Would Having Cars That Drive Themselves Be a Good or Bad Idea

Would Having Cars That Drive Themselves Be a Good or Bad Idea

Ever wondered whether you would always like to have control over your car or have it completely automated so that it drives itself? Would that be a good idea? Let's dive into the discussion. Read on to find out.

Having a car completely automated would mean it will act as a robot in response to sensors and other activators. Would you like to give full control to your car and let it decide everything? Are you comfortable with the idea?

As for me, I am not. I would at least like to have control over my car via remote controls or something similar.

If my car drove itself, I wouldn't be fully aware if it is responding correctly to sensors and activators all the time. I wouldn't be aware of any problems it is facing until some damage or accident happens. So I am unwilling to take the risk especially if I am on a ride with my family.

What if a fully automated car could give me warning signs? The problem still exists in that whether I am able to fix the problem myself or even trace a gas station nearby. Again I am unwilling to take the risk and would like to have some control over my car.

It would be nice, on the other hand, to let all the burden of driving to my car itself. I would just have to give the instructions to the car and it would take me to my desired destination(s). It would be fun going on rides like that with friends and family as well but the pressure and worry would still be there at the back of my mind about the risks I have talked about earlier. So which type of car would you prefer?

Judging the pros and cons of having a car that drives itself, I have to conclude that it is not that great an idea. It is always great to let the glasses down and my hair down, be seated in the driver's seat, look for traffic signals and carefully drive the car myself. I would like to have power over my beautiful car and actually drive it and enjoy.

Better still, a fully automated car should have the option of giving its control over to the owner of the car on the road so that he is able to guide it and actually drive it when things go astray. Having this option as well gives the owners of cars that drive themselves some level of relief, protection and safety.

What would be your opinion on this? Would you opt for a fully automated or partially automated version of your car? Think about it and I think you will agree with me.

Why You Want to Buy Used Cars Online

Why You Want to Buy Used Cars Online

As more and more people choose the Internet as their preferred way to shop for goods and services, buying used cars online has become a great industry. When you want to get a used car for sale the Internet is the place where you want to be, but there are several things that you'll need to look at before you pick from all the online car dealers that are available.

A Used Cars Online Checklist

Before you start shopping for any of the used cars that you can find on the Web, you need to be sure of what you want and what you can afford to get because these are often two different things. It's easy to put the cart before the horse and start looking through all the used cars for sale on the Internet, but if you do you might get distracted and wind up buying a Porsche when you can only really afford a Pontiac.

So it's best if you start out by simple finding out what you can afford if you don't have the money saved and think that you'll need some financing. Go to your local financial institution and get them to give you an idea about how much that Pontiac will cost. The more expensive cars are purchases that you can make the road.

Then you'll need to decide what kind of used cars suit your purposes best. Here's where you'll need to ask yourself a few questions that include:
o Do I need a four door or a two door? If you're single now you might be able to get away with just two doors on the car that you're looking at, but down the road four might be better if you find you've got a family.
o How big of an engine do I need? Of course it's great to have an eight cylinder engine under the hood for power, but you'll be stopping at the gas station a lot more with one of those to feed.

When you finally decide on the car that you want, you'll find that make and model a lot quicker on the Internet. Buying used cars online is the way to go when you're looking to see the biggest selection right from the comfort of your own home and you save on the commission and overhead that you'd pay for if you bought from a brick and mortar lot.

Why You Should Use Hydrogen Fuel For Cars

Why You Should Use Hydrogen Fuel For Cars

With gas prices being what they are, is it any wonder that people have started looking for alternative fuel sources? Would you be surprised to learn that the best alternative fuel source is hydrogen? That's right hydrogen fuel for cars is probably the best alternative fuel to not yet hit the nation's market. The hydrogen used in these cars is very easy to find you get it from the water that comes out of your faucet!

What are Hydrogen Powered Cars?

A hydrogen generator car is a car that has been altered to run on water. The car has an engine that is modified to use electrolysis to separate the hydrogen and oxygen in water. The hydrogen and oxygen are both sent into the engine. The two gases work together to power the car's engine.

How do I Power My Car with Hydrogen?

The best way (and currently the only way) to power your car with hydrogen is to install a hydrogen/oxygen generator into your car so that the gas is funneled into the collection chamber where it combusts and provides power for the car. You can find all of the parts needed to build the generator for your hydrogen powered cars in any hardware or automotive store.

Isn't Hydrogen Dangerous?

