The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that kids reach 80 pounds and 4'9" tall (typically 8 - 12 years old) before leaving their booster seats behind. This is stricter than any of the state laws, which vary wildly: While 47 states have booster seat laws, only 25 states and the District of Columbia require booster seats for children up to at least age 8. Ohio's new booster seat law just went into effect October 7th. Florida, Arizona, and South Dakota have no booster seat law at all.
Most kids don't want to wait until they're 4'9", and parents often give in to their demands. (See Booster Seats: Fight the Good Fight.) But this is a tragic lack of judgment. According to a new study released this week from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), children ages 4 to 8 in belt-positioning booster seats are 45 percentless likely to be injured in a crash compared with children using a seat belt alone. The study confirmed that the "older" 6 - 8 -year-olds benefit just like the 4 - 5-year-olds from earlier studies.
When buying tires, the salesman may try to upsell you on a brake job or front-end alignment.
"Upselling" involves persuading a customer to buy more product or service than they originally intended. From the innocous "Would you like fries with that?" to "Buy one, get one free," upselling is a standard part of sales training because it brings in extra profit. Many salespeople are even paid commensurate with their ability to upsell successfully. Car buyers and owners need to be particularly wary, because upselling exists at every point in the game: car dealerships, tire stores, repair shops and even car washes.
Our new article, Avoid the Upsell, illustrates the psychology and sales language involved in turning a smaller sale into a larger one. It tells you what tricks to watch for and how to respond to the salesperson. Knowing these tricks can even protect you from outright fraud, which we discovered when a quick oil change shop offered to "fix" things on our car that weren't broken.
I admit to being a willing sucker for the occasional upsell, such as adding an item to my online shopping cart if it puts me over the "free shipping" threshold. What was the last thing you were tempted to buy (or actually bought) due to an upsell, and how did you handle it?
Do you ever think, "Where the heck is all my money going?" If you're like most Americans, the answer is housing (#1) and automotive expenses (#2). Since the economy has forced the word "budgeting" from the realm of accounting geekdom into dinner conversation, it's more important than ever for car owners to lower their vehicle's operating expenses.
All vehicle expenses aren't the same. Our new article, How To Budget and Lower Your Automotive Expenses, shows you where your money is going and goes into detail on how to save on finance and interest charges, taxes and fees, insurance, fuel, maintenance and repair.
If you search under the word "smell" our Forums, you'll find car buyers writing in to ask about smells in their car that don't seem quite right. These questions pop up consistently and sometimes lead to discussions of potentially unsafe chemicals in vehicles, as it has with the discussion of a sulfur smell coming from the Toyota 4Runner.
But it's not just that new car smell that could be harmful. A car has thousands of chemicals in its very composition, plus hundreds or thousands more required for its operation (like air conditioning, for example). There's a rising tide of concerned car buyers and health advocates who feel that those chemicals could be toxic to both drivers and passengers -- particularly children, who are more vulnerable.
HealthyStuff.org, which tests a wide variety of consumer products for toxic chemicals, has issued new report that includes results on more than 700 new and used cars, as well as kids' car seats. The Ten Best and Ten Worst are above. Among the findings:
Edmunds' Home and New Cars pages divide vehicles into various "types" (a.k.a. "market segments" or "categories"), which helps readers to quickly focus their car search. Although while many cars' types can be identified just by looking at them (a sedan is pretty obviously a sedan), readers have told us they're sometimes confused: What's the difference between an SUV and a truck, or an SUV and a crossover? What makes a car a hybrid? Confusing consumers more are the automakers that try to create new category names (like "sportback") to make their vehicles stand out from the crowd or to avoid the minivan/wagon stigma.
For our latest article, Defining Vehicle Types, our data and editorial staff put their heads together to develop practical, user-friendly definitions for Convertible, Coupe, Crossover, Diesel, Exotic, Factory Tuner, Hatchback, Hybrid, Luxury, Minivan/Van, Mobility, Performance/High-Performance, Sedan, SUV, Truck and Wagon. For example, if a car's roof continues straight past the rear doors, it's a wagon, but if it dips when it passes the rear doors, it's a hatchback? (Think about it!)
