Autos Category
What are the cheapest cars to drive?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Dec 10 2009 | 3 Comments
Are you looking for a car? If yes, are you looking for one that gets good gas mileage and is also cheap to maintain? If you answered yes again, then perhaps you’re looking for a gas sipper rather than a hybrid and a foreign car rather than an American made one.
I know all the time I’m bragging about the quality of foreign cars versus domestic ones, but so is everyone else. In an article from MSNBC, you can find the best cars for under $15,000 which are cheap to maintain and they get great gas mileage so you won’t be blowing your gas budget when you fill up.
At the top of the list was the Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, and Scion xD (I love that the name of that looks like a really happy emoticon). The cars all cost around $15,000 and because they are small and inexpensive, they are fairly cheap to insure as well as maintain. Oh, by the way, they also get at least 30 mpg in combined fuel efficiency. These cars will obviously use less gas and you won’t have to be putting in the expensive grades either. These cars call for regular 87 unleaded.
If you’re really looking for a domestic car, then look no further than the Chevrolet Cobalt or the Pontiac G3. They are basically the same car and only cost around $16,000 and get a combined 31 mpg.
Right now they aren’t selling as well as they were a year ago, but you also have to remember that gas prices are far cheaper right now than a year ago too. People will go back to buying these cars once gas starts creeping up again.
The cars on the MSNBC list are all gas powered vehicles. There were no hybrids on the list due to the fact that they are more expensive to maintain, insure, and they actually cost more too.
From the article:
“The best way to a cheap ride? Choose something small, light, and more often than not foreign.”
Related posts:What are the best cars for your money?
The 27 Cars in 2010 that are considered the safest.
Should you think about buying an American car?
Tags: foreign cars, scion xd, best cars
Car buying incentives for those who missed out on Clunkers.
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Sun, Dec 06 2009 | 0 Comments
If you are in the market for a new car and are in the United States, there are still a few incentives for you that you may want to consider before you plop down $30,000 on your new car.
Obviously the biggest government incentive this year was the Cash for Clunkers program, but just because you missed out on that, that doesn’t mean that the government doesn’t want to help in other ways (as long as you buy your car by December 31st anyway).
When you go to a car dealership, you an typically negotiate a deal. Other than that, you can get a sales tax deduction right now. When the federal stimulus bill was passed at the beginning of the year, any person who purchased a car after February 17th and before January 1, 2010 is able to get a sales tax deduction on their car.
The downside is that the deduction is limited to the first $49,500 of the car’s price and the deduction phases out for those who earn over $125,000 per year or married people filing jointly $250,000. Once the person earns $135,000 alone or $260,000 for joint filings, the deduction is eliminated.
Sure, you aren’t going to be getting a huge deduction from this, but something is better than nothing. Because the deduction is only on sales tax, if someone lives in a state that does not have sales tax, the deductions can be applied to fees that the state or local governments impose.
You can also get a tax credit if you purchase a hybrid. Popular cars like the Prius aren’t eligible for the credit anymore, but 2009 models that are eligible include some cars from Chrysler, Dodge, Saturn and Mazda. The credits range between $1,550 and $2,200.
For the 2010 models, the tax credits are a bit more limited. They’re available to mostly SUV hybrids.
Related posts:There are a couple of incentives for those wanting to buy a car
Should you think about buying an American car?
Buying an American car is for SOME buyers!
Tags: chrysler dodge, something is better than nothing, government doesn
The 27 Cars in 2010 that are considered the safest.
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Nov 18 2009 | 0 Comments
How important is car safety to you? It is definitely at the top of the list to me. After being in a car accident where my 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier was victoriously mauled by an 18 wheeler, knowing the safety rating of automobiles is something that I think is quite important.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a report recently that named the top vehicles for safety for 2010. The list last year was comprised of over 90 cars, while this year the list has been taken down to only 27. While this may sound like cars are becoming less safe, the IIHS put new stipulations in how it tested for auto safety…this year it included information about how the roof held up against rollovers.
The areas that were tested this year was the 40 mph frontal crash test, side crash test (which tests to see how a passenger would fare if they were to be hit by an SUV or truck), rear crash protection, rollover, electronic stability control and bumper evaluations at low speeds of 3 or 6 miles per hour (I believe this one has more to do with how much it would cost to fix a small parking lot accident rather than safety in such an accident).
The 27 autos that were picked are broken up into five categories large, midsize and small cars as well as midsize and small SUVs. Those were the only categories where vehicles made the cut.
