There are two good ways to buy your new car or truck at a reasonable low price and avoid all of the negotiating games and hassles:
In the auto business, timing really is everything.
Most of the time, the crowd at NASCAR races waits impatiently for the traditional "Gentlemen, start your engines'' announcement that gets things going on track.
It was an odd collection of vehicles on display on Capitol Hill, ranging from a bucket truck used for repairing power lines to something resembling an enclosed golf cart to a pair of hot-looking, two-seater sports cars.
A battery-powered 268-horsepower two-seat sports car is in line to become Chrysler LLC's first electric car, provided the carmaker lives to see another day.
The main "ups" of buying a used car are the lower initial purchase price, as well as lower property taxes (where applicable) and insurance costs. The main "downs" of buying a used car are that it's a used car, not new -- so there's no new car warranty and you are more vulnerable to used car problems that could cost you money, as well as aggravation.
GM and Chrysler are fighting for their lives. And that's hurting business. Almost 80% of people polled said they weren't likely to buy a new car from an automaker in bankruptcy according to a survey by Consumer Reports.
Which star do you most associate with car-chase movies: Steve McQueen or Michael Caine? Gene Hackman or Burt Reynolds?
Ever get the feeling the cops are driving a much cooler car than you?
Recently, Consumer Reports magazine issued its list of best and worst used cars, and divvied them up by price range.
There are two good ways to buy your new car or truck at a reasonable low price and avoid all of the negotiating games and hassles:
In the auto business, timing really is everything.
Most of the time, the crowd at NASCAR races waits impatiently for the traditional "Gentlemen, start your engines'' announcement that gets things going on track.
It was an odd collection of vehicles on display on Capitol Hill, ranging from a bucket truck used for repairing power lines to something resembling an enclosed golf cart to a pair of hot-looking, two-seater sports cars.
A battery-powered 268-horsepower two-seat sports car is in line to become Chrysler LLC's first electric car, provided the carmaker lives to see another day.
The main "ups" of buying a used car are the lower initial purchase price, as well as lower property taxes (where applicable) and insurance costs. The main "downs" of buying a used car are that it's a used car, not new -- so there's no new car warranty and you are more vulnerable to used car problems that could cost you money, as well as aggravation.
GM and Chrysler are fighting for their lives. And that's hurting business. Almost 80% of people polled said they weren't likely to buy a new car from an automaker in bankruptcy according to a survey by Consumer Reports.
Which star do you most associate with car-chase movies: Steve McQueen or Michael Caine? Gene Hackman or Burt Reynolds?
Ever get the feeling the cops are driving a much cooler car than you?
Recently, Consumer Reports magazine issued its list of best and worst used cars, and divvied them up by price range.
The conventional wisdom, among most folks, anyway, is that buying a used car is usually something done out of necessity, by those on a budget -- that is, people who want, or need, to "move down" from the new-car market because a new model is simply out of their reach.
Hundreds of auto-parts suppliers, companies that make all the things that go into new cars, could fail this year leading to industry disruptions and big job losses.
Are auto shows going the way of manual typewriters, videotape recorders, and Palm Pilots?
Battered by tight credit and the worst recession in decades, industrywide U.S. auto sales plunged 36% from year-ago levels in December, a decline that hit all of the major automakers, both foreign and domestic, and capped the industry's worst year since 1992.
After nearly a year of flagging sales, low gas prices and fat incentives are reigniting America's taste for big vehicles.
President Bush's bailout plan contains some "targets" the government wants the automakers and the United Auto Workers union to achieve before agreeing to a bailout loan.
Detroit's Big Three aren't the only automotive companies that want to see the government step in with some much-needed financial help.
General Motors has repeatedly said that "bankruptcy is not an option," largely because it's afraid no one will want to buy from a carmaker that might go under, leaving customers with a worthless warranty.
Collecting cars is an expensive hobby. Here's a twist: Buy a new car today that will be worth a fortune as a collectible years from now.
With a bailout bill floating through Congress, America's automakers are hoping for a lifeline from Uncle Sam that could help them hold on until the summer.