Boy, have you come to the right place to learn about negotiating for cars. Negotiating with auto dealers -- or even with private parties -- can be one of the most intimidating parts of the car-buying experience. Most of us would rather skip the fireworks and just get a great deal.
That angst is what launched the Saturn brand, with its fixed-price policy, and led to the "no haggle pricing" campaigns you sometimes see. But truly, you don't have to have years of negotiating experience to get a spectacular deal. In fact, you may not need to negotiate at all.
Our raw data is generated by a large Edmunds.com team consisting of statisticians, data collection and processing staff, and our pricing analysts. It's complicated stuff. Edmunds has spent many years and millions of dollars gathering and refining our methodology. It just doesn't get any more reliable.
We regularly share some of this data with the media, and you've even see us quoted on the Senate floor if following the C4C debate. You can find a list of the reports we've made public by viewing our Press Releases. Because our information is proprietary, though, we don't offer our data for sale or license. If you don't find what you are seeking through one of the links above, you can try one of the organizations listed here.
We've got thousands of members in the Forums, and they are an incredible source of information and amusement. Let's say you've got a question, problem or comment you want to share with someone who has posted to a discussion group. Or perhaps you want everyone in that discussion to weigh in. How do you do that?
For starters, you must be a registered member of the Forums and be signed-in to post a message or ask a question. Then decide whether you want to ask your question of the Discussion group or of a specific individual.
You don't need a decoder ring to figure out what all those numbers mean. Honest.
A Vehicle Identification Number, or "VIN," is the 17-digit string of numbers assigned to an individual vehicle by its manufacturer. The VIN can reveal a lot about a car, including ownership, accident and repair history. Typically, the VIN is stamped into a plate and mounted on the dashboard near the windshield or on the driver's side door jamb.
Decoding a VIN Certain digits in the VIN identify a vehicle's attributes, including its final point of assembly, its model year, the manufacturer and, usually, the model of the vehicle. For a really thorough description of how to read a vehicle's VIN, please see our article Making Sense of Your VIN or the CarSpace Guide, How to Decode VINs. But you can get the basics by using the Pronto VIN Decoder. We put one of our personal cars into the decoder, and here's what we got back:
Summer usually mean more money spent on gas. So vehicle manufacturers, already offering record-level incentives, are adding "price protection" for fuel costs as a way to get you to buy a car this summer.
For example, Hyundai recently offered a Gas Lock program, part of the Hyundai Assurance program, in which new-car buyers will get 12,000 miles of gas at $1.49/gallon, slightly higher for midgrade and premium. Suzuki also announced Free Gas for Summer for purchasers of the Suzuki SX4, with gas cards worth $270 or $290, depending on the model you choose.
Some of these programs are worth it; other times they come with strings attached that make it difficult to determine their value.
There are several reasons why specs or pricing might be a little different on Edmunds than elsewhere, so when making comparisons, keep the following in mind:
Destination Charges and Other Fees On our site, we always make it clear when destination charges or other fees are included in a vehicle's price, but to determine this elsewhere you may need to examine the pricing details or window sticker closely.
Vehicle Styles Make sure you're comparing the same vehicle style. Sounds simple, but most vehicles are available in many different styles, and sometimes this leads to confusion. Styles listed on our site include the vehicle's trim, number of doors, body type, drive type, engine and transmission. For example, here's a style currently available for the 2010 Honda Pilot: EX-L 4dr SUV AWD (3.5L 6cyl 5A).
Invoice price (a.ka. "dealer cost") is the amount the dealer pays to the manufacturer for a car from the factory. This, of course, is less than the MSRP -- the sticker price. But the invoice price is almost always higher than the amount the dealer actually ends up paying to the manufacturer, because the manufacturer offers extra discounts to the dealer. The two most common discounts are "dealer holdback" and "dealer cash," and there are often others based on sales volume.
