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Are you wasting money by warming up your car?
Many drivers believe that driving a cold car is bad for the engine and idle for far longer than necessary, wasting time and money and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
Experts say you only need to run your engine for 2 or 3 minutes in very cold weather for it to be road ready.
Martin Restoule, Coordinator of Transportation Trades, at Algonquin College, says that on a cold day, just two or three minutes will do the trick.
“Your engine and transmission are expensive components. You do want to circulate the oil through the engine,” says Restoule. “Oil is very thick when it’s cold and you want it to thin-out to lubricate the components in the engine.”
While not helpful to your car, idling does contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, making it bad for the environment.
Watch the news report here: http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/is-driving-a-cold-car-bad-for-the-engine-1.2176052#ixzz3Q2l47Nfv
What would you pay to stay at the “fastest hotel in the world?”
A Phoenix man has listed his Tesla Model S on AirBnB, offering guests the opportunity to stay overnight in the trunk. He calls it the “fastest hotel in the world.”
You won’t actually get a chance to drive the $118,000 car that can go zero to 100 km/h in four seconds, but for $109 a night, you can sleep in it while it’s parked in a locked garage.
The experience is offered as an alternative to a hotel.
“The airbed in the back sleeps two in climate-controlled comfort all night,” writes Steve Sasman in his AirBnB listing. “You can set the mood with your selection of any Internet music you would like on a huge 17” monitor. … It comes with clean sheets, pillows and a blanket or comforter if you like.”
The twin airbed is only a bit longer than two metres so tall people may not be comfortable.
“Sorry, NO NBA players allowed. Despite my love for basketball, the Tesla is just too small for anyone over 6’6”. Please…stop asking,” he writes.
Guests have access to Sasman’s kitchen, living room and bathroom, but because he needs the car to get to work, they must be up by 8 a.m.
“I’ve already slept in this thing three times so why not let other people do it,” Sasman told CBS5. “To sleep in it one night is to give somebody a taste…They get to spend some time in the car, experience it without actually buying it.”
Last-minute football fans, note: The Tesla Hotel will not be available in the days leading up to Super Bowl this weekend, taking place just outside of Phoenix.
Read the full story here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/news/trans-canada-highway/us-man-offers-tesla-trunk-for-109night-on-airbnb/article22635276/
Losing Your Smart Key Could Cost You
If you have a habit of losing your keys you may want to make a New Year’s resolution to break that habit, especially if you have a smart key. Replacing a so-called “smart” car key with an embedded computer chip can cost an arm and leg — $400 in some cases or potentially much more.
Consumer Reports said a couple of years ago one of its engineers had to pay $600 to replace the key to his Toyota Prius, after he accidentally went swimming with the key in his pocket.
Many auto dealerships offer key replacement policies. They may sound expensive, too, but bear in mind what it costs to replace a lost key. Prices are negotiable, so it’s hard to generalize about prices. To state the obvious, the retail price better be less than the price to replace a lost key.
Policies also may cover more than just key replacement, like roadside assistance if you’re locked out of your car, or rental car coverage if a replacement key can’t be made right away.
Obviously, it’s the finance manager’s job at the dealership to explain the cost vs. the benefits. If it’s offered, try not to be bowled over when you hear how much it costs. Keep an open mind, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. A clever finance manager might have copies of real-life examples documenting how much it costs to replace a lost key, for instance.
Also, be realistic. The finance manager is probably not going to give up right away when you say, “I don’t plan on losing my keys.” Nobody does. Even if you never make a claim, key replacement also represents peace of mind, like any form of insurance.
Read the full story here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimhenry/2014/12/31/new-year-resolution-for-2015-do-not-lose-car-keys/
New Car Gadgets for 2015
Our cars are filled with technology these days and that is only going to increase as more and more gadgets and features that help reduce the stress of driving and increase your safety on the roadways are released. Here are some of the newest gadgets you’ll see in 2015:
1. Run-off road protection system – 2015 Volvo XC90, $60,700 + $2,200 for the Convenience package with run-off road protection system: Volvo’s Run-off Road Protection system is a world first. If you drive off the road accidentally, the all-new Volvo XC90 detects what is happening and takes matters into its own hands to reduce injuries to passengers.
