Should I buy a new one?

[BimmerFan]

I got a call from The King last night, offering to move me up on the list since he had some unexpected allotments come up. We had planned for December or so for my order, so he was checking in. I couldn't give him a good answer. Here's my situation, I'd like some opinions from you guys and gals, please.

- Currently I own a 2023 6-Spd in black that I bought new a year ago. Black is killer for this car.
- 6500 miles, no issues.
- I will likely retire within 8 months, although I may get another job just to keep me off the streets.

I would prefer the (Rapid Red?) burgundy color and those fancy gold-ish wheels, but there are no options that I miss, I even like the base seats! No need for ceramic brakes, as I do not track the car.

A new car would give me more factory warranty. I do not do extended warranties.

I do not care for the new infotainment Imax-sized display/instrument panel.

So, these are not strong arguments for getting a new one. Plus there is the financial hit that I'll take selling an almost two year old car, and the crap shoot that is GM quality.

Thoughts, pro & con? Am I missing anything? And no, the new "styling" does nothing for me.

Thanks.

 

[NorCal Blackwing]

IMO unless you really like the new front-end and the digital dash it's a pretty expensive way to get an extended warranty and a paint job
I think otherwise the car is going to be identical...?

Extended warranty I'm curious about though. You mentioned you would never do it... With the higher than normal possibility of the motor blowing up at any given point, I absolutely positively would not own this car without some kind of warranty. However, I haven't started looking into it - are they notorious for not paying out or otherwise being a very bad value?

 

[BimmerFan]

However, I haven't started looking into it - are they notorious for not paying out or otherwise being a very bad value?

Your disreputable insurance firms have been known to be difficult to pay claims, or they just go under, but a bit of research can probably steer you to a good company.

My problem with extended warranties is that they are mostly profit for the dealer & warranty company and therefore terribly expensive. As I take care of my cars and maintain them properly, really the only thing I am insuring against is a catastrophic loss like a blown engine, which is really rather rare. We don't know how these engines will do long-term, so if they do prove to be problematic, I can just sell the car before the factory warranty runs out. Otherwise, I'll just take my chances. I've had extended warranties on the wife's car (inherited) and they have never needed to pay out anything worth noting.

When we bought the wife's first BMW, used, the dealership gave her a really hard sell on the extended warranty, to the point where she was almost in tears because of all of the horrible scenarios that they painted. I told her that I would take care of it, and I did. BMWs are not cheap to own or maintain, but 4 years later the car had nothing that would have justified a warranty service claim other than the valve cover gasket, perhaps a few hundred bucks at the dealer (I did it myself).

 

[quikag]

Sounds like you answered your own question that there is really no compelling reason to upgrade besides the color and more factory warranty coverage. Hoping for a last year Blackwing hurrah with a slightly detuned LT7. hahahaha.

 

[dinkman]

that extra warranty is probably gonna cost you $20-30k between trade in and new cars price
$25k would self-insure everything but a motor failure and its not like you dont still have oem warranty currently.
doesnt seem to make sense to me

 

[668LT4]

Absolutely not. Keep your 23. It looks better, has a proper driver-focused dash display, and still has a ton of warranty left.

Maybe adding the bronze wheels to your car (assuming it does not have them) would freshen it up for you? You might find a trade partner, or just sell the ones you have to cover some of the cost of the bronze. I had them on my Rift and they are sweet. My Black Diamond Tricoat has been in the garage all of 1 week now, and for my tastes, a black Blackwing is the pinnacle. It looks way meaner, and I am thrilled with the change.

 

[hawk02]

I agree with what everyone else has said. But man, I'd have to think long and hard about ordering a 2025 with the factory ceramic brakes option. The brake dust with the iron rotors annoys the hell out of me. I'd give up some carbon fiber for the ceramic brakes.

 

[BimmerFan]

Maybe adding the bronze wheels to your car (assuming it does not have them) would freshen it up for you?

I have thought of that too...

 

[Deneed4spd]

The hit and price of a new one, you could probably buy a new 4 bw and keep your 5bw

 

[rdollie]

Based on all you've shared, I would look into the online Cadillac dealer (James Black) known for selling the discounted GM Protection Plan. You will get a relatively good price and the same level of protection that came with the car from GM.

 

[DonD]

With the higher than normal possibility of the motor blowing up at any given point,

Where do you get this from? Who said the engines are prone to grenading? What, foot to the floor and missed manual transmission shifts? Don

 

[jbawden]

Where do you get this from? Who said the engines are prone to grenading? What, foot to the floor and missed manual transmission shifts? Don

Have you missed all the "blown engine" threads and the one @NorCal Blackwing started aggregating the known failures? I still think it's high unlikely on an individual basis, but anecdotally it does appear there is a higher than average failure rate.

 

[jbawden]

Financially speaking, buying a newer version of the exact same car is a disaster, just like the new EV inspired dash.

Emotionally speaking, I can see why changing colors, wheels, brakes, or other options would compel someone to do it.

My financial discipline has finally overridden my emotional impulses so I wouldn't do it, but if I did it would be to get the CCB option...but that dash though!

 

[NorCal Blackwing]

Where do you get this from? Who said the engines are prone to grenading? What, foot to the floor and missed manual transmission shifts? Don

It's really hard relying on forums to get a true picture of things, only GM knows the true failure rate, but 11 people here have self-reported some kind of catastrophic engine failure with an unresolved root cause (i.e. the dealer looked at it and it's not a money-shift).

