Carvana: an Oppo review

"phenotyp" (phenotyp) 02/15/2019 at 10:18 • Filed to: Carvana, BMW, i3, BMWi3, dealership

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So.... Two weeks ago, I had my first car accident in 22 years. Yeah, don’t feel super great about that. Driving the i3 for the last 19 months has been fantastic. But, guess what, when you get into a minor accident (no one was hurt, just my car, and my self-esteem) in an originally- expensive, heavily-depriciated, low-volume, weirdo car, the repair bill very, very quickly runs up past what insurance is gonna pay to fix. So, fuck.

I ended up going with Carvana for a couple reasons: quick delivery, and painless process with application, financing, and everything else. I have to say, the experience as a customer was top-notch. Everything was super friendly, the associates were great to talk to (and a couple of them were very much car guys), and four days later, a 2015 i3 was delivered to my front door. Had to return the rental (Infiniti Q50— I should do a rental writeup

Now here’s where it went south. They had noted a scratch on the bumper below the tailgate, and a rock chip on the frunk, but did not disclose a couple of giant scratches on the driver’s front quarter panel tht looked like they’d tried to cover it up with white-out. Then onto the interior— they’d Armoralled the absolute shit out of it, everything was greasy, seats were stained, and it smelled so bad I could barely get it around the block on my test drive. So I parked it overnight, and the following afternoon drove to a small local dealership that had a few i3s in stock, and drove home in a 2015 with the fancy HK stereo and, thankfully, dark floor carpets (the white carpets in my 2014 were a bitch to keep clean), and a 5-year, 60K-mile service contract.

Called up Carvana, told them to come get their car at the dealership, signed a piece of paper, and it was all done. In the end, all it cost me was a credit check. According to the owner of the dealership, I was the 7th or 8th person who’d done the same thing; he was very interested in how the process went with Carvana, and I was up-front with him about it. Great customer service, painless and quick process, but a disappointing car. Maybe if you’re looking at a “special” car like a Z06 or something, it might turn out better. But for mine, I was so much happier with the dealership experience, the people, the service, and the car.

Plus, I don’t have to do the tint on this one.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 10:31

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You were warned. Carvana is StealTime. They’re the same shitty cars, the same shitty people, just changing the name and process to make it seem like they aren’t the criminals of legend. But they are.

Mercedes Streeter > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 10:32

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That’s disappointing to hear. Madame DeLorean also used Carvana to get her 2016 Honda Civic Touring. Hers came in perfect condition and they even gave her the little coin that you’d use had you gone to their vending machine.

From your story it sounds like buying from them can be a bit hit and miss. But I guess that’s part of why they have that 7 day return policy thing. I also wonder if the damage wasn’t disclosed because it was caused after the listing/sale ( sloppy truck driver)?

phenotyp > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 02/15/2019 at 10:36

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G uess I missed that warning. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 10:41

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Did you buy your first i3 new or used? 

Sovande > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 02/15/2019 at 10:41

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What is StealTime?

Maxima Speed > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 10:43

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I never realized we had an i3 driver in here. Cool.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > Sovande 02/15/2019 at 10:45

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Drivetime- Sub prime loans

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2017/12/18/how-an-ex-con-became-a-billionaire-from-used-cars/#223631a6d3f7

Buyer beware, but seems lot of people have had good experience as long as it is dead-straight forward. pay them, get a car. Trading in, exchanging car, returning car especially if you’re not near their delivery centers and it’s a hit or miss.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Sovande 02/15/2019 at 10:46

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I was also curious. Apparently Carvana is a spinoff of DriveTime. Minimal effort google search didn’t find anything terribly shocking. Honestly they’d have to be pretty bad to be worse than the normal used car buying experience ... so I assume they sell junk cars and take advantage of the weak and under- informed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DriveTime

phenotyp > Mercedes Streeter 02/15/2019 at 10:47

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I’d be very surprised if it were the delivery on my end (driver was a great guy, super honest, former Marine; same guy who came to pick it up ), though it could have been on the front end. Either way, the car was... “used” enough at only 35K miles that I was completely turned off by it. I’m sure it’s totally hit and miss, but this one was a straight-up whiff.

phenotyp > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 02/15/2019 at 10:49

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First one (‘14) was CPO through BMW. Had a couple fixes through them, airbag recall, seat temp sensor, and AC compressor.