A few things to remember about invoice price. It doesn't include tax, title, license or registration fees, nor does it include any manufacturer-to-consumer rebates. Sometimes the amount quoted as the invoice price includes the destination charge and sometimes it doesn't, so look closely. (On Edmunds.com, we always make that clear.)
[Note: Because of regional pricing differences, the invoice price you see on Edmunds may occasionally vary a bit from your local dealer's invoice. Why? Regional pricing differences. For example, in the South and Southeast, large independent distributors control the pricing of Toyota vehicles, and they may set prices at different levels than those established by Toyota for the rest of the country. Same with Subaru in the Northeast.]
All this makes determining the dealer's actual net cost difficult even for seasoned automotive insiders. That's why we developed the True Market Value pricing system, which accounts for the effect of all of the manufacturer's extra charges as well as the dealer's hidden subsidies.
So, can you buy a vehicle for less than its invoice price?
It's easy to be skeptical about cars from a rental fleet because you don't know how much abuse they've suffered under their multiple drivers. And they often come without of a lot of desirable options. When money's tight, though (and when isn't it?), these vehicles can be real bargains.
Right now there's a lot of car owners with a whole lotta questions. We know, because they email all of them here to us. (For the uninformed, Edmunds neither makes nor sell cars -- a really good thing right now.)
While many of these questions can be answered by going through our Tips and Advice section, detailed questions about specific vehicle warranties, problems with car dealerships, and so on, are best referred to the automakers themselves.
Sure, you could Google your automaker's name and try to find the Customer Service or Ownership pages. But that can be time-consuming and frustrating. Besides, we've got a handy list of links that'll take you directly to the correct page, right here:
Whenever we discuss whether there's a "best" time to buy a car, a lively debate ensues. End of the month, in the rain, end of the year -- there are lots of possibilities for saving money. Taking a lesson from Wall Street, though, we tend to believe that trying to "time the market" is fraught with peril. But one thing is generally true, and that's that holidays bring out special incentives on new vehicles.
It's not enough, though, to just run into the car dealership and get a new car to try to take advantage of, say, $500 cash back being offered for Memorial Day weekend. Why? Because that time pressure (buy it before the incentive disappears) can cause you to grab a "deal" that isn't really the best one for you.
You need a real plan to save real money. Our article, Your Three-Day Shopping Plan for Holiday Weekends, covers all the bases. The most important step, of course, is figuring out how much car you can really afford, made easy with our new Affordability Calculator. The hardest part? Sticking to that budget! Seriously, though, if you follow the plan, you'll be sure to finish the holiday weekend with confidence that you've got the best possible deal on your new wheels. I did this during Memorial Weekend last year, and walked away with a great deal on a Nissan Altima Hybrid with all the trimmings. I never had to wonder if I could have done better, and that's a great feeling to have on such a major purchase.
One of the most popular questions we get is, "What is the definition of a hybrid?" Recently, Edmunds' Director of Testing, Dan Edmunds, broke it all down and demystified the technical jargon in a new article.
Briefly, the most basic definition of a hybrid is a vehicle that uses more than one form of onboard energy to achieve propulsion. In practice, that means a hybrid will have a traditional internal combustion engine and a fuel tank, as well as one or more electric motors and a battery pack. Some of the terms associated with hybrids are motor-generator, start-stop, regenerative braking, and electric drive.
Those terms are defined in his article, along with the three "hybrid layouts":
You'd have to live way off the grid to not know that Chrysler just declared bankruptcy, and that Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Hummer are in their death throes. But where does it leave consumers?
As Phil Reed noted yesterday, and as we detailed in this article, the immediate impact on consumers should be limited (see the above links for details if you're still worried, but you needn't be unless you work for one of those companies or their dealerships).
Yes, it's a shock to realize that your car's brand may cease to exist -- or be reincarnated as something you don't recognize. But will that change the way you feel about your car?
