Oldest truck in the world

The oldest truck was built by Mercedes Benz on 1st October 1896. It had four hp two-cylinder engine, weight of the complete vehicle: 1,200 kilograms for carrying a load of 1,500 kilograms, invoiced to British Motor Syndicate Ltd. London. Ten years after the invention of the first car, Gottlieb Daimler had built the world´s first truck.

The world´s first truck looked like a horse-drawn cart without a drawbar. The driver was seated on the coach-box ahead of the front axle, out in the open air. Hence the truck was a cab-over-engine unit.

The engine was installed in the rear – a Daimler "Phoenix" two-cylinder engine which developed 4 hp from a displacement of 1.1 litres. Engine power was transmitted to the rear axle by a belt system, a design resembling that of the planetary hub reduction axles introduced decades later.

coolest cars

Since the beginning of the automobile era, people always found a way to be different from the norm. Sometimes, these differences made them stand apart, sometimes they looked weird. Although Monster cars/trucks are different I would not know if they qualify to be cool but there are lot of car which makes the driver cool. Automobile magazine has done extensive research and came out with the 100 coolest cars something to check out in the weekend and be proud of yourself if you are a owner of any of the cars.

Fastest car

Imagine a car that travels over 230 mph and costs in the neighbourhood of $1.2 million and can hit 62 mph in 2.5 seconds and it is not a dream but a reality. The car Veyron manufactured by Bugatti is the world's fastest, most expensive and most exclusive factory-built car. It has short curvy two-seater with massive power. Its 1,001 horsepower engine has four turbochargers. The car's features sound like those on a jet: diffuser flaps, air-intake scoops, a tail wing that acts like an airbrake and 1.7 miles of cable to power onboard electronics. Bugatti, owned by Volkswagen, can only produce one Veyron per week in its newly built factory in France, and will only produce the two-tone vehicle when one is ordered. The company will also stop when it hits 300 orders.Veyron took Bugatti seven years to build. The seven-gear, all-wheel-drive Veyron is so fast that its designers customized three different suspension modes: a mode for "standard" driving below 136 mph; a "handling" mode engaged when the front diffuser flaps open, the body drops closer to the ground and the tail wing and spoilers are "deployed"; and a third "top speed" mode, used for speeds above 233 mph, that has to be manually activated with a separate key.

Daimler's alternate fuel vehicle

Finally Daimler has an alternate fuel vehicle that runs on ethanol and the company said in a news conference that it will dedicate 25 percent of its vehicle production to ethanol-ready vehicles because of this rising gas prices. The car maker is expected to sell about 250,000 flex-fuel vehicles next year and half a million by 2008. Chrysler will begin offering flex-fuel versions of its Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Jeep Commander and the Dodge Dakota pickup truck, the company said. What with the rising gas prices and mounting tension in the middle east, this seems to be a genuine alternative.

Turtle cars

Turtle transit brought in more than $2 million by transforming ordinary cars and trucks into promotional vehicles. The first customer was Monster.com and the company transformed the car into a monster and once this was done the company took off. They had orders from Dunkin' Donuts for which Turtle Transit turned the cab of a truck into an 11-foot-high cup of coffee. (The truck bed was, of course, a box of doughnuts.). To promote Puffs tissues last year, Riseborough's staff of 11 created a fleet of "noseways" - Segway scooters with fiberglass noses. Pictures.

$4 per gallon of gas - reality

Already the gas has hit $4 in some full service upscale neighbourhood gas stations of California and New York. Follow the full story..Follow these tips.

Fuelstretch challenge

Take the fuelstretch challenge. Also they have some wonderful tips on how to save the gas here.

Rising gas prices

Hugh has pictured the situation well. Check it out!

GM Blog

Now the GM employees are blogging and was amazed at the post about the ways GM is utilizing the gas from the landfill for their operations. Check it out. Steve Reubel wrote about it.

Save trees - Get rid of junk mail

On the Earth Day, Use the guidelines by Federal Trade commission to get rid of the unsolicited mail and thereby save cutting trees to make paper.

iPODize your car

A fantastic video outlining the iPOD mods in cars. CNET analyses the three types of modules available for the putting the ipod in the car. Good one to watch.

Top 10 Gas misers of 2005

The rising gas prices has made us to rethink our choices of autos in recent times. The Insurance Institute has posted the Top 10 gas misers of 2005.

Make City Highway
1. Honda Insight (Hybrid) - 61 66
2. Toyota Prius (Hybrid) - 60 51
3. Honda Civic (Hybrid) - 45 51
4. Volkswagen Golf - 38 46
TDI(Diesel)
5. Honda Civic HX - 36 44
6. Toyota Echo - 35 42
7. Toyota Corolla - 32 41
8. Scion xA - 32 37
9. Honda Accord (Hybrid) - 30 37
10. Pontiac Vibe and - 30 36
Toyota Matrix (tie) - 30 36

Now do you have gas guzzler or a gas miser?

