I have a 2000 Civic with 70,000 miles (hoping to hit 250,000 miles). Googled for major repairs to do including the timing belt, and everything listed below should be done…right? Are any unnecessary?
Any not listed that I should fix before it breaks? Here it is:
Via Autocar come these pictures of a jacked-up Fiesta variant undergoing development testing. Rumors of a Fiesta-based MPV have been rampant, as European competitors have been bombarding the B-segment with bigger, and/or butched-up new models like Kia’s Venga (and it’s forthcoming sibling, the Hyundai ix20), Opel’s suicide-doored Meriva, Toyota’s Verso S,and VW’s PoloCross. Ford’s Fiesta-based entry could resemble the brand’s Iosis-Max concept, and it will probably be built in Romania. Based on the dearth of camouflage, we’d also guess it’s going for the “butch” more than the “big” section of the B segment. Needless to say, it’s unlikely to ever arrive in the US, where the idea of taking a B-segment hatch into the dirt occurs only to the desperately unwell.
The citizen-led groups that want the public to decide the future of red light cameras are racist, according to lawsuits filed by American Traffic Solutions (ATS) in a pair of Texas cities. The Arizona-based photo enforcement firm filed in a state court in Baytown on Thursday and then an ATS-funded front group filed an identical case in a federal court in Houston on Friday. Residents in both cities signed petitions placing a ban on automated ticketing machines onto the November 2 ballot, but ATS cites the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 as a reason to block these votes.
Opel’s German dealer association left the Zentralverband des Kraftfahrzeuggewerbes (ZDK) in a huff, says Automobilwoche [sub] First, what’s a ZDK? It’s Germany’s umbrella organization of the car business. You need to be an industry organization to be a member. Next to the manufacturer organization VDA, the ZDK is the most powerful lobbying group of the car business. And what made the Opel dealers to hand in their membership cards and leave?
ZDK President Robert “Robby” Rademacher had strong words for Opel’s Lifetime Guarantee: “If the Wettbewerbszentrale would not have taken the case, the ZDK would have taken Opel to court.” Read More >
More than 150 little sensors are used in a single luxury car. That means a mess of wires, even if those sensors are talking to the car computer via a CAN bus. Those sensors need power. There’s more than a kilometer of cables for sending power to the sensors alone. Imagine what would happen without those wires: The car would be lighter. Cheaper to produce. And the sensors would go dead. Not if Toyota, Panasonic and 20 other Japanese companies get their way. Read More >
When Renault and Nissan signed an agreement to form an alliance, few expected it to work. In fact, according to the book “Shift” (or was it “Turn Around”?), Bob Lutz was quoted as saying that Renault would be better off taking the money they spent on the Nissan stake, putting it on a ship, sailing it into the middle of the ocean and sinking it. Another accurate prediction from the One of Maximum Bullsh*t. The reason that the Renault-Nissan has worked so well so far is, according to Carlos Ghosn, communication. Without communication, how can you expect your partner to understand you? Sounds simple, right? Not to Hyundai and Kia. Read More >
Would you pre-pay $25 in order to drive at ninety for twenty-four hours on Nevada’s highway’s? Nonpartisan Nevada gubernatorial candidate Eugene “Gino” DiSimone thinks so. According to his projections, his so called “free (fee?) limit plan” would generate $1.3 billion per year, helping solve Nevada’s budget crisis. The math seems a little sketchy, but here it is: Read More >
It used to be that joint ventures with Chinese manufacturers were strictly for Chinese consumption. The Chinese would like nothing more than to expand to other markets with their foreign branded products. Strict joint venture contracts typically forbid just that. Sure, sometimes there are some small scale exportation tests. But usually, what is made in China, stays in China. Contracts can be changed or amended. More and more Chinese automakers seek to expand their relationship with joint venturers beyond China’s borders. Read More >
If you think China’s auto growth is scary, then you find yourself in rare agreement with China’s central government. China’s 30 (!) major (!) auto makers had a production capacity of 13.59m vehicles by the end of 2009. Chinese bought 13.64m units. This year, it will be much more. By July, Chinese had already made and Chinese had already bought more than 10m units, according to data released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Chinese buy more than just cars. They have bought (well, leased) enough land, buildings and machinery in order to more than double car output by 2015. With the current expansion and investment plans exercised, China will have production capacity for a mind-blowing 31.24m units by the end of 2015. That according to Chen Bin, head of industrial coordination at the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation’s economic regulation agency.That’s more than six (!) times the U.S. production in 2009, and three times the U.S. auto production in the heydays of 2007. You are not the only one to get worried now. Even China’s NDRC thinks that might be a bit much. Read More >
Suzuki is to India what Volkswagen was to China. Earliest foreign entry into a huge an untapped car market. Like Volkswagen in China, Suzuki built a dominant position in India early on. Suzuki owns half of the Indian market. Unlike Volkswagen, two-thirds of Suzuki’s operating profit is estimated to come from India. Volkswagen lost their commanding share of China (and made it up with volume) when the market exploded, attracted competition, and overwhelmed VW’s capacities. A mistake Suzuki seeks to avoid. Read More >
A few days ago, TTAC reported that Vladimir Putin issued an ultimatum to foreign car makers, “invest here or else”. 4 days later, VW announced that they were planning a new assembly line at GAZ, and more capacity at their Kaluga plant in Russia. Coincidence? Probably. But it seems like others are following suit. Pretty bloody quickly. Read More >
The ever rising yen makes Japanese manufacturers flirt with the idea of abandoning the land of the rising sun and to shift production abroad. Toyota President Akio Toyoda told Asahi Shimbun that Toyota wants to keep building cars in Japan — for domestic sales. Even that is up for discussion. Read More >
You know who is really freaked about the stronger and stronger Japanese yen? Mazda. Mazda is considered the Japanese manufacturer with the highest exposure to currency swings. Mazda builds 70 percent of its vehicles in Japan. In the first half of 2010, Mazda exported nearly 80 percent of its Japanese output. Ouch. A year ago, a dollar bought 110 yen. Today, it buys only 84. As the yen continues its march upwards against other currencies, Mazda is enacting emergency cost reduction measures to protect their profits from being gobbled up by a steadily advancing yen on its earnings. Here is the plan: Read More >
The Japanese seem to be convinced that EVs are the wave of the future. They are so convinced that they are thinking up schemes to use that big expensive battery in the car for other things if the car is not used for other things. Such as when that new EV is sitting in the driveway while Watanabe-san commuted to work using the JR-train. Nissan, Hitachi, and Orix announced that they will work together on turning those batteries-on-wheels into dual-use technology. Read More >
Recent Comments