Here’s an interesting piece of information. Last year, six children in Maine had lead poisoning and were sickened by lead dust that was in the family car.  The lead dust was not from the car itself, but instead from the lead dust that was on the parent’s clothes from their workplace.  These adults worked in paint removal jobs and then didn’t change and shower before going home, causing lead dust to “shed in the cars.”  Then the children would sit in their car seats, and ingest the lead dust. Scary.

VW and Audi are recalling 13,500 vehicles to fix problems with a dual-clutch transmission.  All of the vehicles were built between September 2008 and August 2009.  The 2009 and some 2010 Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, GTI, and Eos vehicles as well as the 2009 Audi MY, A3, TT, and TT Roadster equipped with the S tronic transmission.   

Another recall in affect is from Toyota.  It is recalling about 95,700 Toyota and Scion-brand vehicles with possible brake malfunction (just a minor detail!)  The recall will affect some 2009 and 2010 Toyota Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles and some 2008 and 2009 Scion xD vehicles.  If the vehicles have a 1.8-liter engine, there is potential for moisture to get into the brake system and freeze at low temperatures causing ice accumulation which could then weakened the power-assist to the brakes.

Car companies are now Twittering in order to inform and engage potential and existing customers.  Volvo is using Twitter as well as Ford and General Motors.  Interesting strategy. I wonder if it actually works to lure in customers.  Free advertising.

I found an article on autoweek.com that talks about a study done in July by DriverSide.com and Kelton Research.  The survey found that even though 90% of Americans think that they do everything right to keep their cars in great shape, they don’t at all. Actually according to the survey, only 41% of those that responded followed the scheduled maintenance plan from the manufacturer, 31% waxed their cars regularly (geez that truly seems high to me), and only 16% actually repaired dents and scratches in a timely fashion.  Cracks in windshields and warning lights that go on in people’s cars were ignored quite often.  The moral of the story is that people don’t do anything with their cars until there is a problem. 

My neighbor is one of the 41% that always does the scheduled maintenance AND actually washes and waxes his cars often too, and maybe that’s why both of their cars have over 100,000 miles on them and you would never be able to tell. Anyways, driverside.com has added a diagnostic tool to their website to help the majority of us. It helps you to figure out the cause of the problem with your car and sometimes can even give you a how-to to fix the car yourself.  If not, you can ask one of their mechanics a question online. This diagnostic tool was just launched this week and is free…..yes I said FREE.  Actually when I just went and checked out the website, I signed up and added my car to “my garage” on the website to keep track on maintenance. Great idea, so pass the word on! 

www.upload.wikimedia.org

There will be a different look on our streets in the future around the country. According to detnews.com, the Ford Crown Victoria will be not be built after 2011.  That’s a BIG deal for police departments across the U.S.  For almost 20 years the police car market has belonged to the Crown Victoria.  About 85% of the 75,000 police cars that are sold in the U.S. each year are Crown Victorias.  Yes, the profit margin isn’t fantastic nor is the volume of sales, but there is ”zero marketing cost” and there is a profit, so it’s worth it for Ford.  The thing is that even though it is a common figure on our streets, the Crown Victorias are somewhat outdated. They don’t have the new technology available, especially safety things.  They are slower as well.  But on the flip side, the Crown Vics can hold all the equipment, electronics, guns, and “bad guys” with no difficulty and that could be a problem with the replacement. Ford is thinking about replacing the Crown Victorias with the Ford Taurus, but Ford is quick to say that the final decision has not been made. Basically, Ford does not want to lose this market share, so they will be doing whatever they can to keep the police departments happy.  So, I guess enjoy the Crown Vics for the next 2 years. It will be weird to see new police cars. 

So, here’s an interesting tidbit. Enterprise Rent-A-Car chose to “delete” a standard feature on the Chevrolet Impala in 2006-08 models……side-curtain air bags.  Then, Enterprise offered these vehicles for sale without the air bags, advertising that they had them.  Tough break for Enterprise who got caught by the Kansas City Star. 

Buick has canceled it’s production of a Buick crossover sports utility vehicle, because it got numerous negative reviews.  GMsays that they canceled this to ”move forward with the midsize vehicle.  Sounds like this might be a smart move, since a “flurry of negative reviews” are never a good sign. 

Chrysler is going to drop its lifetime powertrain warranty and instead Chrysler will offer a five year, 100,000-mile guarantee.  The change is effective with the 2010 model vehicles. 

Why would you buy a new car?  You wouldn’t if you are, Joe Gentile, 81, from Campbell, Ohio.  He is still driving his first car, a 1930 Ford Model A.  He purchased it in 1943.  He drove it to work every day for 34 years, and still drives it now in the summer.  Gentile has three other cars as well, but has chosen to drive the Ford Model A instead.  He has changed the engine once and done a few other minor maintenance, but overall it’s been perfect for him.  He estimates that there is about 400,000 miles on the car!  Try to beat that!

www.ridelust.com

One of the hottest Cash for Clunkers cars has been the Honda Civic Hybrid.  It actually ranks third behind the Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla, but it’s the only hybrid.  The base price of the Civic Hybrid sedan starts at $23,650.  Several Honda dealerships actually sold out of the Civic hybrids, and then those customers started buying the regular Civic instead.  Before the Cash for Clunkers program, dealers had said that the hybrid was down more than 70% in July.  It has a lot of safety features with a great deal of air bags and anti-lock braking system that is good.  The gas mileage is exceptional getting 40 city, 45 highway miles per gallon.  I guess that even though the Cash for Clunkers program is just about over, you may want to check out the Civic hybrid. I think the price is definitely right!

