What is a good first car ??? opinions please?

Mia

I know I just asked a question about my parents buying a new car and now im wondering about my first car lol and I also know im 13 but im just wondering these were the cars i was thinking...(also these cars would be new when i get a car in 3 years so i guess they would be 2015? Im a girl if it matters in anyway.

Car1) E350 Cabriolet (Mercedes) maybe they would be a year or two older since this would be pretty expensive for a first car (E class) I would most likely get one for 34,000 as three years old with 20,000miles (cars.com)

Car2)135i Coupe (BMW) This car is a little less expensive and I could get this new according to my mom because it is 39,000 (starting at)

Car3)C250 Coupe (BMW) This car is also a little less expensive than the Mercedes it starts at 37,000

opinions on dealer and cars

Answer
None of the above.

As a first car for a teenager, get something small and inexpensive. Insurance is already sky-high for any teenage driver. A teenager driving a luxury vehicle will have stratospheric insurance rates.

BTW, a C250 is a Benz, not a BMW

What are the best, most awesome sports cars ever?

Serina Nad

So.....I wanna know what is your dream sports car? And what the heck is a bugatti veyron 16.4 and why is it so awesome? Would you agree that the acura nsx 2015 is amazing?? ....just wanted to know.

Answer
With its 16-cylinder four-wheel drive, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4*) may well be the most sophisticated production vehicle of all times.
Most of the components tucked beneath its hood are ingenious innovations that were formerly only deemed possible by visionaries like Ferdinand Piëch.

Boasting a maximum speed of more than 400 km per hour, the Veyron is unmatched in the super sports category. It offers a total of 736 kW (1,001 HP), and its ample power reserves even at high speeds are the fabric of dreams for luxury-class limousines: for a constant speed of 250 km/h, the Veyron only needs 270-280 HP. This means that the seven-gear clutch transmission works with a torque of up to 1,250 Newton meters. The Electronic Stability Program ensures the necessary flexibility and maneuverability at any speed. The Veyron reaches velocities that would literally lift the car off the ground â if it werenât for its ingenious aerodynamics, which keeps it firmly on the road even at full speed. Adjusting the back spoiler, reducing ground clearance, opening and closing the lids â it all adds to the perfect balance between propulsion and downforce. Such a super sports car may not seem to be brought to a halt easily, but the Veyronâs ceramic brakes slow it down faster than it can accelerate. While it takes this exceptional car only 2.5 seconds to go from 0 to 100 km/h, it needs even less time â a mere 2.3 seconds â to come to a standstill from 100 (reference point). To reduce the risk of injuries in accidents, Bugatti had a Formula 1 safety concept adapted for the Veyron. All these technical details combine to make the Veyron a truly exceptional super sports car.

Technical Specifications
Cylinder capacity7993 cm³
Power output736 KW (1001 hp) at 6000 U/min
Max. torque1250 Nm at 2200â5500 U/min
Gearbox7 Gear DSG
Top speed407 km/h
Acceleration
0â100 km/h2.5 sec
0â200 km/h7.3 sec
0â300 km/h16.7 sec
CO2 Emission
In town960 g/km
Extra-Urban350 g/km
Combined574 g/km
Fuel typeSuper lead free 98 RON/ROZ
Fuel Consumption
In town40.4 l
Out of town14.7 l
Combined24.1 l

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How do you feel about bmw m3 changes?

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Danny

So apparently the new 2014 BMW M3 will first be realeased as 4 door automatic only!! Then once the 2 door is released it will be titled the M4! What is the cause of this odd disappointing change.

Answer
If that is true, I would hate it.

I like it when car companies and models stick to their roots.

Here are unfortunate things happening:

The Corvette was a high tech high quality car when it came out in the 50's. Now it is a cheap plastic car with few luxury features.
Mazda is the brand all about driving and sportiness, yet the only sports car they make now is the MX-5 and Mazdaspeed models. Bring back the RX-7 and MX-6 MAZDA!.
Porsche is switching to electrical steering, larger cars, and they are making SUV's and sedans. That is everything against what the company's original goals were.
Honda had the guts to introduce a CRX successor and make it a slow HYBRID. CRZ. Even the new 2014-2015 NSX will be a hybrid.

I don't know what companies are thinking.

How Much is GAS in China and India?

Blackstrok

Why do they say there is great demand in China and India? Here we are paying $3.69 a gallon. In china and india the daily wage is $3.69!!! How can they afford it, when even WE can't afford it!!! And we are making way more than that!! If it's cheaper in china and india, why would the arabs sell it there instead of here and make more money?

