5l V8. Petrol. 8 seats (plus huge luggage) all for £40k

5l V8. Petrol. 8 seats (plus huge luggage) all for £40k

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Jimmy Recard

17,540 posts

180 months

Tuesday 8th November 2016
quotequote all
Ares said:
Still not Germanic build quality but a lot better.
True, I doubt that the people of (what is now southern Norway) built many cars in ancient times.

Either way, I'm a massive fan of big American cars. If they were just more usable here.... frown

Ares

Original Poster:

11,000 posts

121 months

Thursday 10th November 2016
quotequote all
Jimmy Recard said:
Ares said:
Still not Germanic build quality but a lot better.
True, I doubt that the people of (what is now southern Norway) built many cars in ancient times.

Either way, I'm a massive fan of big American cars. If they were just more usable here.... frown
Germanic also means "having characteristics of or attributed to Germans or Germany." wink


Ares

Original Poster:

11,000 posts

121 months

Thursday 10th November 2016
quotequote all
Pugster said:
Had a Chevy Surburban as a rental earlier this year. We'd booked a Tahoe but the woman on the rental desk gave us a Surburban because there was 5 of us.

Great car. Loads of toys with cameras and sensors everywhere. Air conditioned seats were a bonus for hot weather and electric tailgate was useful. V8 might be old tech but it had cylinder de-activation which helped bump the economy up slightly. Not that it was a concern when it only cost $50 to fill.

Took a lot of stopping once it was rolling though!
Identical car - echo your points too. AirCon seats were even nice in 22 degree Chicago last week!

.....but the stopping was alarming until you got used to it!!


Did love the seat vibration on both lane departure and impact warning though, the later worked really well, especially with HUD - definitely a useful feature, if a little sensitive! wink




Shakermaker

11,317 posts

101 months

Thursday 10th November 2016
quotequote all
When we do inevitably visit my wife's brother who is living in Chicago at the moment, I definitely want to rent something like this if I can do so.

This or a Hellcat but I don't expect Avis to have them kicking around so much...

mattwhite709

328 posts

100 months

Thursday 10th November 2016
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When I do route 66 I want to do it in a Mustang but the mrs wants to do it in one of the big massive motor homes. I know the motor home would be more comfy but it would feel wrong to do it in anything but the Mustang.

Ares

Original Poster:

11,000 posts

121 months

Thursday 10th November 2016
quotequote all
mattwhite709 said:
When I do route 66 I want to do it in a Mustang but the mrs wants to do it in one of the big massive motor homes. I know the motor home would be more comfy but it would feel wrong to do it in anything but the Mustang.
When we picked up the Yukon, there were 4 Mustang GT-H sat there....so very tempting wink

willmagrath

1,210 posts

147 months

Thursday 10th November 2016
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God i'd love that. Take that to Le Mans, straight pipe it :P

Pugster

432 posts

182 months

Friday 11th November 2016
quotequote all
Ares said:
Identical car - echo your points too. AirCon seats were even nice in 22 degree Chicago last week!

.....but the stopping was alarming until you got used to it!!


Did love the seat vibration on both lane departure and impact warning though, the later worked really well, especially with HUD - definitely a useful feature, if a little sensitive! wink
Indeed, the first time the impact warning went off I wondered what the hell was going on!

Rubbish auto box I thought though. Far too lazy and stupid compared to a ZF box that you might find in a BMW


mattwhite709

328 posts

100 months

Friday 11th November 2016
quotequote all
Ares said:
When we picked up the Yukon, there were 4 Mustang GT-H sat there....so very tempting wink
I'm not sure I could of resisted TBH

Ares

Original Poster:

11,000 posts

121 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
mattwhite709 said:
Ares said:
When we picked up the Yukon, there were 4 Mustang GT-H sat there....so very tempting wink
I'm not sure I could of resisted TBH
It would only carry half our passengers and a third of our luggage....

Still, I had to think twice wink

Ares

Original Poster:

11,000 posts

121 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
Pugster said:
Ares said:
Identical car - echo your points too. AirCon seats were even nice in 22 degree Chicago last week!

.....but the stopping was alarming until you got used to it!!


Did love the seat vibration on both lane departure and impact warning though, the later worked really well, especially with HUD - definitely a useful feature, if a little sensitive! wink
Indeed, the first time the impact warning went off I wondered what the hell was going on!

