Hey Cool Car Fans,

2013 Ford Escape Ecoboost®

Earlier today, I delivered a 2013 Ford Escape with AWD to a client with the new 2.0 liter Ecoboost motor.  I wanted to write a quick post about this vehicle because it is a great value for a small SUV and I think it’s going to give the Toyota Rav4 and Honda CRV a serious run for their money.  It has a sleek new design that looks quite a bit like a Honda CRV.

Be aware that this vehicle comes with two different Ecoboost engines, the 2.0l with 237hp and 250lb of torque and the smaller 1.6l with 173hp and 177lb of torque.  The standard engine is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder also mated with a 6-speed automatic. and I wouldn’t recommend looking at that one because you’re going to really notice a difference in performance.  The Ecoboost is definitely the way to go here.

There are a number of options you can add to this vehicle, such as the hands free motion-sensor power lift gate, a MyFord Touch System, Curve Control, Torque Vectoring Control system and several other options.  The one that I delivered had Sirius Satellite radio, bluetooth and some other cool benefits that were standard, including it’s new aerodynamic design and Active Grille Shutters to help cut through the wind for better fuel economy.

ECOBOOST® IS SUPER COOL

I really like what Ford has done with this engine.  They describe it on their website as follows…

” EcoBoost^® technology helps produce a cooler, denser fuel injection charge that generates more power per every drop of fuel. Twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT) maximizes performance, while two different technologies – turbocharging and direct injection – combine to deliver the performance of a much larger engine with the efficiency of a smaller one.”

The 2.0l is super fast and fun for a small SUV.  My client hopped out of a Jeep Wrangler that he traded for this vehicle and the ride is smooth, it’s fun to drive and super responsive.  It also came with Ford’s “Intelligent 4WD System”, which is designed to monitor traction and cornering conditions every 16 milliseconds and then it will automatically adjust torque distribution where needed. It’s pretty cool technology built into this vehicle.

The Ford Lease: Ford is promoting a pretty aggressive lease on this vehicle with a monthly payment that looks good on their website, but I’m not a huge fan of the Ford lease program.  I lease vehicles to clients all the time and I’ve seen too many people coming out of Ford leases over the years and these leases drive me crazy!  Ford may have great technology in their vehicles, but their leases are “old school”, where they send you back to the original Ford dealer where you leased the vehicle to figure out how to turn your lease back-in at the end of the term.  My advice is skip doing the Ford lease and go for the financing or get a used 2013 Ford Escape with low miles and I can structure a lease for you, so call me for details.

I really like this vehicle for it’s great new technology and as a solid competitor for other small SUV’s in this class.  Definitely put it on your list, if your in the market for this kind of a fuel efficient SUV.

Cool Car Guy Rating: Eco Cool

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy

Hey Cool Car Fans,

2012 RECAP

I hope you had a great 2012 and that you have a blessed and prosperous 2013!  Last year was great and I was able to assist a great number of my clients buy, sell, trade and lease their vehicles.  I had the opportunity to drive some really cool cars last year and do some really cool things with financing and leasing that many people didn’t know that they could do, including refinancing vehicles, financing vehicles, putting together new and used vehicle leases, special financing options and locating some very unique cars and trucks for my clients.  There were some really good incentives on vehicles this past year, including some spectacular lease programs.

In addition, I was able to finish eight Marathons last year, including one in San Francisco and Tucson and the Rim Rock Marathon in Fruita, CO that was a really great run.  I logged almost 3,000 miles in running last year, which is something I’m passionate about and a great way to stay in shape.  As The Cool Car Guy, I have clients from all walks of life in different professions from all over the United States.  One of my clients started RunningGuru.com, which is a cool site to locate running events in Colorado.

My wife and I saw some good movies last year, some really stupid movies as well, which you can read about at Boydflix.com.  I  setup that site years ago where I write movie reviews since my wife and I go to the movies about every week.

I started to launch a website called ShareMerchant.com in 2012 that didn’t have enough time to work on since I was too busy with my business as The Cool Car Guy.  I anticipate getting it going in 2013, so be on the look out for that website as a way to earn some additional income and have someone else make your car payments for you.  It won’t be for everyone, since many of my clients have great financial resources, but I have quite a few clients who are looking for a way to earn more money in 2013.  I’m always looking for ways to save my clients money and earn them more money.  All in all, 2012 was another great year!

