Miata celebrates 20 year anniversary

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Posted in Mazda - DO NOT USE

This year’s model marks the 20th anniversary of the car that brought back a fascination of driving a roadster with the top down, which means it might be a good time to look into buying a used Mazda Miata.

At this year’s Chicago Auto Show, Mazda showed off its 2009 MX-5 “Mazda” roadster along with cars from the previous 20 years. Although the 2009 model is not a radical transformation from last year’s edition, it did receive a facelift which harkens back to the original car – an immediate success when it hit American roads in 1989.

The success of the Miata has not been lost on the people who keep some of the most important records in the world. According to Mazda, Guinness World Records certified the car as the world’s most popular production two-seat open-top sports car in 2000.

It doesn’t appear that that record will be broken anytime soon as the company says the Miata has sold 857,201 units through last December.

MSN autos says that one of the reasons why the car has remained so well-liked is that it has stayed true to its initial form throughout two decades.

“The popularity of the Miata is largely due to the fact that Mazda has never changed the underlying idea behind the MX-5 – it’s still a lightweight, sporty, fun-to-drive sports car,” writes the site.

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Home hit by car twice in one month

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Posted in General Auto News

For the second time in a month the same home was hit by an out-of-control car, leading authorities to call for the city to install a barrier to stop the crashes.

The owners of a home in Etobicoke, Canada saw a car crash into their house for the second in less than three weeks on Saturday when a 25-year-old man hit a curb sending his car flying into the home’s master bedroom and landing on the bed.

Earlier this month an elderly couple in their late 80s hit a snow bank which sent their car flying into the home’s living room and caused massive structural damage, according to the Star.

No one was injured in either of the crashes.

The couple who own the home said they have often thought of being hit by passing cars because of the sharp corner outside their home.

“We have joked from time to time that a car coming down Parklawn Road coming at high speed, if they didn’t make that corner, was going to end up in our house,” John Johansen told CityNews.ca after the first crash.

Unfortunately for the couple, everything they owned was being stored in the master bedroom following the first crash, according to the Star.

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Top picks for luxury used cars

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Posted in General Auto News

With the economy continuing to struggle, many people who would normally buy a new vehicle are turning to used cars for their purchase. For those in the market for a luxury used car, Motor Trend has some suggestions.

The economy is making it a buyer’s market even for used cars with the Dow Jones recently reporting that used car prices fell 8 percent in 2008. With that in mind, Motor Trend says it might be possible to snag a great luxury car at a not so luxury a price.

In the supercar category, the magazine picks the 1990-2005 Acura NSX. Motor Trend says the car’s marriage of “supermodel personality with Girl-Scout reliability” forced Italian carmakers to up their game when the car was released.

For those looking for a car that can carry the groceries along with the kids and the dog, the website suggest the 2001-2007 Volvo V70 or XC. Volvos are known for their safety and this wagon is no exception but for people just driving in the city, the site says they might want to go for the “prettier” V70 version.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that luxury used car sales are up across the country and says the already good market should get better soon as three to four-year-old leases begin being turned in.

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Thousands of drivers have cars towed away over weekend

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Posted in General Auto News

Drivers in Minnesota learned a hard winter lesson this weekend when thousands of cars were towed after a snow emergency was declared.

Minneapolis spokesman Matt Laible told the Downtown Journal that 1,800 cars were towed to impound lots in order to make room for snowplows as the city was buried in snow following a three-day snow emergency.

Laible told the website that 862 vehicles were towed on Saturday, the first day of the Snow Emergency, with another 951 vehicles towed Sunday. It is expected that the final tally will exceed the 1,800 mark.

ABC affiliate KSTP says another 1,200 vehicles were towed in neighboring St. Paul, Minnesota causing residents of both cities to pay up to $200 to have their cars removed, which is hitting cash-strapped motorists hard.

“I don’t have a cell phone. I can’t afford that type of thing – just nuts and bolts right now,” Joel Wenz, one of the people waiting at the impound lot told KSTP.

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Jillian Barberie-Reynolds’ Mercedes S550

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Posted in Celebrity Auto News

Jillian Barberie-Reynolds is mostly known for her weather segments on every Sunday during football season on Fox’s NFL Sunday and daily on Good Day LA, but it’s her 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550 that might get her the most attention on the road.

“My front grille is all blacked out, it’s super sexy and it’s a matte black,” she recently told Motor Trend. “It’s not for everybody, my girlfriends are like, ‘It’s so gangster looking’ but I love that.”

The S550, which Barberie-Reynolds calls the Batmobile, is her second Mercedes and she tells the magazine that while she’s had Porches and BMWs in the past, they just didn’t fit her lifestyle.

“The last car I had was the Porsche, it was 6-speed Tiptronic, I loved it but it wasn’t practical for the amount of driving I do, it wasn’t luxurious,” she told the magazine.

It seems that the S550 does match Barberie-Reynolds’ idea of luxury. In reviewing the 2009 model, Edmunds’ Left Lane website called the car a “living room on wheels.” Yet it’s still likely faster than any living room you’ve been in as it’s clocked at 0-60 in 5.4 seconds.

