How many of you have felt bad for Toyota in the past year with their recalls and pedal problems?  Maybe a few of us, but now Toyota’s problems have worsened…if that’s possible.  The latest recall are 1.33 million 2005-2008 Corolla sedans or Matrix hatchbacks.  Their engines may stall, just a minor detail.  Another quality issue for Toyota.  Up to date, Toyota has recalled more than 10 million vehicles for problems, whether it be floor mats, faulty pedals, problems with the Prius hybrid, or this latest problem with the engine.

Not good for Toyota.  It’s really a shame because they have always been known for their quality vehicles, and truthfully I know so many people that really like Toyotas.  Several people I know are completely unphased by these 10 million recalls and still love Toyota and are looking to buy them.  Overall though, I think that people are hesitant and it’s becoming more and more each time a new recall comes out….with good reason.  Get it together Toyota! People want to stick with you, but you aren’t making that very easy!!

So, I’ll go out on a limb and say that all of us have at some time or another been stuck in a traffic jam for probably an hour or maybe 2 at the most.  How about getting stuck in a traffic jam for 10 days????!!! Yes, I said 10 days!!!  That’s what just happened in China (if you missed the news on it.)  There was a major traffic jam heading into Beijing on the main route.

There was a slight economic boost for some though that sold food, water, etc. to those stuck in the traffic jam at inflated prices of course!  It sounds funny, but I’m sure I would not be laughing if I was in the traffic jam itself.  The reason for the problem was that there was construction in the area, the communication of traffic is not terrific, there are too many cars on the roads, and there are few alternate routes to take.  Add all of those factors together, and I guess you get a 10 day long traffic jam!  The worst part is that according to those people that study traffic, this can and probably will happen again….and it could be soon.  There are about 1900 vehicles added to Beijing’s streets each day and that sure doesn’t help matters. The Chinese roads were not built for all these vehicles and then add construction and also peak travel season….bad news.

The moral of my story is that if you travel to Beijing, be careful on the roads and if you see any slowdowns, you might as well turn around at that point, go back to your hotel, and rest awhile. It will be better than sitting in traffic for 10 days!!

Cars are getting more wireless everyday and this is making it easier for hackers to access your cars and mess with the signals. Some researchers from Rutgers University and the University of South Carolina found a way to hack into a car’s electronics wirelessly through the tire pressure monitoring system, which all cars made since 2008 have.  There will become more and more ways that our cars will be become more wireless therefore, we will have more problems with hackers. Scary to think that we could be driving down the road and things go haywire because someone has hacked into our cars.  Yuck!

Ford has announced the engines for its 2011 Ford F-150.  There will be a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, 3.7-liter V6, 5.0-liter V8, and a 6.2-liter V8.  The 5.0-liter V8 will have a rating of 360 horsepower at 5500 rpm.  That’s quite a great deal of power.

It looks as though the auto industry will be adding 182,000 manufacturing jobs through 2012.  The auto industry has 50,000 more auto related jobs than they did a year ago.  Good news for the economy and the auto industry!  Things must be moving upward.

Note to self and U.S…..let’s not try to follow/copy Spain’s electric car marketing scheme. Not working out very well for them right now.  Spain has been publicizing their plan to have thousands of electric cars on the road in the coming years. That’s great news, but here’s the problem. Currently, Spain has only sold 16 electric cars so far.  The REVE electric car is up by 15 though. They only sold 1 last year. The government’s plan was to have 2000 on the road by the end of 2010 and 20,000 electric and hybrid cars on the road by the end of 2011.  Not looking so good. We in the U.S. need to find a better way to market I guess!!

Good news! Some auto advocacy groups have asked that Enterprise Holdings Inc, which owns Enterprise, Alamo, and National car rentals, to stop renting cars that have recalls that haven’t been fixed. I found it crazy that Enterprise was actually doing this, but the good news is that now that the advocacy groups are involved, they are no longer going to use these cars that have recalls that are potentially danger until they are fixed. Duh, but I guess we need auto advocacy groups in order to prevent morons from doing stuff like this.

This is all the exciting news I could find for you tonight. Good night!

Here’s my one stop shopping car news for the week.

GM is offering an 8 year or 100,000 miles warranty on the Chevrolet Volt battery.  This is a nice guarantee for the new owners of the Volt when it goes on sale in November.  This warranty is better than any other GM warranty which is 5 year or 100,000 miles.  GM must feel pretty confident with the new Volt battery.