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2013

New Referral Program:  In the past, I’ve sent movie tickets to people for sending me a referral.  The majority of my business is repeat and referral, so I’ve decided to put together something new for 2013.  Each time someone sends me a referral of a person or company who purchases a vehicle from me, they will receive $100 referral fee.

High Mileage Leases:  Many people are driving vehicles much longer or putting many more miles than they used to in the past.  If you’re putting 20,000 miles or more on a vehicle each year, than you may want to consider doing a high mileage lease and you can do this with both new and used vehicles.  It’s all about the proper structure though and I anticipate that I’ll be doing about 30 of these this year.  If you know someone that drives a ton of miles for their business or job, have them contact me.  It can work really good for Real Estate agents or other sales professionals.

Used Vehicles Leases:  The benefit of a lease is that you are only paying for the depreciation of the vehicle and not for the full amount of the car or truck you’re driving.  If you lease a low mileage vehicle that already has a great deal of depreciation that has taken place and may still be under warranty, you can really save some money depending on the vehicle and the lease structure.  I expect that at least 30 people will contact me this year about how to do a Used Vehicle Lease, since few really know how.

Auction Vehicles:  Each year I have quite a number of clients who contact me about having me find them a vehicle through the Dealer Auction.  Last year, I was able to get a number of great vehicles here in Colorado and around the country from Dealer Only Auctions and ship them in for my clients and save them thousands of dollars.  This can work great for certain vehicles that are selling for too much money in this market.  I recently saved a client thousands of dollars on a 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML350 that was still under the MB warranty with great options and miles.  This is something unique to The Cool Car Guy experience because of my relationship with JFR & Associates and since most Brokers and Dealers are not experienced in this type of service.

Financing, Special Financing And Refinancing:  Last year, I had several people contact me who had credit challenges.  One client of mine filed bankruptcy two years ago and couldn’t get financed through VW, Nissan or a number of other dealerships.  I was able to lease him a brand new Toyota through a special program I knew about at a price that fit his budget.  He told me that he used to work in accounting for a dealership that worked with people with bad credit and he saw how bad these people got ripped off with super high interest rate loans.  It’s all about the structure and relationships and knowing how to do what others can’t do.

Another client had found the car of his dreams on Craigslist and he couldn’t get the financing done on his own, while trying to buy it from a private party hundreds of miles away.  He asked me to assist him, so we marked the vehicle up to compensate me for my time and I arranged to have him pick the vehicle up at a dealership on the other side of Colorado, even though it was being sold by a Private Party.  I don’t won’t to go into all the details since the Wizard doesn’t reveal all of his secrets.  The bottom line is that I was able to get him financed on the vehicle and handled it for him, so that he was able to get his dream car without a tremendous amount of brain damage.  When he’s ready to refinance the vehicle at a lower interest rate in six months, I’ll be handling that for him too.  I have access to a great resource of lenders and I’m able to do things that many others can’t do on their own.

Consignments and Trades:  This year I did a large number of consignments for clients and I anticipate that quite a few people will contact me to have me get them more money for their vehicles again by helping them retail them.  However, consignments can be difficult to sell since people typically want more money for their vehicles than they are worth or they have unrealistic expectations.  There are number of dealers and brokers now offering this service for free or for a discount and I’m of the belief that you get what you pay for when it comes to vehicles.  I really prefer to shop my clients trade when possible and get them more money that way, so that they are not waiting for their vehicle to sell.  Last year, I was able to get people hundreds and even thousands of dollars more than they would have gotten on their own, which is another reason why people use my services as The Cool Car Guy.

Weekly Cool Car Guy Updates:  By popular demand I’m going to be updating CoolCarGuy.com on a weekly basis with stories and information about the automotive industry and what’s happening with The Cool Car Guy and my business this year.  I also hope to have some stories about some of my clients and their vehicles, businesses, etc.

Have a great and prosperous 2013 – drop me an email or come pay me a visit, if you’re around my office this year.

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy

Hey Cool Car Fans,

How about this 2000 Chevy Corvette Coupe that I have on consignment for a client?  It’s a pretty sweet ride.  This vehicle is quickly becoming a classic as the first Corvette of the new Millennium assembled in Bowling Green, KY.  This coupe body style was available from 1997–2004, so it was right in the middle of the production run years.  In 1998 they put out a convertible and in 1999 the hard top was introduced.

