Consumer Reports' annual auto issue is out and Clark is giddy with excitement. The April '08 issue definitively says that extended warranties aren't worth the investment. Clark has historically been neutral on extended warranties for vehicles, but now he'll have to revise his opinion. Only 20% of people ever recoup the cost of the warranty vs. the cost of repairs over the lifetime of a vehicle. If you're buying a Mercedes, you'll have the best chance (about 40%) in that regard. Other vehicles where a warranty may be a smart move include Pontiacs, Jeeps, Chryslers, Buicks and Dodges.

In other news, there's a new champ when it comes to reliable small cars: Hyundai Elantra. Other top picks included the Honda Accord (family sedan); Toyota Prius (hybrid); Toyota Sienna (minivan); and Hyundai Santa Fe (SUV). American cars are getting more reliable, but they're not quite on par with the Japanese vehicles yet.

When it comes to the best used cars, they're all Japanese: Toyota's Prius, Highlander, RAV 4 (4 cylinder), Corrolla and Honda's Accord (4 cylinder). A new category this year was vehicles that are unloved, but good to own. This category was dominated by Korean vehicles such as the Kia Rondo and the MAZDA5.

Your car is the second most expensive purchase you're likely to make after your home. So people often ask about which vehicles hold their value best after 5 years. To answer that question, Kelley Blue Book has just released its 2008 Best Resale Value Awards tally.

The winner is Volkswagen, which is making a comeback after some recent big losses. VWs keep just under half their value after a 60-month cycle. The other brands that round out the Top 10 are BMW, Acura, Honda, Porsche, Subaru, Lexus, Infiniti, Audi and Toyota.

On the other end of the spectrum, the worst brand to hold value has been singled out as Suzuki. With Suzukis, you only get about a quarter back for every dollar after 5 years. Other cars that really stink when it comes to holding value include Kia, GMC, Mercury, Dodge, Chrysler, Lincoln, Jeep, Ford and Jaguar.

On a related note, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says that the Subaru Impreza is the only small car that meets its strict safety standards. There were tons of midsized vehicles green-lighted by the IIHS, but not so in the large vehicle categories -- despite what you may remember from high-school physics!

There's one call that Clark has taken on the air about 60 times over the years, and he's never been able to answer it convincingly: Is it worth it to pay the extra bucks to buy a hybrid just to pay less in gas every week? Now Edmunds.com has done a cost analysis of some of the top hybrid models. Their research indicates how much longer it takes to get a return on investment if you buy the hybrid versions of any cars in the study. It's the Ford Escape that gives you the quickest payback -- owners will break even at around 3 years. The Honda Civic and the Mercury Mariner tie at No. 2. The Saturn Vue checks in at No. 3, allowing owners to break even in 4.8 years. Keep in mind that any hybrid offering return on investment in under five years is a smart buy. On the other end of the spectrum, the Toyota Highlander takes 11 years before you break even and the Camry will take you 12 years. And what about the Prius? Because there's no exact gas-engine equivalent, Edmunds looked at the Prius vs. Corolla. Turns out it will take you a whopping 13.6 years to get payback if you only drive your Prius 15,000 miles/year! So Toyota -- the greenest of all the automakers -- actually does not give you good payback on your hybrid-purchasing dollar. Clark advises people to only buy a Toyota hybrid if they're doing it because of deeply held environmental beliefs.

Consumer Reports has released its annual vehicle reliability survey and Toyota has come out with a black eye. For the first time ever, the Japanese company's Camry has been dropped from the recommended list. Toyota made a corporate decision a few years back to become the world's largest automaker. In doing so, they had to take the focus away from making quality vehicles and shift it to growth. That explains why Toyota as a whole now checks in at No. 5 on Consumer Reports' tally of the most reliable vehicles sold in the United States.

Meanwhile, Ford has emerged as an unlikely hero in the report thanks to its enormous jump in quality. The "Not your Father's Ford" tagline is taking on a new meaning and people can no longer joke that Ford stands for "fix or repair daily."

The top carmaker remains Honda, followed by Acura and Scion. The first American nameplate on the list is Buick, followed by Mercury and then Ford. The least reliable car sold in the United States is Land Rover, followed by Hummer, Cadillac and Mercedes.

Cars speak to us emotionally. Clark's producer Joel bought a 2000 Nissan Altima recently that doesn't really stir his emotions; he simply views it as dependable transportation. Joel might have picked a Honda Element if he were buying on emotion alone. Christa, Clark's executive producer, has named the hybrid version of her standard Lexus RX 300 as her dream car.

