Car Advice

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<p>I see $2500 cars proliferating in developing nations as one of the biggest current threats to the American car culture and to private transport in general. This new middle class is getting hungry for liquid fuels at the same time that resource depletion is rearing its ugly head. The timing could not be worse.</p>

<p>The good news is that these light vehicles ought to make good foundations for electric drivetrains. I missed how much these cars will weigh.</p>
 
<p><strong><em>Tata chose wheel bearings that are strong enough to drive the car up to 45 miles an hour, but they will wear quickly above that speed, reducing the car’s life span but not threatening consumer safety, according to Mr. Taneja. The car’s top speed is 75 miles an hour.</em></strong></p>

<p>Imagine going down the 405 at 47mph and your wheels come off....after a week of owning one you'd do this to it.....</p>

<p><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Tf3Rw8VW3aE" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" wmode="transparent"></embed></p>
 
<p>I'd rather get something with a motorcycle engine. Maybe a Smartuki or the turbo diesel Smart car pushing 30 lbs of boost.... But i'm a motorhead, its worthless unless it has 400whp (wheel hp to the uninitiated).</p>

<p>-bix</p>
 
<p>bix, try this one....</p>

<p> </p>

<p><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OitL2Nma0Xo" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" wmode="transparent"></embed></p>
 
<p>A yes, the Veyron, its a beautiful work of art. My twin and I working on a car that is ALOT more powerful than that. It is a high speed streamliner (twin turbine running diesel about 1600 hp running diesel, afterburner gives up 2000 hp for 4 seconds.... then we run out of fuel). We are trying to break the 400mph barrier. So far neither one of our wives will let us drive it to maximum speed.... Good luck</p>

<p>-bix</p>
 
<p>I've got a question to you savvy IHB.</p>

<p>I am shopping for car financing. I can go through the dealer but I am thinking I could get something better elsewhere. I could make request at several different banks, but I am scared that it would lower my credit if 5 banks look me up at the same time? What would be my best approach to get the best financing and not decrease my FICO score? Would you recommend going to only 1 or 2 banks and the dealership? By the way, I have good credit (>720), I guess some banks might target some type of customers. I hate when I see and advertisement saying bad credit and good credit welcome...doesn't sound like they would give me the best deal as a bank targeting only good credit would. What do you all think? Thanks!</p>
 
<p>I will add to Roo's question. . .I will be shopping for a car lease or financing in the next two months and am wondering if the car dealers have to gravel at my feet? </p>

<p>What is a good rate for cars? 6.5%? 7.0%?</p>

<p> </p>
 
<p>If you pick-up a car towards the end of it's model cylce (i.e. Acura TSX), you can expect 2.9% financing and to pay under invoice. The best time to pick-up a TSX would be around March/April.</p>

<p>Some cars have subvented financing now... 2008 is a short model year for the Camry, 09 models should be out later this month. You can get 2.9% retail financing or a .00099 lease money factor which is 2.4% on the 2008s.</p>
 
<p>Roo --- The dealers will indeed screw you on the financing, they can pad their profits by jacking your interest rate. </p>

<p>One idea might be to get a pre-approval right through the vehicle manufacturers website. For instance, I bought a new Accord last year, and Honda was offering special financing rates at the time. I pre-qualed with AHFC right through the Honda website, and printed the certificate and brought it along to the dealer. That way I was guaranteed to get the best rate deal being offered with no run-around from the dealer. Saved a lot of time in the buying process, too. The less time spent in the presence of auto salespeople is always a plus.</p>
 
<p>Eff.. the best way to check is to go to each manufacturers website and they'll have a special offers section. For the most part, the best deals are cars in their 4th and 5th year of the model cycle. These are good cars to get because they have most of the bugs worked out. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.buyatoyota.com">www.buyatoyota.com</a> should be upated soon with all the January specials. With the new Corolla coming out in a couple of weeks, they should be practically giving away the '08s.</p>

<p>Also, in most cases, you can roll the terms from one trim level to another. For example, if there is a great lease deal on an Accord LX, you can take that money factor and residual and apply it to an Accord EX.</p>
 
roo - regarding the credit impact on your score from going to four or five banks - i read about something similar to this on myfico.com over a year ago. the credit scoring system apparently is smart enough to know that you are shopping around and consider the credit inquiries in a 10 day period to be one inquiry, which makes sense. This past summer we were looking at various homes and had our credit checked about 5 times over the course of a month and my credit took a 5 point dive, so it wasnt much of an impact at all. Hope this helps.
 
<p>Thanks qwerty, I don't know why but I didn't thought about reading on the subject on FICO. Here's what I found: </p>

<p><strong class="accent">Fallacy:</strong> <strong>My score will drop if I apply for new credit.</strong>


<strong class="accent">Fact:</strong> If it does, it probably won't drop much. If you apply for several credit cards within a short period of time, multiple requests for your credit report information (called “inquiries”) will appear on your report. Looking for new credit can equate with higher risk, but most credit scores are not affected by multiple inquiries from auto or mortgage lenders within a short period of time. Typically, these are treated as a single inquiry and will have little impact on the credit score.</p>
 
<p>Age old debate: Brand Gas v. No brand gas: Any difference?</p>

<p><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/080104/24176.html?.v=1&.pf=insurance">biz.yahoo.com/brn/080104/24176.html</a></p>

<p>My wife and I generally get Costco gas and get premium because that is what the manufacturers recommend. No problems so far but I always wonder. . . I know there are some car-philes here so I wanted to know your opinions.</p>
 
I have never in my life paid any attention to gasoline brand. I have never suffered a fuel quality-related drivability problem. I have never noticed a difference in fuel economy or performance, either.
 
<p>Yes, some brands are better than others. All my super and turbo cars are VERY finicky about what they ingest. I usually run Torco fuel additive (yes, it was, VERY well). But that being said, 99.9999% of the population doesn't need Torco and would not even notice the difference. Just run whatever gas is recommended by your maker.</p>

<p>I usually go Shell or Chevron, mainly because Shell will sell you 100 octane fuel (8.99 a gallon). Anyways good luck</p>

<p>-bix</p>
 
Ah. The good old Gasoline brand Question.



I have a Supercharged Benz that seems just as happy with Costco as any other brand. At least at Costco the filters are changed often and the pump goes like a bat out of heck. Another issue is where does all the gas come from ?

I see all sorts of Gas trucks pulling out of the Gas Depot behind Chili`s on Katella and Main in Orange. I think there is the big 3. Mobil, Shell, and then everything else in OC is coming from this terminal.
 
<p>Ahh the newer cars are much better, they can sense the fuel difference (have seen this proven on the dyno over and over - knock sensor) and adjust the timing, fuel pressure, and cam advance to meet the gasoline you have in there. Since I'm going for all crushing hp, I turned all that stuff off. The downside is I can possibly blow up the engine (this is my 4th so i'm still learning ). So far the turbo car hasn't had too many issues, but I also keep the knock sensor plugged in as well as run high octance (boost is set as at 28psi o' fun).</p>

<p>good luck</p>

<p>-bix</p>
 
<p>Well the SVO seems to be able to handle it. I of course added upgraded and upsized rods for the head (4340 M400 steel) as well as wire locked copper head gasket. For the mustang I did almost the same as well as upgraded the engine block (high nickle content triple wall thickness) but I went with low boost. The good ol' forumla, triple displacement much lower boost (so I don't run race gas... which i only half way do anyways...). So far those exotic's are fun to mess with! Good luck</p>

<p>-bix</p>
 
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