phenotyp > Maxima Speed 02/15/2019 at 10:50

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There are a couple others out there, too. Obviously I’ve liked it so much that I replaced it with another.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/15/2019 at 10:51

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EXACTLY what they do. They routinely sell trash cars that aren’t serviced at all with ticking time bomb engines to sub-sub-prime. They deliberately target people they know can’t pay, with cars they know won’t last a week.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 10:52

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Ah, the old AC compressor... Caught that under warranty on my M3 as well, thankfully. Care to share the delta between what you paid and what insurance wrote it off for?

phenotyp > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 02/15/2019 at 10:55

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Difference between insurance total and what I owed was about $2K, so after the deductible they sent me a check for about 1500.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > Maxima Speed 02/15/2019 at 11:13

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Come to think of it do we have an Oppo  database? I’d be curious to see some of the variety and totals around miles, years, cylinders, etc.

For Sweden > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 11:19

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counterpoint: it’s yet another listing service that doesn’t know what a wagon is

For Sweden > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 02/15/2019 at 11:19

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We are definitely not tracking you for nefarious purposes. Definitely not.

412GTI > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 11:29

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Least it ended well for you! I haven’t poked around an i3 too much, but they seem like very cool/quirky cars.

I absolutely  loathe when dealers armor all the shit out of cars. I don’t get how people think that looks good, but I guess Shiny=good? 

phenotyp > For Sweden 02/15/2019 at 11:32

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So I guess “wagon” is too esoteric. One more reason not to go with them.

facw > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 02/15/2019 at 11:41

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Would be fun. I don’t recall seeing one. The only Oppo DB I know of is the Oppo Map:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

It hasn’t been shared since 2017 though, so it is probably highly out of date.

Textured Soy Protein > Sovande 02/15/2019 at 11:42

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Wikipedia says it was started as a subsidiary of DriveTime and subsequently spun out on its own. So...that?

phenotyp > 412GTI 02/15/2019 at 11:44

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Yeah, worked out as well as it could have in the end.

As far as the i3's concerned, there isn’t another car that I could reasonably afford that I’d rather be driving. You’d be an idiot to buy one new, but 2 years old, with 20K miles, for less than a new Civic?

... I could go on quite a bit.

WilliamsSW > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 02/15/2019 at 11:57

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This x10. I looked at them when I was shopping for the Mercedes last spring - they never had the right car anyways, but something just felt ‘not right’ about it.  Then when I learned later that they’re just DriveTime with better marketing, there’s no way in hell I would go there.

Chariotoflove > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 12:05

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I’m so glad they handled the return without fuss. I always wondered if Carvana was an good option. Now I know.

Looking forward to hearing about the Q50.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 12:10

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Please do a Q50 review...it’s one of the few cars I’ve narrowed my search down to. 

phenotyp > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 02/15/2019 at 12:26

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Aright!

GoodIdeaAtTheTime > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 02/15/2019 at 12:36

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If you want to know anything technical, I can help! Feel free to as k, I work for Infiniti. A little biased though, not a fan of the car, has some nagging issues . Other than that, I kinda like ‘em.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 02/15/2019 at 13:13

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Didn't Immoral Minority have a Q50 before his GTI?

His Stigness > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 14:40

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What was your real world mileage you were getting? And did you ever notice any loss in range as the car got older?

I considered the i3 for a hot minute, but when I compared it to the e-Golf it has less range and costs more. But I still like the i3 a lot. 

Spanfeller is a twat > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 02/15/2019 at 14:52

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Q70 no?

phenotyp > His Stigness 02/15/2019 at 15:38

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Yeah, the range isn’t great. I didn’t notice any appreciable loss of battery capacity over the 19 months, and most days I do n’t use more than 50% of the charge. Both the first one and this one have the ReX/generator, and a tiny gas tank; over the 19 months, I put gas in it 3 times, for a total of about 5.5 gal. Probably half of that was just from playing with it after reprogramming some stuff, and seeing if my settings took.

I keep the instrument panel on % state of charge, rather than relying on the “guessometer” for range, and it can read anywhere from 45-80 miles on a full charge, depending on temps, plus 75-90 mi on gas.

I was really interested in the eGolf at first, but there aren’t very many of them in TX, and after living with the effortless ergonomics and packaging of the i3, I went right back to the well.