Answer
Your logic would be right if the Western media can be trusted. But I am afraid they are not as trustworthy as you may hope.

There are a lot of poor people in China. But there are also a lot of very wealthy people over there. The number of wealthy people is small percentage-wise, but HUGE in absolute terms.

Just to give you some statistics:

There are currently an estimated 160 million consumers for luxury items in China.

According to estimates by Ernst and Young, China will surpass both Japan and the US to become the world's largest consumer of luxury goods by 2015. That is only 7 years away! By that time (2015), China alone is expected to account for 29% of the entire world's total sales of luxury items. That is the reason why all the car companies and luxury goods retailers of the world are flocking to China as we speak.

According to the Britain-based Economist Intelligence Unit, by then, China will have, on an annual basis, 100 million people going abroad for sightseeing, which according to some estimates, will collectively consume around US$60-70 billion worth of goods every year while traveling abroad.

All these numbers are perhaps still small percentage-wise, but are seriously HUGE in absolute terms. It is these absolute numbers that are pushing up prices.

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What is the “poverty line?” Who is below that line and what are the causes of poverty?

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desifrom30

Answer
To the poster who said tha "80% of Americans are below the poverty line." Get a friggin' clue. We have about a 12% poverty rate, and when adjusted to world standards it falls to about 5%. If we use the same standards as the rest of the world we have by far the lowest percentage of people living in poverty anywhere in the world. Most of the world considers poverty to be unable to eat everyday, not unable to buy a new car.

:"Europe vs. America
Germany edges out Arkansas in per capita GDP.

Sunday, June 20, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

The growing split between the U.S. and Europe has been much in the news, mostly on foreign policy. But less well understood is the gap in economic growth and standards of living. Now comes a European report that puts the American advantage in surprisingly stark relief.

The study, "The EU vs. USA," was done by a pair of economists--Fredrik Bergstrom and Robert Gidehag--for the Swedish think tank Timbro. It found that if Europe were part of the U.S., only tiny Luxembourg could rival the richest of the 50 American states in gross domestic product per capita. Most European countries would rank below the U.S. average, as the chart below shows.

The authors admit that man doesn't live by GDP alone, and that this measure misses output in the "black" economy, which is significant in Europe's high-tax states. GDP also overlooks "the value of leisure or a good environment" or the way prosperity is spread across a society.

But a rising tide still lifts all boats, and U.S. GDP per capita was a whopping 32% higher than the EU average in 2000, and the gap hasn't closed since. It is so wide that if the U.S. economy had frozen in place at 2000 levels while Europe grew, the Continent would still require years to catch up. Ireland, which has lower tax burdens and fewer regulations than the rest of the EU, would be the first but only by 2005. Switzerland, not a member of the EU, and Britain would get there by 2010. But Germany and Spain would need until 2015, while Italy, Sweden and Portugal would have to wait until 2022.

Higher GDP per capita allows the average American to spend about $9,700 more on consumption every year than the average European. So Yanks have by far more cars, TVs, computers and other modern goods. "Most Americans have a standard of living which the majority of Europeans will never come anywhere near," the Swedish study says.

But what about equality? Well, the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line has dropped to 12% from 22% since 1959. In 1999, 25% of American households were considered "low income," meaning they had an annual income of less than $25,000. If Sweden--the very model of a modern welfare state--were judged by the same standard, about 40% of its households would be considered low-income.
In other words poverty is relative, and in the U.S. a large 45.9% of the "poor" own their homes, 72.8% have a car and almost 77% have air conditioning, which remains a luxury in most of Western Europe. The average living space for poor American households is 1,200 square feet. In Europe, the average space for all households, not just the poor, is 1,000 square feet.

So what is Europe's problem? "The expansion of the public sector into overripe welfare states in large parts of Europe is and remains the best guess as to why our continent cannot measure up to our neighbor in the west," the authors write. In 1999, average EU tax revenues were more than 40% of GDP, and in some countries above 50%, compared with less than 30% for most of the U.S.

We don't report this with any nationalist glee. The world needs a prosperous, growing Europe, and its relative economic decline is one reason for growing EU-American tension. A poorer Europe lacks the wealth to invest in defense, a fact that in turn affects the willingness of Europeans to join America in confronting global security threats. But at least all of this is a warning to U.S. politicians who want this country to go down the same welfare-state road to decline."

Why won't Honda make a production-car V8 engine yet?

