2017 survey

Hello to few customers of Car Models & Engines database!

Are you still using my database?

Right now I am working at main yearly update, sorry for delay, I was originally planning this update for 1-15 december, but got 2 large scraping projects, been paid $500 and €400 so had do do them first, then during christmas and new year holidays I got new customers so I worked whole January, it will take at least 50 hours of work so I hope to finish and give you the update by end of month. After this update that will add about 400 new cars I will start also an expansion with older cars, which I estimate to add about 1000 cars from 1970-1986.

Over last year got several suggestions from various customers so I need to do a survey with existing customers to take correct decisions that make happy as many people is possible.

1. New columns

This february update will add few new columns in database (suggested by other customers), available for cars produced after 2013 only: Fuel consumption urban/highway (beside mixed consumption), Euro norms, turning radius, base price in Germany (don’t know if anyone need price), and maybe few more! Enjoy them!

Another addition is a column Model body (platform) years, for people who don’t like that Model column have a single value for all BMW E90-E93 regardless of body style, as each of the 4 body styles have different year and platform code. This will make my database looking like https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/ which 2nd drop down boxes also have saloon, touring, coupe, cabrio for BMW 3-Series.

How do you use my database? Can you give me a link to your website, or a screenshot if you use it in an application and not on a public website?

2. Do I should keep information abbreviated or should use full words?

Especially in these columns: body type, drivetrain, injection type, turbocharger, suspension, brakes, fuel type.

The reason for which I use abbreviations is because I sourced data from books which also use abbreviated due of limited amount of paper space, and because when I started this European database in 2003 I had an 1024×768 screen, that’s why I made it in 12 columns only. Now I have a 24″ 1920×1200 screen and this allowed me to expand database to 45 columns, my screen is still not big enough as the database would require a 27″ 2560×1440 screen to display completely, so I choose to hide columns when adding new data. However, after I enter all data from AutoKatalog books going back to 1970, there will be no more reason to have a database that fit in screen width, as the updates with new cars are done via copy-pasting and not manual typing. The databases I made for other continents, America and India, source data from websites which do not have limitations of a printed book, so they use full words, and I wonder if should do the same for European database.

3. Should add an unique ID column… but what kind of ID should be put there?

Each release of database add new cars, old cars, as well as additional data for existing cars. I recommend deleting your version of database and replacing it with a new database, but many customers integrate my data with their own data so they cannot simply delete it and put the new one. Due of this reason, starting from mid-2016 I added an ID column for American and Indian databases, the ID being a number found in page URL from where I scraped data. But in case of European database, being sourced from books and not websites, there is no ID. I need to create myself an unique ID system.

Numbering car from 1 to 18000 from A to Z may be not a good idea because at updates I may split up rows so they will need to add an ID above 18000 which prove that was edited, and is difficult to add new ID in order without risk to make duplicates or miss numbers. So my idea is to create IDs relevant to the car, I can quickly generate IDs using an Excel formula that will combine Make-Model-Body-cm3-horsepower-startyear. I will copy formula and paste as value, so in case I edit later any of these columns, the unique ID won’t change. In case the formula create duplicate IDs, I will add a -2, -3 at end.

Please reply if you are against this idea or if you have a better solution!

4. Should add engine codes?

I lost several customers who were looking specifically for a database with engine codes. So I am thinking to add them, the reason for not doing this already is because will be a very difficult job to look for engine codes on another website where car name may be different and compare cm3 and horsepower to know which engine code to add for which engine, and may not be able to add codes for all cars. I don’t have any estimated date when will do this, if I ever decide to add engine codes, potential extra sales may not cover the effort needed.

5. 3-door and 5-door hatchbacks should have separate rows?

One customer suggested separation, but I am afraid to do this because existing customers may not like this idea which will instantly add about 1200 new rows for old cars (out of ~18000 cars, 1200 are 3/5-door hatchbacks. Not everyone like large number of rows and duplicates, multiple rows for same body style, had also a customer who did not liked the fact that I have separate row for each body style and drivetrain, he wanted just one row for engine BMW 330i, not 330i saloon, 330i touring, 330i xDrive, etc.

6. Should I create a simpler database for people who wants just to make drop-down boxes: make, model, engine version?

See SAMPLE: https://www.teoalida.com/cardatabase/samples/Car-Engines-Database-SAMPLE.xls

This idea is not new, it dates back from 2013 but I did not found sufficient people interested. Also I have a dilemma if cars having same engine in multiple power versions should have 1 row per each engine cm3 with power versions listed on same row, or separate row for each power version? Example BMW E90 325i, 330i, 335i all share same engine of 3.0 litres, should strip off version naming and have a column “3.0 litres L6 (218, 258, 272, 306 PS)” or should keep version name and have 4 rows for each power?

After main yearly update, if I don’t get again too busy with other projects, I may create additional columns into existing database, which will delete rows that are multiple for same engine, to create the simpler database which will be updated in same time with the big database.

7. ADAC database

In late 2015 I paid $400 to a programmer to make a scraper for ADAC Datenbank, which have separate row for each equipment level (80000+ rows compared with mine 18000 rows), and I manually copy-paste data from ADAC into my database, respecting the format of my AutoKatalog-based database, meaning 1 row per each engine, no equipment levels, no separate rows for manual/automatic. This keep my database an original product made using my mind rather than a copy of any other database available online, which could run in a copyright trouble.

I was not intending to sell ADAC database, due of copyright reasons, but someone wanted to buy a database with separate row for each equipment level, so I sold him ADAC database in August 2016, then published for everyone in November. https://www.teoalida.com/cardatabase/germany/ what is your opinion?