This is a six speed manual transmission with the LS1 345hp V8 motor for the serious speed demon and that is a reliable.  This is known as the C5, which was a departure from the C4 to give a more aggressive look than the

previous version, along with a much stronger frame, without the rattles and clangs of the previous body style and a top speed of 175 mph.  This baby will move out with a fairly light curb weight of 3,245pounds and is a hoot to drive.  The real shocker for many Corvette enthusiasts is that this vehicle gets 19/28 mpg with the manual transmission, which allowed it to avoid the unfriendly “gas guzzler” tax that most other high-performance vehicles in this class get hit with from the government.

As far as speed goes, one of the attractions of the Chevy Corvette is the C5 is capable of matching or besting the 0–60 mph acceleration times of some of the world’s premier sports cars, including the BMW Z8, Ferrari 360, and Porsche 911 Turbo (Type 996).

I call it massive performance on a budget!  You can’t buy these other vehicles for $22,500 with 24,000 miles!

A collection of published performance numbers for the base-model coupé and convertible gives a 0–60 mph time of around 4.7 seconds.  That is throw your head back in your seat and listen to your passenger scream performance .  Once you hit 60 mph, this vehicle will do a standing quarter-mile time of around 13.2 seconds at 109 mph (both times were for this particular vehicle, that is equipped with the 6-speed manual transmission).

If you’re looking for a cool car that is fun to drive with amazing performance, you should check out this ride.  I’m surprised that more fans of the BMW and Porsche are not buying a Corvette like this and saving a bundle.

2000 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe

Year: 2000
Make: Chevrolet
Model: Corvette
Trim: Coupe
Mileage: 23,909
VIN #: 1G1YY22G3Y5116205
Trans: 6 Speed
Color: Red
Interior: Leather
Vehicle Type: Coupe
State: CO
Drive Train: RWD
Engine: 5.7L V8 OHV 16V

Price: $22,500

Cool Car Guy Rating:  Need For Speed

________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy

Hey Cool Car Fans,

I recently consigned a client’s 1977 Jeep Cherokee 2 door 4WD that he’s been restoring and it’s a pretty cool ride.  It’s amazing how many “experts” there are on this classic Jeep Cherokee and how many people who rode in a friend or family member’s back in the late 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.  There are not thousands of these vehicles still being produced at the local “1977 Used Car Factory”, so they are becoming much more difficult to find.  Especially, in good condition and since President Obama’s famous or rather infamous “Cash For Clunkers” program, there are even fewer of them.  Too many people took classic vehicles that they were told were only worth $4,000 or less and had them crushed for an additional Government incentive – brilliant!

When you look at classic cars, whether they are a Jeep or a Corvette, you have to look at the number of vehicles that were produced and the age of the vehicle.  This 1977 beauty is almost 35 years old and it was a Jeep and not a Corvette or a Mustang that was sitting in a car collectors showroom, but a vehicle that was driven.  It has 144,000 miles on odometer, which over 35 years is under 4,200 miles.  It’s being sold “As-Is”, but the current owner did quite a bit to this vehicle to warrant the $9,500 price tag, including:  Fully rebuilt engine with a 3yr 100,000 mile warranty.  New pumps, belts, and hoses. New ball joints, axle U joints, sway bars, and wheel bearings. He installed Hella Vision Plus Headlights and Kenwood Stereo.  This is an extremely rare 1977 Cherokee Chief S Wide Track with an automatic transmission.

There was not a huge production run for this vehicle back in 1977, especially as a Limited and you can see the Limited badge right on the vehicle.  I even had a Jeep enthusiast write to tell me that he has owned 70 Jeeps over the years and he didn’t believe that they made a Limited.  They actually did, but they are not very common, which is why he hasn’t seen one before.  According to Wikipedia they did indeed make a limited for this vehicle, along with a number of other versions, which is another reason for why it’s priced at where it is priced.  Supply and demand always affects the price of vehicles and this was a very small production run compared to other Jeep models.

