[VLOCT]

Originally Posted by vikramvicky1984

Dear American Desi Bros,

Advice needed:

My Bro is moving to NYC this January from Singapore( hence car-deprived). He'll stay for at least 2 years in NYC

We are planning to buy a New Car
Here is the wishlist ( a little kiddish but I don't think it can be fulfilled in India by us even when we get richer):

1. Convertible 2 door- compulsory
2. Fast and Flashy -compulsory
3. Brand New- compulsory
4. Iconic Model - highly desirable

Vikram;

If you're still in the market for a sports car, GM just unveiled its Corvette ZO6.

Comparable horsepower/torque (ZO6-625hp/635 lb-ft) to the previous generation C6 ZR-1, $125k), for less money, probably starting around an astounding $80k. Who knows, they might even offer track lessons like they did for the ZR-1.

I think this is the best deal for that kinda performance for a world class car.

In all this conversations, I don't know if anyone mentioned that, depending on your age you might have difficulty getting insurance especially with your lack of driving history in the US, for a ZO6 or similar high end sports cars, that is. If you did, rest assured, it'll be astronomical.

Please keep us posted on your auto purchase progress.

[Fraz33r]

Originally Posted by NinadJoshi

Hope our members in the mid West and East USA are safe and warm.

Well, I had my own share of accident during the snow storm happened during the 2nd. A 17 year kid rear-ended my 3 month old BMW in the snow storm.


Team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/140113-munich-germany-keys-my-hand-story-my-bmw-328i-rwd-4.html#post3347396

Luckily not a huge damage but a couple of deep scratches on my rear bumper and they need to repaint the whole thing.

[NinadJoshi]

Had I been the innocent party in such an incident I would surely have fumed about it.
Glad to hear that nobody was hurt, although I do sympathize with your situation.

If the repairs are going to be done under insurance, then I believe your car will have a repair record against its name the next time someone runs a carfax on it. For no fault of yours, you may be left with one less lever in your hand during the car's sell off negotiations in the future.

[Jeroen]

Check the carfax site for a sample report. Very useful service!

[amitoj]

So, as you all know, we got a minivan recently. I did not trade in the Ford Focus because the dealer was not giving me a fair deal on it. So, I had put its "For Sale" ad in a few places and had set the asking price well below the KBB value. Even after three weeks, there was not even a single inquiry!!

Finally I decided to try out the CarMax store, 70 miles away. Drove in, got the car evaluated and walked out with a bank draft in hand for an amount that was 1K more than the maximum trade in offer i had got!

Now the Charger is back in the garage, safe from the harsh cold

To be honest, this was one big thorn in my foot, that the Charger had to be parked in the open while the Focus was in the garage, hoping for a prospective customer!

[kraft.wagen]

One of my friend is looking at a 07 4Runner with close to 81k miles. Any advice, not sure what kinda expenses he can expect with this high miles.

[tanstaafl]

Originally Posted by kraft.wagen

One of my friend is looking at a 07 4Runner with close to 81k miles. Any advice, not sure what kinda expenses he can expect with this high miles.

81k in 7 years is about average use. That particularly should be nothing to worry about on that vehicle. It comes down to the price and what repairs the previous owner has already done.

Take a look at autowyse.com

http://www.autowyse.com/toyota_4runn...ice/index.html

Buying price should be bargained over based on maintenance already done. Brakes should have been done a while back. If they haven't, it might indicate the user had not been taking good care of the vehicle. Timing belt replacement will be a reasonably large repair that will definitely be needed soon. (i.e., if not done already).

[kraft.wagen]

Originally Posted by tanstaafl

Take a look at autowyse.com

http://www.autowyse.com/toyota_4runn...ice/index.html

Perfect, this site is pretty neat. Thanks.
Yea the current quote is $16000, which is about the same per the blue book too.
The seller is a Toyota HQ employee hopefully she has maintained it well

[NinadJoshi]

Another cold snap in the Upper Midwest and Northeast.
Stay indoors, stay warm.
Drive only if you have to, and be nice to others on the road.
Cheers!

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by kraft.wagen

Perfect, this site is pretty neat. Thanks.
Yea the current quote is $16000, which is about the same per the blue book too.
The seller is a Toyota HQ employee hopefully she has maintained it well

I feel the blue book values are somewhat inflated. You can always bargain for a lesser value.

Originally Posted by NinadJoshi

Another cold snap in the Upper Midwest and Northeast.
Stay indoors, stay warm.
Drive only if you have to, and be nice to others on the road.
Cheers!

Yup. It was 7 degrees outside when I came in to work today.Clear blue skies.

[Otomobil]

It's -13 Deg F and windchill values are crazily hovering below zero in and around Milwaukee. Even though its sunny and clear skies.Cant wait for Spring / Summer.
Enough already !!

[mohit]

Its the clear blue sky that makes it worse! No clouds means no insulation and the heat escapes resulting in plummeting temperatures. I hate it when my nose hair freeze when walking to the bus in the morning

-32 C with wind chill today. Normally I am fine without longjohns but I really wished I had them on today.

[NinadJoshi]

Originally Posted by Otomobil

It's -13 Deg F and windchill values are crazily hovering below zero in and around Milwaukee. Even though its sunny and clear skies.Cant wait for Spring / Summer.
Enough already !!

To think we haven't made it past even January yet. My cars have like a hundred pounds of salt deposits on them and I can't wash them. I'm looking forward to a bit of a solar vortex for a change

On a different note, I have nothing but good things to say about the General Altimax Arctics on my car. I do about 3/3.5 k miles a month, and these tires have helped me go uninterrupted regardless of the weather, over the past few weeks.

Driving reasonably on powder snow, compressed snow, slushy snow, partially iced up roads and wet roads they are confident and firm footed. On dry roads at freeway speeds however, they do tend to wander a bit, but none too distressing. Not very noisy either. The only worry really has been the low profile (45) vs the giant potholes that have opened up due to this bad weather. Overall, a great buy so far.

[kraft.wagen]

Originally Posted by amitoj

I feel the blue book values are somewhat inflated. You can always bargain for a lesser value.

Yea thats true, I use it as a guideline. Pulled the carfax, the vehicle checks out clean but was a corporate fleet and has no records of any service.
Surprisingly, in the Autocheck report it shows the car had an accident(the owner mentioned she hit some gate while parking) and this was not shown in Carfax. Kinda weird, I never trusted these reports now it makes my belief stronger!

[tanstaafl]

Originally Posted by kraft.wagen

Yea thats true, I use it as a guideline. Pulled the carfax, the vehicle checks out clean but was a corporate fleet and has no records of any service.
Surprisingly, in the Autocheck report it shows the car had an accident(the owner mentioned she hit some gate while parking) and this was not shown in Carfax. Kinda weird, I never trusted these reports now it makes my belief stronger!

If it is a fleet vehicle, definitely spend the $150 or so it will take to get a proper PPI done at a trusted mechanic. A lot of tech shops don't report to Carfax when they do work on their own vehicles, and it is especially true for car rental fleets and corporate fleets. You are right to not trust Carfax completely. Even Lexus dealers have their own system and don't submit to Carfax.

Also, look at NADA guides to get a better estimate than KBB. A lot more dealers follow that.