I was hoping to be able to post again here with a new car. There is a new government program out nicknamed "Cash for Clunkers" over here. They are trying to entice folks to buy new and better economical cars. It is a $3500 credit for a car that gets 5 mpg better than your current and $4500 credit for 10 mpg better.

I was getting a bit excited as I also have a huge discount on Nissan vehicles. I had my eye (web browser eye) today on the Nissan Sentra 2.0L 6 sp manual (I'm dying to get back into a manual transmission. This girlamatic stuff is killing me...)

Now I see the problem with our wonderful government's thoughts. There is $1 billion set aside for the program. Problem is first, if you take the credit trading your car in, the car is automatically deemed scrap. This means that the dealer can not resell the car and you also won't be getting any trade value for your car. They are all going to the crusher. Second problem is, the limit for mpg on the car being traded is 18 mpg.

Why are these problems? They are problems because people who are running around in old clunkers that get 18 mpg are running around in them because they can't afford to get something better. Those running around in the big trucks and SUVs that are newer because of penis size compensation or whatever won't get any value for their vehicles over the credit and scrap value.

So, who would get this $1 billion set aside for the program? My guess is not many thus our government can slide that money where they want after the program is over (Nov. 1, 2009.)

A shame, I see Nissan listing their Sentra for $8700 new including a cash rebate and the clunker credit. On top of that, I would guess my Nissan supplier discount would knock it down further to about $6000.

I'd be looking at spending at least $5-6000 on something 10 years used if I wanted something decent. I could get something BRAND NEW for that if only they would bump the trade mpg up 3 mpg.

Grrrrr.... I'm getting really sick and tired of constantly working on an old car!

But its all part of the fun! Knowing your hard work for xx amount of hours has made your vehicle better!

Yeah, it is f--king annoying isn't it!

solution: get an old car thats actually good and enjoyable to drive

Quote from Shotglass :

solution: get an old car thats actually good and enjoyable to drive

Not a suitable solution. Need something reliable that gets me to work. Something old that sits in the driveway torn apart constantly negates the reliable part.

Cars around here with over 150k don't make it long. Everything is rusted and makes fixing too much of a chore when you HAVE to have it by 5 am the next morning. When every time you touch a bolt with a wrench it breaks off because of rust, it isn't fun. I've done my share of wrenching on old cars the past 10+ years with a combined total of 585,000 miles on the last 4 cars.

That said, I bought my wife a new vehicle 2 years ago. It has 35k on it now and failed the yearly inspection on the rear brake rotors. The REAR! Those same combined 585k miles on the last 4 cars (all Nissan and Toyota) I've only touched brake rotors twice to have them turned and I just replaced the rotors on the Altima at 165k last week. The "new" Ford garbage just had to have all 4 rotors replaced at 35k! So much for "Quality is Job 1" or whatever their saying is nowadays.

solution 2: dont buy american cars/cars made for the american market (with the possible exception of hiluxes)

Quote from Shotglass :

solution 2: dont buy american cars/cars made for the american market (with the possible exception of hiluxes)

Yeah, you got me there. It was $18k vs. $30k+ though, a big difference for the type of vehicle we needed/wanted between US manufacturers and the Japanese manufacturers.

And there is no Hilux made for the American market. It's now the Tacoma and it is a POS compared to the old tried and true Hilux (incidentally, the 4 cars I mention above would be the Nissan Altima, Toyota Hilux, 4Runner 1st generation, and a Tacoma - 585,000 miles worth combined.)

Gotta get to bed now. Too much guitar watching on youtube tonight.

What if you bought some small car (that makes that 18 mpg) crap car for pennies and traded that for the scrap money? Or are they all just gone, or is there something stopping people doing this?

My car failed its MOT the other day.

Wasn't major, needed a new part for the suspension link, which only cost £12 and 10 minutes to fit. Also needed new wiper rubber for the front.

Fitted them yesterday to get the partial retest today and they say they can't do it. It'll only take them 10 minutes to do. Bastards.

I need the car for monday as well, as I'm meant to be going to the zoo, but I don't think it's gonna happen now

Quote from Klutch :

whats the specs on engine+susp?

to answer your question klutch,

the engine is still standard internaly, mainly bolt ons at the moment. Garret 2860-5 turbos, ARC intercooler, greddy intake piping kit, apexi 700cc injectors, nismo fuel pump, apexi power fc computer, though i think thats about to change...

suspenion is tein super street coilovers and cusco front and rear strut braces.

