Archive for November, 2009
Pickup Trucks 101: A Guide to Snow Plows
Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by admin.
By Thom Blackett
Picture it: Wind blustering, strobes flashing, the sounds of whining hydraulics and steel dragging against asphalt. It may not seem like much to most folks, but for an adolescent car nut during a Maine winter, that scene was like Norman Rockwell comfort food. The plowman’s late-night arrival meant there was already enough white stuff on the ground to possibly shut down school in the morning or, at the very least, provide some fresh powder to play in. The rumble of that ’78 Chevy’s Cherry Bombs blasting out 350 cubic-inches of power as it bulldozed its way down the driveway was well worth a few minutes of lost sleep.
Thirty years later, the kid has grown up, and now sees plow trucks from a more mature perspective. Sure, in some respects they’re still big toys, but now they’re big toys associated with big dollars, both spent and earned. And, like trucks, snowplow technology has advanced significantly over the years, providing lots of value, convenience and capability, yet serving up an equal number of questions on different types of plows, features and options to be aware of, pricing, and a few examples of models designed for different trucks and needs. Let’s dig in.
Snow Plows Basics
There’s a lot that goes into a snowplow, but the most obvious part is the blade. Finished in shiny stainless steel or painted any variety of colors, blades are either straight or V-shaped, the latter featuring a pivot point in the middle that helps direct the snow. Buyers can opt for extendable blades, ordered directly from the factory or created by hooking up so-called “wing” accessories.
Fisher’s fancy XLS blade features two adjustable wings on the left and right edges that can be reconfigured on-the-fly as a 9-foot scoop (shown) or fully extended into a 10-foot straight blade. The blade can also pivot left or right to push plowed snow to the side of the truck.
Regardless of the design, the plow blade will be made of steel or polyethylene (poly). The latter is lighter, but steel’s added weight provides greater downward force and does a more thorough job of clearing snow. Unfortunately, you may occasionally run into hidden, immovable objects in the process, so most plows are built with full trip or edge trip mechanisms that pivot in the direction of an obstacle strike while keeping the rest of the blade upright, allowing you to keep moving without feeling as though you’d driven into a brick wall or the loss of your load. Plow blades range from about six-and-a-half to 10 feet wide, and weigh between a couple hundred to more than 1,000 pounds. That kind of weight will dictate which setup is suitable for your truck.
Typically, a plow is attached to a truck with brackets or a two-inch hitch receiver. There are also rear-mount plows available that connect via the same hitch receiver many truckers have installed for trailers. Unlike the old days, when drivers faced the difficult task of mounting and removing heavy, rusting blades before and after snowstorms (or suffered added wear and a loss in fuel economy by leaving them on between storms), today’s plow guy or gal can take advantage of the manufacturers’ quick mount-and-release systems. This technology gets the job done in seconds, and with relatively little physical stress.
Adding to the convenience are controllers that can be used from inside the cab. Handheld and joystick styles are available. Handheld units can be moved or stored when not in use, whereas joysticks are usually mounted directly onto the dashboard. In all but the most basic snow plow assemblies, controllers allow drivers to move the blade up and down, and angle the blade from side to side.
In terms of cost, there’s a lot to consider, including the plow, installation costs, accessories, and upgrades that your truck may require. Many pickups are available with snowplow prep packages that beef up the front end with stiffer suspension parts and add necessary wiring as well as oil and transmission coolers, but your truck likely didn’t come with this equipment. Consider these items to be solid investments, especially if you’ll be opting for a heavier plow that will get lots of use. The larger blades, designed for heavy-duty commercial applications, can climb well over $5,000, while basic home/personal use options start under $2,000. However, keep in mind that the spending doesn’t stop with the initial purchase, as your new plow will require periodic maintenance, and even with upgraded equipment, your truck’s chassis, powertrain and drivetrain will be put under additional stress.
Snow plows aren’t just for heavy-duty pickups. Check out this tiny Suzuki Carry kei-truck outfitted with a Blackline plow and snow tracks!
Choosing a Snow Plow
How do you actually choose a snow plow that’s right for you? The answer largely depends on what truck you’ll be using. With that question addressed, you can discuss your options with a local dealer or use one of the application guides offered on most manufacturer websites. These will tell you which plow suits your truck based on the gross axle weight rating and other criteria, which mounting hardware you’ll need, and what type of special equipment may be required for your truck. Listed below are a few examples of snow plows that are available for small, light-duty, and heavy-duty pickups.
SnowDogg MD Series
Size: 6’8”-7’6” wide, 24” high
Weight: 380-400 lbs.
