Archive for January, 2010
Recall Alert: 2006-2009 Hyundai Azera
Posted on 04. Jan, 2010 by admin.
Hyundai has issued a recall for 65,226 Azera vehicles from the 2006-2009 model years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The recall affects Azera vehicles manufactured between Sept. 27, 2005, and Oct. 1, 2008. These models have a wiring harness for the right front seat belt tension sensor that could become damaged after repeated use of the seat belt. This could lead to the airbag failing to deploy during an accident. The right front passenger is at a much greater risk of injury without a functioning airbag.
Dealers will repair or replace the wiring harness for the seat belt tension sensor free of charge. Owners can contact Hyundai at 800-633-5151 or the NHTSA vehicle safety hot line at 888-327-4236.
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Cars.com Names 10 Cars That Could Save Detroit
Posted on 04. Jan, 2010 by admin.
As the 2010 Detroit auto show approaches, we take a look at 10 current or future models from the Detroit Three that could put them back on top or, in some cases, make them competitive.
Besides listing the models we think are standouts, we also mention what each of the three automakers is still missing.
10 Cars That Could Save Detroit
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Cars.com Reviews the 2010 Suzuki Kizashi
Posted on 04. Jan, 2010 by admin.
Already crammed with popular vehicles like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, the midsize family-sedan segment sees a newcomer in the 2010 Suzuki Kizashi. What angle will Suzuki use to crack into the market? The Kizashi’s bargain-basement starting price is a good place to begin. Cars.com reviewer Joe Wiesenfelder investigates if there’s anything more to recommend the Kizashi.
2010 Suzuki Kizashi Review
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Unofficial Long-Term Test Car: 2010 Subaru Outback
Posted on 04. Jan, 2010 by admin.
As automotive journalists, we sometimes hear from a reader or blog commenter who says, “If you like it so much, why don’t you buy one?” Well, last week my wife and I picked up a new 2010 Subaru Outback, in the exact same color as the one I tested back in the fall.
We didn’t go for the leather, nav and moonroof studded 2.5 Limited trim but instead opted for the 2.5 Premium with All-Weather Package. We need those heated seats, especially when it’s 10 degrees out like today.
I’ll detail more about the purchase and what I like about the new car versus the 2008 Outback we traded in, as the week goes on. If you have specific questions ask them in the comments below.
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Used Car Prices Could Drop in 2010
Posted on 04. Jan, 2010 by admin.
Used car prices went up every month in 2009, fueled by a decrease in trade-ins and lower inventories from Cash for Clunkers. Analysts believe prices will start to level off in 2010 as new car sales increase at an expected rate of 15%.
While it is good news, these same analysts say it will take several years before supply returns to the levels of the previous decade.
Soaring Used Car Prices Poised to Level Off in 2010 (USA Today)
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On a Date With the 2010 Honda Insight
Posted on 04. Jan, 2010 by admin.
Believe it or not, discussing hybrid drivetrains on a date is not the sure-fire small-talk charmfest you might think it is. It’s actually the conversational equivalent of the-arm-over-the-shoulder move while watching a movie: awkward, cumbersome and immediately regretted 20 seconds later.
But that’s where I found myself, putting the Honda Insight through its paces in the real world, which has no numerical metric. Let’s face it, young people make for finicky car buyers, and it’s not just because the majority of us don’t have any real money yet. If you have to buy a car on a limited income, and you’re, say, a young single male, having a car that speaks to the opposite sex is a bonus. You really don’t want to have to pick up a date in a Toyota Echo (for my money, the least sexually appealing car ever built).
When examining a good, budget-conscious date car, it’s definitely worth taking a look at hybrids like the 2010 Honda Insight.
What struck me most about driving the Insight was that after jockeying all over Chicago for a weekend, I’d barely managed to move the gas gauge. The Insight can accelerate on electric power alone up to 30 mph (50 mph if going downhill).
In a city like Chicago, where traffic rarely allows you to top 35 mph, this is a good deal. With gas well under $3, the savings won’t put a dent in a night out, either.
