A 'lemon' is a car that has serious problems that can't be fixed, making it unreliable. There are laws to help people get their money back if they buy a lemon.
Car complaints are problems that people have had with their cars. Websites collect this information to help you see if a particular car has had a lot of issues before you decide to buy it.
A mid-cycle refresh is when a car gets some updates and changes in the middle of its production run, instead of waiting for a whole new model to come out. This can make the car look newer and add some new features.
A generational update is when a car model is completely redesigned, which usually happens every few years. This means it might look different and have better technology or performance than the older version.
An infotainment system is the technology in a car that provides entertainment and information, like music, navigation, and phone connections. It's what you see on the car's screen.
A generational change means that a car model is completely redesigned. This includes new looks, features, and sometimes new technology, making it different from the previous version.
A platform change means that a car's basic structure and design are completely updated. This can make the car feel and drive very differently compared to the previous version.
The Ford Mustang is a famous car that many people love because it's fast and looks cool. It has been around for a long time and is known for being a fun car to drive, which is why people often talk about it.
The Ford Fusion is a family car that is easy to drive and gets good gas mileage. It's a good choice for people who want a reliable car that can fit a lot of things and people without being too big.
The Mazda 6 is another mid-size car made by Mazda. It's known for being fun to drive and has a nice design. The Ford Fusion was built using similar parts as the Mazda 6.
The Chevrolet Tahoe is a large SUV that can fit a lot of people and gear. It's often used by families because it has plenty of space and can handle rough roads.
The Honda Accord is a well-known car that many people use for everyday driving. It's comfortable and usually gets good gas mileage, making it a popular choice.
A test drive is when you drive a car before buying it to see how it feels and if there are any problems. It's important to make sure you like the car and that it works well.
Road noise is the sound you hear from the tires on the road while driving. If it's too loud, it can make the ride uncomfortable and hard to hear other things in the car.
Wind noise is the sound you hear from the wind hitting the car while you drive. If it's too loud, it might mean there's a problem with the car's design or seals.
The Ford Edge is a type of SUV that is larger than a car but smaller than a truck. It's designed to be comfortable for families and has a lot of space inside for passengers and cargo.
The dash is the part of the car that you see in front of you when you sit inside. It has all the important buttons and displays, like the speedometer that shows how fast you're going.
An addendum label is a sticker that shows extra costs or features for a car that aren't included in the original price. It can make the car more expensive than what you might expect.
The Chevrolet Blazer is a type of car called an SUV, which means it's bigger and can carry more people and stuff. It's popular because it looks good and is useful for families or anyone who needs extra space.
LIVE
You know, the good thing about recording the my car guru podcast slash radio program is
that if you screw up, you can start over.
And I'm on number five right now because I kept getting in a row.
Well, two of them I was interrupted.
Somebody's beaten on my door here at Gateway Ford.
And the other one is I just got in mush mouth.
So I think I'm in the clear now, but this is one of those episodes that you're going
to want to keep it's it's really something that I haven't addressed in the my car guru
guidebook, which you can still get get a copy of it.
It's free.
It's 23.
No, 32 pages long.
And it covers everything from buying to selling the trading.
It will keep you from making a crazy mistake buying a car or selling a car or handling a
title issue or picking a shop to work on your vehicle mechanically or if you need body and
paint repairs.
So that's what the guidebook does right now until I make some additions to it.
This particular topic, though, is boring in just a little bit deeper because what I'm
talking about today, well, a few weeks ago, I talked about the used car that you should
never buy today.
I'm talking about the new car or truck or SUV that you should never buy.
I'm getting ready to save you a bunch of time, trouble and a whole lot of money.
So here we go.
The first new car that you should never buy.
What's the danger of buying a new car?
Really?
I mean, it's covered by a warranty.
So if it's defective, has a problem, hopefully you can get it fixed unless it's a limo.
That's lemon in French, I think.