New York City just opened its first public electric charging station.  This is an effort to try to encourage NYC residents to go with an environmentally friendly vehicle.  There will be 100 more public charging stations installed around NYC between now and September 2011.

Chevrolet is allowing new owners of the 2011 Corvette ZR1 and Zo6 models to have the opportunity to help build the engines for their cars.  For about $5800 plus the cost of travelling to Detroit, you can go to the GM Performance Build Center and work side-by-side with the professional engine builders.  At the end, you can personalize your engine with your name. Definitely worth $5800!  Not sure, but I’m sure that there are definitely lots of Corvette owners that will be interested.

What else can I tell you of importance this week?  Detroit brands top Asian and European counterparts in a study of the most appealing models.  Porsche is the number 1 brand of appeal for the 6th straight year.  Lincoln and Cadillac had the highest appeal scores of the domestic brands.  Detroit’s three automakers had an average of 787 out of 1000 points in the 2010 Automotive Performance study done by J.D. Power and Associates.  This average is a 13 point lead over the average score for European and Asian brands.

I think this is all I have for you for top car news this week.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

I know what most of you are saying….”minivan video worth watching? Yeah right!”  Well, I’m telling the truth. During the problems with the auto industry the last few years, minivans have been hit close to the hardest.  All automakers are trying to find a way to attract more than the mothers with young children to minivans.  They are giving some “men appeal” and others older appeal, but truthfully the real target audience will always be the same….mothers with young children.  Plain and simple. Convenience is such a factor this audience and minivans give customers that.  There is a lot of room for a lot of stuff, and when your kids are young, you have a lot of stuff!

So, now let me get to the video. It’s a video made by Toyota for the Toyota Sienna. It’s really funny. The video is trying to show that it’s hip to own a minivan.  What do you guys think??  Me personally….I like the video but not sure that all of a sudden I want to get a minivan because I’ll be cool/hip.  Not so sure but the video on YouTube has gotten more than 4 million hits, so Toyota has gotten a lot of publicity for the Sienna. Maybe it’s helping sell it!

Here’s the video:Swagger Wagon

I thought it would be appropriate to give some summer driving tips since most of the East Coast is in an awful heat wave, as well as the rest of the country in mid-summer as well. Forbesautos.com gave some summer driving tips, and I thought of a few important ones in my mind as well.

Park Wisely -parking under trees may give you shade, but they can cause your car to be a mess as well.  Birds live in trees, they poop on your car, and bird poop can actually chip paint on your car.

Check fluid levels -this is to prevent your car from overheating.

Take your time.  Drive smoothly and use cruise control. By not rapidly accelerating and braking aggressively can save you money on gas.

Watch your weight.  If you are going on vacation, make sure that you take everything out of your car (or on top) as soon as you get to your destination. It take more power (and gas) to carry heavier loads in your car.

Rotate your tires.

Check your tire pressure monthly and/or before you go on a trip.

Take roads outside the norm.  It may take longer but travelling on Route 1 (Coastal Highway) in California or Florida’s Overseas Highway have unbelievable views that make the longer trip well worth it.  I personally love the Coastal Highway. I’ve travelled on it from San Francisco to San Diego. Absolutely beautiful.

Take it slow if you are towing a boat. It takes a lot of gas to travel on highways at high speeds, run the A/C, and tow a boat. Slower uses less gas and therefore saves some money.

Make sure you have the right tires. Basically make sure the snow tires are away for the summer.

Make sure you have a gallon of water in your car….just in case.  It will come in handy if your car happens to overheat or your A/C breaks and you are ridiculously hot.  My sister-in-law had a car that had no A/C and to prevent overheating, she drove with the heat on. She needed a gallon of water to drink in order to survive!

Enjoy your summer and travel safely!

Edmunds.com has compiled a list of the top used vehicles from 2003-2008 based on safety, reliability, value, and availability.  These are the kind of lists that I really like. I like to see lists of good used vehicles.  These days people need and want used.  So, here’s the list of the top used vehicles.

Compact: Hyundai Elantra 2003-2008

Midsize Sedan: Toyota Camry 2003-2008 (before pedal problems)

Large Sedan: Hyundai Azera 2006-2008 - weird choice to me but what do I now I guess.