And hybrids are not yet thought of as “cool” cars. Around the Cars.com office, just mentioning that I took a woman on a date in the Honda Insight to the likes of Mays, Bruzer, Merritt, Thomas, et al., merited the kind of derision my friends lobbed at me in sixth grade when I needed my dad to get me and a girl into an R-rated movie.
Yet it turns out young women are less interested in what you drive than ever before if a certain J.D. Power and Associates study is to be believed. This was certainly the case with my date, who — when I pressed her on what she thought of a guy who drives a hybrid — simply said, “I like it. It’s zippy, it’s got a cool dashboard… It does add to your dork factor a little, though.”
That may be the nicest thing a woman has ever said to me.
Then I explained how after several days of driving I’d barely used any gas, and this impressed her a bit more. After all, those savings were presumably going straight to her movie ticket.
Basically, when you buy a hybrid, you’re simply asking for certain associations. The distinct aerodynamic shape of the Insight or Toyota Prius, for instance, marks it from a distance. If you’re young and buy a hybrid, you’re making a political and lifestyle statement whether you mean to or not. In our rapidly greening culture, I think there is a growing contingent of single women who will actually be impressed by an eco-conscious choice. Or as my friend put it, “You know what they say about guys with large carbon footprints…”
Hybrids may not be cool per se, but they do carry a growing cultural sway that’s likely to advance in the Obama era. And if the Insight’s mad fuel efficiency (an EPA-estimated 40/43 mpg city/highway) helps get you a second date, you’ve got yourself a win-win regardless of the “dork factor.”
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Reader Review of the Week: 2010 Jeep Patriot
Posted on 04. Jan, 2010 by admin.
“Jeepy Time” from Minnesota traded in a Grand Cherokee for a 2010 Jeep Patriot and thinks that Jeep made a number of improvements. The things he didn’t care about the in Grand Cherokee were largely remedied by the new Patriot. Read Jeepy Time’s full review of the Patriot to find out if this SUV interests you. Then write a review of your own vehicle by visiting our Reader Review page here.
“I have owned this vehicle for about a month-and-a-half now and love it. It does well in the snow (4X4) and handles better than one would assume on winding roads. I like the interior, which every on-line expert review dislikes. I have test driven Audis that have cheaper looking interiors, but they always win awards for theirs.
“The features are nice, including the 115 volt outlet, LED flashlight, good storage and comfortable seats. It has 60/40 folding rear seats, and the folding front passenger seat is also handy. The CVT takes some getting used to, but I like it. I traded in my Cherokee for this Patriot, and it's like they improved the things I did not like about the Cherokee. It has better handling, ride, interior, no more rear wheel drive and more rear passenger room. I remember being embarrassed every time a passenger had to climb in to the rear seats because it was almost impossible to get in and out of, especially for an older or larger person.
“I also have the Boston Acoustics sound system which is very good but plan on changing to an aftermarket stereo. I recommend this vehicle if you want something with a nice city ride with good MPG that can also be taken off-road. Great features are available, and it’s also a very safe vehicle.”
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Road Test Review: 2010 Hummer H3T
Posted on 03. Jan, 2010 by admin.
Photos and words by Ben Wojdyla for PickupTrucks.com
It was 7 degrees out when our 2010 Hummer H3T broke through the inch-thick ice crust hiding deep mudholes at AM General's Hummer driving school. It’s not weather for man or beast or unjustly vilified pickup truck, but the H3T plodded on, barely scraping the truck's hitch. It's this kind of all-terrain, all-condition capability that the Hummer brand sells its products on — but is the H3T any good battling the sprawling vistas of mall parking lots and home improvement battlefields? Is the H3T good as a truck?
The Hummer H3T might have had the least serendipitous introduction timing of any truck. Ever. In the early 2000s, anything with a Hummer badge was the must-have rig of suburban parents with modest broods eager to park a tough truck in the driveway instead of a minivan. Nothing like these trucks and their unabashedly bold looks had been seen before. Then Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth” came out, the green movement took hold, and nearly overnight Hummer's favorable image with buyers shattered almost as easily as the early winter ice. Hummer became a pariah. Fate, she is a cruel mistress.