Material: Stainless steel
Features: Four trip springs, snow deflector, plow lights, quick mount/release mechanism, handheld controller
Application: Home/personal use with Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Sonoma, Dodge Dakota, Ford Ranger/Explorer Sport Trac, Nissan Frontier, Toyota Tacoma (also suitable for full-size pickups)
Fisher HT Series
Size: 7’6” wide, 27” high
Weight: 414 lbs.
Material: Stainless steel
Features: Two trip springs, plow lights, quick mount/release mechanism, handheld or joystick controller, antitheft system that prevents use of the unattached plow by another truck
Application: Light-duty use with Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra, Dodge Dakota, Dodge Ram, Ford F-150, Nissan Titan, Toyota Tundra (also suitable for heavy-duty pickups)
Western Pro Plus
Size: 7’-9’ wide, 31.5” high
Weight: 789-837 lbs.
Material: Steel
Features: Four trip springs, plow lights, quick mount/release mechanism, handheld or joystick controller, antitheft system that prevents use of the unattached plow by another truck
Application: Heavy-duty/commercial use with Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra HD, Dodge Ram Heavy Duty, Ford F-Series Super Duty
After you’ve selected a plow, you’ll want to think about whether to opt for accessories. Drivers doing residential and/or commercial duties will likely be interested in rear-mounted salt and deicer spreaders, not to mention overhead light bars, rear flood lights, and bed-mounted ballast options. Folks who are focused on little more than clearing their own driveways may be interested in those items too, or perhaps just some blade guides and maybe a snow deflector.
Boss snow plows are very popular. This rear view shows the heavy bracing and mount system required to support the plow as it works and secure it to a truck.
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2011 Audi A8: First Look
Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by admin.
- Competes with: BMW 7 Series, Mercedes-Benz S Class
- Looks like: A luxury car fit for a movie set in the not too distant future
- Drivetrain: 372 hp 4.2-liter V-8 with eight speed transmission, all-wheel drive
- Hits dealerships: Late 2010
Audi dropped the veil on its all-new flagship sedan the 2011 A8 today in Miami. The new sedan tops the brand’s range and looks to be solid competition for the recently redesigned BMW 7 Series and the slightly aging Mercedes-Benz S-Class. It definitely stands out in the design department with an over-exaggerated chrome grille, huge LED headlights and a back end fitting of Blade Runner.
The A8 here is the standard model, a long wheel base model will also be available when the two go on sale late in 2010. However, the standard A8 is 202 inches long, just two inches shy of the outgoing long-wheel base edition. There’s no telling how big the stretched 2011 will get. The good news is that while Audi won’t give out official weight figures, the larger 2011 will weigh virtually the same as the 2010 and less than the competition.
Audi has been a pioneer in using LED lighting around headlights as either daytime running lights or as accent lights. The A8’s entire headlight structure is made up of LEDs and the design looks a bit too wild for anything that will be heading to the country club.
Underneath the design is a revised all-aluminum chassis, which the company says is 25% more rigid than the 2010 model.
Moving all that new sheetmetal and aluminum underpinnings is a more powerful version of the V-8 from the current A8. It’ll put out 372 hp and 328 lb.-ft of torque, mild improvements from the 350 hp and 325 lb. ft of the 2010. A new eight-speed automatic transmission is teamed to standard all-wheel drive. That gets the A8 to 62 mph n 5.7 seconds while returning 15% better fuel economy. However, those numbers are to be determined.
An adjustable suspension system is standard and allows for four different settings: Dynamic, Comfort, Auto, Individual.
Audi’s multimedia interface that controls navigation, air conditioning, audio and other functions gets an upgrade and can now recognize handwriting in various languages. It rests above the shifter, which Audi categorizes as “yacht” like.
One of our favorite features of the old A8 was its optional Bang & Olufson sound system. That $8,000 option had 1000 watts and some nifty pop-up tweeters. The new system has 19 speakers and 1400 watts. Clearly more is better with this A8. If you don’t opt for the upgrade you’re stuck with a Bose surround system as standard equipment.
There’s also an array of standard and optional safety features that are becoming more common among cars in this class. A pre-collision system is teamed with adaptive cruise control and there is also lane departure warning and blind spot detection.
The 2011 A8 and its long-wheel base variant will likely ring in at least as much as the outgoing 2010’s starting price of
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Florida’s Deadly Hit-and-Run Problem
Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by admin.
At 490 pedestrian deaths last year, Florida ranks as the top state for pedestrian-vehicle collisions, according to Transportation for America, a nonprofit safety organization. Southern Florida frequently has the most hit-and-run fatalities.