Q. I don't understand why an Acura won't have a V8 like other luxurious brands like Lexus, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Infiniti do. Why can't Acura just make a high-performance all-wheel-drive TL just as fast as the BMW M5 F10, the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG 4MATIC, the Audi RS 7 Sportback, and the Lexus GS-F? All these cars have a V8 engine, but Hondas don't.

Acura should plan to make a SH-AWD TL with a 520 horsepower VTEC engine with a 4.0- or 5.0-liter V8 and a price tag starting at $70,000 - $80,000, and a rear-wheel-drive TSX with a 4-cylinder or a V6 kind of VTEC with only 450 and a price tag starting at $55,000 - $60,000.

I don't know about the RL, but they should make a 3.85-liter V6 engine with at least 615 horsepower and a price tag of more than $110,000, probably more than a brand new Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. The 615 horsepower RL should be able to compete with other cars like the Audi S8, the Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG, the BMW Alpina B7, the Bentley Mulsanne, the Jaguar XJL Supersports, and the Chrysler 300 SRT8.

UPDATE: Yes, Acura is planning to make a 2015 NSX with either a V8 or a V10 engine, but I'm talking about Hondas and Acuras BESIDES THE NSX.
"The 615 horsepower RL should be able to compete with other cars like the Audi S8, the Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG, the BMW Alpina B7, the Bentley Mulsanne, the Jaguar XJL Supersports, and the Chrysler 300 SRT8."

I forgot to include the Porsche Panamera Turbo S. :-(
And the new 520+ horsepower Maserati Quattroporte V8.
I'm also wondering if Honda can really make an all-wheel-drive 345 horsepower Civic to compare with the Mercedes-Benz CLA45/A45/B45 AMG. LOL.

Answer
Why? They target a particular customer set that they feel doesn't want or need a V8. Acura is a low-end luxury car, basically a dressed up Honda, not in the same league as Lexus, which is more than a dressed up Toyota.

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When is China going to 'full-scale' reform to fight inequality?

luxury cars 2015 image

Freely

By Boris Cambreleng | AFP News,

China's stated aim to narrow the income gulf between its sports-car driving elite and vast numbers who still live in poverty will need radical political and economic changes to work, say economists.

Long-delayed "proposals on the distribution of income" were announced this week ahead of Sunday's Lunar New Year, as hundreds of millions working in cities returned to their rural homes, many without running water or heating.

Beijing promised to improve the lives of these rural migrant workers, who are denied equal access to health, education and housing services in cities under a half-century old system of residency permits known as "hukou".

"Migrant workers from rural areas will be assisted to register as citizens and entitled to all basic public services in the cities," according to the measures quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.

But the aspirational document was generally short of concrete steps.

Tax reductions will be "promoted" for low- and middle-income earners, it said, and the government will "target" reducing the number of people living on less than $1 a day by around 80 million by 2015.

In 2011 Xinhua said 150 million Chinese live on less than that, a stark contrast to the country's image as the world's manufacturing heartland, the holder of its biggest foreign exchange reserves and a motor of global recovery.

The extent of inequality in China, particularly between urban and rural areas, saw authorities refuse to publish the country's Gini coefficient, a commonly used measure of inequality, for more than 10 years.

In December a research centre which operates under China's central bank said its Gini coefficient stood at 0.61, one of the highest in the world. A Gini figure of zero represents perfect equality of income and 1 total inequality.

Last month China's government said the figure was 0.47, higher than the United States, and above the 0.4 figure widely cited as a "danger level" for social discontent.

Research centre director Gan Li questioned the official statistic, arguing that the government "has not published the percentage of people who refused to answer" and "the richer they are, the more likely they are to refuse to answer".

Like other economists, Gan believes the authorities underestimate the incomes of the wealthy, who hide a significant portion of their earnings.

China has seen an explosion in its luxury goods market -- which grew 56 percent last year -- as Western makers of products from designer handbags to yachts and supercars pile in.

The boom casts doubt on government statistics saying the top 10% of earners had an average annual income of 59,000 yuan ($9,500) in 2011, economist Wang Xiaolu said recently in Caijing, a respected economics journal. "Solving the income distribution issue requires full-scale reform," he wrote on his blog.

Aware of the growing resentment against the rich and endemic corruption, the Communist Party is urging officials to be frugal, pledging strict controls on government spending on banquets, car purchases and overseas travel.

But many observers say that fundamental tax reforms are essential to create more equal income distribution.

