The Vehicle Thread

[88Comrade2000]

My sister is thinking of getting an ID4 when the lease on her Tiguan is up.

[TradeTheBeal!]

New Mustang looks nice.

 

 

[TheGreatBuzz]

I thought the Mustang became some crossover- looking EV thing?

[PleaseBlitz]

Got this rig a few weeks back. 
 

 

[TradeTheBeal!]

4 minutes ago, The Almighty Buzz said:

I thought the Mustang became some crossover- looking EV thing?

You’re thinking of the Mustang Mach E.  Which is also pretty cool.

[TheGreatBuzz]

24 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Got this rig a few weeks back. 
 

 

 

How's it ride at highway speed?

[China]

I think the question is whether he will ever take it off road, or if he just bought it for the looks.

[Cooked Crack]

 

[ShredSkins]

I like how Ford found a way to make the Camaro more ugly. 

 

 

[PleaseBlitz]

27 minutes ago, The Almighty Buzz said:

 

How's it ride at highway speed?

Pretty great, but the stereo isnt loud enough to hear at speed. 

 

19 minutes ago, China said:

I think the question is whether he will ever take it off road, or if he just bought it for the looks.

Just for the looks. 

[Cooked Crack]

Such a dumb name

 

 

[China]

Well, I'll give them credit, the Afeela is as boring looking as most Hondas.

[China]

Meanwhile at VW...

 

VW ID.7 electric sedan shown (in camo) for first time, to arrive in 2024

 

Volkswagen is again preparing to expand its range of ID-branded EVs. The next addition to the family is a battery-powered sedan called ID.7 and due out later in 2023, and the German company will preview the model with a camouflaged concept at the Consumer Electronics Show.

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

This makes sense if you're like El Chapo's wife

 

[China]

How pickup trucks became so imposing

 

Sales of huge pickups are sustaining carmakers, bringing in record profits — yet pedestrian and road safety advocates say today's massive trucks are a hazard, given their size, weight, and driver blind spots.

 

In a new Axios Visuals special project, we looked back over the past 50 years to examine the societal and lifestyle changes behind pickups' ever-increasing size.

 

A 1970s-era Ford F-150 compared to a modern version. Graphic: Will Chase/Axios

 

Driving the news: America has a unique love affair with pickup trucks — the Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for more than 40 years. But during that time, pickups have become bigger, bulkier, and more high-tech.

 

In the 1980s, about half of pickup trucks were categorized as small or midsize. But by the 2010s, small pickups had nearly vanished as Americans increasingly bought into the big truck lifestyle.

As pickups transitioned from workhorses to lifestyle vehicles, their design shifted accordingly: Cabs expanded to accommodate more passengers, while beds shrank.

The first generation of F-150s was 36% cab and 64% bed by length. By 2021, the ratio flipped, with 63% cab and 37% bed.

 

 

Between the lines: Survey data from vehicle research firm Strategic Vision shows a third of today’s pickup owners rarely or never use their truck for hauling, while two-thirds rarely or never use it for towing.

 

Instead, experts say, much of the big pickup mania is being driven by consumers' self-image.

"Today, personality and imagery are playing an even more important role in how consumers choose which truck is right for them," Strategic Vision researcher Alexander Edwards told Axios.

 

Yes, but: One result of supersized trucks: greater risks to pedestrians and other drivers.

 

Drivers of today’s trucks sit much higher, creating a blind spot where small children or wheelchair users are hidden from view.

 

Moreover, pickups’ weight increased by 32% between 1990 and 2021, meaning they strike pedestrians with more force.

Plus, the tall front of a truck strikes pedestrians in the torso or head — home to vital organs — whereas the lower hoods of cars typically strike pedestrians in the legs.

Pickups also tend to be more dangerous in collisions between differently sized vehicles — car drivers are 2.5 times more likely to die when colliding with a pickup as compared to another car, per a 2019 study.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[TradeTheBeal!]

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[Cooked Crack]

Quote

Imagine buying a car, driving it off the lot, showing it to your friends and then you get a call from the dealership. The financing fell through and you have to agree to new terms or bring the car back. It might sound fishy, but many dealers say it's legal and a recent NPR survey found it happens quite a bit.