2. Perpendicular park assist – 2015 Chrysler 200C, $24,995 + optional $1,995 SafetyTech package: Parallel parking systems aren’t new, but perpendicular parking systems are. The 2015 Chrysler 200C can perpendicular park itself, reversing into a spot at a crowded mall with ease.
3. Night Vision with Pedestrian Detection – 2015 BMW X6, $68,890 + $2,500 stand-alone option for Night Vision with pedestrian detection: BMW’s Night Vision with Pedestrian Detection warns drivers of dangers beyond your headlights. The system can detect animals and pedestrians in the dark by using infrared technology to see things before they’re visible to the naked eye. An infrared camera scans a range up to 300+ metres ahead of the vehicle – that’s more than three football fields – and 200 metres beyond what the Xenon headlights can illuminate. Then it relays a real-time video image onto the LCD screen.
4. In-car Wi-Fi – 2015 Cadillac ATS, $36,110; data plans start at $10/month after three-month trial service: Connectivity has reached new heights thanks to OnStar with 4G LTE, available on many GM vehicles. It brings a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot inside and around the vehicle. You can also connect up to seven devices at once including laptops, smartphones, video game consoles or tablets so the entire family can stay online on the road. At 100x the speed of 2G, the mobile data network is fast and powerful.
Toyota to Launch Advanced Active-Safety Systems in 2015
Toyota Motor Corp. is getting closer to autonomous cars. The company will begin to release a range of advanced active-safety systems to the masses next year.
The new or re-engineered technologies, unveiled Wednesday in Tokyo, encompass more sophisticated precrash braking packages, a better auto-parking feature, a next-generation auto-adjust headlamp and a vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communication system.
Toyota will begin rolling out the technologies in early 2015, Chief Safety Technology Officer Moritaka Yoshida said.
Initial products, such as the auto-parking and vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems, will debut in Japan and later migrate to other markets, including the U.S. Others, including two precrash auto-braking packages, will be released in the U.S. as early as next year.
Affordable
Toyota did not disclose pricing for the new systems, but the goal is to introduce affordable advanced safety technologies that can be deployed in mass-volume nameplates, Yoshida said.
Toyota is introducing the technologies in a push to burnish its safety credentials as automakers seek to differentiate themselves from rivals. The systems are also basic building-block technologies that will underpin future autonomous cars.
Yoshida said automakers have reached a point of diminishing returns from improvements in passive systems such as stronger body frames and seat belts. Faster gains will come from technologies that prevent crashes, he said.
“There is a limit to reducing the number of fatalities through passive safety,” he said. “We must also focus on active safety.”
Name of Toyota’s Hydrogen Car Revealed
The Mirai is the name that Toyota selected for t it’s upcoming fuel cell vehicle (FCV). The Japanese automaker has also announced that it is building a network of hydrogen stations in the US Northeast to support the new vehicle.
The $69,000 vehicle is due to arrive in the US in 2016. Toyota proclaimes that “the future has arrived,” (Mirai means “future” in Japanese) which may make the thousands of people who’ve owned a Honda FCX Clarity FCV since 2005 gag. But despite being late to the game, Toyota is now making a huge bet on FCVs. It has teamed with Air Liquide to build 12 hydrogen stations in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The stations will be “strategically placed” so that drivers of the 300-mile-range Mirai can tool around the region without (much) anxiety. Previously, Toyota said that 19 hydrogen stations would be installed in California.
How To Protect Yourself From Auto Recalls
2014 has been the year of the auto recall. It seems like every other day, news breaks about yet another recall on millions of cars that could prove deadly. There are steps consumers can take to ensure their safety.
As of October, automakers had issued recalls for an estimated all-time-high of 56 million vehicles in the U.S. “To put that in perspective, automakers have now recalled more than three times the number of new cars and trucks Americans will buy this year,” the Detroit Free Press noted.
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The flurry of recalls has come fast and furiously in 2014. This week, Toyota issued a recall on roughly 250,000 vehicles in the U.S. related to faulty airbags, on top of a global recall of 1.7 million Toyotas for a wide range of safety defects that circulated last week. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) lists 29 separate auto manufacturer recalls thus far in the month of October, and the agency released a special consumer advisory this week, alerting the owners of 7.8 million vehicles that they should take “immediate action” to replace dangerously defective airbags.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. General Motors recalled 2.7 million vehicles last May, less than one month after the automaker announced it had spent $1.3 billion to recall 7 million vehicles worldwide, including 2.6 million for faulty ignition switches linked to 13 deaths. Ford recalled 700,000 vehicles last spring because of concerns the airbags wouldn’t deploy quickly enough, while some 16 million vehicles from 10 automakers have been recalled because the airbags, made by the Japanese company Takata, could inflate with explosive force strong enough to hurt or even kill the riders the devices are designed to save in the case of an accident. And on and on.
