Blake Noble

I almost have that GMC beat. I took a truck-shopping trip with my dad earlier today and we stumbled across a four-wheel drive 2006 Chevrolet Silverado. The condition of the truck was pathetic; the interior reeked of cigarette smoke, old sweat, and stale farts; the exterior was marred with adhesive residue, random pock-marks, and deep scratches; the engine idled pretty lumpy. I understood why it was in the shape it was in, though, when I looked at the odometer and it read it had almost 181,000 miles. The price was a real punch in the gut. You might think you'd pay about $5,000 to $7,000 grand for a truck like that. Guess again. The dealer wanted damn near $13,000 grand. Gas prices will just make prices of used trucks, SUVs, and large cars take a nose dive. When gas prices go up, so do the prices of small used cars. Like I said, as the monetary gap between new and used rapidly closes, you will see more and more people buying new cars versus used ones when they are ready to make a purchase. No one will buy a used vehicle without a warranty and high mileage when it's only a few hundred dollars difference between it and it's brand-new counterpart. Again, it's just the tip of the iceburg. I'll discuss the other factors when I'm finished with my editorial.

G. Noble Editor/Reporter CheersandGears.com Thursday, 23rd February, 2012 It isn’t easy for automakers to keep their upcoming models under wraps these days. While manufacturers would rather build our interest up for a new car with a slow trickle of teaser images until the wraps are pulled back, others would rather just release what few complete pieces of information they can get their hands on as soon as possible by whatever means necessary. So it isn’t much of a surprise Volvo’s new V40 five-door hatch has leaked out ahead of its reveal at the approaching Geneva Auto Show. Although there isn’t any official information or specifications, it’s safe to assume the V40 will compete against the likes of the Audi A3, the BMW 1-Series, and the Mercedes-Benz B-Class in the premium small hatch segment. We can also say that the styling is very interesting, with what appear to be a few small cues that nod to the old and beloved P1800ES two-door wagon. Since, of course, Volvo hasn’t officially revealed the car yet, there isn’t any word if it’ll be sold Stateside. Source: The Motoryzacyjny (it’s a Polish auto rag) Facebook page View full article

That might be worth pursuing. I might e-mail the guy and see where it's at. Call it a hunch, but I think it might just be right down the road from me. My insurance firm connection is also checking around for any Jeeps that are on auction.

Hmmmm ...

