Auto Trends

Each year Insure.com releases a list of the most expensive vehicles to insure here in the USA. Now these lists never include the real exotic vehicles, as lets face it, finding enough people who own them to create any kind of average would be a task unsuitable for even your worst enemy. This list includes the more “affordable” variety of sports cars.

Let’s see who all is overpaying for their insurance premiums these days!

10. BMW M3
Insurance Premium: $1,714
If you think this is bad, wait until you see the M6.

9. Jaguar XK Series
Insurance Premium: $1,717
It’s a jag, what did you expect? 300 horsepower, fun as heck to drive, and it costs less to insure than a Chevy Cobalt SS…

8. Chevrolet Cobalt SS
Insurance Premium: $1,762
This $24,000 base-price sports car seems a bit out of place among the host of Beemers, Vipers, and GT-R’s. Yes, its 260 horsepower could blow Donald Trump’s comb over straight off his head, but the price for admission seems bit steep for what was born and bred to be a low-end, zippy car for young buyers. Might as well splurge on the Mustang GT, Camaro SS, or Nissan 370Z.

7. Porsche 911
Insurance Premium: $1,819
The Porsche legend is undeniably fast. A $70,000 base sports car with 400 horsepower is not going to be cheap to insure no matter how many air bags, theft deterrent systems, and warning gadgets you throw in.

6. 2009 Lexus IS F
Insurance premium: $1,881
What could be more fun than driving a 5.0 liter, 400 horsepower Lexus IS F, and paying a few hundred over the insurance premiums of its qualified rivals, such as the Audi RS4, BMW M3, and Cadillac CTS-V? Well, quite possibly the Audi RS4, BMW M3, and Cadillac CTS-V for starters.

5. 2009 BMW M5 (Sedan)
Insurance Premium: $2,020
This is a four door sedan mind you. The real dangerous loners prefer the M6 Coupe to defy the speed of radar detection, but we’ll be getting to that one in a minute.

4. 2009 Ford Shelby GT500
Insurance premium: $2,186
Insurance companies know that anytime an over 300 horsepower Mustang GT is not satisfactory enough to a consumer, they are probably not going to be using the vehicle to drive along the highway with their head out the window smelling daisy’s. So they gouge them an extra grand for the splendor of the supercharged 500 horsepower!

3. 2009 BMW M6 (Coupe)
Insurance Premium: $2,236
The two extra cylinders of this V-10, 500 horsepower, Formula One inspired beauty are good for an extra $1,000 over what you might expect to pay for a run of the mill BMW. But who are we kidding, BMW doesn’t build a “run of the mill” anything.

2. 2009 Dodge Viper
Insurance Premium: $2,446
Here we have a $90,000, 600 horsepower sports car capable of 0-60 in 4-seconds when placed in the right hands. Problem is, when in the wrong hands, you can hit a brick wall with enough inertia to buckle your funny bone in less than 3-seconds!

1. 2009 Nissan GT-R
Insurance Premium: $2,533
What else do you expect from a fierce performance vehicle that has been bench marked alongside the elitist Porsche 911 Turbo. At $75,000 a pop, a $2,500 premium doesn’t seem too out of whack, especially when you consider the danger factor of putting close to 500 horsepower, 0-60 in 3.3 seconds, into the hands of a victim of a mid-life crisis whose last car may have been a 200 horsepower Honda!

Source: Insure.com

CarDealers-06-ER.jpg, originally uploaded by EricReedPhoto

The big Christmas in July Sales are here, and if you’ve got a clunker currently sitting in your driveway, the dealers are going to be flashing dollar bills in the attempts to entice it to the crusher. Yes, the Cash for Clunkers program is on its way this July 23^rd, so be prepared to be bombarded by advertisements galore.

Truth be told, there will be some decent deals, but you are going to have to do some fine reading between the lines to make sure they are worth it. Dealers are planning on taking full advantage of the governments generosity and bring as many clunker wielding customers onto their sales floor as they can, but $3,500 to $4,500 will only go so far.

Be on the watch for any gimmicks where you are offered a “low ball” payment for the the first couple years on your loan, only to be required to pay the remaining balance at the end of that term, which could equal thousands of dollars if you are not careful. Remember what happened to all those balloon mortgages that started this mess in the first place, well, the same thing can happen your new vehicle. Don’t let it!

June sales reports are suggesting the worst is behind us and that vehicle sales will begin to slowly increase. If this is true, we can certainly expect the decent deals to dwindle in place of what used to be dwindling car sales. It won’t be a night and day change mind you, but there is a good chance that this months deals will be noticeably better than next months.

