Projo Cars Blog

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September 28, 2008

• 10:14 AM Will King on Backseat Driver: Lay off hypocrisy - that's our vice!

  Nice article in the sunday paper about hypocrisy in America. I agree we seem to be moving toward being another socialist european country. I hate it. On another subject; I see all these ads on TV about CNG vehicles and it does seem to make sense. I've seen vehicles on the road that had signs saying they were powered by gas. The web site for CNGNOW explains that GM had gas vehicles in 2005 or so but stopped making them...obviously they could bring them back; the technology is sound and stable. I searched around for more info about the refueling gizmo (PHILL Inc)in the New England area but didn't find anything. The center of gravity for CNG vehicles is Oklahoma. I think it would be an excellent subject for one of your articles. We have natural gas here in North Kingstown and this PHILL gizmo is something that mounts to the garage wall and will compress the gas into the vehicle fuel tank so no need to go to gas stations. I think it has lots of merit. I'd like to know more about it in this area. Thanks again.

  
  

  September 12, 2008

• 12:05 PM carol stanley on Spiffy new convertibles target new crop of Baby Boomers

  We somehow never lose that desire to drive a spiffy sport car...Just because we are baby boomer age we still like to cruise a bit and garner a bit of attention...carol stanley author of For Kids 59.99 and Over.

  
  

  August 31, 2008

• 6:08 PM Howard on Oil prices spike as Hurricane Gustav nears Gulf

  Pelosi and Reid, who are against oil drilling, wanted to use our strategic oil reserves, as a way to pander to the public for democratic votes. Now, we have Hurricane Gustov, which is going to put a strain on our oil supply. Our strategic oil supply is supposed to be used for emergencies like this hurricane, or for oil disruption due to terrorism. This just reminds us of how irresponsible politicians like Pelosi and Reid really are!!!

  
  

  August 30, 2008

• 4:25 PM fredlave on Ford, Toyota US sales fall in July

  Serves them right. I was at our local Lincoln-Mercury dealer ready to write a check and buy a 2009 Mercury Mariner for my wife. I asked about rebates and was told there were none for the 2009. There were some for leftover 2008 Mariner models but why should I buy a year old car? We left. I told the salesman to call me when Ford wanted to sell cars and we'll talk. If Ford wants to be hardnosed about their pricing, She'll keep driving her Jeep Cherokee.

  
  

  July 31, 2008

• 12:58 PM Abhishek Rao on GM talks with Mahindra, others on Hummer: sources

  Mahindra & Mahindra are definately going to be one of India's leading automobile industry. If the GM deal works out people will be more than happy to see more Hummers on Indian roads. Also the latest news is that M&M is entering the bike industry as it has acquired the Kinetic Motors (Source: http://utvi.myrecourl.com). Way to go M&M.

  
  

  July 24, 2008

• 2:03 AM Andria on Oil reaches $142 on view dollar will keep falling

  Oil prices headed outer part lower Wednesday, failing to sustain a brief push into positive territory, after the government reported gasoline supplies rose far more than expected. The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration reported that crude inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels in the week ended July 18, slightly less than analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts predicted.

  
  

  July 13, 2008

• 12:32 AM Gas Saver on Backseat Driver: Driving slower can definitely save money.

  How you reach the speed you drive is just as important as the speed it self. While the exact technique depends on your car, there a few general principles to keep in mind. 1. Accelerate efficiently. For the average V6/V8 with an automatic tranmission this means use just enough fuel to push the RPMs up to about 2500 as you accelerate to 30/35 MPH. Then back off the gas so that the transmission up-shifts to the highest gear and gradually increase your speed up to the speed limit. 2. Don't be afraid to let the vehicle slow down a bit on hills. You'll use less gas if you don't worry about staying at a constant speed. 3. Anticipate stops and let the car slow down by coasting in gear whenever possible. Don't move your foot right from the acellerator to the brake pedal. 4. Learn the roads you drive frequently and work on maintaining a safe speed while applying as little power as possible. A well timed short burst of power, followed by a period of coasting, uses less fuel than constant pressure on the acellerator. 5. If your car has an instantaneous fuel consumption display use it. Otherwise borrow/buy an external OBDII meter. You'll be suprised by what you will learn.