Best resale value cars

ALG has outlined the best resale value of the cars. Here is the summary.

SEGMENT AWARDS VEHICLES
Compact Car MINI Cooper
Midsize Car Honda Accord
Fullsize Car Toyota Avalon
Sports Car Porsche 911 Carrera
Near Luxury Car Acura TL
Luxury Car Mercedes-Benz CLS Class
Minivan Honda Odyssey
CUV (Crossover Utility Vehicle) Land Rover Range Rover Sport
Compact SUV Toyota RAV4
Midsize SUV Toyota 4Runner
Fullsize SUV Toyota Sequoia
Compact Truck Toyota Tacoma Pick-Up
Fullsize Truck Toyota Tundra

Lexus recall

CNNreports that Lexus is recalling 57,000 of its Lexus SUVs for a problem with the front seat belt which could be jammed due to a faulty seat belt. Reuters reports that Toyata as saying that it is recalling 11,000 cars in Japan and 46,000 overseas for the faulty parts. Although, no accidents have been reported so far it is definetely a concern that we should be worried about.

Travel scam

This personal incident happened last fall. We were planning for a trip and I went shopping online for the cheapest fares and then I came across this site http://besttix.net and the deal was ridiculously good atleast $100 or so bucks less than Southwest or other airlines. Then I started to fill out the online form for purchasing the tickets and gave the credit card no etc., but got the error that the credit card could not be processed. Then I receive the email from a female named Monica in New york stating that they could not process the credit card and I need to send the money via western union to an address in Bulgaria. I did not smell a rat and thought okay there might be some problem and therefore I used my personal account and transferred the money to Bulgaria. After that I gave her the number and requested for my tickets but she didnot respond and the money was cashed and I was left high and dry.Then I sent the emails to no avail. I tried to pull up the site luckily it is not there now. So beware, the cheapest fares may not be cheap after all!

Longest car

The world's longest car is 100 feet(30.5 m) long limousine. It has 26 wheels and has a pool and diving board. King sized waterbed to sleep on and can bend in the tight turns. It is mostly used in films and exhibitions. Now with the rising gas prices, I am not sure how much mileage this gives, not much I guess!

Smallest car

The smallest car made out of a single molecule and it has a chassis, axles and a pivoting suspension. The wheels are buckyballs, spheres of pure carbon containing 60 atoms apiece. The whole car is no more than 4 nanometers across and slightly wider than a strand of DNA. To see the perspective, human hair is about 80,000 nanometers thick. At room temperature, strong electrical bonds hold the buckyball wheels tightly against the gold, but heating to about 200 degrees Celesius frees them to roll. Its use - to build tiny trucks that could carry atoms and molecules around in minature factories. As you can see this is one car you cannot drive!

Ford recall - Escape and Mariner

The other day this news item caught my attention about the Ford recalls.. Do you drive Ford escape or mariner then this news is for you. In government testing, NHTSA found that the SUVs had a head injury score along the driver's side roofline near the front pillar that was marginally above the maximum allowed under federal regulations. Therefore, Ford is recalling around 150,000 vehicles. This is a big blow for the company because of the competition in the SUV market and the woes the company is going through.
There was also another recall for Mazda because of the following as found in the NHTSAf:
CERTAIN SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITHOUT SIDE AIR CURTAINS OR MOON ROOFS FAIL TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARD NO. 201, “OCCUPANT PROTECTION IN INTERIOR IMPACT.” DURING TESTING, THE FREE MOTION HEAD FORM REGISTERED A MEASUREMENT ABOVE THE PERMITTED LIMIT AT THE LEFT HAND A-PILLAR TRIM AREA.

Car buying tips

Here are some personal tips to the new car buyers:

1) Do your home work. Before you go for shopping view some of the sites online like Cars, Kelly blue book, Edmunds to get a feel of what type of vehicle you are looking for.
2) Understand the difference between the MSRP and Invoice price of the vehicles.
3) Zero in on the vehicle or the manufacturer.
4) Get some online quotes and you would be surprised to see that they are way competitve than the dealer prices. Even if you are not comfortable in buying the car online as most of them are, get the quote/prices. Cars direct is good.
5) Take the quote and go to the dealer and challenge him if he can match the online price. But they will haggle and you need to be firm and should be ready to walk out if you do not get the price you want. I did that when I was buying my new car and I just walked out after 3 hours of haggling and the manager was mad and I did not bother.
6) Be wary of the "Appearance packages" they offer and take them with a grain of salt.
7) Depending on your mentality buy the extended warranty packages and carefully review the conditions and the coverages before you buy the warranty.
8) Insist and demand on the color and trim you want and do not fall for the tricks that they play like they do not have in stock or such stories.
9) If you have membership in any credit unions, ask them for the vehicle loan interest rate and they save a lot of money. At one time I got a vehicle finance at 3.5% and that is a steal. One such good financial institution is DCU.
10) Apply for the loan well in advance and most of them issue a check and you just take it to the dealer and they will put the lien on the financial institution. This is as good as taking cash to the dealer and they will drool on the money and bend backwards to serve you.
11) Print this out and read it again.
12) Save some $$$$$.
13) Safe driving!!!!

