regfootball

Most people don't sell private party, they trade so that is the real value of your car at any time tell me the price of an impala in 2009 and 2016. Same size car v6 you'd buy it in 09 for 19 grand now it's 29 grand. Car prices have gone through the roof. The 36k vs 30k is not an exaggeration.

lots of righteousness going on here, in my 1.5 yr brush with selling cars, i came to realize just how strapped most of the public is most of the time for paying for their transportation. In my experience, very little was it ever people spending frivolously. They really were most of the time trying to figure out how to get something to get them to work, for the least amount of money they could piece together. A large percentage of people flat out can't get approved for credit. Being in a high risk pool, that increases their interest cost at the same forces them to go down on the ladder on a vehicle that an auto retailer is still trying to sell for a decent margin over what they paid on trade and for recon for, and after they pay for all the buildings, ads, and front desk receptionists with their boobs hanging out all over. Isn't it just flat stupid that people might buy a 9 1/2 year old car on a five year loan and drive it off the lot and be instantly thousands upside down? Well shit, i bought a house with 20% down back in 2003/4 and after all this freaking time my property is probably still worth 25% less than i paid for it. Why do i mention this? Because the economy has been shit for several years now, and like with housing, the money faucet was in fair correlation with salaries and the health of the jobs market. We're in this odd conundrum where people's incomes are down or stagnant for a long time (it never was a recovery). Auto sales have boomed new the last few years simply because the pent up demand after the market dived after the crash. Now that we're probably seeing saturation of that pent up demand, it's a bit of a bubble. And now lease returns are starting to hit the market again. Transaction prices are through the roof, and that's due in part to the devices needed financing wise to keep the factories running at the higher levels. They probably need to self induce a cutback now and curb credit some. Add to this the last oh how many years of strangulation with regards to emissions and fuel economy / cafe mandates....all the prices for this technology has pushed vehicle prices up as well. When you start looking at a new vehicle at 30,000 bucks, the sales tax alone in some states can be like 2 grand. License fees can be 500 bucks a year. But it goes even further than that. No one has 5 grand to put down. And even if they did, it literally is throwing money out the window, because that money, all it does is pay for the tax and a depreciation hit and dealers profit for driving it off the lot. When something has a depreciation curve like that, i absolutely would not want to pump a lot of cash into at the start......put in enough to try to stay close to above water if you can. It's great advice to say 'don't buy a car on more than a 48 month loan' or something like that, but even on a 7 year old used car with 100,000 miles that might sell for 15,000-20,000...people won't even be able to come up with a sizable down payment. The fact that gas is so cheap the last couple years has done a great job hiding the affordability problem with driving a car. If people can't afford a 400 dollar a month payment for 5 years on say a 3 or 4 year old car (which is a lot of people) i can't imagine what happens when gas goes up to 5 bucks. What is the answer? Well, crossovers by nature are more expensive and maybe cars can only become more affordable if people revert back to sedans more. the source of the problem really is people's wages and the prices are crazy stupid. We may just end up seeing market adjustments to new or used cars to account for this. I resigned myself to the fact that i can own a car free and clear and when its 7 years old its worth shit. I can trade it in and any equity i finally earned by that point might pay for sales tax and plates on a new one the next time around. I can try to think i am a martyr but thinking, hey i'll save up a nice chunk of change and get a good used car, but none of that chunk of change gets you any equity either. You literally if you want to be atop your car probably have to put half down and I honestly would estimate that those i worked with that got more than say 4,000 bucks down on any transaction was maybe 10% of buyers. Probably more like 5% (but what i sold was prob 90% used). it's just reality, people piece together what they can for wheels to get to work. I'm not going to go deep and criticize how they solve that complex financial issue. And the manufacturers and dealers you can blame if you want but they have factories to keep open and expenses to pay and you get where you have to sell and get what you can to keep the lights on. If that means fire saling your inventory there comes a point where you may need to do that. I decided the last two times to lease. I never thought i would have 2 vehicles on lease at the same time. My realization was that buying used was even going to be an eye popping amount of money for a wise purchase so in these 2 cases I decided to kick the can down the road (and also to avoid giving my beloved state as little tax dollars as i could for awhile). When the van lease is up, i will either negotiate a cheap buyout (much cheaper hopefully than the equivalent on the used lot at the same time) or find a good deal on a 2 year old low mile unit and get back on the payment wagon. When the Malibu lease is up, I may just find a cheaper older rig if again i can't steal my own turn in and bet the farm i wont have to spend a bunch of money each year on repairs. Think about this. Let's say you started today to save for a new vehicle to buy in 3 years. Let's say you wanted to buy a new Impala and it could cost you 30,000 dollars today. The car you drive now is 7 years old and paid for. You're lucky today if a dealer will give you 5 grand on what you own now. In three years they will offer you 1,000 bucks for that. that should pay for your tabs in 3 years on the new one. The 30,000 dollar today impala will be 36,000 dollars in 3 years. If you want to pay cash for that you will need to save 1,000 bucks a months for those 36 months. Buy used you say, well, in 3 years a 5 year old Impala might be 21,600 dollars. So to buy that car in three years that will already by 5 years old when you buy it, you'd have to sack away 600 a month (in addition to the money you'd spend on repair and maintenance to the car you already drive). I certainly could accuse anyone of spending money foolishly or excessively on cars, including myself, but the hard message so many buyers learn is, new or used, whether you own your vehicle outright, or are making payments, or paying for repairs etc, nobody drives for free. There is always a cost to what you drive. And i give credit to as many people that can that just can figure out how to pay for the miles they drive. It's a very select few individuals who are either car savvy or can do their own repairs or are just flat out lucky that they maybe bought a 9 year old junker with some saved up cash from someone off Cragislist, and managed to keep it on the road 6 more years without paying for a transmission or an A/C compression, or brakes, tires and shocks all around. I honestly think its time to curb some of the technological development in automobiles for awhile and concentrate on how to get more affordable products out there. And maybe at same point people's real spending power becomes healthy. In the meantime, the bulk of the population I am certain merely does what they have to just to have something to drive to their job, if they have one.

