Car Sharing... the Future?

I like everything in my car to be set just right. The climate needs to be at my perfect temp, at all times. I don’t want anyone else messing with my air conditioning. So, quit turning my AC Compressor on and off, and stop putting my AC Parts through so much wear and tear. You may think that I am super anal and you are super correct. Due to this, I am not a good candidate for a car sharing programs, but it might be the right fit for you.

The first evidence of car sharing goes back to 1948. The idea of sharing vehicles has come and gone several times, lacking the ability to stick. No one has seemed to be able to get it right. That has not stopped the fad from, once again, coming back. However, this time there is a new approach.

There is the old car sharing business model; a company owns a whole fleet of cars and members can rent those cars for a few hours or an entire day. Zipcar is the largest of these corporations with 650,000 members, who proudly refer to themselves as “Zipsters.”I wonder if Zipsters wear their seatbelts extremely tight around their tight hipster jeans. Zipcar has almost 10,000 vehicles in 19 major cities. They account for 80% of the car sharing market.

The new car share method is a peer-to-peer model. The company doesn’t actually own the vehicles. Instead, members share each other’s cars. Everything else is basically the same. This seems like a great business idea because it eliminates fleet maintenance, which is a massive expenditure. The tough part is getting members to trust their car with strangers. To ease members’ worries companies run background checks, and provide insurance.

The big companies that operate a peer-to-peer style are Getaround and RelayRides. General Motors just invested in RelayRides and will use OnStar to help members find and track vehicles. GM acknowledges that a car share program causes less people to buy automobiles, but reports state that there will be 4.4 million people participating in car share programs by 2016. GM wants to be the company that supplies those cars.

One MPG Win, How Many to Follow?

When buying a new car we expect that almost everything on that window sticker is accurate. If it says there is a car cd changer in the car, we expect there to be a car cd player in the car. The same goes for other advertised options such as power windows, heated seats, or maybe even hybrid technology. The price is the only thing on that sticker we expect (and hope) is not 100% accurate. There always seems to be wiggle-room when it comes to the pricing of the vehicle, but one Californian woman discovered another ambiguous number advertised: the MPG.

When Heather Peters bought her 2006 Hybrid Honda Civic she was excited like most new car owners. Gas prices were shooting up and she now had herself a car Honda promised would get her 50 miles per gallon. So she drove and drove and drove, but she never saw 50mpg. After some time, she was only getting 30mpg. Well, fast-forward some time and she has actually sued Honda for this misrepresentation. This week she won the smalls claims lawsuit which means Honda has to pay close to $10,000 for not living up to its advertised gas mileage to Peters (and maybe some of the 200,000 other 2006 Hybrid Honda Civic owners).

I understand frustration with not getting high gas mileage, especially if you’re paying for a car with that specific purpose. But on the other hand, one MPG number can’t be taken accurately across the board. Living in Southern California myself (like Peters), I understand my car’s gas mileage probably suffers a bit from the hilly landscape and the fact that 85% of the time I’m driving in stop-and-go traffic. Peters has now created DontSettleWithHonda.org trying to get other owners on board, while Honda is standing firm that they are required by law to post the highest mileage the car could get. With this victory, I’m interested to see how many others come out with the same complaint on the Civic and on other vehicle models. But for now it seems like the score remains, Hybrid Owners: 1, Honda: 0.

Lamborghini SUV

Somethings should just not happen.  Such as, going on a long road trip with kids without a DVD player, or trusting my mom to find her way without a car navigation system.  Another example of “something that should happen” is that high performance car companies should not make SUVs. Well, news came out today that Lamborghini is doing just that.  

The rumors have finally been confirmed by a senior source at Audi that the Lamborghini SUV is indeed, in the works.  Unlike their old giant LM002 that went out of production in 1993, this SUV will be a much smaller crossover. The car has no official name yet, but the project goes by LB 736.
 

The gossip started when an Italian magazine wrote a story and posted renderings of what the vehicle might look like.  The car in the magazine borrows the styling of the Aventador, and looks like the platform could be that of the Audi Q7.

Speculation is that the LB736 will have a version of the Gallardo’s 5.2 Liter V10, and boasts 700hp.  There is no way that your kids will arrive late to soccer practice in this SUV.  The size of the engine means that this Lamborghini will have no competition. No other high performance SUVs even come close to 700 horses.

Some Lamborghini traditionalists are going to wish this had never happened, and honestly I do not know how I feel about it.  I do have a lot of time to decide though, because the car is not going to go on sale until 2015.  I also have a lot of saving to do, because it is going to cost upwards of $200,000.

Buying Parts Online with Credit Cards

Giving out your credit card information online is always daunting.  You can read all the payment policies and privacy policies in the world, but the discomfort is still there. The higher the price and the more technical the product is, the scary it gets. The last thing you’d want is to pay a lot of money on a technical product that does not work.  Pricey and technical is exactly what auto parts are.  Although paying with a credit card can seem suspicious, if you buy the right part from a legit company you can save a lot of money.

Before you ever provide credit card info, do a little research on the company you’re purchasing from.  Make sure they have those payment policies, and privacy policies stated clearly. Check out their online reviews.  See if they are a member of the Better Business Bureau.  You are about to give them a lot of valuable information about yourself. Thus, making sure you are dealing with a reputable company is very important.

Make sure you buy the right parts.  Online parts companies can only deliver the part that you order.  If you get the wrong part, odds are they are going to charge you a restocking fee when you send it back. You might first think this is unfair, but the company has to stop what they are doing and waste manpower and time to recheck your part back in, because of a mistake you made.  A restocking fee is an industry standard.  If you ever have a question about a part, feel free to call the company and talk to a sales rep.  If the company is legit, it should have a phone number clearly posted on the website.

