Is Biofuel still in this 2009?

I recently spent time with Saab’s bioethanol experts – and it got me thinking. Are they heading down a dead-end with their E85-fuelled vehicles? Or are they right to persist with biofuels, even if public perception swung dramatically in 2008?

They certainly don’t sell many in the UK. Since 2006, Saab Biopower cars make up less than half of one percent of sales here – but the UK is notoriously behind other markets with its acceptance of bioethanol cars.

Sweden: firm believers in biofuels

Back in the homeland, half the buses in Stockholm run on bioethanol – and a third of all new cars sold in Sweden every year run on the green stuff, including one in five Saabs. As ever with fuel debates, availability is a big issue: the UK has only 20 filling stations with bioethanol, compared with 60 in Ireland and 350 in France. Compare that with the 1050 in Sweden and you can see why it’s popular there.

Okay, so you can mix bioethanol with regular petrol, but then of course you’re turning your back on its green credentials. Saab argues that even if petrol stations in the UK aren’t supporting the use of bioefuels as much as they could or should, it’s still possible to run your car on petrol in the meantime and keep your options open for the future.

We already know from Ben Oliver’s report in the August 2008 issue of CAR magazine that ethanol is majorly supported in Brazil, where a quarter of cars run on biofuels. But can you imagine having the sugar plantations required in the UK and the resultant change required in the agricultural system? Supporters argue we already import much of our energy, so why is shipping in biofuels any different?

How do biofuels perform on the road?

I drove the latest Saab XWD/Aero running on biofuel and can confirm it in no way affects the performance of the car compared with regular UK models slurping unleaded. Could I detect the higher power outputs and combustion efficiency of Saab’s Biofuels engines? It’s touch and go.

Critics say that Saab is backing the Betamax of the fuel world, but I still admire the plucky Swedes for developing E85 cars. Who knows what could come from this in the future.

We all look to develop and advance ourselves for the better, so why not the environment we live in? Maybe this is a useful starting block for what is to come. IMO we should be looking at all options – whether they be electric, hybrid, plug-in or biofuel. And you know what? I prefer a car to sound and feel like a car, and that’s why I still struggle with the milkfloat connotations of electric cars.

Would I buy a biofuel car? Not at a premium – too many uncertainties remain. But I still believe they’re right to develop the technology. None of us should put all our eggs in one basket…

Source: http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/

74 Cardinal Tips to Keep your Car in Great Condition

Operating Your Car

We've compiled our best expert advice, surprising tricks, and maintenance and fix-it tips to prolong the life of your car!

1. Be patient during the break-in period
You've bought your dream car and now you want to make it last at long as possible in top condition. Here are some things to remember as you pull it out of the dealer's lot:

During the break-in period, typically the first 1,000 miles (1,600 km), keep your speed under 55 mph (88 kpm) or to the speed recommended by your car's manufacturer.

Avoid heavy loads on the drive train, such as towing trailers, and loading the roof rack or trunk with heavy construction materials.

Do not allow your new car to idle for long periods -- this is good advice for the life of your car, but especially during breakin. The oil pressure generated by doing so may not be sending oil to every part of your engine.

Use only light to medium acceleration, keeping the engine rpms below 3,000 for the first few hours of driving.

2. Drive with care everyday
Being car considerate shouldn't stop after the break-in. Drive with care every day and your car will reward you with longer intervals without repair.

Do not race your car's engine during start-up.This is a quick way to add years of wear to your engine, especially if it's cold outside.

Accelerate slowly when you begin your drive.The most wear to the engine and drive train occurs in the first ten to twenty minutes of operation.

Warming the engine by letting it idle in the driveway is not a smart idea.The engine doesn't operate at its peak temperature, resulting in incomplete fuel combustion, soot deposits on cylinder walls, oil contamination, and ultimately damaged components.

Put less strain on your engine and automatic transmission by shifting to neutral at red lights. Otherwise, the engine is still working to push the car even while it's stopped.

Avoid driving at high speeds and accelerating quickly, especially when it's very hot or very cold outside. Such driving behavior will result in more frequent repairs.

Extend the life of your tires with careful driving. Observe posted speed limits. Avoid fast starts, stops, and turns. Avoid potholes and objects on the road. Don't run over curbs or hit the tire against the curb when parking. And, of course, don't burn rubber.

When turning your steering wheel, don't hold it in an extreme right or left position for more than a few seconds. Doing so can damage the power-steering pump.

Consolidate your short driving trips. Most of the wear and tear -- as well as the pollution your car generates -- takes place in the first few minutes of driving. Doing several errands at once, during low traffic hours if possible, will keep your engine happier longer.

