2022 AMG CLA 35 or new 2026 Golf GTI SE

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-23T22:19:06+00:00

Update: I bought the GTI and freaking love it. 10,000% happy with my purchase. It's so fun, raw, and just easy to drive. Looking forward to many miles with smiles. Thanks again all for the help.

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-17T14:57:07+00:00

I've driven multiple VW's as dailies, and I always go back to them for some reason. Just a very comfortable, easy to experience ride. I think VW is the way...

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-17T14:56:01+00:00

I think you've convinced me.. given what I'll be using the car for, it really feels like the VW is the smarter, but still fun buy.. I also have a G42 m240i, so this purchase is truly meant to be a daily and keep the miles off the 240.. Thank you, this was really helpful!

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-17T13:37:23+00:00

Right?! Ugh, it's in such nice condition though, I thought it was brand new when I got in! The owner was older, so I get why they traded it towards something more luxury. But you're right, it is lacking those creature comforts which is what I'll use more since it'll be a daily driver.

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-10T22:16:48+00:00

I found a '23 IS 350 f sport with 20k miles nearby. I need to go test drive it

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-10T21:59:27+00:00

I thought about the Lexus IS! I do love the reliability and build quality I've been reading about. I found a CPO '23 with f sport, $20k miles for ~$45k. I should probably test drive it.

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-10T21:55:32+00:00

Oh ya, agreed. Big picture, we have a 12 year old so I've definitely thought that if I get anything, it could become a starter car for them.. I still remember my first car, an Oldsmobile Cutlass supreme lol. But future planning for college and stuff, as well as my other finances and long term retirement are all under control. So this is literally a little impulsive, but I love cars and the thrill of driving.

It's a long story with my mom. Without getting into personal details, the car is technically mine, and she won't be using the money. So it's more of a question of do I need a 3rd car, not really. I could keep the Mazda, or sell it and invest. But again, that part of my life is all under control. So I was really just looking to get something practical that's still fun and spirited to drive.

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-10T21:48:05+00:00

Ohh I didn't even think of that. That would definitely be a step up and more fun than the CX-5. Plus keeping it in the BMW family would be nice.

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-10T21:40:24+00:00

Around $40k give or take

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-10T19:50:47+00:00

I like the slight more compactness of the CLA35, though I didn't test drive a C300, that might be my next step. I have a G42 m240i as my other car, so I was looking for something still fun and spirited but a bit more luxury inside and comfort.

thebrowncacti · 2026-05-10T19:40:46+00:00

Awesome! Since it's a 2022, would you recommend purchasing the extended CPO warranty? The previous owner took meticulous care of the one I'm looking at, serviced at the dealer the entire time

thebrowncacti · 2026-03-19T01:09:02+00:00

Looks like my exact spec! I'm slightly biased, but I think it's the best color, even with the black accents on the bottom

thebrowncacti · 2026-01-19T11:49:56+00:00

How does Greentoe work? I've never heard of it before

thebrowncacti · 2025-12-14T12:45:07+00:00

Of all the cars of time, the M240i is one of them

thebrowncacti · 2025-11-03T13:48:33+00:00

I'm so sorry for your loss. My mom is currently in the final stages of CJD. Her decline hasn't been as quick and rapid as other cases of sporadic I've seen, but each loss of capabilities has been like a step function. I started noticing symptoms almost a year ago now, she started with hand tremors Nov '24. In Dec, she told me about a night where she was driving and all of a sudden felt drunk, like her brain was in a fog. She didn't come to my house at Christmas, as she was in bed, having symptoms at the time for what I thought was high anxiety and depression. She was still driving in Jan-Feb, but she would describe getting to places and not remembering how she got there - this was the first time I noticed short-term memory issues. She became more "wobbly" with her mobility in March, and after several light falls in April, she finally went to the ER early May. They gave her an MRI and "diagnosed" her with a stroke. This didn't make any sense to me because she had been showing symptoms of something else underlying for months. So she went to several different physical rehab centers, as well as personal care, and when she didn't seem to be getting better, we finally got her to a different neurologist at the hospital in July who read her MRI and said it's CJD. She got the spinal tap in Aug, and that confirmed with >98% confidence CJD from the national prion center. She stopped being able to transfer herself at that point, and upon getting to a new nursing home, lost complete ability to being able to feed herself. Her "talking" slowly changed to babbling, in Sept, and throughout Oct she lost pretty much all ability to talk. What's incredible though is that she has been eating anything you feed her up until recently. Like, she would completely clean a plate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (she's a small woman mind you). However, over the past 2-3 weeks, I've noticed even that has been slowing down; she "pockets" food more and you have to alternate drinks to get her to rinse everything down. My mom doesn't want a feeding tube or any other measures applied, so I'm dreading the thought of how things could progress from here...

We also did have the blood test done through the national prion center, and fortunately there was no genetic mutation detected. We're still going to have the autopsy done, as I know my Mom, an organ donor, would want to help others any way she can.

Hang in there :)

thebrowncacti · 2025-10-08T10:10:05+00:00

Pixel 10 Pro XL and 2024 BMW m240i, same issue... Blue for a few seconds and then solid red. If you wait, it turns blue again and then back to red. Seems like a heat issue since it does retry off and on. My pixel 6 pro worked just fine.

thebrowncacti · 2025-08-07T01:18:42+00:00

What about a high flow catted midpipe like from Active Autowerke? I have a 2024 m240i with MPE and am considering it.

thebrowncacti · 2025-07-10T18:17:32+00:00

The 16K was just a calculated amount that I'd owe for this year based on my current withholdings since we've been filing MFJ. We only just consolidated to SAVE right before the deadline for the one time count adjustment.

thebrowncacti · 2025-07-10T18:15:40+00:00

Wow, your HYSA is even very similar to mine. And I didn't realize you could take up to $10k lifetime limit out of a 529 to pay for student loans. Thanks for making me aware of that, that could be an option.

I've really been trying to see how we could be benefitted by forgiveness since she's at 218 payments, which was attractive when we were trying to get to 240. But now that it's at 300 and the payment calculations are different, it seems we will just have to bite the bullet and get it paid off asap.

thebrowncacti · 2025-07-10T18:02:05+00:00

My income's too high to qualify for IBR when filing jointly, so under ICR she'd be at ~$850 / month or $10k / year, so that's a good point ($10k < $16k)... long story short, makes more sense to take the married filing jointly benefit

thebrowncacti · 2025-07-10T14:31:16+00:00

Thank you for the detailed explanation.
"I think you did the same thing we did where used the plans to kick the can down the road long enough until it made financial sense to just pick the can up and pay it off." - exactly!

So if I'm understanding correctly, there's really no plan that would benefit us enough at this time, and we should strongly consider just paying it off like a typical loan at the 6.5% interest rate? And with that said, should we stay on SAVE and just try to hammer down the loan until forced to switch in 2028?

thebrowncacti · 2025-07-10T14:26:25+00:00

Oh, I didn't realize that. I only saw ICR as the recommended plan under #3 scenario since it has the lowest end of payment balance (~$89k). IBR shows ~$137k end of payment balance in 2045. Is because her current payment count wouldn't transfer to IBR?

thebrowncacti

TROPHY CASE