If you are looking for aftermarket rims, your choices are endless.  There are many manufacturers and distributors that sell all of the different kinds of wheels you would want. According to autopedia.com, here are a few of the manufacturers of aftermarket rims.

American Racing Custom Wheels - they are one of the largest aftermarket and original equipment wheel manufacturers in the world.

Center Line Wheels - a leader in the design, engineering, development, and manufacturing of performance wheels for racing and street applications

Enkei International - world’s largest manufacturer of aluminum wheels

Pacific-Dualies - wheel simulators and dually wheel covers available. The wheel simulators are a great alternative to aluminum or steel rims. This is a less costly and still gives the stylish heavy duty look of aftermarket rims.

So, if you want aftermarket rims, you have many choices, and you just need to decide which kind suits you and your vehicle best!

 

 

When you are buying a new car, what’s your biggest concern; gas mileage?, price?, power?…..how about the number one consumer concern is…..wind noise.  This information was determined by JD Power and Associates during a recent initial quality survey.  According to MSNBC.com, aerodynamic design and minimizing wind noise are taking precedance over many other factors including production costs.  The bottom line is that when people test drive a car and there is a great deal of wind noise, the customers are not buying these cars.

Ford Motor Co. has an engineer that is called the wind noise engineer. His job is to ensure that the wind noise is very low on their cars. While testing the new Ford Flex for wind noise, Steve Dworack, the wind noise engineer, heard a buzz. It was a small buzz, but a noise nonetheless, and he made sure that it was fixed before the factory started to make these vehicles.  It cost Ford $10,000, but well worth the money to keep the consumer happy and willing to purchase this car. 

Another factor with wind noise is that the less wind noise the better the gas mileage.  Any way that automakers can show that they are more fuel efficient than another car is a benefit. If there is a lot of wind noise that takes energy and energy uses fuel, so the less wind noise the less energy that is being used. 

So, the next time you are test driving a car, make sure that you listen for the wind noise, and hope that you do not hear any, and if you do know that there may be another car out there with less wind noise!

 

According to ForbesAutos.com, hybrids have a reputation of being slow, but some have quite a bit of power.  Hybrids are becoming extremely popular due to the high gas prices. Hybrids are known for their good gas mileage, but now they are becoming more powerful as well.  The fastest hybrids, when mentioned against non-hybrid competitors, are not necessarily the fastest, but they can compete.  These hybrids are not the most fuel efficient as other hybrids, but for people looking for a nice balance between power and fuel efficiency, these hybrids are for them.

According to Forbesautos.com, here is the list of the top five fastest hybrids on sale.

6.  GMC Yukon Hybrid

Starting price $50,045  0-60 mph 8.3 seconds Total power output 332 hp  Miles per gallon 21 city/22 hwy w/ rear wheel drive and 20 city/20 hwy w/ four-wheel drive  

5.  Toyola Highland Hybrid

Starting price $34,200 0-60 mph 8.1 seconds Total power output 270 hp Miles per gallon 27 city/25 hwy

4.  Lexus RX 400h

Starting price $41,580 0-60 mph 7.5 seconds with front-wheel drive, 7.3 with all-wheel drive Total power output 268 hp Miles per gallon 27 city/24 hwy w/ front-wheel drive, 26 city/24 hwy with all-wheel drive

3.  Nissan Altima Hybrid

Starting price $25,170 0-60 mph 7.1 seconds Total power output 198 hp Miles per gallon 35 city/33 hwy

2.  Lexus LS 600h L

Starting price $104.900 0-60 mph 5.2 seconds Total power output 438 hp Miles per gallon 20 city/22 hwy

1.  Lexus GS 450h

Starting price $55,800 0-60 mph 5.2 seconds Total power output 340 hp Miles per gallon 22 city/25 hwy

 With the 0-60 mph acceleration time, the Lexus GS 450 hybrid, can compete with the Porsche 911 in speed.  This hybrid is also the most fuel efficient vehicle in the luxury sedan class.  The Lexus GS 450 hybrid is half a second faster than it’s non-hybrid twin the Lexus GS 460, and is about 15% more fuel efficient. 

The Toyota Prius is the top selling hybrid in the United States, but is not a fast car at all. In order to get 46 miles per gallon, something has to give, and in this case it’s the power. The total power output for this vehicle is 110 horsepower. 

So for those of you looking for a fuel efficient vehicle, but not lose the power, there are several choices out there for you! 

 

Honda rolled out their new zero emission vehicle today in Japan and a “few dozen” are on their way to California.  According to MSNBC, Honda will lease out about 200 more fuel cell vehicles of this kind in the next three years.  The FCX Clarity runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water, and does not release any fumes that cause global warming.  The FCX Clarity will be leased for $600/month for three years which includes maintenance and collision coverage.  Several Hollywood stars, including Jamie Lee Curtis, are the first customers to lease the FCX Clarity.