His Stigness > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 15:43

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Ah man the i3 allows you to actually see the battery percentage? The e-Golf doesn’t and it’s quite annoying. The guessometer is pretty accurate, but I would like to see a percentage when I’m on a DCFC since it does start to taper off around 80%.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 02/15/2019 at 15:44

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Buy a Q70 instead. More space, some features that are not available in the Q50, Older tech but more reliable. Same 3.7, unless you want the 3.0T

phenotyp > His Stigness 02/15/2019 at 16:27

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Yeah, the % in the upper left corner is the #1 g au ge. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the options you can get when you dig into the menu system.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 21:59

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Nice i3!  As someone who is interested in eventually getting a plug in hybrid or full electric car, I've been keeping my eye on used i3 prices.  That interior looks awesome.

phenotyp > BaconSandwich is tasty. 02/15/2019 at 22:03

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I bought an i3 to replace my i3.

Happy to answer any questions. 

Quake65 > phenotyp 02/15/2019 at 23:04

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My experience was totally opposite.. I purchased a Lincoln MKC.. It’s immaculate.. Haven’t had any issues.. still under factory warranty and still has new car smell..l actually love  everything about Carvana...

BaconSandwich is tasty. > phenotyp 02/16/2019 at 00:10

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Other than the accident, have you had any other maintenance costs? Also, have you had any difficulties finding tires for it?

TallVWGuy > phenotyp 02/16/2019 at 00:22

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Same deal with the cars I tried to buy from them. They were all beat to hell and one broke during the test drive. I’m disabled so I wanted to avoid the pain of a dealership. Oh well, customer service was great but their products  are  no good. It’s a rough time to make money on used cars and anything going thru auction right now is rough since the dealers hold onto anything decent. Reminds me I need to sell their stock, I’m still crying over that.

JSimcho > phenotyp 02/16/2019 at 10:29

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I used them t o get my Mercedes CLA45 after my brother used them to get his Hyundai Genesis. We both had great experiences, maybe it’s the area?

phenotyp > BaconSandwich is tasty. 02/16/2019 at 16:17

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No costs, the only things that needed fixing were the AC compressor (the day I bought it), the driver’s seat temp sensor, and some wiper blades, all done (even the wiper blades) under warranty . I didn’t get tires for it, which is part of why I had the accident— no grip at the front. Not gonna sleep on that again, that’s for sure.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > phenotyp 02/16/2019 at 17:07

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I’ve heard the tire size is a bit of an odd one - tall and narrow. I’ve heard reports of people getting higher than usual number of flat tires, but that might just be a perception thing. It does make me wonder if a person could fit wider tires on it, and a wide- body kit.

phenotyp > BaconSandwich is tasty. 02/16/2019 at 17:45

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I think the widebody thing has been done, but I wouldn’t go that route. The tires are definitely oddball— there’s only one tire, Bridgestone Ecopia. The wheels are 20x5, and look ridiculous if you park with the wheel turned. So tall and skinny. I think a wider tread would really kill the driving feel, and would surely reduce the range. The only flat I got on mine was a week and a half before the crash, and it was a straight up screw complete with washer in the middle of the tread, which I plugged.

I guess I’ve only had cars with weirdo wheel/tire combos, from the MR2, to the 550 and 535, and now i3.

Mitchpresley > phenotyp 02/17/2019 at 09:40

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My wife and I have purchased a 2017 Nissan Quest from Carvana, as said the ease of car buying is fantastic. No pressure sales, GM, or finance manager to deal with. Everything is up front and disclosed. Everything on our van was as described and in perfect running condition. A couple of minor stone chips on the front hood that is to be expected on a 2 year old vehicle but that was in the description. After looks ng in the glove box is was discovered that our van was a rental vehicle from Hertz. So I know the maintenance was performed like it was supposed to. The interest rate was a little high but considering we don't have the best credit score we knew that going in to it. The payments were within our budget so all in all would use them again. Sorry you had a bad experience with them.

phenotyp > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 02/17/2019 at 18:43

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Did a quick writeup.

BarryDanger > phenotyp 11/22/2019 at 15:42

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Thank you for the write up on Carvana. As someone who just ordered a car (awaiting delivery) from there, so far, my experience has been the same. I will go through it with a fine tooth comb and god I hope they don’t armorall the crap out of it! 

phenotyp > BarryDanger 11/22/2019 at 18:25

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The one I got was gross. I gave it back to them a couple days later, after buying a decent one from a local dealer. Service and experience was great, but the car was far from good.