The world has come a long way since the Hindenbergh disaster. Hydrogen fuel for cars is not only completely safe to use for alternative fuel (or to extend the life of your gas tank) it is far more practical than gasoline! Hydrogen is a clean burning gas as it gets burned into the combustion chamber, it simply evaporates into the air along with the oxygen molecules.

Hydrogen powered cars are cars that not only get better gas mileage than hybrids but they are far cheaper to purchase. In fact, you can easily convert your current car to run on hydrogen without spending very much money at all! With gasoline being so expensive and so bad for the environment, don't you want to find an alternative fuel to help you get from place to place? Hydrogen fuel for cars is the answer!

Why You Should Import Cars From Japan to the US

Why You Should Import Cars From Japan to the US

Because many people are doing so, you cannot help but wonder why you should import cars from Japan to the US. Your mind may be wandering just about anywhere so that you can come up with a valid reason for this. But for sure, since a lot of people are joining the bandwagon, you cannot help but think there just might be a lot of money that you can make in this endeavor. And yes, I am telling you right now, there is indeed a lot of money that can be made when you do this!

Yes, you can easily purchase Japanese cars just about anywhere. It does not really matter where you live, or where you physically are at the moment. Japanese cars are definitely all over the world right now, so purchasing one is not much of an ordeal at all. still, it really pays to import the cars from Japan all the way to the US for a lot of beneficial reasons.

The first one pertains to a wider selection of cars. You do have a lot of choices if you do choose to stick with the local market. But when you import cars from Japan to US, you will definitely have more models to choose from. What's more, you also gain access to the latest models that have been developed in the country itself! Imagine getting the hottest model right of the country that is famous for the high-end quality they develop their cars at! So, why forego this opportunity, right?

The second advantage pertains to huge savings. Wouldn't you want to get a car made from the highest standards ever pegged in Japan, and save a lot of money at the same time? This can easily be achieved when you choose to import cars from Japan to US. The savings you can get are actually very high. In fact, a very common scenario here is saving all the way up to 30% when you choose to ship your car all the way from Japan, than if you purchase your car from a local market. This is indeed pretty ironic, but it still remains a strong fact. If you purchase a used Japanese model for roughly $10,000, you can actually get the same model in Japan for $3,000 less. Imagine the savings you can make!

There are actually a lot of people who are joining the bandwagon for the money they can make off this racket. So, if you are interested in making a lot of money, you can import cars from Japan to US, and start making profit for yourself now.

Why Honda Cars Are a Great Choice

Why Honda Cars Are a Great Choice

Honda began its journey with humble baby steps, post WWII, when it started with the motorcycle range. Honda then released their first road car in the early 1960s, they developed their first road car. Since then they have established themselves as the leader in the automobile industry. Honda has always gone beyond being just a manufacturer of reliable, fuel efficient cars. They provide a level of unsurpassed performance, comfort and mileage, what with a wide range of automobiles on offer. Occupying the fourth position in the global auto arena, Honda cars are well liked and sought after. With Honda you know that you will get just the right car that fits your lifestyle and is light on the pocket too.

These cars appeal across the different demographies. Oft times you will notice that Honda cars seem to hesitate with rebates and money back attractions. The primary reason behind this is to counter a fall in resale value in the homeland. It is understandable therefore that Honda cars come with other incentives such as low APR and leasing options. With improved safety features, a more powerful engine as well as spacious seating for the sedan range, Honda cars offer value for money.

Car models range from Element, a model that is quite unusual, to the Civic, a prime example of small cars. The Civic has also seen some user friendly modifications in the form of an in built navigation system and monitoring of tire pressure. The year 2008 has seen a complete revamp of Honda Accord. The enhanced Honda car model, the Odyssey, has also seen some marked change with a better suspension system in place, and improved horsepower as also a modification in the wheel structure.

Honda cars also make a mark in the award arena, bagging quite a few distinctions there. While the Civic received the Motor Trend Car award, the Ridgeline is often admired for its top class performance. It's not an exaggeration to day that the Honda range of automobiles are trusted for their robust engines and power packed driving capacity. The Honda car manufacturers have a long standing name for dependability and value for money. It's no surprise that Honda cars have been adjudged the best models offering good Industry Brand Residual Value by the Automotive Lease Guide. With several innovative makes in the pipeline, counting the Si Mugen model, Honda cars are likely to meet Gen X face up!

Why Do New Cars Not Have Spare Tyres Anymore

Why Do New Cars Not Have Spare Tyres Anymore

Has your car got a spare tyre? A puncture's bad enough. But as more and more drivers are discovering, there's often another nasty shock in store for them when they try to change their tyre following a puncture.

