[Toshi]

Subset of the above that have readily available 2” receiver hitches, off the top of my head:

Honda CR-V
Acura MDX
Lexus NX, RX, LX
Chrysler Pacifica +/- Hybrid
Jeep Cherokee, Grand Cherokee
Dodge Durango
Ford Fusion, Expedition, F-150
Lincoln Navigator
Mazda CX-5
Nissan Rogue
Subaru Legacy, Outback
VW Golf +/- Sportwagen, Touareg

I’m also throwing in the Audi allroad and BMW i3 in, since from the prior list’s curation I know they qualify. (Yes, there’s a hitch for the i3 from Torklift Central.)

Eliminating big and unreliable vehicles: already have an Italian minivan. Note that VW and Audi are ok as of late, I think, plus loaner cars are fun to drive, right? Eliminating crap boxes like the Rogue. Also eliminating the Fusion and Legacy because of reasons, and the i3 because no i3 REx exist in Denver as of now. That leaves:

Audi allroad
Honda CR-V
Lexus NX, RX
Mazda CX-5
Subaru Outback
VW Golf +/- Sportwagen

Now it’s subjective factor time. Everyone in Colorado has an Outback. On the other hand, they should lease well due to high residuals. The CR-V has just never done it for me and my co-worker has one. The new RX and NX are both pretty ugly. Audi and VW are kind of iffy—I know the reliability data are improving, but oh what a history… the CX-5 may be uncouth.

I should do some test driving from this short list.

 

[Toshi]

Time to back of napkin what a lease would run for an A4 allroad. It’d have to be the Prestige trim for the fancy cruise.

MSRP $57,375 as I configured it.
Per Edmunds I should be shooting for cap cost of 6% off of this, or $53,932.
Also via Edmunds 36/12 residual and MF were 56% and 0.00127–I could drop to 10k miles but close enough. That MF is pretty shitty, thanks, Audi Financial!

These terms would work out to something on the order of $715/month pre-tax, $770/month post tax. These are for 0 down leases, ignoring minutiae like acquisition fees.

I’d have to like the car a whole damn lot for that kind of money.

 

[Toshi]

Same exercise for a Lexus NXh lease using Edmunds forum guidance.

MSRP $46,510 with the bells and whistles, aiming for cap cost $43k even, 61% and 0.00080 for 36/10.

That works out to about $499/mo with tax, again neglecting some fees here and there but close.

 

[Toshi]

And once again for a Lexus RX:

61%, 0.00050 for 36/10. 4% off MSRP of $56,115 for cap cost.

$634/mo with taxes.

 

[Toshi]

Last one for a sanity check:

2018 Mazda CX-5 Touring. $29,935 MSRP, 62% and 0.00062 for 36/10, say $27k cap cost. That’s $274/mo.

That’s pretty damn good. An Outback runs about the same in 2.5i Premium with Eyesight trim.

Perhaps I should start with the sane priced ones and rule them out before going directly to the ones swathed in whale penis leather.


>>>>>>

Similar lease estimate for a CX-5 Grand Touring, because heated steering wheels are nice:

$34,035 MSRP. With a $31k cap cost, 60%, 0.00018 that works out to ~$339/mo (less since Bankrate's calculator can't deal with an effective 0.4% APR--this with 1%).

 

[Toshi]

Off to its new home in NY.

 

[jstuhlman]

suck it up and outback, bro...that’s where we’ve been settling if wife determines she’s cool with no third row. does the cx-9 not fit the bill if you want more room?

 

[Toshi]

suck it up and outback, bro...that’s where we’ve been settling if wife determines she’s cool with no third row. does the cx-9 not fit the bill if you want more room?

Yeah, the Outback is probably the most reasonable choice... but everybody here in Colorado has one.



It's also long, not that the Fusion wouldn't have been long as well. I wish I had a bigger garage, and a smaller vehicle makes it easier to move bikes/skis/Taga trike around.

Outback: 189.6"
CX-5: 179.1"
Fusion: 191.7" (!)
Ye olde Land Cruiser: 192.5"
Ye olde RAV4 EV: 180.1"

CX-9 doesn't have stop and go adaptive cruise per my reasonably comprehensive list a few posts up. I neglected GM and variants, I see now.

Edit: I don’t need a 3rd row. Jessica already has a minivan—we don’t need two of that size. Over the next week or two I’m going to test drive the CX-5, Outback (probably both engines), and the Lexus NX as a luxe comparison.

