The joy of paying off a car loan

The average middle-class person has three big debts in their life. Their house, their car and a credit card or two. The house is always difficult to get out from under, and carrying credit card debt of more than a couple of hundred dollars or pounds is just idiotic. But a car loan is one of those financial drains tied to a luxury item, and cars are a luxury item. In the world that a lot of my readers live in, I wouldn't be surprised if the household had two cars, but there are obviously places in the world - here at home too - where people just can't afford a car. So it's a luxury item, and taking out a loan on one is something you should only do if you have a chance of paying it off. Two years ago I picked up a new car and took out a car loan on about 50% of the value of it (my trade-in paid for the other half). For two years I've been putting most of my spare money into the loan as additional principal payments, and a few weeks ago I achieved motoring nirvana - a lien release from the credit company, giving me a clean title. ie. I paid off the loan and now I own my car. I can't tell you what a weight that is to be lifted off my shoulders, especially as I'm staring down the barrel of unemployment (a long and torrid story of a company so full of managers and process that we've forgotten how to actually produce anything). I try not to carry much debt on my credit card (singular) but I still have a mortgage. Not having a car payment every month is really nice though. But here's my problem. I'm a car guy and shiny new Precious's always catch my eye. If I'm still employed by this time next year, I just know I'm going to be in the market for a car change, which inevitably will mean a new loan.
So if you're in the percentage of the world's population that owns a car, and you have a loan on it, do everything you can to get out from under that loan. It's a lovely feeling.

The HANS device

With the start of the Formula 1 season just around the corner, I thought it might be informative to explain what the HANS device is. HANS means Head And Neck Support and it's a device that is used in most motorsports now. The name is actually a bit of a misnomer because it doesn't really support anything - it's designed to stop the hyperextension of the neck in a crash.
In a crash it's the speed of the stop that causes most injuries and the HANS device stops the head from snapping forwards or sideways in a severe stop. In the good old days, the large lateral force in a crash would cause the driver's head to be slammed from side to side or forwards and backwards. This was made worse by the added weight of the helmet, making the head behave like a pendulum. Spinal injuries resulted as the neck was over-extended - a severe version of whiplash.
The HANS device is a yoke that sits over the driver's shoulders, and around the back of the neck with a pair of straps up the back that attach to the helmet. When the driver is sitting in the car, where the seatbelt straps pass over the top of the driver's shoulders, they sandwich the HANS device between the straps and the shoulders. As the straps are tightened down, the device becomes held down. In normal use, the straps are long enough to allow the driver to look down and from side to side, but they're short enough that in the even of a crash, as the head moves forward it's held from going too far by the straps.
The entire function of the HANS device relies on the seatbelts - as soon as the seatbelts are undone, the yoke basically just sits over the driver's shoulders which is why it's so easy to put on and take off - you'll see them do it in the pits sometimes.
There are also HANS devices for motorcycle riders and racers but they're a little different. Obviously there's no seatbelt on a motorbike so instead of relying on a belt to clamp the device to the rider's shoulders, this type rely on straps under the rider's armpits to hold the yoke down. From that point on it works exactly the same as the car version, preventing hyperextension of the neck in a crash.
So look for it next time you watch your favourite motorsports and see a driver being strapped into his ride. Most motorsports use them now.
As an ironic footnote, it's worth noting that legendary NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt refused to wear one, arguing that they were uncomfortable and ineffective. He was subsequently killed in a crash that would have been survivable had he been wearing one, and his death forced the HANS device to become mandatory in NASCAR.

What's a new car buyer to do?

A couple of weeks ago one of the comments left on my blog was that most of my posts are to do with things I dislike, and why didn't I write something positive? Well - out here in the real world of motoring, there's not a lot of happy things to write about. Roads are choked. Politicians are legislating cars out of existence. Abominable car designs continue to pour on to the roads. Cars have more and more distractions to stop the driver from concentrating on the job at hand, and the police - by and large - are more interested in stopping people for doing 5mph over the limit than they are in stopping people who are committing properly dangerous offences like lane-hogging, crossing the gore, shooting red lights, jumping railroad crossings and such. However there are some bright spots. In my opinion, Ford is one of them right now. I've always been anti-Ford and anti-GM. I thought they were both purveyors of awful cars. In GM's case that's still true - there's not a single vehicle that company produces that is even slightly appealing. I've always been a VW/Audi fan, or in some cases the odd Honda or Toyota. Ford however have had a turnaround. Over the last few years their European vehicles have become properly decent - they look OK, drive well and have some appeal. With the latest generation now making their way over the pond, if I were in the market for a new car, I'd be seriously looking at Ford right now. I love the Fiesta - it's a pokey little rollerskate that is fun to drive. The new Focus I think looks really good, drives well, handles way above average and has a semi-decent interior. I love the look of the 2013 Fusion - looks super-classy, like an everyman's Aston Martin. And the Kuga (to be called the Escape over here) I think is destined for success based on drives I've taken in the old generation ones in the UK. I think that Ford are also benefiting massively because they didn't take any government handouts. It's not all sunshine and roses though. The Expedition, Explorer and Edge I think come from the old-school Ford where ungainly ugly designs filled with cheap plastic and thirsty engines abound. But as a buyer I wouldn't be in the market for a road-tamed Panzer. I'd be looking for a car - a crossover or compact SUV at the most. Between the Hyundai Veloster, the VW Tiguan, the Fiat 500 and all the new Ford vehicles, I'd be spoiled for choice. Now if only Citroën would bring the DS3 Sport to the US, we'd have some proper competition.

