Now that 2009 is here, expect most car owners to forego any plans of buying new cars. Rather, a lot are expected to make do with their current vehicles and perhaps go as far as enhancing them as a better alternative compared to the investment cost needed to buy a new one in the market.

Financing is one of the prime reasons. Rather than invest thousands of dollars, you can just modify and maintain your car to perform and look better. This caters to mechanical and interior upgrades, a prime practice some years back before the boom of new cars came into play.

Among the expected high demands of car accessory improvements include that of:

1. Engine maintenance and upgrades
2. Magwheels and Tires
3. Audio upgrades
4. Interior upgrading
5. New Paint jobs
6. Auto Detailing

Look at them one by one and you will agree, they are cost-friendly measures for the time being. Besides, most cars in the market today are not that old yet. So why bury yourself with debt if you can make your current car look better.

Tags: audio upgrades, buying new cars, car enhancements, car owners, engine maintenance, improvements, interior upgrades, magwheels, new paint, tires

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Practically all businesses are desperate to improve their sales and this piece of news sounds disturbing though good if you are aching to own a brand new car. Report has it that car loan interests will be shot down to entice vehicular sales which is fine and good. But the thing is, it will also add to the woes of debt and receivables, a prime suspect as to why big name car manufacturers are operating on the red at the moment.

Is it a good move? Depending on your standpoint, it can be varying. For one, with practically zero interest in car financing, why not grab the opportunity? What is the basis of it all sales or income? If it is sales then well and good! Income? Highly unlikely!

Remember, receivables are notes obliging a buyer to pay. But what if he defaults? What if he goes into hiding or declares bankrupt himself? Now for the big three (General Motors, Chrysler and Ford), that would only aggravate their problems and perhaps tow in the other car distributors (Toyota, Mazda, or Mercedes Benz) as far as losses in car sales is concerned.

Via Cleveland.com

Tags: brand new car, car distributors, car financing, car manufacturers, car report, car sales, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, low interest loans, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota

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Cars are shrinking and a large part of the reason here is to save on fuel. Today we see a lot of concept cars that have practically shrunk, limiting seating capacity to 2 (includes the driver) and all coming in weird designs. The Lumeneo Smera is one of these weird but practical looking cars and from the looks of it, getting 80 MPH from it is bound to draw some attention for the people looking at alternative modes of transportation the economical way.

The little car is powered by two 20 BHP electric motors feeding off of lithium ion batteries capable of a rechage by way of standard domestic power outlet. The quoted 0-100 KPH time is 8 seconds, which for a super economy car is fantastic.

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Tags: alternative modes of transportation, Concept Cars, economy car, lithium, lithium ion batteries, weird designs

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In what has to be an outrageous for a car, Skoda has reportedly unveiled one of its most expensive and fastest production cars, the Superb V6 four-wheel drive. The price? Would you believe $48,000?

The price is indeed hefty and considering that today is the age of saving and turn towards electric and hybrid cars aiming to address the fuel and pollution problems, this car has to be kidding!

the latest Superb is the ‘most expensive Skoda ever built,’ according to the car maker. The Elegance version including all extras cost 45,229 euros including seven airbags and an array of assistance systems, leather upholstery and sunroof.

It is indeed superb but also impractical. I don’t think even the millionaires would waste their money on such a vehicle especially when you can buy better branded ones in the market today.

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Tags: airbags, car maker, elegance, fastest production cars, four wheel drive, hybrid cars, leather upholstery, skoda, wheel

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Other than being a known brand in the market, Mercedes Benz has been known to deliver classic cars that put luxury car tags with attitude. If you think the SL series were something, wait until you get to see the 2009 CL series. They are bound to captivate your eyes and with the new features covering outer and inner portions, it is no doubt that Mercedes Benz is continuing its tradition of trying to outdo itself by continuous improvement of its own models in the market.

New bodies, sporty looks, quality leather seats and upholstery and a dash of new technology through its night vision instrumental panel system, you will just be awed at the new Mercedes-Benz CL550. Apart from the sybaritic interior, the Mercedes-Benz CL550 has a 5.5-liter double overhead cam V-8 tucked under that sleek hood.

