According to Msnbc.com, Honda has announced that their new gas-electric hybrid will cost less than the Toyota Prius, which is its major competitor.  This new Honda hybrid, whose name has not been announced yet, will be a five-door car only available with a hybrid powertrain.  It is smaller than the Honda Civic, and it will be priced less than the Honda Civic Hybrid according to Richard Colliver, the executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co.  This new hybrid will become available in April 2009.  There will be approximately 100,000 available for sales in North America.  The Honda Civic sticker price starts at $22,600 and the Toyota Prius sticker price starts at  $21,500.  The mileage for the new Honda hybrid has not yet been disclosed. The Toyota Prius gets 45 miles per gallon on the highway and 48 miles per gallon in the city.  I guess we will have to wait and see what the name of this new car will be and the specifics of it until further notice.  It will be interesting to see if this hybrid is as popular and the good sales that the Toyota Prius has in the United States.     

According to an article on detnews.com, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain talks as though electric cars will be driven by all in 2020.  Brown told the Group of Eight Summit in Japan in July that this will be the case.  Several other leaders agreed with him as well.  The president of GM Europe, Carl-Peter Forster, says that this was a “very, very ambitious target.”  A professor of economics at Cardiff Business School, Garel Rhys says that there are so many different predictions as to when electrics cars may, if at all, take over. Rhys feels that in 2020, there will still be a wide range of choices for car buyers in the US and Europe.

Along with the talks of electric cars taking over, there have been talks of hydrogen being the next source of fuel. Rhys says that most likely hydrogen will not play a major role until 2050.  

I like the optimism of Prime Minister Brown, but I’m with Rhys. I don’t think it can or will happen. The good news is that politicians are talking about it and the problems with fuel and the environment, so hopefully there will be solutions soon.  We shall see.

Car enthusiasts from around Detroit kicked off their weeklong car festival with a Latin-themed car show called Hot Latin Night this past friday night. According to detnews.com, this event is one of many events leading up to the 14th annual Woodward Dream Cruise, which occurs next Saturday, August 16.   Friday night, people from around Metro Detroit and beyond, gathered to show off their cars with salsa, merengue, and reggaeton music blasted from the speakers.  Some people were pure spectators watching and looking at others’ cars, but some people came to the show and then popped their hoods, to show off their cars as well. It was a fun night had by all, and it gets people excited for the events for the week to come before the main event next Saturday. If you go to the Woodward Dream Cruise website, you can get all the details and all the events that you must attend to make your festival experience the best for the week. Enjoy the dream cruise!

Are you looking for a luxury car, but can’t afford a brand new one?  Certified Pre-Owned Cars is the answer for you.  There are many pros and cons to buying a pre-owned certified car.  Here is the breakdown:

Pros 

1.  Peace of mind that the car has been inspected, repaired, and comes with a warranty.

2.  As with any used car, you are able to avoid the 20-40% depreciation of the car as you leave the lot

Cons

1.  No matter what, it’s a used car, which means more wear and tear and potential for problems. Make sure that you get the car inspected shortly after buying, and return it if there are any problems to be fixed

2.  You need to make sure that the certified pre-owned car is inspected by the factory, so that the multipoint  inspection was done.  For instance, if the life of the brakes is less than 60%, they must be replaced.  If the car is a certified pre-owned car from a dealer, the multipoint inspection may not take place, nor the necessary repairs.

The bottom line is that if you want to buy a certified pre-owned car, make sure you do your necessary homework, and that you have a good warranty. You need to make sure that you know what the warranty covers, because they are definitely not all the same. Good luck!

Blind-Spot Mirror

According to an article on MSNBC.com, blind-spot mirrors are coming to the 2009 Ford Edge crossover this fall.  Ford was planning on bringing these mirrors to their vehicles next year, but there was a great deal of positive feedback, so they decided to bring the blind-spot mirrors to their 2009 Edge this fall.  Ford has competition from General Motors for these mirrors, because GM plans on making the blind-spot mirrors a standard feature on some versions of the 2009 Chevrolet Traverse crossover starting with production in September. 

The purpose of the blind-spot mirrors is to give the drivers a view of the blind spot alongside the vehicle. The mirrors sit flush in the outer corner of the side mirrors.  You can buy blind-spot mirrors to attach to your mirror, but like most things the factory installed mirrors will most likely be better.  Stay tuned to see these blind-spot mirrors on many more vehicles in the future!

There was an article on the front page of the auto section in my local newspaper on Sunday with the title, “Reinvent the Wheel-Automakers put low-resistance tires, once reserved for hybrids, to wider use.”  The article was written by Scott Burgess of the The Detriot News.  The article talks about how automakers are looking for any way to improve gas mileage on their cars…even one mile counts these days.  Low-resistance tires are tires that roll easier on the road. This happens because the materials and tread design are different.  Low-resistance tires can give up to two more miles per gallon of gasoline.   

