Question

Suppose you are in the market to purchase a used car. To make an informed decision regarding your purchase, you would like to collect as much information as possible. Among the information you might consider are the typical price of the car, the typical number of miles the car should have, and its crash test results, insurance costs, and expected repair costs.

Make a list of at least three cars that you would consider purchasing. To be fair, the cars should be in the same class (compact, midsize, etc). They should also be of the same age.

Collect information regarding the three cars in your list by finding at eight cars of each that are for sale. Obtain such information as the asking price and the number of miles the car has. Sources of data include your local newspaper, classified ads, and car websites (www.cars.com and www.vehix.com). Compute the summary statistics for asking price, number of miles, and other variables of interest. Remember, the summary statistics include min, max, mean, median, mode, range, variance, standard deviation, and so on.

Write a report (4 paragraphs) in Microsoft Word with supporting data supporting your conclusion regarding which car you would purchase and why.

Attach the Excel sheet used for the primary data source.

You’ll submit both the Word document and Excel file.

Answer 1

EXCEL SHEET :

This data is a sample data of 8 cars collected from different car websites.
Category is cars chosen belongs to the "Compact" category cars.
Car Model	Mileage(mpg)	Crash Results	Price(USD)	Insurance	Repair Cost
Chevy Cruze	42.1	7	16,975	2,856	99.0
Ford Focus	32.9	8	23,390	3935	136.4
Honda Civic	44.7	7.5	18,940	3187	110.5
Hyundai Elantra	40.3	8	19,350	3256	112.9
Kia Forte	35	7	17,600	2961	102.6
Mazda3	29.8	8.5	24,490	4120	142.8
Mitsubishi Lancer	38	6.5	17,795	2994	103.8
Nissan Sentra	38.6	7	16,990	2859	99.1
Summary:
Min	30.0	6.5	16975.0	2856.0	99.0
Max	44.7	8.5	24490.0	4120.4	142.8
Mean	37.7	7.4	19441.3	3270.9	113.4
Median	38.3	7.3	18367.5	3090.3	107.1
Variance	21.0	0.4	7441679.7	210653.1	253.1
Standard Deviation	4.6	0.6	2727.9	459.0	15.9
Defining factors:
Mileage(mpg): Miles per gallon
Crash Results: Rating given to car in terms of safety during accident, 10 being the best rating and 1 being the worst rating.
Price: Price of the car in USD.
Insurance: Insurance amount per annum in USD.
Repair Cost: Maintenance and repair cost that a car requires every month in USD. WORD DOCUMENT : Selecting top 3 cars by looking at some Statistics So, we have data for “compact” cars where we have 8 cars and by looking at some factors like ‘price’, ‘safety’ we have to decide to choose 3 best cars out of that data. First – “Price” Price comes at first place because as price increases luxury and comfort level increases. Primary thing is that you should go for something if your pocket allows you to. So, while shortlisting something I will look at its price tag first. Coming onto out sample data price ranges from $16.9k-$24.4k and average cost of car in this category is $19.4k. So, considering the average value I can look for Hyundai Elantra, Honda Civic and Kia Forte as they belong very near to average value. 2. Second – “Mileage” Second important factor comes out to be Mileage of a car. Thinking technically I want my mileage to be as good as possible. Looking at the data, mileage ranges from 30-44.7mpg and average mileage for this car category is 37.7 mpg. So, Chevy Cruze, Honda Civic and Hyundai Elantra look like a good decision. 3. Third – “Safety” For me, safety or comfort level comes at third place because when I am driving a car I don’t want any type of harm. In case if my car meets with an accident then my car must ensure that I am safe inside. Now, looking at the data the average safety in ‘compact’ category is 7.5 and Mazda 3 is the most safest car as its rating is highest. Also, Hyundai Elantra and Ford focus they are safe too. 4. Forth – “Insurance Cost”(Extra costs on car) In the end comes the additional cost that a car requires for example Insurance cost. We want them to be as low as possible. From the data the Insurance cost ranges from $2.8k-$4.1k. Looking at some statistics average car insurance costs $3.3k(approx.), so the cars that look good according to insurance factor are Hyundai Elantra, Honda Civic and Kia Forte. CONCLUSION: Depending on the data values and the 4 factors that we considered above, best 3 cars are 1) Hyundai Elantra 2) Honda Civic 3) Kia Forte. Because these 3 suit best if we consider budget, safety and other factors together.