If you are thinking about buying for a car, there is a lot you've got to know. There are a lot of car salesmen out there waiting to do their best to sell you their cars, but they may not be the right care for you. Take a look at these car buying tips to get a better idea of what you must think about. If you are in the market for a used car, a great way to tell if the speedometer is correct is to look at the gas and brake pedals. If someone says the car has 30,000 miles on it, and the brake and gas pedals are worn, it is a good indication the odometer was turned back.
Do not pay for lots of extras when you are buying a car. Sure, it would be nice to have a lot of fun features in your new car, but do you really need them? Every toy or gadget you add jacks up the price of the car considerably. Figure out what you really need, and just stick to that. Before you set foot into a dealership, do some research online? Check nearby dealership's websites and record their listed price on the vehicle you want, as well as any special deals they might be offering.
Don't fold to pressure. The salesman doesn't want you to walk out of his dealership, so he will tell you whatever it takes to get you to sign a contract at that moment. Ignore him. Do what is best for you, and if you need to have some time to think about it, take the time you need. When buying a vehicle from a private seller, make sure a mechanic does an inspection first. If the dealership does not let you to bring your own mechanic, you should go somewhere else. This could mean you have to pay for problems that aren't evident at the time. You probably shouldn't get into this without figuring out who they are first.
Playing deejay with voice commands will get easier for more Americans
this fall as some best-selling cars get updated with software that
integrates smartphones into the dashboard.
With the 2016 model
year, Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto will turn cars as
affordable as a base model Chevy Spark into rolling robotic assistants
that give directions to nearby restaurants or play the latest hits with
commands as simple as “Play Ellie Goulding.”
The Associated Press
recently tried out both systems on a 2016 Honda Accord. As with phones,
voice-activated car technologies don’t always work as intended, bringing
up inaccurate directions or failing to open an app, for example. But
overall the two systems are convenient and incredibly intuitive.
Both
CarPlay and Android Auto should give drivers more time to keep their
eyes on the road compared with the automakers’ own voice systems, which
can require multiple steps and looking at on-screen menus. Still, as
with any system that requires driver input, there are concerns about
distraction.
“Anything that takes your attention away from the
task of driving is not something you want to engage in,” said Kathy
Lane, a spokeswoman for the National Safety Council, a nonprofit
organization created by Congress to promote safety.
Neither system
has been tested yet by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, says
spokesman Russ Rader. The institute studies both human and mechanical
factors in trying to reduce the number of vehicle crashes.
Consumers
increasingly want to use their smartphone while driving — without
running afoul of the law. For the last few years, drivers of most new
cars have been able to speak to their phones and have audio stream
through a car’s speakers using the nearly ubiquitous Bluetooth wireless
standard. However, doing so can require fiddling with the phone, like
holding down the home button first.
Both CarPlay and Android Auto
allow voice commands to be turned on with a touch of a steering wheel
button. Phones need to be plugged into the USB port, where the phone is
kept charging and powering the in-car entertainment. You can access
maps, voice mail, phone contacts and music apps using a touch screen
embedded in the dashboard — no need to grab your phone.
There are
two limitations with the Apple system, whether or not you’re using it on
CarPlay. One is that Apple reserves voice commands for its proprietary
apps — phone, maps, texts and Apple Music.
The other is that you
must be a subscriber to Apple’s $10 a month Apple Music service if you
want ask the digital voice assistant Siri such complicated tasks as
“play the top song from 2011.” (It’s Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to
Know,” if you were wondering.) However, you can use your voice to play
songs you have downloaded and own on your iPhone.
The less
restrictive Android Auto will allow you to use apps like Spotify as long
as you specifically tell it to “play Aerosmith on Spotify,” or set
Spotify as the default music app. A Spotify subscription also costs $10 a
month.
The systems themselves can cost users a lot more.
The
2016 Honda Accord EX with manual transmission is the lowest trim on
which Honda is offering CarPlay and Android Auto support. At $25,480,
the EX is $1,315 pricier than the Sport trim, and includes things like a
moon roof, keyless remote and a better touch-screen display.
Volkswagen’s entry-level 2016 Jetta 1.4T at $17,680 offers CarPlay and
Android Auto as part of a $995 technology upgrade that includes a larger
touch screen and rear-view camera.
Some automakers say that such
features could motivate buyers to move up the trim level, rather than to
more expensive models. “It’s going to provide a good benefit to the
Accord shopper,” says Jay Guzowski, manager of product planning for
mid-size cars at American Honda.
General Motors stands alone in
offering CarPlay and Android Auto as standard equipment on cars as
inexpensive as the Spark — the 2015 version retails for upward of
$12,170 — and as high-volume as its Chevrolet Cruze and Malibu sedans
and Silverado trucks. Chevrolet marketing director Steve Majoros calls
the decision “revolutionary,” and one the automaker hopes will improve
its market share.
“CarPlay and Android Auto are about to really
hit the mainstream,” says Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer.
“We’re talking about some 40 to 50 models that’ll have it in probably
the next 12 months or less, which is maybe about 20% of the entire car
market.”
IHS analyst Colin Bird predicts that automakers in the
U.S. and Canada will sell a modest 497,000 cars with CarPlay, Android
Auto or both this year. The number should jump to 5 million in 2018 and
nearly 10 million in 2020.
As smart and helpful as the CarPlay and Android Auto are, they aren’t perfect.
On
a quick demo of a fully-loaded, coffee-colored 2016 Accord Touring, the
Android Auto voice assistant helped me play songs from artists like
Adele, Sting and Ellie Goulding but would not recognize “U2” as anything
other than “YouTube.” It also failed to open the iHeart Radio app
despite being told to (a later check showed the app hadn’t been set up
to recognize its location, which may have thrown a wrench into things).
CarPlay
users won’t be able to use the superior Google Maps through the
interface, even if the app is on their phone. In the demo, Apple’s
notoriously quirky maps app directed me to drive to Honda’s American
headquarters in Torrance through the research and development back way,
bypassing the front driveway and visitor parking lot even though it was a
more direct route.
There’s still work to be done on making the integration better.
One
problem is that when phones must be plugged in — rather than left in a
pocket or purse — usage of Internet-connected apps goes way down, says
Pandora’s vice president of automotive business development, Geoff
Snyder. “When it’s required for use of the system, utilization falls off
pretty dramatically.” So for now, certain automaker-made infotainment
systems with apps will be more convenient for people who just want to
get in their cars and go.
Apple software engineering executive
Craig Federighi said in June that the iOS 9 mobile operating system
update coming this fall will make CarPlay work without taking out your
iPhone. But according to Apple, that may require another hardware update
from automakers: support for Wi-Fi.
Resource:
Apple, Google bring smartphone functions to car dashboards
