Motor Views

Recently, I decided it was time to clean up my Chevy Suburban, and get it sold. Realizing that this market isn’t necessarily the best for selling a large, gas guzzling vehicle, I made the choice to do it anyway. Why? Mostly because I actually had very little money in the vehicle, so anything I was able to get from a sale would be nearly all profit.

Of course the first thing I needed to do was get the truck cleaned up and start fixing all those “little things” that never get done when you are driving a vehicle full time. The truck had been sitting out at the side of the house for over a year, and when I went to start it, I remembered that I’d wisely removed the batter cables.

The reason for disconnecting those cables was to save the battery. Well either I waited too long or the battery was not very good quality when I purchased it. Fortunately for me, I bought it at a local auto parts house that stood behind their products.

All that was necessary was for me to bring in the battery. They tested it, and when it wouldn’t hold a charge, they actually sold me a new one at a deep discount. That was a very cool thing to have happened!

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On my way home from my doctor’s appointment the other day, I saw the new Mitsubishi Eclipse on the road.  I’ve seen them before, but I always forget how different they look — very sleek and sporty, rather like a Nissan Z.

Have you ever heard of “house envy” — the desire to always live in a house bigger and better than your own?  You might say that I have car envy.  I constantly see cars on the road that I could totally see myself driving.  If my finances didn’t prohibit it, I would probably run out and buy my newest desire every time.

It does make sense why I would like the new Eclipse, though.  I’ve always been a sports car person, and with my Z not running, I’m experiencing manual transmission withdrawals — our other car is an automatic (boo).  Since the Eclipse reminds me so much of the newest model Z cars, it’s natural that they would attract my attention.

Maybe what I should do is head down to the Mitsubishi dealer and see if I can test drive one — in a manual transmission, of course.  It might give me my “driving stick” fix and get me through until my car is running again — plus it would be really nice to see how the Eclipse feels on the road!

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You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker that says, “Yes this is my truck/No I won’t help you move.”  There’s a reason why that sticker is so popular — people are always trying hit up someone with a truck to help them move.

Even if you do have your own truck, though, sometimes it’s a better idea to rent a truck than to use yours.  For instance, you might find renting a truck to be a better idea if…

• You either need a bigger truck, or will need to make a lot of trips
• You are mving quite a long distance away
• Your truck doesn’t have a bed liner or anything to protect the bed from scratches and dents
• You have lots of valuable furniture that needs to be move and packed very carefully, so that it doesn’t become damaged

These are all good reasons to rent a truck instead of using your own, even if you have a truck available to you.

Also, bear in mind that if you are moving stuff to a self storage facility, some places have trucks that they rent out free to folks who are moving in.  If the truck is free, why not take it?  It will save a lot of wear and tear on your own vehicle!

Technorati Tags: bed liner, self storage

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When helping your teenager choose their first car, there are a few things you will want to keep in mind.  Obviously you will want to make sure your kid is as safe as possible, not to mention that they have a reliable car.  Here are a few tips to help you make a sound decision.

• Get a car that is known for reliability.  For example, Toyota and Honda are well known for being reliable and long lasting.  Furthermore, it is pretty easy to find Honda Civic or Toyota Tundra parts, so even if anything does go wrong it shouldn’t be extraordinarily difficult or expensive to fix.
• Get a car that is known for being safe.  Your kid’s safety is of course one of your biggest concerns, so you will probably be interested in checking out safety ratings for cars before selecting one for your teen.  Of course teens are by nature kind of reckless, so I don’t recommend getting your kid a brand-new car or anything.  Find an oldie but goodie that does well in a crash!
• Get a car that is  practical.  Many teens want sports cars or trucks, but in reality something that seats more people (and doesn’t tempt them to go as fast) is a more practical choice.  A sedan or an SUV should fit that bill.

A teen’s first car is a big decision, particularly because they could have that car for years before they buy a new one.  Be sure you

Technorati Tags: safety ratings, Toyota Tundra parts

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Lately, low interest rates and car dealerships’ specials have made it a good time to shop for used cars.  With the economy the way it is, car sales have suffered along with everything else, and dealerships have been offering spectacular deals and freebies in order to lure buyers back.  This has created a buyer’s market where the buyers benefit from good prices and wide selection.

Now, though, it seems like higher interest rates may be in the cards.  While your natural instincts may be to hesitate to buy a new car right now, in actuality it means you need to get on it.  If you’ve been thinking about getting a new car, whether for the better gas mileage or to take advantage of some of the deals right now, you need to do it sooner rather than later.  If you buy your car now, you can lock in a lower interest rate before they start going up.

So if you were thinking about starting to look for used cars in Georgia, Colorado, or wherever you live, I suggest getting started on it soon.  If you get a jump start on it now, you can lock yourself into a loan on a great used car before the interest rates get prohibitively high!

