General STS thread

[kevm14]

Well I bought it.

Still figuring the car out but initial thoughts are I am happy with this for $5,000. MPG peaked out at 22.0 mpg before garbage traffic in Warwick that diverted the entire highway off an exit. Adding to that, there was a ridiculous amount of traffic for 11:30 pm.

Lots to talk about but again I think the value here is pretty strong. Pretty recent matched set of Continental ExtremeContact DWS which I had on the CTS-V for a week. But they feel great on this car. The handling performance of this car is pretty damn good. It also feels a lot stronger than the NJ car. Brakes feel about as good, which is good. No pull on the highway.

I think he said both front wheels are brand new, as the originals were starting to do that clear coat thing. The rears are starting that now.

Corrosion is a little worse than I'd like but overall very serviceable.

My head was never touching the ceiling so I don't know what that was about on the NJ car.

I love the driver memory stuff. I set it to tilt the steering wheel up on exit just like I do in my Caprice.

Stereo sounds pretty damn good. The 8" infotainment screen looks really contrasty and big, especially for 2005.

So far, I like this car a lot. Plenty of things to do with it of course, like maintenance activities.

More to come.

[kevm14]

I called. Nice guy. About 60. Self-admitted not really a car guy in terms of the stats and mechanicals, but he still likes a nice driving car.

Some notes from memory while they are fresh:
- Heated steering wheel does not work and the dealer kind of slime balled their way out of the warranty repair, citing that they couldn't get the part (I guess the fix is a new steering wheel?). I know this is common and I wonder about the 05 I am looking at. If a nice car has a non-functional one, that is good to know for today.

Guess what else. This one I just bought also has a working heated steering wheel. Score!

In fact, everything seems to work. The ashtray seems to be jammed. The SRX had similar issues with the ashtray (different part but probably same general engineering...excellence?). I will fiddle with it.

Oh, the car is going to need a trans service. I think it has 125k on the original everything. That's a bit much. Something weird was going on with the torque converter clutch but not for most of the drive. Also, the steering wheel vibes at idle so I suspect one or more engine mount is getting tired. One of the shocks seems to be leaking but not positive. It still works so I don't care. Anti-roll bar end link stuff rattles. I can fix that.

Another weird but awesome thing. Bill, you remember how the suspension settings were absolutely buried on that NJ car? And then locked out when moving? This car was the exact opposite. They were right there in the config screen and I could easily switch between at any speed. So this car had some kind of update, maybe part of the updated nav disc.

[bill25]

Are the shocks MR?

Sounds pretty good overall.

[kevm14]

Yes they are MR. The rear are pretty new, and also the air leveling system works. The front shocks are original. It was a front right that I think was leaking. So at some point I will need to do front MR shocks. But again, that NJ car for $7500 or whatever with the same mileage was on all original shocks and would have the exact same issues.

[kevm14]

A note about the seller. He was a nice guy. And he did spend a lot of money doing maintenance out of warranty, tires, brakes, all front light bulbs, 2 new front wheels, rear shocks, etc. I don't know that I'd describe the car as mint but he definitely was trying to keep it nice. When the Caddy dealer (not MacMulkin) did the headlights, they reportedly scratched the shit out of the bumper trying to lazily mangle the headlight out (despite charging $600 which is plenty for the parts and labor, assholes). He made them respray it and you can't tell. He did seem to somewhat exaggerate costs of things but regular people do that - I don't think he did anything dishonest in this transaction. We had a trust but verify thing going both ways, between the test drive thing with my insurance card and plate, and also he asked when I handed him the money "this isn't counterfeit right?" I happily showed him the teller receipt. And then with us going back to his house.

He had this car for 7 years and was still talking about not selling if it I didn't buy it. We went back to the water treatment plant and I agreed to buy it. Then he said, "Well I need a ride home and I'd like to copy the bill of sale." So we went back to his house. I used his bathroom. Everything was normal. Then, when it was time to go, he followed us outside while we discussed where to eat. I setup the nav, linked my phone to the Bluetooth and changed the driver settings. He just kind of hung out and chatted and helped me with a few settings on the car. At the end, he watched us leave. I think he really was sad to see the car go.

But, what we discussed on the test drive was that if he DIDN'T sell it, it would just sit and over time, he'd end up with problems. So I was like "you're doing the right thing." Kind of interesting. Adam was there. He can vouch for the feels.

Oh, he did own the car from 39k according to the title. So I really think he was the 2nd owner as he initially said. That Carfax thing was some kind of glitch. I think the dealer maintained ownership while they fixed it. I also think it is possible that he took delivery of the car with more than 39k miles, despite what the title says. Which is kind of BS but I guess it happened.

So for the little things that the car needs, I think I got a lot of good stuff here and again, for the price, I think this was a good deal.

I guess this is a random thought stream and I am reviewing both the car and the transaction itself in pieces...but he said he always used premium. And Mobil 1. Just another thing. One thing I didn't like as much is he seemed to trust the oil life indicator and would often run it down to 15%. It is at like 14% now. I don't know if the calibration is the same as Jamie's car but that could easily be 10,000 miles on this oil.

[kevm14]

Oh the grill is kind of all faded. But I don't really like the grill on the 05-07 anyway. So I may eventually look for an 08-11 grill just to update it a little bit. Or, if I get really lucky, an STS-V grill.

[kevm14]

Pic from this morning.

[kevm14]

I forgot something important. The car has tints.

What it amounts to is the front doors have what I suspect is a legal tint. The rear windows and back window are definitely not legal. He has driven the car 7 years, including Mass inspections, and never been told to pull the tint. I will roll the dice here. I am not a tint guy but honestly it looks pretty good with the color. And visibility at night is totally fine. So if no one bothered me, I'd probably just leave it.

Am I supposed to get this professionally removed if I need to though? I was leaning towards yes but like I said, never had tint before.

[bill25]

The rear windows and back window are definitely not legal.

If the front is legal that is all that matters. THe back and rear door windows can be totally blacked out. It doesn't make any sence but that is/was the law.

[bill25]

As usual, the wording is not in English...:

The use of nontransparent or sunscreen material or window application on motor vehicles which has a total visible light transmittance of not less than seventy percent (70%) measured perpendicular to the surface of the glass on the windshield and side windows immediately adjacent to the right and left of the operator’s seat, the side windows immediately to the rear of the operator’s seat and the front passenger seat or on the rear window if the vehicle is equipped with two (2) outside mirrors, on each side, adjusted so that the driver has a clear view of the highway behind the vehicle.

The use of any transparent material limited to the uppermost six inches (6”) along the top of the windshield, provided such strip does not encroach upon the driver’s direct forward viewing area as more particularly described and defined in applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

The use of sunscreen material on windows behind the driver in trucks, buses, trailers, mobile homes, campers, multipurpose vehicles, charter buses, funeral service vehicles, or limousines provided that said vehicle is equipped with two (2) outside mirrors, one on each side, if said mirrors meet federal standards adjusted so the driver has a clear view of the highway behind the vehicle.


http://sos.ri.gov/documents/archives/re ... V/4428.pdf

I read this as, 30% is allowed on front doors, back doors and back window, a 6 inch of anything you want accross the top of the front window. A non-car apparently can have whatever on the back window and back doors. So they changed it...