Florida also has the four most dangerous metropolitan areas in the nation. Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville beat out other sprawl-happy cities like Atlanta and Houston.
Pedestrian deaths remain a major public safety problem in the U.S., with 400 people struck and killed by cars each month and 76,000 pedestrians killed since 1994.
The TFA says the culprit lies with thoughtless urban and suburban sprawl that puts an emphasis on roadways at the expense of sidewalks, bike lanes and public transit. The study points out that 1.5% of federal transportation safety spending goes to projects like sidewalks that benefit pedestrians, yet pedestrians and cyclists account for 13% of U.S. traffic deaths.
The study suggests that states like Florida should focus on building “complete streets” with sidewalks and bike lanes included in the design. States should also invest in public transportation that takes cars off the road and offers pedestrians a safer way to get around their cities. Florida, according to the study, is notorious for its lack of public transportation.
Florida’s Deadly Hit-and-Run Car Culture (Time)
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Ford Ready to Start 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 Diesel Production
Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by admin.
Ford is ready to start production at the facility where the new 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 diesel engine for the 2011 F-Series Super Duty pickups will be manufactured. The ceremony was held at Ford’s Engine Plant II in Chihuahua, Mexico. Mexican president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa and Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of global marketing and Canada, Mexico and South America operations were on hand.
“We are proud and honored to add the production of Power Stroke diesel V-8 turbo-charged to our production line,” said Enrique Araiza, Manager of Engine Plant II in Chihuahua. “For a long time in the truck segment, we’ve been leaders in sales in markets like the U.S. and Mexico. This has given us the experience and knowledge of the needs of our customers. For these reasons, we can ensure that today we are launching the most advanced engine in the industry for these trucks.”
The 6.7-liter PSD V-8 is Ford’s first in-house designed and built diesel engine for its F-Series trucks. It uses a new architecture that reverses the air flow when compared to a conventional diesel engine, with the exhaust exiting directly into the engine’s turbo that sits in the engine’s valley, mounted between V-style cylinder banks.
The 6.7-liter V-8 isn’t the only diesel engine that Ford will produce at Engine Plant II. A light-duty 4.4-liter V-8 diesel that was going to be available for the Ford F-150 but has since been shelved will be built there starting next summer for export to Europe for use in Land Rover’s SUVs.
Annual production capacity at Engine Plant II is expected to be about 200,000 engines.
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Kia’s New Sedan Debuts in Saudi Arabia
Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by admin.
Dubbed the Cadenza, Kia’s future sedan, which replaces the Amanti in the U.S. in late 2010 as a 2011 model, will debut at the Riyadh Motor Show in Saudi Arabia next month.
In the video above, which is not available in English, you can see the sedan in all its glory during a more than 3-minute-long mini-movie that shows off some of its optional features and a rather attractive design. Kia went so far as to hire the former head of Audi’s design to give it its slick look.
Whatever the new sedan is called in the U.S. — probably not Cadenza — it will have a front-wheel-drive platform with a likely 290-horsepower V-6 engine and six-speed automatic. The U.S. version will probably debut at a future auto show like Detroit, Chicago or New York but not this week’s L.A. Auto Show.
Kia Cadenza Will Make Debut in Saudi Arabia (Wheels Blog)
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Research Ties Gas Fumes to Aggressive Behavior
Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by admin.
Could breathing gasoline fumes actually contribute to road rage?
That’s the hypothesis Cairo University’s Amal Kinawy tested when she exposed lab rats to gas fumes. Kinawy found that rats who breathed in the fumes showed signs of heightened aggression and anxiety compared to the control group. Their brains even experienced changes in the neurotransmitters in the hypothalamus, hippocampus and cerebellum.
When exposed to untreated peers, the rats increased their teeth chatter, arched their backs more and bit fellow rats — all signs of increased aggression.
Could fumes have the same affect on humans? Kinawy thinks it’s possible.
In her study, which was published by the online journal BMC Physiology, she says, “Heightened aggression may be yet another risk for the human population chronically exposed to urban air polluted by automobile smoke. Millions of people every day are exposed to gasoline fumes while refueling their cars.”
Gasoline Fumes May Fuel Road Rage (Autopia)
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Review: Cadillac CTS Sportwagon AWD
Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by admin.
There was, back in the 70s, a Saturday morning cartoon in which the heroes could push a button on the dashboard of their van and turn it into a fire truck or dune buggy or stretch limo – whatever they needed. They don’t’ really make this vehicle. I know because I’ve looked. [...]
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2011 Chevy Cruze at 2009 L.A. Auto Show
Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by admin.
