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In general, nearly every private seller lists a car for at least 10% more than they are willing to sell it for, and every dealership lists a car for much more than that. It is difficult to generalize. You also have to consider that most used car dealers include some form of warranty. The best way to price any car is go to all of the websites that specialize in doing this: Kelly Bluebook, Cars.com, Edmunds.com and Autotrader.com. On these sites you can see the difference between the private sale price and dealer price for different vehicle conditions. Compare them all and make a judgement.
Dave
The simplest performance upgrade is to reduce vehicle weight. Each percent weight reduction feels exactly the same as a percent of power increase at normal driving speeds
1. By 250 K mile longevity, I mean that on a modern engine, maintained by the book, it should be running just fine at 250k miles and not burning more than a quart of oil per 1000 miles, and not leaking fluids. Many modern engines can do more than 300k miles. The other parts of the powertrain, like automatic transmissions do not seem to be as durable. A manual transmission will be very long-life, but the clutch will probably not last much more than 150 k miles. Transmissions need to have fluid changed at least by 100 k miles to get very long life.
You can always put a new engine or transmission in an old car, and you can completely rebuild a suspension; but a car isn’t really failed until the body/chassis is badly corroded2. The toll that time takes on a car is very dependent on whether of not it is garage-kept or not. An outside car will have faded paint, weathered or cracked dashboard and rubber seals/whether=stripping after 10 years. A garage-kept car will not. Constant exposure to the weather is tough on brake systems as well (due to corrosion). Even a garage-kept car will have some deterioration of the rubber parts due to Ozone in the atmosphere. In general, time takes its toll on all of the rubber seals, hoses, and belts throughout the car. A CV joint might be able to last 400 k miles of driving, but once the rubber boot cracks, the grease leaks out and dirt and water get in and the joint fails. Same deal with many of the suspension joints. The final big issue with time is the seasons. Winters with ice and salt are really tough on the body and chassis corrosion. The older the car, the more corrosion on all of the metal and fasteners. Many nuts and bolts can not be undone for service without breaking if they have gone through 10 winters.
The most important thing to understand about high HP cars is that performance is not proportional to engine power, it is proportional to vehicle power / weight ratio. just because a vehicle has high power, doesn’t mean it is fast if it is also heavy.
Dave
On a modern fuel-injected naturally-aspirated engine, there are no easy upgrades that can yield a significant power upgrade. The best that most people can do is install a low-restriction air cleaner system (often called Cold Air Inlet, CAI). You can expect 0-1% peak power improvement with one of these, though they will be noisier than the original, and you will not feel the power improvement. Same with low-restriction exhaust systems.
For power improvements greater than 10% (something you can feel) you need high performance cams or a turbo – kit. These are not for beginners and will require the use of a programmable ECU to tune the engine after the mechanical changes.
For turbocharged engines, all you have to do to get a significant power increase is find a reputable aftermarket ECU or piggy-back ECU, or reprogrammed ECU. These change the engine calibration to allow the turbocharger to reach a higher boost limit, and also reprogram the spark advance. These always require the use of Premium fuel.
Obviously, you can make money or lose it if you are not careful. I think the first thing you need to establish is what your car repair capabilities really are? Know your limits. Can you rebuild an engine? Can yo udo body-work? Are you willing to invest in a good set of tools and diagnostic equipment?
Probably the best profit can be had from buying non-running cars and getting them into reliable running condition, but this requires the most skill, investment and effort.This makes sense. Tires have a “shelf-life” of less than 8 years and have to be replaced even if there is good tread left.
First thing to do is get all of the wheels dynamically balanced. That should solve all of your problems unless one or more of the tires is having structural problems like belt separation, or is out of round.
I understand your points. You first have to determine if you really could make a profit on the sale of the car. There are a number of good websites where you can assess the purchase price and the eventual selling price. Start with Kelly bluebook.
If the car was garage kept, that is a big plus. If you have access to the maintenance records that is also a big plus. Pay particular attention to items that have to be serviced on time intervals regardless of mileage. The anti-freeze is good for 10 years, regardless of miles. The brake system should be flushed at least every 4 years because brake fluid continually absorbs moisture from the air and when the moisture content gets high, it starts corroding all of the brake system internal steel surfaces. The accessory drive belts should be replaced if they are 10 years old. Get a copy of the owner’s manual maintenance section and see all of the items that need some attention based on age.
At the 10 year point, I would think that the rubber hoses should have up to 5 years of safe life left in them. If kept out of the sun, the rubber door and window seals could be good for 20 years. Also note that 10 year old tires are not safe, even if they have good tread left.
My basic argument is that for the price of a 2010 Lexus ES with 30K miles you could probably get a 2014 model with 100K miles and the newer car will be more reliable and drive better and probably look better and be easier to work on. I am assuming that you would be paying a fair market price for either car. The newer car has gone through fewer winters and sat in the sun and weather for 4 fewer years. Remember that sun and Ozone continually degrade the paint, rubber, and plastic. For a well-maintained modern car, 100K miles is roughly the half-life of the transmission and 1/3 the life of the engine. It all comes down to what you think you could pay and resell the car for, but aside from the profit aspect, I would rather own and drive the newer car.
Dave
I would recommend against buying older cars with low mileage because age and the seasons are tough on cars in ways that can’t readily be repaired. For example:
– All of the plastic and rubber bits age due to the effects of sun and ozone
– Many of the fasteners corrode and will break when being disassembled; a real headache!
-this applies to engine seals and gaskets
– Every winter a car goes through accelerates corrosion throughout the car
– The older the car is, the harder it will be to find replacement parts
– a low-mileage engine has spent a lot of time unused or driven many short trips. This is generally bad for engine wear.On top of this, low-mileage cars tend to be over-valued in the used car marketplace. The only exceptions to this rule will be enthusiast and high performance models that collectors seek; but don’t expect to find bargains readily.
I usually recommend that you look for the opposite of a low-mileage older car. Find the newest car in your price category and don’t worry about miles. Even an ordinary modern car engine and powertrain should be very reliable for at least 200,000 miles if maintained properly. Cars that are driven more than 30,000 miles per year tend to be well-maintained.
Dave
The best oil type is fully-synthetic and all of the major companies make similar quality products. If you search online you can find comparison tests of many major brands. In these tests you will find many different criteria and it is difficult to summarize the relative importance. Overall, I try to stick with either Pennzoil, Mobil 1, Amsoil, Redline, or Castrol. Really any of the other major brands ( Kendall, Quaker State, Valvoline) are so close in overall performance that it really won’t make any difference. You will also find really good test results from the generic brands from WallMart and Amazon. Here is an example of a well-done comparison test: http://oil-tech.com/motoroil-comparison.php
You can find all of the performance parameters (test results) for almost any car by going to the road test section of the car magazine web sites. The USA ones are: Car and Driver, Road and Track, Motor Trend, and Automobile.
I personally drive sedans and sports cars: Hyundai Ioniq, Mazda 3, and Toyota MR2 Spyder. If I need a van or pickup truck, I rent it. I have driven many SUV’s and I do not like driving them.
Most of the added mass in SUV’s is in the entire Unibody structure. The larger a structure is, the more difficult it is to make is stiff and strong. This is just the science of structures. Structures do not just scale up. As you try to scale up a structure it gets flimsier, so you have to make the structural sections larger and heavier.
Dave
As far as SUV’s safety compared to midsized sedans, I have to go back to my original assessment: it depends on the type of crash, and sedans with their better handling and braking are significantly better at avoiding crashes. Just look at the published stopping distance difference between a Chevy Suburban and a Toyota Camry.