Did you know in some states there's no eye test for the driving licence?

A Couple of months ago, New York became the seventh state to axe eye tests from driving licence renewals. I'm not sure how or why this got suggested or even voted on, but it did. Worse still, eight states allow you to self-certify that you aren't medically blind. In short, as long as you promise you can see OK, you're fine to get a driving licence. Hmmm. The vehicle safety inspection doesn't cover things like brakes and seatbelts, cracked windows, missing body panels, bare tyres or failed suspension, and now there are states that technically don't require you to be able-sighted to get a licence. I'm sure this is all in the name of road safety. Promise you're not blind and NY will renew your driving licence

Also remember the competition to win a CarMD vehicle diagnostic system is still open but only until tomorrow: Win a CarMD

Sunroofs : why?

One of the buying decisions I had to make on a new car a couple of years ago was whether or not to get a sunroof. Actually, it wasn't really a decision because it was pretty clear-cut; there's no point in having a sunroof in a car unless you want years of anguish and problems. In the case of my car, it was even clearer - it had the option of one of those full-length glass roofs with two opening segments - the worst possible combination.
I can understand why manufacturers still put them in though. They're perceived by the buying public as a luxury or nice-to-have feature. The glossy photos in the brochures and on the website look beautiful too because of all the light streaming in from above. But cut to the harsh reality of owning a car with a sunroof: it will leak. I've yet to find a manufacturer capable of building a sunroof that doesn't leak. It will be fine for the first few months of course, especially if you buy it in the summer. But as the weather begins to turn, you'll notice odd creaks and pops from the roof as everything twists and torques when you drive in the cold. Rubber seals will begin to shrink and perish, mechanisms will begin to stiffen and pretty soon you'll find yourself with the odd drip here or there where something won't close properly, or something else isn't sealing quite right. If you live in a snowy environment, there's not a sunroof in existence that can handle a few inches of melting snow sitting on its seals. And then begins the endless number of trips back to the dealer, where they'll never be able to find the problem, but will be able to accidentally unhook one of the drains meaning you'll now have a footwell full of water the next time it rains. Still - when summer comes around again you'll long forget the woes of the constant interior wetness. Now you have to deal with the burning heat of the sun shining into your mobile greenhouse. That's why most sunroofs have covers on the inside, which you'll close in the summer in a desperate attempt to keep the heat down.
In which case, you might as well have not bought a sunroof in the first place.
The salesman at the time I bought my car was mystified by my decision. He was absolutely confident that there was no way the roof would ever leak. After all this was a modern car! Take a look on the forums, go visit a workshop in the rainy season and see how many people are having trouble with leaking sunroofs and then tell me again what the benefits are.

Also remember the competition to win a CarMD vehicle diagnostic system is still open : Win a CarMD

Electric cars and our crumbling infrastructure

The UK minister for transport was quoted last year as saying "if you don't like the rising price of gas, buy an electric cars". This comment was naïve at best and demonstrated a lack of understanding on two fronts. First, power infrastructures in the developed world are crumbling through neglect. Here in America, in England and in many parts of Europe, the power grids are one disaster away from complete failure. Right now they're supplying households and industries quite well but what happens when people start jumping on board and buying electric cars that get plugged in every night to recharge? Do we really think our power infrastructure can handle this? More to the point, until the manufacturers can agree on a common standard for the charging gear, drivers are faced with the prospect of changing their charging equipment as often as they change cars. Only Tesla have come even slightly close to solving this problem by beginning to install their own charging infrastructure around LA.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, making the comment that high fuel prices can be circumvented by buying electric is nonsense. I can guarantee with 100% certainty that when the power companies see enough people using electric cars, the prices will skyrocket, or you'll have to pay an additional "car charging" fee.
I'm sure electric is the way of things to come but it won't be cheap and it won't be plentiful or reliable for decades to come. And until we come up with an even half coherent energy policy, electric cars are essentially still burning fossil fuels, just all in one place (the power station).

Also remember the competition to win a CarMD vehicle diagnostic system is still open : Win a CarMD

2013 Dodge Dart and its videogame dashboard

One of the more intrigueing items on display at the recently closed Detroit auto show was the all-video dashboard for the upcoming Dodge Dart. If you've read my blog for any length of time you'll know I'm not particularly keen on touchscreen controls - stuff you should be able to do without taking your eyes off the road (like changing a/c or fan settings) that gets buried in a menu-driven interface. Dodge have taken this to its logical conclusion with their new dash. The dash itself is a video display - which is sort of neat - but it presents w-a-y the hell too much information - so much so that it's now distracting. Their in-car controls for everything else are now driven with a touch-screen interface, thus showing they've learned nothing from Ford's experience with the MyTouch interface (and it's appalling customer feedback). Dodge have made it so you don't have anything haptic any more - no knobs, no buttons, so you can't even guess where a menu item is. Now they've forced you to take your eyes off the road to look at a screen to do everything. And given how most shiny surfaces in a car react to driving in sunlight, my guess is that a full 50% of the time you won't be able to see what's on the screen meaning it won't just be a quick look-see but a full-fledged moving-the-head-around attempt to see the most basic display. Stupid. See for yourself: Dodge Dart 2013 videogame dashboard

Also remember the competition to win a CarMD vehicle diagnostic system is still open : Win a CarMD