Even though leasing has declined since the credit crunch began, more than 11% of people still leased their cars so far in 2009. Figuring lease payments is more complicated than figuring standard financing; because of that, a lot of consumers can get taken for a ride without even knowing it. Even if you use our Edmunds lease calculator
to do the work for you, it's important to understand the math.
Car leasing is tougher than it used to be, but lenders are definitely still writing lease contracts. If your primary concern is your pocketbook, then buying a car usually makes more sense than leasing. But there are different factors to consider. The lists below summarize the pros and cons of leasing, then of buying:
Advantages of Leasing
* Lower monthly payments * Lower down payment * You can drive a better car for less money each month * Lower repair costs (with a three-year lease, the factory warranty covers most repairs) * You can drive a new car every two or three years * No trade-in hassles at the end of the lease * You pay sales tax only on the portion of the car you finance
Disadvantages of Leasing
* You don't own the car at the end of the lease * Your mileage is limited to a set amount, typically 10,000 to15,000 a year * Lease contracts are confusing, so it makes it difficult to ensure you're getting a fair deal * Leasing is more expensive in the long run * Wear-and-tear charges can add up * It's hard to terminate a lease early if your driving needs change
As half of America tries to sell its old junk on eBay to try to make a few extra bucks, people who have clunkers in the driveway are hoping to offload them for cash. Selling your used car to a private individual has always been the best way to make money on it -- dealers won't give you as much for it. But what about taking a tax write-off if you donate your car to charity? Advertising abounds on television and in the papers, encouraging well-meaning people to help their causes with a used car donation. Sounds like a win-win.
But in 2005, the federal laws changed, largely because people were abusing the system. Today, if your car is valued at more than $500, your deduction is limited to the price that the charity can get for selling your car, which happens at auction. The donor must attach a statement of sale to the tax return in order to receive the deduction. (The charity is obligated to provide the statement within 30 days.) Here are the problems with the new system: You are not entitled to know the deduction amount before donating your car. And auction prices are notoriously low.
There is still a way to deduct full market value of your used vehicle: If the charity uses the car itself to further its specific purpose. For example, the nonprofit organization 1-800-Charity Cars refurbishes donated cars and provides them directly to the economically disadvantaged. Its goal is to help the needy and welfare-dependent to become self-sufficient, tax-paying citizens. But most cars donated to their organization don't qualify as "program cars" and end up at auction, regardless.
The bottom line? Charities still desperately need your cars, but donating one, like any true charitable giving, should be done without expecting much in return.
For more the details on what qualifies and how, click here.
Many people write into Edmunds with questions about problems with their vehicles. We'd love to answer all of these questions individually, but if we did, we'd have no time for anything else. (Not to mention that it's risky to diagnose a problem without physically examining the car.) But there are plenty of sources for help on Edmunds, and you'd be surprised how many good ideas you can find if you take the time.
First, look at our Long-Term Road Test blog to see if the editors have tested the make/model of car you've got. We chronicle everything we find wrong (or right) with these vehicles while they're in our fleet.
Next, check out your vehicle's Technical Service Bulletins. They can be a little dense to read, but you'll often have an "aha!" moment if you look down the list of all the little problems that the manufacturer has acknowledged -- at least to their service departments.
Also try Edmunds Answers. Ask a question, get some answers! There are specific categories, such as Car Maintenance/Repair, to choose from. Other consumers -- some of whom are really savvy -- will weigh in on your specific question. (You might even get a staff answer or two in there.)
We also have tremendous resources in CarSpace. In the Forums, you can browse the discussions by vehicle, the forums by make (and model), or by theme (such as Auto Repair). You can then search the discussions by keyword ("transmission"). Whatever path you take, you'll be able to check a specific model for known issues and to see if other owners have had similar experiences. You can also ask a question of the group.