3. Buy gas at reputable service stations
Ask whether the gas you buy is filtered at the pump and if the station has a policy about changing the pump filters regularly. If you get a song and dance, find another gas station. Some stations don't have pump filters, making you more vulnerable to dirty gasoline. Other stations may not mix alcohol and fuel properly -- or worse, water down their product. Find a station you trust and stick to it.

4. Don't fill up if you see the tanker
If you happen to see a gasoline tanker filling the tanks at your local gas station, come back another day or go to a different station. As the station's underground tanks are being filled, the turbulence can stir up sediment. Sediment in your gas can clog fuel filters and fuel injectors, causing poor performance and possibly necessitating repairs.

5. Go easy when you're stuck
When stuck in mud or snow, don't make the problem worse by damaging an expensive component. Gently rocking in an attempt to free the car is fine. But if it looks as though you're really stuck, don't keep at it. Throwing your car from forward to reverse repeatedly, as well as spinning tires at high speeds, can generate lots of heat and spell trouble for transmissions, clutches, and differentials. It may be cheaper in the long run to call the tow truck rather than risk big repair bills down the road. It's a good idea to carry a traction aid in the trunk, such as sand, gravel, or cat litter.

6. Lighten up your key chain
Does your car key share a chain with a dozen or more other keys? That's a pretty heavy load hanging off the car key when it's in the ignition.The weight, combined with bouncing while you drive, can wear out the tumblers inside the ignition and eventually lead to ignition switch failure.To add years of service to your ignition switch, purchase a lightweight key chain that allows you to separate your ignition key from the others. Drive with only the ignition key in your ignition. If your ignition key "sticks" when you try to turn on the car, it's a warning that your ignition switch is about to fail. Replace it before you get stranded.

7. Choose a good car insurer
Sometimes, no matter how careful you are, disaster inevitably strikes -- typically in the form of an accident. Make sure that your car will be repaired to the best possible standard by finding an insurer that will pay for parts from the original manufacturer and guarantee the repairs it authorizes.

8. Keep an auto log
Keep a pad and pencil in the glove compartment and use them to record your gas fill-ups and mileage. If you notice that your gas mileage worsens, mention it to your service man. It may be an early warning sign that something is wrong with your car.

9. Preserve your car during long-term storage
If you are not going to use your car for more than a month, store it properly to prevent unnecessary damage and repairs upon your return.

• Fill the gas tank to help prevent condensation from accumulating in the gas tank. Add a fuel stabilizer and drive the car around a bit to distribute the additive to engine parts.


• Wash and wax the car thoroughly to protect the finish.


• Place a vapor barrier on your garage floor. A 4-mil polyethylene drop cloth will do.


• Disengage the parking brake to help avoid brake corrosion.


• Put the car on jack stands to take the weight of the vehicle off the wheels and tires.


• Disconnect and remove the battery to keep it from draining. Place the battery on a trickletype charger. Or periodically drain the battery, using a small light bulb, and then recharge it with a low-volt charger.


• Plug the tailpipe with a rag to prevent moist air from infiltrating into it.

Car Interior

10. Park in the shade
Of course, a garage is always the ideal place to park your car. But if one isn't available, minimize interior damage from UV sunlight and heat by always trying to park your car in the shade. If no shade is available or if you find parking under a tree results in bird droppings, use a car shade to minimize the sun's impact. As a bonus, you'll have a cooler car to step into on hot sunny days. Car shades come in two basic types: those that you unfold and place on the front windshield and rear window, or pleated types that attach to the windshield posts (with adhesive), window frames (with Velcro), or the windows themselves (with suction cups).

11. Clean the inside, too
Vacuum and sponge your interior every time you wash your car. Dirt particles are abrasive, and spilled liquids, such as soda, can be corrosive.Vacuum your interior thoroughly with a powerful vacuum (small cordless models are generally too weak). Use the appropriate wand heads when vacuuming. The bare metal wand can mar and scratch surfaces. Sponge vinyl surfaces clean with a solution of mild detergent and water.

12. Clean dash gauges carefully
Use a soft damp cloth to lightly wipe dust from the clear plastic lenses on your dashboard. Too much pressure will scratch them. Too many scratches can make it difficult to read your gauges under certain lighting conditions.

13. Let floor mats take winter's beating
Use floor mats to protect carpeting. The best type for controlling salt, slush, and mud in winter are rubber wafflestyle mats. They stay in place, don't allow the water to seep through, and are easy to wash clean. Carpet-style mats are helpful, too. Shake, vacuum, or wash as needed; replace them as they wear through.

14. Blast mats with the hose
When washing your car, drag out the rubber or carpet floor mats and blast them with the hose.This will dislodge dirt particles that, if allowed to build up, will grind holes in your mats. Let the mats dry thoroughly in the sun before reinstalling them.