So I guess you can buy a problem car right out of the gate.
That's why you need to do a little bit of research before you buy one.
Go to carcomplaints.com and check out what they have to say about the particular model
that you're thinking about buying.
That really does apply to used cars more than new cars because it gives you the history
of car complaints over time.
That's what history is over time.
But if you see a vehicle that has been a real problem, you don't want to buy a new one,
new version of that, it may be better.
But the first new car that you should never buy is the one that just came out, brand new
first edition of a particular model.
Now there's some terminology I need to make you familiar with and I will do that right
now as far as new cars are concerned.
This is the way manufacturers look at new models or slightly changed models.
They have this terminology and so I'm going to guide you through this glossary of terminologies.
The first is a carryover model.
That's one you don't have to worry about buying.
If it's carryover, all they've done is changed the model year.
If you look at the 13, there used to be 13 digits, 17 digit VIN number.
And if you look at, I believe it's the 10th position and it'll tell you what the model
year is.
If for example Ford is carrying over the existing F-150 from 25 to 26, then there are no changes.
There may be some software changes, updates that they do, but they could do those to your
2025 model or your 2024 model.
So carryover is the one that you're pretty safe on.
A running change.
This one doesn't happen at the end of the year or the middle.
It could happen at any point.
It's a small improvement that's made quietly, sometimes during a model year.
Maybe they decide to, they don't like the way the infotainment center is programmed.
So they change it.
They may not like the way the seats are holding up in certain models.
They're getting some complaints though.
So they revised the seat foam or they use a new supplier or something like that.
Again, that's not a totally new model.
The third category is a minor update or a model year update.
These are small, but intentional changes to keep the thing fresh.
A new grill, maybe some new wheels, new tech.
Maybe wireless car play is introduced.
Maybe some additional trim content.
You don't have to worry about these either.
This is pretty much a carryover, but they've made a few changes to make it look different.
Then they have a mid cycle refresh.
And this is pretty noticeable changes.
This is a generational update.
They revised the front and the rear of the car,
update the headlights, interior trim, new infotainment system.
What doesn't change is like the platform, the body shell, the engine.
You know, those kind of things don't change.
Again, not a big concern.
Then you have a major refresh.
Now this is getting where you might want to consider putting off your purchase for a year
because there are some meaningful mechanical or tech upgrades that are going on.
You know, is that average salesperson going to know what kind of engineering changes
are being made to a particular model?
Yeah, they should.
I mean, in their product knowledge training,
they should be made aware of the updates that are being made
and whether they're meaningful or not,
whether it's going to affect the performance of the vehicle or how it operates.
If you ask them a knowledgeable salesperson, he's going to know.
I guarantee if you come talk to Blake at my dealership and you ask him,
hey, Blake, what's the difference between a 26 and a 27 when they finally do come out?
F-150, he'll be able to tell you pretty much everything just like that.
He won't have to look at anything.
He'll just run down the list.
That's kind of salesperson you want to talk to.
Then there's the next type of change is called a generational change.
It's all new.
It's a full redesign.
It's a big one.
Don't buy the first year or just wait until late in the model year
until they get the bugs worked out because based on recent history,
You know, some of them happened on the factory floor
when they were training the folks how to build them.
And you might have fit and finish issues where things just like fenders don't look good
where the gap is between the door and the fender or the trunk doesn't close right
or the hood doesn't line up right.
You're going to see some of these on the early models because of the changeover.
Most of the manufacturers have figured out how to avoid those
because what they'll do is they'll build 2,000 of them
and they'll slowly go through all of them so that they can identify if there's any issues.
They may do that with the first 500, stop the line, do all of these inspections
just to make sure and make the tweaks that they need to.
I've even heard of manufacturers crushing the first 500 cars
because they weren't good enough and they couldn't sell them to anybody.
They just crushed them, recycled the materials.
And I mean, that's what you want them to do, right?
Don't sell me a car that you know has problems.