 

[Toshi]

Mariko has a 3 hour private lesson at Winter Park today. She had a great time and skied 5,500 vertical. The private lesson building is also located ideally, right by the Zephyr lift and condos. The downside is that this lesson ran $479. Oof.

For next season I don’t foresee myself plumping for $479 x 2 each week for the two kids. Seems a bit excessive. Instead maybe adding a Loveland season pass for us all to the planned Ikons and doing a midweek group or private lesson programs. Even private lessons at Loveland are a relative bargain, $205 for that same 3 hour length. Perhaps Yuna could do Winter Wigglers on a Tuesday or Wednesday and Mariko could have a private lesson each week?

No matter where we decide on going I think midweek will be part of the equation next year. I got a fair amount of vertical in during my 3 hours of solo skiing while Mariko was at her lesson (18k!) but the lift lines even in the singles line were 5-10 minutes at Zephyr, Super Gauge (saw but avoided), and Panoramic.

 

[Toshi]

Rental car review: 2016 Dodge Charger SXT

Pentastar/8 speed. 40k miles, rented at Enterprise Denver (neighborhood, not DIA).

Pros:

- $41 for two days including all taxes and fees as a “full-size car”, so not bad at all
- ZF 8 speed is pretty good as far as automatics go, with seamless downshifts when ascending, in particular
- good thrust from Pentastar
- good room up front and traditional huge trunk
- quiet road and wind noise, and solid feeling befitting its old E Class roots

Cons:

- no backup camera, and this is a long bitch
- big A, B, and especially C pillars
- short vertical height of windshield, which along with the pillars and the all-black interior color scheme leads to a pillbox feeling
- Pentastar produces much metallic sturm for a given drang
- rear seat headroom is compromised—I hit the rear glass
- pre-2018 Uconnect and dash design << 2018. CarPlay but also so many other tweaks. The old system seems very dated, not to mention the font and color scheme are annoying.

Verdict: I feel like I got $41 of use out of this rental (drove from Denver to Winter Park and back) easily, but I wouldn’t buy one in a thousand years.

 

[Toshi]

Perhaps I should start with the sane priced ones and rule them out before going directly to the ones swathed in whale penis leather.

Speaking of whale penis leather, a dark horse emerges. This came to mind due to all of the lease pricing-out, and also because one of the two local Lexus dealers is participating in Lexus Plus, their no-haggle setup.

That'd be a Volvo XC40, via Care by Volvo (link specific to my color choices).

$608/month for a 24 month lease (the extra $8 due to paint and interior choices I'm guessing). 15k miles per year, $1k of damage waived at lease end, upgrade (with new 24 month term restarted) at 12 months to a new model year or a different model entirely that's also under Care by Volvo. This also includes insurance, which could be on the order of $100/month for a new, nice vehicle, as well as scheduled maintenance at 10/20/30k and all wear items as well (wipers and tires included).

The vehicle itself would be small but well crafted. Big Sensus display (meh) with CarPlay (yes!), Pilot Assist semi-autonomy, heated wheel and seats. $100 extra would get a fancier stereo, built in navi, foglights, surround view camera, but that doesn't seem worth it when put in those terms.

As these are lease only (through this peculiar program, no less) I don't think I could test drive one, so would have to rely on reviews and photos:

https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/02/volvo-xc40-care-by-volvo-hands-on/

Shit, now that I think of this it seems perfect. (Yes, it has a hitch, albeit one that's rather exorbitant and which I'd probably not actually get, especially since I might only be in this physical vehicle for 12 months with the program's design.)




Edit: Turns out it's not lease only, and not lease-through-weird-program only. Yet this program seems like a reasonable deal:

I thought it was only available through Care by Volvo, but indeed this appears to not be the case.

Here's one configured equivalently to the Care by Volvo setup:

https://www.volvocars.com/us/build/suv/xc40/momentum/t5-awd/summary?s=9d2Tm

$42,040 MSRP. Based off of that the stock lease deal is $4,362 + $362 * 35 + $350 disposition fee, which works out to $483/mo (if the dealer fee is magically 0, too...). This is for a 36/10 lease.

So Care by Volvo costs ~$125 more per month but is 24 months instead, offers 15k miles per year, has the $1k damage waiver at lease end, and has the insurance, maintenance, and consumables all covered. (In 36 months new tires might be due, in particular.)

 

[Toshi]

Next steps
Our Volvo Concierge will guide you through the process and will be in touch soon.

Order confirmation
You will receive an order confirmation email shortly.

