Why is the Mile Maker tonneau cover by Tonneau Masters even worth writing about? Well there surprisingly quite a few reasons. Not all of us have deep pockets with a thick wallet. The Mile Maker tonneau cover by Tonneau Masters is a very economically priced tonneau cover. This truck bed cover must be the lowest price tonneau cover on the market today.

You have the low price for our shallow pockets but are we getting anything for our few but hard earned cash. The Mile maker tonneau has a tough vinyl tarp with fully sewn edges and reinforced corners to keep your tonneau cover snug and long lasting. The snaps that seal the tonneau are made from stainless steel to keep them from rusting.

For this price you must think all you get is a tarp but the mile maker also comes with an all aluminum frame to support your tarp. This will help keep the rain and snow from sagging your tarp. The mile maker tonneau cover installs easily with no drilling by the use of clamps which are included with your purchase. The tonneau rolls up easily to give you quick access to your truck bed.

From everything that I read about this tonneau, people who have purchase this tonneau are very pleased with the look, the way it fit and how easy it was to install. They all loved the price. Some said the instructions were not the greatest and step by step images would be a great improvement, but they still had no problem installing the mile maker tonneau cover.

If you are looking to get all the advantages of most soft tonneau covers, which includes giving your truck a great new look, with today’s gas prices we all want to save gas, protect your cargo from the weather or even protect delicate items from getting torn apart from higher speed winds. Protect your cargo from thieves by keeping it out of sight out of mind. If you are looking to get these advantages at a price anyone with a pickup truck can afford, I would suggest the mile maker tonneau cover to fit the bill.

With the issue of global warming taking on international importance in recent years, unsurprisingly the focus has fallen on car drivers, with cars seen as one of the major contributors towards global warming. Green cars have been held up as a potential solution, one that motorists should be embracing.

But are green cars actually ‘green’?

Firstly, let’s take pure electric cars. Unfortunately these electric cars are anything but good for the environment. The electricity that they run on is produced in power stations, where only 30-40% of the energy is converted into electricity. Transferring this electricity along electric cables then results in a further 30% being lost to heat energy. So by the time this electricity reaches an electric car a huge amount of the energy has already been lost. Good for cutting down inner city pollution but efficient it certainly isn’t.

Recently hybrid cars have been preferred, cars that contain both an electric motor and a petrol engine. The battery for the motor is powered by the energy generated from braking. When it comes to being ‘green’ these cars in theory offer many more environmental benefits.

In practice this isn’t necessarily the case. Consumer magazine Which? tested four hybrid cars by driving them throughout London. The results were disappointing, as mentioned by George Marshall-Thornhill, senior researcher for Which?, “Some of these should have performed much better.” And this is all without mentioning how to dispose of troublesome electric batteries.

Then there’s the cost of hybrid cars. The Toyota Prius is the most popular hybrid car and can be purchased for around £17,000. However, with fuel economy claims in doubt and 55% of people believing that green cars are too expensive, there is still some way to go before green cars arrive on a large scale.

The facts are that green cars use more energy to produce, are harder to dispose of, their fuel economy claims have been doubted, and they are simply too expensive. The age of the green car has not arrived yet.

Over the last decade cars have become increasingly reliable. However, large variations in reliability performance do still exist, and reliability is certainly something that should be considered when purchasing a car and deciding whether a warranty is required. A warranty is a type of insurance policy, meaning that if a covered part suffers a mechanical or electrical failure resulting in a breakdown, the warranty will cover the cost of replacement parts and labour. Therefore there is full peace of mind as you know that you will never be left with a huge repair bill to pay.

Warranty Direct and Motoreasy are the two main providers of warranties in the UK. As a price guideline, a 4 year old Peugeot that has traveled 40,000 miles will cost £230 to cover for one year. However, most cars come with a 3 year warranty and if it doesn’t come as standard then many retailers offer a warranty separately. When deciding whether to purchase a warranty separately you need to consider the reliability of your car.