Keep it until you get it right.
But a lot of people get excited about going out and buying a brand, you know, the newest thing,
the latest addition, the first, the one that looks different from everybody else's.
There's an ego component to that.
But what I'm saying here is that that's not always the best one to do.
Do you want to be a guinea pig?
Then buy the first models out.
When they do a platform change, that is the vehicle moves completely to a different architecture.
The styling could be familiar, but it's really a completely new vehicle.
Just like when Ford, way back in 1960, 70,
decided to get away from the original basic platform of the Mustang
and go to something that was a foot longer, eight inches wider and ugly.
Then they came out with the 1971 Ford Mustang.
And people looked at that and they said, yuck.
You know, in 1965, Ford sold about 450,000 of the initial Mustang.
In 1972, they sold 150,000.
Do you think they went the wrong direction?
Well, they did.
Now, lots of times you'll see two different cars that come out.
Both of them are brand new models and they can have different automakers.
But one of them is quite different from the other and a much safer purchase than the other.
And I'll go over that here in just a minute.
Okay, so two vehicles come out.
Both are brand new, never been out before.
And one of them is an absolute disaster and the other turns out to be really good.
And I'll give you an example.
The Chevrolet Citation, 1981, when that vehicle came out,
if you were one of the first buyers of that, you were unhappy.
Because it had a myriad of problems when they first came out.
And it really killed the momentum of the vehicle and they had to kill it off pretty quickly.
A different example would be the Ford Fusion.
Why wasn't it a bad one?
Well, because it was brand new.
Ford hadn't sold the Ford Fusion or anything like it.
I mean, they had some cars in that same basic category as far as size and everything is concerned.
But the Fusion was a brand new car, but it really wasn't because it was built on a Mazda 6 platform
that had been out for a number of years and been a successful car.
Matter of fact, I believe it had been out for over five years.
And because it had that same platform, same engine, same wiring harness, same basic structure,
the vehicle was a success from the get-go.
Didn't have any recalls and the car sold well.
And if you were a first buyer of one of those first models, you were fine.
But that's not always the case.
It's good to find that out.
What's the backbone of this particular car?
Is it really new or is it something that's been out for a while?
If it's been out for a while, then you're probably safe buying it.
Okay, let's move on.
What other new cars, trucks or SUVs should you never buy?
The one with the bad test results.
Obviously, if you don't read the test results, you don't know this.
I would recommend if you're interested in a car, go online to caranddrivermagazine.com,
road and track, Edmunds.
Find out these independent magazines if they've tested that particular car and what they say about it.
I trust those magazines.
I trust their drivers and the testers and they will provide you with some good information.
And that information is free as opposed to having to subscribe to consumer reports,
which are, you know, they're very import car biased.
It's just built into their DNA and I don't always trust them.
Number three, a car that you shouldn't buy.
The one that doesn't match your actual lifestyle.
Come on, folks, don't go to a car dealership knowing that you need a three-row SUV
and you leave in a truck or you leave in a sports car.
I know it's tempting, but we got to stick to our guns.
We got to match our lifestyle.
We've got to match our fundamental needs as a family.
If you don't have a family, then, you know, it doesn't matter what you buy.
If you don't have other passengers, I mean, if you want to drive a three-row SUV, that's fine.
If you want to jack it up, do whatever you want to to it.
That's up to you.
But when you've got other family members involved and it could be elderly folks,
I've got a guy coming in this afternoon to look at a vehicle.
He's been in a, I think it's a Chevy Tahoe, which he has sold already,
and he has to get something, still four-wheel drive, still three rows,
but he wants it to be lower so that his elderly parents can get in and out of it.
Stick to your guns and then you'll be happier with it.
Another vehicle, a new vehicle that you shouldn't buy, is the oldest one on the dealers lot.
Check the age.
How long has that vehicle been there?
Ask the salesperson or the manager.
Why did it not sell?
