Auto Trends

IMG_1053 TOMS, originally uploaded by Look.

This has always been a very good question, and depending on who you ask, you will get different answers. Over the years I have heard that certain brands have better gasoline than others. Beyond the politics involved with each brand, that is not always true.

Where Does Your Favorite Gasoline Really Come From?
The base gasoline that comes to your favorite station may come from anywhere. While it is true that each brand of gasoline has its own blend, refineries, and source for oil, the base gasoline at the pump may not always come from where you think. In other words, a Texaco station may occasionally use Shell base gasoline, and vice versa.

It doesn’t make sense for refineries to ship their gas hundreds of miles, if there is a competitor’s refinery within miles. During these occasions, brands may use each others base gasoline. This is not to say that each brand has the exact same gas, because they don’t. The difference is what additives are mixed with it.

Each brand has its own brand of additive, meant to protect valves, burn off deposits, and keep fuel injectors clean. Every brand’s additive works just as well as another, but there is a catch.

There’s always a catch…

The Truth of Fuel Additives
For every fuel additive you use, you are cleaning certain power robbing and fuel economy reducing deposits at the expense of adding new ones. Additives in themselves are known to leave trace amounts of themselves on your spark plugs and in your oil, etc. There is no escaping this.

The only way to truly keep your vehicle clear of the residues left behind from these various chemicals is to alternate brands. Alternating the chemical additives found within each brand, will discourage excessive deposit build-up by allowing each additive to clean up after the other. In a sense, the additives of the various brands work best when used along with each other.

Premium vs. Regular
There is a big debate on which gasoline is better for a vehicle. Of course if your vehicle requires premium, it is a good idea to follow the manufacturers advice. But if your manufacturer advises regular, will using premium offer any benefit? Well, yes, and maybe no.

The Additives found in gasoline today are meant to even the score between premium and regular. Premium gas in its base form is a cleaner burning fuel, and leaves behind less deposits. It is just the way it is refined that gives it that quality.

However, the additives used in regular gas give it the same advantage, leaving less deposits. So in general, there is no real advantage to using one over the other, other than perhaps more piece of mind, which is sometimes worth its weight in the premium price.

If you have a strong allegiance for certain brands of gasoline than others for one reason or another, you can decrease the chance of deposit build-up by switching between two or more of your preferred brands every few thousand miles. Doing this should give your engine the best chance of remaining deposit-free over its lifetime.

The General Rule of Thumb
There is no one gasoline brand that offers better performance and fuel economy than another, but you can take advantage of their slight differences by switching brands often.

Moderation in all things, including your brand of gasoline!

Audi E tron Concept, all photos originally uploaded by www.Dream-car.tv

Audi President, Johan de Nysschen, who only a few short weeks ago claimed electric vehicles were “for idiots”, is proudly presenting the new Audi e-Tron today. This 313 horsepower and 3,319 lb-ft of torque monster, will be capable of 0-60 in just 4.8 seconds, thanks to the idiotic technology Audi has been working on over the past several years.

The e-Tron features four electric motors that will run off of a water-cooled lithium-ion battery (placed in the rear of the cabin for optimum center of gravity), providing 42.4 kilowatts of power, which translates to about a 154 mile radius before the driver finds themselves hoofing the road with a power cord in hand. There is no gas engine back up here, the e-Tron is purely electric.

For all intense purposes, the electric Audi is much more of a eccentric sports car, like the Tesla Roadster, than an earth saving family mobile. The eventual price tag given to this mini-supercar should further press this point. But what better way to introduce a new style of driving, than showing the public the maximum levels of performance that can be attained with such technology.

The 3,000-plus lb-feet of torque alone should attract the performance crowd, as scarcely few gas vehicles could even dream of such spine bending instantaneous torque nestled between its chassis. In the interest of peak performance potential, the e-Tron has been built to be as light as possible, which means being fitted with no more than two seats.

In addition to the human weight savings, the entire chassis is designed from what Audi likes to call its (ASF) Audi Space Frame Technology (predominantly aluminum). The rest of the body shell, including the doors, sidewalls, and roof, are made from a space-age plastic that is reinforced with fiber. This gives the e-Tron its maximum durability, weight savings, rigidity, and safety.

Despite all this technology put into weight savings, we have to remember that electric motor driven technology is still in its dinosaur form, and is considerably heavy compared to what it will become one day in the future. The battery and electric motors combined with the the chassis and remaining technologies, still weigh in at approximately 3,527.40 pounds, which is equivalent to that of a Ford Mustang GT. Not particularly heavy, but not really light either.

Beyond the cooled electric motors and weight saving body panels, the other revolutionary feature of the e-Tron will be its car-to-x communications system. Car-to-x communication is basically the direct exchange of information to flowing traffic and traffic environment, in order to increase both the vehicles safety, and level of convenience for the driver.

The way it works is the e-Tron can communicate with both the other vehicles on the road, as well as an all mighty traffic god, that will control traffic lights and the various parking garages around a busy inner city. If the e-Tron loses control on an icy road, and spins out of control, it can send a distress call to the traffic behind, telling them to slow down and take precaution.

This technology will also allow the e-Tron to communicate with parking garages, thereby designating where there is room, and where there is not. This will inhibit the wasteful driving pattern of “looking for a spot”, in traditionally crowded city downtown areas. Once a parking place is found, car-to-x can reserve the spot, so that when the driver reaches their destination, it will still be available.

Ain’t technology something…

80201021JF038_AUTO_SHOW, originally uploaded by dinhhuong283

The nature of media warfare is a rather unforgiving beast, such as during a recent press meet where Audi President, Johan de Nysschen, confidently called the GM Volt, I say and I quote, “A car for idiots.” Well, nobody wants to be an idiot, so perhaps the Volt isn’t for me, you say.

Despite the fact that a lot of folks respected the outlandish, bad boy, comment by the Audi President, he has recently appeared back into the eye of the press to further explain his comment. This was kind of disappointing for some, especially considering that in the world of car suits, the most exciting quotes are usually nothing more than a hodgepodge of PR blubber about picking daisy’s and strolling down the yellow brick lane.

It turns out that Nysschen claims that he never really said that. Well, at least that is not exactly what he was meaning to say. What he claims he was really trying to express, is that the immediate viability of such a fine automobile, is not really feasible in this day and age. Not price wise, or when it comes to making any viable progress on the green front, or so he says.

Oh, I do really hate when an off-the-hip comment is cut short by another off-the-hip decision to demeans the first comment to keep oneself politically correct. How can you correct calling someone or something an idiot. You just can’t. His mother must have told him that he wasn’t playing nice and forced him to walk out with a dunce cap on his head and say that he was sorry.

Well, none-the-less, we won’t let that spoil any of our fun. Nysschen clarified that the $40,000 price on the Volt seemed just a little high to him for what you really are getting. This coming from a company whose average price per vehicle is undoubtedly $40,000. He also claims that by switching the emphasis from fuel to coal (electric), manufacturers will only promote more industrial type pollution (coal burning), thus in effect offering little to no positive effect over the greater picture of cleaner air.

We’ve heard all that before. So why is Audi then in the process of developing their own hybrid and electric vehicles? Oh, I guess these just must be for the idiots. Every good company after all has to follow through with the fads of society to remain ahead of the game. In truth, while they are in some development of electric, the real stake in Audi’s future clean air development will be in their clean diesel technology, which they have been promoting like the next sequel to G.I. Joe.

Electric and clean diesel are all heading towards the same goal, so I guess we can close the book on this story for now… That is, until the next round of mud slinging hits the media waves. There’s never a dull moment in cars. Not this year anyway.

Source: Left Lane News