Warranty Direct have gathered data from millions of pounds worth of claims every year to compile the ‘Reliability Index’, a complete guide to the reliability of cars on the road today. One interesting finding is that 25% of cars suffer mechanical failure at some point between its 4th and 5th year on the road, just as the manufacturer’s standard warranty expires. However, huge variations in reliability do exist, as illustrated by our five best and worst performers below.

Ford come in at number 5, with Suzuki and Honda at positions 4 and 3 respectively. Honda with its ‘The Power of Dreams’ slogan appears to live up to its word with a highly reliable range of cars. Mazda comes in second place, with Skoda, perhaps surprisingly, the most reliable car make on the road today. It wasn’t long ago that Skoda was ridiculed for being extremely unreliable and hard on the eye, but they’ve worked intensively on the reliability of their cars. If you’re concerned about being able to drive from one place to another at any time then consider purchasing a Skoda. ‘Practical and exciting. Don’t see that very often’ – it’s certainly practical and is unlikely to let you down.

Moving on to the top 5 list car manufacturers don’t want to be in, Jaguar comes in at number 5. Known more for its looks and performance rather than reliability, many people would see this as a fair trade-off. Land Rover comes in as the 4th most unreliable car. Derided as a car that is unpractical and unnecessary for city roads it also appears that it is unreliable. With the huge increase in taxes in the UK planned for high polluting vehicles a hard time could be in store for the Land Rover. Next up is Subaru, followed by the Jeep in second position. The jeep was really designed for off-road pursuits so perhaps it isn’t surprising to see it struggling in the reliability stakes as they weren’t originally designed for the roads. Finally, the most unreliable car on the road today is Porsche. If a Porsche is your only mode of transport you may want to consider purchasing another more reliable car or certainly a warranty. Whilst it is a high-performance car Lexus have shown that you can be fast and reliable, as they came in as the 6th most reliable car make on the road.

Therefore if you’re looking for a car purely to get you from one place to another consider purchasing a Skoda. If you’re concerned about performance, speed, and looks then Lexus are certainly worth considering.

If you would like a car that looks almost ordinary, but that is as fast as many supercars, buy the BMW M5. Yes, on the outside, this is an ordinary European sedan – but under the hood is a 500 bhp V-10 engine that you might imagine came from a sports-racing car! Will it do 180 mph? No, it could, but it won’t because BMW uses a limiter to prevent you going faster than 155 mph on all its hot cars. Actually, BMW says it will do over 190 mph without the limiter in operation.

The BMW M5 is powered by a very advanced 5.0 liter V-10 engine, ad fits neatly into the standard engine compartment. This is a very special engine, being built in small numbers and at high cost by BMW’s M Center. It’s a 90-degree V-10, which means that it won’t be quite as smooth as some – in theory, at any rate.

ADVANCED 500 BHP V10 ENGINE

Maximum power is 500 bhp at 7,700 rpm – a real screamer this – while the maximum torque of 380 lb ft is produced at 6,100 rpm. Boy, you’re really going to keep this revving if you want to use all that power. Still, when it’s just mooching along at 4,000 rpm, this amazing unit produces quite a chunk of power.

Needless to say, it has all the features you’d expect in a supercar engine, such as a stiff aluminum block, twin overhead camshafts per bank of cylinders and and narrow 4-valve heads. BMW uses its variable valve timing system, and drives the inlet camshafts on each bank by chain, with a gear drive to the exhaust camshaft, a system pioneered by Toyota to save space.

SEVEN-SPEED SEQUENTIAL GEARBOX

Coupled to this marvel of a power plant, which would seem more at home in a slinky coupe, is a seven-speed sequential gearbox. This is the latest development of the BMW sporty semi-automatic. BMW claims it’s the first seven-speed box of its type. Mercedes-Benz has a seven-speed automatic, and Audi has a CVT with seven stages, but these are not quite the same.

