When's the estimate the car inventory returns to more normal levels? I am just browsing, and while I can find at least some in the vast Phoenix metro that match searches, it does seem rather limited. And of course, dealers are using that against you by telling you that it's the only model on their lot that has matched your criteria for make/model/trim, so come quick!

It’ll be awhile after all the chips get shipped, cars get delivered, and the apparently inelastic demand gets filled and the associated ripples move through the market.

So awhile.

April at the earliest if everything else goes right.

:arrow:GO CHIEFS!:arrow:

Yeah I heard next summer/fall.

Dang that’s crazy.

Honest opinion, is it better to buy new currently? I’m finding the price of a new car is almost identical to a lightly used one of the same model that’s 1-2 years old.

General maintenance question. Overall question is can dealership see if I’ve had work done by independent mechanic?

We have a 2016 Mazda CX-9 with 37k miles. The regular maintenance recommendations see very limited and that concerns me.

1. Lifetime transmission fluid in Skyactiv engines. Only change if car is submerged or needs transmission repair.
2. No mention of changing brake fluid at all.
3. Coolant replacement at 120k miles or 10 years.

Thoughts on these concerns? I feel like cheap preventative maintenance such as these is just smart to do. We want the car to last 5+ more years.

If I was to avoid the dealership to have the brake fluid and coolant changed by my independent mechanic, could the dealership find that out easily and void the remaining warranty we have on the car?

To answer your question, no.

But I wouldn't **** with it. I had an 06 pontiac that had a sealed transmission. That's like literally not a thing, unless you're operating outside of the engineered parameters.

I've never, ever heard of anyone wanting to drain and replace brake fluid, sure add more if they leak or you have to replace a cylinder, but that isn't a thing.

We talked about my position on coolant.

Machines and materials are better these days. They just are.

DONT touch the trans fluid. The brake, if the color is good and level I’d fine leave alone. The coolant is the only thing I’d play with.

You fine gentleman are outstanding. I think my thinking might be more old school where you replaced all the fluids every 30k or 3 years: power steering, brake, coolant and transmission. It's just not needed on these sealed systems anymore, is it? So lifetime transmission fluid is a thing, huh?

So I won't touch the transmission or brake fluid then. The brake fluid is super clean and I clean the engine compartment sporadically and this car is garaged.

The coolant looks super clean as well so maybe I will just leave until the 10 year mark like it suggests. It says change at 10 years or 120k miles, and after that every 60k or 5 years.

Here's the maintenance schedule for reference.

Looks like only thing I'm coming up on is spark plugs. The car has electric power steering so no fluid there.

Here’s the suggested maintenance. Everything look ok? Some people claim that they don’t recommend changing fluids as often anymore is just companies trying to cut down on waste and that you should be doing it anyway. Or claiming that they don’t recommend it because it helps buyers think a car is almost maintenance free and they hope you don’t keep your car that long for much of it to matter, or if you do, lack of basic maintenance, since it’s not recommended, will wear out your car faster so you have to buy a new one. (Internet forum talk on these points).
https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/...e-schedule.pdf

Yep, if thats your market those lightly used ones, might as well buy new, value is better in the current market, especially if you qualify for APR incentives etc. In some cases you might end up paying more for a slightly used.

It's an old car thing, mostly.

Cars that use rubber hoses in their brake systems, especially those in bad weather. Moisture can actually seep into the rubber components of brake systems, even though DOT 3-5 can't seep out. When that moisture seeps in, it creates steam in the brake system as the moisture just builds up. That can cause gumming of the brake fluid in cars that aren't used regularly.

Wife had a 2007 VW Rabbit before we got married. Lifetime trans fluid. I've been around cars my whole life and was skeptical, but I wasn't going to mess with the warranty and washed my hands of it. Turns out that 6 or 7 years later VW changed their mind and suddenly was recommending a 75k ish change interval. Car already had 100k+ so I did it at that time. Point is, lifetime fluids is a really, really high engineering bar. I'm still skeptical, but I do agree with not messing around under the warranty.

Spot on because I’m noticing this. Cash off ($750) for a new car, plus my 800 credit score could possibly land me 0% interest on a new ride. The used is priced almost similar but no incentives. Weird times!

Yeah. And if you think about it, old cars aren’t really that old in the lifecycle of internal combustion.

Ford started making the model T in 1908 and didn’t stop until 1927. Shit wasn’t changing too fast early on. Cars didn’t really get competitive until after WWII. Shit didn’t happen during the depression and rations were on during the war. Cars got competitive ( which bred innovation) post ‘45. Then you look at a 69 mustang or Camaro that’s really only 25 years after things really started moving. And after the 70s, when they all got killed for reliability, they really started to push engineering standards.

So the “golden age” muscle cars that gear heads love (because they ****ing rule, let’s be real here) is like owning a Motorola startac. Yes, it was infinitely better than bag phones or the Zach Morris phones but today’s cars are like iPhones.

Shits weird man