The government plan said only that property tax, which some cities have been experimenting with, will be extended, and inheritance tax will be introduced "at the appropriate time".
Local governments derive much of their income from land sales, leading to many farmers being evicted from their land and compensated below market rates.

The newly released plan says that farmers will be "guaranteed proceeds" from land sales, but Hu called for greater changes to China's system of property rights, where all land is officially owned by the state or rural collectives. "Farmers should be able to develop or sell their land, which is their collective property," he said.

Mao Yushi, a guru of economic liberalisation in China, called for reforms to the financial system, where firms with close connections to the state receive the vast majority of bank loans, leaving small-business owners short of capital.

"The princelings can go to the bank and get money just on the strength of their status and get rich on this basis," he said, referring to the children of members of the communist elite.

"The two-tier society of rich and poor is everywhe
The distinctive characteristic of China is people who have special powers and bully others."
Thanks for the 2 great answers.

Now I start to realize the reason China's inequality problem can never be solved after reading CCPkv's long answer which is somewhat like an emperor asking a beggar on the street why the latter doesn't go home to cook himself a steak instead of searching for food in trash bins.

Answer
There isn't anything the elite can really do to change the monstrosity created by CCP corruption. It runs too deep and too far to an extreme. The People no longer believe that the government has their best interests at heart...

"Limited capitalism" should NOT have been instituted ONLY for the benefit of greedy criminals. Instead of promoting unity and balance in a society, the CCP chose to employ selfishness and strong-arm tactics to abuse the poor.

Perhaps the CCP cannot learn from history, and that's why they constantly try to change it via propaganda. "French Revolution"????

The CCP f***ed-up!

Opening a Roth IRA - 19 years old with various questions?

bottledsec

Hi! So. I've been working since I was 15(?), had income coming in since then, but knew nothing really about money management so the money was just plunked into my savings account or spent. A real pity, since I recently discovered Roth IRAs and I could have started making contributions earlier... Anyways, I'm trying to start now so that I can make a full $5000 2012 contribution at least before April rolls around, and I had a couple questions!

1. I'm considering opening my Roth at Vanguard or Schwab. Vanguard pros: gain access to their great index funds; con: my balance of $5000 will only be enough to invest in maybe one fund with their minimum of $3000 for a fund. Schwab pros: their low $100 minimum for funds; cons: compared to Vanguard, they have less index fund choices. What seems like a better idea or is there a better alternative? As a note, I'm a beginner, so Scottrade, E*Trade, or other brokerages with low trade costs and such don't really interest me, since trading is yet intimidating.

2. Can I make my 2013 contribution right after my 2012 contribution? Per say, put $5000 before April, and then put $5500 for 2013 at the end of April? Also, how will my brokerage know that the $5000 is a 2012 contribution if I'm putting it in so late? Do I put a memo that it's a 2012 contribution?

3. Lastly, am I looking at everything all wrong or missing any money management tips? If I'm being an idiot, please let me know - after all.. I am barely 19 ^_^

Thanks!

Additional Information: I am a college student, I am estimating $12k in federal subsidized student loan debt (estimating interest rate at 3.4%) by the time I graduate in 2015. I may withdraw some of my contributions at that point if I don't immediately get employed. Just trying to take advantage of the Roth tax break as much as I can T__T I heard it makes a big difference later in life once you're retired...
my earned income has exceeded $5500 for the past three years.
*correction: my earned income has exceeded $5500 EACH year for the past three years. For 2012, my earned income was around $12000.

Answer
A Roth IRA has to be funded out of earned income

"You must have earned income at least equal to the amount you contribute to Roth accounts for the year. Net income from self-employment counts just the same as wage or salary income.". (Smart Money)

So what you earned at fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen cannot be invested unless you have at least $5000 in earned income this last tax year.

Secondly - "Roth contributions are nondeductible. But the earnings build up tax-free. And withdrawals are free of federal income tax as long as the account has been open at least five years and you're age 59 1/2 or older. (Smart Money)

So you've paid income tax on this money so you're not saving on taxes paid by buying a Roth IRA. and you are sure that you will not need any of this money until you're 55? Not getting married or buying a home, or a luxury car etc. etc.? It all depends on your regular savings but ROTH IRA is about retirement and I don't think it's healthy to think about retirement when you're a teenager.

Invest the money but have it in a regular brokerage account where you can spend it when you need it. Trust me - in the next forty years you'll need it. Besides, perhaps you're the next Bill Gates. Do you think he socked away $10,000 i a retirement account at 19? Does it make any difference if he did?

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