Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Billings, Montana

Hi Car Man, Would you be able to tell me the money factor and residual value for 36 or 39 month lease 15k for May on a 2011 Armada Platinum? I have two months on my existing lease, any advice? Also I should qualify for the top credit tier. What is your position on paying first month, tabs, tax etc up front versus rolled in? Thank you for your help. Bill

Count me in! Our '07 Mazda CX-7 has cost us a lot of money. At 65,000 miles our air conditioner froze (locked up) and caught fire, the variable timing actuator broke when the timing chain stretched, a fusable link fried and a bill for over $6800 was just the beginning. Our dealer kept the car for over 2 months. They called me into the service manager to see the crystalized oil in the engines valves. (I felt like I was getting bad news from the doctor) Mazda, admitted that the A/C had issues and offered to replace the A/C but told us they would not pay for anything else...citing poor maintenance because we had not used Mazda dealerships for oil changes. At 7000 miles I reported blue smoke coming from my exhaust. The dealer said it was nothing to worry about. Now I find that "blue smoke" is indicative of a bad turbo. After two months in the shop my wife and I pick up the car and we are told all is well. We drove 200 miles and noticed a severe oil leak. The only place open was a WalMart and I had them look for a leak and change the oil. The mechanic told us that they found, what appeared to be, some kind of absorbent padding shoved up above and around the oil pan. They topped us off with oil but refused to change the filter for fear of liability. We had the car towed back to our dealer in Greenville, SC. Apparently, the dealer forgot to mention that the top half of the engine was not re-assembled properly and engine failure was eminent. They charged us an additional $2k for repairs and sent us on our way. The engine light remained on and the dealer could, or would, not explain why. The engine now burns oil badly, however there is no smoke coming from the exhaust. It rattles like a diesel truck occasionally. Now they tell me that we need a new engine and turbo. The cost? $10,000. We need to sue.

It's a supermarket... Where I live, it's Kroger... Gets me $0.10 gallon off at Shell (price actually changes on the pump).. Then, the Citi Shell MasterCard gives me a 5% rebate (on Shell gas purchases), right off the credit card bill. So, if gas is $4.10, I'm really paying $3.80... and, we already shop at Kroger and only use Shell gas, so I didn't even have to change my shopping habits.

Bill Mitchell I think he may have been one of the all time best automotive stylists. Most of his vehicles still look fresh and classic today. At the other end of the design spectrum, I always also liked Virgil Exner. His vehicles jumped all over the board, but I always enjoyed his innovative attempts to keep the car design field interesting and evolving. Both of these guys are sorely missed today, but maybe all of the regulation and modern day issues would have limited them these days as well.

I think I've mentioned this before, but Bill Mitchell, VP of GM styling at the time, although born in Cleveland, grew up in my little hometown of Greenville, PA and was known to return on occasion.