With that said, let’s take a look at some of the highlights for the month of July 2009:

Audi-
No great deals here I’m afraid.

BMW-
The 0.9% APR financing has been taken away for this month, but you can still get in on the 2.9% APR (36 month term) gravy train for many of their popular models. Offer lasts on through to the end of summer, August 31, 2009.

Buick, Cadillac,Chevrolet, GMC, HUMMER, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab-
If you are looked for bargain basement 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, you might as well set your calendar to a year from now, as most people are paying $500 to several thousand over list price. However, GM’s other cars, trucks, and SUV’s are saturated with discounts and various cash-back offers. The only problem is, you can’t combine these discounts. 0% APR will be attainable in designated areas, and these deals are set to run through the end of July, 2009.

Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep-
What’s that you say, you don’t have a clunker to trade-in. Well not to worry, Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep have got you covered with up to $4,000 cash-back on various popular models. Offer lasts through July 31, 2009.

Ford, Lincoln, Mercury-
Ford is armed for bear this month with a slew of discounts and deals to entice new customers onto their lots. First, they are offering up to $5,000 cash-back on many 2009 models. Second, 0 % APR financing to qualified customers for terms of up to 60 months. Third, they still have the Ford Advantage Plan in effect, which is Ford’s answer to the fear of losing your job after taking on another $600/month loan payment. To your best advantage, however, if you are at all in doubt of keeping up with your payments, stick with your old affordable clunker! (Offers expire August 3^rd, 2009)

Mercedes-Benz-
MB does one up on BMW with 1.9% APR financing for terms up to 36 months on many popular models. This is the same exact deal offered last month, so at least we can say that they are consistent. This offer is set to run through the end of July, 2009.

Toyota-
Toyota holds steady with cash-back incentive of up to $4,000 on popular models, as well as 0% APR financing with no limit on loan term. Toyota is still wiggling their toes in the waters, counting the number of nibbles, and has not yet set an expiration date to any of these deals.

Mazda-
Mazda has got some great incentives this month, consisting of discounts and cash-back offers on most models, and best of all, these deals can be combined (ahem, you hear that GM). On the financing spectrum you can expect somewhere between a 0 to 1.9% APR for terms up to 36 months. These offers will remain until the end of July, 2009.

Volkswagen-
Not much here to write home to Mom about!

Don’t forget, you only have until the end of July for most of these deals, so its best to get out there… while the gettin’s still good!

Source:
U.S. News & World Report: Best Car Deals, July 2009

Audi R8 Spyder.jpg, originally uploaded by sabethe.madi

The reviewers sure seem excited about the new Audi R8 Spyder nearing it debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show coming in just 2 and a half months (September 15-17, 2009). However if you scan the web, you’ll find quite a bit of mixed reviews from readers who aren’t too sure about it. What’s not to like? It’s an Audi, it’s got a rag top, and it’s going to cost more than revamping the entire west wing of the White House.

Not many car enthusiasts are going to be able to foot the bill on a new R8 Spyder this time around, so of course they are a little perturbed. The R8 Spyder V-10 has after all graduated into supercar status. With its new 5.2-liter V-10, it is now capable of 525 horsepower, 391 ft-lbs of torque, and is going to be able to plow down a straightaway from 0-60 in just 3.9 seconds. Oh, and you can’t forget about its top speed of 195 mph.

a lot of readers are also complaining that the R8 Spyder is nothing more than a ripoff of its slightly older cousin, the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. Well, it is true that they share very similar powerplants, but Audi seems to have done a fairly nice job of differentiating the two, as well as differentiating the Spyder from its coupe version.

The Spyder has a slightly different front end, larger rear exhaust ports, and it has ditched the distinct side blades all together. A lot of people think the changes have added a touch of class to the two-tone beast that was debuted only a few years ago. But love it or hate its design, its package is clearly designated for the enthusiast.

What Do You Get?
Well, you get the throaty 5.2-liter V-10 with 525 horsepower, you get a slick six-speed manual shifter which engages like the cocking mechanism of an AK-47, and with a quart mile head start you could probably blow William Shatner’s toupee right off his head from 10 meters away.

Some customers may choose to go the R-tronic route rather than the standard gated shifter. It will take away slightly from the actual intimacy between the driver and the course, but for those who are more into the image than the actual experience, it will make driving the V-10 a much more seamless experience.

Enjoy the video (below) of this beast in action!