http://theshoppingnazi.com Fri, 18 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://theshoppingnazi.com/odyssey-vs-mazada-5/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/odyssey-vs-mazada-5/#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/odyssey-vs-mazada-5/ Today we are going to look at two more minivans. The reason why we continue to compare Minivans is their impact on American life. They have become more than the traditional family means of transportation. Minivans have been seen as used by service companies. I am seeing appliance repair, electrical repair and other service companies use minivans as a means to save on gas. Thing about it if there is not need for transport of large bulky supplies, a lot of little items, the a minivan makes sense. This week we are looking at the Honda Odyssey and the Mazda 5. Two mini vans that are manufactured on American soil by Japanese based companies. I chose to compare the Honda Odyssey and Mazda5 because on the outward they are very similar.  They arrive to US streets at the time a certain segment of the US population fought the invasion of foreign car manufactures. Still they came and today they are doing relatively well. The Honda Odyssey has been on American roads since 1994. The Mazda’s contribution to the minivan market, the Mazda 5, did not hit American Roads until 1999. Both don’t have an overwhelming presence on American roads, yet we do see them. The Honda Odyssey comes in [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/odyssey-vs-mazada-5/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/sienna-vs-sedona-mini-vans/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/sienna-vs-sedona-mini-vans/#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:00:05 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7584 The mini van is the perfect family means of transportation. A mini van can carry not just family members. It can also carry groceries and other items, at the same time. Over the years we have had various mini vans since 2000. All of them have served us very satisfactorily Some people are very partial to name brands like Ford or Chevy. Other people look for a vehicle that will meet there personal needs. Still there are people who look at the name brand as well as their needs. In an effort to help those people, we have started looking a two different makes and models, at the same time. Looking a two different makes and models shows the individual. but when you put two vehicles side by side you get to see the benefits and short comings of each. This week we are going to look at the 2012 Toyota Sienna, and the 2012 Kia Sedona.  At first look they are both considered fairly equal. By the end of this post you will see the differences. From time on the road the Kia Sedona has been on roads in the US since 2002, while the Toyota Sienna has been on American roads since [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/sienna-vs-sedona-mini-vans/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/2012-dodge-caravan/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/2012-dodge-caravan/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:00:09 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7577 When I first saw the Dodge Caravan along aside the Chrysler Town and Country they looked as if they came out of the same factory just on different days. The Town and Country was the one with the fancier trim and higher price tag. Well, today we are going to take a closer look at the two. I want to see if my first impression ten years ago holds true for the 2012 models of each. I started out by visiting the website of each, because I found it extremely hard to get a dealer put the two side by side. The Chrysler website was more flashier, with a lot of putting my cursor over a link instantly bringing up previews of that page. Dodge’s website was a little simpler. It lets me choose what I want to look at other than hovering my cursor over it. I had to definitely click on the link. To start the Dodge Caravan comes in four basic trims; American, ST, SXT, and Crew. The American is marketed as the Dodge Caravan’s basic trim. Having less features than the other three, it comes with a 3.6 liter engine delivering 283 horsepower to the wheels via a six speed [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/2012-dodge-caravan/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-touareg/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-touareg/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:00:00 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-touareg/ It was a beautiful spring morning. The sun was at my back, when I pulled up to a stop light. I notice the SUV in front of me. I did not recognize the body style. However, I did recognize the logo in the center. It belonged to Volkswagen. The model name I did not recognize. In fact I had trouble trying to figure out how to pronounce it. Later that day, when I got home, I did a quick Google search. The Touareg has been around since 2002. The reason why I had not noticed it before was because not very many were sold in the Boise Idaho area. It turns out that the Volkswagen Touareg has been around since 2002. According to Wikipedia the vehicle was named after the Tuareg people, a Berber-speaking group in North Africa. The Touareg V10 holds the world record for the heaviest load towed by a passenger car. It pulled a Boeing 747 as part of an advertising campaign. Impressive! The 2012 Touareg comes in four trims; Sport, Sport with Navigation, Lux and Executive. All the trims offer a 3.6 liter gas powered engine which produces 280 horsepower. Power is delivered to the wheel through an 8 speed automatic transmission.  You [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/shopping-for-a-touareg/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/what-makes-a-truck/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/what-makes-a-truck/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:00:15 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7479 Over the past couple of weeks, we have compared the major pickup trucks. Still there is one question that stands out. The question is, “What are the important considerations when buying a truck?” Walking around the truck and kicking the tires has never really given a good information as to the quality and functionality of that truck. My dad would go from dealership to dealership to look at different vehicles. He would collect sales brochures, then go home to review all the information he has gathered. We have a whole lot more information at our figure tips to help us make good informed decisions. In fact, we have to much information to sift through. Doing a simple Google search for “Shopping for a Pickup Truck” bring over 27 million results. Granted there may be some duplication of website and/or blogs. Since this is the time of year, I take one day a week to look at just trucks, we are going to look at what are reasonable expectation in buying a pickup truck. Hauling/Towing Capacity - The number one reason for buying or having a truck is to haul big things. The bigger truck the bigger and heavier things can be