Credit application
30 days prior to your vehicle delivery, we will contact you via email providing a secure link to Volvo Car Financial Services to submit your online credit application.

Insurance enrollment
30 days prior to your vehicle delivery, we will contact you via email providing a link to Liberty Mutual to complete your insurance enrollment and obtain your insurance certificate.

Pick up your car
XC40 vehicles are available for delivery in April-May 2018. We will contact you with further details as your delivery date approaches.

I am psyched, more so than with the slit-for-ski-passthrough Fusion Energi. AWD, turbo 4 for the altitude, 8 speed, Pilot Assist, lovely interior.

I went with red over blonde leather ultimately.

(And the best part is that the $500 deposit is refundable and the order cancelable until I pick it up! Hell, if it arrives at the dealer and I don’t pick it up for 2 weeks after it comes then the order is canceled and my deposit refunded automatically.)



Update: I trust Alex on Autos for reviews, and he highly approves of it.

 

[Toshi]

Boston area storminess

https://www.boston.com/news/weather/2018/03/02/photos-boston-noreaster-storm-march-2-2018

This dude in a Grand Caravan is quite bold, yet the vehicle hasn’t died yet...

I guess it could be a Dodge Journey.

 

[Toshi]

Just booked a summer vacation, which is marginally interesting from a flight perspective:

July 22, DEN-OTH (my parents live there). Non-stop on an Embraer. Usually runs just shy of $500 per person per way, but it wasn't blacked out for awards travel so I snagged 4 tickets for 50k miles (some transferred in from Chase to hit 50) and $22 and change, total.

July 27, EUG-SEA (driving to Eugene because OTH-SEA is ridiculously priced like the flight in and connects in SFO). Dash 8--ordered my wife the same awesome Sony WH1000XM2 noise canceling cans that I have because propeller planes are loud. Cheap flight to begin with and paid for all but $93 with Ultimate Rewards points.

Aug 1, SEA-DEN. Alaska domestic first class on a 739, should be pleasant. Had to pay for this one like a normal person ex a $25 credit I had with them.

 

[6thElement]

ordered my wife the same awesome Sony WH1000XM2

Reminds me I need to find a pair of noise cancelling for my better half too. I love the Bose pair I picked up on points.

 

[Toshi]

Reminds me I need to find a pair of noise cancelling for my better half too. I love the Bose pair I picked up on points.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B074KDJVS2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

594 reviews, 4.3 stars. I have no direct comparison with Bose, as for my last pair I cheaped out and went with the recommended-by-Pogue-at-the-time Audio Technicas, but I can attest that these Sonys are comfortable, the noise canceling very effective, the touchpad thing on the right ear is very convenient, and wireless >> wired when on a plane.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

$608 a month is an amazing deal for that.

Speaking of whale penis leather, a dark horse emerges. This came to mind due to all of the lease pricing-out, and also because one of the two local Lexus dealers is participating in Lexus Plus, their no-haggle setup.

That'd be a Volvo XC40, via Care by Volvo (link specific to my color choices).

$608/month for a 24 month lease (the extra $8 due to paint and interior choices I'm guessing). 15k miles per year, $1k of damage waived at lease end, upgrade (with new 24 month term restarted) at 12 months to a new model year or a different model entirely that's also under Care by Volvo. This also includes insurance, which could be on the order of $100/month for a new, nice vehicle, as well as scheduled maintenance at 10/20/30k and all wear items as well (wipers and tires included).

The vehicle itself would be small but well crafted. Big Sensus display (meh) with CarPlay (yes!), Pilot Assist semi-autonomy, heated wheel and seats. $100 extra would get a fancier stereo, built in navi, foglights, surround view camera, but that doesn't seem worth it when put in those terms.

As these are lease only (through this peculiar program, no less) I don't think I could test drive one, so would have to rely on reviews and photos:

https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/02/volvo-xc40-care-by-volvo-hands-on/

Shit, now that I think of this it seems perfect. (Yes, it has a hitch, albeit one that's rather exorbitant and which I'd probably not actually get, especially since I might only be in this physical vehicle for 12 months with the program's design.)




Edit: Turns out it's not lease only, and not lease-through-weird-program only. Yet this program seems like a reasonable deal:

I thought it was only available through Care by Volvo, but indeed this appears to not be the case.