Many car manufacturers have began to phase out the spare tyre in new cars. Breakdown specialist the RAC were called by 80,000 motorists last year who had discovered they didn't have a spare tyre. There are few things more depressing on a car journey than the 'flud, flud, flud' sound of a flat tyre, but at least in the past you had a spare tyre and you could change your flat tyre and carry on with your journey.

Even though you invariably seem to get a puncture when it's dark, when it's raining and when the car is laden with tired children, luggage and a front seat passenger reluctant to get their hands dirty, but unusually eager to point out what you're doing wrong.

Changing a spare tyre is hassle enough, but in recent years, coping with a flat has become even more stressful. For without fanfare, motor manufacturers have begun to phase them out. Many motor manufacturers no longer supply a spare tyre as standard with a many new cars.

Each year, tens of thousands of stranded drivers lift up the boot carpets of their new cars looking for a spare tyre and a jack, only to discover a 'tyre repair kit' - an electric pump, a bottle of sealant and instructions written by someone with only a passing familiarity with cars and the English language.

Most people will admit they know almost nothing about car repair.

Ask them to change a spark plug and they'll be baffled. Tell them their 'big end' has gone and again they would be baffled.

But most pepople do know how to change a spare tyre, and that admittedly basic knowledge is a badge of pride.

We know about loosening the nuts before jacking up the car.We know where to fit the jack.

So car manufacturers are making our one car-related skill redundant. And they are making it redundant in force.

Out of the top ten best-selling cars in Britain, only the Volkswagen Golf now comes with a full spare tyre as standard.

Lucky owners of top-of-the-range new cars get skinny space-saving spare tyres that take up less room in the boot, but which will keep them going for 50 miles or so until the driver can get home or to a garage. A few find their cars are delivered kitted with four 'run-flat tyres' -- tyres with strengthened walls that stay hard even when the air has escaped.

But the unfortunate ones -- the owners of the bottom-of-the-range Honda Jazz, Renault Clio and Vauxhall Astra, for example -- have to make do with a sealant kit.

If you've ever tried to use an emergency tyre inflation kit, you'll know how awkward and messy they can be.

Drivers have to connect a pipe from a compressor in the repair kit to the flat tyre's valve, plug the compressor into the cigarette lighter and switch on the compressor to fill the tyre with air and sealant.

So I resent car manufacturers making my one car-related skill redundant. And they are making it redundant in force.

Out of the top ten best-selling cars in Britain, only the Volkswagen Golf now comes with a full spare tyre as standard.

If you've ever tried to use an emergency tyre inflation kit, you'll know how awkward and messy they can be.

Drivers have to connect a pipe from a compressor in the repair kit to the flat tyre's valve, plug the compressor into the cigarette lighter and switch on the compressor to fill the tyre with air and sealant.

Many car manufacturers are slowly phasing out the spare tyre

Then you have to unplug it all, drive the car for two miles to disperse the sealant throughout the inside of the tyre to tackle the air leak, stop and park, plug the compressor back into the tyre and cigarette lighter, and pump up the tyre fully.

Even then there's no guarantee you can drive the car away. Sealant kits only work with holes 4mm or smaller. Bigger gashes are impossible to repair -- a fact you will discover after an hour or so fiddling around on the roadside.

And even if you can get puncture kits to work, many garages refuse to repair tyres if they have been filled with sealant, claiming it is too time consuming and expensive to clean them out. A 15 puncture repair can end up costing the 100 price of a replacement tyre.

The demise of the spare is already having an impact on emergency call-outs. Green Flag, the car breakdown service, said the number of call-outs to drivers stranded by flat tyres leapt 20 per cent last year.

The RAC had 80,000 calls in 2011 from motorists who found they hadn't got a spare in the boot, and who were unable to use the sealant kits. That works out as around one fifth of all their tyre problem calls.

Prakesh Patel, an RAC patrol officer, is not a fan.

'I've never been very successful with them,' he says. 'They are fine if it's a small hole caused by a nail. But the problem is that when you use the sealant it ends up on the road and it's messy.

'It costs 20 to 30 to replace the sealant, and when you take the tyre to be repaired they won't take it because of the glue inside. So you have to pay for a new tyre as well.

'I had a call out this week from a middle-aged women who couldn't find the spare but thought there must be one.

