Notable eco-cars (old & new) spotted in the wild: post your pics!

[bikeprof]

Lots of the wagons you saw were probably VR6, most of the 2.0 gas were very anemic. Lots of revving but, still had to wait to get to 55mph!
TDI swaps up in the North-East happened, cars of Southern pedigree were the ideal.

Diesel wagons re-appeared into the 2003, here in the US. That was still the 1.9L, about mid year '06 though, the 2.0 DIESEL longitudinal engine was appearing.
Much stronger engine, and the torque was a rush compared to the 1.9L Diesel.
This type OEM power was what we, the ones with the older TDI's spent money on, MODDING the turbo, injectors, pipe, ECU, etc... to get close to what the new ones put out from factory. (but still somewhat far away in HP/TQ)
Hope this fills a little more of your(who may consider TDI wagons), INFO for pre-purchase knowledge.

(I have a 1996 B4-V(wagon) with the 25 gallon tank and it is nice passing stations/not stressing where to get fuel. Best tank was the best that I know so far of anyone: 1,521 miles & )

[War_Wagon]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

The EPA says all Canadian cars since 1998 are complaint with US standards. 1990 and older are exempt so it's just 1991-1997 you might have problems with.

This may be the case 99% of the time, but there are some exceptions. Smart Cars for example. They initially were released as diesel only in Canada, and we didn't get gasoline powered ones until they were released as gasoline cars in the states. As far as I know the diesel ones can't be imported to any state in the U.S. due to emissions. There is probably a workaround somewhere, but it makes it not worth exporting them. Importing across the border is a federal matter, then each state will have it's own standards for what can be registered there. There are all sorts of weird rules and exceptions you'd never think of until you get stuck with a car you can't export haha. Just like there are certain years of mid 2000s Corvettes that can't be imported from the USA to Canada unless the bumpers are changed. Really? They are all built in the same factory in Kentucky, yet apparently the bumpers on American market Corvettes for those years didn't meet the Canadian crash standards. So I wouldn't be surprised if there is a certain year/model of TDI that was fine up here but not available down there for some reason. Currently we are finding that some 2014 Fords can't be exported the same as others because they don't have the correct emissions decal under the hood. The cars are exactly the same, but some seem to have one decal up here, and others have another. Depending on the decal, the car may or may not need to have at least 7500 miles on it before it can be exported...I wish I had the spare time it would take to make that up! So we currently have a 2014 Fusion being driven by everyone and their dog to get the mileage up to 7500 so we can get rid of the thing!

[jcp123]

I saw another Mirage on the way home from school. Decent little cars, methinks.

I went to the Toyota dealer today on a whim. Got to lay hands on a base-model Corolla, and some other cars. Conclusion: the Corolla is a great car in the segment, but as you move up the price spectrum, (Camry, Rav4, Avalon), I wasn't that impressed. When I get my trucking career started, I could see myself working on a dealer to get me a bargain 6-speed Corolla.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

This may be the case 99% of the time, but there are some exceptions. Smart Cars for example. They initially were released as diesel only in Canada, and we didn't get gasoline powered ones until they were released as gasoline cars in the states. As far as I know the diesel ones can't be imported to any state in the U.S. due to emissions. There is probably a workaround somewhere, but it makes it not worth exporting them. Importing across the border is a federal matter, then each state will have it's own standards for what can be registered there. There are all sorts of weird rules and exceptions you'd never think of until you get stuck with a car you can't export haha. Just like there are certain years of mid 2000s Corvettes that can't be imported from the USA to Canada unless the bumpers are changed. Really? They are all built in the same factory in Kentucky, yet apparently the bumpers on American market Corvettes for those years didn't meet the Canadian crash standards. So I wouldn't be surprised if there is a certain year/model of TDI that was fine up here but not available down there for some reason. Currently we are finding that some 2014 Fords can't be exported the same as others because they don't have the correct emissions decal under the hood. The cars are exactly the same, but some seem to have one decal up here, and others have another. Depending on the decal, the car may or may not need to have at least 7500 miles on it before it can be exported...I wish I had the spare time it would take to make that up! So we currently have a 2014 Fusion being driven by everyone and their dog to get the mileage up to 7500 so we can get rid of the thing!

