Yokohama has a relationship with Mazda that goes back to the beginning of Mazda. So the stock tires are always Yokos. However, they are passenger car tires, and not meant for very heavy use. I had one blow on my second day with the car, do to glass on the access ramp I was traveling. So I bought a single replacement Yoko to match the rest of the set, which only had 133 miles on them. Four months later, another tire started losing air, which turned out to be two slow leaks. Fixed the leaks and was good to go for another 3 months. Now, it’s early winter and I have a leaky tire again and the tires are not good in snow or on ice which matched what I knew about them.
My previous experience with Yokohama tires is that they are a fabulous gymkhana (autocross) tire and race tire for for a group of cars known as showroom stock - in the summer, on smooth pavement. They generally don’t last long, but they do grip the smooth road for good control and they delivered many race wins. They are not known as rain tires or off-road tires (though they do have some great tires for off-road truck racing).
So at 7 months into my new car, I went for 4 Michelin light truck tires for my CX-5. 5 years later, I popped for the same again and am very happy with them.
That’s probably true for their regular passenger cars, but my Miata came with Bridgestone Potenzas from the dealer. As I understand that’s a fairly common OEM tire for sporty cars.
Great car, but I would recommend that anyone looking to buy one test drive it first. The CX-30 was on my short list, but I found the driver’s seat to be very uncomfortable. I’m about 200 lbs and 6’0, and I just didn’t fit the car. I wish I had though, as everything else about it was fine.
I doubt the value of a 30 year old Benz in great condition is dropping all that much. Yes, cars are depreciating assets, but at a certain point that levels off, and luxury vehicles in good condition in particular are going to be desirable to collectors and aficionados.
I think the new Bronco is a bit of an extreme case, but in general, I’ve found the mark-ups to be regional. Your best bet is to ID a few vehicles you like and use websites like cars.com, autotrader, etc. to search inventory in your area and see what dealers are doing. You can also order a vehicle and confirm with the dealer that there won’t be a markup. That’s what I did this past spring, and once it was delivered whatever incentives were available that month still applied.
The NADA value of the Benz is only $4500 but I have no idea how that’s changed over the past few years. It has 101K miles on it and mechanically and visually is essentially in new condition: it was bought new by grandparents, driven just a couple hundred miles per month over the 30 years they had it, every bit of scheduled and recommended maintenance was done, and it has always been stored in a sunlight-free climate controlled garage. It has a couple of scuff marks on the paint (one of which I did because I stupidly thought a magic eraser would remove a stubborn bit of bug guts :) and an aftermarket stereo (a tape deck!) but otherwise it looks and drives like it did the day it rolled off the dealer’s lot. I mentioned in the heirloom thread that I have no real desire to inherit anything belonging to my parents or in-laws but that Benz is pretty special to me so I doubt I’ll ever seriously consider getting rid of it. But I would be curious what it would be worth to a serious collector.
I’m not much of a sophisticated car shopper and I always feel like a drooling moron when it comes to car shopping. Maybe I’m just an easy mark because of my ignorance. For example I recently reached out to a local Toyota dealer to inquire about the new Corolla Cross, a compact AWD crossover similar to that Mazda CX-30 noted upthread. Not wanting to play games I told the salesman (or whoever I was talking to, it was all via text) that I wanted that particular car in a particular color, particular trim, with a specific accessory package and laid out exactly what I was looking for. He responded that those were hard to come by and he didn’t have it on the lot but I could put a $500 deposit down on it and they could order one. I asked what the total shopping bag, out-the-door price would be and he said (I’m directly quoting his text here): “There’s more factors that influence price than just make/Model and a single package. The range could be from $31k-36K.”
Clearly I’m missing something. That’s a $5K spread and the guy wants me to order a car but not tell me what the price is? If I go to Home Depot and order a freezer but they tell me it’ll take 6 months to be shipped from the Samsung plant in Korea, I still know how much I’ll be paying for it.
I believe that ordering a car doesn’t guarantee all the options on the car that is delivered. You may be getting something from the factory with a range of options that would impact the price. If the car arrives with a moonroof that you didn’t order, it’s still going to impact the price because that’s what they got.
If you’re ordering a car you should be able to choose the packages and accessories you want and not have it show up with options added as a surprise. Admittedly, I’ve only done this once and different manufacturers might treat customer orders differently. I suspect this dealer is probably getting at the extended warranty, paint protection, service plans, and those sorts of add-ons that they’d like to add on. Or they are not really doing a custom order for Lancia, they are earmarking an incoming one for them and don’t exactly know the build yet. In my case I was able to “build” the vehicle on the manufacturer’s website, which produced some kind of number or code that my sales guy used to place the order.
True. Here is a 2019 article that talks about tires for Miatas.
I was not given a choice of tire for my car when I bought it. When I called the dealer about it, they claimed to stand by the wonderful Yokohamas the car came with. Having had a wonderful but fast-wearing set of Yokos on my previous Mazda, I was not expecting the poor tires I received for my CX-5. My race friends confirmed my opinion at the time. The Mazda rep at one of our races, wouldn’t comment for obvious reasons. We all have to work for a living.
I stand by my recommendation of Michelin light-truck tires for an SUV.
The 2023 Corvette Z06/Z07 has been getting some very good press. We knew it was going to be a strong performer and Car and Driver and others can barely contain their praise.
Some highlights:
670 horsepower, 460 ft-lb 5.5l NA V8, 8500 rpm redline
I have heard the term “frunk” used for a Tesla’s trunk in the front of the car. It’s an unnecessary term, IMHO. I grew up with Corvairs and air-cooled VWs. All of them had their trunks in the front (OK, not the pickup trucks and vans). Everybody just called them trunks!
The difference is those only have one trunk, so it is clear what is meant by “trunk.” The model 3 at least has a front and rear trunk, so some disambiguation is necessary. The S is a hatchback and the X and Y are SUVs, so I guess you could argue they just have rear cargo areas, and only one trunk, which is in the front.
Don’t forget about the under-trunk, sub-trunk, or unk, which is the extra space below the rear trunk/cargo area.
The front trunk area on 3/Y is big enough for a piece of carry-on luggage. The space on the X is larger, but I’m not sure about the S.
The hood is just aluminum; push harder, it will close!
OK, I could fit my carry-on that was specifically purchased to qualify for United’s international rules into my frunk. I’m sure if I filled the front outer pocked it wouldn’t close.
I’ve driven a variety of mid-engined cars over the years. “Front trunk” and “rear trunk” were necessary disambiguations.
IMO “frunk” is an abomination unless you also rename the other one the “re-runk”. But it’s a predictable abomination we’re probably stuck with, and all the more so as EVs with dual trunks become more common.
) and an aftermarket stereo (a tape deck!) but otherwise it looks and drives like it did the day it rolled off the dealer’s lot. I mentioned in the heirloom thread that I have no real desire to inherit anything belonging to my parents or in-laws but that Benz is pretty special to me so I doubt I’ll ever seriously consider getting rid of it. But I would be curious what it would be worth to a serious collector.