www.autospectator.com

Finally….a good review for one of the Detroit Big 3 vehicles!  Well, that’s not exactly true. There have been some good publicity for a couple of these cars in the last 6-8 months, but either way Scott Burgess from detnews.com wrote a nice review for the Chrysler Town & Country.  ”A minivan gets the job done like no other.”  You have the Stow ‘N Go available as well as Swivel ‘N Go, which according to friends that have this car, would MUCH prefer the Stow ‘N Go.  Even packed to the max, which is easy to do if you are travelling with the family, the Town & Country drives very nicely. 

Here are the particulars that you probably care about.  A couple of engine choices: 3.3-liter V6 175 horsepower, 3.8-liter V6 197 horsepower, or the 4-liter V6 251 horsepower.  Each engine has a slight change in gas mileage but on average you get 17 mpg in the city and 24 on the highway.  Lots of storage space as well, depending on whether you are going to use the 7 seats or fold them in for more storage.  There is storage underneath the second row seats as well.  According to Burgess, there are 13 cup holders. That’s pretty crazy.  A 115-volt outlet in the second-row as well.  Burgess had a good vacation experience with the Chrysler Town & Country, and my guess is that many other people would as well.

According to msnbc.com, more than 29.1 million people travel with their pets more than 50 miles every year, and many people cart their pets around on a daily basis as well.  There are several vehicles out there today that are a good match for people with pets to think about.  These cars were ranked by Edmunds.com and Bark Buckle UP.  The rankings were determined by climate control, side air bags, rear back-up cameras, and room for the pets.  So, here’s a list of some of the best vehicles to have when you have pets to contend with.

Dodge Journey

Ford Flex

GMC Acadia

Hyundai Tucson

Jeep Liberty

I’m sure they are numerous other vehicles that are good for your pets as well.  Just do your homework. You’ll find the perfect one for you and your pet!

Own a Cadillac or Lexus?  If you do, are you completely satisfied? Hopefully and if so you are not alone. According to autoweek.com, an annual University of Michigan study of customer satisfaction was done and Cadillac has joined Lexus as the top rated most pleased customers.  That’s a great honor. We owned a Cadillac recently, and LOVED it. I would have been one of those most pleased customers for sure!  Cadillac rose from number 2 to share the title with Lexus this year.  They each had a score of 89 in the American Customer Satisfaction Index.  The industry average was 84.  Customer satisfaction for all Detroit brands grew to this past year, but the European brands ranked first overall.  Lincoln-Mercury, Honda, and Buick rounded out the top 5. Toyota was just beat out by newcomer Lincoln-Mercury. 

Ford, GM, and Chrysler’s satisfaction ratings all increased this year.  That’s good news for the Detroit Big 3, as well as interesting news as well. Who would have thought that with sales declining that satisfaction ratings could be increasing.  According to the article, the customer base is smaller due to less-satisfied customers not returning to the automakers, therefore those customers left are satisfied, somewhat skewing the numbers positively. Does that make sense?  Either way, Cadillac and Lexus were at the top, so maybe go buy one. I would like to!     

So, I’m sure a lot of you know that you can buy cars on eBay, but most of the cars are used.  Well now General Motors is going to allow you to buy new cars through eBay.  You will be able to purchase Chevrolets, Buicks, GMCs, or Pontiacs before they even set foot in the dealership.  The eBay program for GM will be initially only available in California, but soon enough GM hopes to expand that to all states.  This is a great way for GM to differentiate themselves from other automotive companies. 

On another note, some Chrysler dealerships that were closed a few months ago may have an opportunity to re-open. Chrysler plans to open 140 new dealerships that will sell Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep cars.  Though many dealerships may not be interested, since they lost their car franchises and some still haven’t been paid for rebates that they needed to sell their last vehicles.  So, even though it might sound good to some of the 789 closed dealerships, not all will be intersted in re-opening with Chrysler. 

www.kaliteliresimler.com

Warren Brown of The Washington Post wrote a review on the Hyundai Elantra Touring.  Unfortunately for the Elantra, the review was not raving about the good, but more commenting quite a bit about the not-so-good.  He says that the Elantra Touring is a “nifty, nimble city runner. The more congested the traffic, the better it seems to behave.”  This hatchback/compact car has 65 cubic feet of cargo room, which is as much as many compact sport-utility vehicles.  It has a 2-liter, 138-horsepower, four-cylinder engine.  It gets 23 miles per gallon in the city and 31 miles per gallon on the highway.  It is a front-wheel drive vehicle. 

So, I guess you are wondering what Brown had a problem with, and he sure did have a problem.  He took the Elantra Touring on a little roadtrip, and it was a nightmare.  The car was packed with almost 400 pounds of cargo, and because of that, the Elantra became “a right-lane queen.”  “Uphill travel was miserable.”  The car struggled tremendously on the highway, even on flat highways.  The only gear that had any umpf was 2nd gear, according to Brown. Yikes. This is a tough review.  I guess if you are just driving locally, go for it. Check out the Hyundai Elantra Touring, but if you ever need to get on the highway and travel anywhere, you might want to think of another vehicle to buy instead.