Saturday, September 09, 2017

Car shopping? A hidden "dirty word" now finally is "fwd ", front wheel Drive with the engine, transmission and drive all up front, a very unbalanced design,weight forward, that tends to SPINOUT in the rain.

No AWD/RD/4WD:
Better cars have their weight more even distributed,  or "balanced" front to back,  with much better wet and slippery road handling control.
And you definitely do want to be "in control" of a car going 65mph or 55, that you are legally liable for!
Good riddance, "FWD"!!
I'm not talkin HYDROPLANING,  I'm talking uncontrollable fast hard multiple SPINOUT!
FWD was such a bad cheap idea.

REGULAR GAS:
please, versus +20c/ga "premium", worked just fine on my Fast MR2.
And get All that engine damaging Ethanol out of our gas!

DRUM BRAKES:
Another dirty word in 2017 is "DRUM BRAKES, REAR" when almost every car should have 4 disc brakes! The cheapest worst cars still have "drum brakes,rear", usually.

PORT INJECTION:
Another "dirty word" the car dealer may Not want to utter is "PORT INJECTED" instead of "DIRECT INJECTION" into the cylinder's combustion chamber where it belongs.  With old old port injection antiquated design the gas is sprayed into the hot intake manifold, a big heavy metal casting,  with the air from the radiator.  The gas-air mix gets too hot before reaching the combustion chamber and often burns up into caking carbon,  that a mechanic has to chisel off yearly like my old stylish but poor mechanical design Isuzu Impulse for a yearly "service" high fee!
Try to find "DIRECT injection",,,from now on,  afterwards(2017).

ENGINE FANS BY SHAFT:
Why do we still buy $20-40k New cars with engine shaft driven fans wasting over 10HP horse power, when it is so very easy to customize,as some smart people do, and take out that relic antiquated motor driven fan and have someone put in an ELECTRIC ENGINE FAN or 2 behind the radiator!?
So Smart.

CAR COMPUTERS:
did you know most 2000-now cars have sensor computers designed for Any Mechanic to read,  buy Not You,  The Car Buyer!?
Yes,  my smart EE-degree neighbor bought a car terminal he can plug in and READ,  for $200-$500 Extra!
We Car Owners should be able to read our own car computers!

ENGINE LIGHT:
You really do need to see,,   to check you oil, water,  fluids, belts,  wires,  raccoons Before you drive!

UNDER DASH, ENTRY LIGHTING:
have you stepped on your glasses... yet?

NO CIG LIGHTER!:
car mfgs are Still pushing Nicotine Addiction,  on Every car buyer!?

6 USB OUTLETS, COVERED,  ON DASH:
There are never enough,  right?
Ok, 10 per car. 

CAR PROFITABLITY:
Obscene.
Do you known how high the profit margin Secret on cars is, like Way over 10 or 20%, especially with all the legally DISHONEST car dealers.
I'm having Costco negotiate my next 10 year car,  as admittedly I have been car dealer cheated and snookered for the last time!
$500 for "PERMA-PLATE" the Acura dealer never did to the paint and glass,  now permanently ruined by overspray on day 1 from the Santa Cruz very hard water lawn sprinklers. Many Detailers say they can clay rub fix it,  but I have not found one yet,many attempts!

TURBO:
Another is "ASPIRATED ENGINE" versus TURBO.  Go to a Ford dealer and test drive an "aspirated engine" that redline over-revs on every automatic transmission shift.  Then go somewhere and find a car similar,  but with a turbo and automatic  transmission.  Test drive that car and listen to see if you like the sound and performance Better when you Need to accelerate, like 2 lane passing or merging into a busy freeway. Try a turbo diesel and a hybrid electric. Wish fuel cell cars were reasonably purchasable instead of lease only! What was that car that one company hid and tried to secretly destroy? Boy,  the Saturn was a crudely done job,  half ass! But great no-dent non-metal side panels.

SMALL BATTERIES.

CHEAP, LOUSY TIRES.

OVERSIZED, LOUSY RADIOS!:
Yeah, keep buying those no good name,  lousy oversized radios at Outrageously Oversized prices!  I drive a new Ford and have to press the same station preset button 2-3xs to get it to change FM station's,  on a $45,000 van!

HEADLIGHTS:
how important is seeing well at night to you,  your passengers, your Bride,  your precious kids?
I have begged CR/Consumer Reports for Decades,  "Please rate car truck and bus headlights for effectiveness. "
Simple obvious practical helpful information. "No thanks. "
And could you also rate dark/nighttime driver's seat,dash  controls for effective lighting?  My Acura speedometer has a 60 and an 80 that are identical, except for a tiny crack,  and I have 20/20 vision, so That is way too much Artistic License!"
Same answer,  "Nope."

OVERPRICED VARIETY OF BASIC PARTS:
When just 2-3 well made,  say,  alternators/generators would do.
This Much lower car prices.
Much less inventory, for say 20 years, at NO MORE THAN DOUBLE ORIGINAL PRICE.
integra front frame ends are no longer made by Honda-Acura and there are millions of Integras still on the road! Why would I Ever buy a "luxury" Acura again,  when basic parts are not available for at least 10-20 years? No matter what the boonies cheap warehouse price.