I started a log here but you can find details looking back through the board. CT5BW Blown Motor Registry

It's all anecdotal of course, but I don't recall a similar incidence of this happening on forums with the LSA in the V2. I'm active on Porsche forums and I haven't seen grenading engines popping up on their forums with any regularity since IMS.

I think this will probably end up being similar to the Porsche IMS issue, a fundamental design flaw with a low enough incidence to prevent a full recall, except GM will probably let the Blackwing run out with the same engine and the problem unresolved.

Anyway, back to the original point - unless I feel comfortable self-insuring the parts and labor for a full engine replacement, a warranty starts to look like a valuable thing to help me sleep at night if I'm keeping the car. I really don't want to sell the car when the factory warranty is up, I did that with my V2 Manual Wagon and to this day it remains "the one that got away"!

 

[668LT4]

Have you missed all the "blown engine" threads and the one @NorCal Blackwing started aggregating the known failures? I still think it's high unlikely on an individual basis, but anecdotally it does appear there is a higher than average failure rate.

The wording "the higher than normal possibility of the motor blowing up at any given point" is interesting to say the least. The blown thread lists 12 cars. How many 22-24 LT4s are produced? 5000 +/-? Maybe there are more failed LT4s in Blackwings not posted on the forum. Maybe some of the blown motors are like the one on Youtube that redlined with 20 miles on the clock. Maybe some did not follow the specific break-in procedures. Maybe that has nothing to do with a failure, maybe it does.

But 12 out of 5000... is that higher than average? I have no idea what an average engine failure rate on a given car is, surely we all hope it would be 0%. Personally, I don't drive mine in fear that it could "blow up at any moment".

 

[NorCal Blackwing]

The wording "the higher than normal possibility of the motor blowing up at any given point" is interesting to say the least. The blown thread lists 12 cars. How many 22-24 LT4s are produced? 5000 +/-? Maybe there are more failed LT4s in Blackwings not posted on the forum. Maybe some of the blown motors are like the one on Youtube that redlined with 20 miles on the clock. Maybe some did not follow the specific break-in procedures. Maybe that has nothing to do with a failure, maybe it does.

But 12 out of 5000... is that higher than average? I have no idea what an average engine failure rate on a given car is, surely we all hope it would be 0%. Personally, I don't drive mine in fear that it could "blow up at any moment".

I don't mean to be taking this thread in a whole new direction, but we should be comparing 11 failures reported here with the active number of 5BW owners on this board, not the total number of LT4 produced.

I fully admit it probably "looks" worse than it is when reading through these forums - but given the cost to diagnose the issue and replace an engine, my original point was that an extended warranty could become worth it "to me" for peace of mind.

 

[Sully]

Since my 5BW has been at the dealer since 10 Sept, I've had a 24' XT4 loaner with the new digital dash. I absolutely hate it for many reasons, this one feature alone would prevent me from buying a 25'+. If you haven't spent time with the new dash, give it a go... Visibility through/around the wheel is poor, utilization of screen space by apps/cameras, forced Google account integration before features like onboard maps work (which is a software integration issue..) Some of this may just be a me-issue, I'm tall so my viewpoint to the dash may not be what it was designed for (e.g. the typical driver height) and also some utilization issues may be the trim of the XT4 I'm in. Either way, not my cup of coffee.

That and the fact I can't afford to regularly flip and take those depreciation hits... breaks my fiscal mind.

 

[DonD]

Have you missed all the "blown engine" threads and the one @NorCal Blackwing started aggregating the known failures? I still think it's high unlikely on an individual basis, but anecdotally it does appear there is a higher than average failure rate.

Yeah, I've seen the threads. The internet just brings out all the negativity that exists.

Case in point, I'm retired US Navy, a designated proven weapons specialist. I once called S&Wesson to compliment them on a gun I recently bought. The customer service woman said "You mean you just called to say thanks?" I said yes. She said that'd never happened to her in years.

Hacked off people dominate forums, always have, always will. Don

 

[668LT4]

I don't mean to be taking this thread in a whole new direction, but we should be comparing 11 failures reported here with the active number of 5BW owners on this board, not the total number of LT4 produced.

I fully admit it probably "looks" worse than it is when reading through these forums - but given the cost to diagnose the issue and replace an engine, my original point was that an extended warranty could become worth it "to me" for peace of mind.

Agreed, and I also indicated there could be more failures not posted on the forum. There is just no way of knowing, and the other contributing factors I listed.

To the point of the thread here, trading for a new 2025 does not change the LT4 situation. I think GM gives us a very strong factory powertrain warranty at 6/70k. Like BimmerFan, I have never purchased extended warranty coverage before, but as I plan to keep my 5 forever, I'll at least look into it.

 

[dinkman]

Yeah, I've seen the threads. The internet just brings out all the negativity that exists.

Case in point, I'm retired US Navy, a designated proven weapons specialist. I once called S&Wesson to compliment them on a gun I recently bought. The customer service woman said "You mean you just called to say thanks?" I said yes. She said that'd never happened to her in years.

Hacked off people dominate forums, always have, always will. Don

i bet you made that womans day!