The Crossover Advantage

Picking the best type of vehicle may vary on our personal tastes. But when we talk about dependability and fuel-efficiency, the best pick will be the crossovers! SUVs established a reputation as vehicles with great gas mileage, the major reason why it gained universal fame compared to the typical SUVs.

“Fuel economy definitely plays a part in what makes the new crop of CUVs more popular than the SUVs they’re replacing, but their newfound popularity goes beyond that,” says Aaron Bragman, an analyst at research firm Global Insight.

According www.forbesautos.com, crossovers ride better, are commonly quieter, holds more proficiently and can ingest almost as much stuff, cargo and kids as SUVs are able to offer. They even provide some of the rough-and-tumble image that made SUVs such a hit.

“At the height of their popularity, SUVs were seen as much for styling statements as they were for utility,” Bragman says. “People are starting to realize that you can have the utility in a much more sensible package.”

“Crossovers and SUVs are distinct markets,” says John M. MacDonald, a General Motors spokesperson. “There might be some [SUV and crossover] cross-shopping done, but there’s also some done between sedans, wagons and crossovers.”

A number of in the auto industry don’t think it’s reasonable to evaluate the two types, while crossovers and SUVs may share a bit in the styling area. Actually, a few of the closest rivals for crossovers may not originate from their SUV fraternal twins, but from car-based minivan close relatives.

“Crossovers are favored by consumers currently looking for a vehicle beyond the minivan, although I believe that the minivan will survive its current status as unfashionable,” says Paul Taylor, the chief economist for the National Auto Dealers Association. “Both crossovers and minivans represent practical boxes that are quiet, can be parked easily in a standard parking spot, and ride comfortably and quietly.”

Raikkonen Bagged The Driver’s World Championship Title!

I guess we still have a hangover from the season-finale of the Formula One World Championship Racing! The concluding event in Brazil wrapped up another highlight on the racing history! And today, no group of people can be as joyful as the team Scuderia Ferrari who grabbed their 15th World Championship title! I guess we were expecting that to happen… but the highlight was brought by Ferrari racer Kimi Raikkonen who earned his very first Driver’s World Championship title!

Here’s a piece of the Winner’s Press Conference with Kimi Raikkonen held after the concluding Brazilian Grand Prix courtesy of www.motorsport.com! Click here to view the whole story. Check this out!

Q: It wasn’t so long ago this season that you were saying really the chance has gone to win this championship and today, magically perhaps, it’s all come right.

Kimi Raikkonen: I don’t remember that I was saying that. I think maybe somebody else was saying it, but for sure we were not in the strongest position at some points of the season, but we always believed that we can recover, we can do a better job than the others and even in the hard times everybody was sticking together and we didn’t give up. It was good because as we saw in the end, even from a long way behind, we could reduce the gap and go ahead and win the championship, not just Constructors but also Drivers and I need to thank the team, they did a great job not just today but all year. Like I said, we had some hard time with some problems but we always work hard and improve the situation and I think we had a perfect teamwork, Felipe helping all the time also. We had a hard fight with him all year but then he unfortunately didn’t score and he couldn’t be in the fight any more, so he’s been a big help also, and also the sponsors have been a big bonus for us. The team is very close, they’ve been doing a great job for us, improving the fuel and everything to help us with the new regulations, so for sure I’m going to enjoy today and probably the next month, but I’m very happy.

Nissan Reveals the Pivo 2

We have seen out of this world designs made by famous car makers and this one will definitely make your bones knock if you see this one in the car show happening soon. Japan’s Nissan Motor Corporation finally took the cover off the new version of its egg-shaped Pivo concept car last Friday. According to the Japanese carmaker, the new concept car can drive both sideways and also has a small robot to assist with the navigation process or to calm down angry drivers.

The Pivo 2 three-seater electric car has a special wheel that could turn 90 degrees to park easily. Its predecessor was revealed two years ago and the new car is now upgrade and can rotate 360 degrees. This actually eliminates any reverse movements of the car.

The car also has the round-eyed robot head sitting on the dashboard. There is also a camera embossed on the robot. This also can detect a sleepy driver.

“You look tired. There’s a coffee shop 500 meters ahead on the left,” the robot usually tells the driver if he notes a thing like this. It was even seen on the latest demo by the Nissan Motor Corporation. The robot also nods or shakes its head, in order to improve the feeling of sad or glum drivers. The new car concept also has the “by-wire” technologies that use electrical signals on both steering and braking.

On the first Pivo, you may not have found axles but the Pivo 2 was given more specifications like four separate electric motors which allow a full turn compared to a regular car.

Excited about the Pivo 2’s revelation? Well we all have to wait for the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show to finally see what is really hot about this new concept car. The show opens this October 27th, so I’ll just see you there guys.

Back-Seat Parenting For Teen Drivers

Teens are at higher risk than other drivers that is. And parents know that by heart.