very interesting, but mine's a lease,....?

The Regal should be the "v6 Malibu" and hopefully better seats and more plush all around. I would definitely endorse something like a 2.5 turbo six on this chassis. Hoy grail, IMO. The 1.5 is really good for what it is, a powertrain that is forced on us by overbearing regulations and global markets. For a 1.5 4 popper its pretty amazing and its all about the mpg. But i think I would like a real car motor next time. Question is how much mpg do you lose in the process.

diesel is a legacy thing for Mercedes. WAYYY BACK WHEN they were a premiere brand for the diesel cause in the US, and it was part of the reason they HAD a rep for their cars going hundreds of thousands of miles.

I don't mind it at all. But the powertrains are weak. It is nicer than the cx-3

pulled in for the first oil change today with exactly 5000 miles on the odometer which chevy pays for. 35% oil life. the B tripmeter registering all the miles i have driven since taking possession show a DIC lifetime 33.2 mpg. (probably real calc maybe mid - high 32's. still need to work on my fuel log). love the car, but i might join the crossover fray next time. And, go bigger on the engine. But i got the 1.5 for mpg and it hasn't let me down there. The mill is quiet for what it is, but if i had bought the car i think a better decision would be more power. And i do think a v6 would be nice, the small four has a well muted buzz and drone that you only hear because the cabin is so quiet...it's still a buzz and a drone though. A small turbo 6 would be manna for me. the driver's seat is not cushy and doesn't rise up high enough. Small beans when its not a Buick or Cadillac price. Everyone who's seen the car likes it. tpms can be about 10% low at times when checked vs a gauge.

^^^ that's actually nice

congrats! pentastar is a great mill and the price was a steal!

"SS"

yeah, the small SUV thing is getting on my nerves actually. Love the Encore though.

