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The Best Cars for Your Money

What's the better buy: Charger or Camry?

If car buying was strictly a numbers game, deciding which car to buy would be much easier. Factors like purchase price, maintenance costs, resale value, performance numbers, and fuel economy would determine our car choices.

Most of us have a little thing called emotion fueling our car purchases, though, and the smartest choice might be eclipsed by our obsession with a certain model’s curvy exterior.

For those looking for the smartest car buys financially, the good folks at U.S. News and World Report Automotive have assembled a list of cars that are best buys over the long haul. The full list, along with their methodology, is here (Toyota/Lexus dominate, with eight of the 14 winners).

The best buys aren’t always best sellers or popular, though, so I’m comparing some of U.S. News’ choices with the Owner Favorites in the same categories on CarGurus.com and with the overall best sellers in each category.

Midsize sedan

Crossover

Hatchback/subcompact

Convertible/sports car

U.S. News & World Report Best Buy: Mazda Miata
CarGurus.com Owner Favorite: Ford Mustang
Best seller: Pontiac G6 (I didn’t believe it either, but you can double-check yourself here.)

Minivan

Full-size pickup

This is proof that sometimes the best buy is just plain boring. Putting the tag of “best buy” on a car is a pretty objective thing, because the guy looking for performance and fun is going to think a Dodge Charger is a heck of a better buy than a Toyota Camry!

What cars do you think were left off the “best buys” list?

-tgriffith

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Best Buy Could Sell Electric Cars

What!?! GM to Save 1,200 Jobs?

If GM can deliver the Chevy Cruze, it might have a chance

I can’t remember the last time there was news about General Motors saving jobs and injecting life into a sleepy Michigan township.

We’re all used to stories of GM plants being shuttered and workers fretting about unemployment. Heck, one of GM’s plants is being overtaken by an upstart American car company!

According to The Detroit News, General Motors will invest $800 billion to convert its Orion Township Plant, which currently produces the Pontiac G6 and Chevy Malibu, to produce cars more on the scale of the Chevy Aveo and Chevy Cruze.

<br/>A worker in the Orion Township Plant<br />(photo from The Detroit News)” width=”290″ height=”193″ /><p class=

A worker in the Orion Township Plant
(photo from The Detroit News)

For the time being, that’s great news. Of course, people will have to actually buy those cars in order for the plant to stay in operation. The odds of an American-built small car succeeding are pretty good, though, assuming the quality, reliability, fuel efficiency, style, and price all work together to bring customers into dealerships.

Let’s hope they do, because there’s already some stiff competition in the small-car market from the perennial import players Honda and Toyota, and then there’s Hyundai and Kia going after value-conscious shoppers. Not to mention Ford’s famous Fiesta and the crowd-pleasing Fiat 500, which will arrive at Chrysler dealerships in 2011, the same year GM hopes to begin production in the retooled Orion plant.

For now, though, let’s let the people of Orion Township celebrate this victory and hope GM can pull a rabbit out of its hat and make this work in the long term.

Do you think GM can produce small cars that will compete against strong-selling cars that are already available?

-tgriffith

Two Shifty-Eyed Guys We Now Have to Believe In

Us Automakers Obama Analysis Look, no matter what your politics, you know that GM’s bankruptcy had to happen, and today happened to be the day. At his late-morning press conference (video below), President Obama stressed the positive, naturally: Government will get out quickly, warranties will be safe, today’s sacrifices will produce an America that “makes things” again.

It was a good statement of the facts, such as they are. Here is some of what he didn’t (and couldn’t) say to the nation. (Apologies to the parties depicted in the photo at right; it was too good to pass up.)

The old GM will take at least a year, probably more, to accomplish its makeover to GM.2—which is predicated on the economy cooperating. But if the new company can’t pass the stress test of operating successfully in a 9-million-cars-a-year sales environment, what happens then? To be fair, no one can answer that.
All the stakeholders (bondholders, UAW-CAW, the Treasury) want out ASAP, but transformation of the GM product line will take at least a year. Yet GM is in a better position than Chrysler, which has awful cars and will have to wait on Fiat to fill its pipeline. Ford may be the big gainer here.
20,000 people will be on the street, 12 plants (at least) will close, dealerships and some suppliers will go bye-bye, creating an enormous cascade of pain and economic cost.
As Fritz Henderson acknowledged in his subsequent press conference, GM was carrying simply unsustainable debt and had no way out. You have to look at this as, he said, a “remarkable opportunity to address” balance sheet and product issues.