Why all these seven-speed boxes? Well, for maximum acceleration, and so that you have the right gear coming out of any corner, the more gears the better. When you’ve got that many gears, the shift pattern gets pretty complicated with a manual box, so they’re going for either automatics or semi-automatics.

To go with the powerful power train are bigger brakes than standard, wider wheels and tires, and stiffer suspension. The handling is surprisingly good for such an ordinary-looking car.

HOT PERFORMER, QUIET LOOKS

The result of putting this engine in the BMW 5 Series is very hot acceleration for such a big car: 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, and 0-125 mph in 15.6 seconds.

Will people pay over $100,000 or so for a 500 bhp sedan? You bet they will. There are a lot of people out there that want supercar performance, but don’t’ want to have to struggle to get in and out of the car. They also want to travel with plenty of luggage, and have room in the trunk for two sets of golf clubs – and more.

And they’ll get a real kick from burning off cheeky guys in sports cars who get in the way. Cars that are much faster than they look, which we used to call Q cars, have quite a market. What’s it like to drive? Well, at normal speeds, the car is very quiet, and you would not know how power you had. In fact, there is a switch on the steering wheel which limits power to 400 bhp. To get the full 500 bhp, you need to press that.

So, most of the time you’ll drive with 400 bhp, and the problem is that the engine does not have a lot of power until you get to 5,000 rpm, an the power keeps coming in until you get to 8,000 rpm. You need deserted roads to use that power, but the car works pretty well in traffic and normal commuting. Not quite so good in everyday use is the gearbox. It does not have a torque converter, so it can be quite jerky when you shift up.

Selling your car can be surprisingly tricky, particularly if you want to receive the best possible price. Buyers have a huge choice so it’s vital to make sure that your car stands out from the crowd. Some simple tactics, such as making sure you set a fair price, ensuring that your car looks great and using clever negotiation tactics, can be the difference between making a quick sale or being left with an unwanted car on your hands for months.

Setting the Price

Ensuring that you’ve valued your car correctly is the most important aspect when selling a car. Set too high a price and you could end up with a car stuck on your hands for months, whilst setting too low a price will result in a quick sale but knowing that you could have done better. Parkers.co.uk has an excellent used car guide section, where you can quickly receive a reliable price estimate.

Also, take a look through the local classifieds to get a feel for prices. Take into account the number of miles that you car has traveled and whether any extra features have been installed over the years, such as air conditioning or a stereo system.

Preparing the Car

On average clean and polished cars sell for 10% more than the same cars when they are filthy because buyers like to know that the car they are buying has been cared for. Dealers will also pay more for clean cars because it saves them time and money cleaning the car themselves.

For the outside of the car use a good quality car shampoo before polishing the car to create that ‘new car’ shine. Then power spray the tyres and clean alloy wheels. This clean and shiny car exterior will create an excellent first impression.

Use a vacuum cleaner to remove any dust and dirt from inside the car. Dashboards should be cleaned with a ‘low-gloss’ dashboard cleaner. When cleaning the windows remember to be careful around the heater elements in the rear window. Finally, ensure that the car smells nice. In particular remove any cigarette smell.

Where to Advertise

As a generalization when selling a car there are two options available – sell it yourself or sell direct to a dealer. Selling direct to a dealer is a quick and easy way of getting the car off your hands as you don’t have to advertise, deal with buyers, or take the risk of being unable to sell your car for months, during which time your car continues to devalue. Companies such as webuyanycar.com will provide an instant quote online for the majority of used cars.

The downside with selling to a dealer is that you’re unlikely to receive the best possible price. Advertising and selling the car yourself is more time consuming but can also be more profitable. eBay Motors has become one of the most popular ways of buying and selling a used car, so much so that a car is now sold every 2 minutes through the site. When selling through eBay make sure that you include a lot of information about the car along with a couple of photos.

