Leave it to the fucking government to create a program that destroys what in many cases are perfectly fine cars all to help the bottom line of their buddies
in the car manufacturing business and to appease some liberal green hippies by adopting the mpg requirement. In the end all this is doing is creating a
bunch of waste, encouraging people to take out irresponsible car loans, and rewarding those who made environmentally unfriendly decisions by purchasing a
gas guzzling beater car instead of a 1992 honda gas sipping civic.

Those who need the "rebate" in order to get their new car probably should not be getting a new car in the fucking first place.

I can see the headlines in 1 year.

Ca$h 4 Clunkers turns out to have caused several unexpected negative effects detremental to the economy as the participants default on their new
car loans severely hurting the credit industry, auto manufacturers sales plummet at the end of the program, and junk yards are overflowing
with clunker cars.

8/14/2009 1:48:04 PM

HONDA
GAS SIPPING
CIVIC

8/14/2009 2:16:06 PM

Yeah, he should have stripped everything out of it besides what was absolutely essential for getting it to the dealer's lot (Did the vehicle even need to be running when you brought it in as a clunker? ).

8/14/2009 2:30:44 PM

Yes. You have to "drive" it there.

I drove mine there, swapped the wheels in a parking lot across the street, and then did what may have been the most sketchy 100yd's of driving I've ever done. The front wheels didn't clear the tie rod ends or something, so they were grinding like hell and the steering wheel was wobbling all over the place. One of the rear wheels wouldn't clear the hub, so I stuck two lug nuts in there pretty well and got a few threads of a third. The end result was that the rear wheel had a nice side to side wobble and may have been scraping the inner fender once per revolution. Nobody was out in the lot when I pulled in, so I put it into the first parking spot I saw and walked into the dealership.

After we did the deal and I had put the BMW rims into the new Civic I ran into the bathroom to change for work. I think they thought I had already left because they tried to pull my car around back. When I came out of the bathroom there was a crowd of people watching it and I heard the finance manager say "That doesn't even qualify as "drivable". lol

[Edited on August 14, 2009 at 2:44 PM. Reason : l]

8/14/2009 2:43:32 PM

NICE!

8/14/2009 2:50:04 PM

^^I would have paid to see that shit

8/14/2009 2:56:35 PM

I just hopped in the new Civic and left.
I also have a box of miscellaneous e30 parts in addition to the 5 tires and wheels I saved.

This car is boring as hell, but it does have a 5-speed, a nice sounding stereo (6 speakers + a sub), sunroof, remote locks, and all that other junk that comes on an EX now. And I got 34.2 MPG on the first tank of gas. I might keep it a while, but I'm not too sure yet.

[Edited on August 14, 2009 at 3:05 PM. Reason : l]

8/14/2009 3:01:05 PM

Did you get the coupe?

8/14/2009 3:06:32 PM

Yes.

I actually would have gone for a sedan, but they had this new blue 08 Coupe on the lot and they wanted to make a deal on it. I negotiated the price of the brand new car down to a lot less than Autopark would sell me a used 08 with 11k miles already on it. Then I took $4500 off for my trade in.

I slapped a trailer hitch on it for my bike rack. I have some roof racks that should fit for my surfboard. And I've been keeping the back seat folded down for extra space. It actually works pretty well for me as an inexpensive commuter. It's just a matter of whether I can deal with how boring it is.

[Edited on August 14, 2009 at 3:12 PM. Reason : l]

8/14/2009 3:11:16 PM

thinking about looking more into this deal. between my e39 and trading in the old dakota i might could get something new for damn near nothing.

8/14/2009 3:45:25 PM

You'd probably come out ahead if you sold the e39 wouldn't you? It seems like you got a pretty good deal on it.

I wasn't too psyched about buying a Civic, but I made my decision based on the fact that I feel like I can put it up for sale anytime in the next couple of years and come out ahead. Used ones with 30k miles are still going for $4k more than I paid. Faced with that reality I basically decided to give it a shot.

[Edited on August 14, 2009 at 4:17 PM. Reason : l]

8/14/2009 4:15:36 PM

Yeah, probably would be better off just selling it. The problem being I'm not real sure how long the program is supposed to last..

8/14/2009 4:48:41 PM

What gas mileage does a E39 make?

8/14/2009 7:00:29 PM

8/14/2009 7:02:10 PM

^ That sucks!

^^^ You can only trade in one "clunker" anyway. Take that dodge up there, buy your new car, and then sell the e39 to cover the first year's worth of payments.

[Edited on August 14, 2009 at 7:29 PM. Reason : l]

8/14/2009 7:28:52 PM

Quote :

"What gas mileage does a E39 make?"

the gauges say it gets around 30 (120 mile/day highway commute)

in reality i get around 480-500 miles out of a tank and its about 18 gallons to fill up. so high 20s?

