[Jomz]

Originally Posted by chevelle

That is a great deal you got. Wish there were more like this here. Most of the CTS-V has over 50k miles for a 2010 and are 45k+ and that too from private sellers.

the 2004 -2008 CTS-V's are significantly cheaper because they used the C5 Corvette Z06's 400Hp engine

THe 2009+ CTS -V uses the C6 ZR1's engine which gives 556 Hp. That car still goes for a premium.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

I have to agree with Chevelle on this one. The Taurus though huge from outside feels much less roomy inside. Plus the dimensions and the front drive chassis doesn't do any favors in handling. The G8 felt a little more compact (it is actually smaller too). I think the Charger/300 twins also sometimes feel hefty in comparison to the erstwhile G8. I had driven all three when looking for a used car.

Wholeheartedly. I have driven previous gen 300 and charger and it was porky with crap interior. I haven't driven G8 but many of my friends say it is hoot to drive. I have seen one in action it was great. The new 300 and charger one are great to live in and outside and it would be fun to compare 300, charger and SS as and when all are available. I am sure to do a small shoot of test drives as soon as i can lay my hands on all 3.

Originally Posted by Jomz

the 2004 -2008 CTS-V's are significantly cheaper because they used the C5 Corvette Z06's 400Hp engine

THe 2009+ CTS -V uses the C6 ZR1's engine which gives 556 Hp. That car still goes for a premium.

Yes and that's why i was aiming for 2009+ CTSV. They are awesome performance wise and interior vise too. But the asking price is too high. The Z06 engine had some problems (dropped valves) which probably carried forward to CTSV too. The 2004-2008 one's are great too but i simply can't find those with less miles in the market.

Rumors are new CTSV will have turbo v6 and supercharged v8. That would be interesting.

[Ananthang]

Urgent Suggestions needed for a problem -

I moved to St Louis in US of A recently from India and on this weekend on a 2005 Camry which has done 84000 miles for 8700 Drive out.
It was from a New Ford car dealer and from his used car inventory.

I have paid a booking amount of USD 1000. He showed me a clean history on Auto Check-in and told that the dealership do not used Car Fax.

Today I pulled up the Car Fax only to find out that there is Inconsistent Odometer readings.

The car had done 43K miles upto Dec 2008 and the next entry says 169000 in Jan 2012. The car was sold in to Dealer in Sep 2012 at 84000
The car was offered for sale from Dec 2012 at 84000 miles.

Not sure what to do now. Dealer took a signature from me that the Advance is nonrefundable

Can carfax have a clerical error?

Now what should I do?

First is to ask my money back by showing the car fax. If he does not oblige, following are the suggestions, I got from my folks -

1) Check with Firestone for independent assessment. If it comes clean, proceed with sale
2) If it doesnt come clean, try to change for some other car. But he will never reduce the car price and I had buy whatever price he quotes

I cannot forget my USD 1000 + 50 which are other miscellaneous expenses, I can never take it up.

Thanks for your inputs.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by Ananthang

Can carfax have a clerical error?

Now what should I do?

Carfax can definitely have clerical error.

Did the car change owners or has it been one owner throughout? I find the odometer reading more agreeable if it is 84000 (going by around 10k miles a year). You can definitely get an independent mechanic to take a look at the car. Carfax and autocheck are only as reliable as the data that was sent to them. If (and hopefully), the car is actually ok, you can still get the dealer to give you further discounts on the price. You definitely can write reviews about this on dealerrater.com, yelp, BBB etc. That can be detrimental for the dealer's reputation.

Originally Posted by chevelle

a

Rumors are new CTSV will have turbo v6 and supercharged v8. That would be interesting.

The ATS-V is expected to have a twin turbo v6 and the CTS-V is expected to have a supercharged v8. The new RWD Cadillac flagship will have a twin turbo v8. Looking forward to checking these cars out when they hit the dealerships!

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Ananthang

Urgent Suggestions needed for a problem -

Today I pulled up the Car Fax only to find out that there is Inconsistent Odometer readings.

The car had done 43K miles upto Dec 2008 and the next entry says 169000 in Jan 2012. The car was sold in to Dealer in Sep 2012 at 84000
The car was offered for sale from Dec 2012 at 84000 miles.

Not sure what to do now. Dealer took a signature from me that the Advance is nonrefundable

Can carfax have a clerical error?

Can you get the odometer reading for 2012 from auto check? A reading of 69000 for 2012 seems more reasonable than 169000. Probably thats the case here. And the only thing you've lost here is a bargaining advantage which could have gotten you a lower price had you shown him the car fax report before locking in on the price.