Negotiating the Price

When potential buyers take a look at your car and decide that they are seriously interested in purchasing it the chances are that they will attempt to negotiate the price. This is to be expected because buyers like to think that they are getting a good deal as well. Therefore have a target price and lowest acceptable price in mind before you enter negotiations. If the two offers are some way apart then a moment of silence is often the best tactic. People find silence uncomfortable and awkward, often resulting in them making a compromise offer half way between the two valuations. It’s at this point that you can propose meeting half way between your offer and the new offer, gaining yourself a better deal.

Completing the Deal

Once a price has been agreed the deal still needs to be completed. Ask the buyer for their ID, address, and landline number because sometimes things go wrong in which case it’s good to have a way to contact them. If paid by cheque only let the buyer drive the car away once it has cleared. Finally, write a receipt stating that you are selling the car, and include the details of the car, yourself and the buyer. Write on the receipt ‘accepted as tested and seen’ to cover yourself against any future claims for damages. Then have the receipt signed by both yourself and the buyer, after which a successful sale will have been achieved.

America’s hotrod scene has been one of its most unique features and subcultures since the earlier 1900s, and most notably in the 1950s. Enthusiasts would spend countless time and money modifying, tuning, and driving their cars so that they could be the fastest, the most dangerous, and gain the most respect. A resurgence of this culture appeared when small economy cars were modified, and in the 1990s, the “Tuner” crowd was born.

Now the same enthusiasts are shifting from speed and power to efficiency and distance.

One-by-one, back yard mechanics and former racers are beginning to modify their cars for gas mileage instead of horsepower. In this game, less is more, and the person with the smallest car, the smallest engine, and the fewest horses powering their vehicle usually win. Surprisingly, it’s not just the fiscally responsible adults that are concerned about fuel economy, but young enthusiasts are also jumping on the bandwagon.

A quick look at websites like http://GasSavers.org will show you hundreds of people all interested in modifying their cars to make them more efficient. That is where Matt Todhunter, who at one time spent more than $12,000 to make his car fast, now goes to talk about making his car efficient.

“I wanted to be unique again,” says Todhunter, “…and I wanted to straighten up my finances. I knew that I’d never be able to stop modifying cars, so I figured I’d do something that was much less expensive yet still goal oriented. I still get to tinker with my car, it’s ALWAYS a challenge, and I haven’t gotten a speeding ticket in a long time.”

Enthusiasts like Matt Todhunter are becoming more and more common, and they are even beginning to earn the respect of the hotrodders, who are often amazed by the accomplishments these fuel economy fanatics are capable of achieving.

Many of the crossovers from the racing crowd are able to apply the same principles to fuel economy. “Most of the modifications are the same,” says Joe Gardner, another fuel economy enthusiast. “Racers and people interested in fuel economy both want lighter, smaller cars that are aerodynamic and ultra efficient. The only major difference is that we want small engines and they want big ones.”

Considering the similarity in process, procedure, and mentality of modifying for speed and gas mileage, it is also no surprise that many speed enthusiasts are beginning to have two cars: one car modified for fuel economy as their daily driver, and another car modified for speed for their “fun” car.

While America’s obsession with speed will most likely never end, this new breed of auto enthusiast will most certainly be a driving force in their future choice of transportation. As the fuel economy movement gains more momentum, it would be no surprise at all of this became the next “big thing” for car lovers.

Many argue that dealership prices are 4 to 6 times higher than local shops. This is farfetched. That would mean that $100 at a local shop would be $400 to $600 at a dealership. Dealerships aren’t run by the sharpest businessmen, but this kind of pricing discrepancy would put dealers out of business, fast. The sources calculating such pricing gaps are never quoted, so I am not sure from where such data comes, but let’s look at what’s really going on.

First, 98 % of ALL service centers are overcharging. This includes dealerships, local shops and franchises. Stating that dealerships charge four to six times higher unfairly singles out this portion of the industry. We need to watch out for every type of service facility. While it’s always easier to focus on the big, faceless name of a dealership, it’s unwise. Your local mechanic who you pass in the grocery store is just as likely to rip you off.