Embedded video from CNN Video

I then watched Jared Bernstein on Andrea Mitchell’s show (msnbc.com, not posted yet). He’s an economist and member of the auto task force, who was asked the big political question: “How would the government handle it if the company decided to keep promoting the sale of big gas-hogging trucks?”

His response: The government as shareholder has as its major concern the profitable running of the company. If it came to that, the government would want GM to sell trucks if it was the right management decision. The government’s environmental goals should be dealt with outside the boardroom.

That’s the first statement I’ve heard on what could be a very dicey issue. You’ve got to have hope.

Will the government be able to keep its political and social goals out of the boardroom?

—jgoods

Costco Auto Buying Program: Scam or Good Deal?

costcoauto

I’m paranoid about getting scammed.

It’s almost to the point where I don’t even want to answer the phone out of fear I’ll accidentally blurt out my social security number to someone claiming to work at my bank.

When it comes to car buying, my guard goes up like I’m a schizophrenic at a CIA interrogation.

That’s why I was intrigued when I discovered an auto buying program at Costco. The company’s website claims Costco saves members a lot of hassle and an average of $1,000 off a typical transaction price. It works like this:

Members choose the make and model they’re interested in, then Costco refers them to a local dealer who shows the customer the vehicle’s invoice price, the MSRP, and the Costco no-haggle price.

A no-haggle price with built-in savings sounds pretty good on the surface, but still my paranoia wasn’t eased by browsing Costco’s website. Digging a little deeper online, I found a lawsuit filed in January by a New Jersey woman who says the program is deceptive.

Her main accusation, according the paperwork, is:

The Costco auto program is misleading and deceptive because its “members only” price is exclusively defined in reference to the “invoice price” of authorized dealers. The Costco auto program does not control the underlying invoice price, and its participating dealers can and do manipulate that price in any number of ways.

A-ha! I knew there had to be something. Everyone knows dealers try to squeeze every ounce of cash they can out of people, so if there’s a price they’ll immediately accept, they must have a good amount of profit built in. Still, I trust Costco….

So I decided to put its auto buying program to the test.

While I was shopping to replace my wife’s car a few weeks back, we looked at getting a 2009 Honda CR-V EX AWD. It was black with a window sticker price of $25,635. We got pretty far into the negotiations before they broke down over the value of our trade-in. The purchase price we arrived at: $23,600.

With this in mind, I contacted the Costco Auto Program with no intent of buying, but to research this story. I wanted to see how close their offer was to the price I negotiated myself. I filled out the online form and waited 24 hours. They never called. So I called the “specially trained” Costco-approved salesman I was referred to and asked what my price would be.

He asked me to come in and see the car. I told him I’d seen it already and just wanted to know the Costco price. I eventually convinced him I wouldn’t come in unless I knew the price was acceptable.

Then he told me: $23,900.

I admit, I was impressed. I came to the conclusion that programs like Costco’s just might be worth it if you’re the kind of person who cowers at confrontation and despises negotiation. The deal, at least in this case, wasn’t too bad!

If you’re a negotiation pit bull, though, go after ‘em, and take every hundred you can get!

Would you consider, or have you used, something like Costco’s auto buying program?

-tgriffith

Ford Outsells Toyota; Chrysler Deserves Its Bankruptcy

Ford shows its Red, White, and Blue

I wonder how long we’re going to keep calling them “the Big Three.”

One is in bankruptcy, and another is desperately trying to avoid it. The third is taking advantage and actually making up some ground.

Ford is poised to become “the Big One.”

