[ssrock64]

The one knock I've always had against modern BMWs (M5 excepted) is the same as Magick's against the Veyron. There's so much engineering work put into making the car composed at speed that it's no longer any fun to go fast. The last time I was in Germany, I took the top non-M 3-Series performance variant at the time (~2010) outside Hamburg on an unrestricted section of the Autobahn, and the whole trip was just a couple of quiet passes at speed followed by the inevitable slowdown whenever somebody was in the left lane passing someone else below the lane's pace. I may have been going fast and the car was definitely very capable and smooth, but it was not exciting in any way whatsoever.

 

[Magick Man]

[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30acNwXJNts[/VIDEO]
[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V7EugoweM4[/VIDEO]

 

[billybob_jcv]

Must be why Button dealt his off.

10 grand seems a little steep. Although I am curious as to that mileage.
Cant really tell but that looks like a Webber carb setup. Probably just wishful thinking on my part.

Yeah, I thought $10K was high as well - and there is no freaking way that mileage is correct. I'm guessing the odo rolled over - 1962 was way before the 6-digit odometer became common. I didn't look closely at the carbs, but they didn't look like Webers - I think the oblong aftermarket air cleaners just tend to give that impression. The inside of the engine bay lid look like it had been hacked up, and it also had louvers cut into the lid, which I know is a fairly common mod.

 

[Hutnicks]

Yeah, I thought $10K was high as well - and there is no freaking way that mileage is correct. I'm guessing the odo rolled over - 1962 was way before the 6-digit odometer became common. I didn't look closely at the carbs, but they didn't look like Webers - I think the oblong aftermarket air cleaners just tend to give that impression. The inside of the engine bay lid look like it had been hacked up, and it also had louvers cut into the lid, which I know is a fairly common mod.

On the looking for a replacement car thingy. Apparently, Nissan has re introduced the Micra????? My spy tells me that with minimum down it carries up here for around 100 bucks a month plus taxes of course. Might be worth a look, although the one memory I have of the old Micra is not a pleasant one. I went from the airport to the client site and called the rental guy to bring me a new vehicle pronto. Not what I needed for the Northern Winter at the time.

 

[billybob_jcv]

The US never had the Micra/March. I guess Nissan figured Americans wouldn't buy it. However, that seems to have changed, and now we have the Versa Note, which seems to be approximately the same class of car. Around here, the sticker on a new one is right at $15K. The Versa Sedan is actually a bit cheaper at ~$13K.

 

[Hutnicks]

The US never had the Micra/March. I guess Nissan figured Americans wouldn't buy it. However, that seems to have changed, and now we have the Versa Note, which seems to be approximately the same class of car. Around here, the sticker on a new one is right at $15K. The Versa Sedan is actually a bit cheaper at ~$13K.

Wow you mean we actually have something here cheaper than the US?
 
http://www.nissan.ca/all-new-micra/en/

 

[1337rice]

 
Wow you mean we actually have something here cheaper than the US?
 
http://www.nissan.ca/all-new-micra/en/

 
He was talking about the Versa/Versa Note, which is a different class

 

[ssrock64]

 
Wow you mean we actually have something here cheaper than the US?

Yes, that's true. The Micra has never been a U.S. product, making the Versa the lowest on Nissan's totem pole.

 

[Magick Man]

10K for that Corvair? Are they nuts? :blink: It may be worth half that, if you want a project car to work on during the weekends, but having only 80hp would be really frustrating. Talk about not being able to pull a string out of a cat's backside, you'd be driving everywhere with your right foot welded to the floor. Geez. They really need forced induction to make them perform at all and truthfully 150hp, like what you'd get out of a spyder or corsa, should be the baseline. Fortunately, those are still great values. This looks like a great resto candidate.

 

[ssrock64]

Fortunately, those are still great values. This looks like a great resto candidate.

That's not even that bad as a runabout driver, actually.

 

[billybob_jcv]

As I have been shopping for cheap cars, I have noticed that the larger the car dealer, the more expensive the used cars. That doesn't make sense to me. You would think that if you had a big dealership that sells new cars, takes in a bunch of trade-ins and has a huge lot of used cars, you would be able to have volume on your side. But that doesn't seem to be the case. If you want a cheap car, you need to visit the small used car lots, not big lots.