The numbers are so big, and the recalls pop up with such frequency, that you might be inclined to tune them out—not unlike the hacks and data breaches that occur with astonishing regularity at major retailers. But then, you know … there’s death and catastrophic injury. The potential of anything so dire affecting you and your loved ones should make you snap to attention and take action.
Small Cars Versus Large Cars – Which Are Actually More Efficient?
When asked this question, many would answer that smaller cars are more efficient, but road tests confirm that the smallest cars aren’t necessarily the most fuel efficient.
Drivers looking for savings at the petrol pump could be making a mistake if they swap their estate or 4×4 for a smaller car, according to research which suggests that fuel economy estimates are biased against larger vehicles.
Motorists are usually advised that smaller cars can travel more miles per gallon (mpg) than those with larger engines, making them cheaper and more environmentally friendly to run.
But manufacturers’ estimates of fuel economy, based on official laboratory tests, may not reflect the reality when the vehicles are driven on the road.
Tests on 500 vehicles, half petrol, half diesel, each driven for three hours on roads in Britain, found that the cars travelled on average 18 per cent fewer miles per gallon than stated in manufacturers’ specifications.
Emissions Analytics, a data company which measured the cars’ fuel consumption and emissions, explained that this was due to cars accelerating more and travelling at higher speeds on the road than in official testing regimes.
The discrepancy between manufacturers’ claims and the road data was especially stark for vehicles with smaller engines, which generally have to work harder to accelerate.
Tests showed that vehicles with an engine size up to one litre had an average advertised 60.3mpg, but consumption was measured at 38.6mpg in tests, a drop of 36 per cent.
Toyota Reveals “Car of the Future”
Toyota has unveiled its concept car, Urban Utility (or U^2). It offers a look into the future of technology for the next generation of automobiles and consumers.
The U^2, or Urban Utility, has a box-shaped exterior with a customizable interior that features a sleek design, removable front seat, an intuitive shifter and a spot to mount a tablet in place of a radio.
The vehicle, “inspired by a growing innovative spirit in urban areas,” was created by the automaker’s Calty Design Research Team, according to a news release. Toyota operates a truck plant in San Antonio that directly employees nearly 3,000 people.
“Vehicle elements reflect the lifestyle and needs of an entrepreneurial, urban driver,” the release reads.
Technology magazine Wired’s take on that phrase: “In other words, it’s made for millennials, the startup-crazy city dwellers who just aren’t buying cars the way their predecessors did.”
Women and Men Seek Similar Things When Buying Cars
When it comes to buying a car, what women and men want varies only slightly.
Exterior styling and overall value are the most important things to new car buyers of both sexes, according to TrueCar.com, an auto buying site that regularly surveys buyers. Past experience with the brand and driving performance are next on the list.
But while men usually give an edge to styling and driving performance, women tend to rank safety and fuel economy more highly than men do, TrueCar says.
Those small differences are important as women become a larger force in the marketplace. Forty per cent of new vehicle registrants were female in the first four months of this year, up from 37 per cent in 2009, according to Edmunds.com. And that’s only expected to grow. Among younger buyers, women are already outpacing men.
“Women represent the biggest marketing opportunity in the world,” says Chantel Lenard, Ford’s U.S. marketing director.
Even when preferences converge, it may be for different reasons. For example, “reliability” is important to women because they don’t want to get stranded on the road, Lenard says. Men want reliable cars because they don’t want to spend a lot of time in the shop, she says.
Horsepower is important to men, which helps explain why Lamborghini has the highest proportion of male buyers of any brand, at nearly 95 per cent, according to the car shopping site Edmunds.com. But it’s also important to women, who want to know that they can accelerate quickly away from a problem, Lenard says.
Debbie Parsons sprang for one high-tech luxury — remote start — on her 2014 Chevrolet Spark after spending a frigid winter watching her neighbours use it to heat their cars. But mostly, she bought the subcompact for its cute styling and lemon-yellow paint.