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IntelliChoice Value Rating
The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.
One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.
What is a good car value?
A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.
But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?
For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.
This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)
Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.
Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.
So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.
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Article From Truckin' Magazine
2001 Ford F150 - Speedo For Americans
Easy Gauge Overlay Install
By Dan Ward
photographer: Dan Ward, Brandan Gillogly
We're infected with a disease that, fortunately, many of you are suffering from as well. It's called: customitis. There is no known cure and the only way to treat this formidable adversary is by looking through magazines, catalogs, and going online and buying everything you think will make your truck look better than before. Other treatments include personalizing your truck to the best of your ability, and then making sure your truck does in fact turn heads. One recent attempt of ours to cure this disease saw a new stainless steel US Speedo gauge cluster being installed on our Project Sinatra F-150.  Stock is never a good option for a truck, and this black cluster was a little too boring for us. It was a quick and painless treatment that saw our all-black, boring, stock Ford gauge cluster being replaced by a new stainless steel unit from US Speedo. Featuring blue numbers with blue and silver needles, the new overlay more closely matches the PPG Midnight Sapphire Blue body color and certain interior pieces. Check out just how easy the installation was, as we made one phone call to Stylin' Concepts and had our new overlay in three days. Stylin' carries the full line of US Speedo overlays and several other manufacturers, as well. So if you, or your dash, are in need of customizing, go to stylinconcepts.com to get your fix.  Just more than an hour after starting the install, we had great-looking gauges with added style to match the theme of our Project Sinatra F-150. |  Starting with the packages from Stylin' Concepts, we have to admit we ordered both the natural stainless steel finish and US Speedo's new Aqua Marine overlay, just to have some options. We chose the stainless finish because we plan on adding more blue-painted pieces to the interior that will help the gauges really stand out. |  After removing the three 9/32-inch screws from the upper plastic trim piece,the headlight, dimmer switch, and the steering column cover, the trim piece was removed and we gained access to the gauge cluster. |  In order to get to the two wiring harnesses, the upper plastic piece had to be removed. It simply slid off. |  Using a longer extension and the same 9/32-inch socket, the cluster retaining screws were removed and the cluster pulled free from the dash. |  Before we disconnected the wiring harnesses, we used a dry-erase marker to mark on the plastic cluster the location of each of the gauges. |  Then, we easily removed the harnesses. |  On the floor of the garage, the retaining screws holding the clear plastic cover were removed and the plastic cover was pulled off. |  US Speedo supplied this needle removal tool and the factory orange needles were removed. |
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Ford F-Series Ten Triumphs
On its Diamond Anniversary, the Ford F-Series celebrates a tradition of leadership and innovation. For six decades,...
10/25/2007 | 15:10 PM | jarellano
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Ford F-150
Okay i dont know squat about tires & wheels. My boyfriends truck is a 1991 F-150. He currently has 15" wheels. He got...
03/15/2006 | 09:03 AM | cnvingltlbtch
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