Lots of Canadians drive their cars across the boarder, I wonder what would happen if you just started an LLC or something in Canada and kept the Canadian tags on the car. Or if you just drove one over, then applied for a lost title with a US bill of sale in your local state. The VIN would show up clean as in not stolen, and the locals may issue you a new state title with winch you can get US plates. I see local dealers telling Canadians to set up a Montana LLC so they can buy the US cars which the manufactures say can only be sold to US residents as the same car costs a bunch more in Canada.

[cowmeat]

Came out of Wally World and found a Volt parked next to my Insight. They're pretty rare here, I haven't seen that many on the road.

[War_Wagon]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Lots of Canadians drive their cars across the boarder, I wonder what would happen if you just started an LLC or something in Canada and kept the Canadian tags on the car. Or if you just drove one over, then applied for a lost title with a US bill of sale in your local state. The VIN would show up clean as in not stolen, and the locals may issue you a new state title with winch you can get US plates. I see local dealers telling Canadians to set up a Montana LLC so they can buy the US cars which the manufactures say can only be sold to US residents as the same car costs a bunch more in Canada.

In Canada the plates don't stay with the car like they do in the USA. Here your registration and insurance go with the owner, so when I sell a car to someone here, I take my plates off it, and the new owner gets new plates for it when they register and insure it. I have seen rental companies that leave the Canadian registration/plates on their vehicles even though they are only used in the states, but one day that is going to come back to haunt them. There is a loophole in every system, there always is, but you'd have to REALLY want one of those cars that's not allowed down there to find it.

[bikeprof]

Colorado plates stay with the owner, last time I lived there.

Pity is that there are way too many Colorado plates now on the road, the original White mountains/green sky OR the Green mountains/white sky plates are becoming rare!

Need to move on, I guess... :-(

[War_Wagon]

So there's another example of how many things can be different with sending stuff south. I've done this a bit, but I generally deal with Wash and Cali, so I just assumed all states leave the plate on the car. And this is exactly how someone can get screwed trying to import a car if they don't do their research haha, a lot of things can change state to state, once you get passed the federal border. I hate having to deal with F-150s and Yukons that I know will never get used as a truck, and waste fuel for no reason. But they are pretty standardized, legal pretty much anywhere south of the border, and people really want them. Sadly. Exporting old rust free Hondas and Toyotas would be the best job ever, but it just ain't worth it. It's really too bad, I see so much of that stuff up here that goes to waste, but there's no demand here, and the expense to move it elsewhere is too high to make it worth it. I'm not even that far away, it's a couple hours from here to Seattle. But the border in between kills the idea.

[Hersbird]

We also don't have the safety inspections here so something dinged in Canada would be fine to license in Montana. Same thing with emission testing, even if it were a California fail it would be fine here. We also get permanent plates at the 10 year old point so you basically never again need to deal with the DMV at that point. The plates don't go with the car here though, although you can give them to the next owner and he can transfer them saving another $10 fee because they re-use the old plate. Police can issue fix it tickets for obvious safety disrepair but it would have to be pretty bad judging by stuff I see on the road.

[War_Wagon]

JDM cars aren't uncommon here. In fact we see some of the rarest ones you can get, in the last few years I have seen probably a half dozen Nissan Figaros go through the auction, and a lot more of them driving around. Google it, those are a pretty rare car outside of Japan. But I am a Honda fanboy as most of you know, and Nissans just don't do it for me (unless its a Sentra Spec V!). The Honda Beat though...now THERE'S a rare car in this neck of the woods! The last one I saw at an auction was in 2007, trust me, I remember useless details like that! There used to be a silver one I'd see every once in a while driving through town, and that was probably 2010ish. I went to buy groceries today, and this was parked in front.



So hot! Plus it comes with a shop-vac apparently haha. I almost went into the bar it was parked by to start asking who owned it. If an eco-car can be sexy, I always figured it would be a 1st gen Insight, a Civic VX, maybe a 1.0L Metro wearing original paint etc. But when I saw a Beat again I realized they all fall short! I'd trade my 1st gen Insight in a second for one of these - don't hate me for wanting to look good haha