Car crashes are the single biggest killer of teenagers. In 2005, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a total of 5,334 drivers aged 16 to 19 were involved in fatal crashes – the death toll included 2,330 of these drivers and 963 teenage passengers.

Patty Tucker told The New York Times her share of the pie…

Patty’s 2 oldest children had crashes as new drivers. One of the accidents involving her daughter, Sarah, occurred at night, with a teenage passenger. In her son Joshua’s first crash, he was driving his Mustang. “It was his dream car” said Patty, who lives in Phoenix. “We were advised not to get it, but we didn’t listen.” During a second crash, Joshua was talking on a cell phone. No one involved in the Tucker crashes was seriously hurt, but their cases highlight causes common in many teenage crashes: youth and inexperience.

“It’s a potentially lethal combination” noted Bella Dinh-Zarr, the North American director of Make Roads Safe, a nonprofit organization based in London. According to some studies, Dr. Dinh-Zarr said, teenage drivers tend to wear seat belts less than drivers in other age groups.

“The one thing that should come through loud and clear is that this is an extremely complex undertaking,” said Robert D. Foss, the director of the Center for the Study of Young Drivers, Highway Safety Research Center, at the University of North Carolina. “Learning to handle the car is pretty simple and straightforward; learning to be a wise or savvy driver involves far more than that.”

What a teens drive is also essential. “It’s commonly overlooked, but size does matter,” he said. Teenagers often drive older and smaller cars, but it should be the opposite: “big and boring,” and with modern safety features. A survey released in June by the insurance institute found that most parents understood some of the important criteria for choosing safe cars, but often selected ones with inferior protection.

Experts added parents should not depend solely on driver’s education. “Driver’s ed is not a safety program; it’s a licensing program,” said Bruce Simons-Morton, the chief of the Prevention Research Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. “Safety requires a lot more than that.”

Like most complex skills, good driving develops gradually. Learning the rules and being skilled is not enough, practice is a must. “You avoid crashes by avoiding emergency situations to begin with,” Dr. Foss said. “Experienced drivers don’t consciously check rearview mirrors, but rely on their intuition. The key is to get the novice driver to think like that.”

Experts share the following recommendations to parents:

1. Delay licensure as long as possible. The longer you can keep your child from driving alone, the better.

2. Don’t let your children have their own cars. Shared vehicles are a lot safer; parents lose control if a teenager has exclusive use of a vehicle.

3. Set limits for the first six months of driving while the teen gains experience: no night driving, teenage passengers, high-speed roads or cell phones.

Used Cars: Where Can You Find The Right Sources?

Purchasing used items or product lines is pretty risky. You don’t have any idea whether the thing is well-maintained and protected in the hands of its previous owners. This is the reason why I’m quite hesitant to make a used car purchase.

But then, it came to my mind that its one clever and practical thing to do. I just have to find the right sources. Good thing I found this article penned by N.Sai:

There are several excellent sources for buying used cars. Some of the best and sought after sources are the newspaper classifieds, car auctions, and car buying guides and used car dealers.

Newspaper classified advertisements: Local newspapers can be a good source of information for purchasing used cars. The prices of the listed cars are comparatively lower than the car retail prices. Auto sellers advertise to find buyers and the buyers too benefit by buying used car for a lesser price than the retail price of the car. Since there are no middlemen involved the purchaser saves lot of money.

Guides for buying cars: There are many online guides, which list the cars for sale in the particular area with the features of the car. A buyer can search from the list of available cars with the features to suit his needs. A vehicle history report can also be got from these guides making the source a reliable and lucrative one. Some of the reputed online car guides will provide all the necessary information pertaining to the used car listed for the convenience of the buyer to make a deal comfortably sitting at home.

Car auctions: There are many kinds of car auctions available for the car purchaser. Some are listed below:

Public car auctions include cars repossessed by the financial institutions, banks and lending firms. The cars can be bought at wholesale prices from such kind of auctions. Generally these auctions are limited to people who possess dealer’s license, but these are however open to all.

Bankruptcy auctions allow cars to be purchased at rock bottom prices and it is also considered as one of the best sources for buying used cars. Such kind of auctions can be checked in the classifieds of the newspapers.

Government auctions sell used cars from various government departments such as the housing and urban development department, postal service department, police department, defense department, IRS, FBI etc. Good quality cars can be got at a best deal.

Car rental companies renew their rental cars every now and then, and their used cars are sold in auctions. Such car rental companies can be located in the neighborhood or can be found on the Internet by searching their websites.

Many car dealers too sell the used cars at prices lower than the wholesale rates. But many of the auctions need the bidder to have a dealer’s license to participate in the bid.

There are many online used car websites who provide all the information regarding the cars. It is considered as the easiest, comfortable and quickest way to buy used cars. But then people do not rely on the credibility of buying used cars online since there are lots of bogus websites. Care has to be taken while selecting the online car dealer or selling company as their credibility and reputation has to be checked thoroughly.

Now I know where to buy (guilt-free, that is!) the used car that suits me.