Ford sued for selling too many limited edition Mustangs

Drew Connor, a Ford customer along with 100 other people are suing  Ford and Roush Performance Products Inc. for alleged misrepresentation. According to them, they were promised that  only 100 Roush Stage 3 BlackJack editions of the Ford Mustang would be produced in 2007 which were sold at a premium (Conner paid $58,846.25 for his car). Ford than later produced another 100 for sale in 2008.

Image from the Ford Power site.

Though it seems ridiculous, the guys have a point. The car is not as rare as they were promised they would be and the value would be lowered.

Have to see how this turns out.

Read on the Auto Blog: ROUSH and Ford sued for making too many Blackjack Mustangs
& on CNN: 2nd UPDATE: Ford, Roush Sued Over Limited-Edition Mustang

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Buying a used car - my experience 1

Buying a used car is a tiring and frustrating task. I have learnt that over the course of thiese few day. Ever since my car broke down along the A14 and I found out that repairing the engine would cost me more than the value of the car, I have been looking for a good used car.

Besides looking at the newspapers (where I didn't find anything I liked) I also went to the Auto Trader site. Initially I looked for private sellers listing their Toyota Avensis but all the good ones (read best prices) had already been sold. It's amazing how popular this model is here in the UK. My next choice was the Nissan Primera because of the good review. I usually refer to Honest John which lists1200 comprehensive car reviews. Coming back to the Nissan Primera, it was my choice because it receives quite favourable reviews. However, every single one I liked on the Auto Trader site was beyond my budget (which is not really much to start with).

A relative living in Birmingham gave me some leads around Birmingham. My friend Ishan kindly consented to drive me around. My first car was a Nissan Primera at a car dealer in Solihul. I didn't like the car the first time I laid my eyes on it. It was in a really bad shape and when I gave it a test drive, it had a really unbearable odour inside. I don't need to tell you my decision.

Next was a 1.8 Turbo Diesel in Birmingham. I really liked it but the guy who was selling it really talked a lot and it was really suspicious because the price was too cheap. He seemed over eager to get rid of the car as well. Never-the-less I decided to buy the car and gave him £70 as deposit after agreeing on a price. However, I just couldn't get rid of this nagging feeling. 

I had passed over the details of the car to my wife and I didn't know it but she had done a check on the car's history on the RAC site. You have to pay £5 but you get to learn some important details about the car. In this case, she discovered that the car had previously been involved in an accident and had been recordered as a total loss by the insurance company. It was listed as a category D "Vehicle damaged but repairable - the insurer decided not to repair". Not all category D cars are bad but I was not willing to take the chance and turned back at once. The guy agreed to give me back my deposit and he looked really miserable and I pitied him, but I had no choice.

Now it was back to the Auto Trader site and I widened up my option. I started looking for Ford Mondeos, VW Passats, etc.

To be continued in next post...

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Fuel prices down

Finally some good news.

My car was low on fuel and I drove down to my favourite petrol BP station. I was really happy when I noticed the prices have gone down to 113.9p from 117.9p

As I wasn't sure how long the prices would remain down, I filled up the car - full tank. Half an hour later as I was driving past, I noticed that the prices have further gone down to 111.9p and has remained at that price since then.

If you want to find out the cheapest fuel prices in your area (in the UK) check out Petrolprices.com.

However, in order to get the details, you have to sign up for something called the Fubra Passport but that's a minor irritation.

The costliest around my area is the Texaco station at Jubilee Crescent. It is fast to increase it's prices but relaly slow to lower it. Right now the prices over there are still at 117.9p

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Auto Story in Pictures Wednesday

I am starting this new meme called "Auto Story in Pictures Wednesday".

This meme is for auto enthusiasts, photographers, car owners - in fact everyone is welcome to join in. It's really simple. All you have to do is post up a picture of anything related to the auto industry that you feel tells a story on Wednesday.

Just leave a comment here or send me an email (ahoklah@gmail.com) with a link to your post and I will add you to the Auto Story in Pictures Wednesday blogroll.

I start the ball rolling with this photograph I took in Coventry. Calcott was a car manufacturer based in Coventry.

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The 1937 Tatra T87

Check out the classic 1937 Tatra T87 at Jay Leno’s Garage. Designed by Hans Ledwinka, this streamlined, air-cooled, rear-engine car was built by Czechoslovakian manufacturer Tatra and was the favourite of German officers during World War II.



Check out the Wikipedia page of the Tatra T87.

Thanks for the link Michelle.

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The new C3 Picasso

The new Citroen C3 family body style will be presented at this year’s Paris Motor Show and launch in the first-quarter of next year.

Despite it's small appearance, this MPV measures 4.08 m long, 1.73 m wide and 1.62 m tall with a fairly big boot space. The split-fold rear seats can be folded away with one hand in one simple movement. The new C3 allows flat loading space right up to the seatbacks in row one. That's not all. the load length can be further extended by folding the front passenger seat back down into desk position.

Check out the innovative, three-part windscreen with slim pillars. Combined with the high seats, it will give the driver a wide-angle vision.


Regarding the engine, the C3 Picasso there are four options. Either the two new-generation petrol options – the VTi 95 and VTi 120 – and two diesels, the HDi 90 and HDi 110 DPFS. As for environment fliendliness, these engines provide low CO2 emissions, with the HDi 90 unit emitting just 125 g/km.

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Discounts on car rentals

One of my friends is going to Austria for a holiday and he initially had planned to drive there but later on decided to fly there. I asked him how he was planning to get around the place and found out that he planned to use public transport from moving around the city and hiring a car for going outside town.

When deciding on a car rental company, two companies usually come to mind, namely, Hertz and Avis. However, in the process we miss out on a number of other companies which provide competitive rental rates. One searching around the web, we came across Advantage Rent A Car. This car rental company is more than 40 years old and has a presence in 150 U.S. locations and 130 locations in 33 countries internationally. Yes! They are in Austria as well.

Found out that they are offering some special offers including a 50% discount on luxury cars and convertibles. Definitely worth considering when deciding on a car rental company.

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