DESIGN:
And Stupid !
This is why Auto Week TV show and most car magazines are mostly useless advertising!
Let's  see a article, every month,  in every car magazine, about the  current 2017-2018 WORST NEW CAR DESIGNS and stop all the blatant pandering and brown nosing, the average new market car is not that great.
One of the BEST WORST designs has to go to Honda for putting the trany oil filter INSIDE the trany instead of OUTSIDE, so it could NOT be easily replaced.  And no trany oil cooler!? Two tranys a friend had to replace, under warranty!

COSTCO/? CAR BUYING SERVICE:
Wish USA car buying wasn't so overpriced by Huge profit and dishonesty by so many, most car dealers.  The last Toyota dealership I went into the Manager introduced me to "our #1 salesman". His desk was a mess of piled papers,  "so just sign the poking out page here,  a standard Test Drive form. "
It was a blank car contract!
You may think you are rich and smarter than any car salesman,  and that is your first Expensive Mistake! One Toyota salesman had a gold cross on his jacket lapel,  "yes,  I am a born-again Christian and I promise to treat you honestly. "  So additionally overpaid $3000 ,for this late, this year model, instead of the early, next year's model we had been primarily talking about. Got too excited buying that fine super MR2!

SYNCRO:
"NON-INTERFERENCE ENGINES versus non-syncro engines when the timing belt breaks, not IF.  Either no other damage to the engine,,, or your expensive new car engine SELF-DESTRUCTS!  Got extra Several $1000s??
"non-interference" Secret code word Good ,versus "interference engines" BAD!
Maybe you dumb-lucked out and got a timing chain instead of a breakable timing belt.
Oh,  you didn't know or ask about this,  and you just bought "a car".  Gosh,  maybe you too need Costco Buyer Service!

TAILPIPE:
integrated thru rear bumper,  not just bolted on under it?

MODERN 2 STAGE CAR PAINT:
See a LOT of peeling and flaking CLEARCOAT PAINT.  They call it "2 Stage" or Color&Clear,  the powder color coat first and then one or better multiple layers of clear coat. More clearcoats the better,  to a point.
You didn't  ASK how many layers of clearcoat you just bought,  for $20,000 or $30,000 or $40k ?  Oh, you never wash your car, bird poop eats thru the paint in a couple months,  and you buy a new car every year!
Rare lucky you! I had an expensive body shop try to tell me once, "2 stage car paint has to be repainted by the entire hood or entire side,  just like lacquer. So this tiny patch paint job will cost over $1000." BS!  2 stage was designed for small patch jobs or large accident damage over a wide area; I use to work in an auto paint store,  just before the switch to 2 Stage, with foul lacquer fumes and lots of famous enamel/urethane/other paint types and brands. Not one of my fav 32flav jobs!

CHEAP ADVICE:
Definitely  recommend buying the CONSUMER REPORTS car buying issue in the Spring or Summer.

BIG SPENDERS:
If you can afford and want a high maintenance car, like a BMW or MB or Audi or Porsche,,,  with the very frequent and very overpriced service, always in the shop,  you can ignore my advice and enjoy wasting your own money.

So to Simply Summarize:

Yes!                                          Boo!
-------                                       ---------
RD/AWD/4WD.....................FWD

REG. GAS.........20c+!,PREMIUM 

4 DISCS... DRUM BRAKES REAR

DIRECT.............................. PORT
INJECTION.               INJECTION

SYNC/.....................NON-SYNC/
NON-INTERF.                  INTERF.
ENGINE.                          ENGINE

TURBO................... ASPIRATED
AIR INTAKE

BEST.......................just average
HEADLIGHTS

2 ELECTRIC........... ENGINE FAN
FANS behind            -10hp shaft
radiator.                       driven

?# of CLEARCOATS...... just one
OF PAINT.                          coat

STANDARD SIZE...............small
CAR BATTERY.                     ones

QUALITY TIRES................. tires

QUAL. SLOT.............OVERSIZED
RADIOS.                   lousy radios

BUMPER......................TAILPIPE
TAILPIPE.          just bolted under

NEW PLASTIC......."Perma-plate"
PAINT FILMS.       /dealer cheat!

SMART...............same old same
DESIGN.                  out-dated ick

PUSH BUTTON.......blind,  key in
START.                  side of column

CAR PC................just coded for
MONITOR                  mechanics
for us!

ENTRY FLOOR.......step into dark
LIGHTING

ENGINE.................can u find the
LIGHTING.              nite dipstick?

6 DASH USBs........ cig. lighter?!

READABLE.............artsy fartsy!
SPEEDOMETER

CAR BUYING.............rip-off lies
SERVICE

,,,and!

How about HEADS -UP SPEED, as I hate looking behind these small steering wheels.

No more cheap sticky-plastic steering wheels!!