mustang84

I sit in one of these at work. They rock. At home, I have a cheap $99 leather chair from Office Max. It was decent at first, but the bottom cushin is starting to wear out already.

I took driver's ed in 1998 and it was also through my high school. Although I think with all the budget cuts recently, they have cut the driver's ed program there. Here in Cedar Rapids, I see driver's ed cars with private company names on them like StreetSmart.

The last owner left a sandbag in the trunk. I'm planning on putting some snow tires on it later in the year since the ones on now have about 2/3 tread left and are just Continental street tires (the previous owner lives in southern Missouri where they don't get much snow). ------ I bought the LS today for $8300. The dealer was originally wanting $8700, then $8500, then $8400. I refused to budge and mentioned that I was looking at other LS's, so he goes to the manager and I could hear them talking in the background (this was all being done via phone since I live 3 1/2 hours away) and finally we agree on $8300. It's $100 more than I wanted to pay, but since Edmunds dealer retail listed at $8355 and this is slightly cheaper than most LS's I have looked at with similar mileage (plus this car was kept in great shape), I agreed on the price. So tomorrow night I will be driving back to sign papers on Saturday, then driving away in my new (to me) LS. This day has been such a long time coming. For years now I have been wanting a better car, ever since my first Lumina got hit by the semi. Somehow my parents always talked sense into me though, saying that it'd be better to put my money toward paying off college loans (which are now over half paid off) instead of having a car payment and higher insurance. My current Lumina has so much rust, hail damage, and faded paint that's it's a little embarrassing to be driving around in these days, even though I love it to death and it's going to be a little strange parting ways with.

I did my driver's ed in a Plymouth Breeze Espresso...talk about embarrassing.

Alright, priced it out on Edmunds with the same options and came out with this: Trade-in: $5704 Private Party: $6978 Retail: $8355 I know for a fact this car was a trade-in from the salesman's brother, so I'm guessing $8000 should be very workable for them...?

I can't remember who all here is in the auto sales business, but I believe Carbiz is? Anyway, I am looking at a 2001 Lincoln LS V8 that goes for about $8870 according to Kelly Blue Book. However, most of the same year / features / similar mileage that I've seen are between $7900 and $8500 (the $7900 is a private seller). The salesman that I am going through at a local F-L-M dealership is asking $8700, which my uncle (who owns a used car business and goes to auto auctions all the time) says is on the high side. He also says that KBB values are usually overinflated. My question is, what size profit margin would the dealer be expecting on this car? I realize they can't sell it for a loss, but are we talking $100 profit? $500? $800? Is there a ballpark percentage they usually try to hit? I told him I am looking at $8000 and asked if that will work for him, but he kind of avoided my question at first and then gave me a run-around answer and then finally "maybe I could talk them into the mid 8's." I will probably go for it @ $8200, but I'm trying to get the best price possible since I want to avoid taking out a loan and this price doesn't include taxes and other fees.

I'm going to have to go with the '66-67 GTO...a near-perfect execution of clean, muscular styling

I'm assuming sport suspension since I believe it's the sport model, although I don't really know for sure.

It's been an odd spring so far. We've had very few days over 75 and lots of rain. A couple nights ago it got down to 50, which is really cool for this time of year. Usually we have a couple 90+ days as early as April.

What's hiding under the car cover?

To update, this weekend I spent a few hours with the salesman test driving and talking over the car, with my dad along to help in the kicking tires process. This was my first time car shopping so I was on my guard but never felt like I was being pressured to buy right away. My dad and I did a pretty thorough inspection and asked him a ton of questions about the car's history (the salesman's brother was the previous and only owner...he recently traded in the LS and an '04 Thunderbird for an '09 Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKX). The brother is an accountant and changed all fluids at regular intervals and kept it to a strict maintenance schedule. We feel pretty confident that it won't see many of the problems that most LS's with this kind of mileage start to run into. Tranny fluid was changed every 30K miles and the transmission felt fine in the test drive. The dealer hadn't done any prep work on the car since the trade and yet it is still very clean inside and out. I thought there was rust forming on the wheels, but I took my finger and wiped to find that it was just brake dust and dirt. All interior components seemed to work fine. There's actually some pretty neat features like memory seating and wheel tilt positions, some type of manumatic transmission, and a valet button that apparently keeps the trunk locked in case you happen to have a couple briefcases of unmarked bills stashed back there. It drove like a new car...hard to tell there are almost 80,000 miles on it. No rattles or squeaks whatsoever. The engine is very strong and the LS V8 is a quick car. I took it on one of the worst county roads and you could hardly feel the bumps. Cornering is great with minimal body roll, and weight is distributed 50/50 so it feels very solid and composed on the road. I can see why people love this car so much...it definitely lives up to the "American BMW" moniker. There was lots of headroom inside. I'm tall (6'4") and thought this car might be a bit of a squeeze, but putting the seat back there was more than enough room for my legs and even a decent amount behind for the rear passenger. The only thing that was kind of weird for me was how the dash wrapped down; in my Lumina, you can see your feet and the pedals much easier, but here it was kind of like I was sticking them into a hole and will take some getting used to. Also, the rear seats are called "opera seating" or something because the rear passengers sit up a few inches higher than the front. The rear seats also fold down and there is a decent amount of trunk space, so I should be able to haul some bigger items. Anyway, we had a limited amount of time so I am heading back there next weekend to discuss final price and financing. I have the cash to pay for it, but I'm thinking about taking out a small loan ($2000) so that I still have a decent amount saved up for a rainy day. The crappy thing is that many banks I have looked at either want a minimum loan of $5000, or they limit the cars eligible to newer than 7 years (this one is 8 1/2). I'm thinking I will have better luck talking with my local bank at home.

I was confused and thought this game had been released already, but then I looked it up and that was only the "prologue" version. The full version with hundreds of cars will be well worth the wait.

One of my best friends from college is originally from Clinton and I will be going there tomorrow. I'll have to ask him if he knows this Lee Sweeley guy.

Happy belated birthday! Hope it was good!

Ford outsold Toyota again this month. Let's keep it up!

After all the hype in the past about the 2005 Five Hundred, 2006 Fusion, and 2008 Taurus being the "1986 Taurus" and never quite achieving the same success, it's good to see that Ford might have finally hit the mark and built something that can live up to its predecessor.

Fusion within spitting distance of Accord (Accord reported 22K for May) Link May Sales PDF

Nothing lasts forever. I doubt anyone in Rome around 100 AD would have been able to fathom the empire in shambles and overrun only a couple centuries later. But out of the wreckage, the foundations and ideas of our Western civilization emerged and we rebuilt bigger and better than ever. There's definitely a lot of doubt within me on how GM will fare this bankruptcy, but at the same time there is a small glimmer of optimism that we will see them finally weed out the bad elements and emerge a leaner company ready to compete with the best on the roads today.

Ford is doing a great job right now with the Fiesta Challenge event in getting Gen Y'ers in their cars. Also, I noticed Ford usually had a presence on my campus the last few years with the Edge, Fusion, etc. for the "Ford Drives U" college campaign. GM and Chrysler never had any of this presence.

For those of us that were rolling around in Pampers back then, what is a "member's only jacket"?

Truly awesome piece, and sad at the same time. Thanks for posting.

^

Cumming, IA http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=...mp;t=h&z=14

I just got back from being a groomsman in a wedding. Fifteen hours of picture taking, standing through an hour ceremony in a little church with no air-con, stuffing and drinking and dancing myself silly at the reception afterward, and now I'm home and tired and it's almost 3 AM....and for some reason, I'm on C&G.

Well, I gotta say it sure beats the goofy looking old Megane.