Surprisingly, in many respects, a dealership is often less expensive. To be clear, I am not siding with dealerships. Again, no matter what type of facility one services a vehicle, some type of price-gouging will occur. Having said that, here are some common myths about dealership prices.

MYTH 1: The parts are more money.

This is not true. Dealers, for the most part, stick to MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price) guidelines. Guidelines, as abused as they are, are better than none. Local shops have no guidelines. They can charge whatever they want.

We’ve all been taught that aftermarket parts are less expensive than factory/MSRP parts—this is not true. A frequent “case in point” is air filter prices. Below is a sample from one of many actual invoices:

Dealership/MSRP Price: $17.00 (factory fiber filter) Local Shop/Aftermarket Price: $32.00 (aftermarket paper filter)

Tip…always compare you’re aftermarket part price against MSRP, you’ll be surprised just how much your local garage is charging you for inferior parts.

MYTH 2: The labor “time” is higher.

Actually, many dealers follow manufacturer recommendations and industry standard multipliers. In other words, they’re not just shooting from the hip. The labor time (i.e., how long it takes to repair something—1, 2, 3 hours…etc.) may be lower than the resulting times from the labor price-gouging tricks practiced by your local garage.

This is not to say that dealers don’t practice labor tricks—they’re the masters! It is to say that they are more inclined to follow suggested guidelines.

MYTH 3:

Dealers always rip people off.

In the automotive service industry, every type of service center rips you off, dealers are no exception.

What are the perks of going to automotive school, and why are people attending automotive school in higher numbers than ever before? The answers are surprisingly random in the fact that people have many different reasons for attending automotive school. The common bond between the students is they all made the leap to take these classes, and get a degree, or certification that will help them in the future.

Obviously most people attend automotive school in order to earn a certification that will help them find work. The major point of any technical school is to offer its student body a way to get certified in any number of jobs, or trades worldwide. Most people that attend are involved in the school for this reason. Gaining a certification will lead to a better chance to get the job that works for you.

Earning an automotive school degree, or certification will provide valuable training for one to use both personally, and professionally. Personally there won’t be a thing wrong with your car that you won’t at least have some idea how to fix. The school of your choice will teach you how to identify most any problem, and further provide instruction on how to fix the problem. This alone can save you thousands of dollars in service, and repair costs at a local shop.

Further, automotive school can prepare you for a career doing what you love to do, repairing cars, and trucks. The great thing about this type of education is that it is created to meet the working persons time constraints. This means that you can take classes in the evenings, or even on the weekend. Some schools are now online, and this adds another way that people can take courses in automotive school.

The technology used is as up to date as possible, and provides state of the art training on how to diagnose, and fix vehicles of all kinds. With the sophistication of automobiles today, it is important to attend an automotive school that is up to date in it’s courses, and material they use for instructing students.

Another important thing to look for when searching for an automotive school is the experience of the instructors. Do the instructors have a lot of experience fixing cars? Or are the instructors new to the trade? The answer to this question will certainly help in any search for a quality automotive school. The instructors should have vast experience fixing cars, and working with students as well. The most effective instructors are those that can both instruct, and relate to students as they take on the tasks that automotive school presents to them. Finally it is important to look for a training program where other students have successfully found jobs after completing their courses. Most automotive schools will offer some type of career assistance, which is imperative for this type of program. The entire point of automotive school is to obtain a career in the industry, and thus career services in an integral part to the mix. Make sure that the program of your choice provides career services, and job placement if at all possible. Once a job is in place, and the money starts to come in, life becomes a lot easier and fulfilling. For those students with families who will need to work during training to support the household, look for a automotive school that will work around your schedule. There should be plenty of programs that will offer this service.

If you have a burning desire to repair automobiles, it’s time to take a look at what automotive school can do for you.