Going Green...
 Edmunds.com recently did a study on the fuel efficiency and cost comparison of the much touted E85 and regular unleaded gasoline. The result may surprise you.
For the full article go to here
First, and most surprising to me, is that there is only 1 (yes one) E85 station in the whole state of California. When I think of the environmentally conscious motorist I think of California. In a State where the affluent are buying their household help Hybrids to drive I would have thought that any alternative source of fuel would be enthusiastically embraced. The only E85 station in the State is in San Diego, the next nearest being in Las Vegas.
The test vehicle was a 2007 Chevy Tahoe. Again, not the vehicle I would expect in California where a Prius is a status symbol. The Tahoe is a good representation however because it does incorporate all of the latest fuel enhancement technology from GM. The test car had the displacement on demand engine that will switch from a gas hog V8, to a conservative V4 when the power demand is low at idle and steady cruise. It also used the new 6 speed electronic transmission that reduces engine load with more appropriate gear reduction and overdrive. Other features include the variable displacement air conditioning compressor that will reduce a/c load after the car reaches proper temperature. Combined they give the icon of SUV's a EPA rating of 15 city and 21 highway. Remember, EPA ratings are notoriously on the high side.
Edmunds was careful to do the test in such a way as to get a fair estimate of the true fuel economy of both E85 and regular gasoline.
First off the lower cost of the E85 is attractive. In the test drive the cost averaged 33 cents a gallon less, or about 10%. The catch however is the difference in the mileage that the environmentally friendly fuel gives.
The Tahoe, burning resource depleting, air contaminating regular gas, averaged 18.3 mpg on the round trip from San Diego to Las Vegas. This was a combination of some in city driving on both ends of the trip and the open road between cities. While it is less than the EPA estimate it is close to the normal error range we see in those figures (20%).
On the next 667 mile round trip using E85 the mileage dropped to 13.5mpg.
On both trips once the vehicle was on the open road the cruise control was set on 75 mph.
The significant difference here is that the fuel cost for the regular gasoline trip was $124.66 while the E85 trip used $154.29. That is a $30 difference, or 22%.
The most surprising finding of the test was the amount of green house gases emitted on the trip. Using the EPA model for pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon of fuel the E85 only produced ½ of a pound less pollution on the trip than the regular gas.
When you take into account the added cost to build an E85 capable vehicle, and the 20% additional fuel cost to operate the car...we have to doubt the wisdom of buying one. |
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Meet The Staff...
Salvador Zepeda
Sal first came to work with Janice and I in 1987 while he was still a student in high school. It didn't take us long to see that he had a natural talent for fixing things and a great work ethic. Since then he has worked for us all but 5 years. He got a case of "greener grass" for a short time, but soon realized that we just belonged together.
An ASE Certified technician, Sal is well qualified to do anything on your car from minor brake repairs to complete engine jobs. He is always taking training classes to keep up with the latest computer technology and prides himself in doing a good, safe job for all of our customer.
Sal lives in Stafford with his lovely lady Megan and two sons, Little Sal and Daniel.
He is a valued part of what makes Freedom Automotive a great place to have your car fixed.
Getting A Charge Out of It
We have had a lot of questions about batteries the last few weeks. This is the time of year that we see sudden battery failures. The added heat load on the car, the continuous air condition use and the increased number of short trips running the kids around all take a toll.
In the good old days a battery would give us some warning before failing, it would crank the engine slowly. Today more often than not it just flat fails, no warning, just no start. You would almost think someone took the battery out of the car. In many cases they will not even accept a jump start.
The battery manufacturers association has said that the average life of a battery on the Gulf Coast is only 32 months.
What we recommend is that if you have a battery that is 3 years old or more you change it before it fails. The cost of the battery is probably less than the towing service charge to come get you, and taking the time to replace your battery is surely less frustration than waiting for them to come get you.
Always use the proper battery for your car. There is a CCA (cold cranking amperage) rating on the top of the battery you have now. Be sure the new one is at least that. If you can not find your sticker call the shop, or your local NAPA store, and we can look it up for you.
Getting a slightly larger CCA battery will not hurt anything, and may make your charging system work less hard.
Even with the top of the line battery you can still only reasonably expect about 3 years of dependable service. I know they say 5 or 7 years on the sticker, but a battery will seldom last that long.
There is nothing more frustrating than to be on your way someplace and have your car not start, unless it is your wife calling to say her car didn't start. |
BIG Wheels
There has always been a desire by a certain part of the motoring public to dress up their ride. Even when I was a teenager the craze was fancy wheels. Today there seems to be an even bigger desire for the chrome beauties, but, they can create unexpected problems.
The size of the brakes on you car or truck is designed with the weight and tire size of the car in mind. Just as changing the weight of you car or truck by adding a trailer can change the effectiveness of your brakes, so can changing the tire and wheel size.
Brake rotors and pad sizes are determined by the rotational speed of the wheel and the weight load. When you change the rotational speed you upset the careful plan of the engineer. A small change would not be noticeable, however, going from a 16 inch wheel to the big 22 inch ones could reduce your braking force by as much as 25%.
The second area that causes problems is when you go from the normal tire height to one of the new ultra-low profile tires. The ride quality is directly effected by the give of the tire. Low profile tires have much less give in the sidewalls and therefore absorb less of the shock or impact from bumps on the road. The short sidewall also flexes less on turn changing the steering characteristics of your car.
I am not saying don’t dress your ride up. What I am saying is think before you jump. Thousands of dollars spend on wheels that are to big for the car and tires that will make you uncomfortable while you drive may not be the right investment.
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