The Big Three automakers say bankruptcy is not an option - and it may not have to be if they get their federal bailout. But that doesn't mean there won't be strings attached -- or someone to pull them.
One thing is certain about the proposed auto industry bailout: it's going to end up being more expensive than the $15 billion Congress and the White House are hoping to approve for Detroit in the next few days.
President-elect Barack Obama announced support Sunday for a short-term government bailout of the nation's carmakers that is tied to industry restructuring, and he accused auto executives of a persistent "head-in-the sand approach" to long-festering problems.
Car sales continued to plunge in November, falling 37% from a year-ago and hitting a 26-year low just as Detroit's Big Three presented their turnaround plans to Congress.
A profitable U.S. auto industry just around the corner? Given the crisis hitting the industry, it sounds about as realistic as flying cars.
A profitable U.S. auto industry just around the corner? Given the crisis hitting the industry, it sounds about as realistic as flying cars.
A profitable U.S. auto industry just around the corner? Given the crisis hitting the industry, it sounds about as realistic as flying cars.
A standoff between congressional Democrats and President Bush continued to brew Wednesday, as lawmakers pressed a skeptical administration to help ailing U.S. automakers.
The likelihood of a showdown over aid to ailing automakers increased Wednesday after the administration's economic point man suggested that he would not use the current bailout program to help the industry.
It's been more than three years since Chinese auto makers first sent chills down Detroit's spine with plans to sell cars in the United States beginning last year. China, now the world's second-largest automobile producer, was already selling low-cost vehicles in dozens of countries around the world at the time - with jarring success.
Bush administration officials have had talks with the nation's automakers about providing possible federal help for the cash-starved companies, a White House spokeswoman said Monday.
Chrysler LLC will cut 1,825 jobs by eliminating one shift at a Toledo Jeep plant and accelerating the closure of its sport utility vehicle factory in Newark, Del., because of the slowing global economy and a shift toward smaller vehicles
Small cars continue to be hot sellers among buyers looking for fuel economy, style and all-around fun. See which cars are the winners in this list of best-selling small cars.
Motor Trend magazine has picked the 2009 Subaru Forester as its sport utility vehicle of the year, citing its fuel efficiency, comfort on the road and competency off the pavement.
The Paris Motor Show had both vroom and gloom as it opened Thursday under the cloud of global financial turmoil
Sales at the nation's top automakers fell sharply in September, as tighter credit for buyers and dealers combined with high fuel prices resulted in industrywide U.S. sales falling below the 1 million mark for the first time in more than 15 years.
President Bush may be set to sign into law $25 billion in low-interest loans to help automakers and auto parts suppliers make fuel-efficient vehicles, but don't expect a rush of new hi-tech ultra-clean cars.
When General Motors unveiled its much-anticipated Chevy Volt this week, it also repeated pleas for the government to fund loans to the automakers.
Detroit's Big Three are pushing for federal loan guarantees to stay afloat through the tough times
The government is urging owners of 5 million recalled Ford vehicles to bring them to dealerships to repair a cruise control switch system that has been tied to engine fires
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has put out another recall warning the owners of some Ford, Lincoln and Mercury SUV's, pickup trucks, vans and cars that their vehicles have a defect that could cause them to catch fire at any time.
Plunging auto sales, high gas prices and election year politics could help convince Congress to approve a $50 billion loan package to embattled U.S. automakers that Detroit's Big Three claim is key to their future success.
Falling gasoline prices were not enough to revive sales of SUVs and pickups in August as major automakers all reported a sharp fall in sales once again. And Ford Motor warned it sees even tougher times ahead.
General Motors is recalling 944,000 vehicles, 850,000 of them in the United States, because of the potential for a fire in the vehicles' heated windshield washer fluid system.