Fantasy car - Acura NSX

Here is the ultimate fantasy car Acura NSX and its specs are below:
Engine: 3.2 ltr DOHC 24 valve V6
Transmission: 6 speed manual
Suspension: Front and rear - Ind, unequal-length control arms,coil springs, anti-roll bar
Brakes: front and rear - vented disks,vacuum assited ABS
Top speed:168 mph
0-60mph - 5.0 sec
Horsepower - 290 @7,100 rpm
Torque - 224 @5,500 rpm
Price : 84,000/-

With above specifications it certainly is the car that can be considered if you are in the medium luxury market and definetly make some heads turn not to mention the Acura exclusiveness that comes with in.

Camry

The largest selling car and definetly the best in its class. The official site can be accessed here. The 2007 model looks beautiful than ever. The whole story about the top selling camry.
Camry has travelled beyond the shores to Japan. For video go to autoweb.
Wait until 2007 march to see the following in the new camry.

The 2007 Toyota Camry is offered in base CE, popular LE, upscale XLE, sporty SE, and Hybrid trim levels (see our separate story on the Camry Hybrid). The standard engine in the CE, LE, XLE, and SE is a 2.4-liter four-cylinder making 158 horsepower (155 horses for PZEV-rated motors). It's connected to a five-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission, and gets 24 mpg regardless of transmission choice. The manual transmission gets 34 mpg on the highway, while the automatic musters 33 mpg.

If you want more power than the four-cylinder engine can provide, choose a 2007 Toyota Camry equipped with the available 3.5-liter V6. It generates 268 horsepower, runs on regular unleaded fuel like the four-cylinder, and carries a ULEV rating. The V6 is connected to a six-speed automatic transmission, and is expected to deliver 22 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway.

Other hardware highlights of the 2007 Toyota Camry include larger wheels and tires (with optional 18-inch rims offered on the sport-tuned SE model), bigger brakes, and suspension upgrades to improve ride and handling. Toyota is particularly proud of the work that has gone into the Camry SE, which the company claims is now a true sports sedan. The SE gets structural reinforcements, and everything is tightened and stiffened for sharper response. According to Esmond, "The new Camry SE is an absolute blast to drive."

Hybrid Car

Philly students won the Philadelphia Auto show hybrid car of the year and not from some automaker in Japan. This was built a bunch of high school kids and runs on the Soyabean oil. Delivers more horsepower than porshes and gives mileage comparable to Toyota Prius. The full storey in Philadelphia Enquirer.

Most expensive car (US)- Saleen

For the lesser mortals like us,it is always interesting to find what options exist on the higher end. I took a plunge and came across the article in Forbes for the most expensive car in US(2005). Turns out this $550,000/- S7 saleen beauty is made from the Mustang Engine deeply modified. It is said that the car will not lose its grip even if we drive the car upside down at around 160mph and this is from the company communication and we do not know how they said that it could do that. Power output is claimed at 550 hp with performance of less than four seconds to 60mph and top speed in excess of 200 mph.
Other features include a video monitor for rearview mirror(as we cannot use the conventional rearview anyway??) and removable steering wheel to ease entry and exit to the tightfitting cabin.

Toyota Corolla

This is one of long standing sedans that has weathered the time and give good mileage and latest model has been redesigned and looks stylish. The official site is here. The video is here.
Similar to the Civic the toyata corolla has a great performance and good resale value.
The toyota corolla is manufacture in Nummi and in Canada.
The stats are below:
Nummi has built 2,353,477 cars so far

Civic

It is my intention to provide the facts of various cars and links pertinent to them. I have dedicated this blog to my passion to know about cars and share the details with my fellow hackers. A hacker might invariably passionate about the cars sometimes very adamantly and can defend his car with the fists(although this is the extreme case we are talking about). But as a hacker myself, I have great passion for cars and this is my effort to learn and share in this blogsphere.

As a 2006 Motor Trend car of the year, the civic is undoubtedly the best in its class and category. The official site is here.
A beautiful video for this car is here.
The civic automotive forum is here.
As a civic owner myself, knock on wood, I have not faced much of the problems since I owned this car for almost 6 years. Ages pretty well and now it has become a part of me.
The hybrid is also good both for the mileage and the pickup.