Rubbish auto box I thought though. Far too lazy and stupid compared to a ZF box that you might find in a BMW
Certainly echo the 'box. However, we are spoilt with how good the BMW ZF box is.

Alan_I_W

471 posts

91 months

Monday 14th November 2016
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Best thing about the US for me is wafting along in an Expedition El with the family all occupied, Arm out of the window Jay Leno style and Pop2K playing. Amazing practicality. Even with all seats up the boot is much bigger than my wifes Range Rover. Seats down the boot is so much bigger than the Galaxy we had in the 90's. All this for less than the price of a base spec XC90. Drove a clients RR for a day when I was over there, same model we have only with a Jag engine; it felt too small. Over here it feels massive whereas over there it felt like driving a Qashqai. Roll on 2020 when I relocate there smile

Edited by Alan_I_W on Monday 14th November 12:49

Ares

Original Poster:

11,000 posts

121 months

Tuesday 15th November 2016
quotequote all
Alan_I_W said:
Best thing about the US for me is wafting along in an Expedition El with the family all occupied, Arm out of the window Jay Leno style and Pop2K playing. Amazing practicality. Even with all seats up the boot is much bigger than my wifes Range Rover. Seats down the boot is so much bigger than the Galaxy we had in the 90's. All this for less than the price of a base spec XC90. Drove a clients RR for a day when I was over there, same model we have only with a Jag engine; it felt too small. Over here it feels massive whereas over there it felt like driving a Qashqai. Roll on 2020 when I relocate there smile

Edited by Alan_I_W on Monday 14th November 12:49
Echo that - at no point did this comically big truck feel oversized over there. Whereas I saw versions of my own car, and it looked supermini sized.

Matt Harper

6,635 posts

202 months

Tuesday 15th November 2016
quotequote all
Respectfully, it's not "all for 40,000 pounds". Buying and importing a Suburban/Yukon new in the UK would end-up costing at least 50k GBP.

The dollar/sterling exchange calculation is kind of meaningless, because in it's market, it is bought with dollars - and what a dollar buys in the US is pretty much what a pound buys in the UK.

I have owned 2 Suburbans and they are absolutely fantastic vehicles (not so hot as 4x4 for the additional cost), but they aren't cheap. A decently spec'd Yukon XL Denali MSRP is in the order of $77,000.


Alan_I_W

471 posts

91 months

Tuesday 15th November 2016
quotequote all
Matt Harper said:
Respectfully, it's not "all for 40,000 pounds". Buying and importing a Suburban/Yukon new in the UK would end-up costing at least 50k GBP.

The dollar/sterling exchange calculation is kind of meaningless, because in it's market, it is bought with dollars - and what a dollar buys in the US is pretty much what a pound buys in the UK.

I have owned 2 Suburbans and they are absolutely fantastic vehicles (not so hot as 4x4 for the additional cost), but they aren't cheap. A decently spec'd Yukon XL Denali MSRP is in the order of $77,000.
What we meant was our money goes a lot further in the US. My average living costs will go down 34% when I move there in 2020.

Matt Harper

6,635 posts

202 months

Tuesday 15th November 2016
quotequote all
Alan_I_W said:
My average living costs will go down 34% when I move there in 2020.
Hugely dependent on where you move to - I expected the same when I moved to the US - It didn't turn out that way.
There are so many checks and balances. The difference for me is that I earn a lot more here than I would doing the same type of work in UK.

Making a dollar/sterling conversion is meaningless because we don't buy with sterling here. A base Yukon is about $55k when all the paperwork's done. So it's not 40k of anything - it's $55k - and that's not really a small amount of money.

If and when you move here, I doubt that you will be spending $55,000 on a car and smugly thinking, "Ha, I've only paid the equivalent of 40,00 pounds" - unless, of course, you are being paid in sterling.

Alan_I_W

471 posts

91 months

Tuesday 15th November 2016
quotequote all
Matt Harper said:
Hugely dependent on where you move to - I expected the same when I moved to the US - It didn't turn out that way.
There are so many checks and balances. The difference for me is that I earn a lot more here than I would doing the same type of work in UK.

Making a dollar/sterling conversion is meaningless because we don't buy with sterling here. A base Yukon is about $55k when all the paperwork's done. So it's not 40k of anything - it's $55k - and that's not really a small amount of money.