Experienced Edmunds users do their pricing homework before they hit the dealership lot, and with our new New Car Inventory tool, can often see which specific car is available on which lot. But let's say you go to a dealership without having done all that, or you see a different car (new or used) on the lot that piques your interest. How do you know the salesperson is offering you a fair price right then and there? Or what you can really afford to pay for it?
The answer is simple: Look it up on your mobile phone or PDA. Edmunds.com Mobile offers users of mobile phones, PDAs and other mobile devices a selection of the same information found on our standard site, including vehicle pricing, specifications and reviews, and our Auto Loan Calculator. And if you don't think you're getting a good price (or good treatment) at the lot you're visiting, you can find another one nearby by using our Car Dealer Directory.
You don't need to download anything to access the site. Just type m.edmunds.com into your mobile device's browser. It's free to use, although your service provider may charge you for time spent on the Internet, of course.
Many of the worst car-buying decisions happen because customers are on the lot and don't have all the information at their fingertips. With Edmunds Mobile, that doesn't have to be you.
There's as much advice about when to buy a car from a dealer as there are days in a year. Some say that Mondays are good because business is slower on Monday than on the weekend. Others advise to go when it's raining or snowing, because who wants to look at a car and get wet? Still others say that the end of the month is the best time, because the dealership needs to make its quota and will be more willing to cut a deal. And finally, others advise not to buy a car until the end of the model year, or in slow months like August or December when people are busy thinking about going back to school or shopping for Christmas gifts.
While there is some truth to all these theories, our advice is that you should not buy a car until you're ready. By then you have saved enough for a good down payment, researched the lowest interest rate, and you know all the current incentives and rebates. And by the way, you'll never get a good deal when a new hot model has just been introduced. Those vehicles are in demand and go for over sticker price. Let the excitement die down if you want to get a discount.
In evaluating cars, Edmunds editors use the track test numbers generated by our super-exacting testing team. A complete description of what goes into those numbers is here.
But a car is more than its numbers. When writing a test drive, Edmunds editors add real-world driving and usability tests to see how a car might suit the average buyer for that type of car. We determine how difficult it is to install child safety seats, and we see how the trunk or hatch cargo space accommodates a piece of rolling luggage or a set of golf clubs.
Additionally, the manufacturer's listing of "cubic feet of cargo space" doesn't tell you how wide or high the space is, or if there are wheel wells that intrude into the space. So sometimes we stack up storage boxes in a test car's cargo space to determine how much of that space is really usable. (I call it the "Costco test.")
What if we haven't recently tested the vehicle you'd like to see? Then you're likely to find our impressions by reading our Model Reviews. The reviews touch on topics such as safety, powertrains/performance and driving impressions. They'll give you a good idea of how we think the vehicle fits in with its competitors, its pros and cons, and whether it's worth your consideration.
The economy is on everyone's mind. But if fuel economy is part of that picture (we argue that fuel economy should be a "must have" when car shopping), Edmunds has several different methods to find the perfect gas-sipper. .
* Use Advanced Search (in the "Specifications" section, select the MPG range from the drop-down menu under "Fuel Efficiency") * Check out our Fuel Economy Center * Check out the Green Car Guide * Review some of our Top Ten Lists on fuel-efficient vehicles
* From the New Cars area of the home page, you can also select "Hybrids," "Diesels"
What if you just want to see vehicles that get a certain MPG? Do this...
J.D. Power just came out with the results of its 2009 Customer Service Index for Dealer Service. Once again, Lexus took top honors with excellent scores across the board. Here's how the next 15 brands (all considered "better than most") fell out, in order of rank:
Jaguar BMW Cadillac Acura HUMMER Land Rover Buick Saturn Lincoln Porsche Audi Mercedes-Benz Infiniti SAAB Mercury
What I found most interesting here is that Cadillac, Buick, Saturn and Lincoln all did better than Porsche, Audi, Mercedes and Infiniti.
But while that kind of information might be helpful to consider as a factor in vehicle purchase, what about after you've bought your car? At that point, when you need warranty service or general repairs, you need to know if your brand's Dealer A is better or worse than Dealer B in your area.
