Noob Help Cali car vs other states car

cbf102770 · Feb 8, 2011

Can anyone tell me if the Cali emissions cars are vastly different in power output/upgrade ability to cars for the other states? I ask because I am currently searching for an 06-09 GT, and the one that has caught my eye was originally a Cali car. I know that they have to meet the more stringent CA emissions requirements, and have the identifying labels, and I assume the factory tune is a little more restrictive, but would be getting an SCT from AM/Bama early on.

I checked this with a local performance shop when I was looking at a BMW 335i and they said all BMWs meet cali emmissions, they just put the required labels on those destined for CA.

I hope its only that, as I don't want to have to spend extra $$$ just to get it up to par with other state GT's.

cababah · Feb 8, 2011

What are you smoking? The main and only difference (that you will be able to notice) is that California only has max 91 octane and many other states have 93. That will give you a slight power bump but the difference using the same fuel for both CA and non-CA cars is slim to none.

By the way, I have a CA car and stock, it put down 381rwhp, 373ft-lbs

cbf102770 · Feb 9, 2011

I'm not smoking anything at the moment, its hard to smoke anything in a 4cyl jeep wrangler, which is why I'm getting a Mustang! Seriously though, I remember when the cali emissions resulted in lower HP/TQ numbers, and thusly I question if there is any difference... Glad to hear there is little to no drop in output.

streethorse · Feb 9, 2011

How did a Cali car end up in SC... auction..... Id stay away from that.

erichmess_ · Feb 9, 2011

I personally think this is a legit question that I'd like to see a little more detail on the answer. I think there's more to it than limiting the octane.

cbf102770 · Feb 9, 2011

streethorse said:
How did a Cali car end up in SC... auction..... Id stay away from that.

Lease car and auctioned, its actually located in So FL, but its at Carmax (5 day money back guarantee) and has a clean history report through Autocheck. I know that things can be hidden from either Carfax or Autocheck, like paying for crash repairs out of pocket and not reporting to insurance. Its an 07 with 17k and from what I can see by the pix the interior looks brand new still. While this car is currently at the top of my shopping list, there are many others I am eyeballing at the same time. My main concern wasnt that it was an auction car, as I used to work at a car dealership, and the auction cars were generally better than the tradeins we took. It seems to me that most of the dealerships here in the Charleston area buy and sale leased cars at auction to supliment their used car inventory.My concern was if there were any major differences due to cali emissions requirements that would cause issues with future performance upgrades.

cbf102770 · Feb 9, 2011

cababah said:
What are you smoking? The main and only difference (that you will be able to notice) is that California only has max 91 octane and many other states have 93. That will give you a slight power bump but the difference using the same fuel for both CA and non-CA cars is slim to none.

By the way, I have a CA car and stock, it put down 381rwhp, 373ft-lbs

What MY Mustang do you have? Can't be a 05-10 putting down those numbers in stock form.

cbf102770 · Feb 9, 2011

erichmess_ said:
I personally think this is a legit question that I'd like to see a little more detail on the answer. I think there's more to it than limiting the octane.

I think there is more to it than that also, and in today's market, I think its more and more common to see perfectly good lease turn ins and trades end up going to auction.
Its nearly impossible to find an 05-09 GT Premium 5MT at a local Ford lot and when you find one its got over 30K miles and they still want mid $20s.

Guess I'll have to post this question on another forum to get a serious answer.

erichmess_ · Feb 9, 2011

You could try the "West Coast" section of the Regional boards. They might have a better idea.

1200bruce · Feb 9, 2011

Yea a bunch of states have the Calif. emissions now, WA and OR are just two!

cababah · Feb 9, 2011

cbf102770 said:
What MY Mustang do you have? Can't be a 05-10 putting down those numbers in stock form.

2011 GT

Redfire281 · Feb 10, 2011

As I understand it, all new cars manufactured by Ford for sale in the U.S. are 50 state legal. The difference is that cars sold in CARB regulated States must have CARB certification. The EPA requires that States adopt either California or Federal clean air standards. So, because California standards are more stringent, CARB certified cars may be sold in any of the 50 states while cars without CARB certification cannot be sold in California. This implies then that there is no performance difference between new cars whether or not CARB certified; nor any difference in the standard new car warranty. The effect is with regard to extended warranty on CARB specific emissions components. Many extended warranties state that for these emissions components to be covered on a CARB certified vehicle, that car must have been purchased new in a CARB regulated State.

Edit: BTW, CARB regulations apply in California, 12 other states and the District of Columbia.

cbf102770 · Feb 10, 2011

Redfire281 said:
As I understand it, all new cars manufactured by Ford for sale in the U.S. are 50 state legal. The difference is that cars sold new in California are CARB certified. The EPA requires that States adopt either California or Federal clean air standards. So, because California standards are more stringent, CARB certified cars may be sold in any of the 50 states while cars without CARB certification cannot be sold in California. This implies then that there is no performance difference between new cars whether or not CARB certified; nor any difference in the standard new car warranty. The effect is with regard to extended warranty on California specific emissions components. Many extended warranties state that for these emissions components to be covered on a CARB certified vehicle, that car must have been purchased new in California.

Edit: BTW, CARB regulations apply in California, 12 other states and the District of Columbia.

Thank you for providing the details to the answer. Now I can stop worrying about if the car was originally sold/owned in California, and concentrate on finding the ONE with the options I want, and with luck, I could be putting a "new to me" stang in the stable within the next 2-4 weeks.

cababah · Feb 11, 2011

Even if it was from California and had some sort of emissions regulation that lowered hp, you could still take it to any Ford dealer in your state and they will re-flash the PCM to factory and then it will be set to that state. Granted, Ford will still charge you around $150 to do this as you have to re-program both of your keys during the process.

cbf102770 · Feb 12, 2011

Found the car...

Well, I found the car, and no worries about it being a CA car, its from NC. 07 GT Premium Black/Red int. Just waiting on it to be transferred from the dealership in NC. Should have it in about 14 days or so. I will post pix as soon as my name is on the contract, and she comes home. Now to pick a name...

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