15. For stubborn carpet or mat stains
After vacuuming floor mats or interior carpeting, apply foam rug cleaner to resistant stains as directed by the maker. Work the foam into a few square feet at a time, using a wet sponge or brush. Vacuum when dry.

16. Preserve door and window seals
Wipe a rubber protectant (such as Armor-All) or silicone on door and window weatherstripping to keep it in good condition. Don't use an oilbased product, such as WD-40, because the oil will damage the rubber. Regular cleaning and treatment of your car's weatherstripping will also lessen the likelihood of your door sticking to its rubber seal in cold weather, a common cause of damage to the rubber.

17. Fix bad weatherstripping immediately
If your weatherstripping is letting rainwater leak into the interior of your car, take a look at it and decide if you can repair it or if it needs to be replaced. Small leaks can be handled with brush-on seam sealers. Resecure loose sections, not otherwise damaged, with trim adhesive. Torn sections may be repaired with special caulking available at auto parts stores. You may also be able to extend the life of worn-but-intact sections by inserting foam rods, available at automotive stores, into the hollow section of the weatherstripping. If you decide to replace entire sections of gasket, don't simply buy generic stuff such as you'd use around the house. Buy a product that matches your car's original weatherstripping -- it's available in a wide variety of profiles from dealerships and automotive mail-order catalogues.

18. Keep leather from drying out and cracking
Leather cars seats are durable and don't require a lot of maintenance. After a few years, however, the seats can become soiled. Use a leather cleaner to remove dirt and stains.Then apply a leather protectant formulated for pigmented or top-coated grain leather (the leather used for most leather car upholstery). Protectants will resist stains and make the upholstery easier to clean in the future. Choose a protectant that includes conditioners to keep your leather supple.

19. Use upholstery cleaners on soiled seats
The same upholstery cleaners you use at home can be used on your car's upholstery. Use them sparingly, however, to avoid saturating the fabric. Use a clean cloth to wipe away the foam. On velour seats, brush the fibers gently to avoid matting them and to preserve the original texture of the fabric.

20. Renew fabric upholstery
Spraying fabric car seats and carpets with a fabric protectant, such as Scotchgard, will make them resist dirt and stains, and make them easier to clean. Thoroughly clean the fabrics before using one of these products and then test the product on an inconspicuous place to be sure the treatment will not discolor the fabric.

21. Place a towel under baby seats
All manner of food bits and liquids can accumulate under a baby seat, where they can permanently stain the upholstery. Place a sheet of heavy plastic and an absorbent towel under the seat to prevent damage, and re-secure the seat according to the manufacturer's directions.

Read the rest of the tips here.

Tips on Driving a Car Bargain

You can buy some time and money, not to mention, be free from headache, when you are about to make your second largest purchase you will ever make after a home. All you have to be is be street-smart though not really a whacko. How to be that? Just stick to these tips:

1. Allow yourself to linger on each shopping option. This is an important decision, and it entails careful thinking.

2. Shop toward the end of the calendar year. Since most shoppers are busy on completing their Christmas shopping, you might end up with a better bargain for cars. You can also get a good buy during late summer or early fall, when most car owners sell off their cars for the next year's.

3. Make sure that the car you dream of is the car that you truly need. Make sure that you can pay off the car totally; make it a point to match your loan term to the time you expect to own the vehicle.

4. Don't forget to test-drive and do a thorough inspection of the car, to really know the car you're buying.

5. Lastly, the Internet can be the most helpful tool you need in your research for cars.

One major point to consider for you to make a major hit online?

Search for the truck, car, or SUV that you like then list it down; make a contrast of all the vehicles then make some sort of profile for the car you've chosen.

Do this and you'll be driving around in no time! Just don't do overspeeding.

Don’t Lease during “Rainy” Days

When your credit card stays unused for some time already and it’s just tempting to lease a car, knowing that you only have to give a low monthly payment and repairs are not one of your concerns already, the best thing to do is think harder.
Car leasing might sound a good car deal option for anyone buried neck deep in debts, especially with its growing popularity and the number of topnotch cars available for lease in the market. Think ahead of your financial situation; once you start leasing a car, at the end of the contract, you would have to lease another car or buy out your current leased car. This means you would be a slave to your car dealership for your monthly payments for another three to five years.
So if you have a hefty amount for savings, try to pay all your debt and instead settle for a used car. Car leasing is good for those who were able to save up for the rainy days and there’s still some coming in from another source. With this used car option, you can actually own the car and there won’t be down payments and monthly payments to haunt you for years. You can get good price packages for a used car also.
Otherwise, do look for other alternative ways of earning and look for a car lease deal that would suit your needs well.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com

Tips in Buying the Right Used Car

Buying a used car requires more than just patience; it demands an excellent dose of wit to figure out the best used car you can have. To make things easier for you, we stumbled upon these tips for you to land on a reliable used car.