That's where Edmunds' Dealer Ratings and Reviews tool comes in. Choose your vehicle brand and type in your zip code, and you can instantly see how dealers nearby compare with each other -- on both sales and service. Plus, you'll be able to see the individual consumer reviews (just like on Amazon), including specifics on why people do or don't like that dealership's work.
Here are real examples: reviews of two different Honda dealerships that are actually very close to one another geographically (names/locations of the actual dealerships have been omitted -- don't want the lawyers coming after us):
There are plenty of fees associated with buying a new or used car -- enough to make you think you should have bought a less expensive vehicle. Which of these fees are mandatory and which can you haggle over? Let's break it down:
Vehicle Registration fee: This one's a no-brainer. Every vehicle must be registered by the state. It covers registration, license plate fees, and title assignment.
Sales Tax: Same as it ever was. At 8%, tax on a $20K car can cost $1,600!
Documentation fee: If the doc fee is regulated in your state, pay it. But in most states it's not, and the dealer could really overcharge you. Try to keep your doc fee at or below $100.
Dealer fee: Often labeled 'dealer prep' or 'shipping' or any of a number of made-up names, this is where you need to be careful.
Advertising fee: If it's listed in the car's invoice, pay it. If not, but the dealer tries to write it into your contract, fight it.
Taxes on Trade-Ins and Rebates: This is a complicated subject and, as usual, it depends on your state law. But a state-by-state breakdown of these taxes, along with more details on all the fees listed above, is in our article, What Fees Should You Pay? Here, as with the price you pay for the metal you'll be driving home, it really pays to do your homework before going to the dealer.
Welcome to FAQ Fridays, a new weekly blog feature that answers some of the most frequently asked questions Edmunds readers send in.
First up: Folks want to know why the prices, specs or options on Edmunds might be different from what they see on other automotive sites. Good question! There are several reasons why this might happen, and we'll outline them here. Destination Charges and Other Fees: On our site, we always make it clear when destination charges or other fees are included in a vehicle's price, but to determine this elsewhere you may need to examine the pricing details or window sticker closely.
Vehicle Styles: Most vehicles are available in many different styles, and sometimes this leads to confusion when making comparisons. Styles listed on our site include the vehicle's trim, number of doors, body type, drive type, engine and transmission. For example, here's a style currently available for the 2009 Honda Pilot: EX-L 4dr SUV AWD (3.5L 6cyl 5A).
Sometimes a style contains a Special Identifier (SI) when a manufacturer wants to specify a unique feature. For example, rear entertainment is the SI on the following style of the 2009 Honda Pilot: EX-L 4dr SUV w/Rear Entertainment AWD (3.5L 6cyl 5A).
Imagine that you have a rich car fanatic relative, someone like Jay Leno, who says he'll get you six cars of your choice for Christmas. The stipulations are that three must be new and that of the six, three are domestic and three are foreign.
Of course, my list will probably change right after I post this blog..."Shoot, I forgot about the ____". But nonetheless, these would be (for the moment) my six picks...
We all know that the price of crude has dropped big-time lately. From a high of nearly $150 a barrel earlier this summer it now stands at less than half that, around $66 a barrel.
Great, so prices at the pump have dropped too. Regular gas is down to around $2.96 a gallon here in everything-is-overpriced L.A. and diesel is priced, umm even lower...or drastically higher as I discovered at two Shell stations located relatively close to each other...
I spent the weekend in a 2009 Acura TL, a car that's been widely derided for its elephant-seal-like face and Saturn-Aura-from-the-future butt. I'm not wild about it, but I don't think it's enough for me not to buy it. The allure of similarly priced competitors might, but the TL doesn't nudge the Aztekometer enough to repel me. I'd say being dull is a bigger turn off -- at least Acura is trying to make some statement, however potentially misguided.
So how important is styling for you?
