Monday, March 16, 2009

Best Used BMW to buy?


Buying a used car has always been perceived as a gamble, a bit of a punt, you can chance your arm, save yourself a few quid and grab yourself a nice motor at a bargain price, but we have all heard the horror stories: those that have bought a car privately only for it to be in the garage after a couple of weeks with a repair bill as long as your arm.

But buying second hand does not have to be a risk. Buying from a registered dealer safeguards your purchase with a warranty and specific engineering checks part of the package. For example, buying a used BMW from a registered BMW dealership offers you many peace of mind from the 12 month warranty, but more so from the fact that every single used BMW is checked extensively by BMW technicians.

The recession is not filling the nation with sunshine at the moment, but one shining light is the fact that it is currently a very good time to buy a car, be it a brand new Audi, or Mini or a used BMW or Lexus, there are bargains out there to suit your budget. In many respects used cars offer much better value than a brand new car as you will avoid the loss of investment that occurs during the first year of depreciation of a vehicle.

Buying a used car from a registered dealership also provides you with the guarantee that the car has been finance checked, many people have been stung when buying privately as they have been hit from finance companies with overdue payments from the previous owner. Car data checks are vital when purchasing a used vehicle as these thorough checks to ensure the vehicle has not been involved in any unrecorded accidents and negate the unfortunate occurrence of purchasing a cut and shut vehicle.

Whilst a private sale may well be considerably cheaper, a dealership is risk free and offers excellent after sales customer care should there be any problems with the purchased vehicle. With somebody to fall back on - and experts at that - surely the extra cost is money well spent?

Many authorised dealers are having to add special offers, with extended warranties and other add ons just to sell some cars in the current economical climate as bargains are there for the taking. For example, a BMW 116i will set you back 22,500 pounds on the road, but in comparison a used BMW 116i, less than one year old and with just 3000 miles on the clock costs as low as 14,000 pounds from an authorised BMW dealer.

The uncertainty of the motor industry at the moment means that it has never been a better time to buy either a brand new car or a used car, and with better value for money in used cars there's no wonder why used car sales against that of brand new sales have risen of late. If you are considering purchasing a used car though, just bear in mind the peace of mind on offer from purchasing a vehicle from an authorised dealership ahead of a private sale.

About the Author

Shaun Parker is a car expert with many years of experience in the used cars industry. Find out more about {a href=" http://www.cooperbmw.co.uk"}used BMW at http://www.cooperbmw.co.uk

The Best Daewoo Car 2009


Daewoo has been in existence much, much longer than most people realize as it turns out. For those of us in the United States, Daewoo is a newcomer to the automobile playing field but it has actually been in existence since the early 20th century.

Established in 1937, Daewoo started out as National Motor Company in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea. The next stop along the way was its next name change to Saenara Motors. 1962 saw the company enter into collaborations with Toyota. This proved to be an unfruitful venture for Toyota who then pulled out of the company just 10 years later.

Once Toyota left, the name was changed again,this time to Shinjin Motor. About this time, General Motors expressed interest in the company. General Motors proposed a joint venture with the Korean company and it officially became General Motors Korea but the name was changed again in 1976 to Saehan Motor. It was not until Daewoo Group took over in 1982 that the company was actually known as Daewoo Motor.

Through out the 1990's the company expanded its markets and all its vehicles used basic General Motors models. The company continually suffered from financial difficulties and the Asian financial crisis only served to exacerbate the monetary problems the company faced.

General Motors finally made the move to acquire most of the company's assets. Shares were spread over a number of companies including Suzuki and SAIC . By 2004, General Motors would move to acquire shares equaling 50.9% making GM the major stockholder in the company.

The company has various plants scattered around the planet and the cars are assembled in several different countries including mainland China, Thailand, India and Colombia.

Daewoo's were originally marketed as the Daewoo Le Mans and Daewoo Racer. In 1998, three models were made and marketed for sale in the United States. The first to be introduced here was a sub compact known as the Daewoo Lanos (Lanos means pleasure in Latin), next came the compact car Nubira (Korean for "to go everywhere"). The next Daewoo released in the United States would be a mid size car named the Daewoo Leganza. Although the vehicles have proven somewhat popular overseas, sales in the United States have been sluggish from the outset.

General Motors finally pulled Daewoo from American markets and by 2003, no Daewoo built vehicles were offered in the United States. Daewoo has proven quite successful in other countries however and the decision was made to put more focus on those markets. Later that year, General Motors made the decision to drop the Daewoo name and rebrand the Daewoo with the Chevrolet marque.

Rebadged Daewoo's did so well in Israel that General Motors adopted this strategy for other countries. In most European markets, however, the original Daewoo brand name remained until late in 2004.

A diesel engine was added to the Daewoo line up for the first time in 2006 and was offered overseas in the Holden Captiva and the Daewoo Windstorm.

The future of the Daewoo line up remains up in the air as General Motors struggles to regain its footing amid swirling financial storms. At the moment, the fate of General Motors itself is undecided and 2009 will be a telling year for the auto-manufacturing giant.

About the Author

Ronnie Tanner is a contributing writer at SWEngines. He writes about used Daewoo engines and choosing this as an alternative to costly car purchases.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

The 2002 Ford Explorer


The update that came about for the 2002 model year brought about the best Ford Explorer yet; the body style was left in the same mould as before, but with detail changes making the car more modern in appeal.

However, the difference came under the bonnet, where a new 210bhp 4.0 liter V6 was joined by a 4.6 liter V8. This engine, although smaller in capacity than the preceding 5.0 liter, gave almost 240bhp, thus propelling the Explorer to new levels of performance.

Furthermore, the Explorer saw the introduction, for the first time, of three row seating, meaning this already very versatile vehicle now had the capacity to take seven people in comfort. Trim levels were also revised, with the base now known as Sport Value, and the top of the range still called Limited. The Explorer continued its fine tradition for luxury and comfort in this guise, and offered enough variants to make it appealing across the board.

It is interesting to note that the market began to change around the time of this third generation Explorer; whereas the 2 door variety - the Sport - had been popular before, it was noted that sales of 2 door SUVs were falling notably. Ford took the decision to discontinue the Sport 2 door version at the end of the models lifetime, when the newer, current Explorer was introduced for 2005.

It was also the case that sales of SUVs began to fall overall; the Explorer still sold well, but not as spectacularly as previously, and this may have had an impact on the demise of the Sport. However, Ford went full steam ahead with the new model, and also with future concepts for the Explorer.