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IntelliChoice Value Rating
The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.
One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.
What is a good car value?
A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.
But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?
For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.
This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)
Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.
Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.
So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.
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Review From Motor Trend Magazine
First Drive: 2008 Chevrolet CorvetteRefined rage: Taming America's sports car while making it wilder / By Frank Markus /
Article provided by: Motor Trend Magazine
These guys aren't letting up. The Corvette team is relentlessly chipping away at every reasonable argument a rational buyer can articulate for choosing some big-name, bucks-up, blue-blooded bahn-stormer over the crossed-flag cruise missile that Zora launched. This C6-1/2-generation Vette boasts more refinements and detail enhancements than one expects from a mid-cycle refresh of a supercar, but are they enough to steer the Porsche/BMW/Benz/Jag buyers into a Chevy store? To find out, we spirited a manual coupe and an automatic convertible away from the General's Milford Proving Ground for a romp across rural southeast Michigan.  One of the biggest and best-deserved beefs brought by the stringback-gloved set against the Vette is that its interior was too rent-a-Chevy, its pleasing design marred by downscale grains, textures, and gaps. All Corvettes get metal sill plates and classier looking new center-console trim, in either a carbon-fiber or metal-screen type finish, with brightwork around the shifter and cupholder. But to lure the Eurosnobs, there's a new Custom Leather Wrapped Interior package. Practically every surface you see or touch is swathed in supple leather, handstitched by the nice folks at Draexlmaier-the same ones treating the hides in Maybach, Mercedes, and up-level Cadillac cockpits. The seat inserts are perforated leather in either a light "Linen" or darker "Sienna" color. Pricing hasn't been announced, but it's expected to run $4,000-5,000, given the list of gear it includes. It'll be worth paying for, though, and will still leave plenty of savings when compared with any Euro-rocket that can touch the Corvette's performance.  Speaking of which, wow. The base Corvette automatic can now run with the C5 Z06, sprinting from 0-to-60 mph in 4.3 seconds enroute to a claimed top speed of 190 mph. Impatient automatic drivers can spring for a new, shorter 2.73:1 axle ratio for even sprightlier passing (it's standard on Z51 automatics). Here again, it's not just the overall performance (of about 10 percent), but the finesse with which it achieves it that impresses. The new intake manifold, resonator, and acoustic helmet manage to quell the high-order frequencies that applied an unwelcome layer of slightly agricultural-grade noise over the trademark V-8 burble and growl. Want even more of the same? Ante up for option code NPP ($1,200). This two-mode exhaust, like the one on the Z06, adds six horsepower and four pound-feet. When it opens up at around 3500 rpm, backpressure is reduced 80 percent, and you get what sounds and feels like a VTEC transition with a nicely sharpened snarl (it stays open briefly on overrun, too, providing some lovely crackles and pops). It's every bit as enticing as any boxer or inline-six. Upshifts ordered via the steering-wheel paddles are 30 percent quicker, downshifts 50-75 percent quicker. The paddles work with the shifter in the S position only, which, sad to say, doesn't invoke a performance-algorithm shift schedule when you're not shifting manually (stay tuned, this may yet come to pass). The Tremec manual box also has been thoroughly made over. The ends of the gear teeth are sharpened to reduce the likelihood of hanging up when shifting between gears. The synchronizer packs are slightly more compact, allowing the gears to be fattened for greater torque capacity. But what you'll notice most from the driver's seat is that the shifter feels lighter and way more precise. The old "rock crusher" moniker no longer applies. The shifter knob doesn't feel as handy as those of the best Porsches and BMWs (it still shreds one's palm during quick shifts toward the top of the pattern), but what it's connected to feels damned close.  "Lighter and more precise" are apt descriptions of the steering as well, thanks primarily to tighter machining tolerances for the rack-and-pinion gears and a stiffer intermediate shaft. With less slop in the system there's less filtering of the data the tires are picking up at the road surface. The cornering effort perceived through the steering wheel builds nicely as you lean the car harder into a bend. It's no Porsche helm for road feel (name a front-engine car that can touch that bogey), but it's closing in on BMW and better than Mercedes. Boxster, Cayman, and Z4 intenders should carefully examine a new Corvette-and the increasingly shaky foundations of their biases against it. | 2008 Chevrolet Corvette | | Base price | $46,000-$54,500 (est) | | Vehicle layout | Front engine, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door, targa or convertible | | Engine | 6.2L/430-436-hp/424-428-lb-ft* OHV 16-valve V-8 | | Transmissions | 6-speed manual, 6-speed automatic | | Curb weight | 3200-3250 lb (mfr) | | Wheelbase | 105.7 in | | Length x width x height | 174.6 x 72.6 x 49.0 in | | 0-60 mph | 4.0-4.3 sec (mfr est) | | EPA city/hwy fuel econ | 17-18 / 27-28 mpg (est) | | CO2 emissions | 0.90-0.95 lb/mile (est) | | On sale in U.S. | Fall 2007 | | *SAE certified |
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Events: A Day In The Life Of Le Mans
For most of the fans present for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it's almost incidental that there's a race underway. For some, it can even be annoying--the flatulent blat of the Chevrolet Corvette CR6's rul...
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