Ford, which still hasn’t requested or taken any government funds, is watching its Detroit rivals slowly tread water. And as GM and Chrysler sink deeper, Ford chips away at their market share with a mix of luck and strategic foresight that included:

luring CEO Alan Mulally away from Boeing
Mulally’s ambitious steps to mortgage just about every asset Ford owns and create billions of dollars to fund their rebuilding
having the right product mix when gas prices rose and the economy sank

While Ford’s April sales were still down 32 percent from a year ago, those numbers were good enough to overtake Toyota as the nation’s number 2 car company with a 16 percent share of the market. GM is at 21 percent and falling.

I can sit here and spew numbers all day, but numbers aren’t fun. The bottom line is this: Car companies succeed when they have great cars. Strike that - when they have great cars that people want.

When the economy tanked, Chrysler’s “small” car offerings were the Avenger and the Sebring. Chrysler was just introducing the new Dodge Ram, too, which is a great truck, but no one wanted trucks, not even great ones.

GM was hawking the Chevy Aveo and Pontiac G5. Then Ford came to the plate and offered up the Fusion and Focus, which the public adored.

Looking at it like this, it’s no surprise that Ford is swimming laps around its drowning rivals. Ford somehow managed to see the future’s giant fist coming, while GM and Chrysler were looking the other way and got smacked in the face by it.

What do you think are some of the biggest screwups the Big Three have made?

-tgriffith

The best new cars for around $15,000 are…

I think everyone should consider looking at cars in the sub-$15K category, even if they can afford considerably more. For their value, fuel efficiency, and fun factor, these are my picks for the best new cars you can get for about $15,000.

mazda3

The car is low maintenance, fun to drive, extremely comfortable, and safe. It’s roomy enough for five and gets a whopping 32 mpg.

2010-kia-soul

Certainly aimed at the younger crowd, the Soul is a crowd pleaser even before it hits showrooms this Spring. Our friends at carsforgirls.com called it an “urban chic compact crossover-SUV.” Yep, sounds about right!

2009-fit

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you might remember the tent that looks ordinary from the outside, but inside it’s actually more of a mansion. That’s how the Fit is. Somehow, once you’re inside it’s more like you’re in an SUV than a 35-mpg compact.

2009-sx4

The only car under $15K that comes with all-wheel drive standard also has a peppy 143-hp engine and standard navigation. The one drawback is a hit on fuel economy when compared to these other cars, but sometimes the security of AWD is worth it.

2009-civic

You get front-seat side airbags, full-length side curtain airbags, active front head restraints… plus the legendary Honda reliability. The Civic, even in base dress, just doesn’t have a drawback.

If you had a $15K budget, would you rather buy a new car from this list, or a used car for the same price?

-tgriffith

The Hurricane That’ll Bring Down the Auto Industry (But We WILL Rebuild)

It's hurricane season for the auto industry

I’ve had enough. I’ve decided that it’s time to let nature take its course with the auto industry.

As jgoods posted earlier, one way or another the car companies are going to go through a bankruptcy. It’s just a matter of what form it takes.

When a hurricane is approaching the Gulf Coast, there’s nothing our government can do but sit back, evacuate people, and hope that rebuilding doesn’t take too long. The collapse of the U.S. automakers is a similar storm, and there’s no stopping it.

Instead of spending money on saving the companies, let’s start thinking about how we can help rebuild them after they shatter. GM is on the right track by eliminating brands and focusing on becoming a leaner company. Doing so is like boarding up their windows to help weather the storm.

American automakers have lived in excess and luxury for years, and the reality of it all is coming crashing down. In this storm, people will lose their jobs. Car brands will disappear. How much is the government willing to spend to prevent this? I think taxpayers have spent enough money on prevention, and now we need to focus on response - getting those who lose their jobs back to work, either in the auto industry or rebuilding the highways our cars drive.

The government is shouldering all the financial responsibility to save an industry that employs a lot of its citizens. That’s noble, but misguided. If a private organization (Big Oil, anyone?) wants to invest in saving the car companies, by all means, let them. Government involvement, though, should be limited to overseeing the bankruptcies and subsequent rebuilding.

I agree the U.S. can’t stand by and let the domestic auto manufacturers disappear forever. I’d just feel better if we invested in the rebuilding of leaner companies, rather than supporting the modern ways that have become so archaic and wasteful. Bring on the storm.

Do you care what happens to the U.S. automakers? Would their collapse affect you?

-tgriffith

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