All Posts Tagged With: "gas mileage"
What are the cheapest cars to drive?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Dec 10 2009 | 3 Comments
Are you looking for a car? If yes, are you looking for one that gets good gas mileage and is also cheap to maintain? If you answered yes again, then perhaps you’re looking for a gas sipper rather than a hybrid and a foreign car rather than an American made one.
I know all the time I’m bragging about the quality of foreign cars versus domestic ones, but so is everyone else. In an article from MSNBC, you can find the best cars for under $15,000 which are cheap to maintain and they get great gas mileage so you won’t be blowing your gas budget when you fill up.
At the top of the list was the Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, and Scion xD (I love that the name of that looks like a really happy emoticon). The cars all cost around $15,000 and because they are small and inexpensive, they are fairly cheap to insure as well as maintain. Oh, by the way, they also get at least 30 mpg in combined fuel efficiency. These cars will obviously use less gas and you won’t have to be putting in the expensive grades either. These cars call for regular 87 unleaded.
If you’re really looking for a domestic car, then look no further than the Chevrolet Cobalt or the Pontiac G3. They are basically the same car and only cost around $16,000 and get a combined 31 mpg.
Right now they aren’t selling as well as they were a year ago, but you also have to remember that gas prices are far cheaper right now than a year ago too. People will go back to buying these cars once gas starts creeping up again.
The cars on the MSNBC list are all gas powered vehicles. There were no hybrids on the list due to the fact that they are more expensive to maintain, insure, and they actually cost more too.
From the article:
“The best way to a cheap ride? Choose something small, light, and more often than not foreign.”
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Tags: toyota yaris, scion xd, domestic car
Cash For Clunkers bill passes, what does it mean for you?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Jun 19 2009 | 0 Comments
On Thursday, the Senate passed a “Cash for Clunkers” bill that would give car buyers an incentive to take in their cars and get a new or used car. So, what exactly is this “Cash for Clunkers” bill and how will it affect you?
Well, if your car gets less than 18 miles per gallon, when you go to trade in your car, the government will send the dealership a voucher for $3,500 if the car you get has at least gas mileage of 22 mpg or higher, it becomes $4,500 if it’s 28 mpg or higher. If you own a pickup truck, sport utility vehicle, or minivan that gets 18 miles per gallon or less, you would receive a voucher for $3,500 if the vehicle you purchase gets at least 2 miles per gallon higher than you current vehicle and $4,500 if the vehicle you purchase gets 5 miles per gallon more.
If you have any emotional attachment to your current car, this may not be the deal for you. When you take your car in, it will not go to a loving home or sent out to “live on a farm.” The bill is to ensure that these cars are taken off the roads, so your car will go to scrap and either shredded or crushed.
Obviously, if your trade in value is higher than $3,500 or $4,500 it wouldn’t make much sense for you to participate in this bill anyway simply because the dealership will not give you the trade in value for your car if they have to send it off to be scrapped.
GM and Chrysler have both lobbied for this bill to be passed and while it is another thing that the government has thrown $1 billion at, it is good in the long run for not only the car manufacturers, but also the environment. The only problem is that all the SUVs that were purchased at the height of the “craze” have a higher trade in value than the $4,500 currently offered. If you purchased a Tahoe in 2004, I’m sure that your trade in value is more than $4,500, so that car hasn’t been taken off the road.
I think that this bill is a step in the right direction, but in my opinion, I think that people who drive environmentally UNfriendly cars should be taxed to make up for what the government has spent on this bill.
No related posts.
Tags: sport utility vehicle, gas mileage, minivan
NO! Putting Acetone in your gas tank is NOT a good idea
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Jun 10 2009 | 0 Comments
Acetone may be a good option for taking that awful lime green fingernail polish off, but no, it isn’t a good option for putting in your gas tank.
A question posed to MSNBC was this:
“I’ve heard of an unconventional way to increase gas mileage by up to 25 percent – adding 1 to 3 ounces of acetone to every 10 gallons of gas. Is this true?”
Well, no…it is simply not true. As a matter of fact, putting acetone in your gas tank is dangerous and will damage your engine.
Acetone is corrosive. It is used as a paint thinner and nail polish remover. This is the same stuff that if you get it on your wooden table it will take the lacquer finish right off the table.
So what does the acetone do in your gas tank after you put it in there? Well, it eats at all the little rubber parts in your engine. After all, this is the same stuff that will eat a fake fingernail right off your finger. You will end up getting a much larger bill for the parts that were eaten away in your car than the 25% increase in gas mileage that you may or may not have gotten by putting the acetone in your gas tank.
Not only can this stuff eat at the rubber on your engine, it can also remove the paint from your car. It will eat right through the clear coat and through the paint on the car. This would result in hundreds of dollars worth of damage.
In my opinion, if you’re looking for a fuel additive to try to get better mileage, mosey over to the automotive department at your local store and check out the fuel additive section. When you’re there you will find everything from simple fuel additive to fuel injection cleaner. Most of them claim to increase your gas mileage.
I find that putting 89 octane gasoline in your car may do the same trick as adding some of the fuel additive that can cost up to $8 for a bottle (which also tells you to add a bottle every single time that you fill up your gas tank). Honestly, if you’re putting a bottle of $7 additive in your car every time that you’re filling up, you’re not really saving any money…It seems like you are actually wasting more money.
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Tags: gas tank, lacquer finish, fuel additive
Anyone noticing improvements in domestic cars?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Feb 09 2009 | 0 CommentsToday my friend and I spent an hour test driving cars. One that she really wanted to try out was the Mustang. Sure, she wouldn’t buy the one we test drove (she wants a convertible), but we took it for a “spin.”
Overall, I wasn’t too unimpressed. The gas mileage was definitely not good at only 16 mpg in the city and 24 on the highway. It was a V6 though…
One thing I noticed as I was sitting in the backseat though it was the craftsmanship in part of the plastic paneling on the inside wall under the window. It looked like dried glue had been left on it and it was dirty. Now, I understand this could be from the dealership, but if they are so desperate for sales you would think they’d do everything they could to make the car more appealing to potential buyers. This car did not impress me.
We were thinking about testing out a Pontiac Solstice but ended up not going to the GM dealer at all. Then again, it’s not easy to get me to go to a GM dealer for anything.
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Tags: domestic cars, paneling, improvements
