Tag Archive
Choosing the right car warranty
Finding an auto warranty can be difficult, because now there are simply so many to choose from. However, I’ve come up with two questions I ask when searching through the warranty quotes.
Is the electrical covered?
Often that’s the first parts to go out and a shade-tree mechanic can no longer fix newer cars because of the complicated electrical system. Be sure your warranty covers electrical systems.
Is the cooling system covered?
What if your air goes out? What will you and your family do to fix it? If you can find a warranty that covers cooling, then you might want to give it a closer look.
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Nissan’s Hope for the Future
Nissan, during the 90’s, was struggling to stay out to bankruptcy, and they did a good job. They released a redesigned, reengineered Nissan Altima that single handedly brought Nissan out of the woods for a little while and then they revamped the Maxima. I remember seeing the new Altima and Maxima for the first time, they were amazing.
Now, they’re at it again. Nissan unveiled the new Sentra earlier this year and it will be in the hands of dealers in the fall. Nissan is almost in the same position as it was in the 90’s. They’re banking on the remake of the Sentra to boost them into car heaven. Nissan sold 119,000 Sentras in 2005, and they’re looking to increase that number substantially for 06-07. Since the car does not launch until the fall, Nissan will not see the benefits until late 07.
And, with any redesign, there are always people who see otherwise. Not everyone is convinced the new Sentra is enough to help Nissan. When the car was debuted earlier this year, there were mixed reviews about it on their website. A company is never in a good situation when they’re banking on a redesign to get themselves out of murky water.
Hopefully this redesign will renew hopes throughout the entire auto industry.
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1 million cars to be recalled.
Toyota announced on Tuesday that they will be recalling about 1 million cars world wide. A little over half of these cars are in Japan but another 400,000 or so will be recalled from around the world.
The reason for the recall is to replace bad intermediate shafts and sliding yokes. Some of the models affected are the wish, Isis, and the Prius. A few others will be recalled as well but the focus is on cars manufactured in the last three years.
So far, there has not been any reported accidents where the cause was due to the defects in question. That is good news, and it is good to see Toyota fixing this problem. It will probably cost them a pretty penny, but we won’t know how much for sure; because, Toyota does not release those numbers to the public.
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Can the diesel engine have success in the U.S. like in Europe?
Right now, 35% of the passenger automobiles sold in Europe have diesel engines. This number could grow to as much as 50%, during the next ten years. In contrast to these numbers, there is currently only one diesel passenger car available in the U.S. This would be the Volkswagen Golf TDI.
Diesels have flourished in Europe because of expensive gasoline and tax breaks for diesel. Many European governments promote diesel because it emits less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. On top of lower fuel prices, diesel drivers experience increased fuel efficiency. The diesel engine is a more efficient design than the gasoline powered engine.
So, what’s stopping diesel engines from invading our cars here in America? It may still happen but there are a couple of obstacles.
First, diesel fuel is not cheaper than gas here in the States. We enjoy lower gas prices than our European friends, and our government does not offer the nice tax breaks on diesel like most European governments. Therefore, diesel is harder to come by and more expensive in the U.S.
The main reason for the tax breaks in Europe and lack of them here is a difference in the way we set up environmental standards for our vehicles. This is the second obstacle. In Europe the focus is on low carbon dioxide emissions but here in the States the EPA wants low levels of nitrogen oxides and particulates. This is because nitrogen oxides may be carcinogenic and particulates help form smog.
There are solutions to these environmental questions, but these as well as the diesel engine add to the cost of the automobile. This may keep buyers away. Tax breaks, like those in Europe, may be needed to entice buyers.
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High gas prices are not scaring drivers as much as has been expected.
The so called experts have been expecting hybrids and smaller cars to knock SUVs off the throne ever since gas hit $3.00 a gallon. However, it is going to take more than that to dethrone the current rulers of the rode. After all, they are very big.
The SUV is alive and well today. In fact, it seems to be thriving. For example, Escalade sales were up 127% last month. These statistics do not show a nation of drivers fleeing from big vehicles into the arms of the hybrids.
This is a very different situation from 25 years ago. During the late 70’s early 80’s gas prices rose dramatically and there were shortages. This propelled people towards more fuel efficient cars. Apparently, today’s motorists aren’t as easily scared.
This can be attributed to a couple of reasons. First, the average household spends about half as much on gas, based on percentage of income, than in 1981. Basically, there are plenty of people out there with the means to pay for a lot of gas. Second, we have become a nation of SUV and truck drivers. It is going to take more than $3.00 a gallon to change this. Now, the experts are saying it will take $4.00 a gallon for a prolonged period of time to bring change, but as we are finding out, they have been wrong before.
The reign of the hybrids might have to wait a little while longer. For now, it is still long live the SUV.
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What’s next for hybrid vehicles?
Lately hybrids have been a hot topic in the auto world. Spurred on by the price of gas, many auto makers have begun to focus aggressively on producing and marketing them. However, discerning consumers may have seen that in some cases the purchase of a hybrid will not save them much or any money at all.
It is true that you will save money because of the increased fuel efficiency but a hybrid car will cost around $3,000 more than its standard gas powered equivalent. So, your driving habits will determine how much money you will save in the long run. Most of the time it will end up being a wash.
Up to this point, most hybrid owners purchased their vehicles because of environmental and social reasons. If the hybrid is to make it big, it’s going to need to become cheaper.