Let's get another thing straight here, I'm not exactly expecting an outright stupid low mileage car for pennies on the dollar. Yes, I am a little hung up on buying something with as reasonable mileage as possible for the money. I have a very, very good reason for that. Hang in here with me for a little bit. I'm aware that a car with 150,000 miles that came from a loving home might offer less nightmares and headaches than the exact same car with just 75,000 miles that was chained up and beaten everyday of its life. I’m also aware of the condition of the used car market right now. I’m not the only person out there who thinks it’s experiencing a price bubble. In fact, there were plenty people who started saying that last year. Yeah, demand is up and supply is bad. So what? We are reaching the point where a good used car with a reasonable amount of mileage only costs hundreds — not thousands — less than it’s brand new counterpart. I’ll give you an example. My dad’s in the market for a new truck right now and he’s looked at a few Ram 1500 Express regular cab trucks. The Ram Express comes standard with a Hemi V8 and the one he’s liked the best also had upgraded chrome rims, premium cloth interior, four-wheel drive, and factory chrome running boards. The total cost of that truck? About $20,000 out the door with all applicable incentives, not including his trade. He also looked at a used four-wheel drive 2010 Ram 1500 ST with 13,000 miles, no Hemi V8, no premium cloth seats, no upgraded wheels, none of the extras that particular Express offered. Price of that truck? About $19,000 grand out the door, not including his trade. Remind me how buying the used truck would pay off again considering it’s two model years older? Don’t forget that also means it only has a year’s worth of bumper-to-bumper warranty left whereas the new truck still has new truck warranty. Trust me, we’ll see the day arrive very soon where the price bubble pops and people will buy used cars less and less. A surge of used cars will be traded in for new cars because the savings of new versus used won’t amount to much in the long haul. The demand for used cars will be very low at that point and with low demand comes low prices as dealers try to push an overwhelming amount of used inventory out the door. And that's just the tip of the iceburg. That brings me back to the two cars mentioned earlier. If you could buy the 75,000 mile car for the same amount of money it would take to buy the 150,000 mile car, which one is guaranteed to be almost worth what you paid for it no matter what the market looks like, regardless if you have to spend a few hundred dollars doing a few things the previous owner overlooked in the back of the manual? That’s why I’m reluctant to spend $3,000 dollars, $4,000 dollars, or $5,000 dollars on a car with 200,000 miles. It’s a horrible, stupid investment at those prices, especially considering the market doesn’t have long-term stability in its current condition. It doesn’t matter if it could be a better car than a lower mileage example or that I plan on keeping it as a beater after I get back on my feet and buy that white Challenger R/T I really want, a bad investment is a bad investment. Who knows? I may eventually find myself in another bind for money and have to sell this next whatever-it-is I’ll buy. Knowing my poor luck, if I bought a 200,000 mile car for $4,000 and had to sell it under pressing circumstances, the demand for used cars would be taking a nosedive about the same time I’d have to get rid of it. That means I’d wind up selling my outrageously priced high-mileage car for little more than scrap and I’d be making new threads on here bitching about making another bad investment. Then more white Accords get posted, I miss the point and bitch about that, you bitch back at me about missing the point, and the same old cycle repeats over and over. I would only feel comfortable buying a 200,000 mile car if it were priced somewhere around $1,500 bucks. But even then I’d probably prefer just to wait for a better deal to come along, even if it meant I would be spending $500 more and looking for the day for hell to freeze over. Right now, all I have on my hands is a little bit of time and little bit of money, so why not wait if it might pay off somehow in the long haul? Oh, shi — I was saving a majority of that info for an editorial. Oh well. In the meantime, I'm going to look into those insurance auctions, just because.

That's a very cherry Olds. It's too bad it's out of state.

BMW has plenty of spare cash and really needs a brand that would allow it to sell more small to medium-sized front-wheel drive cars without diluting the brand image of Mini or BMW and without over-crowding the BMW portfolio. Saab could be that brand at a fire sale price, provided BMW presents a solid buisness plan. Medium-sized cars aren't a good fit for Mini and small front-drive cars are a bad fit for BMW. In fact, I don't think BMW is exactly happy about their decision to make the next 1er a front-wheel drive model, only making the choice light of new fuel economy regs.

I appreciate the links, Mr. Bond. I'm giving CarGurus a whirl. Not a bad way to search for a car. But, yikes — $3,000 large for a 13 year old car with almost 200,000 miles? That's exactly what I'm so outraged about. EDIT: Here's something I didn't even consider. I have a relative who works for a local insurance firm and they hold auctions on vehicles they've taken in on claim and repaired as needed. They helped an uncle of mine buy a decent 100,000 mile Olds Intrigue with leather and power everything for under a grand not that long ago. Hmmm ...

Rust isn't that bad out here in South Mid-Western and Southeastern US, especially considering we don't have much of a winter anymore. I know the salt crews here in my area of KY had to salt the roads maybe three times this year. Sure, it's still bad up North, but even still it's not much of an excuse for dealers price gouging the hell out of used cars. Someone asking almost $5,000 grand for an '05 Cobalt with damn near 200,000 miles is insulting to my intelligence.

I just ran the same search for your area within 50, 100, and 200 miles and couldn't replicate the madness I'm seeing out here on the East Coast. What the hell is up with that? I guess dealers out here must be extra-super evil or something.

Edmunds isn't what I'd exactly call the best pricing source out there. Here are some Auto Trader listings that I searched for within a 300 mile radius of my zip code. I searched for a Chevrolet Cobalt with over 100,000 miles and brought up the highest mileage cars first. Here's what a few dealers are demanding for their high-mileage Cobalts. 2005 Cobalt Sedan, no options, 186,211 miles, $4,500 wig-wams, location: Michigan 2005 Cobalt Sedan, no options, 194,971 miles, $4,988 bucks, location: Kentucky 2005 Cobalt Sedan, no options, 149,518 miles, $9,995 big fat, filthy dollars, location: South Carolina Madness....all are very high mileage for a 7yr old car and outrageous pricing... Also notice that the general condition of each car was pretty unremarkable. One almost had a rat's nest for an interior. And people wonder why I bitch and moan about used cars.

