The Car Care Thread

[lpatrice]

Thanks so much everyone!!! And I did manage to find that consumer report car guide.

[zivvie]

Hey smart Greecies: I have a 1999 VW Passat turbo sedan with about 74,000 miles, it runs beautifully, and I'm very happy with it. I've been thinking about my future needs, and I want to know how y'all feel about two things: Hybrids and vehicles-that-carry-lots-of-stuff. I would really like to make my next car a more environmentally conscious one, but I've heard horror stories about the replacement cost of the hybrid's batteries. Also, I'd like to be able to schlep more stuff around in my next vehicle. One of my coworkers has a Honda Odyssey (minivan), which is very versatile, holds lots of stuff, and which he says it gets about 30 MPG. What do people think about minivans vs. SUVs?

[Deleted]

Good news on the home-grown energy front!

New technology[/color] uses a biological reactor to generate hydrogen from biodegradable organic material, producing 288% more energy in hydrogen than the electrical energy used in the process.

This is much more efficient than any current ethanol production technique in terms of the ratio of energy expended to energy produced.


Promising research[/color] is also underway to use chemical "cracking" techniques on biodegradable organic waste to produce not only ethanol but also gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and kerosene.

This is great news, given that our supply of garbage will last much longer than OPEC's supply of petroleum.

zivvie said:

What do people think about minivans vs. SUVs?

Unless you actually require four-wheel drive (frequently operate your vehicle off road or in deep snow), a front-wheel drive minivan is a much more efficient vehicle. It not only gets better fuel mileage, it also has more cargo capacity.

Regarding hybrids, a technology alternative[/color] to the battery-motor hybrid is on the horizon.

Flywheels have been used in the past to store energy only in large vehicles such as trains and buses, because the flywheels themselves have been large and heavy. The new technology uses smaller, lighter flywheels that turn at extremely high speed (effective mass increases with velocity) to store large amounts of energy. The flywheel is combined with a specially designed continuously variable transmission to both store energy during braking and release it for acceleration.

Flywheel hybrid technology is expected to debut in racing cars in the next few years and likely appear in the cars we drive a few years later.

[Deleted]

Have any of you guys looked into the Dodge Caravan? I've been seeing a lot of promotions and commercials for it. It seems like a good mini especially for the price. Any input?

[mixtape]

This might be an obscure question but I'm hoping someone here might be of help. So, I failed my inspection yesterday because both of the lower control arm bushings need replacing. I looked up control arm bushings and found they're sold for only a few bucks online. Then I call my regular service station and find out it will cost $785 to replace because they have the control arms themselves. I can't believe they can't replace just the bushings themselves. Any idea if this sounds accurate? Thanks!

[satellite]

For those who have Lojack- they're trying to get me to my an extended warranty on my Lojack and to have it inspected now that I've had it for two years. Is this necessary? I get the vibe like they're just looking for a way to get more money out of me.

[hikertrash]

I have a 2001 Saturn SL1, and the a/c is going in and out. It will get cold, then blow warmer, then get cold again. It runs colder if I'm accelerating, and blows warmer mostly when I'm idling, though it does sometimes blow warm when I'm moving. When I was at a red light today, it was blowing cold, then I heard and felt a click (like the noise a thermostat makes), and it started blowing warm. Does anyone have experience with this? I so cannot live without a/c during the summer here.

[Deleted]

Jun 1, 2008 3:23:23 GMT -4 hikertrash said:

I have a 2001 Saturn SL1, and the a/c is going in and out. It will get cold, then blow warmer, then get cold again. It runs colder if I'm accelerating, and blows warmer mostly when I'm idling, though it does sometimes blow warm when I'm moving. When I was at a red light today, it was blowing cold, then I heard and felt a click (like the noise a thermostat makes), and it started blowing warm. Does anyone have experience with this? I so cannot live without a/c during the summer here.

There is a thermostat that turns the compressor on and off (that's the click you hear). On some cars it can be adjusted by the driver (temperature setting). On cars where the driver can only turn the compressor on or off (usually a button with letters "AC" in blue), there's a thermostat that acts as a safety device in case the blower fan fails. It may be that this thermostat is defective and needs to be replaced.

[chonies]

Does anyone know how big of a deal it is get a non-working cigarette lighter back to operable? I have a 1997 Honda Civic and I wanted to buy a Garmin or TomTom but I don't think it's worth it unless the chargin' hole works correctly. Any advice or guidance or instructions on how to it myself would appreciated.

[MrsCatHead]

We currently own a 2005 Chevy Malibu, purchased used a year ago. We're having lots of trouble with it but like the size and handling.

DH is looking into the Kia Soul. I'm reading up on them and wonder how they handle. I read that due to height, you can get blown about a bit when it's windy...which it is here in Albuquerque. We're going to be using it for local driving and long road trips as well so we need it to handle well on highways.

Anyone know anything about these cars?

Edited to add: I'm also a big worried about rear crashes with my daughter in the back seat.