However, for hybrids to take a major slice of the mass market, it will require the ‘hybrid price premium’ to be slashed from it’s current $3,000+ level to less than $1,000. Toyota, for one, is focusing on achieving this as soon as practicable.
Better technology and more efficient manufacturing techniques will be needed to bring the hybrid price down. However, there is another option. Flex fuel hybrids may help consumers get the most bang for their buck.
What makes real sense is the upgrading of current hybrid offerings to become ‘flexible fuel hybrids’, and full support from manufacturers that all new hybrid models will run on any mix of gasoline and E85. Less than $200 is added to the production cost of a conventional gasoline vehicle in upgrading it to handle E85. Congress, realizing that we are confronted by Global Warming, Peak Oil, and Energy Insecurity, has put the necessary ethanol pump-priming into the new Energy Policy Act.
Saving the environment is a very noble and worthy reason to own a hybrid but most car buyers are looking for one thing: A cheap fuel efficient car. Hopefully, that option is on the way.
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A top advisor leaves after less than a year.
It seems like every other day somebody important is stepping down or leaving a company. Late last week is was Stephen Girsky’s turn. Girsky was a full-time advisor for GM for a little under a year. Before that, he was an analyst on Wall Street.
As usual he cited family/personal reasons for his departure. He wanted a job closer to home. He was currently having to commute from New York to Detroit on a regular basis, and felt good about leaving at this time for business reasons.
Simonetti [GM Spokesperson] also said Girsky felt it was a good time to leave GM because the automaker’s North American turnaround plan is on track. GM narrowed its first-quarter loss to $323 million, down from $1.3 billion the year before.
That is definitely an improvement, but his replacement and the rest of the GM brass have their work cut out for them to get back to positive numbers. It just makes you wonder sometimes when people just leave for “family reasons.” However, GM shares rose 9 cents after the news became public.
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GM CEO thinks so.
We have been talking about the price of gas a lot lately. It seems that everywhere you turn you are reminded of $3.00 a gallon gas and the threat that it might go higher. There are a lot of people afraid of just that happening. However, Rick Wagoner is not among them.
Wagoner, chief executive of General Motors, is optimistic that gas prices will come back down in the future. But how near is that future? I’m not sure but hopefully soon.
"They are too high right now and they will come back down," Wagoner said of oil prices during a conference at the company’s headquarters in Detroit that was broadcast over the Internet. He said consumer behavior isn’t expected to be negatively impacted by current gasoline prices, which are averaging about $2.92 a gallon according to the American Automobile Association.
This kind of thinking does seem to go against the latest trends. Some consumers do seem to be moving toward smaller more efficient cars and automakers like Ford and Toyota are rushing to accommodate them with lots of hybrids. GM is also working on its own share of hybrid vehicles but are not as focused on it as the other two I just mentioned. They are still committed to bigger vehicles as well as the small.
Wagoner said GM aims to keep developing engines for its vehicles with improved fuel economy in mind. He said buyers tend to gravitate to bigger, more-powerful vehicles that typically consume relatively high levels of fuel. GM has touted its new full-size SUVs as being capable of achieving 20 miles per gallon, and the auto maker has a number of vehicles capable of achieving better than 30 miles per gallon.
The truth is that no one can predict exactly what will happen. Each manufacturer will have to make its own adjustments as they go. However, for the sake of our wallets I hope Mr. Wagoner is right.
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Top cars for safety.
Everyone knows that sex sells; sex sells tv shows, books, and even vehicles. Forbes.com has an article about how safety does not sell. Safety, to most westerners, is not preeminent when purchasing things. Although we talk a lot about safety, our purchasing habits don’t always reflect our concerns, which translates into companies building things that sell well. Thus, we have sexy cars outselling safe cars by a large margin
There are plenty of fast sexy cars on the road, but how many earn the highest safety marks?
Sex appeal can translate into big sales volume, but safety technology almost never does. With the exception of Honda Motor, the brands that are most famous for building safe cars– Volvo and German car companies such as DaimlerChrysler’s Mercedes-Benz subsidiary–are not volume players.
So how many cars had the highest possible safety rating this year? Not many. In fact, just four cars can boast this achievement. These are the Acura RL, Honda Civic, Saab 9-3, Volvo S-80.
If you are not concerned about safety, check out this very interesting fact about the safety ratings.
The difference between a good crash-test rating and a poor one is significant: A five-star NHTSA frontal-crash rating means a chance of serious injury of 10% or less in a head-on collision in which each vehicle is going 35 mph. A one-star rating means a chance of 46% or higher. NHTSA defines a "serious injury" as one that requires immediate hospitalization and may be life-threatening.
So that’s what those stars mean. I think I will check those ratings a little more closely from now on. How about you? It’s great to buy a sexy car, but hopefully it will be a safe one too.
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Controversy over higher fuel standards.
Late last week the White House asked Congress for the power to raise the fuel standards for passenger cars. They already have this ability concerning trucks and SUVs. They want to raise the minimum average miles per gallon the auto makers will have to meet with their cars.
They are trying to help calm people’s fears and complaints over the rising gas prices. However, not everyone thinks this is a good move.
Mineta said a simple increase in standards under the current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) system "would increase fatalities on America’s highways, raise health care costs and reduce employment. As a result, the administration would oppose any increase in passenger car CAFE standards without corresponding reform."
Those sound like some serious charges. Other opponents note how this would not have any immediate effects anyway. The auto makers will have a few years to comply with any changes.
This may be true but we definitely need to plan for the future.
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