  
  

  July 8, 2008

• 1:41 PM James on GM, Ford report strong China sales

  Growth on top of growth. If they sold 100 cars in 2006, 130 cars (30%) in 2007, and 157 cars (21%) 2008, why is everyone saying it isn't excellent. Basically 57% increase in 2 years.... I would love to have that type of growth.

  
  

  July 7, 2008

• 3:43 PM Dan-o on Backseat Driver: Driving slower can definitely save money.

  I agree with this. I increased my fuel efficiency by around 3-4 MPG by not driving over 70 MPH (except in very rare instances on the interstate if I needed to pass someone).

  
  

  July 7, 2008

• 2:55 AM Anwalt für Erbrecht on High court: Stiffer penalties apply to breath-test refusals

  Thanks for the detail I really appreciate your work

  
  

  June 21, 2008

• 5:26 PM Bill Wade on Teen Driving course at Seekonk today and tomorrow

  Greetings, I saw this article and thought I might pipe in here and tell you about a similar program that is also available. Street Survival was formed in April 2002 by the BMW Car Club of America Foundation, a 501c3 organization. Street Survival® is built upon the premise that 'safe driving is learned by doing.' From the outset, Street Survival® has always been a "hands on" program and it is designed to go beyond the typical high school driver's education program. The program teaches students to avoid accidents by thinking and looking ahead. Street Survival® is unique in that it offers students instruction in their own cars so that they learn the limitations of their 'daily drivers' and that information is transferred immediately to what they drive everyday, whether it’s a new Accord, pick-up truck, 5 year old Minivan, or the hand-me –down 15 year old Volvo station wagon. If you haven’t, please check out our website at www.streetsurvival.org. As a point of background, 2003 was the pilot year for Street Survival® and several successful schools were held around the country. In 2004, more than a dozen schools providing instruction for several hundred students were held. The year 2005 had 18 successful schools across the country. 2006 saw even more schools, training even more teenagers to become safe, responsible drivers. Our goal that year was 40 schools and we hit 36. More than double our previous efforts. The Tire Rack signed on as our title sponsor in 2006 and has opened the doors to many more clubs and events. You can visit the Tire Rack at www.tirerack.com. The Sports Car Club of America is now facilitating schools under the Tire Rack Street Survival® banner. You can visit the SCCA at www.scca.org. We are discussing the program with additional car clubs such as the Porsche, Audi and Mercedes Benz Clubs. We know to expand this program as far as it can go we need to grow outside of just the BMW Club ranks. We completed 56 schools in 2007 breaking our goal of 50. We have slated over 75 schools this year. The schools are facilitated by chapters of the BMW Car Club of America and other car clubs where a trained instructor base can be utilized. The instructor to student ratio is quite low, often 2:1. They are held typically in a large parking lot, such as a football stadium or large mall. The schools are 1 day, typically from 8:00am to 4:00pm. The cost is $60. We average 25 students per school with our largest school holding 48 students every year for the last 3 years. There are usually 15-20 instructors in attendance, 5 -10 staff people and probably 20 parents and other adults. The day is a mixture of classroom and in-car exercises with a coach in the car at all times with the student. The student is put though a collection of exercises based on real world scenarios. They work on skid control on a wet skid pad; go through a lane change / accident avoidance maneuvers; threshold breaking / ABS exercises; they drive a slalom course to learn about weight transfer. In the classroom they learn about proper seating position and hand positions, mirror placement, the concept of the contact patch of their tires, the theories of weight transfer, the use of long distance vision and situational awareness. We talk about the challenges of distractions to the driver, be it the radio / CD player or phones for talking or texting or just the simple cause of too many teens in the car. Where possible we stage a semi truck on site and park cars around it to simulate highway driving. We then have each student and all adults get into the cab and close the door to show how little the driver can see and how many of the cars are not visible to the driver. We also may explode an air bag to reinforce what they learn in class about hand placement on the steering wheel. I’d love to discuss this with you further at your convenience. Just let me know when a good time to follow up is. Most of us are aware of the carnage that occurs on American highways and good driver education will help reduce accidents. With your support and help, the goal of the Tire Rack Street Survival® program will help make our teenager’s safer drivers and our roads a safer place to be for all of us. Thank you, Bill Wade National Program Manager Tire Rack Street Survival® bill.wade@streetsurvival.org www.streetsurvival.org

