Well, I bought a newer car. Post includes the trike's reverse demo.

[John Schmidt]

I had a 2018 Buick Enclave SUV, it turned over 72k following the trip to/from IZ. There was nothing wrong with it but I was looking around just to test the market since if possible I'd like to have a newer Enclave. Problem...here in the Green Bay area a 2024 model was running $42-44K with mileage around the 30k level. I wasn't interested in a '25 or '26 model since they only offer a turbo charged four cylinder now. We rented a '25 model last fall while our car was getting repaired. That was a case of a guy in the inside lane of a round-about trying to make a right hand exit across the outside lane where I was.  Tore up my front left fender, headlight and associated trim going across the front. The '25 model rental was one sick puppy...noisy, no guts(regardless of the turbo), rode rough, worse car than my 2018 and with less than 30k miles on it. Fast forward to last Thursday, I was browsing FaceBook and spotted exactly what I was looking for in a small town about 45 minutes east. Was a 2024 Buick Enclave, with the tow package(rides a tad stiff), just under 22k miles, and similar color to the current car. We jumped in the car and went to take a look, the advertised price was just under $39k. That was approx. $4500 less for the same car here in Green Bay and with roughly 10k fewer miles on average. I ended up driving home a new(to us) car, financed $15k at 4.75%. I talked to my own bank here yesterday and when the DMV sends the papers back in a few weeks I'll be able to get the loan transferred from the original bank and nearly a full point lower interest rate. We're quite pleased, was an "out of the blue" happening but just what we were looking for. On a more personal note, I feel if one says their prayers and pay your tithe, things happen that can only be Providential. We had been looking for some time with no luck, then this suddenly appeared and the entire deal went down fast and smooth. The dealer made offers beyond my expectation and without my asking. That just doesn't happen normally.

[Jersey mike]

Best of luck with the new wheels, hope you have many carefree miles, some good fun and a few adventures. 

[MAD6Gun]

We recently bought a new car too John. We had a 2017 GMC Acadia AWD with 110k on the clock. We considered another newer Acadia but like you the prices were high. As much as I loved the Acadia it's milage is not good. Got the same as my 05 V8 GMC truck. My two brothers have 25 Mazda CX5s. So off we went to the Mazda dealer. After some research and getting the financing in place. They have us $8500 for our Acadia. We are now driving a brand new 2026 Mazda CX5 Premium. It's smaller then the Acadia but it's roomy for its size. We are liking it. Very nice car...

[f6john]

Congratulations on your purchase and your recognition of how God can work in our lives. I thank God every time I get in my 200k+ Titan and it starts and runs great, even though she drinks too much we are still feeling blessed!

[Serk]

Gratz on the new ride!

We were planning on keeping our 15+ year old 200,000+ mile cages limping along until the spousal unit finished nursing school, but her single vehicle accident (She's fine) bouncing off some construction barriers on her way home from work early yesterday morning changed all that...

[RNFWP]

Ouch...

[Jersey mike]

Gratz on the new ride!

We were planning on keeping our 15+ year old 200,000+ mile cages limping along until the spousal unit finished nursing school, but her single vehicle accident (She's fine) bouncing off some construction barriers on her way home from work early yesterday morning changed all that...

Yikes! That really stinks. Glad she's ok but that really really stinks. Hope you can find something you like at a decent price pretty quick.

[F6Dave]

I haven't bought a used car for over 50 years, but I'd consider one these days. I don't like the intrusive tech on new cars or the tiny turbocharged 4s. Normally aspirated V8s have disappeared from all but exotic cars and even 6 cylinder engines have become rare.

There's a glimmer of hope in the truck world. Chrysler brought back the hemi, Ford has that new 7.3 pushrod V8 (named Godzilla) for their super duty trucks, and GM has 2 new V8s for Chevy and GMC trucks. Maybe that will carry over to some of the cars.

[f6john]

John, I thought I should mention, now that several days have passed, if there aren't pictures, it didn't happen! 

[John Schmidt]

Believe me John, it happened. It doesn't have the gearshift in the center console like the '18 model, this one has a push/pull button type. Kinda reminds me of the old...think it was a Chrysler product...that had push buttons on the dash. Seems like that was in the mid 50's, I could be wrong, that's happened a couple times so far this century.

I also had Nancy video me showing the reverse function now on the trike. If I could just figure out how to post a video, can't seem to get it on Postimages so don't know my next step. I can email it however so any of you techy geniuses that know how...speak up and I'll send it to you.

[Serk]

E-mail would be challenging for a video, as videos (Of decent quality) tend to be quite large. Could you send it to me in Facebook Messenger by chance?

I'm willing to try via e-mail but the quality would likely have to be degraded substantially. My e-mail is my handle @ my handle.net

Uploading directly to Youtube would be best, if the video is on your phone try uploading it to Youtube from there, they try to make it really easy to do that.

[John Schmidt]

Serk, I was able to cut it down to about 24 seconds long. I'll try a couple of your suggestions though.

[John Schmidt]

Serk, I tried sending by email. If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll try being a Youtuber. 

[Serk]

Serk, I tried sending by email. If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll try being a Youtuber. 

Heh, can't hurt to learn to post videos, but got it:

(And the direct link so you can share it elsewhere - https://youtu.be/zZINulmRwkI )

[old2soon]

     Bout how mine wurx on the 12 G/W. Backing level or downhill be mucho betta! Uphill not so much. According to MotorTrike mine comes in bout 1200 lbs Empty. RIDE SAFE.

[John Schmidt]

Nancy forgot you stop the video with the same button used to start it. Both had a chuckle cuz she didn't think it was working...was surprised when it worked.

Serk, thanks for the post. Guess I could have figured it out, my patience factor isn't what it used to be. 

[Serk]

Serk, thanks for the post. Guess I could have figured it out, my patience factor isn't what it used to be. 

I'm always amused by seeing what looks like magic to you is simple to me, while what you can do with a wrench looks like magic to me...

[John Schmidt]

Nobody is more surprised than I am when I take something apart and reassemble it and holy cow...it works. As for computer stuff, I had to use them on my job with the State of Florida. I was there when they came into being and we all had to learn how to do our job using them. I even learned how to write simple programs, stuff that applied only to our system at the time. I have no idea what the format was now...been too many years and was pretty basic. I used it mostly for myself to make the job easier and faster, kinda PO'd a few fellow workers because the big boss wouldn't let me share it. Told them to learn how, same as I did.