When you are shopping for a second hand vehicle, you will want to carefully pre-screen the cars you are interested in buying before you leave home. If you have a list of questions to ask when buying a used car, you can save a lot of time and energy. The reason for this is that it is much more efficient to call ten people who have a car for sale and ask them the right questions, than it is to drive across town to look at one vehicle for sale.

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The Honda CR-V is a vehicle that has already been in the automotive industry since the year 1996. This year could be considered as its tenth year in the industry. This vehicle is a compact crossover sport utility vehicle and it has been built in only one body style which is the sport utility vehicle that holds five doors. The Mazda Cx-7, Subaru Forester, Toyota RAV4, and the Mitsubishi Outlander are the vehicles that can be considered as the tough contenders of the Honda CR-V in the race to the top.

Now, the Honda Motor Corporation has sent out the newest Honda CR-V out to the industry. According to the company, this new vehicle is actually one that would give you a good driving experience. Plus, it comes with much improved levels in its equipment, instruments, and features. Of course, Honda made sure that the newest Honda CR-V has the best parts Honda as well as the latest technology in safety. This September 28th, you may want to watch out for the public unveiling of this vehicle during the upcoming Paris Auto Show.

Compared to the previous versions of this crossover sport utility vehicle, the new one would hold a lower center of gravity. Honda also claims that this new one would be boasting of a wider stance plus quite a number of significant changes to its steering and suspension geometry. The company also boasts that this new Honda CR-V would also be having a far faster and quicker response. It also holds directional stability plus a much better agility because of the changes that were done to the vehicle’s chassis. And all these changes all round off to a better and more enhanced handling of the vehicle.

Honda made sure that this Honda CR-V would not only be fitted for on road travails. You see, the company also boasts that even if you use this one for off road adventures, the Honda CR-V would make the whole experience quite remarkable and unforgettable.
Source:
Tom Bailey is a consultant for one of the country’s leading auto parts stores. He is also an editor of a reputable publishing company in his area.

Michael Schumacher has no plans to stop earning a lot of money, according to the retiring Ferrari driver’s long time manager. Willi Weber told newspaper ‘Bild am Sonntag’ that his goal is to make the seven time world champion an ‘advertising emperor’ in the years following his final race on the grid in China next month. He revealed: ”Most of our existing partners will stay with us, and we will also be working on the next super deals.” Personal sponsors DVAG, Shell and Omega have already renewed their deals with 37-year-old Schumacher.

The Sunday newspaper also reckoned that, even from his mansion in countryside Switzerland, Schumacher could earn more in 2007 – up to $26 million in total – than his brother Ralf, world champion Fernando Alonso and Ferrari replacement Kimi Raikkonen. His total fortune has reportedly surpassed $800m.

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This past weekend I attended the highly anticipated Ultimate Street car challenge checking out the best cars SA has to offer! There were loads of different cars competing for the title of SA’s fastest car including Lotus’, BMW’s, Mercedes and VW golf’s. There was even a highly modified Mitsubishi Evo 8 and a Noble which sadly crashed in the first super stage which left the crowd wiping the tears out of there eyes, it was a real shame seeing probably the favourite go out of the competition so early. The Kleeman v8 Mercedes did over 260 km/h on the 800m top end run which is slightly slower than the Ferolli brother’s twin engine golf.

The event was a huge success, mad respect goes out to the guys at Savspeed i.e. Sav himself, for bringing out the best cars in the land to one spot and exposing some of the supercar talent South Africa has.
With just over R30 000 of cash and sponsored prizes up for grabs this is one of Africa’s biggest street car challenges.

Results will be out soon and we will soon find out which car is the best street car in the land.

Check the pictures out at the ZoopedUp.com Forum

Tyres will be tortured, skills will be pushed to the limit and ego’s will be on the line this weekend when 80 of South Africa’s most accomplished drivers compete in the final round of the Ultimate Street Car Challenge for this year on the 16 and 17 September. The drivers and their cars will be challenged over seven different events to finally determine the victor.  

The hugely popular challenge has developed into a hotly contested event that sees drivers spending a huge amount of time and money in preparing purpose built cars to challenge for the prestigious title of being the best across the events, which include a gymkhana, drag run, circuit race, top speed run and a rally stage.

Wesbank Raceway will, as always have a lot to offer spectators from a spinning demonstration, Petrol Heads Pub & Restaurant, a flea market and jumping castles to name just a few. Admission is R30/adult per day, or R40/adult for a weekend pass. Racing starts at 8:45am on both days and will go on the till late. For Further information call Troy on 082 576 1178 or go to www.wesbankraceway.co.za for details.

WesBank Raceway is situated off the N3 on Rand Airport Road in Germiston.

Details of South Africa’s tough new measures to remove dangerous drivers from the road by suspending or revoking their licences have been revealed.

The new system will be introduced in Pretoria on September 1 and then extended throughout the country.

Every driver will be awarded 12 points. If you lose those points through 12 demerits in a year, your licence will be suspended. After three suspensions, your licence will be cancelled.

So strict are the new regulations that you could have your driver’s licence suspended immediately if, for example:
· You’re caught speeding.
· You’re not wearing a seatbelt.
· Your car’s tail lights are not in working order.
· You left your licence at home.

And in addition to losing your licence, you will be slapped with a stiff fine.

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Consumer Reports has tested the vehicles that it has purchased. And they are checking the range of expensive machines. And what they found out was that the Porsche 911 took earned the right to be called one of the best vehicles there is in the market. In fact, it topped the list of vehicles of Consumer Reports’ list of high performance sports vehicles and cars.

David Champion is the senior director of the Auto Test Center of Consumer Reports. He even assesses the Porsche 911 by saying, “The 911 wowed us enough with its acceleration, handling, and braking for us to rate it our top sports car. The 911 is also easy to drive, but its much less expensive Boxster sibling performed almost as well.”

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Today in the Atomic Labs we’ll be going through the installation of an atmospheric blow-off valve (BOV). So what, exactly, is this valve thingy and what does it do?

On a turbocharged engine, when the turbo spools up it pressurises the intake system – from the compressor, past the throttle body and through the inlet manifold, forcing more air into the combustion chambers. This is how a turbo produces more power, but I’ll go into the specifics in a later article.

When you take your foot off the accelerator pedal, the throttle body closes – the stream of pressurised air created by the turbocharger is now cut off from the inlet manifold. The only way it can escape is back up the intake stream, surging into the turbo compressor. This reversal of intake charge pulse can put additional strain on the turbo components, as well as reducing the compressor wheel’s rotational velocity. This means that the turbo will take longer to spool up when the throttle is opened again.

A valve placed before the throttle body cures this problem by allowing the pressurised charge to escape the intake system, keeping the compressor spinning and reducing turbo lag. I won’t go into the specific details of how the valve opens when needed, but if you want to know more then email me. Many turbocharged cars come with such a valve from the factory, but they are recirculator valves rather than BOVs – the compressed air that escapes is plumbed back into the intake before the turbo. BOVs vent this air to the atmosphere instead.

So why install an aftermarket BOV? They provide improved throttle response and can hold much higher boost levels compared to the factory-fitted version, and as a bonus because they vent to the atmosphere they provide that sought-after “psssht” sound when shifting gear or free-revving. Plus they look damn cool, if that’s your thing. (more…)