^oh, didn't know that. good idea though

[Edited on August 14, 2009 at 8:07 PM. Reason : a]

8/14/2009 8:07:07 PM

Quote :

"2. Drain engine oil for environmentally appropriate disposal. 3. Install the oil drain plug. 4. Since the procedure is intended to render the engine inoperative, drive or move the vehicle to the desired area for disablement. "

Hmmmmm......

8/14/2009 8:20:57 PM

lol, they should make it a few miles

8/14/2009 8:22:48 PM

Go to http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm to find your car/truck's rating. That's what the dealers use.

8/14/2009 10:36:27 PM

^^^^I don't think it will qualify for the trade-in.

8/14/2009 10:51:22 PM

learn to read.

i said i'd trade in an '86 dodge dakota. if that thing doesn't qualify then i dont know what will.

8/15/2009 3:05:52 PM

Better go now. It'll be over on monday.

8/21/2009 7:27:01 AM

^

8/21/2009 9:26:36 AM

hmm, so they're ending it before the money runs out?

8/21/2009 11:49:55 AM

[quote]hmm, so they're ending it before the money runs out every dealer stops participating because they can't float any more cash without being paid?

8/21/2009 12:21:24 PM

who wants to guess how long it is before any of the dealerships get paid? lol. Q1 2010? Q2?

btw I was surprised to learn that my S2000 is rated at 18 city 24 highway. That's insane, lol. How the fuck do they get 18mpg city?! drive around everywhere in 2nd gear?

8/21/2009 12:43:50 PM

I always got 25-26MPG on mine every time I checked.
And I stayed in Vtec on that fucker.

8/21/2009 1:05:15 PM

does it not boil anyone elses blood that the government is destroying cars you may want to buy later on. all on your/our dime? i don't normally get too worked up about gov't doings, because what can I do, right? but this causes me to lose sleep. i really wish I could afford to take off a few days of work/class and drive to washington and get face to face with those policy making idiots.

ok, i'm done.

8/21/2009 3:40:58 PM

the "idea" is to get older, higher polluting vehicles off the road and get more clean vehicles sold....

8/21/2009 3:53:43 PM

i know what the idea is. but terrible execution, as usual. wealth redistribution never works. what's the purpose of artificially inflating car sales for a very short time? a few jobs may be restarted, but what happens to them when people quit buying cars? rip the layers of band aids off and let it bleed out.

8/21/2009 5:47:21 PM

^^^, ^ Now they're saying these vehicles are not, in fact, being completely shit-canned but sold to junkyards. While there's some (ok, actually a lot) of consolation in knowing body parts and drivetrains should still be available for certain generations of these vehicles, essentially the engine is still being fucked in all of these. On one hand, buying whole used engines may be tons cheaper to get the parts you want, but used running engines are boned.

8/21/2009 7:34:47 PM

y'all sure do bitch a lot

8/21/2009 8:53:38 PM

it's the american way

8/21/2009 9:02:19 PM

^^^ According to my buddy that works at Wagner's in Durham, they've been given deadlines on when the vehicles must be crushed by. Haven't discussed it with him since it started so I don't know if anything has changed but that was the plan in the beginning. Apparently, improving the economy through salvage yards isn't helpful at all.

8/21/2009 10:11:48 PM

That's odd, it was on the headline news channel this morning when I woke up. I hadn't heard anything like that (cars going to junkyards instead of metal building blocks) until today so I figured the feds had wisened up a bit. I wouldn't doubt this news outlet was just coming with random shit, but the topic was about the salvaging of the actual cars and that most of these parts would go to making other vehicles roadworthy.

8/21/2009 10:25:25 PM

dunno. Like I said, this was a few weeks ago so maybe someone actually realized how retarded it was and changed it.

8/22/2009 8:31:43 AM

LKQ was on the news right after this started saying that their lines were out the door every am bc they were getting so many newer vehicles in. they have many in their parking lot with cash for clunkers written on the windshield.

8/22/2009 5:28:17 PM

Ah man...I got home today and there was a box of cookies from http://www.carolinacookie.com/ that the dealer sent to me as a thank you. I'm only buying new cars from now on.

[Edited on August 28, 2009 at 3:39 PM. Reason : l]

8/28/2009 3:38:13 PM

Oh snap! The chocolate chips are perfectly melted from them sitting on the porch.

8/28/2009 3:47:12 PM

cash for cluckers

10/15/2009 11:03:42 AM

What the fuck is with the thread revivals?

10/15/2009 11:50:49 AM

this is the bible belt

10/15/2009 3:34:59 PM