Sometimes it's hard to step back from the emotional side and make a smart auto purchase. But think about the underlying hassle that comes with purchasing an unreliable vehicle.

When you're ready to go car shopping, get pre-qualified for a car loan from a credit union and then get Consumer Reports' annual auto buying guide. Try to find a balance of quality and that emotional X factor and you'll be on your way to a great car purchase.

For 15 years, Clark has talked about the advantage of keeping a new car for at least 10 years or buying a used car and keeping it for at least four years. Cars lose about half of their value during the first three years, but then the loss ratio drops off pretty steeply after that time. Consumer Reports has now done a study on the virtues of keeping a car for 15 years. Bear in mind that most owners only keep their vehicles for three or maybe five years. But by keeping a car for 15 years or 225,000 miles, you save $31,000 dollars. The report found that during the course of 15 years, your average maintenance will be $18,000 and your insurance will be $18,000.

Consumer Reports also identified 10 vehicles that are reliable enough to last 15 years -- and they’re all Japanese! Among the top ones are Honda’s Civic, CRV and Element; and Toyota’s Forerunner, Landcruiser and Highlander models. So what vehicles should you not buy? A lot of European models, according to Consumer Reports, such as the BMW 7 Series, the Infiniti QX 56 and select models of Jaguar, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Volvo. Meanwhile, how should you decide when it does not make sense to repair a car? Clark typically tells people the cutoff should be when the cost of repair is 50 percent or more of the car’s trade-in value. Now Consumer Reports says you can push that up to the actual trade-in value. Other times you should junk a car is when it’s rusted out; really unreliable, in a flood or in an awful accident.

Clark's daughter has his Honda Civic hybrid at school and she's happy to be getting about 45 miles/gallon. It seems that hybrids with good fuel economy are now selling like gangbusters. Remember back just a few years ago when this wasn't the case? Ford had to offer incentives just to move their Escape hybrids. Now The Washington Post reports the Escape is so hot that dealers can't keep up with the demand. In fact, the vehicles are selling for thousands of dollars above the list price because people want to save money on gas. Psychologically it may feel OK to pay a little more now with the promise of bigger savings down the road, but Clark thinks you should really crunch the numbers before you make this kind of purchase. Buying with your emotions isn't advisable, nor is overpaying for new technology. Take the rational approach by doing some smart comparative auto shopping on a website like Edmunds.com. The same thinking applies when deciding whether to dump your current gas-guzzling ride for a new and more fuel-efficient vehicle. Look for a similarly depreciated vehicle and try to do a trade where you get an older set of wheels that's more fuel-efficient than your current car.

Diesels cars and other vehicles are poised to make a big comeback, according to the latest findings from J.D. Power and Associates. The survey said that one in four Americans would consider buying a diesel car; a year ago, that figure was more like one in 10. Clark remembers the diesel station wagon his family had when he was growing up. That automobile shook like crazy, had terrible acceleration and belched smoke and odor. But today's diesels are not like your daddy's diesel. Clark's driven some modern diesels throughout Europe and enjoyed great acceleration, quiet operation, good gas mileage and less pollution than a regular gas-engine car. So if you're looking for a car next year, diesel could be part of the picture. On a related note, J.D. Power also revealed stats about the reliability of vehicles after three years of ownership. Two brands tied for the top spot: the foreign-made Lexus and, somewhat surprisingly, the American-made Buick. In fact, several other American brands were toward the top of the tally, with Cadillac placing fourth and Mercury placing fifth. Meanwhile, Japanese standards like Honda and Toyota placed fifth and sixth, respectively. On the bottom of the heap were some foreign cars like Suzuki, Isuzu and Saab. But the single least reliable automobile -- based on how many problems were reported per 100 vehicles -- proved to be a Land Rover. Clark thinks it's interesting that some Japanese and European cars were selected as least reliable, while a lot of domestic rides are back on top. But perceptions take a long time to change, and people who grew up on foreign cars sometimes won't even consider a domestic vehicle.

