http://www.thecarconnection.com/tips Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:19:27 -0500 Tips and Advice -- find out how to maintain, service, insure, wash and wax, and change the oil in your car with tips from TheCarConnection.com. Lifestyle/Fashion http://static.thecarconnection.com/website/tcc-feed.jpg http://www.thecarconnection.com/tips http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1033872_aftermarket-accessories-we-really-want-flamethrower http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1033872_aftermarket-accessories-we-really-want-flamethrower Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:35:00 -0400 Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up. We've often dreamed about having a flamethrower on our car--you know, getting all Mad Max when you're ahead of us driving 15 mph slower than the speed limit while you're texting or something--but we never dreamed it was actually possible. To the rescue comes Autoloc, part of Hoffman Group ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1021864_hyundai-gas-lock-delivers-1-49-gas-for-new-buyers http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1021864_hyundai-gas-lock-delivers-1-49-gas-for-new-buyers Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:34:00 -0400 In case you've been trapped in a cubicle for the past few months, it's summer again, and that means gas prices are making their march back up toward their peak. While fears of $4 per gallon gas aren't prominent - yet - Hyundai is pre-empting the rise with a promise of $1.49 gas for a full year, or 12,000 miles, for buyers that take home a new ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020844_obamas-plan-whos-saving-whom-from-what http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020844_obamas-plan-whos-saving-whom-from-what Wed, 20 May 2009 09:42:00 -0400   GreenCarReports.com, a partner site to TheCarConnection, carried this story yesterday regarding the new federal economy standards. Editor-in-Chief John Voelcker cleaved through much of the rhetoric to highlight some important points overlooked by many media outlets. Namely; - That California retains its rights to set its own standards after ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020822_so-what-will-those-42-mpg-cars-actually-look-like-hint-not-golf-carts http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020822_so-what-will-those-42-mpg-cars-actually-look-like-hint-not-golf-carts Tue, 19 May 2009 16:50:00 -0400 No, we won't all be driving golf carts. We won't all have to drive a truncated 2009 Toyota Yaris either. Relax and chill, folks. Let's do a little reality-based projecting on what 2016 might look like. In 2016, the new mileage and emissions rules announced today by the Obama administration require cars to average 42 mpg and trucks to achieve ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020745_engines-will-shrink-for-fuel-efficiency-but-youll-pay-more-for-less http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020745_engines-will-shrink-for-fuel-efficiency-but-youll-pay-more-for-less Fri, 15 May 2009 12:38:00 -0400 It's long been tradition that big cars have big engines. But fuel-economy standards (in the US) and carbon emissions limits (in Europe) mean that even the big cars of tomorrow will have to use far less gasoline than they do today. One way they'll get there is by radically downsizing the engines. Yes, diesel, hybrid, and electric powertrains ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020607_ethanol-rhymes-with-cornball http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020607_ethanol-rhymes-with-cornball Tue, 12 May 2009 11:01:00 -0400 An article in Science magazine says that growing corn for ethanol is an inefficient use of farmland. (Of course, if you've been paying attention, this isn't really news.) A better option? Growing trees that can be burned to produce volts for electric vehicles. Sorry, hippie friends. According to the authors' calculations, an acre of crops, ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020575_electric-cars-are-coming-hydrogen-maybe-not-so-much http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020575_electric-cars-are-coming-hydrogen-maybe-not-so-much Mon, 11 May 2009 14:52:00 -0400 We get asked a lot of questions by friends and colleagues looking to buy cars and trucks, as we noted elsewhere this morning. But we also get asked a lot about future cars, especially hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. The standard question is either, "When should we expect hydrogen cars?" or, "How can I buy a ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020514_rip-rip-snorting-audi-r8-v12-tdi-diesel http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020514_rip-rip-snorting-audi-r8-v12-tdi-diesel Thu, 07 May 2009 12:16:00 -0400 TDI, we hardly knew ye. Dispensed before birth, now merely a dream of the clean, high-mileage supercar, how should we mourn the death of the Audi R8 V12 TDI diesel--which Audi now says it won't build after all? First revealed at the 2008 Detroit auto show as the Audi R8 TDI Concept, then updated as the 2009 Audi R8 Le Mans Concept at last ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020441_who-wants-higher-gas-taxes-thats-ford-bill-ford http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1020441_who-wants-higher-gas-taxes-thats-ford-bill-ford Tue, 05 May 2009 09:57:00 -0400 Ask most energy analysts how to cut US petroleum usage, and they'll point to Europe, where gasoline costs more than double the price in the States. For decades, European countries have taxed gasoline heavily, and the laws of economics work: Consumption per capita is much lower. Now Ford Motor Co. chairman Bill Ford--that's his name on the ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019980_subaru-gives-2010-outback-world-premiere-at-nyc-show http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019980_subaru-gives-2010-outback-world-premiere-at-nyc-show Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:17:00 -0400 Subaru's one of the few automakers who enjoyed sales increases for 2008. Today at the New York International Auto Show they introduced their new 2010 Outback, which is based on the completely redesigned 2010 Legacy chassis. It's fitting Subaru chose the U.S. for the 2010 Outback's release; many of the Outback's exceedingly loyal, go-anwhere ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019715_obama-administration-raises-fuel-economy-standards-for-2011 http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019715_obama-administration-raises-fuel-economy-standards-for-2011 Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:51:39 -0400 Facing an April 1 deadline for auto fuel economy standard improvements, the Obama Administration today announced that 2011 model year standards for all U.S. light vehicles will increase by 8 percent to land at 27.3 average mpg. Broken down, this means 30.2 mpg (up from 27.5) for cars, 24.1 mpg (up from 23.1) for light trucks. By 2020, due to ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019664_mercedes-announces-2010-e-class-coupe-engine-lineup http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019664_mercedes-announces-2010-e-class-coupe-engine-lineup Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:12:17 -0400 Today Mercedes-Benz announces its European range of engines for the 2010 E-Class Coupe. U.S. offerings likely won't include four-cylinders or diesels (unless diesel popularity undergoes a sea change or fuel prices double). But significant changes to even the uplevel V-6 signals the greater power and efficiency that will make it to U.S. E-Class ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019614_new-type-of-re-gen-braking-to-yield-air-gasoline-hybrid-car http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019614_new-type-of-re-gen-braking-to-yield-air-gasoline-hybrid-car Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:55:55 -0400 The concept of re-generative braking is not new; gasoline/electric hybrids have been using the concept for some time to turn deceleration of mass into electron storage. But a team from the Institute of Engineering and Design at Brunel University in west London claim to have found a clever way to take advantage of the traditional internal ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019569_next-gen-honda-ridgeline-lighter-more-efficient-and-aerodynamic http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019569_next-gen-honda-ridgeline-lighter-more-efficient-and-aerodynamic Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:09:28 -0400 "The (current) Ridgeline was the right thing to do at the time," said Dave Marek, chief designer and senior manager of the automotive styling group at Honda Research and Development. "But now that the truck market is a moving target, our opportunity is to make it more fuel-efficient -- aerodynamic and lighter -- but still retain the core value ..]]> http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019447_mpg-vs-gpm-should-america-make-the-switch http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1019447_mpg-vs-gpm-should-america-make-the-switch Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:22:04 -0400 Apart from eating mayo with their french fries, driving a bunch of tiny little diesels, and idolizing Abba and David Hasselhoff, what's the big difference between a European and an American? Over at Green Car Reports, Editor-in-chief John Voelcker outlines the GPM vs MPG debate. As in Gallons Per Mile vs. Miles Per Gallon. Actually, everywhere ..]]>