Imagine buying a used car, getting it home, parking it in the garage, then waking in the middle of the night to flames caused by that car.
It’s not a likely scenario, but it is possible. If you recently purchased, or plan to purchase, a used GM SUV, be sure to check for recalls before signing on the dotted line.
Fires caused by a defect in a car are rare, but around 200,000 2005, 2006 and 2007 SUVs made by General Motors are being recalled because of that risk.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Car Safety, Car Shopping, Domestic Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
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I’m not exactly sure why this is news, but NBC News has posted a story on the astonishing fact that young people shop for cars online, not in showrooms.
The story is full of facts and figures and percentages confirming that those belonging to Generation Y don’t begin at dealers when they shop for cars. Well obviously at CarGurus we know that, considering it’s what we do. Vehicle research, new or used, absolutely must begin online these days.
The opinions of others are just as much a part of vehicle research these days as checking spec sheets and reading professional reviews. Who has a better opinion to trust than someone who owns, or has owned, the same car?
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Car Shopping, General Chat
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Uh-oh…
A few nights ago a tired drive home nearly ended in catastrophe. Not for me, but for the fuel system of my car.
I pulled into the station, popped my fuel door, swiped my card and picked up the handle before I realized it was green. That realization woke me up very quickly, as I uttered a mild profanity and then proceeded to move to another pump, one with the 92 octane my car requires, not the diesel I almost filled it with.
Despite being clearly labeled, and the fact that diesel nozzles are typically larger than those dispensing unleaded gas, people mistakenly fill their cars with the wrong fuel occasionally. Doing so won’t necessarily cause serious damage to the fuel system or engine, but the car won’t start, and the fix could cost a lot of money.
When a moron like me makes that mistake on his own, the cost is an obvious consequence of a bone-headed mistake. But when the mistake is made by a fuel company, who should pay?
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2014 Toyota Corolla S
The Toyota Corolla is boring.
It’s somewhat bland, dated and uninspiring. It’s also one of the top-selling cars in the world each year, and Toyota has sold over 40 million of them since the car’s inception.
Obviously, people are drawn to the car’s propensity for predictability and reliability. Changing the formula could be a risky move, but seeing as how the current car doesn’t have much in the way of cutting-edge technology or engineering, the time has come for an all-new Corolla.
But if the draw to a Corolla lies in its simplicity, maybe a used model would better suit the needs of some drivers.
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Automakers want to convince us all that buying a new car is preferable to buying used. Dealers just hope you buy a car—new would be nice, but there’s good money to be made selling used ones, too.
Consumers obviously are left to make the choice and sometimes spend hours researching whether new or used makes the most sense. Much of that decision comes down to financials, since the features in new cars do not vary much from what’s available in recent used vehicles.
General Motors would like to add more tech-laden features to new cars, so tech-savvy buyers might be convinced to pony up for new instead of used.
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“Tesla needed to solve the problem of long-distance travel and we can’t wait for others to agree with our strategy. If we wait for some sort of consensus, it’s going to take too long. We just need to get going and other manufacturers can either copy us or join us.”
In the world of high-powered auto executives, you can probably guess that quote comes from the guy who also owns a company that builds spaceships. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, founder of PayPal, and owner of SpaceX, isn’t a guy to wait around and hope technology adapts to his product. No, Musk would rather adapt and invent technology to support his product.
In this case, the technology seems simple on the surface: recharging the electric vehicles that Tesla builds.
The problem is a current lack of North American infrastructure to provide a network that could support a cross-country trip. But why wait for that infrastructure, when you can just build your own?
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Auto Express seems to have a lot of “unnamed insiders” on their bankroll. In spite of its mysterious sources, the outlet has a pretty good track record of being accurate, so we take this news with a certain level of excitement:
The Porsche Macan SUV could debut at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show and be released next Spring.
Sure, the idea of an entry-level Porsche SUV is like Target selling a thousand-dollar handbag. Even the words don’t seem to go together in a sentence. Get used to the idea, though, and pretty soon you’ll be clamoring at the doors of your nearest Porsche dealer to get your hands on one.
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Let’s make FIAT American!
Remember the controversy that surrounded an Italian brand buying an American car company? When Chrysler went into bankruptcy and was gobbled up by FIAT, the question arose of whether the storied American brand would remain, well, American.
The Italian carmaker’s stake in Chrysler has grown steadily since 2009, and now FIAT CEO Sergio Marchionne wants to buy the rest and take full ownership. That means the once-American Chrysler would be fully under the control of a foreign entity that also owns Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Ferrari.
But what if the tables turned, and instead of Chrysler going foreign, FIAT comes stateside?
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It’s taken way more years than it should’ve, but Chevy has finally put an oil burner in a small sedan.
Diesel has been Europe’s choice for propulsion since, well, probably the time of King Charles. Because of a history of cheap gasoline prices and a public disdain for dirty diesel, it never caught on in the USA. With gas inching up in cost here every day, alternative fuels are seeing more demand. Electricity has been the focus for the last decade or so, but a new round of clean, efficient diesel engines is on the way.
Chevrolet has offered a small diesel in Europe for years and has finally adapted the engine to meet U.S. standards and put in on the options sheet for the 2014 Cruze. With this new American diesel in showrooms, does it make sense to add it to your shopping list, or are you better off looking for a used Jetta?
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Now here’s some creative thinking on a way to revitalize one of Michigan’s saddest relics of automotive history.
An 80-acre tract of land currently lies vacant in Pontiac, after once housing 4 GM factories. With no hope of returning the area to an automotive factory site, one determined businessman has plans to turn it into a buzzing metropolitan hub, but with a twist.
While many planned developments include some kind of park or other open recreational space, this one might include something way cooler:
A race track.
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