulling pine needles out of this thing from its tenure in Washington State!
It is a quite uncommon, as it was the last year, and only trim (GLX VR6) Jetta sedan ever imported to the US from Germany (All others were from Mexico). We did get the Cabrio from that era that was German built, later Golfs, and Jetta Wagons, but this was the last year of the sedan, and only at the GLX VR6 trim level.
Fun little shooter, has a VR6 engine and some adult mods to bring back some highschool era nostalgia when I decide I need to make a bit more noise 😉
Been over 10 years since I picked up this 1994 VW Jetta from Seattle and drove it back to MN with a friend. At the time it only had 99,000 miles on it, and was in a neglected state, but to this day still has 100% original paint, Well besides the grill I repainted. I am still pulling pine needles out of this thing from its tenure in Washington State!
It is a quite uncommon, as it was the last year, and only trim (GLX VR6) Jetta sedan ever imported to the US from Germany (All others were from Mexico). We did get the Cabrio from that era that was German built, later Golfs, and Jetta Wagons, but this was the last year of the sedan, and only at the GLX VR6 trim level.
Fun little shooter, has a VR6 engine and some adult mods to bring back some highschool era nostalgia when I decide I need to make a bit more noise 😉
diamond.g
macrumors G5
I had a MK6 Golf TDI with a tune from unitronic. VW bought it back from me, which I kind of regret.
MacBH928
macrumors G3
I am more surprised that thing could go for a 24hr drive. I have this idea in my head that small cars with small engines will overheat after running for some hours.
I never saw the appeal of VW. It feels like the European corolla. Looks decent, everything is fine, but nothing that pushes me to buy it. I think it indeed is "The People's Car". nothing fancy here.
This pushed me to look at what made this not so popular brand being able to acquire a conglomerate of brands like porshe, audi, Lamborghini, Scania trucks and more. Only to find out the collective of it is only worth a market cap of of ~$45B. In comparison Toyota was close to ~$240B 😲 but the real shocker was the top car manufacturer is Tesla at $1.XT , BYD (~$140B), and Xiaomi (~$95B) 💀 new companies with hardly any models you see on the road vs century old brands.
Where does that idea come from? I took my old E30 through four countries a few days ago. Was cruising at like 80-100mph all day long. Why would it overheat?
VW is nothing fancy, but it is a heck of a lot of better experience than a Toyota which is truly a a2b car brand. It's inoffensive, opposed to Toyota which is just cheap and uber.
MacBH928
macrumors G3
I just have this idea in my mind that a 4-cylinder 190hp car will be chocking after an 8hr ride compared to an 8 cylinder 400hp one.
Further more, a 20-30yr old model like yours will probably have something malfunction mid road if stressed so much.
true, and ill assume it comes with a higher price tag?
though modern corollas are seriously awesome, looks premium.
how corolla used to look like (2002):––––––How it looks today (2025)––––– compared to Jetta (2025)
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August West
macrumors 6502a
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
Whelp, my 2026 Jeep Wrangler Willys that produces 270 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque managed some long-ish (4+ hour) road trips so far and wasn't chocking (not sure what chocking is, but it definitely wasn't chocking 😛 ) By the way, its horsepower rating is not terribly behind my old chevy colorado (6 cylinder) at 308 horsepower and 275 lb-ft of torque
You seem to have an uneducated/misguided opinion of modern day 4 cylinder engines.
Herdfan
macrumors 68000
Ford and GM (Chevrolet/GMC) trucks and truck based vehicles are generally built better than their lower end cars and SUV's. Both have issues (Ford with cam phasers in the 3.5, GM with the 6.2's in general), and both are still way better than anything Stellantis (JCDR) is currently producing.
Toyota is still King, Honda is Queen.
Herdfan
macrumors 68000
You can get a 2.7 V6 in a Ranger. It is a very stout, well-built engine. Probably 2nd behind the 5.0/5.2 V8 Coyote.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
Spent the day driving with the with the top down, got a bit a sun and at times it was a tad uncomfortable. Sitting in traffic, sun beating down and the temps in the 90s. There are some aspects of the truck, I miss, but overall the Jeep is such a fun vehicle to drive. I'll probably have the top down yet again.
Apple fanboy
macrumors Ivy Bridge
Plus you look more cool with a surfboard poking out the top of a jeep than lying in the back of the truck.
MacBH928
macrumors G3
typo , 2025
you are no near the type of cars i am talking about. I am talking more like a suzuki vitara that is 130hp 4 cylinder
you would be correct. my information is from early 2000s where 4 cylinders was a weak, rough, and shaky ride.
which would you call more fun to drive? wrangler or chevy truck?
MacBH928
macrumors G3
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
Fair enough, the market has seemingly changed here in the US at least where car manufacturers have been putting 4 bangers in more and more vehicles. The thing that I think helped in the jeep situation is that its not just a 4 cylinder but a turbo. I can merge on to the highway in the jeep, just as fast as I could with the truck.
back in the early 2000s I owned a Saturn, and while that was an all around good car, the 4 cylinder was horrible on the highway. You had to floor it, and pray a semi-truck wasn't barreling down the road behind you. It took far too long to get up to speed. Not so with the jeep.
I also will say I'm sure I'm exhibiting Confirmation Bias where I'm providing details that prove their favorite choice is right 🙂
The jeep on nearly every metric. The tighter turning radius makes it's handling better, the larger ties can deal with off roading better (I have yet to do that), the suspension, and off road package makes it so much more capable. The soft top allows me to drive without the top. Hell, I can even take the doors off if I want too.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
I've been mulling my comment about which is more fun, my old truck or my Jeep. I think overall the truck served a very different purpose, in many respects it was a vehicle that was bought, and used for its utility. I had a soft top on it, so I could camp in the bed of the truck in the winter, the bed of the truck was useful in that I was able to move things, whether to my house, or out of my house. It wasn't a work truck in the strictest sense, but it performed work tasks.
The Jeep is more of a recreational vehicle, something that is fun to drive, it has less utility. What's interesting is that with the seats folded down, I seem to have a bit more volume in the jeep then the back of the truck.
The Jeep is more of a recreational vehicle, something that is fun to drive, it has less utility. What's interesting is that with the seats folded down, I seem to have a bit more volume in the jeep then the back of the truck.