If and when you move here, I doubt that you will be spending $55,000 on a car and smugly thinking, "Ha, I've only paid the equivalent of 40,00 pounds" - unless, of course, you are being paid in sterling.
Just curious for the sake of alot of people who work for our firm, what kind of visa did you move to the US with?

Ares

Original Poster:

11,000 posts

121 months

Tuesday 15th November 2016
quotequote all
Matt Harper said:
Alan_I_W said:
My average living costs will go down 34% when I move there in 2020.
Hugely dependent on where you move to - I expected the same when I moved to the US - It didn't turn out that way.
There are so many checks and balances. The difference for me is that I earn a lot more here than I would doing the same type of work in UK.

Making a dollar/sterling conversion is meaningless because we don't buy with sterling here. A base Yukon is about $55k when all the paperwork's done. So it's not 40k of anything - it's $55k - and that's not really a small amount of money.

If and when you move here, I doubt that you will be spending $55,000 on a car and smugly thinking, "Ha, I've only paid the equivalent of 40,00 pounds" - unless, of course, you are being paid in sterling.
Jeez..... it was a general comparison. the $51,000 I was quoted for a Yukon XL is worth £40,000 at the moment. 10 years ago $51,000 was closer to £25,000.

It was just a headline comment as to a lot of car for not a lot of cash (for those sat in the UK). See you didn't take irony or a chilled demeanour when you migrated to the US, but picked up a chunk of Pedantic Yank when you got there* wink


(*for the avoidance of doubt, that was sarcasm, a tongue in cheek comment. Assuming your lost that whilst on US shores, google it ;-) )

FWIW, my brother moved to the US 5 years ago. He is still paid the salary that was calculated on his UK salary from day one in the US. From day one, he has had markedly more disposable income. Alas he spent $40,000 on a 2.0 VW Tiguan....!


Matt Harper

6,635 posts

202 months

Tuesday 15th November 2016
quotequote all
Alan_I_W said:
Just curious for the sake of alot of people who work for our firm, what kind of visa did you move to the US with?
L1-A - but there were several after that.

Matt Harper

6,635 posts

202 months

Tuesday 15th November 2016
quotequote all
Ares said:
Jeez..... it was a general comparison. the $51,000 I was quoted for a Yukon XL is worth £40,000 at the moment. 10 years ago $51,000 was closer to £25,000.

It was just a headline comment as to a lot of car for not a lot of cash (for those sat in the UK). See you didn't take irony or a chilled demeanour when you migrated to the US, but picked up a chunk of Pedantic Yank when you got there* wink


(*for the avoidance of doubt, that was sarcasm, a tongue in cheek comment. Assuming your lost that whilst on US shores, google it ;-) )

FWIW, my brother moved to the US 5 years ago. He is still paid the salary that was calculated on his UK salary from day one in the US. From day one, he has had markedly more disposable income. Alas he spent $40,000 on a 2.0 VW Tiguan....!
You can see why it is a meaningless calculation though, right?

This has been a bit of a point of irritation for me, I have to admit. The consensus that American cars are cheap, based on what they cost us here, compared to what they might theoretically cost (but NEVER do, in reality) if they were paid for in GBP is spurious.

Now maybe to some people, 50K (in dollars or pounds) is not a lot of money. But I think you'll find most people consider that a fair old chunk of change for a mainstream SUV.

I've lived in the SE USA for considerably longer than your brother. When I moved here I was very pleasantly surprised by how much house I could buy, compared to my previous circumstances in Yorkshire.

However, this is a very difficult place to be if you are skint, or just keeping your head above water.
Property taxes, health insurance, hurricane insurance, car insurance, education, utilities and used cars are all significantly more expensive.

Similar to your brother, I had/have more disposable income, but that's not because my living costs are lower. I've no doubt this can vary significantly, given the size of the country and where you've moved from. So living costs in San Francisco, LA, NYC, Chicago etc are a damn sight higher than in rural Nebraska, or suburban Detroit. But if you moved from Central London, or Tokyo, you might find things pleasantly inexpensive.

In my experience (perhaps not typical, I don't know), I moved from Baildon, in West Yorks, to Orlando FL and my day to day living costs went up, not down.