Greetings

[mmrmnhrm]

Ok, like the group heading says, "hello to me." Heard about this site through a former coworker (who appears to have something of a following here), and figured I'd check things out and try to learn a bit more about actually taking care of my wheels. Granted, I can do basic stuff like oil changes and tire rotation easily enough, but it'd be nice to actually know what the mechanic is telling me went wrong, instead of having to just take him at his word. So, this being the newbie area and all, basic stats on my ride (and try not to laugh too hard)

 

'06 Honda Civic Hybrid, not quite three weeks old. It's about as stock as you can get, apart from adding on their splash guards, wheel locks, and a front nose bra (my drive to work involves a fair bit of farmland and going past a quarry). It's the nose bra that brings up my first question

 

When going to wash it, should I take it off? The Immke service coordinators said don't worry about it, the wind will blow everything through. That seems rather odd to me, and having grown up in the salty realms of Cleveland, none too bright as it would probably leave deposits behind. What do you guys think?

[nurkvinny]

Welcome. Take it off periodically, clean it well, and wax under it often.

[Kohones]

Welcome, I agree with above. Keep good distance from dump trucks & stuff & your front end will be fine. Otherwise the paint will dis color over time (unless you remove periodically) which becomes a pain in the ass -

[Mallard]

The bra will hurt your fuel economy.

 

Hybrids Consume More Energy in Lifetime Than Chevrolet's Tahoe SUV

 

BANDON, Ore., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- As Americans become increasingly

interested in fuel economy and global warming, they are beginning to make

choices about the vehicles they drive based on fuel economy and to a lesser

degree emissions.

But many of those choices aren't actually the best in terms of vehicle

lifetime energy usage and the cost to society over the full lifetime of a car

or truck.

CNW Marketing Research Inc. spent two years collecting data on the energy

necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a vehicle from initial

concept to scrappage. This includes such minutia as plant to dealer fuel

costs, employee driving distances, electricity usage per pound of material

used in each vehicle and literally hundreds of other variables.

To put the data into understandable terms for consumers, it was translated

into a "dollars per lifetime mile" figure. That is, the Energy Cost per mile

driven.

The most Energy Expensive vehicle sold in the U.S. in calendar year 2005:

Maybach at $11.58 per mile. The least expensive: Scion xB at $0.48 cents.

While neither of those figures is surprising, it is interesting that

driving a hybrid vehicle costs more in terms of overall energy consumed than

comparable non-hybrid vehicles.

For example, the Honda Accord Hybrid has an Energy Cost per Mile of $3.29

while the conventional Honda Accord is $2.18. Put simply, over the "Dust to

Dust" lifetime of the Accord Hybrid, it will require about 50 percent more

energy than the non-hybrid version.

One of the reasons hybrids cost more than non-hybrids is the manufacture,

replacement and disposal of such items as batteries, electric motors (in

addition to the conventional engine), lighter weight materials and complexity

of the power package.

And while many consumers and environmentalists have targeted sport utility

vehicles because of their lower fuel economy and/or perceived inefficiency as

a means of transportation, the energy cost per mile shows at least some of

that disdain is misplaced.

For example, while the industry average of all vehicles sold in the U.S.

in 2005 was $2.28 cents per mile, the Hummer H3 (among most SUVs) was only

$1.949 cents per mile. That figure is also lower than all currently offered

hybrids and Honda Civic at $2.42 per mile.

"If a consumer is concerned about fuel economy because of family budgets

or depleting oil supplies, it is perfectly logical to consider buying high-

fuel-economy vehicles," says Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing

Research, Inc. "But if the concern is the broader issues such as environmental

impact of energy usage, some high-mileage vehicles actually cost society more

than conventional or even larger models over their lifetime.

"We believe this kind of data is important in a consumer's selection of

transportation," says Spinella. "Basing purchase decisions solely on fuel

economy or vehicle size does not get to the heart of the energy usage issue."

The goal of overall worldwide energy conservation and the cost to society

in general -- not just the auto buyer -- can often be better addressed by

being aware of a car or truck's "dust to dust" energy requirements, he said.

This study is not the end of the energy-usage discussion. "We hope to see

a dialog begin that puts educated and aware consumers into energy policy

decisions," Spinella said. "We undertook this research to see if perceptions

(about energy efficiency) were true in the real world."

 

 

 

SOURCE CNW Marketing Research, Inc.

Web Site: http://www.cnwmr.com

 

Welcome

[mmrmnhrm]

I was surprised to see so much hating on the bra, but after taking it off Sunday afternoon so I could give the car a quick washing, I can definately see why that's so. Not only was getting the clips off (and then back on) a pain, I was rather surprised at how much gunk had collected in there after just two weeks! So with an appt with Andy set up for a Sunday morning detailing, I'm definately going to leave the main body section off and keep all that quarry dirt from collecting in the folds. How about opinions on just the hood piece? I didn't see any dirt trapped in there, and it's the only place on my old car where paint had actually started chipping away from the sheet metal.

 

Mallard: I appreciate the article, but in all fairness, I don't trust *anything* written by a marketing agency. Microsoft alone has proven more times than they should have been allowed that those who buy the study get to buy favorable results. Something from Motortrend, Car and Driver, or Consumer Reports, sure. "CNW Marketing Research"? Nuh uh... I can't believe across 10 (or more) years, that any hybrid uses more energy than an SUV, and they're certainly a lot more reliable (which is *big* in my world).