Still, a 10K miles per year usage seems par for the course (assuming its a 2005 model that was bought in 2004)

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by chevelle

Yes and that's why i was aiming for 2009+ CTSV. They are awesome performance wise and interior vise too. But the asking price is too high. The Z06 engine had some problems (dropped valves) which probably carried forward to CTSV too. The 2004-2008 one's are great too but i simply can't find those with less miles in the market.

The dropped valves were on the C6 Zo6 engines. The pre 2009 CTS V used the c5 Zo6 engine, which as far as I heard is pretty much trouble free.

[tj123]

Originally Posted by Ananthang

Urgent Suggestions needed for a problem -

I moved to St Louis in US of A recently from India and on this weekend on a 2005 Camry which has done 84000 miles for 8700 Drive out.
It was from a New Ford car dealer and from his used car inventory.

I have paid a booking amount of USD 1000. He showed me a clean history on Auto Check-in and told that the dealership do not used Car Fax.

Today I pulled up the Car Fax only to find out that there is Inconsistent Odometer readings.

The car had done 43K miles upto Dec 2008 and the next entry says 169000 in Jan 2012. The car was sold in to Dealer in Sep 2012 at 84000
The car was offered for sale from Dec 2012 at 84000 miles.

Not sure what to do now. Dealer took a signature from me that the Advance is nonrefundable

Can carfax have a clerical error?

Now what should I do?

First is to ask my money back by showing the car fax. If he does not oblige, following are the suggestions, I got from my folks -

1) Check with Firestone for independent assessment. If it comes clean, proceed with sale
2) If it doesnt come clean, try to change for some other car. But he will never reduce the car price and I had buy whatever price he quotes

I cannot forget my USD 1000 + 50 which are other miscellaneous expenses, I can never take it up.

Thanks for your inputs.

I am skeptical about the odo readings, in 4 years there was not service/ emission records for a car ! Carfax /Autochecker data is depends upon the quality of data fed into the system.

Get a independent check-up of the car, also look for the approximate value of the car, KBB site should give you a reasonably good idea. This will be helpful in negotiating the final price of the vehicle.

I would have walked away from any deal which had a non refundable fee attached to it.

[infotech58]

No Service History.
No CarFax entries for 4 years.
Dealer does not use CarFax.
Dealer insists on a non refundable booking fee.

Smell a rat?


However, the possibility of 169,000 ODO read in CarFax being a clerical error can not be eliminated. Any good, independent mechanic should easily be able to assess the condition of engine/components and tell you the approximate mileage.

Originally Posted by Ananthang

I moved to St Louis in US of A recently from India and on this weekend on a 2005 Camry which has done 84000 miles for 8700 Drive out.
It was from a New Ford car dealer and from his used car inventory.

I have paid a booking amount of USD 1000. He showed me a clean history on Auto Check-in and told that the dealership do not used Car Fax.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by Jomz

The dropped valves were on the C6 Zo6 engines. The pre 2009 CTS V used the c5 Zo6 engine, which as far as I heard is pretty much trouble free.

Thanks for correcting. The C5 z06 engine was used only for 2004-2005 CTS-V. From 2006-2008, it had LS2 engine of base corvette. I confused C6 Z06 with C5. My bad.

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

The ATS-V is expected to have a twin turbo v6 and the CTS-V is expected to have a supercharged v8. The new RWD Cadillac flagship will have a twin turbo v8. Looking forward to checking these cars out when they hit the dealerships!

I stand corrected. The bad thing is, when new, they will be out of my budget. So will have to wait additional 2-3 yrs. They will mostly put the LT1 supercharged or twin turbo'ed on CTS-V which will be same as Z07 or C7 ZR1.

[VLOCT]

@Ananthnag,

If you will not take offense, may I ask a simple question that has bugged me in this whole ordeal? What was the non-refundable fee of $1000 for, that was paid to the dealer?

a. For holding an 84000 mile Camry @ $8700.00 for you!

It boggles my mind that guys are willing to put a deposit down for 2nd hand cars (that too on a run of the mill car) IN THE US.

Guys, please do your due diligence on buying your 1st car here. I've repeated this ad-nauseum - spend no more than $6000, less preferably on your 1st car. You can still get decently maintained ones for that money. And please stop, this fetish for Jap/American preferences on your 1st car. Just buy a decent runner.

For some reason, this message doesn't seem to be getting thru to prospective first time buyers and I feel that somehow this thread is failing these guys/gals.

[ToroRosso]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

- spend no more than $6000, less preferably on your 1st car..

VLOCT, is this still applicable? The used car prices are pretty high these days.

