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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
Road Test: 2006 Hyundai Azera Limited vs. 2006 Toyota Avalon Touring vs. 2006 Volkswagen Passat 3.6L
Movin' On Up: Real estate and driver's seats, there are three things to remember: location, location, location
By Kim Reynolds
Photography by Brian Vance
"So just what category do these three cars fall into?" someone asked during a staff meeting as we moved to the next subject on the agenda, a planned comparison of the Volkswagen Passat, Toyota Avalon, and Hyundai Azera. After a moment of typical befuddlement around the conference table, our chief categorizer of things cleared his throat: "Well, think of them as aspirational four-door sedans. Modern versions of your upwardly mobile Dad's Buick or Mercury. A step up from a Ford or a Chevy, but a notch below a Lincoln or a Cadillac."  Highway cruising in the family boats, circa 1972: Pontiac Grand Ville, Dodge Monaco, Mercury Marquis. In other words, what our fathers drove as they dreamed of their Eldorados (auricular and vehicular). Many of those dreams are now warehoused in Motor Trend's vast archives. Among them is a philosophically spot-on antecedent of this trio in the form of an April 1972 matchup of that year's Mercury Marquis, Pontiac Grand Ville, and Dodge Monaco (which always looks like it's headed the wrong way). "They're big, hard to park, and don't handle too well, but it sure feels good when you slide behind the wheel of any of them--and that's what these cars are all about."  Of course, aspirational cars should make you feel good when you slide behind the wheel, but today's updated editions are no longer big and clumsy. While the interiors of the Passat, Avalon, and Azera are cozier than those of their forebears, clever packaging has lopped whole feet from their exterior dimensions, yielding a packaging efficiency unheard of in Dad's day. And, comparatively, they can spank through traffic like banked billiard balls. (Much appreciated in the freeway congestion we encountered attempting to reproduce that 34-year-old comparison photo.)
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2004 Avalon
:confused: I am having problems with the engine light coming on. The dealership has so far replaced what they called a...
11/05/2007 | 17:11 PM | grand05
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2005 Toyota Avalon
The Avalon, Toyota's flagship sedan, is comfortably aimed at the generation that still thinks a dub is something you rub in a tu
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