These tires have basically been used and somewhat reserved for hybrid vehicles, but many automakers including Ford will be using low-resistance tires on all of their 2009 compact SUVs coming out.  The 2009 Ford Escape has these energy- saving tires as well.  The only hitch to these tires is that they cost more.  The cost of replacing the low-resistance tires for the Ford Escape would be about $150 to $260 per tire. That is definitely more than a conventional tire, but you could save money on your gasoline, so it could potentially be a wash. 

The Green Seal, a nonprofit environmental organization, estimates that anywhere between 1.5% and 4.5% of all fuel used by cars and trucks in the United States could be saved if all replacement tires were low-resistance tires.  Even though the savings does not seem like much, if the gas prices keep going up, every little bit will help, and we could help the environment by saving on gas as well.

The Smart Fortwo is one of the smallest cars out there, and becoming a popular one as well.  A $99 down payment will ensure that you can get this car in about nine months.  According to an article on autos.yahoo.com, DaimlerChyrsler brought the Smart Fortwo to the United States in 2006.  This car was in Europe for about a decade before making the move across the Atlantic.  More and more people are interested in this car for the obviously reasons…..it’s small and more fuel efficient. What’s interesting is that it isn’t the greatest on gas mileage.  The Smart Fortwo gets about 33 mpg city and 41 mpg highway. That’s good, but not as good as the Toyota Prius or the Honda Civic Hybrid, but alittle better gas mileage than the Toyota Yaris or the Honda Fit.  The Smart Fortwo has a 70-horsepower, 1 liter, three-cylinder engine, two seats, but according to this article, a surprising amount of interior room.  Due to the fact that it’s so small, it’s hard to compete on the highways, but it has what people are looking for right now….good gas mileage and a nice sticker price $12,000 to $17,000).  The Smart Fortwo looks alittle bizarre, but due to the look of the car it gets alot of attention.  I recently saw one drive past me going in the opposite direction, and I found myself looking in my rearview mirror at this car, and then discussing with my husband for a good length of time about if we would ever consider buying one or not. I guess this car gets free advertising and the Smart Fortwo has helped Chyrsler boost it’s sales through June. So, if you see someone with the Smart Fortwo, stop and ask them what they think. May be worth looking into if the gas continues to stay at $4 a gallon.

For those of you that are looking for some fun, aftermarket centercaps for your Dodge or Chyrsler car/truck, I found a place for you on the internet. One website that I found for the centercaps was Billettechnology.com.  They have all kinds of custom centercaps to buy if you are bored of the factory made centercaps that come with the vehicle and looking for more exciting ones.  Some choices of the aftermarket centercaps are Hemi, Skulls and Bones, and several others to choose from as well.  Then after you buy your aftermarket centercaps, you can go and get your aftermarket rims to really soup up your vehicle!     

According to an article at detnews.com by Eric Morath called “Lease woes sting automakers” Chase Auto Finance, one of the leaders in lease lenders as well as Chrysler Financial has already dumped leasing and more are on their way.  If you have leased a car/truck/SUV in the past, times are changing and so is leasing.  Yes, you can still lease a car from dealerships, but it’s going to get more expensive and harder to find a lender.  The reason being that automakers are having a harder time finding buyers for the used cars after the lease period is over and they end up taking a loss in the end.  Rumors have circulated that Ford Motor Co.will be raising their leasing prices on trucks and SUVs to the point of impractical.  Ford would not comment on these rumors, but it would make sense. Leasing is not making the money for these automakers as it was now that the automotive market is down the most it has been in 15 years.  

The luxury cars will not be pulling the leasing plug though. GM and Ford, which own Cadillac and Lincoln, lease upward of 75% of their new Cadillacs and Lincolns. If they got rid of leasing, this would shut down these high end vehicles.  Luxury cars are leased most of the time, so if you want a luxury car, you should have no problem leasing them. 

It makes sense for the banks to do away with leasing especially trucks and SUVs and are losing value alittle more each day the gas is over $4.00/gallon. Best bet would be to find a good deal on a fuel efficient car, buy it, and not worry about leasing anymore!

Have you ever heard of Minilite Wheels?  They were probably the most successful competition wheels of the 1960s and 70s.  It was originally developed for the new Austin “Mini” of it’s time, but soon became the wheel for race and rally cars. These minilite wheels are made in the UK. According to the minilite wheels website, they are “low pressure die cast, in high grade aluminium alloy, 100% pressure tested, and finally powder coated for maximum protection against the elements.”    Minilite wheels were originally made for race and rally cars, but soon they were being used for all road cars and and these wheels fit most historic and classic cars. 

According to their website, the Minilite Wheels are the only wheel available for the “serious Classic Car Enthusiast and Historic Racer.”   So, if you are looking for some minilite wheels, check out the website.