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Hi all. As I have continued to search for a G37 Sedan 6MT, I find it very interesting how many different ones I have seen at various CarMax locations just this year. I'm a numbers and stats guy, so that would explain my nerdy tracking here, but since the calendar flipped to 2019, I have seen 19 different 2007 and up G35/G37 Sedan 6MT cars that were legit 6-speeds, for sale. Granted, some of these were either not that nice or had really high mileage. Of those, 5 have been on the lots of various CarMax locations (Santa Rosa, Richmond, Newark, Tallahassee, and Modesto). The last two locations just recently listed their models. I'll put links below.
How is it that CarMax is getting a large percentage of these hard to find cars? I am surprised that owners would trade them into CarMax for bottom dollar (unless that is now what is happening) and the mark-up at CarMax is extremely high. I would rather pay an owner a bit more who may list their car on this site, than overpay at CarMax. Does this surprise anyone? Any thoughts, or am I crazy?
No you're not crazy. Used car values have gone up because the supply is very limited, especially on good clean cars. With the internet, profit margins are razor thin too.
I’ve never had a good trade in experience at carmax, except that it is easy. Dealership trade ins have consistently been 2-3,000 higher on the same day. Carmax is the proverbial buy low/sell high setup. It works because not everyone wants to spend time haggling, or they want a rare car and it’s easy to locate and have transported.
For every MT I have ever owned over the past 40-years or so, I always set the brake and put the shifter in either 1st or REVERSE. I was taught to never leave the gear in neutral- though no reasoning was ever given (that I remember, anyway).
Just curious, do y’all put your car in gear when you park? Or just the handbrake?
also pleased to report the Redline suede shift boot and vinyl wrapped shifter surround is holding up just fine
I always park my car in gear. The handbrake in my car at least feels a lot weaker than other cars but in general, keeping it in gear is a fail-safe in the handbrake does fail.
Originally Posted by ILM-NC G37S
For every MT I have ever owned over the past 40-years or so, I always set the brake and put the shifter in either 1st or REVERSE. I was taught to never leave the gear in neutral- though no reasoning was ever given (that I remember, anyway).
The reasoning for either first or reverse is that it's generally the highest gear ratio and the higher the ratio, the harder it is to turn over the engine from rolling. For our cars, first is 3.794:1 and reverse is 3.446:1. People say to park it in the opposite direction of the roll and that's a habit I'm trying to break since technically, nothing prevents the engine from turning in the opposite direction. If it were to roll, I'd prefer it turn in the direction it was designed to.
Thanks for the explanation. Though, to a kid learning to drive 50-odd years ago I doubt my old man would have explained it at all. To him, it was one of those "do it because I said so" lessons (good man/ provider, but useless for all things technical).
If your handbrake is "weak" perhaps the shoes need adjusting, or replacement?
The hand brake seems weak because it's just a parking brake, not an emergency brake.
Correct. They are designed to hold the car, not stop the car. The shoes could still be worn or out of adjustment, especially considering they get used more than on AT cars... But, yeah, depends on what folks consider as "weak" .
I always leave a manual transmission in gear when I park it because it makes me think the car will be harder to move if someone tries to tow it or smashes into it. Also like you guys mentioned about if the parking brake fails and it is parked on any sort of an incline.
I've adjusted it a couple of times following the DIYs here but have never been satisfied. I think my cables are stretching or something since it'll eventually loosen up again after adjusting. To be fair, I am nitpicking since it does hold on the driveway. It's not as confidence inspiring as other cars.
02-12-2019, 08:39 PM
She might make me sell the car.