General Motors Corp. said Friday it was recalling 944,000 vehicles because of a problem with a windshield wiper fluid system that could lead to a fire
Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it will spend $75 million to retool part of its Michigan Truck factory to make car bodies, part of the automaker's plan to convert some truck factories to make smaller vehicles
Four small sport utility vehicles received top scores in crash tests to be released Wednesday by the insurance industry, a sign of improvement compared with SUVs built earlier in the decade
Chrysler LLC Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda said Wednesday his company will invest $1.8 billion to expand a Detroit assembly plant and retool it to make a new car-based sport utility vehicle
U.S. auto sales slumped to a 16-year low in July as automakers failed to keep up with consumers' growing demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles
The nation's top automakers reported sharp drops in July sales that were much worse than expected, as high gas prices and a weak economy continue to bite the battered auto industry.
General Motors Corp. said Monday it will cut production by another 117,000 vehicles, citing continued weak in consumer demand for pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles
Ford Motor Co. announced plans to transform its vehicle lineup on Thursday and reported the largest quarterly loss in its 105-year history.
The latest crash tests by the insurance industry raise safety questions about small pickups
General Motors Corp. told dealers Monday it plans to raise prices on 2009 models by an average of 3.5% despite a tough market that is forcing the automaker to cut production and discount its 2008 models
With sales of full-size pickups in a steep decline, Ford Motor Co. said Friday it is delaying the launch of its new, redesigned Ford F-150 pick-up by two months.
Meet today's most powerful production cars.
Until recently, big SUVs had resisted the sales declines hitting their smaller, mid-size brethren. That was because large SUV drivers were hard-core - they really needed interior room and pulling power, and they weren't about to switch to car-like crossovers.
Oil prices have some drivers looking for new rides, but some truck and sport-utility vehicle owners are remaining true to their gas guzzlers. They say, $4-a-gallon gas be damned; they need the space.
General Motors Corp. officially blew up its old business model Tuesday, closing four pickup truck and sport utility vehicle factories, announcing a new small car
General Motors announced plans Tuesday to shut four truck and SUV plants that employ thousands of workers. It also said high gas prices are here to stay - and, with them, consumers' growing preference for more fuel-efficient vehicles.
It appears that the prospect of $4 gas finally has Americans getting serious about fuel economy.
Jorge Fernandez strolls across the used-car parking lot littered with dozens upon dozens of sport utility vehicles the size of small tugboats.
Ford Motor Co. executives say they believe that $4 gas is here to stay, resulting in a fundamental consumer shift away from gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups and causing continued losses at its core North American auto unit.
Simply by chance, a pair of new cars fell into my hands last weekend that perfectly demonstrated the yin and yang of today's auto industry. The Pontiac G8 was powerful, exciting, fun to drive - and as obsolete as the buggy whip. The Nissan Cube was homely, utilitarian and slow - and we all ought to get used to it, because that's what most of us are going to be driving in the future.
The dwindling U.S. auto market and an accelerating shift from trucks to cars has brought grim layoff news to four General Motors Corp. factories.
Sky-high gas prices bring fuel economy front and center when it comes to buying a new car. But if you're not careful, your bargain gas-sipper could wind up costing you a lot more in the long-run.
Midsize SUVs are becoming safer, but side and rear impact crashes remain a weakness, according to recent testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Why should a female auto journalist give you advice on great date cars? Because as far as cars go, I know what turns a woman on and what really turns her off.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a formal investigation into possible fires in General Motors' new full-size SUV.
When Ford's new flagship Lincoln sedan, the MKS, goes on sale later this year it will be available with all-wheel-drive, a six-speed transmission and plenty of rear-seat legroom. But one feature usually found on full-size luxury cars will not be available on the MKS at any price: a V8 engine.
General Motors' Chevrolet Malibu mid-size sedan, radically redesigned for the 2008 model year, won the North American Car of the Year Award Sunday at the first media preview day for the Detroit auto show.
Tadge Juechter, General Motors' chief engineer for the Chevrolet Corvette, wants to set one thing straight: the Corvette is here to stay.
Not too long ago, uttering the phrase "diesel engine" was enough to elicit a wince from car buyers whose memories of previous-generation diesels often consisted of knocking engine noise, that distinctly-diesel fragrance, and plumes of blue smoke curling from the tailpipe.
Never easy, the automobile business has gotten exponentially more difficult in recent months, as manufacturers rewrite their new model plans to cope with the eventual tightening of fuel economy standards.
