Better Than New

00:00 - Show Open I expected to have an issue or two with my son's recent purchase of a used 1992 Honda Accord that replaced his Honda Civic, which was stolen a month earlier, but I wasn't expecting this! 00:55 - Lighting Strikes Twice! According to NHTSA, a vehicle is stolen in the US every 43.8 seconds. That's more than one per minute, 82 per hour, 1973 per day, about 60,000 per month and around...

00:00 - Show Open 00:40 - BMW 335d Overview - The Torque Monster Diesel Sports Sedan We discuss what it is like to drive a 335d and the joy of driving a sports sedan with 425-lb.ft of torque. That's 125-lb.ft more torque than BMW's 335i gas fueled sports sedan. 03:00 - Why You Might Want One You love torque and quick acceleration You love great handling, fun to drive cars You need to carry 4-peopl...

00:00 - INTRO - First Generation Honda Pilot - The Affordable Family Adventure Vehicle 01:15 - GENERAL OVERVIEW – What Makes the First Gen Honda Pilot So Great?   03:55 - YOU MIGHT WANT ONE IF…. You routinely need to carry more than 4-people safely and comfortably You have active kids and need to haul a lot of their stuff (or yours) You need all-wheel drive for snowy conditions &nbs...

00:00 - Show Open - 1998 to 2003 Isuzu Amigo/Rodeo Sport If you're a fan of boxy, short-wheelbase, fun-to-drive SUVs, then you will love the vehicle that is the focus of today's episode of Better Than New 01:05 - Brief recap of Notable Isuzu Cars, Trucks and SUVs sold in the US While Isuzu hasn't sold passenger vehicles in the US since 2009, they are still one of largest manufacturers of commercia...

00:00 - Show Open - Buy It Like They Stole Our 1996 Honda Civic was stolen over Labor Day, but we were able to replace it within a week with a 1992 Honda Accord for the low, low price of $1650 (not including tax, title, etc.). It was dirt cheap, but still in really decent condition for its age and price. 01:25 - What Car Was Stolen We got our 1996 Honda Civic DX free from my wife's co-worker. It w...

00:00 - Show Open I share my strategy to find interesting local used cars, trucks and SUVs with just a few minutes of online searching each day. 00:53 - Craigslist Scrolling + Serendipity = A Great Used Car Computer chip shortages, supply chain issues and inflation have pushed the average price of a new car in the US to more than $48,000 and the average used vehicle in the US now sells for more th...

00:00 - Show Open - Ford SVT Focus - Part 2 if you caught last week’s Part 1 episode on the 2002 to 2004 Ford SVT Focus, you got an introduction to this outstanding performance used car bargain, along with a deep dive into how Ford’s Special Vehicle Team turned the standard Ford Focus into a must-have Hot Hatchback back in the day.  And in today’s episode, we’re going to dig deeper into how m...

00:00 - Intro - Ford Focus SVT - Part 1 The Focus SVT, available in the US from 2002-2004 -The Affordable Hot Hatch Hero from Ford 01:30 - What is SVT? A quick breakdown of Ford's Special Vehicle Team (or SVT) and some of the notable Ford halo cars they have have developed over the years. 03:30 - What Makes The SVT Focus A Great Driving Enthusiast's Car? SVT made across the board improvements to c...

00:00 - Intro - Ten Funky Must-Have Tools for Your Next DIY Project If you do any of your own maintenance, I assume you already have a decent set of common tools. But in this episode I am going to tell you about some of the more off-beat and funky tools that I have purchased over time that I just can't live without in my garage. Also, unless I mention a specific tool/brand, the links are simply pr...

00:00 - Show Open - Best Time To Buy Winter Tires I hear drivers say all the time that they don't need winter tires for various reasons. They might say they have plenty of traction because their vehicle has 4-wheel drive with low range, or it has Quattro or maybe a torque-vectoring limited slip differential. What they don't realize is that none of those mechanical systems give their vehicle tracti...

00:00 - Show Open - Mitsubishi Galant VR4 - Part 2 Today we’re going to talk about what to look for when buying a Galant VR4 and what kinds of issues these cars have. Since there weren’t that many imported to the US, we will also talk about some alternate used AWD sports sedans and hatchbacks with similar performance and pricing that you might want to check out if you aren’t able to find a Galant...

00:00 - Intro - Mitsubishi Galant VR4 - Part 1 I love the concept of street legal rally cars because of their performance capabilities… especially in all types of weather conditions, and I have been fortunate to own a couple over the years, including a Toyota Celica Alltrac Turbo (known as the GT4 in Europe) and one from Mitsubishi that I refer to as the Rodney Dangerfield of rally homologation sp...