I'd want to know that.
You know, if they have a whole row of, I don't know, Honda Accords and you ask the salesperson,
say, show me the one that's been in inventory the longest,
because I can promise you that that's the one that they will push you towards
or the one that they want to get rid of the most.
Now, is that a good reason to buy?
Yeah, possibly.
But you also want to know why.
Make sure you test drive that car.
Maybe there's a really weird vibration that it's making or excessive road noise
or there's maybe it has some wind noise.
Maybe somebody opened it up and the floorboard was wet because it had a leak.
I mean, these things happen.
They happen to new vehicles.
We had a Ford Edge many years ago that these people bought it,
put it back about a week later after it rained and the floorboard was completely full of water.
Terrible thing.
So we ended up replacing all of their carpet, all of the mat underneath the carpet.
But before we put all that new stuff in there, we had to find this leak.
They had to tear the whole dash out of that car and they found one spot.
I have a really good tech at water leaks.
He's just unbelievable.
He found this one spot where when the robot was filling this particular gap where these two panels came together,
it missed about a half inch spot and water was able to go through that very easily and get to the floorboard.
In hard rain, it would just fill it up.
You know, those are things that can happen.
But you want to find out why people have been turned off by this car
and why the salesperson is pushing you to it.
It's just something that you might want to avoid yourself.
Okay, another vehicle that you might want to avoid.
Okay, you run into this really pushy salesperson.
He's nice.
He seems knowledgeable, but he keeps pushing you toward vehicle colors or vehicle options and things that you really don't like.
And more than likely, it's because there's a bonus on that particular car.
They had a sales meeting that morning and the sales manager announced,
anybody sells this car and paying a $1,000 flat commission.
So the pushy salesperson, rather than settle for a $250 commission on the one sitting right beside it,
he's going to really make you want to buy this one that he can make $1,000 on.
It doesn't fit your needs.
It's not the right color.
All he talks about is the deal, but we can give you the best deal.
People get deal in the head and then they lose sight of what their objective is.
I'd rather pay a little bit too much for a car than I really want.
That when I walk out into my driveway the next morning and I look at it,
I'm going to be proud of it and happy with it.
And I'm going to be able to live with that color.
And it meets my needs.
You know, it has all the features and benefits that I want.
I didn't want a sunroof.
The last sunroof I had leaked, this one that he's pushing me towards,
he's going to give me a great deal on it, but he's got a sunroof.
And I just don't want to go through that again.
Stick to your guns and understand that if he's really pushing you to a particular model
or a particular car within that model, it's because he's got a bonus on it.
That's the only reason a salesperson will do that.
Okay. All right. Okay.
This is not controversial as far as I'm concerned,
but so many buyers are oblivious to it and they believe the words of the salesperson,
which you want to believe other human beings.
But this is one to be skeptical about because if you go to a dealership that has all these new cars
and you look at the window sticker and right beside that window sticker
is what we call an addendum label or it could be a supplemental window sticker.
Sometimes I use that terminology.
This is where they take the MSRP and they add to it.
And there's a bunch of other items on there.
Some of them might make sense to you.
Some of them don't.
And probably 80 to 85% of the people don't even notice it.
They're just looking at the car.
They're not looking at the window sticker.
You know, when I'm buying a car, it's the first thing I'm going to do.
I'm going to say, okay, let's say I'm interested in a Chevrolet Blazer at a Chevrolet dealership.
Then I'm going to go to where all the Blazers are.
I'm going to look at them and see which colors I like.
If I see one that I like the color, then I'm going to walk over to it and go straight to the MSRP,
the window sticker, if I can see it.
Now some of these SUVs and stuff, they have deeper tinted windows
and they put those stickers on the back window and you can't see it.
If you can't see it, then you're going to have to ask the salesperson to show you a copy of it in the showroom.
But if you can't see it, look and see all the options that it has.
Look what package it has on it.