I have also been to a few dealers that advertise a cheap car, then when I went to see the car, I was told "we can't sell that car, it is going to the wholesaler". The salesman never says why - they just say "the shop found something so it's being sent to the wholesaler."

If a car goes to the wholesaler, I assume it shows back up at one of the smaller car dealers somewhere in the country. So, the big dealer would rather dump a car off than sell it to me? Then the car goes through a wholesaler, which adds cost, then to a small dealer, which adds cost, then it gets sold to a customer like me? The economics of this business model baffles me...

Someday I suspect car dealers will go the way of brick & mortar bookstores, music stores and electronics stores. The car manufacturers will eliminate the dealerships and either build a true internet-direct model, or the dealers will be replaced with an Amazon type of model. The auto industry just seems ripe for an elimination of all the markups in the supply chain. I know there are buying services that are pretty close to this - but a true internet-direct model has yet to be tried - and I think it is time. I'm tired of paying for the car lot and the sleazy salesmen.

 

[veyrongatti]

As I have been shopping for cheap cars, I have noticed that the larger the car dealer, the more expensive the used cars. That doesn't make sense to me. You would think that if you had a big dealership that sells new cars, takes in a bunch of trade-ins and has a huge lot of used cars, you would be able to have volume on your side. But that doesn't seem to be the case. If you want a cheap car, you need to visit the small used car lots, not big lots.

I have also been to a few dealers that advertise a cheap car, then when I went to see the car, I was told "we can't sell that car, it is going to the wholesaler". The salesman never says why - they just say "the shop found something so it's being sent to the wholesaler."

If a car goes to the wholesaler, I assume it shows back up at one of the smaller car dealers somewhere in the country. So, the big dealer would rather dump a car off than sell it to me? Then the car goes through a wholesaler, which adds cost, then to a small dealer, which adds cost, then it gets sold to a customer like me? The economics of this business model baffles me...

Someday I suspect car dealers will go the way of brick & mortar bookstores, music stores and electronics stores. The car manufacturers will eliminate the dealerships and either build a true internet-direct model, or the dealers will be replaced with an Amazon type of model. The auto industry just seems ripe for an elimination of all the markups in the supply chain. I know there are buying services that are pretty close to this - but a true internet-direct model has yet to be tried - and I think it is time. I'm tired of paying for the car lot and the sleazy salesmen.

What about private sale? 

 

[veyrongatti]

About the Veyron, 2-3 years ago it was still my dream car (hence my terrible name) but in that period 1000 bhp just does not seem that impressive anymore.....

 

[billybob_jcv]

Sure - I'm looking at private sales too. I'm just trying to figure out why the dealer business model works the way it does. Every day, cars are being traded into dealerships, and the majority of those cars get put on trucks and shipped 500-1000 miles away to a wholesale auction. The used cars actually sold on that same dealer's lot are also purchased at auction and shipped back to the dealer. The whole process just seems silly.

It reminds me of the soda pop industry. They don't ship bottles of Coke & Pepsi around the world. You can get water anywhere in the world where people that drink soda pop actually live. So, they build local bottling plants that use local water, and they then only need to ship the syrup to the bottling plant. It's a lot cheaper to ship just the syrup for 100K gallons of soda then it is to ship 100K gallons of soda. I find it hard to believe that shipping 1.5 tons of car several thousand miles and then selling it for a few hundred dollars of net profit is the best business model.

 

[Magick Man]

It happens online too, I've asked about a car, told it was still there, and then it magically disappears before I get there. They really panic sometimes when you tell them you'll buy it over the phone, without going to the lot. "Uh, uh, let me make sure it's still here." "What?!? You already told me it was!" Jerks.


-----------------

My defamation suit against butthead TV presenter guy is being settled, because he's terrified that it will hurt his "sterling reputation". Pfftt. :rolleyes: The fact is, he's too proud to openly apologize. My lawyer put together a video combining what he said with some not-so-flattering pictures of him in a slideshow and told them he was going to post it to YouTube. That received a very quick response, after them stonewalling us all this time. I guess his insurance will pay it, no doubt that will raise his rates.