00:00 - OPEN - Start Your Next Used Car Search 3-5 Years Early It may seem crazy to start researching a used car or truck today that you won't actually buy until a few years from now, but in my twisted logic sort of way this actually makes sense, and I believe it will be fun for you. 00:55 - This Isn't Just Some Dumb Idea... It's Also Fun! I call this idea the 'pre-used car test drive', but you kn...

00:00 - Intro - Used 2002 Toyota Sequoia My nephew, Nic Bodiford, returns to talk about the 2002 Toyota Sequoia he bought a year ago. He fills us in on the adventures he's been on, the DIY projects and maintenance he's done and he explains what's great and what isn't quite perfect about this full-size, family hauling 4x4 SUV after a year of ownership. 00:52 - I believe everyone should have somethi...

00:00 - Intro: Do A One-Eighty To Save on Used Cars, Tools and Repairs To find the best deals on used cars, tires, tools and maintenance, you need to employ opposite thinking. You need to do a one-eighty and look for deals at times and places where others don't. That's how you can save a substantial amount of money on your next used car, truck, tool or tire. 00:50 - Immediate Gratification And The...

00:00 - Should You Buy a Used R56 Mini Cooper S - Part 2 In Part II, I review how some of the common Mini problems that manifested In my R56 Mini Cooper S and I talk about the repairs I had to make to fix these issues to get my Mini back on the road. I even tell you why, in spite of the problems, I still liked my R56 Mini Cooper S. 01:00 - First Round of Repairs After about year and several thousa...

00:00 - Show Intro - Should You Buy A Used R56 Mini Cooper S? 00:55 - The Short Answer: Yes, but... Great question. I would say the short answer is yes, but with some caveats. The R56 Mini Cooper S is a great option because this model is typically not too old, and not too new, with not too many miles and it's also not too expensive, but these cars do have their issues, some of which I will discuss...

00:00 – Show Open - Motivation Behind The Better Than New Podcast If you are listening for the first time to Better Than New, welcome!  It’s great to have you listen in to this podcast. For those who have been listening for a while, I hope you are enjoying these episodes and you find the content helpful in identifying interesting used vehicles you might want to purchase. With severa...

00:00 - Time To Buy A First Generation Miata - Part 2 This is part 2 of a 2-part series that explores why you should put an NA Miata on your bucket list. This small, fun, lightweight sports cars from Mazda was first introduced back in 1989 as a 1990 model and these first generation cars (the NA Miata was sold from model year 1990 through 1997) are going up in price. Bargains can still be found tho...

00:00 - Time To Buy A First Generation NA Miata - Part 1 This is part 1 of a 2-part series that explores why you should put an NA Miata on your bucket list. This small, fun, lightweight sports cars from Mazda was first introduced back in 1989 as a 1990 model and these first generation cars are now going up in price. Bargains can still be found though, so now's the time to act if you ever considere...

00:00 - INTRODUCTION - A Pandemic Placeholder Vehicle or PPV - A Car For The Next 12 to 24-Months 01:10 - So What Is a Pandemic Placeholder Vehicle? The idea for the PPV or Pandemic Placeholder Vehicle came from my search for some target used cars in the $15K to $20K range over the last year or two. I kept finding that, instead of going down on a normal depreciation curve, the prices for relativel...

The average new car sales price in the US is nearly 50,000, and the average used vehicle sales price is close to $30,000! I think that's insane, so if you're like me and you don’t want to pay these crazy inflated car prices, I believe you should still be able to drive something fun. That’s the idea behind Better Than New – a podcast to help you find a cool used car, truck or SUV at a price you’ll...

We Help a Used Car Buyer Find a Cool SUV This episode is a follow up to episode 2 where we introduced Nic Bodiford and his search for a used 4-wheel drive SUV under $8K. Nic followed our five simple, yet essential rules to find a cool use car, truck or SUV at a great price, and he ended up doing just that after only a couple of weeks of searching. He began his search looking mainly for a Toyota 4R...

In this episode I discuss five simple, yet essential rules to help buyers find a cool used car, truck or SUV. These may seem basic and fall into the "Duh, Captain Obvious" category, but it's surprising to me how often people ignore these simple steps and end up with a used vehicle that's less than perfect. What should be common sense is not always common... To demonstrate in real life how effectiv...

00:00 - Can New Teen Drivers Learn To Love An Old Hand-Me-Down Car? What do you do if you are gifted two FREE 25-year old hand-me-down cars within a couple of months of each other? Hang your head in shame? Feel embarrassed? No way! If you're cheap like me, you celebrate your good fortune by letting your newly licensed teenage sons drive these pre-scratched and dented "beauties" to school and on da...