Live Q&As

Like or dislike, if your leg id uncomfortable with the pedal position, don't buy the car. The blind-spot mirror does work. However, based on what we saw at the Sao Paulo car show, Fiat and its rivals seem to be coming up with a better idea--see-through A-pillars.

It could cost you more than you're planning or willing to spend. Get a tech to check it out before turning over the cash.

My pleasure. Soon to be yours. Enjoy!

It's only a "good buying day" if you've done your financial homework. What can you realistically afford? What are the actual out-the door costs? Repair and maintenance costs? Check with Kbb.com, edmunds.com and cars.com, among others. Also, check with Consumer Reports.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this. If the person who owns the GPS system is reading the chat today they will greatly appreciate it.

I liked it, of course. He captured the way I think and write. Not everyone likes my approach. I understand and accept that. But I'm not likely to change a darned thing. Facts are: Cars exist in a social, political, environmental, and economic context--none of which can be ignored in discussing them. I don't write technical or promotional brochures, or wrote-think, zoom-zoom, "car-guy" stuff. I write about cars in context.

So many, including the Ford Focus and Fiesta, Chevrolet Sonic and Cruze, Hyundai Accent and Elantra. So many more.

All of which is a nice wives' tale if you don't do your financial homework before shopping. Know your financial position, credit rating, et cetera BEFORE entering the dealership. That always puts you in the driver's seat ANY DAY.

Dan Akerson was in Sao Paulo, Brazil at the auto show and I asked him about the Presidential debates and the car company being mentioned. He harumphed! Car companies, he said, only a couple have been mentioned. I knew he was talking about GM and Chrysler, but he wouldn't comment any further.

The rest of this is what I remember and my opinion

The reality was, there was no financing. Ford had refinanced everything they owned, including the blue oval, before the economic freefall. They didn't need a loan, but they stood there in front of Congress asking Congress to give the others a bailout/loan. Why? Because the auto suppliers would have failed if GM and Chrysler had failed.

I've spent a lot of time with auto suppliers lately and the big ones are still in business. Some of the little ones are no longer around. If you don't have someone to buy a car seat from how are you going to make a car?

We saw that when Japan had their catastrophe. Black cars were on the endangered list because there were only a couple places that made the pigment for certain black cars.

But the bigger question is what would have happened to General Motors if there were not a bailout/loan to them. China owns 51% of General Motors in China. Do you think China would have let them go bankrupt, or do you think they would have purchased the assets of GM-US?

As our car companies (and all companies) go more global the United States has to understand that other countries are a lot more protective of their companies, and the dometically  produced product by local voters/consumers, and 0ther countries will protect said companies.

Not crazy at all. If you get your own financing  for the car--either through bank or credit union--you give the dealer a check from the funding source.

good question. I don't buy financing from car companies, I buy from my credit union as well.

But - sometimes the car company will have better finance rates, depending on your FICO score, than your credit union, so make sure to check.

At this point I go online and fill out a form and they send back an email telling me if I am approved and what the rate is and the monthly payment. It's been awhile, but I remember them sending me the check once, and sending the dealer the check once.

Since you are getting a loan on an asset that has collateral they will could send it to the dealer, but I'm not sure.

If you were getting a loan on a house, for instance, that you wanted to do upgrades to they would send it to you.

In either case:

If you geta loan from a bank for an asset (i.e. car) and they send it to you make sure to give that money to the car company, otherwise it is fraud.

Warren?

Not yet. But I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks for that information.

Effectively, all of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's guidelines are "voluntary" in terms of actual execution. NHTSA does not tell manufacturers exactly how to achieve a desired goal, which is a very good thing, I think. That way, we get different and often better approaches to arriving at the same solution. For example, some navigational functions should be set BEFORE driving begins. The RDX's system requires this. I agree.

Have you checked with the GPS supplier? What did they say?

Increasingly, everything is packaged so that it is hard for us to take it apart and fix it.

Heck, I remember when I could click a few buttons on my computer and go into DOS and fix things. :)

I'd go with the BMW. But you won't be wrong togo with Audi, either. Both are excellent, thoroughly enjoyable automobiles.

Dear 7 or 8,

Do you think it is a good idea to adopt such a system?

As we were driving around we what looked like an overhead transit system being built in  Sao Paulo. That would help there.

What about if you took the transit one day a week, perhaps every Thursday?

If DC had Sao Paulo's horrific traffic, we'd all be putting pressure on our political leaders to improve mass transportation, which is something that Sao Paulo also is doing.

Yes, the passenger as well. Realistically, the passenger punching stuff into the Nav while vehicle is in motion also creates a possibly dangerous distraction. Set the Nav BEORE taking off. If there is a problem enroute, pull over to a safe spot. Reset the Nav.