Showroom - New-car research • Hacker News Board

You need more filtering on the main lists. Let me filter by price range, high/low brand, size of vehicle, number of seats, engine size, petrol/diesel, air con, sat nav, cruise control... So rather than filtering the cars also filter the model of each car. Help me find the exact model I want.

Then let me create a collection of cars to compare, show a table of data about each car side by side.

Take a look a https://www.google.com/fonts and take some insparation from that for the "comparison" system.

EDIT:

What you want to be aiming for is becoming the Hipmunk of car shopping. show me prices from all the dealers, where can I get a model of car that matches what I want the cheapest

Re: Showroom - New-car research

#4

Post by nicksergeant » Thu, Oct 03, 2013, 3:30 PM UTC

samwillis wrote: post #3

You need more filtering on the main lists. Let me filter by price range, high/low brand, size of vehicle, number of seats, engine size, petrol/diesel, air con, sat nav, cruise control... So rather than filtering the cars also filter the model of each car. Help me find the exact model I want. Then let me create a collection of cars to compare, show a table of data about each car side by side. Take a look a https://www…

Yep, I actually originally had this in the first version of this app, when it was Auto Swatch: http://i.imgur.com/vvUHt85.png

Those filtering options will be coming soon.

Re: Showroom - New-car research

#5

Post by jonahx » Thu, Oct 03, 2013, 3:31 PM UTC

I like the clean, simple UI.

One improvement suggestion: There's a lot of whitespace because the pics and the text (which is only two small lines) are given equal space for each entry. I'd consider letting the pics take up the full square, putting the title above them, and putting the two bullet points side by side under them.

Re: Showroom - New-car research

#6

Post by nicksergeant » Thu, Oct 03, 2013, 3:31 PM UTC

nicksergeant wrote: post #4

samwillis wrote: post #3

You need more filtering on the main lists. Let me filter by price range, high/low brand, size of vehicle, number of seats, engine size, petrol/diesel, air con, sat nav, cruise control... So rather than filtering the cars also filter the model of each car. Help me find the exact model I want. Then let me create a collection of cars to compare, show a table of data about each car side by side. Take a look a https://www…

Yep, I actually originally had this in the first version of this app, when it was Auto Swatch: http://i.imgur.com/vvUHt85.png Those filtering options will be coming soon.

And comparison will be the root of the app once we get rolling. Boiling down your options to a handful of vehicles and then helping you make an informed (and engaging) decision is the point of the app.

Re: Showroom - New-car research

#7

Post by jxf » Thu, Oct 03, 2013, 3:32 PM UTC

Right now, one searches for a car type and a car model. But that's not really the way I've searched for my last few cars.

Most importantly, I want to be able to:

1. Require a minimum fuel efficiency (e.g. at least 20 mi/gal)

2. Specify a drivetrain (e.g. AWD, FWD, ...)

3. Specify features (e.g. Bluetooth, A/C, ...)

4. Specify a price range (e.g. $20,000 to $45,000)

Re: Showroom - New-car research

#8

Post by xtreme » Thu, Oct 03, 2013, 3:33 PM UTC

Of course, there is a lot of room for improvement as you mentioned. Some suggestions:

- Please focus on the data part, I would want the relevant i nformation presented well, not a bunch of images.

- The default alphabetical sorting is not very useful, sort it by popular/cost/mpg etc.

- Many people don't know what car they want, are you planning to cater to them?

- The icons for van and minivan are identical.

Re: Showroom - New-car research

#9

Post by rzt » Thu, Oct 03, 2013, 3:34 PM UTC

This seems like a good opportunity as the process of researching and buying a car can be so onerous.

I recently helped a non-car savvy friend with his purchase of a Mazda3 and he was overwhelmed by the choices and the process of shopping for a car. Feature research was a primary interest with pricing next.

Feature research will be huge, same with pricing info. If only features weren't grouped into packages and if car pricing wasn't so murky.

Re: Showroom - New-car research

#10

Post by nicksergeant » Thu, Oct 03, 2013, 3:35 PM UTC

jxf wrote: post #7

Right now, one searches for a car type and a car model. But that's not really the way I've searched for my last few cars. Most importantly, I want to be able to: 1. Require a minimum fuel efficiency (e.g. at least 20 mi/gal) 2. Specify a drivetrain (e.g. AWD, FWD, ...) 3. Specify features (e.g. Bluetooth, A/C, ...) 4. Specify a price range (e.g. $20,000 to $45,000)

There's a ton of stuff we can / want to do. The first step is getting the data / photos in the UI, and then we'll innovate in the research space.