The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index from the University of Michigan has been released. This quarterly survey has been around since 1994 and keeps tabs on the good, the bad and the ugly in multiple industries. The big news this year is that American automakers did very well. While the top automaker was foreign (Toyota's Lexus division), homegrown companies like Cadillac, Buick and Lincoln-Mercury all tied for second place. Meanwhile, Toyota's namesake division fell way behind on the tally. Clark thinks the Japanese automaker has been taking its eye off the ball lately. The Toyota business model is now geared toward growth and quantity, not quality. That accounts for why they've been issuing more recalls than ever. Fortunately for Toyota, there are some corporate initiatives in Japan to raise the quality of their namesake line of vehicles. In the computer industry, Apple is tops in customer satisfaction; Clark's wife has an Apple Macintosh that she loves. In the PC world, Hewlett Packard's HP line makes a beloved machine, yet HP's Compaq division has been voted the worst company in the industry. Meanwhile, Whirlpool continues its dominance in the appliances field, racking up its largest lead yet over the competition.

The Chinese have come into almost every American market except for cars—until now! Starting in 2008, Chinese cars will be sold under the Chrysler name in the U.S. Mainland China has a goal to account for 10% of cars sold in the world. But quality is a huge issue with Chinese manufacturing. Hyundai started off with terrible products at first; China might too! China makes terrible toys, dog food, tires, and much more, because there aren't sufficient checks and balances in the manufacturing system. So it will be a challenge for them to get the quality right. But they'd better, because the quality of cars these days is top drawer. Cars are better, safer and more reliable than they have ever been, so it's a great time to buy.

Ford is working with the power companies in California for plug-in hybrids, which are electric-powered for the first 40 miles, after which the car switches to gas. These are awesome! They cost only 2 cents per mile, only a fraction of what you pay per mile for gas! And it's a great way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

While the big oil companies are the ones ripping us off, it's your local gas station that gets the heat from consumers. But did you know that gas stations actually like it when the price of gas is lower? When prices get too high, people tend to buy less of the expensive convenience store goods like beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets that are profit boosters for gas stations.

No matter how you look at it, fuel is just one cost associated with a car. If you were paying to ride in your car the same way you pay to ride in a taxi, you'd be spending some 50 cents a mile. But what if you could drive for as little as two cents a mile? There are a number of smaller companies such as Kurrent making electric cars offering that kind of fuel economy. Kurrent -- which was bankrolled by ad-agency people using their retirement funds -- makes an electric vehicle that will go up to 35 miles an hour with a 100-mile range on flat ground. You can charge the vehicle in an ordinary household outlet. And though it is very small, it's built strong enough to be substantial in a crash. They're making up to 10 of these cars a day. The primary market is in large retirement communities in Florida, California and the mountain states. But if you think you're too cool for a grandpa-mobile, just ponder these economics: In addition to running for just two pennies a mile, a Kurrent costs as little as $10,000 to buy. Now that's a Clark Car if ever there was one! Clark has been fixated on great fuel economy since the oil shortages of the '70s. As he says, we are the strongest nation on Earth, but we won't always be if continue to give our money to oil-producing nations that want to destroy us. We must be innovative as Americans, and going electric with your car is one way to do it.

If you drive a pickup, SUV or minivan and have replaced your tires at some point, you need to check your tires to see if they're unsafe. To save money, a company in China produced their tires without an important safety step. As a result, after a short period of time, the tires shred right off the car. The importer knew there was a safety problem but didn't alert the government. People have been hurt, so you need to be aware of the brands that were sold with this serious safety defect:
YKS
Compass
Telluride
Westlake
The following sizes are defective:
LT235/75R-15, LT225/75R-16, LT235/85R-16, Lt245/75R-16, LT265/85R-16, and LT3X10.5-15.

China's economy is expanding rapidly and in a chaotic fashion, and this is not the only case of defective merchandise. We've heard of the unsafe toys and dog food, and now there are reports of antifreeze being put in toothpaste to extend its shelf life. (Never mind what it does to the consumer!) This is damaging the reputation of products from mainland China.

Ford Motors received great publicity from JD Power & Associates, saying they’ve been doing a great job with the initial quality of their vehicles. Another study found that Hyundai was tops in reliability. This is interesting, because at first, Hyundai made a terrible impression. In the ‘80’s, they made terrible cars. But even though their quality has steadily improved, nobody noticed or cared, because of their reputation. But then they introduced their 10-year warranty, and since then sales have improved. But the frustration is that people still don’t consider Hyundai a quality car. The company, therefore, has been trying everything to get people interested. And they’re not the only ones with this problem. Saturn, though they started out with a great reputation out of the box, but has had a long drought. Now people don’t consider them at all, especially if they are Japanese car buyers. So Saturn had an idea. They’re going to bring Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords onto Saturn lots, with the idea that once you test drive them side by side, buyers will prefer the Saturn. It’s a gutsy move to not only name your competition, but bring them right onto the lot. Good for them!

AutoNation, the largest owner of new car dealerships, has come up with a great new program, whereby “green leaf” logos will be put on cars that get good fuel economy. The owner of AutoNation, Mike Jackson, knows how our dependence on oil from foreign countries is weakening our position in the world. So, he wants to encourage people to drive efficient cars. Clark is 100 percent behind him. Now, if you own a car that doesn’t get great fuel economy, don’t suddenly dump it. The gas costs are just one part of the whole picture. But when the car is on its last legs and it’s time to get a replacement, that’s when you want to buy a more economical car. You can’t control the price of gasoline, but you can control how much of it we use.

If a car got a bad rating in government crash safety tests, and the manufacturer then improves the safety of the car, does the car actually become safer on the road? The answer is YES. There is a direct relationship showing that when a safety rating improves, the car will become safer to drive. A study done at Virginia Commonwealth University found that cars rated as “poor” had a 42 percent higher death rate than cars rated as “good.” The Cliff Notes version of the study is available on the Wall Street Journal site. In contrast, no one has been able to come up with a way to make SUVs safer. An SUV that is given a “poor” rating remains that way no matter what companies do to it. The good news is that auto makers have been moving away from the truck-based SUV models. But cars are much safer these days. In fact, when you go car shopping today, passenger cars earn the highest rating for safety with 5 stars. Just keep in mind that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is trying to prohibit customers from accessing information about car defects, so you have to be extra vigilant moving forward. Clark wants you to visit the site and voice your complaint about the potential law. Just click here to voice your opinion. But, it’s great news that cars are getting safer.

Do you have to spend a fortune to get a reliable car these days? What makes a car reliable after all? Well, J.D. Power & Associates is a research organization that does a well-known automobile survey involving the initial reliability of cars. The annual survey gets more publicity of any other car survey. And for five years, the same company has ranked No. 1. Lexus has been rated the best, most reliable car in the U.S. for five years running, according to the survey. The real shocker is which car maker ranks No. 2 - Jaguar. Clark happens to have two Jaguars, so it makes him somewhat happy about spending so much money on them. The rest of the list includes 3) BMW; 4) Buick; 5) Buick; 6) Mercedes and 7) Toyota. So, who is the worst? The least reliable car in the country is Suzuki. There was a tie for next to last between Mazda and Land Rover. Volkswagen and Porsche were just above those two. So, you don’t have to have an ultra luxury car to have a reliable one.

The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety conducted a survey into the fatality rate of most cars on the roads today. The survey revealed which makes and models are the most dangerous. The statistics have people in the auto industry up in arms because it called certain cars out on the carpet. They protested that the fatalities are due in part to the driver. So, what does the IIHS say? The tie for the most dangerous cars goes to tiny, 2-door sporty cars and pick-up trucks. Four-door small cars were not nearly as unsafe. And the safest cars were mid-sized sedans and mini-vans. Well, typical minivan drivers also drive SUVs, which are considered unsafe. So, how do you reconcile that? It’s partly related to the design of the car. SUVs have high centers of gravity, which can mean the car is more prone to tip or roll, especially if the driver is not experienced. So get your kids out of those SUVs and into something they can handle. Look at the stats at iihs.org

Cars are the second biggest expense we have in our lives after our homes. You’ll hear Clark talk a lot about Consumer Reports when it comes to buying cars because the car advice they give is invaluable. A lesser-known source is J.D. Power & Associates, which also rates cars but on a smaller scale. J.D. Power has done surveys on initial car quality for years, and the surveys are always very informative. But the company also conducts a second survey that gets much less attention. It rates how well cars do after three years. After three years, things might start breaking on cars and you want to buy one that is reliable past three years. Well, the new data is out and it’s pretty shocking. The absolute worst car you can buy in terms of reliability and quality is Land Rover. People spend tons of money on these cars, but they’re definitely not worth it. The next three are Kia, Daewoo and Isuzu. An unlikely candidate, Volkswagen came in fifth. Other cars that got bad scores were Jaguar and Mercedes. So, who is the best? For the tenth consecutive year, Lexus was the most reliable car and no one else came close. Even better news is that second place goes to an American brand – Buick. It’s been a while since an American brand was on top. After Buick were Infinity, then Lincoln, Cadillac, Acura, Honda and Toyota.