Any alternate suggestions? You keep saying to stay away but never what you would buy instead. Lol.
I would say the majority of vehicle owner never turn a single wrench on their own car. Cost may be a consideration for maintenance, sure, but if he`s already looking at premium vehicles he probably has the money to maintain them.
There`s people that are willing to pay a premium to own vehicles because of the ride quality, power, driving experience, image, etc. over the life of ownership.
i lease primarily these days.
I have have kept some cars past warranty - figuring, kinda nice not to own a car note. In one particular case, the sunroof cassette needed to be changed. Parts price alone....I did not have the patience to mess with the headliner so i subbed it to my Indy.
GOOD Indys these days are slightly lower then dealer rates and they go by book time......I can`t think of any of my very selects Indys I would use that charge by ~true labor time spent` days. Granted, I`ve used these guys for mods and such for so many yrs so I`m still getting 1st cousin pricing and not 3rd cousin. I`m sure oneheadlite can extrapolate on what the cost may be for valley pan job, or valve stem seals, or
how many hrs. it make take to change a $10 seal.....
Just saying it`s not worth it if you don`t intend to wrench the majority of your repairs IMO.
All I`ve owned for the most part are Euro`s . They drive great and from a safety standpoint, I`ve seen accidents where I know I`m like I`m glad I have XYZ in this car vs that.
I have extended family who own non Euro`s. The repair ownership experience once Out of Warranty IMO is completely different than owning a Euro...
In adding to Oneheadlites response, not in the case of JSF post, but when one buys a 2004 roundel for example, it`s probably the 3 - 5th owner at this time. 2-3 owner did not give a sh1t about ~preventative maintenance~, found it was costing too much to maintain/repair , flipped it, and by the time it`s in the hands of the 4th owner and onward, you have this huge stack of issues that either, is a gem for a weekend warrior wrencher ....and if not, a clueless owner thinking they just bought a MSRP $100,000 car for 8K but can`t afford the repairs to it.
I`m just throwing a wild absurd # but let`s say OP kept the car past 4 yrs and only did oil changes a home. Between parts and labor, he spends $2500 minimum every year at the Indy. Add in car rentals cause Indy`s don`t generally have loaners. So Let`s say $3K a year. That`s a slight conservative # figuring $70 per day on a cheap rental and let`s face it, some Indys are bad at time management even though they mean well and you the car is ready in 4-5 business days. Maybe $3K a year is reasonable for the OP. At some point a cooling system refresh. All hoses. Then we`re talking maybe 2 alternators, wp, at least 1 VCG, 2 coils, suspension refresh. The list goes on....
Flipside to that is let`s say OP decides to not use a Indy but uses the Dealer. He get`s a free loaner but now we`re talking a whole different class on budget in repairs...
Tradeoffs I suppose on where you take the car for repairs...