The H3T is a product so anchored to the perceived sins of its fathers — the H2, H2 SUT and, to a lesser extent, the military-grade H1 — as to make it difficult to consider buying anything with the Hummer seven-slot grille. Off-roaders call it a too-long wannabe; pickup buyers imagine it as a dolled-up Chevy Colorado; and folks high on hybrids think it's the devil. In reality, it's none of those things.
Our H3T tester was an Alpha model, decked out with all the trimmings. Its 300-hp, 5.3-liter V-8 delivered propulsion with 320 pounds-feet of torque, while the Hydra-Matic 4L60 four-speed automatic transmitted that power to the wheels through full-time four-wheel-drive. Front and rear locking differentials and high and low transfer case selections are made at the push of a button, so you never have to get your shoes dirty. Wheels are beefy 33-inch tires and sit in front of four-wheel disc brakes. The front independent, rear solid axle setup makes for interesting compromises to both on- and off-roading. The truck uses a modified version of the platform underpinning the Colorado and Canyon midsize pickup twins, with four passengers comfortably riding in the cabin, five in a pinch.
Hopping into the cabin you're greeted by the H3T Alpha's comfortable leather chairs, which are bolstered and supportive enough to burn hours of seat time on the highway and off-road without complaint. The rear seats are just as nice, with plenty of legroom, although the gun-slit windows and deep tint bring a certain morose atmosphere to the rear. Instrumentation comes via clear, legible gauges, which, aside from providing engine and wheel speed and temperature, don't do much other informing. The low-mounted nav screen has all the expected modern features — navigation, satellite and terrestrial radio, etc. but it feels like something of an afterthought. If you happen to have a Y chromosome, good luck getting any of the physical buttons to function under your meaty fingers, however the touch-screen works fine, though the graphical interface is somewhat lacking.
Piloting the Hummer H3T is something of an enigma. It's a bit ponderous in that up front, the view is excellent; You know exactly where the corners are and never question whether the truck will fit through an opening. Backing up, however, is a little more harrowing. Merging lanes, especially to the right side, is an act of faith. The combination of narrow windows, a freakishly high bed line and the rear passenger headrest all combine to make deciding to merge more akin to using a divining rod than defensive driving practice. Other aspects of visibility were never as disconcerting.
Hauling can be an interesting proposition. The H3T is something of a lightweight when it comes to payload, rated at only 1,031 pounds. That's on par with small trucks, though the H3T sits between midsize and full-size in scale and price. Importantly, you can't comfortably fit a 4-by-8 sheet of anything delicate in the bed. We picked up a sheet of three-quarter-inch MDF board and had to sit it inside the passenger side wheel well then remove the slick-operating sliding tie downs from the bed rail system, then awkwardly lay it down at an angle against the bed wall. The 5-foot bed and tailgate wasn't quite enough to comfortably accommodate it, but it did get the piece home, though a bit nicked. Another inch or two between the wheel arches and things would have been just fine, but not so. Since this was the case, the tie downs in the bed and along the rail were quite useful. Look skeptically at Hummer's marketing because tossing a quad or a dirt bike in the back is near fantasy with an amazingly high lift over height and no bumper steps to get up there. We had to vault ourselves using the tire to step up into the bed.
We didn't test its towing prowess, but the H3T Alpha carries a 1,500-pound pulling capacity over the regular T with a five-cylinder engine, clocking in at a respectable 5,900 pounds.
The H3T's ride isn't anything to write home about. It reminds me of the Colorado with a bit more truckish flavor, as a result of its heavier suspension, differentials and bigger tires. We can appreciate that. As one might expect of a vehicle seemingly shaped in a brickyard, high crosswinds challenge the H3T's slab-sided profile, blowing the truck all over the place. Huge anti-roll bars mean turn-in is crisp, braking is solid from discs at all four corners, but on-pavement driving isn't really the Hummer's modus operandi. If you're looking for on-road duty alone, the H3T isn't really designed for the day-to-day grind, the place where the Hummer shines is being a truck as well as a stout off-road vehicle.