Here's one configured equivalently to the Care by Volvo setup:

https://www.volvocars.com/us/build/suv/xc40/momentum/t5-awd/summary?s=9d2Tm

$42,040 MSRP. Based off of that the stock lease deal is $4,362 + $362 * 35 + $350 disposition fee, which works out to $483/mo (if the dealer fee is magically 0, too...). This is for a 36/10 lease.

So Care by Volvo costs ~$125 more per month but is 24 months instead, offers 15k miles per year, has the $1k damage waiver at lease end, and has the insurance, maintenance, and consumables all covered. (In 36 months new tires might be due, in particular.)

 

[Toshi]

$608 a month is an amazing deal for that.

I really like the prospect of being able to trade laterally/up/down for any other Volvo that may be in the Care by Volvo program every 12 months. Perfect for my vehicular OCD.

 

[Toshi]

Holy shit.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/16/tourists-flung-control-ski-lift-malfunction-georgia-resort/

 

[6thElement]

Holy shit.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/16/tourists-flung-control-ski-lift-malfunction-georgia-resort/

Was literally just watching that. Scary shit.

 

[Toshi]

Rental car review:

2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. 2k on the odo, rented from a non-airport Enterprise in Denver.

Pros:

- enough room up front, and big enough to swallow my commuter bike with both wheels on with the back seat folded
- reasonable fuel economy, in the realm of 30 mpg to/from Breckenridge, twice
- has doors and a roof
- will downshift aggressively to get sufficient engine braking to hold speed on cruise while descending

Cons:

- incredibly gutless engine and a 6 speed auto that is constantly hunting in the mountains as there’s just no low end torque
- USB in but no CarPlay
- rental base model has non-automatic climate control, a rarity in this day and age
- interior is various shades of black, gray, dark brown faux wood: very dreary

CN: I should have taken the unwashed Pathfinder instead of this thing.

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>

CN: I should have taken the unwashed Pathfinder instead of this thing.

Those Pathfinders SUCK with the CVT. Just a heads-up. YMMV.

 

[Toshi]

Those Pathfinders SUCK with the CVT. Just a heads-up. YMMV.

Just in the usual rubber band sensation? The hunting transmission on the Santa Fe Sport was pretty terrible itself.

I think I'll hit up Keystone on Wednesday, btw, just to disregard some more sage advice from you (but mainly so that I can say that I visited all of the current season Colorado Epic resorts this year. For this fine weekday I'm renting a Chrysler 300 or equivalent from Hertz, for partial monocle status.

 

[Toshi]

Corduroy by the trees is fun, too. Most everything save for ice and lift lines is fun.

 

[Toshi]

Eldora today with the whole family.

Upsides:

- short drive and close in parking when we got there about 7:40, the latter a la Loveland
- high speed 6 person main chair and blue runs off that peak that Jessica liked well enough
- kids enjoyed their lessons

Downsides:

- kids’ lifts are far away from the main base, which made skiing with the kids post lunch and then retrieving the car a pain
- getting slushy in the afternoon—hot! And coverage in general is only good on groomers. I have a feeling it is warmer in general than, say, Winter Park
- related is that the parking lot was a muddy, puddly mess in the afternoon
- fun runs seem to all be on slow lifts, and the kids lifts are super slow
- private lesson check in was convenient but I saw the line for group lesson check in and it wasn’t pretty

I think this will be our go-to weekend destination for 2018-2019: kids in lessons and Jessica and me skiing groomers for a few hours together. I won’t be headed there midweek for my solo skiing as I like bigger mountains with a bunch of high speed lifts, but for what it is it seemed just fine.

 

[Nick]

Eldora today with the whole family.

Upsides:

- short drive and close in parking when we got there about 7:40, the latter a la Loveland
- high speed 6 person main chair and blue runs off that peak that Jessica liked well enough
- kids enjoyed their lessons

Downsides:

- kids’ lifts are far away from the main base, which made skiing with the kids post lunch and then retrieving the car a pain
- getting slushy in the afternoon—hot! And coverage in general is only good on groomers. I have a feeling it is warmer in general than, say, Winter Park
- related is that the parking lot was a muddy, puddly mess in the afternoon
- fun runs seem to all be on slow lifts, and the kids lifts are super slow
- private lesson check in was convenient but I saw the line for group lesson check in and it wasn’t pretty

I think this will be our go-to weekend destination for 2018-2019: kids in lessons and Jessica and me skiing groomers for a few hours together. I won’t be headed there midweek for my solo skiing as I like bigger mountains with a bunch of high speed lifts, but for what it is it seemed just fine.

are you getting the IKON pass next season?

 

[Toshi]

are you getting the IKON pass next season?