 

[CobraCommander]

3 minutes ago, Cooked Crack said:

 

I was sitting in the finance department when I bought my last car and the guy was on the phone calling a recent client. He told me he had to call her and get the car back in because the person that bought it lied about their income. I wonder if he was bringing her back to redo the deal or if they were just going to take the car back outright. I thought it was pretty wild but if you lied about how much income you are bringing in I can see why the finance department would deem your original deal voided. 

[TradeTheBeal!]

“Car dealerships” absolutely cannot “change the terms of your financing”.

 

Banks/Lenders absolutely can tho.  And often do.

[PleaseBlitz]

1 hour ago, CobraCommander said:

I was sitting in the finance department when I bought my last car and the guy was on the phone calling a recent client. He told me he had to call her and get the car back in because the person that bought it lied about their income. I wonder if he was bringing her back to redo the deal or if they were just going to take the car back outright. I thought it was pretty wild but if you lied about how much income you are bringing in I can see why the finance department would deem your original deal voided. 

Well, that’s fraud. 

[The Evil Genius]

Here's a link to the whole article in case anyone skipped it. Looks like the FTC and State AGs have taken notice. 

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/04/1152932192/yo-yo-car-sales

 

Quote

Sometimes the car dealer made a mistake and thought they'd be able to find a lender.

But other times, Van Alst says, "it's used as a technique by dealers to try to force consumers into a worse deal."

 

In those instances, he says, the salesperson knows the deal is too good to be true, but lets you think you've bought the car anyway. So you take it home, show it to your friends and family. Then a few days or weeks later you get the phone call yanking you back like a yo-yo.

 

"'Oh, no,'" Van Alst says the dealer tells you. "'You're going to have to accept an 8% higher interest rate.'" And at that point, he says, "It's a whole lot more difficult for the consumer to walk away. The dealer might have already sold their trade-in."

That's called "unhorsing" the car buyer. "They are then sort of at the mercy of the car dealer," he says.

 

As it drafts a new set of proposed rules for car dealers, the FTC has requested public comment. And the agency is asking directly — should something more be done to specifically address the problem of yo-yo car sales?

 

Eighteen state attorneys general say yes. "The FTC can and should go farther to prevent this unfair and deceptive practice," the attorneys general wrote together in a letter to the agency. They urge the FTC to consider "an outright ban on the practice of allowing consumers to leave the dealership with a vehicle before the transaction's financing is finalized."

 

Edited February 18 by The Evil Genius

[The Evil Genius]

I should note that I/we haven't had to finance a car purchase in 23 years. But I had thought it was like buying a house in that you usually needed your own financing coming in before walking away with ownership. 

 

I can see how the existing system can put both parties at risk and lead to sellers taking advantage. 

 

 

[TradeTheBeal!]

4 hours ago, CobraCommander said:

I was sitting in the finance department when I bought my last car and the guy was on the phone calling a recent client. He told me he had to call her and get the car back in because the person that bought it lied about their income. I wonder if he was bringing her back to redo the deal or if they were just going to take the car back outright. I thought it was pretty wild but if you lied about how much income you are bringing in I can see why the finance department would deem your original deal voided. 

In my experience, this above scenario (inability to satisfy stipulations) occurs vastly, vastly more often than any sort of “bring back the customer and trick them into signing a more profitable contract” madness.  
 

We ain’t got time for all that illegal chicanery.  Slanging these Miatas keeps us as busy as we wanna be.

Edited February 18 by TradeTheBeal!

[The Evil Genius]

7 minutes ago, TradeTheBeal! said:

In my experience, this above scenario (inability to satisfy stipulations) occurs vastly, vastly more often than any sort of “bring back the customer and trick them into signing a more profitable contract” madness.  
 

We ain’t got time for all that illegal chicanery.  Slanging these Miatas keeps us as busy as we wanna be.

 

I'm trying to think of another business where the seller let's someone walk away with a 25k item without actually paying for it...yeah I got nothing. 

 

That's an insane way to sell items.