To put this to the test, we visited the AM General testing facility, home of the Hummer Driving Academy. The school rests on the bones of the old Studebaker testing grounds and heavy truck manufacturing plant. The facility is 320 acres on the edge of South Bend, Ind., and starts students off with classroom training to familiarize owners and military personnel with the specific capabilities of their vehicles.
The students are first taken to an engineered obstacle course to teach them the basics of approach and vehicle control. It has concrete shelves, groomed rock beds and a stunning 60 percent grade that feels a little weird when you climb it for the first time.
When the instructors are happy with the students’ performance, they head for the woods, where there are 18 miles of trails of wildly varying difficulty.
Since it was a painful 7 degrees outside, we decided to avoid the holes designed to get you stuck for winching and towing training, but we certainly put the truck through a challenging December workout.
We drove through thick, slippery, ice-covered bogs, and on more than one occasion we tested the limits of the truck’s 24-inch fording capability and aggressive approach, departure and breakover angles. Despite the courses being designed before the H3T was a glint in GM’s eye, the truck performed exceedingly well on AM General's course, though we admittedly didn't venture into the really, really, nasty stuff. This course, combined with previous experiences, convinced us this is about as good as buyers are going to get for factory stock truck going off-road — certainly for a midsize truck. Sure, the Power Wagon and Raptor will do it bigger or faster, but good luck getting them down the narrower logging roads without replacing mirrors regularly.
The thing about this Hummer — actually, any Hummer — is that its character sucks you in. As a Hummer outsider, you can't help but approach it now with a weird, weirdly preprogrammed sense of reactionary disdain for the wretched excess it represents. But by the end of your first week, you're wearing military surplus parkas and growing your beard out. It's completely incomprehensible. It's as if the truck was infused with testosterone and it influences your persona. It's a weird mix of all the things you remember loving about trucks in childhood, the things you demand out of modern trucks, and the flaws that make truck ownership not for everyone. As a subset, the Hummer H3T isn't for everyone, but it's a reasonable compromise of many characteristics if you want luxury, capacity and serious capability and are willing to live with some flaws. There aren't any others like it.
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Welcome to 2010! Got Urea?
Posted on 01. Jan, 2010 by admin.
Welcome to 2010! We’d like to wish all of our readers a happy and prosperous new year from the entire team at PickupTrucks.com.
Of course, we’d also like to remind you that tough EPA emissions regulations for all new diesel engines take effect today that mandate the reduction of nitrogen oxide levels by 90 percent from 2007 and by 96 percent from 1994.
NOx is a major air pollutant that contributes to smog, asthma, and respiratory and heart diseases. It’s a byproduct of diesel’s high combustion temperatures, which results from the high frictional heat levels created by compressing air in the cylinders to the point where it can ignite diesel fuel without using a spark.
To meet the new clean diesel standards, Ford and GM are using a NOx scrubbing process called urea selective catalytic reduction in their 2011 model year heavy-duty pickup trucks.
The new 2010 Ram Heavy Duty 2500 and 3500 pickup trucks carry over the same urea-free NOx reduction system that debuted in the 2007 Dodge Ram HD pickups though the Ram 3500, 4500 and 5500 cab chassis trucks will use urea SCR.
Urea is the same organic compound found in urine, which has forced drivers (at least most drivers) to pause for bio-breaks ever since the car was invented. It turns out that urea, which is being sold under the more marketable name “Diesel Exhaust Fluid” for about $2.50 a gallon, is also a chemically efficient way to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions produced by diesel engines.
DEF (32.5 percent industrial urea and 67.5 percent deionized water) is held in a separate storage tank and injected as a fine mist into the hot exhaust gases. The heat turns the urea into ammonia that – when combined with a special catalytic converter – breaks down the NOx into harmless nitrogen gas and water vapor.
Far be it from us to question the quality of your urea, but if you suspect an issue with purity there’s at least one tool available to help check it before you pour it in your DEF tank. Atago makes a handheld DEF digital refractometer that can measure the quality of a batch of urea using just a few drops of the fluid. It costs approximately $300.
If you’re looking for DEF, check your local Pilot truck stop for a pump or you can order it online at NAPA auto parts.
For more information about DEF, please read our earlier story.
