Live Q&As

You raise a question that is troubling the luxury car market, about 12-18 percent of new-car sales in the United States. I just finished driving a Chevrolet Malibu LTZ. It does not do performance car 0-60 times. But I'll be darned if it does not offer practically everything else you can find in more expensive automobiles. My theory is that more and more people eventually will realize that they don't have to spend $50,000 to get a very good car nowadays. The Luxury segment is going to have to start offering more than prestige.

Most of them are common sense, aren't they? The one I liked the most was ask your dealer. Many times we think it's going to be a lot more expensive to have our vehicle fixed at a dealership, but when I got the estimates to fix my car at Roseville of Lexus it wasn't anymore expenisve. The one I question the most is always use OEM brakes. I don't know why they say that. Maybe someone else will know. I've sent the link to Warren for his reaction as well.

Because the market is diversifying quickly. That means concepts of "luxury" and "prestige" also are changing. If BMW wants to build market share, it is going to have to find a way to capture those people who think: "Why spend money on a BMW when I can get all I want in a Kia Optima or Hyundai Genesis?"

Don't laugh. Muffle your scoff. The Koreans have caught on to something here. Offer luxury, high-performance cars at affordable prices. BMW and other prestige marques have to answer that. Enter things such as the 4 Series.

It boggles my mind as well--widely varying gasoline prices at service stations within a feww miles or blocks of one another. I have heard and read many explanations: It depends on the station's supplier. Different stattions have different costs. There are different delivery contracts, et cetera. None of it makes any sense to me. But, hey, Lou Ann used to be in the oil business (really). Maybe, she can shed some light on this.

Thanks for the lovely wishes.

I've got the same problem. I have a 1993 Lexus LS400 that has 82,000 miles. Of course she is my baby, completely garaged, not a scratch, original leather. But how often do I change the oil? Out of convention we have been changing the oil every year or two, but we probably don't need to.

When we do reach a milestone, such as 60,000 miles, we give her the royal treatment.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Your concern is legitimate. So is a dealer request for government identity. You don't want your information misused. Dealer's have fiduciary, insurance and other responsibilities to make sure there vehicles aren't being misused.

It all depends on trust. If a dealer obtains your license/insurance information and appears to be sloppy in handling or protecting that information (leaving it on a desk, exposing it to too many eyes), take your business elsewhere.

Is that what we now call the Kia Soul. (Hyundai and Kia essentially are the same company.)

Good to be off the road for a few weeks. Do you want comfort, lots of amenities, and okay performance? If so, get the Kia Optima sedan. Do you want zoom? Get the Mazda3.

Did you have dealer-applied undercoating, "environmental protection"? If so, it is possible that it was done excessively.  I've long been an opponent of dealer undercoating because it really is not necessary for today's cars and trucks. I've spent too many hours in too many car plants globally to believe otherwise.

Previously, I would probably buy a used car before I would buy a new car. If there were one car I would buy it would be the Audi TT RS. Man, that car is fun to drive.

The difference is between the years and the word "certified" and no certification.

A car that is certified pre-owned by a manufacturer will have a better warranty, and because the manufacturer will be certifying it  one assumes that the car will be looked over more thoroughly. I said assume :)

Volkswagen/Audi have a great certified pre-owned warranyt, so if you want to drive the car for another 10 years I would consider the certified one.

BTW - I was talking to a friend at VW recently and he said that they will start offering certified on cars that are not VW, but are trade-ins on dealers lot.

Oh, give me a break! "Down scale" brands. You are a marketer's delight. Do you really believe that any car company anywhere can survive without "down scale" brands. And Audi? Have you ever been to Le Mans. I've attended three of those races, one of which the Audi entry was kicking everyone's tails. The truth of the matter is that there's no manufacturer out there, no even Suzuki, making cars that won't last as long or run as far as everything else.

I feel your pain. But these are uptown cars that have the newest technology on them. Technology pulls energy from the electrical system. You don't want to mess up the electrical system and not be able to use your brand new Richie Rich technology.

It would be interesting to see if cars without the technology, or less expensive cars demanded the same.

I know my old 1993 Lexus Ls400 doesn't command that attention, but then I don't have the technology.

GM can be publicly coy about diesel if it chooses. But its executives kno that, sooner or later, it will have to offer a real diesel option, especially in its trucks. Diesel is coming to GM. You can count on it. I look forward to driving the company's newest trucks.

I'll put this one out there for Clifton, who can give you a more accurate and intelligent answer. Clifton, help!

The Chevy Volt is considered a hybrid, though I still call it a range extender.

The Volt allows you to use electricity for  the first 35 miles. Shad's Mom has 11,000 miles on her Volt. She has used 7 gallons of gasoline.

She gets her electricity from solar panels.

I can imagine a world where people energize their car with solar panels on their homes, and use gasoline only when they are on a long road trip.

The United States spends around 1/4 trillion dollars a year on imported oil and then refines it and sends it to a gasoline station near you.

That way of thinking is antiquated. We need to find answers for our domestic energy for the 21st century.

It is possible that a robot sprayed too much. But those kinds of errors usually are caught on the factoty touch-up line before the car leaves the plant. I humbly advise you have a company tech look at the problem. Also, obtain a sample and take or send it to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for examination. Google or Bing IIHS for contact information.

Toyota will fix this. It is a new part of a test. I heard that about 1/3 of fatalities happen when the front quarter panel rams into a solid barrier, like a telephone poll or tree.

Continental, one of the top global auto suppliers, was given approval to start testing semi-autonomous vehicles on Nevada's highways and streets. Why does this apply to you? Because these will  be the  sensors used to keep you from having an accident.

Seventy percent of all serious accidents could potentially be avoided if all cars included the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) systems, according to Continental. Why does this matter to you?

Your insurance rates could go down. There would be less fatalities.

I wouldn't be going to a funeral today for a 21-year old. :(

Yep. I agrre with you that we need to stop subsidizing oil companies. They don't need my little money, although they're more than happy to take it. But gasoline pricing remains a mystery to me, as it apparntly does to everyone on Capitol Hill and in the White House. I challenge anyone out there to tell us exactly how gasoline pricing works.

But that was in Canadian money :) (For anyone who doesn't know, my Mother was Canadian, Newfie actually, and we grew up with everyone always saying that phrase)

If I remember the chatter said he did try to go to a non-dealer but he had to go to a dealer.

Happy tibbs day.