CTS ATS and Camaro are not core products. Good to keep production of those in line.

current car is dated by at least 3 years

it's interesting that the Regal will have the v6 option by the sound of it. A way to differentiate between siblings. I wish it were a turbo 6 though. Love the added boost the turbo gives.

hope to post my mpg log soon. been getting really nice mpg out of this thing. 33 average overall, nudging 40 on trips. would like a few more ponies though

nice write up. With all the recent interior fixes, a Focus was something i looked into. But all the stories i read about the tranny issues steered me away. They are CHEAP on the used market for probably that reason mostly. tight back seat is another reason. drove one once, it did drive pretty decent. Ford desperately needs to get on the bandwagon with the new small torquey turbos and a real transmission. They should either reshape the body more the insanely popular original Focus, or take steps to make the Focus 'the drivers car among compacts'. They should Civic size it too. My hunch is with cheap gas, they won't invest much in US versions (made in Mexico) of any future Focus. Ford's primary market warriors will be Fusion and Escape. The simple fact they have done nothing with the powertrain on this car tells you exactly how little they are investing in this model in the US.

i actually don't think the 200 is so bad. But here is part of why it hasn't lit up the sales charts, apart from it's competitiveness issues. 1- it's a classic tweener. it's a bit small to really be a true midsize. 2-chrysler's own 300 in the showroom selling at huge discounts. I actually looked at some used 200's before leasing the Malibu this year, but the more i read into the teething pains with the 9 speed automatic across Chrysler's product line, i didn't want anything to do with it. The v6 AWD 200 to me is a nice option. It doesn't even really matter how many of the 200 Chrysler sells. They can fleet whatever they don't sell retail. If they drop it they do run risk of what do they sell when gas hits 5 dollars. The issue is to size it correctly and not put Fiat guts in it IMO. Next Chrysler 300 is to be spun off the minivan. That's a good move for the 300 but honestly unless Chrysler comes out with its own Equinox and Edge they'll need something downmarket in the showroom from the 300. Not everyone wants a Jeep.

yes, new is too pricey. lots of lease returns now hitting market. used prices down. i think the new market should cut back production for awhile. election jitters may be part of it as well.

the memories are long when the press keeps bringing up GM diesels

http://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2016/10/26/gm-2018-chevrolet-equinox-boosts-advanced-high-strength-steel-to-31-uhss-to-11/

^^^^^ turbo v6 would have given them a really nice edge here. No pun intended.

I'm sure your info is from the right place, but i highly doubt it to some degree; if they can fit a v6 block in there to begin withat that they can't fit turbo plumbing in there. Could be one of those deals where they wait 2 more years just to be jerks.

Fiat Alpha needs any buyer they can get LOL

bleh looks, proportion problems in the rear overhang. Interior seems cheap from pictures. This is almost Chinese looking, or looks like what a large 3 row CUV from Suzuki might look like on the flanks. still though i believe this is the sort of vehicle VW needed to bring in new shoppers. The LOL here is that the Toaureg was a highly desirable and expensive vehicle when it came out. It was a status symbol due to its robustness, performance, and luxury interior. This is a huge 180 from that. For VW right now, anything like this is a big shot in the arm. As far as the bleh thing, the new Acadia is sort of a dud too. So we can't be pot calling kettle black here. best thing VW can do here is price it CHEAP!!!!

Aussies are buying more and more Toyotas I hear. Maybe redefining the Commodore means something where it can compete with a Camry and rise above it. All i gotta say is if the GS version here has the non turbo v6 as its engine, it will hit the market as a dud (the GS). Twin turbo 6 is the only way to make a splash here now, especially since the MKz has a 400hp ecoboost six now. This is essentially a Malibu, but nicer and more in the powertrain department. I can tell you, the chassis is so light and balanced with the 1.5, the 2.0 feels nose heavy...i can't imagine what they have to do to keep it feeling right with a big v6 under the hood. Maybe the v6 here will be AWd only.