Aikido and the Car Guy

Tax credits and hybrids

Attention all of you green machine buyers past and future. There's a good article on the Consumer reports Auto Blog about the faze out of tax credits for hybrid vehicles.

Disappearing act
The 2006 tax credit size depended on a vehicle’s estimated fuel economy. While a Toyota Prius was eligible for a credit of $3,150, a four-wheel-drive Ford Escape Hybrid qualified for only  $1,950, and a two-wheel-drive Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid got only a token $250. more...

I can only speak to the popularity of Toyota's hybrid vehicles, the 2007 Camry, Highlander and of course the Prius.  They have been HOT. I don't think the disappearance of the tax incentives will greatly affect sales of these things. We'll see in the next six months or so.

Cheap insurance

How often do you have the oil changed in your vehicles?

I have tried to stick to a 3000 mile or 3 month benchmark for my family cars and have recommended the same when asked.  Several auto manufacturers are specifying longer intervals however.

According to an article in todays mlive.com....

DETROIT (AP) — Most major automakers agree: The adage that you should change your car's oil every 3,000 miles is outdated, and even 5,000 miles may be too often.

Ford Motor Co. became the latest manufacturer to extend its oil life guidelines, making public that it is raising the recommended oil change interval from 5,000 miles to 7,500 on its newly redesigned 2007 models and all subsequent redesigned or new models. more ...

The story goes on to quote representatives of Ford Motor Company pointing out that improvements in the current generation of motor oils allow for the longer times between service.

Other manufacturers are relying on sensors do do the work. Mlive says...

Some manufacturers, such as Honda Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., have stopped making recommendations on all or most of their models, instead relying on sensors that measure oil temperature extremes and engine revolutions over time to calculate oil life and tell drivers when to get the lubricant changed. Oil can lose its lubricating properties if it runs at too low or too high of a temperature.

Peter Lord, executive director of GM's service operations, said oil can last 12,000 miles or even more for many drivers who don't run their vehicles in extreme heat or cold or tow heavy loads.

Yikes!  More sensors. According to Ford's guy, they feel that people will go by set mileage intervals, and not trust the sensors.  Would you trust the sensors.  I assume that they buy these sensors from the same people that bring you the check engine or service engine soon sensors. 

I pass.

Toyota has taken a different path altogether. The Mlive piece says...

Toyota Motor Corp. reduced its change interval from 7,500 miles to 5,000 in 2004 in part because it found that more drivers ran their vehicles under severe stop-and-start and short trip conditions that cause oil to deteriorate more quickly, said company spokesman Bill Kwong.

Toyota also had an oil sludge buildup problem on less than 1 percent of its 1997-2002 model year vehicles, Kwong said. Changing the oil more frequently prevents the sludge problem, which he said was caused by owners going more than 7,500 miles before changing oil.

The mechanic that I trust most in this world, told me not long ago that, 3000 mile should be the upper limit of oil use in this part of the country.

It is good advice that is still cheap insurance.

A good home

I sold a car tonight.  I know.  Even a blind squirrel finds a nut, and all that.  In fact, a blind squirrel should probably have been able to sell this particular car.

This was and will most likely, continue to be, a special car. It isn't and wasn't special because of the brand of car it is. A domestically manufactured station wagon doesn't ring any bells at the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auctions, brought to you by the Speed Channel, unless maybe it's a Chevy Nomad.  The miles on the odometer were quite a bit lower than the average ten year old.  A ten year old car though, is no youngster.

But I told the very nice man, who ended up buying this car something that I say maybe a half dozen times a year.  I see, probably, thousands of cars in a year.  Very few jump out to me as special. In the exceptional ones, I can almost feel the love that the previous owners had for their car.  You can just tell when a car has been pampered, coddled.  This time, I think the buyer both believed me and saw the evidence himself.

Every time I get a chance to offer one of these, typically one owner, cream-puffs for sale, I try very hard to be the seller.  But buying cars is hard.  It's hard to trust  not just the seller but sometimes your own eyes.  Skilled detailing and thorough preparation can make most decent vehicles look,feel and perform just fine.  You or I would be more than satisfied with the purchase of most of these cars and there are plenty out there to choose from.

Cream puffs are a different breed.  There are many impostors.  All I know for sure is, a nice family found the real thing tonight.  If I don't step on myself somehow, I'll have another long term happy, customer.  Thanks mostly to the proud original owners of this aging ten year old.

As long as it's red

“Buyers want impeccable quality, reliability, basic space for what they have to do, package size, good performance, and good fuel economy,” so says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, a consulting group in Ann Arbor, Mich.