Is it everything? (The Thunderbird buyer). Does it have to have a particular aesthetic? (Jeep or Volvo boxy only!) Is it just a tie-breaker for evenly matched cars? (C-Class vs A4) Is it only important if it's really pretty or really ugly? (Aston Martin vs Sebring) Is it completely inconsequential? (Any Subaru)
Finally, do you care to read about styling interpretations in car reviews, or would you prefer to leave the analysis to yourself given that everyone has different opinions?
Kia's tagline for their new Borrego SUV is "A New Kind Of Luxury SUV." Their new commercial (see above) seems to mock traditional luxury vehicle advertising while at the same time suggesting that the Borrego is a luxury vehicle. That really got me thinking, what exactly is considered a "luxury vehicle?"
One our Edmunds staffers is in search of a new car. His 1988 BMW 535i is on its last legs and he's in need of something new/old.
Here's some of his requirements, needs and/or wants...
Maximum price is $5,000.
It has to be a car large enough to hold his keyboard and other musical equipment. A hatchback would be OK.
He would prefer six-cylinder power and a five-speed manual, but he's realistic about finding the latter in Southern California.
Finally, he wants it to be reliable. Maybe your Saab 900 hasn't caused you any problems, but let's face it, reliability often nixes quite a few cars off any used list.
We've been suggesting various entry-level luxury mid-sizers from the late 1990s, such as the Acura TL and Infiniti I30. We also liked the idea of an Integra hatch, but finding one that hasn't been destroyed by some crazed wannabe street racer is getting harder with each passing day.
But our hard-working, piano-playing staffer (let's call him Emmett) needs your help. What should he buy?
It's become a minor issue today that John McCain owns upwards of 13 cars. When I saw that, I was intrigued since I can only imagine the 13 awesome cars I'd own if I was 73 years old and sitting on a beer fortune. Alas, the list was pretty lame -- 2004 Cadillac CTS, Ford F-250, 1960 Willys Jeep, 2008 Jeep Wrangler, 2001 GMC SUV (very precise Newsweek), 2005 VW Beetle Convertible, 2001 Honda sedan (again, Pulitzer-prize reporting), a 2000 Lincoln and three GEM golf cart thingies. Most of it seems like functional stuff presumably to serve different functions around his main home in Sedona, Ariz. and six other properties. Daughter Meghan McCain owns a Prius and wife Cindy primarily drove some sort of Lexus (with the license plate MS BUD).
Ahoy! On a giant dry erase board by my desk, we often pose "questions of the week," and encourage the editorial staff to come up with answers to silly/fun/trivial questions. Today, one of our illustrious hot shoes, Chief Road Test Editor Chris Walton, posted a little nugget of fun in honor of "Talk Like a Pirate Day" (which is today): What car would a pirate drive? Thought some of you might like to play along, me 'earties, yo ho!
Follow the jump for the full list of our editors' answers, ye scurvy rascals.
It's that time of year again, when dealers start selling off this year's cars and next year's start rolling in. But when next year's is an all-new model, the sell-off at bargain basement prices can often be much greater.
So here's the question, do you buy last year's model for cheap or wait for the all-new, better model? Take the Audi A4. A 2008 A4 2.0T Quattro with automatic and no options has roughly $2,000 off its MSRP according the Edmunds TMV. The 2009 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro's MSRP is only about $500 more than the old car at $32,700 and its TMV is only $150 off sticker. So, is the all-new car worth two grand?
Of course, that's assuming both are worthwhile choices like the A4. There are obviously exceptions. Sometimes the old car isn't worth buying at all (2007 versus 2008 Malibu, for instance), and sometimes the new car no longer tickles your fancy (2008 versus 2009 Acura TL, for another instance). What are some other examples of these?