Also ive noticed to a certain degree that the POM's do love their hatchbacks dont they...

lol :P

420 out of that isn't too shabby!

turbo's probably cost you a pretty penny though :P

got a mate with a similiar setup

HKS GT-SS turbos
Nismo fuel pump
Nismo AFM
ARC FMIC
sard 750cc injectors
Adjustable cam gears
apexi power FC (Tuned by Ant scali, who owns the fastest GTR in perth)

360awhp on a safe tune
goes like clappers
first time i'd ever been in a AWD skyline, never felt anything launch so hard!

Quote from Blackout :

What if you bought some small car (that makes that 18 mpg) crap car for pennies and traded that for the scrap money? Or are they all just gone, or is there something stopping people doing this?

Probably the fact that you would have a date of sale on one day, then trying to trade it in the following day would throw up some flags on it.

Quote from DTrott :

My car failed its MOT the other day.

Wasn't major, needed a new part for the suspension link, which only cost £12 and 10 minutes to fit. Also needed new wiper rubber for the front.

Fitted them yesterday to get the partial retest today and they say they can't do it. It'll only take them 10 minutes to do. Bastards.

I need the car for monday as well, as I'm meant to be going to the zoo, but I don't think it's gonna happen now

Yup, that was me. I already did the front rotors just to do them and my wife said, "You know it's out of inspection, right?" Oops! That was July 1st and it was due in June. Instead of the inspection being due the same month every year matching vehicle registration, now the shop can put the date exactly one year so if you are early or late, the next year it will be due a different month. I thought it was due for July.

It failed the rears, which I was going to do the following pay. So we've been driving it now hoping not to see cops (not hard to do in hillybilly country where I live) for 10 days now. All the shop has to do is look through the lots of space in the rear wheels to see the rotors and pads and it's done. They can't do it until next week.

Quote from mrodgers :

Probably the fact that you would have a date of sale on one day, then trying to trade it in the following day would throw up some flags on it.

Well, keep it for a week then? If there is no demands, like being owner of the vehicle for the last 6 months, you should go for it. You could always play dump with an accent and say ye just herd of thay scheme. If they start asking questions, if you have glasses, loose them because they make you look too smart.

Quote from Blackout :

Well, keep it for a week then? If there is no demands, like being owner of the vehicle for the last 6 months, you should go for it. You could always play dump with an accent and say ye just herd of thay scheme. If they start asking questions, if you have glasses, loose them because they make you look too smart.

Yup, it has to have been registered for the past year and insured for the past year.

Quote from Klutch :

420 out of that isn't too shabby!

turbo's probably cost you a pretty penny though :P

got a mate with a similiar setup

HKS GT-SS turbos
Nismo fuel pump
Nismo AFM
ARC FMIC
sard 750cc injectors
Adjustable cam gears
apexi power FC (Tuned by Ant scali, who owns the fastest GTR in perth)

360awhp on a safe tune
goes like clappers
first time i'd ever been in a AWD skyline, never felt anything launch so hard!

Yup the GTR's sure love to take off HARD!!!

360awhp would be very close to mine as the dyno run on my R was only measured at the rears.

ive heard of Ant Scali, didnt he have the silver R32 with the twin To4Z turbo setup making stupid amounts of POWAH!!!?

yeah

makes 880AWHP

Some nosey c**t wanted to see my temprorary turdwagon so I guess you guys can see it too..... :bananadea

Quote from Bawbag :

Some nosey c**t wanted to see my temprorary turdwagon so I guess you guys can see it too..... :bananadea

wanker

Hey, don`t envy him, he can still do this.

Haha, that's epic, I wanna try that....

Lol!

That is the best video I've seen all day, can't wait to try it <3 FWD now

I have automatic AWD in which it runs FWD until it senses slip, then kicks in the rear PTO. Just slide the back around, find your favorite enemy, line up, get the fronts to slip, and send the little pieces of plywood under the rears flying

Quote from STF :

Hey, don`t envy him, he can still do this.

That is precisely what i lost my license for back in 2002, except i was using burger king trays instead of blocks.

LoooL

Quote from danthebangerboy :

That is precisely what i lost my license for back in 2002, except i was using burger king trays instead of blocks.

You can lose your licence for that?