1) Find out the reason why the car is being sold. There are a couple of hints you need to be keen of. First, if the owner bought a newer model of the same car, then that means he likes the car and might be that he has other needs to take care of, hence more car features. This is given that the car owner is also of good reputation. If the owner, on the other hand, bought another model and hints on unreliability, then that means the car won’t be a good buy.

2) Ask for receipts of purchase of parts and for any repair or modification to find out what have been done to the car for sale. It’s not a good choice when the car has undergone a lot of modifications. It means that its makeup is not intended for hard use, except when there’s a greater purpose of use other than what the car can offer in its original makeup.

3) So how does the car look? Just make sure that the interior is clean and well maintained. No stains or worse holes on the car seats and the rubber mats are in place. No scratches anywhere in the interior. Try to check if there is overspray of paint on the outside then it might be caused by an accident. Also if there are considerable marks on the tire, that means it has been abused in acceleration, which is not good for the engine. A vehicle report can sometimes hide a couple of things about the car so it pays to be work around it.

4) Determine the market value of the car by doing research and car reviews. You can check on other dealerships for the price of the same model and relatively same condition with the car you want to buy.

With these tips, you can be sure of the right used car without having to pay more than what you deserve.

Source: http://www.leemyles.com

Top Ten Tips for Finding the Best Car Lease

1.Check for the car details.
The easiest way is to check the P11D price. The term is taken out from the form the tax man uses to record car details.

2.Check the payment system.
It's basic for whatever purchase you make. How much down payment you need to make and how many months left to pay the rent?

3. Check if the road fund licence is for the full term?
Full-time road fund licence should be included in the contract.

4. Ask if there is a delivery charge or what they call an administration charge.

5. Find out the name of the finance company behind the contract.
Your broker should tell you the complete details of the financing company as well as the contract and services they offer. If not, then he's bluffing.

6. Determine the coverage of maintenance.
Remember that it should cover all scheduled and remedial maintenance work, unlimited tires, batteries, and exhaust systems.

7. Figure out how mileage charges are calculated.
Some financing would use the two tier system: 5 per mile for the first 2,000 miles.

8. Verify how contract refurbishment costs are calculated.

9. A car's condition should be commensurate to the age and mileage. To make sure of the accurate measurements, refer to the BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental & Leasing association) guide.

10. Don't forget to ask the financing company these questions: How much leeway can you get to vary from your contract? And also if you're going to buy the car at lease end, how is the buy-out price calculated?

Source: http://www.avail.co.uk

So What Is a Baby-friendly Car?

To make sure what’s the best car for your newborn, or your soon-to-be kids, you need to follow six steps to ensure that you have a well-suited car for your teeny-weeny Junior.

Here are the six steps:

Check on the car seat of your brand-new car. It may be better to buy a new car seat and fit it yourself to the new car; this is to make sure that you know how to do it. 80% of cars in the United States are said to have improperly installed car seats. This usually is the cause of death or injury of babies straddled on cars. A correctly installed car seat doesn’t move an inch. Almost all of the new cars have the ISOFIX system or the LATCH system. To double-check on the installation of your car seat, you can bring your brand-new car seat and install it at the dealership; let them judge if you did the right thing. You can check on the rear and front-facing installation for your convertible. If you doubt on the exactness of the car seat’s installation, you can check it out with a free child seat inspection center.

To make things easier in picking out the right car seat, you can avail of the baby travel system; it’s a prepackaged set that includes a car seat, baby stroller, and a car seat base.

The second step concerns moving your baby in and out of the car. For cars that have detachable carriers, try putting on some weight on the carrier, about 15-20 lbs or 7-9 kg, and pull it out and put it in the car again in this some kind of role play for travelling with a baby. If your carrier is not detachable, try to put a life-size baby doll on it and pull it in and out.

Try to choose a car that would allow the stroller to fit in snugly and leave room also for grocery bags and other stuff you do when you get to buy stuff with your little kiddo along. But that is just not enough; you have to make sure also that even with your baby and the other stuffs are inside the car, you can still move them freely.

Check out the rear windows. Avoid cars with deeply sloping windshields since this will allow sunshine to stream down on the baby at the rear seat and might cause heatstroke and sunburns.

Next step is to get into the role playing part again. Try to hoist that diaper bag on your shoulder; and do the getting in and locking and getting out and unlocking of the car with the carrier or stroller with corresponding weights on it.

Another scenario to be considered is when an extra adult wants to sit beside the carrier or the stroller. Putting yourself in the shoes of that person, you need to put in the stroller or carrier with the corresponding weights and sit beside it. Try to feel if you’re comfortable in that arrangement.

Choose a car with enough space in front to stand over and reach out for the carrier or stroller at the back of the car.

Sources:

http://cars.about.com

http://babyproducts.about.com