Mazda 6--First Update

[evan price]

Heres a couple examples:
2003 saturn 3 door coupe, 120k miles, 5speed, needs a steering column due to attempted theft. Nothing else wrong. Asking price $1300 out the door. "motors worth $500 alone" says junkyard owner.

1999 volvo c70 coupe, clean, 150k, needs a heater core. "dealer wanted $1450 to fix it and they traded it in, dealer junked it." Asking $1900 "motor, trans, doors, front end clip is $2500-3000"

2006 jeep liberty, 141k miles, needs motor. 4 new tires, loaded. $1600 "$800 trans"

2005 nissan altima, 130k miles, clogged cat conv. Rodded out cat con and it runs great. , bad o2 sensors, needs tuneup, mil is on . Asking $1500 "motor and trans are each $650".

[Darrell]

I wound up pulling the trigger on a '15 Mazda 6 today, reflex blue, sort of grey-blue metallic, looks like this:

mazda6.jpg

I went with the auto trans. Traded in the Matrix, I suppose I could have gotten more by selling myself. Speaking of, here's an interesting article via Insty, about selling cars with manual transmissions:

“A little learning”, wrote the crippled poet from his infamous grotto, “is a dangerous thing.” Here’s an example. What effect does the choice of a manual transmission have on resale value? If, like me, you’ve bought and sold cars for more than twenty-five years now, your snap response will be “Manual transmissions sell for more.”

This being 2014, however, some kid with access to secondhand Manheim auction reports will strain his mousing finger with a detailed correction of that assertion, complete with dozens of copy-and-pasted sale records. You cannot argue with his data — it’s right there in black and white. Manual transmission cars are worth less. But you know he’s wrong somehow, because you’ve been in the trenches and you’ve worked deals yourself.

Maybe the problem isn’t with you, or the kid’s data. Maybe it’s a case of simply not understanding what that data means.


To explain why, I’ll reach back into the past, all the way to July of 2010, when I sold my lime-green Audi S5. Having owned the car for two years at that point, I was well aware of the fact that my color choice had made the car “resale poison”, because every fifteen-year-old in America had voiced that opinion on some car-related forum at some point. As far as I can tell, the reasoning behind that opinion was:
•Most people who want an Audi S5 want it in a “German” color.
•The only German colors are silver, black, grey, and white.
•Therefore, in order to be worth anything on the secondary market, the car has to be one of those colors.

Let’s put aside for a minute the staggering historical ignorance in thinking that German cars have always been limited to non-colors. After all, the Porsches of the Sixties and the Audis of the Seventies came in colors from lime green to light tan and at no time was the integrity of the German people harmed in any way as a result. Trabants were always wacky colors and that was despite East Germany being pretty much a collection of unheated concrete buildings. The monochromization of the Fatherland’s automobiles didn’t start in earnest until it became possible to lease them cheaply and all the newbies wanted a silver BMW with the lowest possible payment. What can you do about that? It sucks and that’s why when you drive by your local Bimmer dealer the colorful Bavarias and 320is of yesteryear have been replaced by a line of grey blobs with BMW Financial’s preferred package of auction-friendly equipment.

Sorry about that. I got distracted. Back to the core issue. I believe that grey and silver Audis are more popular than Lime Green Audis. Were Audi to have to pick a single color for next year’s entire A4 production, I believe that silver would be a much better choice than Lime Green. Were I a fleet manager for a major corporation, I’d order my company’s fleet of Audis in silver and not Lime Green.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/0 ... -stick-em/

So, dealers want auto trans used cars, individuals want manuals.

[NVGdude]

I went with the auto trans.

Noooooooooooo! not the automatic.

As for resale it mostly depends what you are selling. Selling a mini-van? Buyers want an automatic. Selling a V-8 Mustang, buyers want a stick-shift.

[Darrell]

I tend to drive assertively when using a manual gearbox. That's fine in a hatchback. I figured driving assertively with a manual in a bigger car would cost me gas mileage, and doubtless speeding tickets as well (why I didn't get a red one!).

I turn 60 next birthday. This is my first sedan. I AM getting old.

[Aesop]

My first three cars and 30 years' driving were on manuals.
No one wants a manual trans. who's ever been stuck in bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go for three hours, and had their thigh quad muscles quivering in fiery spasms.
Like Jews getting into boxcars, it leads inevitably to a "Never again!" moment of realization.

American drivers are made up overwhelmingly of people who've either learned that the hard way, and those who will.

If I lived in AZ, NM, West TX, or Montana, there might be a point to whipping through the gears on the interstate.
I don't, so there's not. And neither does most of the country, looking at an electoral map.



Congrats on the new ride.

[Greg]

My first three cars and 30 years' driving were on manuals.
No one wants a manual trans. who's ever been stuck in bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go for three hours, and had their thigh quad muscles quivering in fiery spasms.
Like Jews getting into boxcars, it leads inevitably to a "Never again!" moment of realization.

Driving a stickshift in Boston traffic was described to me as being like a perverse stairmaster workout. I have since stolen that description.

American drivers are made up overwhelmingly of people who've either learned that the hard way, and those who will.

Countries where most people drive sticks, driving is an expensive activity for the prosperous classes and the poor masses don't own cars. You don't have US urban traffic and people who do own cars have a great more skin in the game, have made a choice to own a car and have a bit invested in that decision, so they are both better on average than US drivers and want and expect more from a driving experience than the US 'appliance with a steering wheel' approach.

If I lived in AZ, NM, West TX, or Montana, there might be a point to whipping through the gears on the interstate.
I don't, so there's not. And neither does most of the country, looking at an electoral map.

You whip it to top gear and stay there until you need to take a piss break or put gas in the car. Fun.

Congrats on the new ride.

New car always rates a 'woohoo!'.

[HTRN]

No one wants a manual trans. who's ever been stuck in bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go for three hours, and had their thigh quad muscles quivering in fiery spasms.

My commute is probably the most traffic heavy of anyone here. When looking for a beater, it had to be cheap, a gas miser, reliable(Toyota or Honda) and an auto. Driving a stick on the BQE in rushhour traffic is the textbook definition of masochism.

[Greg]

No one wants a manual trans. who's ever been stuck in bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go for three hours, and had their thigh quad muscles quivering in fiery spasms.

My commute is probably the most traffic heavy of anyone here. When looking for a beater, it had to be cheap, a gas miser, reliable(Toyota or Honda) and an auto. Driving a stick on the BQE in rushhour traffic is the textbook definition of masochism.

You drive where? When?

(You wouldn't need the stick to meet the textbook definition of masochism, for you interested readers out there. A stick would just take it to a whole new, unexplored level.)

[HTRN]

Queens, everyday. Night shift.

So it isn't that bad..

I've learned the fine art of A) reading traffic to know when to get off and B)the fastest local side streets..

[Greg]

Queens, everyday. Night shift.

So it isn't that bad..

Well I know a guy who commutes from Long Island to Northern NJ for work. Cross Bronx, every day. Sounds like your commute is better, but that isn't saying much. Ugh.

I've learned the fine art of A) reading traffic to know when to get off and B)the fastest local side streets..

I refined that to an art on Rt 3 during all the construction. But when it comes to local side streets, 'fastest' doesn't equal 'fast'. Or even 'slow'. Just 'better than the arterial plaque sludge on the highway'. Usually.