Yup. Already bought Ikon Base for the whole family, with pass insurance for Jessica should kid 3 materialize.

 

[Toshi]

Jessica starting to feel more confident about her skiing:


She has really low lateral flexibility in her hips: I'm trying to flex more there and thereby through angle at the knees and ankles get the skis further up on their edges, but she says that's all she has in her now. You can see that she's consciously trying to keep both hands forward and not drop them after pole plants--edge angle and hand/upper body position were things we were talking about in the morning (and she didn't get mad at me).

Yuna on skis:


My caption from Facebook:

Yuna is a bit frightening on skis at this point: she's stable, she likes going fast, and either isn't aware that she shouldn't barrel straight at things or is incapable of channeling that thought into the action of actually stopping.

Bonus footage in the second part of me falling down: I caught an edge while watching Jessica release Yuna down the hill in front of her (off to camera right), and then had to skate vigorously to catch her before she careened into the bunny hill base area.

 

[Toshi]

@Nick have you had a chance to apply the DPS Phantom yet? Jessica with her Black Pearls had the same experience as with my Mantras: super slow for the first few runs but especially that first shuffle to the lifts, but then feeling pretty smooth gliding afterwards.

 

[Toshi]

Keystone:

The walk from the free Montezuma lot to the River Run gondola wasn't too bad. Kids probably wouldn't like it, though. Having lockers right by the gondola base is an awesome thing, although I didn't take advantage of them.

Blues seem pretty easy at Keystone, especially those off of River Run, and blacks a touch easy. There certainly exist bump runs and gnarly stuff, though--the cat-accessed terrain that I spied under the Outpost gondola seemed quite legit indeed! I was super psyched that they had a groomed black run, Starfire, off of Santiago, much like Golden Eagle at Beaver Creek: basically a race course.

Lift layout was pretty good. All high speed lifts and gondolas that I hit up except for the glaring exception of the Wayback lift, necessary to get back from the Outback. Lines were just fine--never had to wait at all today, thus the big vertical vs time skied.

Snow was merely ok. Probably much better at Loveland today but I wanted to complete the cycle of the Epic Colorado resorts and the $57 I saved by skiing on-pass vs. a buddy pass is still $57, even as I hemorrhage money elsewhere (e.g. Hamilton a second time). I found some powder on Wolverine/Wildfire off of the Outback but also took some solid rock shots.

Overall not the best day and not the worst. Of the Epic resorts I still like Breckenridge the best, but only midweek.

 

[Toshi]

Rental car review:

2017 Toyota Avalon. 15k miles, rented from a Denver neighborhood Hertz.

Pros:

- fabulously comfortable front seats! I was super impressed by this
- soft touch this and fake-stitched that: Toyota has put some effort into this
- very quiet
- V6 pulls nicely and yet returned 32 mpg to/from the mountains
- looks pretty nice outside
- adaptive cruise, forward collision mitigation, lane keep assist

Cons:

- insufficient rear headroom
- rear seats don't fold: ski pass-through was big enough but just so (that's what she said, right?)
- 6 speed auto hunts on grades
- adaptive cruise shuts off at 25 mph, bleh, and no blind spot warning in that suite of safety tech afaik
- dashboard looks a generation old already
- given that this was nominally a luxury car in Hertz-land: no heated steering wheel, no vented seats, and oddly no passenger door side keyless entry or locking (base trim Avalon problem?)

 

[Toshi]

 

[Toshi]

Thoughts on various Ubers I've been in the past few weeks:

- a Dodge Journey qualifies for Uber Select?!
- Mercedes GLA is super small inside: back seatback feels close to the dashboard, if that makes sense. Also insufficient headroom.
- Jeep Cherokee has absolutely terrible rear headroom with the panoramic sunroof, and reclining the rear seat such that my head was further back than the glass itself made things worse. I had to sit up front.
- Getting a black Chevrolet Suburban as an Uber Black is mildly disappointing, but the latest gen (our ride was a 2016) is actually pretty nice.
- a ~2006 Cadillac Escalade, on the other hand, is not nearly as nice. These vehicles don't wear well, possibly exacerbated by pseudo-livery service cycles.
- some Uber drivers are weird. Most are nice people just getting by.
- it makes for a shitty experience when one's Uber driver accepts the fare while clearly waiting in line at a McDonald's across the street. Don't accept the fare until you're ready to actually drive to where I am!