This 3600 pound fuel cell vehicle can reach speeds up to 100 miles per hour.   According to Honda, the FCX Clarity will get approximately 270 miles per tank with hydrogen consumption equivalent to 74 miles per gallon.  According to John Mendel, the executive vice president of America Honda Motor Co., this is an “especially significant day for American Honda as we plant firm footsteps toward the mainstreaming of fuel cell cars.” 

The biggest problems with the fuel cell vehicle today is that they are expensive and there are not enough hydrogen fuel stations available.  Only people living close to the fueling stations in Southern California were able to lease the FCX Clarity.  According to businessman, Jon Spallino, who owns the older FCX model fuel cell vehicle, the “single limiting factor” is the lack of fueling stations.  Spallino says that range is the problem. He uses his vehicle to drive around Los Angeles, but cannot go much further than that due to the shortage of fueling stations.   According to MSNBC, most world automakers have been a spending a great deal of time and heavily investing in fuel cell vehicles due to the rise in fuel prices and the global warming concerns. 

The FCX Clarity looks like a hot item for the future, but we will have to wait a couple of years for them to be more readily available. 

For those of you with an extra $132,875 (base price!) and you don’t know what to do with it, I have just the item for you to buy…..the new 2009 Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG!  This convertible is fast and powerful with a standard V-8 engine.  It can get up to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and has a top speed of 155 mph.  The Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG will probably get approximately 11 mpg in the city and 18 mpg on the highway according to the  Scott Burgess on detnews.com.  At $4 a gallon, it will cost about $85 to fill the gas tank.

Some added touches to the Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG include a Bose Stereo with a hard drive that can hold up to 1000 songs, heated washers on the headlights, and little fans on the headrests that blow warm air when it’s chilly out and you need to have the top down. Who doesn’t need these added touches? 

So, for those of you that are looking for a fun, one of a kind vehicle, the Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG is the answer for you!  Check it out and others Mercedes Benz at www.mbusa.com!

 

 

According to the Ford Motors Co. Field President, Mark Fields, which was quoted in the Detriot News, “Plug-in Hybrids must be a national priority.”   Toyota has said that it will have a plug-in hybrid available for sale in the United States, Japan, and Europe by 2010.  GM has a Ford is in the process of making one as well that will be in the market within 5 to 10 years. Due to the high gas prices, these cars are becoming more popular to the general public.

Fields calls for a $3000 tax break to anyone who buys a plug-in hybrid. They will run on litium-ion batteries getting about 40 mpg with speeds of up to 30 miles an hour. Anything above that, the vehicle will switch over to the internal combustion engine. 

Fields says that it is a priority that domestically there is battery production. Currently, Asia is developing the battery supply for plug-in hybrids. According to Fields, “Moving from imported oil to imported batteries clearly would not address this growing concern.”  The need for domestic battery production is a necessity. All of the motor companies are trying to find ways to improve their cars and as cost efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. Keep it coming!  

  

 

Good morning!  I thought I’d make all of you Corvette owners aware that there is a special day coming up for you guys and gals!  I found an article on autoweek.com for those of you that haven’t seen or heard about this day, mark your calendar for June 27. That’s the day that Corvette owners from around the country are going to be driving their Corvettes to work. This is a day that started in 2001 as a way to show off your car and show how popular Corvettes still are!  Most people only like to drive them on special occasions, but this is a special occasion as well.  You can show off your car to your co-workers and celebrate the first Corvette that hit the roads in 1953.

If you do not have a Corvette yet, you can get the new 2008 model. Check it out at www.chevrolet.com/corvette. They are really nice looking.

So get started cleaning your Corvette and celebrate on June 27! 

 

 

 

 

Good Afternoon!

For those of you who haven’t heard the news, Toyota has developed an improved new hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle that can run for 516 miles on one tank. This fuel-cell vehicle is called a FCHV-adv.  It runs on a nickel-metal battery, and it is being tested in Japan later this year.  Fuel-cell vehicles have been out in the market since 2002 from Toyota and Honda, but this vehicle is much more fuel efficient.   It’s maximum speed is 97 mph. The one problem with this vehicle as well as other hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles is that there is a lack of fuelling stations and it costs more for the production of these fuel-cell vehicles.   

Toyota’s biggest rival is the Honda FCX Clarity, which can run for 385 miles on a single tank.   This fuel-cell vehicle runs on a lithium-ion battery and has a maximum speed of 99 mph.  Honda is going to start leasing these cars in the United States this month and in Japan later on this year. 

The higher the gas gets, the more appealing these hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles look!  Keep the savings coming any way you can!