“Based on the Wagoneer, the Cherokee was marketed as the “sporty” two-door variant of Jeep’s station wagon. The term “Sport Utility” appears for the first time in the 1974 Cherokee sales brochure.^[1] A four-door was not added to the lineup until 1977. Other than the base model, the trim levels of the Cherokee included the S (Sport), Chief, Golden Eagle, Golden Hawk, Limited, Classic, Sport, Pioneer, and Laredo.” – Wikipedia

Like any older Jeep, this vehicle is still going to need additional reconditioning, but the motor and important components of the vehicle have already been taken care of by the current owner.  The body is in excellent condition, but the headliner, carpeting and some of the interior will need some TLC.   These vehicles were beasts and you can find quite a few photos online of people using them off-road.  A friend of mine in Wisconsin’s Dad had one of these when we were growing up that he would use for duck and deer hunting and they were bullet proof and would go through just about anything.  It didn’t matter how cold it was outside, it always seemed to run and the great thing about these older vehicles if that you can still pop the hood and work on them!

Don’t buy this for your teenage son or daughter, as their first vehicle, though because it’s not going to drive like your wife’s modern SUV, even though Jeep invented the term “sport utility”.  These older vehicles do not drive the same as what they may have learned to drive on and they will get confused when they can’t find the iPod jack!  I can’t tell you how many young people buying cars do not even bother looking under the hood anymore, let alone know how to drive a manual transmission or engage the four-wheel drive on a vehicle that doesn’t do it automatically for them.

This is a great second or third vehicle for a Jeep enthusiast to tinker with or a fantastic vehicle for someone who has driven older vehicles and knows how to drive them and properly maintain them.  These Jeeps were built to last, which is why this one is still going strong 35 years after it came off the assembly line.

1977 Jeep Cherokee Limited 2 Door 4WD

Year: 1977
Make: Jeep
Model: Cherokee
Trim: 2-Door Limited
Mileage: 144,191
Stock #: JB091558c
VIN #: 22222222222222222
Trans: Automatic
Color: Red
Interior: Cloth
Vehicle Type: SUV
State: CO
Drive Train:4WD
Engine: V8

Price: $9,500

Cool Car Guy Rating:  Ain’t Your Mamma’s SUV

________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy

Hey Cool Car Fans,

As The Cool Car Guy, I have a large number of people who consign their vehicles with me.  I probably do more consignments than anyone in the Denver area, but the vehicles don’t always make it up here at CoolCarGuy.com.  This is not because they are not worthy of being listed or they are not really nice vehicles, but it’s because I am extremely busy and it takes time to manage this website.

I just had to post this 2001 GMC Yukon that I just delivered to a young couple that needed out of their 2005 Subaru Legacy Outback XT, after sinking thousands of dollar into a new motor, turbo and rebuild.  I was able to wholesale their vehicle for them and get them out of it and into a much nicer vehicle.  That’s what I do.

It only took a week for me to move this GMC Yukon for a couple that was referred to me by another client of mine to help them sell their vehicle.  I had numerous calls on it, but the people who I was able to deliver it to needed financing and I was able to make it happen.  The previous owners had taken such good care of this SUV that I had to put some photos up here at CoolCarGuy.com to give my visitors an idea of what a really nice, well maintained vehicle looks like.  I had a similar Buick earlier in the week, that I ended up wholesaling, but that will be going on to a new owner soon through another dealership.

I often hear people talk about how great Toyota’s, Nissans and Honda’s are and they are good vehicles, at least some of them, if they are well cared for are.  However, when I delivered this sweet GMC Yukon and had a safety inspection done on it, which I always do for my clients before delivering their car, the only thing this Yukon needed was an air filter and a cabin filter.  It didn’t even require an oil change, which was pretty cool.  Check out the photos and if you know someone looking to buy, sell, trade or lease a vehicle, new or used, have them contact me.

2001 GMC Yukon SLT 4WD

Color:  Silver
Transmission:  Automatic
Year:  2001
Engine:  5.3L V8 OHV 16V
Make:  GMC  Drive Train:
4WD  Model:  Yukon
Mileage:  59,048
Trim:  SLT 4WD
State:  CO
Interior:  Leather
Price:  $13,500
Vehicle Type:  SUV

I really enjoy being The Cool Car Guy, but especially when I can buyers and sellers to create a great experience for both parties.  It’s really cool when it works out for everyone involved and especially when it’s a great used vehicle for a new family.

Cool Car Guy Rating:  Nice

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy