Not Under the Hood

If you're familiar with 911s, you probably know their engines are in the rear, not the front.  It's a Porsche tradition.  Way back when, Ferdinand Porsche designed the first Volkswagen with a rear engine, and later the 356.  The idea behind a rear-engined auto is to give it push from behind the rear wheels and to give it traction and improve its aerodynamics.  And it does make a difference in the way the car handles, and although the rear tires wear faster than the front, that's part of the deal with a 911.  Porsche makes other models that have a front engine, such as the current Cayenne and Panamera, and the 924, 968, and 944, all of which are no longer made.  When I was growing up my neighbor had a 944 and it seemed pretty exotic at the time.

The newer 911s all feature the rear engine, like this:

The 2010 base Carrera features a 3.6L horizontally opposed Flat 6 Cylinder DOHC, with variable valve timing and 4 valves per cylinder.  345 HP at 6500 RPM, and 288 pound feet of torque at 4400 RPM.  All controlled by that 6 speed manual transmission.  The Carrera S and higher echelon versions naturally boast higher performance engines with significantly more HP and torque.   This is also a water cooled engine, introduced to the Type 997 (this is the internal Porsche designation for the 911) a few years ago.  People have differing views on water versus air cooled, but Porsche seems to have gotten this right for the 997.  Come to think of it, water cooling seems to be trend in the HPC business lately too.

As you might guess the trunk or boot is in the front, or "frunk" as some like to call it.

It's actually a little bigger than it looks and can carry a small to medium suitcase and other items.  The back seat, or Sport Seat as Porsche calls it, is good for carrying modest sized things too and that's about it.  It's not meant for an average sized or tall person, you can't sit up straight in it.  I can just sit sideways in it and even then it's not comfortable.

The front trunk also contains the car's battery.  Batteries on a Porsche are whole matter unto themselves, which I'll write about in a subsequent post.

Business Up Front, and a Party in the Back

"Business up front, and a party in the back." - so says Motorweek of the 2015 BMW i8.  This one promises to be a game changer.  Soon hybrids will be as much fun to drive as traditional combustion engined cars.  The i8 is a true hybrid sports car with a front mounted 129 HP electric motor, and a rear 3 cylinder 1.5L turbo charged engine, capable of producing 228 HP. With both engaged, it's 0-60 in 4.2 seconds.  An informative video can be seen at http://www.motorweek.org/reviews/first_impressions/first_look_2015_bmw_i8.

Another good, brief review of it can be found in The Guardian from last week.  The swan-wing doors are reminiscent of the DeLorean.  Remember? Made famous mostly by the time machine in Back to the Future. 

But the i8 is the future.  It's not cheap at around $135,000, and they go on sale in the United States this fall.  There'll be a long waiting list.   A friend of mine-- who I won't name-- disclosed to me last week that she really, really wants one of these.  I can totally see her driving it on the California freeways in the perpetually nice weather (and yes, we're all at the same time praying for rain for California).  I say buy it! 

2015 Sneak Peak

The 2015 911 has not been officially unveiled yet, but here is a link to some spy photos of it, at http://www.topspeed.com/cars/porsche/2015-porsche-911-ar162114.html.  Apparently it's getting a bit of facelift, featuring new air intakes and a new rear bumper and tail lights and air outlets. 

How to Sell a Used Car on eBay

I've been a member on eBay for many years, soon after it was established back in the mid-1990s.  It has grown into a profitable and fascinating business over the years when former CEO Meg Whitman was at the helm.  I remember being surprised when I first discovered eBay Motors and the mere fact that people were buying and selling used cars this way.   Back when I was looking for my BMW I cruised eBay a lot, but didn't find what I wanted at that time. 

But it works generally, and most of my transactions with other eBayers have been fine, and eBay is usually thorough and swift at handling fraudulent items and punishing shysters.  There is the exception here and there:  a couple years ago on eBay I bought on a whim a replacement battery for my MacBook Pro from somewhere in Brooklyn, NY, via China.  When I got the battery, it looked genuine but the imprint on it read Lithium Ion battery for MacBook Pre.  I knew it was a fake, and then confirmed that when it caused my screen to waver insanely.  Luckily it didn't damage my laptop.  It took some effort but eBay got my money back for me.  For related fun, check out this video of an entirely fake Apple store in Kunming City, China. 

So back to cars on eBay.  In my view you'll do better on eBay than on a forum like Craigslist.  I posted my 1998 BMW 323is to Craigslist twice last spring and received a total of 2 emails from people who were virtually kicking tires and not serious. One asked me if I would take $2000 less than I was asking.  I didn't respond.  So I began following similar autos to my BMW on eBay, seeing what they were going for, how they were presented, and what condition they were in.  Here's what I learned:

1) Presentation is key.  Post lots of pictures from hood to trunk, with as many interior as exterior pictures.  Show the odometer reading.   Clean your auto thoroughly first- not many folks want to buy a dirty car.  Clean those tar marks and give it a good wash and waxing too.  Vacuum the upholstery and dust everywhere else, including the trunk.  Clean the windows and mirrors, and Armour-all your vinyl.  If you're a smoker or have dogs or other pets that frequent your car, be honest about that in your listing.  Nothing is worse for a non-smoker or non pet-owner to find that the new car they just purchased smells like a bar or kennel.  People want to know what they're getting. 

Cleaner than clean helps sell your car

2) Don't price your old car, unless it's rare or very collectible, to make a killing because you won't. Do your homework on blue book values and take into account the usual things such as mileage, overall condition, what things have been replaced (ie new clutch? Suspension? rebuilt engine?  etc?) and what is original.  Ebay makes you post the VIN number so people can do a carfax, which I recommend.  It'll give you peace of mind, tell you how many owners -- be honest about this too-- it has had, and whether or not the car been in an accident.  Used autos can have either a clean, or sketchy history. 


3) Adjust the price lower by a bit if you're not getting many watchers or bids in the first few days.  This will attract more attention.  Often, most of the bidding action takes place near the end of the auction, and you can see people out-bidding another.  You want your car to be the subject of a bidding war, which is fun to watch.  

4) Answer any and all technical questions that viewers may have, and post the answers publicly.  If you have a desirable vehicle you'll get a lot of questions. 

Generally, there can be lot of junk on eBay, but many perfectly good autos, too. In my experience there were at any given time 3 to 5 other BMWs of my vintage and model on eBay.  Most were trashed or defective in some way, mostly because of their age and having gone through several owners.  Mine was the exception and I think back to my parents' drilling into us to take care of our things-- it paid off in this endeavor.  One 1998 E36 I watched had a seized engine, another's leather upholstery looked like the family dog had chewed its way through all the seats, and yet another's 323ci convertible top motor no longer worked. There were also the typical "Frankenvehicles" with different colored body panels.  A piece of trivia about BMW that is useful if you're in the market for a second hand one:  BMW stamps the individual VIN number on all the major body components of each of its vehicles that rolls off the assembly lines.  So if the front panels and doors, for example, are original to that car there will be a small VIN stamp on those matching the one on the hood cowl.  If the VINs don't match or one is missing, you've got a problem. 

EBay allows dealers to list their inventories too so there's more competition than from other private sellers, but you can beat the dealers, especially by disclosing everything about the car you're selling to prospective buyers.  Dealers almost always want more money for the same car a private individual may have listed, and in the case of older vehicles, many of the dealers' offering have come from auctions, and you may not know exactly what you're getting or where the vehicle has been. In a flood perhaps, or a fire? Or did someone die in that vehicle?  Carfax helps in this regard, but is not 100 percent perfect in its coverage. 

In the end, my 1998 BMW 323is had 546 page views, 61 watchers, and was the object of a bidding war on the last day of the auction.  I got significantly more than I planned on for a 16 year old car by selling it on eBay.  With some homework, full disclosure, and clear communication with potential customers, you can too.