  
  

  June 20, 2008

• 10:50 PM Anna on Notes from the New York International Auto Show

  A few days ago I saw a car, it was sporty looking. Its name was crisscros across the back, slanted and it had an S or and E at the end of the name, (Like ferrari S) No it was not a ferrari, I do beleie it had an E in it, but??? It's back tires were pretty wide and it had flared back fenders. I wanted to get closer, but that car went thru the intersection and then I had to stay till the light changed again. I have driven myself half NUTS searching for the make of that car. Frist i thought it was Cross Fire by Chrysler but upon going to the Chrysler place I saw it was not... Anyone know anything about this car? PLEASE... Thanks, if you know please write me. Anna

  
  

  June 16, 2008

• 1:18 PM car repair new york on Bad economy a yellow flag for smaller racecar venues

  gee. this is sad news for racecar drivers like me but can't do anything about it. can't do anything bout rising oil prices.

  
  

  June 9, 2008

• 3:39 PM 05Flame red on Backseat Driver: Lock up your cars! Mechaphilia is in town!

  UMMM...

  
  

  June 1, 2008

• 10:21 AM Carmine on Backseat Driver: The polar bear is where the rubber meets the road

  Everyone has been bought and paid for with the latest scam, global warming. Remember acid rain 20 years ago that was supposed to kill us all by now? I guess acid rain is no longer the chic environmental threat, now a new nonsense has surfaced. Lets please drill for our own oil, so we knock a few trees down and scare some animals, the trees will grow back and the animals will be just fine. With all the favorable press the ecoweenies get, soon we will be living in caves but we will have plenty of polar bears. The ones who say we import too much oil are the same ones that will not let us drill. It's time to turn back the environmentalist by any means possible or this country will be a shell of it's former self if it survives.

  
  

  May 29, 2008

• 3:27 AM crash course on Backseat Driver: Driving a Lamborghini exposes my hypocrisy

  I'm very heartened to hear that Brit hypocrisy is alive and well on that side of the pond. Keep up the good work Peter and remember that on the basis that you didn't actually hit a polar bear on your traverses there need be little guilt associated with it; especially in a country that condones the wanton waste of resources in the banal contests that are monster truck races.

  
  

  May 26, 2008

• 9:33 AM David on Backseat Driver: The polar bear is where the rubber meets the road

  Polar bears don't put food on my table. Let's start drilling, but let's not forget to take a few snapshots of the last few cute cubs.

  
  

  May 25, 2008

• 11:28 AM Dick Tuck on Backseat Driver: The polar bear is where the rubber meets the road

  So, Elsworth blames GW for the polar bears running out of ice, forgetting that parts of Greenland now under ice were farmed during the last "Climate Change" while the front page of the auto section showcases a 360 HP Pontiac which is "better than" a Camry. Elsworth, you hypocrite. I drove an Avalon, the Camry's big brother, across South Florida recently with three people and luggage on board at 80 MPH and 95 degree temps and got over 30 MPG. I also had the assurance that the door handles weren't going to fall off at 20,000 miles as is typical of the usual GM POS. Where do "we stand at the Belo, Elsworth, "powerful fun" or George made the polar bears swim for it?

  
  

  May 19, 2008

• 11:24 AM Greg on Ford's US sales down, Toyota up in April as gas prices rise

  @Stephanie... What are you, 12? I suspect if you learned English you might have a better chance of fixing your problems. The NTSB doesn't handle incidents such as yours, perhaps you should have called your insurance company?

  
  

  May 16, 2008

• 11:00 AM You can live in your car, but you can't drive your house on Backseat Driver: Fuel efficiency and green sell right now

  Don't worry, there will soon enough be a burgeoning market for those SUVs as more and more people are dislocated from their homes due to foreclosures and a failing economy, and find suitable digs in gas-guzzling minivans. Like they say, you can live in your car, but you can't drive your house.