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Posts By: Steven Lang
By
Steven Lang on May 19, 2011
Some folks in the industry believe that Toyota has decontented themselves out of the top tier of quality. I don’t know if that’s true… yet. But I do know that they are not the only non-domestic manufacturer to have gone down that path. Not long after Mercedes turned the W124 model into a glorified Taurus, the Swedes begin sauntering into the path of cheap redesigns.
The goal as always was profit. To make the cheaper product (the 1998 Volvo S70) resemble the better one (the much loved 1993 – 1997 Volvo 850). The outcome became very profitable… for me.
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By
Steven Lang on May 16, 2011
Some folks say that stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Well, those folks have never been to an auto auction. Today we had over 95 dealers doing the same thing over and over again. Looking at a vehicle. Bidding it up to the nether-regions. Hoping that profit will come back via retail or buy here pay-here. Carmax has cutthroat middle-fingered competition at their dealer auctions and the prices reflect the screwing mentality that will likely be passed onto the bad credit consumer.
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By
Steven Lang on May 12, 2011
Who wants one these days? For the last ten years the entire conversion van industry has been pretty much niched out of existence. First minivans started becoming the mode of choice for those wanting a big screen and a wide array of entertainment options on the road. Then the mastodon SUV’s came to fore. Offering to tow your camper, pop-up, motorbikes, and pretty much anything else that you seemingly needed to take with you. That was only the beginning
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By
Steven Lang on May 10, 2011
The eyes were covered in a yellowish puss-like film. Jaundice? Nope, bad seals from the factory had made the headlights brittle and useless. Almost like old fly paper but without the elasticity. The leather seats up front were all cracked and peeling. Rear speakers were out. The alarm system had a mind of it’s own. Spontaneously singing it’s praises whenever there was a rare dull moment on the lot. But the kicker?
It’s the most popular car in my fleet. Teenagers, old(ish) hell-raisers. Even folks with the proverbial mid-life crisis without the means of a Vette want this car. I had six interested buyers within two hours. Meanwhile the minivans are molderizing in their appliance like utility. During tax time the “popular” cars can have price premiums as high as Cheech and Chong’s “Nice Dreams.” So this is what I did.
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By
Steven Lang on May 6, 2011
Beware of the pin-prick mentality. It blinds even the best of us in the automotive world.
A lot of great cars over the decades have been deflated by the nascent fashions of the moment. The Chrysler minivan was a slow seller when it was first released. “Too big. Too bulky. Not a wagon!” cried the conventional soothsayers of the status quo.
Then it sold like hotcakes. 10+ million vehicles in 20 years. Beetles. Corollas. The 1st gen Taurus. Just a few ‘weird cars’ have invoked more enduring design ideas for auto design folk than hundreds of conventional hum-drum models of modern time. Which now brings me to New York City’s next taxi. Will it shine like a beacon in the coming era? Or is the design more out of wack than John Rocker’s first visit to the Big Apple?
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By
Steven Lang on May 2, 2011
Wanna buy a Hummer? You can buy them as cheap as dirt these days. There was a beautiful one that went through the block at a weekly public auction in Oakwood, GA. Nice leather interior. Well kept. The H2 models in particular were an easy piece to market and sell not too long ago… but not last Thusday. It no-saled. Not even the hope of a bid at $13k. Then came the H3. No sale at 10k. No takers. Only two no-sales from new car stores that generally sell everything. Why?
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By
Steven Lang on May 1, 2011
It was the good old days. The Summer of 2007. I had become one of the top buyers at a nearby discount parts store, and several others nearby wanted my business. At this point I was buying all my parts for my cars at ‘cost’ plus 10%. But that didn’t matter. Like the sub-prime world, the store managers were paid bonuses based on their volume of sales. Who needed profit when you could make it up with volume? Well, it took about a year for the guys up the chain of command to figure that out.
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By
Steven Lang on April 26, 2011
12 years. That’s how long I drove a 1994 Toyota Camry LE coupe. It was red with a sunroof and ABS. Truly loaded for the time. But not quite loaded for the modern day. I never even considered anything else because to me this was just like an underpowered Lexus without the cost.
We’re talking the type of quiet and serenity that many compact vehicles (which this technically was) still can’t match. The 3rd Generation Camry was the absolute peak of Toyota’s over-engineering prowess and my car pulled a straight 239k with nary a hiccup. One owner later, it just recently crested the 300k mark with plenty of life left on the original powertrain. With that in mind I can…
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By
Steven Lang on April 25, 2011
149 vehicles were sold in 1 hour. From a 2008 Mercedes C300 Sport with 71k that went for $21,400 (plus fee) to a 1998 Lincoln Town Car Executive with 263k that went for $1,600. Seeing that one go down the line for that price made me feel pretty good. I had bought a mint one with 100,000 fewer miles for the same price the week before. But by the end of the day I felt pretty crappy overall. Why?
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By
Steven Lang on April 22, 2011
28.3 miles per gallon. That’s what it said on the Lincoln’s trip computer. Was it real? I hated to think that some electronic glitch had made this Lincoln an eternal optimist. But one thing certainly helped it’s cause. A great owner. An awesome owner. The type of owner you want to thank years later for keeping the car in such great shape. Yes, this Lincoln was a creme puff. So now I can…
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By
Steven Lang on April 20, 2011
Before Lexus began it’s pursuit for perfection. Before Acura had built the Legend and seared the J.D. Power surveys. Even before there was such a thing as an ‘affordable sports sedan’. There was this car.
The Baby Benz was on the periphery of what was class-leading in the early-80’s, and what was clearly class-lagging by the early 90’s. It had great handling but… not a lot of power. Great pedigree but… not cheap at all for an entry level luxury car. Lots of features… but boy did it break your bank account when they broke. And break they did.
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By
Steven Lang on April 15, 2011
Auto auctions are unique creatures. There are endless lines of cars going in and out of the lane. Auctioneers using their powers of persuasion to create the urgency to buy. Alliances. Egos. Organized chaos at every moment… and most of all a reserve price that has to be met come hell or high water. There is one unique twist to today’s auto auction world. Many buyers and sellers will never come to the auction. They are online. Viewing all the sales and inventory for the week on a computer. Which brings to me the first company featured in this three part installment:: Insurance Auto Auctions.
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By
Steven Lang on April 14, 2011
“When should I buy?” Some folks think that the end of the month is the best. Dealers need to hit their quotas and well.. isn’t every car salesman measured on their month end performance? Others believe that the best time to buy is when the new model’s change over during the August/September time frame. The manufacturers need to clear out those leftovers 2011 models for their recently pressed ‘new cars’. Most of the new cars are mostly the same so… why not just buy the old ones! Well, it’s not that simple.The answer to ‘when’ to buy always depends on three ‘whats’.
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By
Steven Lang on April 5, 2011
It just sat there. A car that so many enthusiasts could appreciate, a grey market 1978 Mercedes 350 SE, just collected springtime pollen on my driveway. I had a helluva deal on it. Back in 2008 I had bought it for only $325 already ‘restored’. A dealer in the North Georgia area didn’t know what to do with it and decided to clean out his inventory for the month end. That was the good news. In fact that was great news since I always wanted an old European gasser Mercedes. The bad news was that I just could not stand driving that thing.
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By
Steven Lang on March 29, 2011
I hate politics. Neither side of the extremes can do math and everyone in between ends up paying for it all. I don’t care if you’re a Rep, Dem, Lib, Con, Tea, or the apathetic majority. Putting faith in political solutions when it comes to money is never worth the effort. With that said, my home state of Georgia is money crunched. They see an asset worthy of their financial portfolio and yes, it is the automobile.
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