 

[SkaredShtles]

Thoughts on various Ubers I've been in the past few weeks:

Another thing I'd add, in general, about Uber/Lyft drivers:

They are just as shitty at driving as most average people driving around. I'm not sure why I expected more... but I did.

 

[6thElement]

They are just as shitty at driving as most average people driving around. I'm not sure why I expected more... but I did.

That's because they're just average people

 

[Toshi]

Computers are annoying:

I opened up the case to install a tiny standoff and screw for my (warrantied recently) M.2 drive.

So I had the Samsung M.2 fail in Feburary. This month I had the schnazzy 1000W EVGA power supply fail. It'd shut off randomly and then the BIOS would report that ASUS Anti-Surge shut the computer down due to an unstable power supply.

I popped the cross-shipped warranty power supply in perhaps half an hour ago and no instability thus far. Worlds better. Having a computer that shuts down randomly is a tremendous annoyance.

 

[Toshi]

I had my first “should I cancel the Volvo order?” moment of pre-buyer’s remorse a few minutes ago. I saw on TTAC that the 64 kWh, 250 mile, 100 kW CCS DCFC-capable Hyundai Kona EV will be coming to California, supposedly by December 2018.

But then I remembered that the I-70 fast charging network isn’t there yet, that ship dates will be missed, and that buying from California would likely mean paying MSRP then dealing with transport. And that it’s quite ugly indeed.

So this moment passed. I do hope that Volvo rolls out PHEV and BEV variants in Care by Volvo over this first year that I’ll have the (conventional 2.0T gasoline) XC40 in my garage, as without some enticement I may end up doing the program for 24 months then returning to my usual hand-wringing.

 

[Toshi]

I just completed refinancing my wife's student loans, again.

In 2016 I refinanced them via SoFi from horrible 6.8/7.9% Federal rates to 2.44% variable x 7 years. Since then LIBOR has gone up such that it was up to 3.24%.

Ain't nobody got time for that, so I refinanced the 6 years remaining with another outfit, ELFI, now 2.39% variable x 5 years. This is similarly tied to LIBOR but with 0.85% less float in their pocket.

My student loan refinancing shenanigans are being thwarted by LIBOR rising inexorably. My wife's refinanced-to-2.39% variable loan will reset to 3.40% in May, and at that time my similarly refinanced-as-variable loan will reset to 4.17%! That's within spitting distance of the fixed 4.25% I refinanced from...

Whoops. At least I've gotten a year or two of lower interest out of these refinances, and at the amounts of these loans that actually has been worth quite a bit.

 

[Toshi]

I think I'm going to refinance. I decided today will be the day to take many credit inquiry hits so went ahead and did a round of credit line increase requests and also applied to as many of White Coat Investor's preferred refinancing outlets (so that he and I both get a bonus from it).

In the fixed realm for my soon to be 4.17% variable loan it looks like I should be able to get somewhere in the region of 3.15-3.25%, fixed x 60 months. SoFi is doing 3.25% + $300 cash back in particular. There are some others pending administrative review but most looked to be in the same ballpark. (LendKey was 3.15% but their site is seriously crappy and I can't change my info from when I tried to refinance my wife's loans with them last year.)

As promised, time to look into the amortization schedule for my current product versus the proposed new one, noting the 5 year clock would be reset:

Hmm. this is more difficult than I thought due to the rates changing. By estimating it as a 4.17% fixed from today but taking the interest payments from a year out it looks like I'd pay on the order of $9k additional interest from the reset until payoff, if I didn't pay off anything early.

With 3.25% fixed resetting to 60 more months then I'd pay just under $10k interest from now until payoff. Kicking some money at it each year would bring this down to an estimated $5,400 in interest and being done with it at the end of 2020.

Looks like refinancing yet again is the way to go--I've already paid the price in terms of credit inquiries anyway, and I have no credit card shenanigans planned (sticking with Sapphire Reserve long term is my plan since we travel and dine a lot).

 

[Toshi]

For my own reference, various refinancing options:

SoFi
Published rate range of 3.25%+ for fixed rate loans
Offered rate of 3.25%, with a $300 signup bonus via White Coat Investor.

Credible
Published rates: 3.15%+.
Offered rate of 3.97%.

CommonBond
Published rates: 3.14%+.
Application under review. A day later they came back with 2.80% variable (lowest published 2.72% so probably akin to 3.22% fixed).

Laurel Road (née DRB)
Published rates: 3.37%+.
Preliminary rate offered of 4.15%.

Earnest
Published rates: 3.25%+.
Application under review.