Buying a car sucks. From beginning to end. The research, the test drives, dealing with sales guys whose job it is to screw you... All of it.

Fortunately there are a number of good sites you can use to minimize the pain by maximizing your knowledge. Edmunds.com is one. KBB.com is another. A new site that looks promising is truedelta.com.

In addition to the usual pricing info found on other sites, TrueDelta also has in-depth, user-submitted reliability and fuel economy info. And it's the only site that updates its results every 90 days, as opposed to once a year like most other sites.

Another thing I like about them is their side-by-side comparison guide where you can pit two cars against each other. You get a quick visual of all the specs and options for both, plus actual costs, with a summary of which car comes in cheaper.

You can also sign up as a panelist and contribute data on your car, and help share the knowledge.

www.truedelta.com