Coupe: BMW 3 Series 2003-2008

Convertible: Mazda Miata 2003-2008

Wagon: Pontiac Vibe 2003-2008

Compact SUV/Crossover: Honda CR-V 2003-2008

Midsize SUV/Crossover: Mitsubishi Endeavor 2004-2008

Large SUV/Crossover: Chevrolet Tahoe 2003-2008

Minivan: Honda Odyssey 2003-2008

Compact truck: Toyota Tacoma 2003-2008

Large truck: Ford F-150 2003-2008

Luxury: Infiniti G35-2003-2008

Hybrid - Toyota Prius 2004-2008

So, if you don’t have the money for a new car at this time, I would trust Edmunds and take a look at one of these used vehicles.

In case you didn’t know, U.S. cars have good quality!  According to msnbc.com, U.S. cars pass imports in the quality survey for the first time in 24 years!  Yes!  The survey was done by J.D. Power and Associates.  They surveyed owners and domestic cars reported fewer problems on average during the first 90 days of ownership than foreign trucks and cars.

Porsche got the top scores in the survey.  Acura and Mercedes-Benz were two and three.  Ford showed the biggest gain in quality.  The overall average was 109 problems per 100 vehicles.  U.S. vehicles scored an average of 108 with foreign vehicles scoring 109. It might have been close, but still this is the first time beating the foreign vehicles in 24 years!  That’s a long time! The worst….Land Rover, which had an overall average of 170 problems per 100 vehicles.

Here’s my question, does this information really matter to any of you or anyone for that matter?  I don’t know. Sure I want a quality vehicle, but this survey is just the first 90 days. You could have 0 problems the first 90 days and then your vehicle has all kinds of problems.  Or vice versa.  I think that this information is a good help when buying a new car, but for me this quality survey will not make or break what vehicle i buy.  Anyone agree or disagree??

Forbesautos.com used information from Wards Auto, which is an automotive data and analysis company, to come up with a list of the hardest cars to get in the U.S.  As you might suspect, most are foreign cars.  It makes sense that it would be harder to get foreign cars here; the supply in the U.S. is less.

Audi S4 - Average day supply - 17 (meaning days on the dealership lot) MSRP $45,900

Audi S6 - Average - 24 MSRP $76.100

Volkswagen Golf/GTI - Average  - about 14 MSRP $17,620/$23,664

BMW 5-Series, 7-Series - Average - 19 MSRP $49,600/$70,150

Dodge Charger - Average - 24 MSRP $25,140

Subaru Legacy - Average - 26 MSRP $19,995

Lincoln Town Car - Average - 26 MSRP $46,700

Audi A5 - Average - 26 MSRP $36,000

Audi R8 - Average - 28 MSRP $114,200

Honda Fit - Average - 33 MSRP $14,900

So, I guess if you want one of these vehicles (especially an Audi!,) you had better get it quick or plan on waiting to get your vehicle.

This is some interesting info.  Six out of the top ten EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) most fuel efficient cars from 1984 to present were built before 2000. Does that shock you?  It shocked me.  The fuel efficient articles, discussions, advertisements are nauseating. You/I would assume that every year we make more fuel efficient cars, right?  The information on the top 10 most fuel efficient cars comes right from the EPA.

Some are not surprising, and some are very surprising.  Here’s the list:

1. 2000 Honda Insight - city mpg 49, highway 61!, combined mpg 53.

2.  2010 Toyota Prius - city 51, highway 48, combined 50.

3.  1986 Chevrolet Sprint ER - city 44, highway 53, combined 48.

4.  1990-1994 Geo Metro XFI - city 43, highway 52, combined 47.

5.  1986 Honda Civic CRX HF - city 42, highway 51, combined 46.

6.  1995 Honda Civic VX Hatchback - city 39,highway 50,combined 43.

7.  2010 Honda Civic Hybrid - city 40, highway 45, combined 42.

8.  2010 Honda Insight - city 40, highway 43, combined 41.

9.  2001-2003 Toyota Prius - city 42, highway 41, combined 41.

10.  1989 Chevrolet Sprint - city 38, highway 45, combined 41.

10.  1989 Suzuki Swift - city 38, highway 45, combined 41.

As I said, some of these most fuel efficient cars are shocking to me.  How about all the Hondas in the top ten!  I guess newer doesn’t necessarily mean better in the most fuel efficient cars.  Intestesting.