If you are going to be staying for say 3 years, doesnt it make sense to take loan and go for a low mileage car which will give stress free commuting for 3 years.

Some folks do get lucky with sub 6K car which will go on faultlessly, but unless you are mechanically inclined there is no way to differentiate.

There are some FOBs who have gone for Accord/Camarys in the 5K range and there are frequest issues - warped discs, coolant leakage, drive train issues, alternator etc.

If the stay is going to be greater than 2 years, it makes sense to go for a good car with less than 50k miles.

[VLOCT]

This is my personal view point and is still is valid, in my opinion, after all these years. $6000 or whatever at the very bottom end of your budget is what you should aim for. Your 1st car shouldn't be a major investment. A little bit of patience in the beginning will pay-off in the long run. I'm only of course, addressing the regular work going folk here. If you're loaded, all this can go out the window.

Build up your credit a little bit and then go in for a lease. If you're here only for 3 years and your major miles are commuting, why even buy. There are plenty of lease options precisely for these folks. This is the only time I will even think of leasing. Just rent a car for long distance drives. The major caveat is that you better keep the car in excellent shape, in other words, this is not meant for Sloppy Joe's. Read the fine print carefully to see if you can meet their lease requirements. If you are confident you can, after the term, return the car and off you go.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by ToroRosso

VLOCT, is this still applicable? The used car prices are pretty high these days.

I sort of agree. If you know for sure that you will be here for 3-4 ears, you are better off with a 10-15k budget for a used car that is like 3-4 years old and has under 50k miles. You can get a lot of 2008/9 model Accord/Camrys (if you insist on those) for that price. I have always encouraged my friends to not get something very very old if they plan to use it for 3 years or more.

[VLOCT]

Ok, so we finance a 10-15k car for 3 years, say a conservative pay out of $18K for $15K after 3 years, and now after 3 years the car is probably worth around $8-9K, if you're lucky and depending on the miles you put on. You've essentially thrown away $10k on driving around a 6~7 year old car when the 3 years are over, not including any maintenance expenses. In real terms, your actual loss will probably be closer to $13k. That too for what exactly, driving an Accord/Camry or some similar American!

With the person now leaving, he actually has no chance of making that money back and all he got in exchange is driving around in a ho-hum family sedan.

Just doesn't make any sense to me, sorry.

At least, if you can make a lease work, you have an opportunity to drive something new and more interesting, and the dealer will maintain it.

It can make sense to take some losses in driving something that is exciting and is difficult to own in another country. Buying a family sedan should be a purely practical and financial decision on a car that appeals to you, period.

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

Guys, please do your due diligence on buying your 1st car here. I've repeated this ad-nauseum - spend no more than $6000, less preferably on your 1st car. .

I agree with VLOCT in his point.

My take on sub $6k cars. I had quite a few since i was a broke student

Car 1, 1991 Honda Accord (bought mileage 287k- Sold mileage 298k, Used for an year)

Bought for $500 from a collegue at the cafeteria which i used to work. Has issues with the seat belt which I never bothered to fix. The girl I bought this from used this for regular 600 mile trips.

I even did an 800 mile trip on this . In almost broke down but I limped home. was stranded for 5 hours. total unplanned repairs $200

Sold for $400 to a friend, since I discovered I had a failed head gasket. The car would still run and smoke like crazy.

Further history on the car.... He bought that to learn driving. He learnt and took his license on it. The head gasket was never fixed. In the process of learning he managed to blow a driveshaft.

He sold it for $200 to another guy. It ran fine for 6 more months. This guy changed the driveshaft. The car Broke into the 300k mile mark and died because of a broken timing chain.

Car 2, 1999 Honda accord (Bought mileage 90k miles- sold mileage 130k miles, kept for 3 years)

I had quite a few nice memories in this car. Bought it from craigslist in Chicago, when i found that the head gasket was going off on the 91 Accord. It broke a ball joint within 2 weeks of purchase ($200 repair), but otherwise was relatievely trouble free till we washed the engine bay in preparation for my wife's arrival. That was a 2k$ repair. Itwas trouble free after that. Bought for $4k and sold for $3k. Was a trouble free car and a friend picked it up from me. Sold because Bought a corolla and have an S2000. Did not want to pay insurance premium for 3 cars.

Car 3, 2005 Toyota corolla,( Bought mileage 50k miles- current 80k)

Bought from a friend because wife needed an automatic car. He had bought this new. He sold this for $7.5k. No issues yet at all. I had this Corolla for 2 years, still running.. no issues at all. I'm pretty sure I can get 7.5k selling price on the Corolla.

Moral of the story.... Buy known used cars ( it always worked for me)