Technorati Tags: higher interest rates, used cars, used cars in Georgia

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Now is the time to book your vacation to destinations in Mexico. While the backlash of the swine flu continues to resonate, travel bookings to the area is at an all time low. Taking advantage of the low rates offered by Mexican resorts and hotels and schedules a vacation to one of the beautiful ocean front properties throughout Mexico. Because swine flu doesn’t seem to be as life threatening as once thought and isn’t as easily contracted as its potency wanes, a trip to Mexico poses very little threat but can be such a reward.

If you’ve never been on a vacation in Mexico, you will be thrilled to relax on the sandy white beaches and enjoy dining in a world renowned restaurant. Plan a group vacation with friends and family and have a little reunion on the beaches of Mexico. Grab rental cars in Cancun at the airport and tour the local areas to do shopping and sightseeing.

Take advantage of the hotels and resorts need to fill their rooms and keep tourists coming to the resort towns. The resorts and hotels need tourists to keep these areas afloat until their economy rebounds and tourists flock back to the Mexican resort towns.

Technorati Tags: Rental Cars Cancun, Swine flu

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When people talk about why capitalism works and is useful, they always point out that competition drives the prices of things down.  But is that necessarily a good thing in every case?  Sometimes people lower the cost of goods by being more efficient, taking less of a profit for themselves, innovating new techniques for production, etc.  But there are other ways, too.  Like cutting corners.  In a capitalist market, corners are going to be cut wherever it won’t be noticed by the majority. 

Take cars, for example.  There are better ways of making headlights and other car parts that don’t get used as much as they probably should, because almost everyone owns a car and not many people know much about it.  I don’t think I’m being too much of a snob-I own a Camry for Pete’s sake.  But I find it worthwhile to get certain Toyota parts and Toyota accessories online.  I don’t want to spend as much as a house is worth on some Italian car that can break the speed of sound.  But good, solid cars cut corners because it makes economic sense to aim for the vast market of car buyers who won’t know the difference.  Luckily with the Internet it’s possible to find genuine Toyota parts for any make and model at a reasonable price.

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As we all know, gas prices go up and down in response to market pressures and political instability in the Middle East. Right now, gas prices aren’t too bad in the U.S. At the beginning of April 2009, gas is around $2.00 a gallon in most places. But don’t count on gas prices staying that low for long. Summer is fast approaching, and that’s when many people take their vacations, which has the effect of driving gas prices up every summer. Besides, petroleum is a finite resource so the general trend will be for gas prices to keep going up for the rest of this decade and beyond.

That’s bad news for drivers who own trucks, SUVs and other vehicles that don’t get very good gas mileage. But, you don’t have to sit still for being gouged by the oil companies. You can fight back by making your truck more streamlined and more efficient. One of the best ways truck drivers can increase their gas mileage is by adding tono covers to their truck beds. Covering truck beds with tonneau covers radically improves your truck’s aerodynamic profile, which translates into less wind resistance and better gas mileage. In short, if you install a tonneau cover on your truck, it will pay for itself in gas savings in short order. Besides, truck bed covers look really cool, and help to safeguard your tools and anything else you leave in the bed. As long as you’re adding a tonneau cover, you might as well throw in a bed liner for adding protection to your truck bed.

Technorati Tags: bed liner, tonneau covers

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If you have ever had to make a purchase involving auto parts then you most likely came across the phrase OEM at some point during your search. Perhaps you just glanced over this label and continued shopping. You shouldn’t have. A smart shopper knows that it’s a good idea to consider purchasing OEM parts.

So what are OEM parts exactly? The term is an acronym that stands for original equipment manufacturer parts which means that the part that you are purchasing was actually made by the manufacturer of the vehicle. For example, if you look at Toyota OEM parts then you are looking at Toyota truck parts or car parts that are actually manufactured by Toyota.

In contrast, a part that isn’t an OEM car part is a part that was made in a factory somewhere and designed for use in your vehicle. These are typically adequate car parts but they generally aren’t quite as good as those parts that are made by the manufacturer of the vehicle. Only the manufacturer is really capable of making the parts in exactly the way that they are intended to be made; every other maker is going to be slightly substandard to the original.

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Every owner’s manual of every car made should include a nice long list of places that distribute their parts to the general public.  You can always go to the dealer but then they are going to want to install them.  You can search online, but you never know where their coming from or if they are quality or junk. 

I’ve owned many different cars in the past and the toughest quality parts to find bar none were Mitsubishi parts.  My older Eclipse would constantly need repairs, and since I’m a little cheap and a bit of a grease monkey, I always ordered parts and did the labor myself.   The vast majority of those parts broke shortly after due to no fault of my own.  The only ones that didn’t were the OEM ones, but then again, those were even harder to come by. 

The second most difficult manufacturer to find was for Suzuki parts.  Same as with the Mitsubishi, the majority of the parts that you can find are either garbage, or always out of stock.  The ones that you really want are all OEM and, well, good luck!  The Japanese manufacturers need to start taking parts lessons from their American counterparts.  By far the easiest parts to find on the market today are OEM Ford parts.  There is a good reason I now drive a F150.  Fixing it is so much easier!

Technorati Tags: Mitsubishi parts, OEM Ford parts, Suzuki parts

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