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TMCNet: Let the buyer decide size, weight, efficiency they need

[August 31, 2008]

Let the buyer decide size, weight, efficiency they need

(Chicago Tribune (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Q. I don't agree with your general preference for the big, cushy cars common in the U.S.

Europeans have been driving fuel-efficient small cars for decades. And they prefer manuals. Only lazy Americans are addicted to automatics.

I just visited Europe and saw plenty of French folks and Italians zipping around in Renaults and Fiats with small 4s. Take a spin around the Arc de Triomphe and tell me you need a Ford V-8 to get your kicks.

So please stop pushing us into SUVs and big cars. We don't need them. Sure, I want a comfortable ride and seat cushions that don't feel like a park bench and a little bit of pep off the light. But beyond that is overkill.

_ J.G., River Forest, Ill.

A. Our "general preference" is letting people buy what they want, regardless of size, mileage or country of origin. For some reason, many people who return from their first trip to Europe are amazed that small cars reign in countries where gas prices are even higher than in the U.S. _ and have been for decades. Streets there are also narrower.

Historically, demand for small cars in the U.S. is related to the price of gas. But wouldn't those folks stay with big cars that get higher mileage through hybrid power, plug-in technology and hydrogen fuel cells?

Q. You finalize a deal with the salesman and agree, for example, to buy a car with an MSRP of $31,000 for $27,000 minus $2,000 for your trade. That leaves a difference of $25,000, on which you pay tax. So why do the papers from the business office read $31,000 for the car, $6,000 for the trade and tax on the $25,000 difference?

_ G.K., Oswego, Ill.

A. So you want the paperwork to list the $31,000 sticker minus the $4,000 dealer discount, minus $2,000 for the trade, which leaves $25,000?

We called Jerry Cizek, president of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, which represents more than 500 Chicago-area new-car dealers, and he confirmed what we suspected. "As long as the cash difference is the same, who cares?"

Q. I have a question about the Chevrolet Cobalt that will soon disappear from the General Motors lineup. What happens to the HHR built on the Cobalt platform?

_ B.M., Woodstock, Ill.

A. Chevy has said it will replace Cobalt with a new global small car in the middle of next year. It will be built at the Lordstown, Ohio, plant that now assembles the Cobalt.

Chevy spokesman Terry Rhadigan said there is no official word on HHR. However, the compact member of the 30 mpg club is doing well, which suggests a derivative of the hot-selling HHR could be built off the Cobalt replacement. Stay tuned.

Q. Read your review of the 2009 Dodge Aspen Hybrid 4x4.

Whenever you test a hybrid, you note, correctly, the important role played by the mileage schematics and gauges. As the owner of a 2007 Toyota Camry hybrid, I believe these schematics are as important to gas savings as the hybrid systems themselves. It makes you wonder why the auto industry doesn't add these schematics to all cars.

_ I.H., Park Ridge, Ill.

A. Some cars, mostly luxury models, have provided average mpg readings for some time. Gas at $4 a gallon got more people interested in them. Hybrids are the perfect way to introduce the schematics that show when the batteries or gas engine or both are working to save fuel, while the instant mileage reading tells how much fuel is being saved. Plug-in hybrids will show the state of the battery charge. If enough people asked for such a schematic in any vehicle, automakers would consider it. But lead-foots be warned, the schematic will confirm that your driving style is costing you.

Q. Purchasing a car for many, if not most, is a matter of image, so reason goes out the door when considering the next car. The Toyota Prius doesn't make economic sense for most buyers; neither does a 500-plus horsepower Corvette. But both tend to reinforce people's images of themselves, and thus sell well despite their defiance of logic.

_ M.Q., Naperville, Ill.

A. If most bought for image, you'd suspect luxury cars would dominate. Prius buyers, no doubt, feel it makes economic sense because it reduces their gas bill. Corvette makes sense to buyers who want to have fun when that's frowned upon by the conservation police. That would make both reasonable and logical purchases.

___

(Write to Jim Mateja, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., 4th Floor, Chicago IL 60611, or send e-mail to transportation@tribune.com. Due to the volume of letters, only those in which the reader includes full name and hometown can be read.)

___

(c) 2008, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

_____

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS COLUMN

This column is sold separately and is not included in your MCT News Service subscription. To purchase this column, please call 1-800-245-6536 and ask for Domestic Sales. To place an order with your Account Executive, please call or e-mail:

Curtis Trammell, Account Executive, at 312-527-8934 or ctrammell@tribune.com

Kate Sislin, Account Executive, at 312-222-5168 or ksislin@tribune.com

Patty Patino, Account Executive, at 312-222-2448 or ppatino@tribune.com.

_____

PHOTO (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): 2009 Chevrolet HHR SS

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Copyright ? 2008 Chicago Tribune

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