If anything ends up going wrong, such as you receive the wrong part, or the part goes bad, then call the company.  They’re almost always willing to help you out, whether they replace it because it is under warranty or give you a deal on a new one.  I would never recommend that you do a charge back on your credit card.  A lot of times credit card users think that all they have to do is call the credit card company and cancel a transaction.  This may get the persons money back but what they do not know is that it is a red flag with their credit card company.  You only have so many charge backs before they cancel the credit card.

Another thing is that you need to make sure you have all your credit card information right.  If you put down the wrong billing information or type in the wrong credit card number, then the order may not get processed.  This could leave you with a broken car, wondering what happened to the part you ordered.

I know it seems a little scary to buy auto parts online but if you do it right you can save a lot of cash. A lot of times the parts are exactly the same that you would get from the mechanic, but much cheaper.   Purchasing parts online is growing extremely fast and I highly recommend it.

BMW M Diesels

If you live in the states you’re not going to have to worry about replacing a diesel injector or a diesel turbocharger for your new BMW M550d, because this car not going to be available for sale in the U.S.  Also not available is the other M Diesel cars that BMW just announced; the X5 M50d, and the X6 M50d. You can go ahead and add these vehicles to a long line of sweet rides available to rest of the world, but not available to us.

Ok… I have calmed down. I am no longer upset, and have realized that even if I had the opportunity to buy one of these, I couldn’t afford it anyways.  So, instead of whining about not having one of these great cars, let’s discuss what makes them so great. Each one has all-wheel drive and is powered by what BMW calls Performance Twin Turbo technology.  “Twin Turbo Technology,” Ha! These cars actually have three turbos.  Two smaller turbochargers deliver responsive power down low in the rpm range, and then there is a bigger turbo that adds top-end thrust. The engine is a 3.0-litre inline six, which has 381-hp.  The M-Diesels will all go from 0 to 62-mph in less than 5.4 seconds, and gas mileage will range from 36.7 to 44-mpg.

The cars also get the M treatment on the outside of the vehicles too.  This includes side mirrors and vent bars with a grey metallic finish.  The exhaust is highlighted with trapezoidal tips, there is high-gloss shadow line trim, and alloy wheels ranging from 19 to 20 inches.

No pricing was announced, and the vehicles will be debuted at the Geneva Motor show in March.

A Good Year at Ford

It’s been a good year for Ford. They did have to deal with some recalls involving wheel bearing hub assemblies on some sedans and rusting fuel tanks containing fuel pump assemblies on trucks. However, like other auto companies, Ford had a very strong year and will be giving out bonuses to their workers for the first time since the financial meltdown. Ford has gained steam this past year selling more than 2 million cars for the first time since 2007, and they show no signs of stopping with their completely remodeled 2013 lineup.

The Ford Escape, Fusion, Taurus and Focus will all show dramatic departures in styling from previous years in 2013. I’m really liking the 2013 Ford Fusion whose front-end (to me) resembles that of an Aston Martin. The Fusion will come not only in a gasoline-powered model, but in electric plug-in and hybrid versions as well. The Ford Escape, which has kept its boxy styling since it was introduced over ten years ago, will now resemble more of a cross-over with its new curves and smoother lines.

What might be the coolest part of future Ford automobiles is the technology that they will be equipped with. Ford’s MyFord Touch and SYNC system not only syncs all of your devices to the vehicle but takes it one step further with voice-activated commands. You will now be able to tell your car what song to play, have it read you your text messages, and also reply to those messages through voice commands. New safety features include inflatable rear safety belts and vehicle sensors used to monitor blinds spots and give collision warnings. You can simply set a cruise control speed and the distance you want to maintain from the vehicle in front of you, and the car will automatically slow down to avoid collisions. Other cool features include cap-less fuel tanks as well as the ability to control the color of dash and interior ambient lighting (blue, red, green, you name it!). Will 2012 be another great year for Ford?

Super Bowl Car Commercials

Cooling fans suck, radiator fans blow, and Super Bowl fans are known for loving commercials. A lot of times they are better than the actual game.  Whether they are funny like the Budweiser Frogs, sexy like the Cindy Crawford Pepsi spot, or a marketing masterpiece resembling the Apple 1984 commercial, they’re always entertaining.  The auto industry has always been a key player in Super Bowl ads and they will continue to be this year.

Volkswagen found a lot of success last year with a commercial staring a youngster dressed up like Darth Vader.  The commercial not only ranked high for the Super Bowl, but it also won some awards for best commercial of the year.  The company hopes to grow on this commercial’s success with another Star Wars themed spot.  In this year’s advertisement, VW ups the cuteness from a kid to puppies. Check out a teaser of the commercial CLICK HERE

Chevy also released one of their Super Bowl commercials.  It’s called “Chevy Happy Grad.”  The commercial is a humorous romp created by some miscommunication. Now, I can continue with pompous movie critic phrases such as “humorous romp,” or you can just watch the commercial CLICK HERE

Kia plans to air a sixty second commercial, and I don’t know what it’s officially titled but it should be called, “A 12 Year Old Boy’s Dream.”  It features UFC Fighter Chuck Lidell, Victoria’s Secret Model Adriana Lima, and Motley Crue.  It’s too bad 12 year olds can’t drive cars, and it is also a shame that I cannot figure out how to put those two little dots over the “o” and “u” in “Motley Crue.”

Other car companies that are going to buy commercial time on the Super Bowl are Honda, Acura, Hyundai, and Toyota.  And,  for the very first time in the history of the company, Lexus is also going to run an ad during the game,