And that's the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
That's what MSRP stands for.
If there's another sticker beside it, those are features or additions that the dealership is adding to the MSRP of that car.
So they may take a car that has an MSRP of $30,000, but when you look at the additions that they've added to it,
it's $35,000 now.
What are you getting for the extra $5,000?
Most of the time you're getting nothing of value unless it says that it's for a luggage rack
or all-weather floor mats or something like that.
Another thing you have to do is just make sure that it says all-weather floor mats
that the factory window label doesn't also say all-weather floor mats
because there's a lot of dealerships will do that too.
They'll try to double charge you for features that are included on the car to begin with.
And then the deal breaker for me is going to be if there's any type of language on there like marketing adjustment
or market value adjustment, you know, typically I've seen them anywhere from $1,500 to $3,500.
What's that?
That's nothing is what it is.
Then why do they do it, Lenny?
It gives them extra negotiating room.
So if they have a window sticker marked up to $35,000, the actual MSRP is $30,000,
they can show you a $5,000 discount on paper, but you're still paying MSRP, even with their $5,000 off.
Now if they give you $5,000 off of MSRP, that's a great deal.
But $5,000 off of a sticker that doesn't really mean anything, it's just fluff, it's paint sealant,
it's fabric shield, it's protection package or it's market value adjustment or marketing adjustment.
You know, when I see that, it makes me worry about what's going on inside the dealership,
because if they put that on there, then what does that say about them?
Does that mean they're being upfront and honest?
No, it means the opposite.
I'll be back in just one minute.
Okay, Smartie Pants, so how do you get them to knock that off or to ignore that?
You just tell them right out there on the lot, say this other sticker right here.
I'm going to pretend that that doesn't exist.
I probably should leave because it's there, but I'm not going to,
I'm going to give you the benefit of the Doubt Minister salesperson.
But when we start negotiating, I just want you to know I'm not negotiating from that number.
I'm negotiating from this MSRP number.
And if you can't tell me that we'll do that right now, then we're not going inside.
And I hope you understand.
Don't mean any insult to you or your family, but that's not how we do business.
Well, I have to ask my manager.
I said, well, you better skedaddle in there and go ask your manager.
If the manager comes out, you tell him the same thing.
And probably what he'll say is, okay, come on in, folks, we won't worry about that.
If they come in and say, well, everybody has to pay that, then just leave because you don't.
There's a dealer down the road that will not charge you that, that doesn't play that game.
So I mean, you're the one in control, right?
You're in more control if you have the my car guru guidebook.
Because if you read that and you stick it in your glove box and give a copy to your kids,
then they will be protected from now on when it comes to buying cars.
I know you don't do it that often, right?
You don't go out and buy new cars every week or every month or every 10 years, even in some cases.
That's why you need the guidebook because it empowers you to say the right things and do the right things
to save money when you're buying a car, selling a car, getting automotive service.
You know, there's no reason not to have it because it's free.
Send me your email address 423-552-2020.
That's my cell phone number.
Text your email address to me and I'll send you a PDF of the my car guru guidebook.
If you don't use email, call the dealership where I work that I own 423-639-5151.
Just tell the operator, have Lenny send me a copy of the my car guru guidebook and here is my name and address.
I'll print it out and I'll send you a copy. It's 32 pages long.
It is your defense against a bad car deal and I'm always here as well.
Well, thanks for listening to this edition of my car guru.
If you have any questions, you know how to get me 423-552-2020 and I'll see you next time.
About this episode
Diving into the world of new car purchases, this episode highlights the pitfalls of buying the latest models straight off the production line. The host emphasizes the risks associated with first-year models, detailing various categories of vehicle updates and changes. Listeners learn about the importance of researching car complaints, understanding test results, and matching vehicles to their lifestyle needs. The discussion also covers the significance of avoiding older inventory and the potential issues that come with it, providing valuable insights for anyone considering a new vehicle purchase.