I really liked my description of the new ES in my duplicate article: What else needs to be said?

Edmunds isn't what I'd exactly call the best pricing source out there. Here are some Auto Trader listings that I searched for within a 300 mile radius of my zip code. I searched for a Chevrolet Cobalt with over 100,000 miles and brought up the highest mileage cars first. Here's what a few dealers are demanding for their high-mileage Cobalts. 2005 Cobalt Sedan, no options, 186,211 miles, $4,500 wig-wams, location: Michigan 2005 Cobalt Sedan, no options, 194,971 miles, $4,988 bucks, location: Kentucky 2005 Cobalt Sedan, no options, 149,518 miles, $9,995 big fat, filthy dollars, location: South Carolina

Even still, a good-condition 2005 Cobalt with about 175,000 miles should be worth more than about $1,250 dollars trade-in value.

That's probably the thinking. I wonder how much Jack Link's I'd have to set out to get Herr Sasquatch to drop his two cents into the cup on this one.

Oops, didn't know you'd already got to this one.

Unsurprisingly, various Chinese automotive news websites have leaked out images of the new 2013 Lexus ES today, ahead of its scheduled reveal at the Beijing Auto Show this April. It’s also unsurprising that the story hasn’t changed with Lexus’s Camry-based front-wheel drive sedan — it’s still the most expensive shade of beige money can buy. The changes from 2012 Camry to 2013 ES mostly include exterior styling that’s pretty much the same as what you get with any other Lexus (IS greenhouse, the recent GS's Predator-like front fascia, and LS taillights) and an interior that looks as if someone broke into BMW’s design studio late one night just to dig sketches out of a company wastebasket. The headlamps and taillights now have integrated a few LEDs and the engine belches and whines through a dual exit exhaust out back. By the way, don’t expect anything unexpected with the power train choices — it’s still going to be the same 3.5 liter V6 engine and six-speed slush-box that you can buy in any off-the-shelf Camry. There’s also a good chance you’ll see the Camry’s 2.5 liter four-pot appear on the option list, given that the badge on the leaked Lexus read "ES250." It's also a safe bet the new ES will have mostly the same La-Z-Boy soft ride and handling characteristics of the current model and that we can rule out any sort of "ES-F" nonsense. More images are up over at Chinese website autohome.com.cn, which gets the credit for the image we posted along with this article. Try not to fall asleep browsing through them. View full article

G. Noble Editor/Reporter CheersandGears.com Tuesday, 21st February, 2011 No doubt about it, the drama surrounding the bankruptcy of Saab almost seems scripted enough to be fit for daytime television at times. The latest news to come out of Trollhättan is no exception, now that the Swedish automaker is looking for a new suitor. According to a recent post on Saabs United, Saab's bankruptcy administrators have 6 to 7 bidders interested in purchasing the company and that each bidder is serious about building new Saabs. Among Saab's new suitors in particular is a European automaker which, according to Saabs United's rather patulous sources, "is German and located in Munich." There is also information that indicates that this particular company has the desire to build Saabs and their own vehicles on shared platforms. Interestingly, Saabs United also notes that the company that wins the Saab deal won't be the highest bidder, but the company that has the best plan for getting Saab back in business. View full article

Wait ... what? If I remember correctly, I think your Cobalt had pretty high mileage, right? Even still, it should've brought more than just $1,500 dollars or so. Hell, if I could buy a decent condition, running 2005 model anything for that kind of money, I'd be doing line dances right now. Hell, I could turn around and sell it for double what I paid for it, considering how over-inflated used car prices are right now in my area of the U.S.

Okay, I admit it; the name really makes me think of bacon. Mmmm ... Porsche Bacon.

No worries. I can see what caused the confusion.