Interesting info. I’ve never driven one, so my only first-hand experience with it was sitting in one at the auto show and thinking how far Cadillac had come since the 90's... It was comfortable to sit in when it wasn’t moving, and I thought the back seat was gargantuan (which I appreciate as a vertically-large…

Most dealers want to turn their inventory after X number of days. If the car is relatively new on the lot and they think there’s a chance they can still get full price for it, there’s no incentive for them to discount it for you. But after 60-90 more days, getting rid of it and getting their cash back becomes a higher…

You know what apparently depreciated like a stone? Cadillac XTS. It’s a big, comfy car that had to sticker well above $60k but there are examples out there for under $20k, some with only 40-50k miles on them.

Tom, how much of a difference should a higher trim level make on the resale value? For instance, a friend of mine is looking at CPO Fusions. One is a Titanium with 39,000 miles on it for $17,900. The other is an SE Luxury with only 25,000 miles, but is about $3,000 cheaper. Both are 2015 models and are being offered…

Really, only the lowercase “x” and “a” bother me. The rest of it looks pretty modern and clean to my uninformed eyes. If the “a” was more rounded and the “x” was less, um... weird, I think it would look good.

It’s also the reason GM starters from the same era often need shims to get them to align properly with the flywheel/flexplate, whereas it’s almost unheard of to ever need a starter shim for anything from the mid-90's onward.

“John DeLorean was charged with drug trafficking in an effort to raise funds for his struggling company.”

As nice as free cars are, if you like the Acura it sounds like there’s no reason to get rid of it. Maybe your dad can donate the Mercedes and get the tax write-off if he really doesn’t want to deal with a private sale.

They’re not the first manufacturer to do such a thing. Ford has dragged models on for decades as well with just a handful of updates here and there, such as the crowd-favorite Crown Victoria and the Ranger. They’ve also managed to wring a decade out of Tauruses (Taurii?) on more than one occasion.

As a lawyer, you should use the term “full disclosure” on the bumper sticker instead of “just so you know”. Keep it legit. Also, pulling the Mercedes badges off of it will help, especially if you replace them with badges from a lower-tier manufacturer like Buick or Daewoo. I’m sure you can find those badges on eBay...

I agree. Sometimes it feels too scripted/forced, but I think that’s still a better alternative than a free-for-all. Without a script it would easily turn into every bad YouTube car video.

Neutral: I could see regular folks buying a car via a system like Carvana’s without a second thought. To a lot of people, it’s an appliance. Pick the color, pick the basic features, and not much else matters.

One of our starter and alternator suppliers gave us a fun fact: Over half of the units they receive back as “core” actually function perfectly.

Old Penn was definitely run down towards the end - the result of tons of built-up grime and no budget to maintain the facility. Grand Central was once like that as well. As nice as the main concourse is now, it took years of restoration work to get it that way. They even left a couple of unrestored spots on the…

“Good will” in the accounting sense only comes from purchasing another firm. In that case it’s essentially whatever you pay in excess of that firm’s book value. It can’t be created by overpaying for assets/equipment...

Cool. Thanks for the info... I know we’ll never see anything like the original Penn Station rebuilt, but anything would be better than what’s there now. As someone once said about the demolition of the old station: “One used to enter the city like a King; now one scuttles in like a rat.”

Does that include the proposed refurbishment of Penn Station or the conversion of the old post office building into the rail hub? (Moynihan Terminal I think it was to be called...)

That was the plot of Final Destination 17, wasn’t it?

You do get the write off, but that doesn’t mean the car is free. If a regular ICE economy car is around $17,000 and the Bolt comes in at $27,000 (just using round numbers for the sake of it) then you get to “write off” an extra $10,000... Assuming a 30% tax rate (again, round numbers) that’s saving you about $3,000 in…

I run an auto supply store and have had a few Sonics in my fleet. The size is right for most deliveries, but the Sonic’s biggest problem is that it wasn’t designed for “severe duty” type service. On and off 100 times a day, etc...