No Switchgrass to Ethanol in Plan for Me

A recent article by Ed Wallace in Business Week this week downplays the benefits of ethanol in domestic gasoline, here in the US. Actually, he says that the ethanol fuel can cause the vehicle fuel economy to DECREASE by 25-40%, because the ethanol is less efficient.

My family had been considering growth of switchgrass, which can be used to manufacture ethanol. Given the article above, I believe we made a smart move NOT to grow switchgrass, as eventually the US is going to wake up to the detriment of ethanol, and any investment we would have made would have been lost.

cars gas automotive fuel oil environment energy switchgrass

How Long Will You Wait For A Used Car???

An article by Terry Box in the Dallas Morning News (www.dallasnews.com) got me thinking... New Ferrari purchasers plunk down $5k to wait sometimes 2-3 years for a new Ferrari to show up at their doorstep.

In my business, most customers submit me a request to find them a used vehicle. And, alas, no Ferrari requests, yet. The most exotic has been a Lotus Elise, thus far. Nevertheless... Sometimes I request a deposit from a customer who may want a more unique used car. Deposit or not, I generally try to deliver on said special request within 2 weeks. Now, the article above has me prompted to wonder...how long would/should a 'regular' customer wait for me to find their special used car or used truck if Ferrari guys will wait 2-3 years? Is a month too long to wait, or does it depend upon what the vehicle is: a Chevy 1500 vs. a Porsche Boxster S?????... Your feedback is requested. 

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Chevy Beats Ford in Texas Trucks, Too!!!

I was reviewing my used car and used truck requests for the past 9 months last night. A surprising fact arose: I have 25% MORE requests to find half-ton Chevrolet trucks vs. Ford trucks. In a world where Ford clearly outsells Chevy in trucks, and especially so in Texas, this strikes me as odd. Could it be that Chevy buyers are more internet-savy than Ford? After all, to find me, you really need to be on the internet. I wonder if Bob Lutz would like to know about this and comment on his blog (http://fyi.gmblogs.com)??? I'm certain that Bill Ford won't like to hear it... I grew up a Chevy man, but have to confess that Ford was winning me over lately, until I looked at the stats.

Don't get me wrong, though. Ford truck requests to me are tied for 3rd place overall, so I still get a TON of Ford used truck requests. And, FWIW, people DEFINITELY like the Ford F250 and F350 used trucks over Chevy 3500s in their requests to me. It's probably a function of the diesel reputations, though even Ford has a lame-duck with their 2003-2005 6.0 diesel. So much so, that Ford (www.ford.com) is offering special incentives to these truck owners to buy the new 2006 6.3 diesel engine models. I even have more requests for Dodge 1 ton trucks vs. Chevy 1 ton models.

Is Chevy poised to take over Ford in trucks overall, just as Chevy did in beating Ford in overall 2005 sales????

trucks ford chevrolet vehicles cars trends carbuying gm general motors motors marketing

Gas Prices Got Ya Down???

This is one of the hottest used car requests we have, and it's hard for me to find enough of them. It's a Toyota ECHO. According to www.fueleconomy.gov, this used vehicle gets 41 mpg with a manual transmission. That makes it one of the best used car choices for used vehicles in the early 2000s, except for the hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid and a few VW diesel powered cars (all of these are good choices, too, btw.)

I took this photo of a vehicle we sold several months ago, before the fuel prices started rising again. It's ironic that on the billboard above the top of the vehicle, there's a comment about "gas prices". Funny eh, because that wasn't intended. :-)

automobiles autos cars vehicles toyota honda vw

Inexpensive, Reliable Used Porsche 911

Here's a great example of an inexpensive, reliable Porsche 911 we found. This particular car was bought for about $13k, with under 100k miles. If properly maintained, the 1978-1983 911 engine will run for over 200k miles without a teardown. For someone looking to get into a Porsche, this makes a great entry point. Since the engine will run for over 200k miles, one shouldn't be afraid to buy one of these vehicles with over 100k miles on it. I'd highly suggest you have the car evaluated by an independent, Porsche knowledgeable mechanic to be sure you're not buying a 911 with problems. A good technician can make the evaluation for about $100.

porsche automobiles autos cars vehicles

Bye Bye BMW Displacement

It used to be that the old addage was that more displacement was better for more torque, which was what was great for stoplight racing. No more, at least at BMW.

According to an article by Richard Truett at Automotive News (www.autonews.com), BMW will develop and build no more larger displacement engines. :-( Rather, they will again begin turbocharging and doing other technological advances to current engines. I haven't seen a BMW turbo since the 70s and 80s when the 2002 turbo and 745i (real old body version) were out. In fact, both models were european delivery only, and rare in the US.

Should we start hoarding our current BMWs as 'vintage', and expect their values to increase? And, should I go buy-back that Hartge BMW E28 5er I used to own???

cars bmw automobiles vehicles trends carbuying autos

The Frog

Here's an old picture of the frog (a.k.a the Buick LeSabre; see post below); please forgive the tree for being in the way. If you look closely, you'll see one of my brothers in the foreground. Sorry, no, it's not me. Not sure if it's Tom, the Catholic Priest in STL or Dan, the EPA tree-hugging anti-car zealot in Seattle. He *used* to like cars..... My car loving days started just as early. Forget the tonka roller; I want to drive that Buick!!!

cars buick automobiles vehicles trends carbuying autos