Popular Mechanics
Car Guide
Hearst New Media
Available in Windows format
Windows ISBN 1883383137
Review by Michael Pellechia
Take the two most guy things around, cars and computers, put them together and you've got this CD-ROM for window-shopping. It's packed with information, pictures, and advice. You can find out what your current cars are worth, or calculate loan payments for your next wheels.
My favorite feature is the search for a new car by criteria instead of by car model. You may specify style and class, price, make, features, mpg, mechanics, dimensions, and safety.
A section on Tips and Resources includes some interesting facts.
- According to Popular Mechanics, the average new car sold in America this year costs $19,000, and total costs will add up to $550 per month including car payment, insurance, gas, oil, and repairs. The article suggests that monthly cost, not total cost, is most important. Do I detect the acrid smell of a finance company behind this propaganda? In an affordability calculator, they want you to enter 16 categories of monthly costs, from dry cleaning to telephone charges, to figure out what you might have left for a car payment.
- Other sobering facts: car depreciation occurs at the average rate of 10 percent off the lot, 20 percent after one year, and an additional 10 percent each year after that. To minimize depreciation losses, the program recommends buying a car you like and keeping it forever, maintaining your car, picking a car that other people like, picking a high-performance car, or buying a convertible.
- The most popular colors for trade-in and resale value are white, black, silver/gray, and medium red. White is durable, reflects heat, and according to some research, is the safest car color in terms of visibility.
- Heavy-duty suspension options and high trim levels are a great bargain when you choose them upon ordering the car.
- Don't waste your money on extended-service warranties.
- In the snow belt, buy a car between December and February. Late August through early September can also be a good car-buying season.
- Because of the way sales quotas are set on a dealer's lot, you might get a better deal at the end of the month or on a Saturday afternoon.
There's also interesting information about leasing new cars, inspecting and negotiating for a used car, and selling a used car for more than its dealer trade-in value.
Some of this information might save you money if you're shopping for a new car. There's an on-line option to update the files with 16 models--the models in the CD-ROM reviewed are from 1995.
Michael Pellecchia is a syndicated columnist who covers business books for BookPage. His e-mail address is michael_pellecchia@bookpage.com.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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