Do some math before trading in SUV

Local car dealers say there are many like Predmore looking to trade in their lower gas mileage vehicles once unleaded fuel prices starting setting records. Demand for trucks and sport utility vehicles - as well as their market value - has decreased significantly due to rising gas prices, they say.

"SUVs and full-size trucks are flooding the market and driving prices down," said Chris Lewis, the finance manager at Bob's Auto Market. "Though there are a few people buying SUVs and trucks, there are not many as compared to a few years ago."

Steve Stevens, owner of Stevens Auto Sales agrees, but advises people to do some math before they rush out to trade in the gas guzzler for the gas sipper.

"On average, the value of SUVs and full-size trucks has dropped $3,000 - that will buy a lot of gas for a long time for the average person," Stevens said.




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Hyundai's little diesel delight

Hyundai will face interesting times over the coming months as Toyota leads the Japanese into the diesel segment of the new passenger-car market. It's a niche that Hyundai has performed strongly in over recent years, carving out a solid foothold alongside the Europeans that have been playing the diesel game for a decade or more.

Toyota is leading off this month with a diesel Corolla range, which will pitch in as a direct rival to the Hyundai i30 CRDi that is the subject of this test. It is just as well for Hyundai, then, that the i30 is - when judged against top-in-class standards - the Korean company's best vehicle yet.

Starting with the outside, it is possessed of cohesive good looks that are distinctive yet not too quirky. Visual parallels have been drawn with BMW's 1-series, in part because both vehicles use a sloping rear roofline to create a coupe-like look.


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America's love affair fades as the car becomes burden of suburbia

Sales of big cars are plummeting while smaller vehicles, especially fuel-efficient hybrids, are replacing them.

GM has now closed SUV production at four plants. Its Hummer brand is up for sale, or might even be closed. GM is ploughing huge resources into its 2010 launch of the Chevy Volt, a hybrid car that may get up to 150 miles a gallon. It needs to. GM's share price recently hit a 54-year low, prompting one top investment bank to warn that the firm could go bankrupt.

The Volt, and cars like it, could become symbols of a new more conservation-minded car age. As Americans enjoyed the 4 July holiday weekend, increasing numbers of them were staying at home rather than hitting the road. Newspapers were full of tips for 'stay-cations', not weekend breaks away. Customs once scorned, such as car pooling and cutting out trips to the mall, are now commonplace.



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Honda and Porsche have a certain APEAL

The collated facts make up the Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) study.

Now in its 13th year, the 2008 APEAL findings show a significant decrease in ‘owner delight', with fuel economy accounting for 50% of this drop. On a 1,000-point scale, an average APEAL score is 770, a decline of 2% since last year. Considering fuel prices went up by 27% over the same period, car manufacturers seem to be doing a good job of easing the pain.

They're accomplishing this with toys. Only in the audio, entertainment and navigation category have scores improved. “Manufacturers are working to increase customer delight by introducing entertainment and navigation technology that owners find particularly appealing," says David Sargent, VP of automotive research at JDPA.



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Car cheap insurance

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Land Rover LR2: For the power-hungry people

The car is focused on the power-hungry car lovers thus comes with a powerful engine and stylish design. Being the replacement of Freelander, the LR2 is called Freelander in other markets. The car is competent enough with high end compact SUVs' like the Acura RDX or BMW X3. The car was first showcased in the Paris auto show in September 2007. The car is built of the Ford C1 platform. Longer wheelbase, increased interior space, upgraded engine, dust, mud, and water resistance, off road features... LR2 has got a good number of features to boast upon. LR2 is powered by the new 3.2-liter inline six-cylinder engine which is upgraded for off-road use to resist dust, mud, and water. The six cylinder engine generates 230 horsepower and 234 pound-feet of torque. The twin-cam 24-valve engine has variable valve timing as well as a multistage intake system.



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What the Newspaper Industry Could Learn from GM About Do or Die

Toyota was talking about a few hundred experimental cars in a controlled setting, not tens of thousands of cars in dealer showrooms, a much less ambitious goal than GM’s. But Toyota is famous for under-promising and over-delivering.

In February, Tesla, the Silicon Valley company, announced plans for an electric sedan with a gasoline-powered generator, like the Volt—but set to arrive a year earlier, in late 2009. In March, BMW said it might produce an electric car for the U.S. market, and in May, Nissan said it would have one in test fleets in 2010. The drumbeat seems likely to continue. Simply by announcing the Volt, GM has attracted a bevy of competitors, bringing the electric car’s mass-market advent from over the horizon to around the corner.

A bold new vision won’t immediately turn the economic tide, but it could turn the tide of defeatism.



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