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Tags: cl series, classic cars, luxury car, mercedes benz cl550, Mercedes-Benz, new mercedes, sleek hood

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We all know that Camaro is yet to arrive at the Chevy’s Showroom. GM recently said that it has received 10,000 pre-orders for the trendy sports car. It was reported in October that GM received 6,000 pre order requests, but those were for V8 models. However, the orders for the V6 models are much more than the V8 models.

Mark LaNeve, GM’s head of North American marketing and sales, has announced that the first selling will take place at the forthcoming Barret-Jackson Auction in February. But as a small dispute has sprung up with GM’s interior parts supplier Cadence Innovation so there may be some delay in the launch of the new Camero. We hope that the dispute gets resolved soon.

Tags: 10000, camaro, GM, pre-orders

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Do you remember the Nissan Altima? Well if you haven’t, I wouldn’t be surprised. The previous version was somewhat a flop, not really making it among the known best buy cars before but apparently it has been improved for the coming 2009. Nissan is set to unveil the new model, looking a lot better than the first release and sportier.

Finally getting rid of a practically canned look, it looks more like the standard Nissan sedans as well as improved interiors that include better designed dashboard and instrumentation panels. Unlike before when the first Altima looked so much like a car that was created mainly from excess parts, this new model promises to be a humdinger of a model.

Altimas are offered in five levels. My SE test car sat above the base model and the S model in the lineup and below the luxury-oriented, leatherequipped SL. While the entrylevel car and the S share the fourcylinder, the SE and SL get the six. The fifth model, the Hybrid, uses a different, 158-horsepower four-cylinder with a 40-horsepower electric motor.

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Tags: altimas, base model, buy cars, Dashboard, horsepower, hybrid, instrumentation panels, Nissan, nissan altima, nissan sedans

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Driving is easy but parking, particularly in a parallel manner, may be the real challenge with regards to mastering. Normally, street parking would follow a parallel parking pattern and for sure, the not-so-good parkers will take a long time to properly place their car to the allocated slot.

Ford has come up with a good aid to help drivers who are having difficulty in parking in the parallel manner. Known as the Ford Active Park Assist, parallel parking problems may soon be addressed with this new innovation brought to us by Ford motors. The said feature will be available to all new Lincolns that the company sells.

With sensors on the front and rear of the vehicle, the system identifies a parking space. While parking, the system advises the driver about the proximity of other cars and objects through visual or audible cues, or both. The driver can interrupt the automated procedure at any time.

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Tags: Cars, Ford, ford motors, innovation, lincolns, parallel parking, parking space, sensors

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When will hydrogen powered cars be available? The answer is, they’re available right now… but they don’t come cheap. A 2009 Shelby Cobra with a hydrogen-powered engine starts at $149,000. Too pricey? Maybe a Nissan Frontier Pick-up with hydrogen fuel cells would be easier on the pocket book: Those start at about $99,000. If you already own a Hummer you’re in luck! You can get on of those converted to hydrogen for just $60,000 (which covers the conversion only, you provide the vehicle).

A kilo of hydrogen runs anywhere from $1 to $20 but gets about three times the gas mileage as an equivalent amount of gasoline.  The problem is finding a supplier. While gas stations are still open on almost every urban corner, hydrogen suppliers are much harder to find.  Buying a hydrogen car does have its rewards though if you have the money. The hydrogen-powered Shelby Cobra does 0-60 in four seconds and has a top speed of 140.

Tags: HUMMER, Hydrogen, Nissan, Shelby

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Are GM and Ford really making big gas hogs that nobody wants? GM’s 2009 line up includes over 30 vehicles that get less than 20 MPG in the city but only a handful of passenger cars that get over 20 MPG city mileage. In fact, GM makes half a dozen big pick-ups that get less than 10 MPG in the city. Ford offers exactly one 2009 car—the Focus—that gets over 20 MPG. Even so, until gas prices skyrocketed and the credit crunch hit in mid to late 2008, Americans did want these big vehicles, and Ford and GM’s overseas sales were even stronger than their sales in the U.S.