Car makers are confident they can meet new government rules calling for a national fleet average of 35 miles per gallon. But it will take a big technological push, they say.
Not one of six 2008 model year minivans tested by an insurance industry group was able to withstand a low speed, parking lot style collision without sustaining several thousand dollars in damage.
Motor Trend Magazine named the full-size Toyota Tundra its Truck of the Year for 2008 on Tuesday.
As 2007 comes to a close, Chrysler could lose its long-time bragging rights as the maker of America's most popular minivan.
The winner of this year's Green Car of the Year doesn't look a thing like the award's past winners. It's a full-sized SUV.
The number of new cars considered the safest by the insurance industry nearly tripled in the past year
It wasn't just jobs that Chrysler LLC cut on Thursday. The automaker knocked out some cars as well.
General Motors announced Tuesday that it would invest $73 million to outfit its Shreveport, La. factory to build a new Hummer pickup called the Hummer H3T.
I just spent a week driving an SUV with a 4.2-liter V8 engine that produces as much torque as the 6.0-liter V10 engine in a Dodge Viper. It can go from a dead stop to sixty miles per hour in about 6.4 seconds.
Outrage. Disbelief. Downright disgust. Those were readers' reactions to our recent story about 13 great fuel efficient cars, which featured several trucks and SUVs.
If you're like me, you probably log a lot of miles for business -- and often at the pointy end of the plane, thanks to frequent-flier programs.
More than 35 years after the death of the original muscle cars, Detroit is once again poised to produce modern muscle cars by the thousands.
While all offer reasonable protection from front impacts, there are big differences in side impact protection among six truck-based SUVs, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
It's 6 a.m. and still dark out, but to beat traffic I climb aboard a shuttle bus with a crowd of other car enthusiasts and head for the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Today is the last day of Monterey Speed Week, and the marquee event - the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the largest, most glamorous classic-car exhibition and competition in America - is set to begin.
After five years of writing this column, I'm about to shed all objectivity. Before I do, however, let's review some numbers. During the past half decade, I've tested - though not always written about - almost 200 cars, worth a cumulative $20 million or so. Although I've logged as many as 1,000 miles in a single car, on average I've driven the things between 100 and 200 miles before handing them back to their corporate overseers, thus clearing the decks for the next new ride.
By keeping your car for 15 years, or 225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to Consumer Reports magazine. That's compared to the cost of buying an identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which most car owners trade in their vehicles.
General Motors of Canada will cut about 1,100 jobs at a truck plant in Ontario amid slumping pickup sales, the company said Thursday.
With governments in the United States and Europe considering stricter fuel economy regulations, car companies all over are wondering how to meet the proposed demands.
General Motors Corp. says it's cutting scheduled overtime hours in six plants to avoid excessive inventories of full-size pickups and SUVs after high fuel prices and a weak housing market have softened demand.
While there is some genuinely encouraging news in General Motors' announcement today of $891 million in second-quarter profits, a closer look at today's earnings announcement provides a glimpse of the challenges that GM is going to face in the future.
Chemistry is a delicate recipe. Drivers and chiefs and owners don't automatically start winning races as soon as they are partnered together. Sometimes it takes days, months, or even a year to click.
For most successful people in corporate America, the average day is like a German or Japanese sedan: hard-charging, constant and complex. Competent? Yes. Thrilling? More like the perfect shade of gray.
Two-thirds of pickups, vans and sport-utility vehicles don't provide acceptable protection against whiplash in rear-end collisions, according to tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
Chrysler Group on Thursday said it would roll out new hybrid vehicles, streamline its cars and trucks and introduce more diesel engines in a bid to improve the fuel economy of its product line-up.
Honda Civics, both new and used, are the most popular cars among teenage drivers, according to a recent survey.
You don't see any on the streets of Manhattan, but almost everywhere else, the homely pickup truck is America's common carrier. GM, Ford and Chrysler sell more pickups than do they anything else, more than two million a year in good times. In addition to high volume, pickups also produce high profits because they are relatively isolated from foreign competition.
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