Small Cars Making a Big Splash in North America

It’s been a while since the sub-compact car market has garnered such attention in
North America. Our friends in Europe have always known the virtues of small cars.
But here in North America, SUV’s have dominated parking lots at the local Pier 1 for
more than a decade. However as current gas prices inch forward and with future
prices looking uncertain (and by uncertain I mean they’re certainly going to be
higher than today) more people are buying small, fuel-efficient cars. We’ve seen a
lot of activity in the segment recently. Toyota has introduced the Yaris, Hyundai has
significantly revised the Accent, Kia has updated the Rio, Honda has just introduced
the Fit, and Nissan will introduce the Versa in May of this year. And let’s not forget
Scion with the xA and xB.

Having a car in the sub-compact market makes sense for a variety of reasons. First,
it introduces new, young buyers to the brand. If their experience is good they’ll stick
with the brand as they grow up and move to a larger vehicle. Toyota, Honda,
Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Volkswagen, Mazda and others all got their start in the sub-
compact car market. Secondly, it provides a safety net during economic downturns.
If gas prices rise unexpectedly, the knee-jerk reaction is to get a small, more fuel-
efficient vehicle. And these cars are fuel-efficient. The new Honda Fit for example,
gets an estimated 33 miles per gallon in the city, 38 mpg on the highway.

But these are no one-show ponies. Beyond fuel efficiency they offer respectable
performance. The Toyota Yaris has 106 horsepower which may not sound like
much, but tipping the scales at only 2315 lbs, it has a power-to-weight ratio close
to that of the 220 horsepower Hummer H3. And these cars can carry just about
anything. With the rear seats up, the Honda Fit can swallow 21.3 cubic feet of gear.
A Ford Crown Victoria by comparison can hold 20.6 cubic feet worth of cargo in the
trunk.

The domestics haven’t invested much in this class recently, if ever. The Chevrolet
Aveo is essentially a re-badged Daewoo and doesn’t offer the level of refinement as
the others. The Ford Focus is larger and more expensive, as is the new for ’06
Dodge Caliber. But with the uncertainty of gas prices and growing competition in
the segment, GM, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler would be wise to offer competitive
offering in this segment and introduce first time buyers to their respective brands.
For most manufacturers, having competitive sub-compact cars has grown the
business and created brand loyalty, something the folks in Detroit have been trying
to do for a while now.

 

Cold Air Intake: Improve the Fuel and Engine Efficiency of Your Car!

An automobile has many essential parts which are required for their proper functioning. A Cold Air Intake is one of these. This very important device is used for bringing down the temperature in a vehicle when it gets heated up when driven for long time. The vehicle is then cooled up by letting in low temperature air inside the car’s internal combustion engine. This helps in increasing power as well as of the fuel and engine, thus making the car more efficient as a whole.

A cold air intake helps in reducing the air resistance by smoothing the interior of the engine. It also provides a direct route to air while shortening the length of intake. With the use of a less restrictive air filter increases the airflow capacity.

A cold air intake has certain advantages, which include enhancing the efficiency of the engine, while providing efficiency of fuel as well, thus giving fuel economy. It draws greater volume of air. This is cooler, thus providing more oxygen for combustion. When cooler, oxygen rich air is provided to the engine, the combustion of fuel is more efficient. There is proper mixture of air with the fuel, since the right amount of air is mixed with fuel. This enhances fuel efficiency, and utilization of fuel increases. There is smoother combustion of fuel and air in the engine, and therefore, more power or torque is provided by the engine. Another feature of cold air intake is that it improves the throttle response and fuel efficiency of the car. As it enables intake of cooler air, which is denser, more amount of air is available to the engine. Thus, fuel economy is improved, saving costs along with.

Though it has disadvantages also. The intake system may allow water to enter along with air when the vehicle is driven on flooded or water filled roads. This may cause hydro lock also. This system can increase the amount of noise produced by the engine.

Cold air intake systems are available in the market in many materials. These include plastic, metal, rubber as well as other materials, like fiberglass, carbon fiber etc. One thing that should be taken care of in a cold air intake is that its opening for air should be large enough to allow entry of sufficient air in the engine. This facilitative proper functioning of the intake system, enabling better working of engine which in turn enhances fuel efficiency and the efficiency of the vehicle as well.

 

Fuel Efficient Sedans For The 2007 Model Year

The American motoring public has always been fond of bigger cars, but with the sudden increase on the prices of gas, a lot have turned their back on gas guzzling machines. Add to that the increasing awareness for environmental protection. These facts made American car buyers look away from the usual and focus their sights on fuel efficient cars.

The most popular body style is the sedan not surprisingly. And the reason behind this is that the fuel efficiency of sedans is better than larger cars. Throughout the automobile era, the sedan has been the favorite of the majority of motorists.

Sedans are further divided into different sizes. Compact sedans are those like the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla. Mid-size sedans are like the Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, and the Toyota Camry. There are also large sedans and the Lincoln Town Car is one example and so is the Ford Crown Victoria. Today, the most famous of all the sizes are the mid-size sedans.

The popularity of midsize sedans can be seen in the sales of the Accord, the Camry, and the Fusion. All of those models have racked up large sales figures. Although the popularity of these cars cannot be denied, car buyers not only look at a car’s popularity when buying one. The recent trend exhibited by car buyers is to look at the gas mileage rating of a car.

In order to help car buyers look for the most fuel efficient sedan, The Auto Channel has presented the most fuel efficient sedan released for the 2007 model year. The top ten fuel efficient cars comes from only two car makers and both of them are Asian brands.

Not surprisingly, the top spot is occupied by a hybrid electric vehicle. The 2007 Toyota Prius 4-door liftback is the most efficient sedan for the model year. It can run for 55 miles on one gallon of gasoline.

Taking the second spot is also a Toyota Prius – this time, the Touring version. The Toyota Prius Touring also registered a gas mileage rating of 55 miles per gallon. The fact that the Toyota Prius occupies the top spot is not surprising since hybrid vehicles are known to be very efficient in their fuel consumption.

Taking the third spot is another Toyota model – this time a midsize sedan that is the Toyota Camry hybrid 4-door sedan. The Camry hybrid has a gas mileage rating of 39 miles per gallon.

Another Toyota model follows the four Toyota models at the top of the list. The Toyota Yaris sedan has a gas mileage rating of 37 miles per gallon and this is good enough to make the sedan the fourth most fuel-efficient vehicle for the 2007 model year.

Rounding up the top five most fuel efficient sedan is the S variant of the Toyota Yaris sedan with a gas mileage rating of 37 miles per gallon.

The next five vehicles on the list came from Toyota and Honda. This shows that the Asian brands are putting stress on the fact that they are dedicated in producing eco-friendly cars. With the help of their line up of green cars, these car manufacturers’ hopes to stop global warming as efficient as EBC brake pads in stopping a car.

The sixth most fuel efficient car for the 2007 model year is the Toyota Corolla CE with a 36 mpg rating. The Toyota Corolla S and CE versions are also on the same level with the same mpg rating.

After Toyota took control of the first eight spots on the list, Honda makes it to the list with the Honda Fit five-speed manual transmission variant is the ninth most fuel efficient sedan of all the sedan released for the 2007 model year with a gas mileage rating of 35 miles per gallon. The Honda Fit Sport equipped with a five-speed manual transmission also has a gas mileage rating of 35 miles per gallon.

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