'When we opened up the boot the hole that should have been filled by a tyre was instead filled with a piece of polystyrene. She looked at me in disbelief.'

So why are car manufacturers cutting back on spares?

One reason is the demand for ever larger boots. Families want people carriers with seven seats, plus room for buggies and luggage.

Something has to give, and that something is the spare tyre. Removing the tyre which is usually stored under the boot's carpet gives more space for boot seats to be folded away when not in use.

But above all, getting rid of the spare saves the manufacturers money. It is cheaper to fit a 20 repair kit than an 80 spare tyre.

There is also the issue of European and UK legislation designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The motor industry is under intense pressure to shave off excess weight from cars to improve fuel efficiency, and scrapping the spare removes up to 25kg of weight.

While drivers fume, the car industry insists it is giving consumers more choice.

John Visscher, of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, says: 'Some people are comfortable with changing a tyre, but there are other motorists who want the ease, speed and the safety of not having to change a tyre on the side of the road. And there are drivers who don't know how to change a tyre, or who don't want to.'

The manufacturers argue that if a customer lavishes 15,000 on a new car they would be pretty daft not to double-check what they were getting for their money.

The RAC had some 80,000 calls from motorists who discovered that their car didn't have a spare tyre in 2011 (file picture)

The trouble is, how many motorists would ever imagine they'd be sold a new car without a spare tyre.

Some manufacturers allow you to 'upgrade' by paying extra for a spare, but in many models there simply isn't space.

The RAC -- which wants spare tyres to be included as standard -- says dealerships need to spell out more clearly what customers are getting.

RAC technical director David Bizley says: 'Not including a spare wheel has become a growing trend among car manufacturers over the past five years, to the point where about 50 per cent of punctures registered in 2012 happened to vehicles which did not have a spare wheel.'

There is no sign that spares are about to come back into fashion either. It won't be many years before they are available only as a pricey optional extra -- along with sun roofs and a sat-nav.

That means for the foreseeable future, the only spare tyres middle-aged men like me will have in our cars are the ones around our waists.

This also causes problems with driving tests, should you get a puncture shortly before the driving test, you have no opportunity to change the spare wheel, resulting in thre cancellation of the driving test. Driving schools and driving instructors are having to pay extra to manufacturers to purchase spare wheels!

Why Cars Need Tune-Ups

Why Cars Need Tune-Ups

Younger drivers who own late model vehicles may not remember a time when they needed to be tuned up frequently. Decades ago, any number of parts could slowly lose their ability to perform their jobs. To correct the issues, a mechanic would have to pop the hood and spend a couple of hours adjusting, tightening, and often replacing certain parts. If this wasn't done on a regular basis, drivers could expect their vehicles to operate far less efficiently with less power over time.

Cars are built much differently these days. Automakers have designed fantastic driving machines that can perform well without a tune-up for over 80,000 miles. That said, millions of people are still driving older vehicles that need a good tuning every now and then. Below, I'll describe a few car parts that you should consider asking your mechanic to check periodically.

Which Parts Need Tuning?

In the old days, when vehicles mostly used carburetors and other mechanical parts, there was plenty for a technician to tune. After all, springs, weights, and similar components always become unbalanced with time. So, they kept mechanics busy. Most newer cars, trucks, and SUVs have gotten rid of a lot of the analog systems, replacing them with parts that are controlled by computers. That leaves fewer components for technicians to tune.

Of course, all cars still use spark plugs that collect carbon deposits and need to be replaced. And tens of millions of cars have distributor caps that experience corrosion. Air filters still get jammed with dirt, debris and other materials. Drive belts can get frayed. And the rotors in a vehicle's ignition system can sustain wear and tear. If neglected, each of these can erode your car's performance and fuel-efficiency. You probably won't notice the difference immediately, but over time, their aggregate effect can have a significant impact.

The Future Of Tune-Ups

Until the bright minds inside automakers' research labs design an automobile that doesn't require parts that wear out, there will always be a need for tune-ups. If you recently bought a new vehicle, you probably won't need to visit a repair shop for years. However, if you've purchased an older, used model, ask a mechanic how often you should have it tuned up.

At the very least, you'll want him to check the distributor cap for cracks and wear and tear on the ignition's rotor. Plus, have the spark plugs and air filter replaced periodically to maintain your engine's performance (important even in late models). And while you're at the repair shop, it couldn't hurt to flush the fluids, check the battery posts, cables, wheels, and belts. Remember, the secret to avoiding costly repairs is doing consistent maintenance. Tune-ups are still an important ingredient.