As a car buying specialist from Jalopnik and a professional car buyer, I receive emails. Many emails. I have chosen some of your questions and will try to help. This week, we are discussing incorrect listings for new Toyota Supras and finding an “old” but recent car.
First of all, how am I seeing many four-cylinder Supras listed as six-cylinder cars?
I was looking at 2021 Supras recently on AutoTrader and noticed a lot of $ 42-45k I6 Supras. I was excited to read the details. Many of these dealers are listing the Supra as a 2.0L 6 cylinder.
I count 17 to 300 miles from Austin, TX. Is this stupidity / ignorance or a tactic?
This is not just a problem for Supras in Texas. I did this research across the country and found a similar pattern of suspiciously cheap six-cylinder cars. When the options are filled, you see listings similar to this –
After clicking on the list, you see the details – and that is where the possible explanation comes into focus.
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It seems that Autotrader is somehow labeling these cars as having a 2.0-liter turbocharged six-cylinder engine, when we all know it is a four-cylinder model. If I do a national search for Supras six-cylinder on Cars.com and sort by price from low to high, I don’t get any false correspondence for four-cylinder cars. All cars are correctly listed as Supra 3.0 models.
As for the explanation of whether these Autotrader listings are “stupidity / ignorance or a tactic”, it could be all of the above, but I suspect that there may be some kind of error in the Autotrader system that is mislabeling these cars. I contacted Autotrader for a statement and will update the post if they respond.
Then, is it possible to find a modern car without a lot of electronic features?
“I am currently driving a 2003 VUE that I bought 2 years ago and I don’t like driving an SUV very much. It was cheap ($ 1200 and ready to run), but I want to drive a car again. I have never in my life had a car under the age of 10, and I despise all the technology I see in cars today. I want a basic FWD manual (WITHOUT CVT PLZ) preferably with manual windows and locks, without Bluetooth / heated seats / cameras / GPS / sunroof. I keep looking around and can’t figure out how to look for vehicles that fit my criteria. I can choose all of these options, but not delete them. Can you give any guidance on where / how I look for cars that fit my preferences? Most sites boast all of these cool features that I hate, and I just want a simple basic car, the less electronics the better. “
I don’t think you can buy any car made in the past four years that fits those requirements. Backup cameras have been required for several years, and I don’t know of any modern vehicles sold new in the United States that don’t have electric windows. Bluetooth has been a feature of most vehicles since 2010. There are some “basic” cars that are FWD and a manual trans, but they will have some technologies and features that you don’t mind. Almost everything built, even a little recently, will not meet your requirements, so you may want to purchase something from the early 2000s.
Have a car buying dilemma and need help? Send me an email to [email protected]!