I have read this statement several times.  I'm pretty sure that I agree with his assessment as it applies to most people I come in contact with when buying a car. 

Quality and reliability have been the features I have stressed most over the years.  That makes sense since I have sold more Toyotas and Hondas than anything and the strongest suits of those brands are quality and long term reliability.  Not everybody cares.

Mr. Cole doesn't mention safety. Of loyalty, patriotism, prejudice, envy, not a word.  What about style? 

Hall, at AutoPacific, says that from the 1970s to the ‘90s, Detroit’s attention was focused on finance, sales volume, debt repayment, and other factors--everything but customers. “The domestics are trying to fix three to four decades of not caring about the product,” he says, “and that’s not going to be turned around overnight.”

For American carmakers to catch up, they can no longer afford to merely improve on their older models, experts say. They must                                                    build better cars than Honda and Toyota. More...

The Consumer Reports piece is interesting.  They are always very analytical, methodical.  Practical.

One thing you won't get in a Consumer Reports story though is this.  Buyers often forget to act like Consumers.  Sometimes, " as long as it's red " is the end of the story.

 

 

Consumer Reports BTN

I have sold a bunch of Toyotas in my career and many Hondas, Mazdas and other imports.  Consumer Reports   has often been an asset as a sales tool in helping to close a deal on one of these brands.  Over the years, the data published by the guild has been mostly helpful in selling imports against domestically manufactured vehicles.  There is a definite slant toward the utilitarian machine. They are not sports car fans, so high performance does not get much boost and recently, it seems the greener the car , the better.  No problem. 

Check out the Consumer Reports by the Numbers piece that is, statistically really interesting.  Here is a partial list.

0 - Number of models in the Mercedes-Benz lineup that are CR Recommended.
7 of 10 - Number of 2007 Top Picks claimed by Honda and Toyota.
4.2 - Quickest acceleration, in seconds, 0-60 mph (Dodge Viper SRT10).
11 - Problems per 100 for the 2006 model year, for Japanese and South Korean automakers in CR's Annual Survey.
11 - Lowest test overall mpg (Dodge Ram 1500 SLT, 5.7-liter V8).
16 - Problems per 100 for the 2006 model year, for U.S. automakers.
19 - Problems per 100 for 2006 model year, for European automakers.
23.2 - Slowest acceleration, 0-60 mph (Smart ForTwo).
44 - Highest test overall mpg (Toyota Prius).
more of the list....

Consumer Reports data should be part of your tool kit when you are making a car buying decision.  Make sure you balance what they have to say with other trusted opinion and don't be afraid to want what you want anyway.

Made in the U.S. of A

I am compiling data on where, and how much of where, the cars we buy and sell in the States are made. There is info out there but alot of it is slanted in the direction the presenter wants it to be. Imagine.  I am not trying to convince anybody to buy or not to buy (I feel a category coming on) particular brands or products.  Frankly, I will sell you any brand you want. I am a car wh.., uh' I'm an automotive liberal.  I do think that there is a way that the facts should be considered and I will try to present that.  The following has already been printed and reprinted and I won't do much of this, but it does get the topic rolling.

According to the federal government, a vehicle with a 75-percent or more domestic parts rating is classified as a domestic vehicle. The web-based resource site Cars.com has compiled the 'American Made Index' that lists the top ten vehicles made i n the U.S. according to where their parts came from, where they were finally assembled, and even how many were sold in the U.S.

The ten vehicles and where they're assembled are:

1. Ford F-Series - Dearborn, Mich.; Kansas City, Mo.; Louisville, Ky.; Norfolk, Va. (Except Ford F-650, F-750)
2. Chevrolet Silverado - Fort Wayne, Ind.; Pontiac, Mich.
3. Toyota Camry; Camry Solara - Georgetown, Ky. (Except hybrid Camry)
4. Ford E-Series - Lorain, Ohio
5. Chevrolet Cobalt - Lordstown, Ohio (pictured)
6. Ford Explorer - Louisville, Ky.; St. Louis, Mo.
7. Chevrolet Malibu/Malibu Maxx - Kansas City, Kan.
8. Ford Escape - Kansas City, Mo.
9. Toyota Sienna - Princeton, Ind.
10. Chevrolet TrailBlazer - Moraine, Ohio (Except now discontinued TrailBlazer EXT)

[Source: Cars.com via PR Newswire]

Not a Ford car in the bunch.  No Chrysler product at all. I bet next year's list has Toyota's Tundra trucks included.  More to come.