hauled. [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/what-makes-a-truck/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/tools-for-the-car/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/tools-for-the-car/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:00:07 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7420 As a second installment of our Tool Week, we are going to look at tools for your car. Regardless of your skill level or level of mechanical ability it is always good to have some basic tools. You never know if you are going to need to perform some simple repair or assist someone in a simple repair. Every motor vehicle comes with a jack, and lug wrench. These two tools are for the purpose of changing a tire. This is a simple thing every driver of a motor vehicle needs to know. There are a few other things needs that a driver can do to keep their vehicle running smoothly. I remember when I got my first car, my dad made sure I had a few tools in the truck of my car. Over the years those basic tools have proven useful over and over again. They have allowed me to do some minor roadside repairs as well as routine maintenance. Fluid Monitoring and Filling - It is the car owner and/or drivers responsibility to make sure things like oil, coolant, and other fluids are at the proper level. When they get below a certain level, that specific fluid needs to be added. [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/tools-for-the-car/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/frontier-vs-equator/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/frontier-vs-equator/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:00:37 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7251 This week we are going to look at what appears to be two equally match trucks, on the outside. When we made a closer inspection we found the differences are small. I am talking about the 2012 Nissan Frontier, and the 2012 Suzuki Equator. My reasoning for putting these two trucks side by side was their forerunners came to the American roads about the same time. Nissan was originally Datsun. The Datsun first appeared in the United States in 1959. Then in 1983 the name change too place, and the trucks were now being made in Tennessee, just outside Nashville. Suzuki in the United States can be dated back to 1963. Both the The Nissan Frontier and Suzuki Equator really didn’t appear on US road until 2008 and 2009. Each truck manufacture offers various combinations of features. Here is not exception. So to keep our comparison fair we have just choose some basic requirements. We will start with a four wheel drive, crew cab, and gasoline powered. The 2012 Nissan Frontier and the 2012 Suzuki Equator both come with a 4.0 liter V6 producing 152 horsepower. This horsepower is delivered to the road via an automatic transmission. The wheel base for the Frontier is 125.9″, [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/frontier-vs-equator/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/ram-vs-tundra/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/ram-vs-tundra/#comments Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:00:24 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7248 I have seen product comparisons slanted in favor of one product over another. It was done by simply choosing model that were no where near equal. That is why we are comparing vehicles from different manufactures with as close as possible features. This can be difficult when products from two different manufactures. Still we strive to pick the two closest ones in our comparisons. Last week we were able to choose two trucks that were very close. We took one from the Ford camp and one from the Chevy camp. As a result we found very few differences. The Ford F250 won by a narrow margin. Today, we are looking at the 2012 Dodge Ram 1500 to Toyota Tundra. The Dodge Ram truck is considered the Great American truck. The Toyota Tundra was the little import that has grown up. Toyota started with small trucks. In the 2000 model year Toyota introduced the Tundra. Like any truck model there are several trims. The variations include things like bed size, cab size, and number of wheel that pushes or pulls the truck along. For the sake of equal comparisons we are going to take a look at trims which have four wheel [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/ram-vs-tundra/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/chevy-silverado-vs-f-250/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/chevy-silverado-vs-f-250/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:00:15 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7244 For as long as I can remember there has been this rivalrous arguments as to which is the be vehicle manufacture; Chevy or Ford. There has been remarks like “Found On Road Dead”, and “Cracked Heads Every Valve Rattles Oil Leaks Every Time” posted back of cars and billboards. Some have even called the Ford or Chevy rivalry the The Great American Rivalry. In this post, I would like to take a look two of the Great American Truck models. We have picked one from each camp. The Silverado from the Chevy camp. The F-250 from Ford camp. In an attempt to be fair an impartial we have chosen similar four wheel drive models. To start I have chosen the 2012 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD Reg Cab Long Box 4WD WT 1WT, and the 2012 Ford Super Duty F-250 Pickup 4WD Reg Cab 137″ XLT. They both use regular gasoline as fuel, even through the Ford will work with an ethanol mix. Fuel is delivered to the engine via fuel injection. Both the Silverado and the F-250 have the four wheel drive, 4 wheel, disc and anti-lock brakes on all four wheels. Ride control is done through basic the same front and rear suspension, basically the same even through each has their own unique marketing [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/chevy-silverado-vs-f-250/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/car-insurance-review/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/car-insurance-review/#comments Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:00:32 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=7241 Income tax is done. Now is the time of the year to look at ways I can save money of those “have-to” expenses. At the top of my list is insurance. Medical, dental, and optical is reviewed between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is the time of the year is where I look at car, and home owners insurance. The first place I go to start my review is a look at my current insurance policy. I know it is a pain to read through all that legalistic jargon, but it is a necessity. First off, I just want to make sure I am cover in case I have an accident. I even check to make sure what I have in saving account enough money to cover my deductible. There is nothing worst than being in an auto accident, having a deductible, and not having the money to cover the deductible. My next step is to compare rates between different insurance companies. This could be a pain if I had to go from one insurance company to another. So this year I thought, I would get smart and go to one website that would do the comparisons for me. I started off at QuoteScout.com.  At first it [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/car-insurance-review/feed/ 1