LARGE CARS
Buick LaCrosse
Ford Taurus
Lincoln MKS
Volvo S80
SMALL CARS
Honda Civic
4-door models (except Si)
with optional ESC
Kia Soul
Nissan Cube
Subaru Impreza
(except WRX)
Volkswagen Golf
4-door models
MIDSIZE CARS
Audi A3
Chevrolet Malibu
built after October 2009
Chrysler Sebring
4-door models with optional ESC
Dodge Avenger
with optional ESC
Mercedes C class
Subaru Legacy
Subaru Outback
Volkswagen Jetta sedan
Volkswagen Passat sedan
Volvo C30
MIDSIZE SUVs
Dodge Journey
Subaru Tribeca
Volvo XC60
Volvo XC90
SMALL SUVs
Honda Element
Jeep Patriot
with optional side torso airbags
Subaru Forester
Volkswagen Tiguan
Of course, these are just considered the safest cars. There are other cars that are safe, but didn’t get the highest marks. Something interesting I noticed while searching through the IIHS site is that the cars that didn’t come up as “Top Safety Picks” weren’t tested for rollover safety, in the small cars category anyway.
After all the mess that has been going on with Toyota/Lexus with the recalled floormats, I’m actually surprised to not see them on the list at all. One would think that they would do something to make their cars more safe to get high safety picks for 2010 after that fiasco. I suppose there’s always next year, right?
Related posts:Toyota/Lexus is recalling over 3 million vehicles.
What are the best cars for your money?
What are the cheapest cars to drive?
Tags: insurance institute for highway safety, parking lot accident, mercedes c class
Buying an American car is for SOME buyers!
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Nov 13 2009 | 2 Comments
An older article from US News World and Report shed some light into how to know if you want to buy a domestic car versus an import. Here are some of the tips:
Evaluate the model, not the manufacturer. The Big 3 automakers have tried so hard to show people that its cars have improved in quality. Some of the cars that they are touting as built with the same quality as a Toyota or Honda are the Malibu, GMC Acadia, and Ford Fusion. These three cars often get good reviews, but there are some models (like the Chevy Cobalt and the Chrysler Sebring) that are still getting shoddy reviews.
Beware of bargains. Cars that are cheap now will be cheap when you go to sell them, only cheaper. It’s not really a quality issue it’s more of an issue that stems around the fact that you’re not the only person getting that deal on the car you’re looking at. When you try to sell the car in a few years, there will be hundreds or thousands of people trying to sell the car at the same time. This decreases the value of the cars.
Consider warranties. When you don’t know whether or not your dealership is going to go out of business, you really need to check to see where the next closest dealership is for warranty repair. Since this article was written, it is a pretty safe bet that Chrysler and GM will continue operating so liquidating is not an issue for either of these companies.
Gas prices still play a factor. Gas prices are still pretty low. Even though oil is starting to creep back up, some analysts are expecting it to spike again and the small cars that we all saw on the roads a year ago will be making a comeback. While the Big 3 made the best SUVs on the market, their smaller cars left something to be desired. They are, however, coming out with some new small models to appeal to people who are looking for something small.
That car may not be American. There are a lot of “American” cars that aren’t built in America. As a matter of fact CSM Worldwide is predicting next year that foreign automakers will be building more cars in the United States than the Big 3 will. Many of the cars the Big 3 produce are built in Mexico or Canada. You can check to see where your car was built if you look at the stickers in the windows and read them carefully.
Related posts:Should you think about buying an American car?
Ford suprises everyone by posting a big profit for the 3rd quarter
Car buying incentives for those who missed out on Clunkers.
Tags: warranty repair, best suvs, ford fusion
Are you buying a Porsche or a Croc?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Nov 12 2009 | 3 Comments
Porsche is taking Crocs to court over the name Cayman…as if anyone isn’t able to tell the difference between a plastic shoe and a $50,000 sports car?
The copyright dispute was opened in Germany by Porsche. The company is requesting that Crocs Europe B.V. stop selling shoes with the name Cayman as their style name. Porsche is also asking for Crocs to pay for its attorney fees according to a notice letter from the company.
The notice was given to the shoe maker on My 11th. According to the company Crocs said that it was “served with notice of an injunction against Crocs Europe BV’s use of the Cayman mark in Germany.” So, I suppose that this means that, if the filing were to go to trial and Porsche were to win, that Crocs would only have to change the name in Germany?
This is very Monster Cable-ish of Porsche to do (For those who don’t know: Monster Cable was going around about a year ago suing any and everyone who used the term “Monster” in the name of their product). These two products are not in the same market and honestly, do not often target the same people. Most of the people I notice wearing Crocs are not exactly the same people who are driving anything made by Porsche.
I can’t figure out why Porsche would want to pick a fight against a shoe company. Then again, I suppose that any publicity is “good” publicity. This is just kind of dumb and if it is just a publicity stunt by Porsche, then it should have to pay any attorney fees that Crocs incurs while it tries to figure out how to fight a German trademark dispute.
Oh, the image at the head of the post is a real Cayman and the thing that comes to mind whenever anyone says “Cayman” around me.
Related posts:Car buying incentives for those who missed out on Clunkers.
Tags: porsche, crocs, publicity stunt