I'm up in Canada this week, and while driving through Toronto I happened to notice a new Mercedes-Benz C230. In the States, we only get the C300, C350 and C63, but Canada gets those plus the C230, featuring a 201-horsepower 2.5-liter V6 that gets a tiny bit better gas mileage than the 228-hp C300 (20.45 mpg versus 20.10 in Canadian testing). Of course, given that cars cost more in Canada, it's highly likely that Canadians are just more inclined to pay less for a less powerful Mercedes-Benz. But given the economy, wouldn't an increasing number of Americans be willing to do so now?
In addition to the C230, there's the 228-hp E300 4Matic (all non-AMG E-Class are all-wheel drive in Canada), the 335-hp S450 4Matic, and the B200 and B200 Turbo. I'd say the last two are the most intriguing, as the B-Class is a funky-looking hatch that gets 25 mpg city in its 134-hp four-cylinder form. For those looking for a premium, fuel efficient car, the B-Class could find some takers -- although it's certainly expensive. I've seen a couple around Toronto, but not enough to lead me to believe it would be a hit in the United States.
What do you think? Are smaller, slightly more fuel efficient engines installed in subsequently cheaper cars a smart move for premium car makers like Mercedes-Benz? And does the B-Class have a shot?
I recently received a question from a reader asking if they should repair body damage on their vehicle before bringing it in to a dealer for trade-in or appraisal. After consulting with several used car managers and appraisers, the answer was a bit surprising. It turns out that what is best for the consumer is not really the best thing for the dealer.
We try to cover topics that we think you might find beneficial. However, there may be questions you have that we have not yet answered. So, post questions you would like to have answers to, and we will try to address them in future entries.
Question:
I am a safety freak when it comes to my young daughters. I see what you have rated the best all-around family vehicle. But I have always wondered and wanted to ask, "What is the all-around safest vehicle?" Monster truck, Civic, Hummer, Accord, what? Thank you for your time!..
Most buyers are not aware that many of the manufacturer captive finance companies offer what is known as the "one pay lease" or "pre-pay lease." Basically, you pay the entire cost of the lease upfront. In return, the leasing company offers you a discount on the lease rate (which is basically the interest rate). For example, Audi Financial Services will reduce the lease rate by as much as .001 (or 2.4%) if you pre-pay your lease. That rate reduction is about the only benefit you get for paying for the entire lease at the start.
However, there is a major downside with this type of lease. As with putting money down on the lease, if the vehicle is stolen or totalled in an accident, in all likelihood, most (if not all that money) that was paid upfront will best lost. And here's why...
My father called me this morning asking if I thought he should "sipe" his tires. I didn't know a lot about tire siping except that many of the tire stores offer to sipe tires for an extra fee, from about $10 to $15 per tire. The idea is to cut fine grooves in the tires to add traction.
I asked Dan Edmunds, our director of vehicle test and got this response:
"I have mixed feeling about a lot of aftermarket mods, and siping is no different, really...
I received this question while answering emails for Edmunds and felt so strongly about this subject I wanted to share it with a broader audience.
Question: I have never done this before, but after watching my news last night I feel compelled to do something. It showed a mom in a police interview room emotionally devastated because she had forgotten her two year old was asleep in the back seat of her car and left her there while she was at work. The two year old child died. This is a mom not unlike most of us, working, involved in her community, a good mom who loves her children. I can't even imagine how you go on with your life knowing that you made a mistake and it caused the death of your child. Here is what i would like to know, can't car makers come up with some kind of warning device (similar to the buckle your seat belt reminder) that would buzz or chime to remind people to check their back seat. Maybe a buzz to indicate a seat belt is still engaged, or weight sensitive back seats it can't be too difficult to manufacture, it could even be offered as an option if this device saves the life of even one child, isn't it worth looking into?? Just imagine how your life would be if it ever happened to you isn't there anything that can be done?
Question: If I want to do some basic car care myself, what tools should I own?
Answer: If a motorist wants to only do the basics -- checking oil and tire pressure -- then all they need is a tire pressure gauge, a flashlight, and a rag to wipe the dipsticks with. This is maintenance in its basic but useful form. If they want to proceed beyond this point, then they’ll need a few more tools...