- Competes with: Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla
- Looks like: A stylish compact with a Chevy logo
- Drivetrain: 136-hp, 1.8-liter four-cylinder or 138-hp, turbo 1.4-liter four-cylinder with six-speed manual or automatic transmission
- Hits dealerships: Fall 2010
Chevy announced its new Cruze compact car nearly a year ago, and it’s been on sale overseas for months now. We’re getting the first official specs and equipment information from GM on the U.S. version, which will go on sale in the third quarter of next year.
The most interesting tidbit is the choice of engines. The base LS model will come with a standard 1.8-liter four-cylinder teamed to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic. The more significant powertrain is a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder in the uplevel LT and LTZ trim levels. It’ll put out 138 horsepower and 146 pounds-feet of torque; when equipped with a special fuel-efficiency package, it should achieve 40 mpg on the highway.
Details on the efficiency package haven’t been released yet, but we’d guess it would include low-rolling-resistance tires.
GM is also touting other specs — namely that the Cruze will best the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic in overall passenger volume and luggage volume, which it does. Its 15 cubic feet of trunk space also nudges out the new Kia Forte. It also bests the competitors in rear legroom. In most other dimensions, the Cruze is on par with the rest of the class.
Standard features on all models include 10 airbags, stability control, six-speaker stereo with MP3 jack. Optional USB and iPod integration is available in an upgraded sound system. Bluetooth, leather interior, heated seats and navigation will also be offered.
We’ll learn more about the Cruze’s fuel mileage and pricing later this week at the L.A. Auto Show.
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2011 Ford Mustang: 305 hp V-6, 30 mpg
Posted on 29. Nov, 2009 by admin.
- Competes with: Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger, Hyundai Genesis Coupe
- Looks like: It’s the same car as last year’s redesign; everything new is under the hood
- Drivetrain: 305 hp V-6 with six-speed manual or automatic transmission
- Hits dealerships: Spring 2010
Wait a second, didn’t the Mustang get redesigned for 2010? What’s going on here? Well, Ford may have tweaked the exterior of the Mustang but for 2011 it’s tackling the guts of the famed muscle car to better compete with Chevy’s new Camaro. To do that, Ford is starting with the base V-6 model and dropping in an all-new, all aluminum V-6 with variable valve timing that not only puts out 305 hp but that also gets 30 mpg highway.
That bests the Camaro’s impressive 304 hop and 29 mpg figures, albeit barely.
Also impressive is that the 2010 Mustang GT and its V-8 engine — which won a Cars.com faceoff against the Camaro SS and Dodge Challenger RT — puts out 315 hp.
We’d expect a later announcement about a new GT powertrain sometime in the near future. What about the rest of the base model’s changes for 2011?
There’s also a new six-speed manual standard and six-speed automatic transmission optional. The auto will get an estimated 19 mpg city and 30 mpg highway while the manual will get 18/29 mpg.
Steering is now electric, replacing a hydraulic set-up, and suspension parts have been revised for a smoother ride and better handling. There is also a standard limited-slip differential and larger brakes.
Inside the gauge cluster gets a slightly new look and there is new sound-deadening material to lessen the notoriously loud road noise levels of the previous model.
A Performance Package will be available in August 2010 and it comes with a firmer suspension borrowed from the current GT model, 19-inch wheels, summer performance tires, strut tower brace and a sport mode integrated into the stability control system.
We expect pricing to remain similar to the current model and it should be released closer to the car’s on-sale date in spring of next year.
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Could In-Car Warning Systems Make Teens Safer Drivers?
Posted on 25. Nov, 2009 by admin.
A warning system can help make teen drivers safer, according to a trial program in Staffordshire County, United Kingdom. The County Council installed in-vehicle data recorders in the vehicles of 50 local teen drivers in March 2008 and studied them for six months.
The IVDRs, manufactured by GreenRoad of San Francisco, are normally used by truck drivers to help them learn safer driving practices and increase fuel efficiency. The IVDR keeps an eye on overly sharp turns, heavy acceleration, hard braking and quick lane changes. In this study, a warning system with red, yellow and green lights on a dashboard-mounted box was turned on midway through the trial. At that point, students received indications on how well they were driving.
After analyzing data from 18,000 trips, researchers found that the number of unsafe driving incidents fell by half after the warning lights were turned on.
It’s possible that insurance companies could charge lower premiums for teenage drivers who had such a system installed in their cars, according to Israeli safety researchers who studied the data.
Spy-in-the-Cab Could Improve Teenage Driving (New Scientist)