However, Barberie-Reynolds likely spends a lot of time filling up the gas tank, as the website says the car gets about 14 mpg in the city.

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Luxury used car sales rise

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Posted in Mercedes-Benz

A number of industries across the country are struggling because of the economy, but one that that seems to be booming is luxury used cars.

Industry analysts say that while the new car market continues to dwindle, the luxury used car market continues to stay strong, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The strong market will get even stronger later this year, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ used-vehicle market analyst Stephan Schroeder, who told the paper that a number of luxury car leases will be turned in this year.

“There’s going to be a great supply of these three and four year old vehicles,” he told the Journal.

But price point isn’t the only factor increasing the sales of luxury used cars. According to Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation, the largest U.S. auto retailer and the largest U.S. seller of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, some people don’t think it’s right to buy a new car in these tough economic times.

“[I]t’s more socially acceptable to buy a pre-owned luxury car than to show up in a completely brand new luxury car,” he told the paper. “So they buy a used car.”

It would seem that this is the perfect time to make a purchase of any used car. Dow Jones recently reported that the price of used cars dropped 8 percent in 2008.

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Prius gets good gas mileage, not too good acceleration

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Posted in Toyota

The Toyota Prius has changed the way many drivers in the country view fuel-efficient cars. There’s no question the hybrid saves owners hundreds of dollars in gas per year, but one journalist questions if it might be too slow for U.S. highways.

Clifford Atiyeh, who writes for the Overdrive blog for the Boston Globe says that while the Prius might save you some money in gas, forget about acceleration as he says the car makes all others seem like you’re driving a slingshot.

“The Prius saves fuel like it’s 2020, but drives like it came from 1987,” writes Atiyeh.

Atiyeh says the lack of acceleration isn’t a problem in city driving, but when a Prius driver is trying to drive onto the onramp of a highway it can be unsafe. When recently trying to merge onto a freeway in Boston, Atiyeh says he had the pedal to the metal, but still could barely keep up with the cars rushing past.

“That’s not adrenaline kicking in – it’s instinct telling you that zero to 60 in 10 seconds can be flat-out dangerous,” he wrote.

Toyota has said that its next generation Prius, which goes on sale later this year, is likely to get up to 50 miles per gallon. The carmaker is also starting to see some competition from other models like the Honda Insight.

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State considers Hummer tax

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Posted in Auto Industry News

It seems that in addition to paying more for having to fill up more often, owners of gas-guzzling cars in Massachusetts might need to pay an additional tax for the privilege to drive around.

Although Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick did not go into the specifics of the proposal, the so-called Hummer tax would place fees on the drivers of cars with low gas mileage, and give incentives to the drivers of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The idea of taxing citizens for driving gas guzzling vehicles has been on the table in a number of states for some time, but if a law were passed in Massachusetts it would be the first in the nation.

Chris Britt, CEO of a Boston accounting firm says he already pays $450 extra each month to park his Hummer downtown and says neighbors at his condo are proud to be drive more “green” vehicles and think it’s absurd he drives a Hummer.

“But in the last snowstorm, I saw people spending hours digging out their Priuses,” Britt told the Boston Globe. “With my truck, I can drive through anything. I can park it on a snowbank.”

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Man finds 35 pounds of pot in gas tank

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Posted in Nissan

A used car owner who couldn’t figure out why his fuel gauge never showed more than half full got a big surprise this week when a mechanic found 35 pounds of pot in the vehicle’s gas tank.

Utah police say about $35,000 worth of marijuana was found in the tank of a 2009 Nissan Armada after its owner brought the vehicle in to see what was wrong with the gas gauge.

Although the drugs were tightly wrapped in plastic, gasoline had leaked into the packaging leading investigators to believe it had been in the car for months. The car had already had several owners and was used as a rental vehicle for a period.

Police say the current owner is not a suspect but think it will be difficult to track down were the drugs came from because it has changed hands so many times.

Officials say the car should be fine and in complete working order once the drugs are removed.

According to Edmunds.com, the Nissan has produced the Armada since 2004 and says this year’s model “hauls like a gorilla on steroids.”

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Half a million car buyers bought used instead of new

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Posted in Auto Industry News

Despite a slumping economy, people still often need to purchase a car and according to Edmunds.com, more people are turning to used cars to save some cash.

Edmunds, an online automotive resource, says that 511,000 of the used cars purchased in the last three months would most likely have been new car purchases in a better economy.

“It is safe to assume that many shoppers who normally would be tempted by ‘new car smell’ and the latest automotive technology made a more cost-conscious decision because of economic pressures,” said Edmunds.com senior analyst David Tompkins.

According to the research, more than two thirds of the people who bought used cars did not even consider a new car when they began looking at vehicles. In a normal economy they would have at least considered a new car, says Tomkins.

The remaining buyers did look at new cars, but at some point decided to make a used car purchase instead.

Those who did make a used car purchase seem to have chosen a proper time to make that buy as Dow Jones recently reported that used car prices fell by 8 percent in 2008.

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