Fuel efficient American made cars for 2009 include the Chevy Aveo, the Chevy Cobalt, the Ford Focus, and the Ford Escape Hybrid. That’s about it. So the short answer is yes:  GM and Ford have a long way to go before they can produce an appealing line-up of fuel-efficient cars Americans want and can afford. Ford used to advertise having “a better idea.” Let’s hope they get one in 2010.

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How smart is the Smart Car? The 2009 entry level Smart Fortwo Pure comes with a very attractive starting price of $11,900. The Pure’s unique profile and small size will definitely garner attention on the street. What’s more, the Smart Fortwo Pure was given the highest front and side crash safety ratings in 2008 from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety; an impressive achievement for a car this tiny. But if you visit the official Smart Car website you have to look around pretty hard to find the 33/42 EPA city/highway fuel economy ratings. (Hint: They’re on the tech specs page.)

That puts the Smart Car in the same fuel-efficiency league as any number of newer (and much larger) compacts like the Toyota Yaris 29/36, the Chevy Cobalt 25/36, and even the Ford Focus 24/35. The 2009 Smart car is smart enough.  But maybe hitting the books for a 2010 mileage improvement wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Tags: fuel efficiency, SmartCar

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A certain Dr Hiroshi Shimizu from Tokyo’s Keio University has been working on an electric car since 2003. The name of the car is Eliica and for some reason it has eight wheels. Currently there are only two cars available and they are supposed to run on lithium-ion batteries. You might also have guessed the reason of the extra wheels. Each one has a 60kw engine. Therefore the car will develop a 230 miles per hour top speed but Shimizu and his fellow students aim for a 250 mph top speed in future models. What does Tesla have to say about all this?

A single car costs about $255,000 to be produced and the enthusiastic team wants to make 200 of them. We wish them the best of luck with it. It might certainly be interesting to see this car challenging Tesla’s rule.

via Engadget

Tags: Alternative Energy, concept car, electric cars, Eliica, Tesla

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When General Motors pulled out its advertising spots for the upcoming Super Bowl, you may have noticed a lot of foreign car manufacturers brimming with joy. For one, they can now get better exposure and more slots in promoting their vehicles and it looks like Hyundai Motors is taking clear advantage of that.

Aside from getting another slot, Hyundai is working on all cylinders to push its Hyundai Genesis Coupe to the max. With so much viewers bound to be watching the game, better placement of commercials that can help build on the lackadaisical showing they had when it was first aired in 2008.

The title of both commercials is “The Epic Lap.” Shot at Road Atlanta, the racetrack didn’t do much damage to the car. The company says the Genesis only needed a new set of tires after three days of filming.

Watch out for it!

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Tags: car manufacturers, commercials, foreign car, General Motors, Genesis, Hyundai, hyundai motors, racetrack, super bowl, tires

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Giveaway — Marty Robbins Legendary Performances
New Rock Band, Guitar Hero DLC Out
T-Mobile G1 Connects to an iPod Dock
Genius Speakers at CES 2009

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Ford is taking note of their competitors and it looks like its own hybrid version, the 2010 Ford Fusion is going to give them a run for their money. From the looks and reviews gathered from this latest hyped auto from Ford, you would think it was a fresh concept coming out of the books of hybrid development of cars.

The 2010 Ford Fusion seems to cover everything from the outer to the internal features and one thing you just got to love about it is the new 3-D gauge cluster with turquoise accent lighting.

Expect the 2010 Ford Fusion model to be in the ranks of the leading hybrid cars vying for a fair share of the hybrid market. If the initial looks are impressive, wait until actual car owners get a chance to drive it out in the streets.

For 2010, the Fusion offers a three-engine lineup, which includes one four-cylinder and two V-6s. The base 2.5-liter I-4 engine, available at the S, SE and SEL trim levels, delivers 175 horsepower, a 15 horsepower leap over the 2009 model.

Via Search Chicago

Tags: accent lighting, car owners, Ford, ford fusion, fusion model, horsepower, hybrid cars, hybrid development, hybrid race, hybrid version, liter

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