Top Five Small and Fuel Efficient Cars

Petrol prices have been soaring since last year and as a result many motorists look towards new ways of reducing the cost of owning a car. One way of doing this is to swap your existing car with something which is more economical. And according to some figures, swapping to a smaller more fuel efficient car is what 1 in 20 car owners have done. In addition to make savings on fuel, buying a smaller car can also save you money on road tax and the London Congestion Charge as both are calculated on the basis on your car’s engine size.

Currently the top five most economic vehicles to get are the Fiat 500 TwinAir, The Smart Fourtwo Coupe, the Toyota IQ, the Nissan Pixo and the Ford Ka.

The Fiat 500 TwinAir only emits 95 g/km of CO2 and has a combined fuel economy of 68.9 mpg. The 0.9-litre petrol engine has been popular amongst London celebs because of its quirky yet stylish looks. It’s also fairly cheap with prices starting at £9,465.

The Smart car has a three-cylinder 1.0-litre engine and saves fuel with stop/start technology which cuts the engine at traffic lights. It emits 97 g/km and is thus, like the Fiat 500, exempt from the London Congestion Charge. Fuel economy is around 67.3 mpg. It is however, only a two seat car and thus considerably smaller than some of its rivals.

Number three on the list, the Toyota IQ, comes in several sizes, including a two-seat version. It emits less than 100g/km of CO2 and does around 65.7 mpg.

The Nissan Pixo is a fourth vehicle worth taking a look at. It’s the cheapest car in the top five with a price tag of around £7,150 but with CO2 emissions at 103g/km it’s not exempt from the London Congestion Charge.

The Ford Ka comes in at number five of the top five most economical cars to get but if you’re young it’s apparently the best car to get as it’s the cheapest car to insure for young drivers, irrespective of whether you buy a new or a used Ford. London dwellers won’t benefit from no congestion charge as the car emits around115 g/km of CO2 so over the 100g/km threshold but with a fuel economy of 57.7 mpg and low insurance costs, it’s still a great option. And some say it’s also the most fun car to drive out of all five.

Pushing your car to the limits with the Mustang performance chip

Have you ever been driving and realize that your car just doesn’t have the power you thought it should, or that the gas milage is far less than what you want? Contemporary automobiles are always pushing the envolope on what is possible, or so it seems, but at the same time continuously falling short on what is actually possible. Why is this, and is there anything that can be done about it?

The truth is, even if you have a beautiful car like a brand new Mustang, there are still ways you can enhance the effectiveness and performance of what it is able to do on the road. This can be achieved by using performance chips.
A Mustang performance chip is a tuning device designed to enhance what your vehicle can do by getting access to the systems run by the engine control unit (ECU). This has proved, when done correctly, to be an effective method of modifying what the car can do from both a power, and an efficiency perspective.

Even thought they were first brought onto the market back in the late 70s, they have since become increasingly popular. You can find performance chips for nearly every brand of vehicle available, whether it is a classic muscle car or a new F150 truck. These chips have the remarkable ability to give you complete control over each of your car’s functions and then adjust them to work in the most efficient way possible. This includes things like your electronic throttle, fuel injection, automatic transmission and your highly important engine spark timing.

The real benefits that you can receive by using a Mustang performance chip are not something arbitrary. There are drivers who claim that using a Mustang performance chip has given them the ability to enhance their cars power by adding as much as 60 horsepower. There are also those who say it has been possible to give themselves seven miles to the gallon more in fuel efficiency.

Although the Mustang performance chip is an extremely effective tool, it is important to realize that every time you change something with in your vehicle there can be unintended consequences. The manufacturer of your automobile has set these systems to work in a general way to best accommodate the widest number of people, situations, and locations. If you change some of these settings it may be necessary for you to compensate by using a higher octane of gas. With out doing so you may actually cause your Mustang to get a reduced amount of power or economy rather then increasing it.

Over all adding a Mustang performance chip to your vehicle can truly give you control over what you are able to do, and in the end not only add to its ability to drive, but also save you money.

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Driver Safety: Good Health and the Comfort of Driving Gloves

We take it for granted that we can jump into our family sedan and automatically become a good driver. Fact is, most of us cannot drive to save ourselves. We don’t realize the important relationship between good health and driver safety. For example, like a drug, fatigue behind the wheel can kill you. The knowledgeable motorist will check his physical condition before taking the wheel.

Driving a car can make demands on a driver. He/She must be in just as good health as the automobile. Now, don’t worry, you don’t have to have a body like Vin Diesel in “Fast Five”. But, a minimum standard of well-being in body and mind is essential. If you are thinking of driving 200 miles and the car is a bit dodgy, you might say, “well, not sure if the car will make it, steering’s been a bit shaky lately”. On the other hand, if YOU were in the same condition as the car, you would not think twice about getting behind the wheel.

If you are tired, upset, got a headache or the flu and dosed up with antihistamines or tranquilizers, then you are a mobile timebomb! You are an accident waiting to happen! You have put your driving skills to the ultimate test and you’re gonna lose!

But, if you enjoy a state of good health with clear vision and you are able to buckle your seatbelt by yourself, then the threat on the road to yourself, your passengers and other motorists is greatly diminished. Not many of us collapse at the wheel because of a killer disease, but the threat to road safety from minor complaints is something very real and we must be judgmental enough to be able to calculate our condition.

Basically, the requirements by law as far as fitness is concerned is only that you are able to read the 6 inch letters at the end of the office and are able to fill out the application form. It is entirely our own responsibility to assess our own health as we would the road-worthiness of our car.

Now, here is a general rule of how to combat a sudden illness while driving:

1. Heart Attack – if you should ever be unlucky or unhealthy enough or just plain too old to drive, and have a heart attack while driving, generally you are not going to die straight away! Pull over to the side of the road and don’t drive for 3 months.

2. Migraine – if you feel a migraine coming on while driving, symptoms can be nausea and double vision, then stop immediately. Take off your leather driving gloves, sit down on the grass verge in the lotus position and practice deep meditation with forefingers and thumbs touching.

3. Anxiety Attack – if you feel an anxiety attack coming on while driving, you may suffer from memory loss, so pull over immediately and make sure you have recorded your trip on your SatNav, because you will have forgotten where you came from.

4. Schizophrenic Attack or other Psychosis – if you about to have a psychotic episode while driving, pull over immediately and tell your mother-in-law to hide all the picnic cutlery.

5. Alcohol & Drug Dependency – if you think that going for a nice long drive in the countryside is the best treatment for your self-imposed, cold turkey, substance abuse, withdrawal program, then you’re wrong! Tell your wife to take over the driving, get in the back seat, crack a few beers and read some magazines.

The object of this article is to give you food for thought. Eat good healthy food, drive safely and enjoy the machine that has brought us so much joy in the pleasurable pursuit of going somewhere!