But that is not the kind of answer that those people asking the question of “what do I drive” are looking for. My daily driver is now an 2001 Audi S4 Avant (Wagon) and yes that is quite the about face from from my Honda Heritage. Why… because there are very few cars that excite me and none of them are currently coming from Honda. When we hired Terry our Audi Technician I started test driving all kinds of Audi’s and fell in love with the way they drive. Now I have all the power of a NSX, all wheel drive and the ability to pick up the kids and get groceries at the same time. A winning combination if you are asking me?

cheers
Lou

I was a young technician at a local GTA Honda dealer in the early 90’s so this car has a special place in my heart.  To me it showed off Honda’s engineering and manufacturing team and it was during this period that Japanese auto manufacturers really started taking a bite out of North American sales.

To be fair, that ’92 Accord was a technological dinosaur compared to today’s standards, but most vehicles made by Honda and Toyota were at their best during this period and they haven’t really managed to recapture that same magic.  The magic I’m referring deals with the fit and finish,  ergonomics and reliability.   Other than the rust factor, the ’92 Honda Accord was simply indestructible, your teenage son could beat this car every Friday night and hand the keys back to mom without her having a clue as to the torture it had just been subjected.   Comparatively, I now know exactly when J’r. is behind the wheel by just watching mom and dad’s repair bills skyrocket.

So are today’s cars better?   Well, technology marches on and 20 years is a life time in the electronics industry.   Advanced crumple zones, multitudes of occupant air bags, traction control and advanced ABS all make today’s vehicle  much safer.  Traveling from A to B is also going to use far less fuel and who can live without their bluetooth and GPS enabled dashboards.

So I guess we can conclude that today’s cars are better, but are they cheaper to maintain?   A gigantic no on this one.    Manufacturer cost cutting measures mean that many pieces once made of aluminum are now made out of plastic.

Those monster 19 inch wheels may look great in the show room but the fact is most of those tires are “V” rated and will be worn out in less than 60,000 kilometres.  Wait until you get the replacement bill on a set of tires.  In order to get all the electronic modules like your bluetooth radio and GPS talking to each other we need digital modules to direct all the electronic traffic.  Technician skill level is at an all-time high (labour rates reflect skill level) and eventually you will feel the pocket book pain once the shielding of the auto manufacturer warranty has expired.

I could go on and on but I think you get the point.   I’d love to take the ‘92 Accord around the block for nostalgia purposes but it’s the ’12 Accord for the win.  I guess I’m a sucker for all the features on the new car and I’m willing to live with the maintenance costs, but then again I don’t pay myself to fix my own car.

Every year during this time, I have countless conversations with customers over the importance of winter tires.  While perceptions are slowly changing, resistance still seems inherent to some.  My main argument has always been centered around the stopping distance advantage that a car equipped with winter tires has over a vehicle with all season tires. How many close calls did you have last winter?   Assume for a second that you could stop your car 20-30 ft sooner than the car in front of you.  What’s that worth to you?  The Ministry of Transportation in Quebec supports justification of their mandatory snow tire law stating that the use of winter tires shortens stopping distance by 25% and reduces fender-benders by 38%.

The fact is that below 7ºC all season tires start to show the first signs of loss of traction, at -5ºC they are essentially useless.   Enter the winter tire, engineered to start functioning at these lower temps.  These tires are made from special compounds designed to grip the road in the snow, the freezing rain and even those sunny yet bitterly cold dry pavement days.

There are countless other arguments that can be made coaxing you into a set of winter tires including various highly technical articles (here are a couple of my simpler favorite pitches).

Most drivers have an insurance deductible that is $500 or greater.  Lets assume for a second that the car you are following one fine winters day is equipped with a full set of winter tires, suddenly that car needs to perform a “Hello… what are they thinking” panic stop.  It has a 20-30 ft stopping advantage, you don’t.  Uh-oh, guess who just rear ended that brand new BMW.   Your insurance company is going to love you.   The cost of your  insurance deductible would have  paid for your tires and as an added bonus you’re going to have to pay larger premiums over the next few years.  As a side note, most insurance companies now offer a discount when you are have a set of winter tires installed.

Argument #2 is regarding longevity, you are switching between two sets of tires giving  the other set a break 6 months of the year, translating into half the wear and doubling their life span.

Yes, unfortunately there is an up front cost, but it’s justifiable.   Most people have the thought process that when they buy a set of winter tires that they are spending for a luxury item which simply isn’t the case.  I have sold countless sets of winter tires based on my sales pitch… I have yet had a single person come back and tell me that they feel their hard earned cash was wasted on winter tires.

There are so many things in life that I can’t control.  What I can control I will.  My family will never be without a car sporting winter tires, even if it were only one time per winter.

So now I try to work with St John Ambulance at least once a year and  host a car seat installation clinic using the wonderful volunteers from St John Ambulance.  I am a registered car seat tech with them so it gives me a day to brush up and  catch up on the latest car seat scuttle butt.

So here are some facts and install tips from St John Ambulance to help you figure out if you are in the “pass” group.

In Canada, every year 30 children between the age of 0-4 are killed in vehicle crashes, an additional 2866 are injured.  There is statistical evidence that shows that proper car seat use decreases the likelihood of injury by %70 and fatality by %90.    The St John ambulance training guide also states that less than %10 of car seats are installed correctly.  I figure my clients are at %40 because I have personally installed hundreds of their car seats.

0-20lbs (9kg) Rear facing… this is a minimum defined by Transport Canada.. In reality keeping your child rear facing at least to 22 lb (10kg) and the ability to walk should be the minimum.

20 – 65lbs (9 – 30kg) Forward Facing… when the child has the ability to walk and meets the minimum weight requirements.   The tether strap must be installed when forward facing.

40 – 80 lbs (18-36kg) Boosters… vehicle seat belts do not sit properly over the pelvis, abdomen and shoulder of children at this stage without the use of a properly fitted booster.  40 lbs is a minimum and if your child is not large enough to fit properly in a booster you can keep them in their car seat.  Check your cars seat owners manual for exact weight limitation.

>80lbs (36kg) Seat Belts… congrats you might be ready to get rid of the booster.  Check to make sure the seat belt rides over the abdomen and shoulder correctly paying particular attention that it does not sit across the child’s face.

Car seats cannot be in the front seat of a vehicle equipped with a SRS air bag system unless the vehicle has the ability to defeat (turn off) the passenger air bag system.

The safest place for your child is the rear centre posistion.

Your car seat may have a recall, please check it at the manufactures web site.

Your car seat has an expire date stamped on it… if you can’t find it that means its really old and shouldn’t be used… also don’t buy used seats unless you know the previous owners really well and the seat has not been in involved in an accident. Hell don’t be cheap, your kid deserves a new seat more than you deserve a new flat screen TV or Ipod.

My wiggle test consists of this:

The car seat is to have absolutely no movement forward/backwards, and I mean no movement.  When I’m tightening a car seat I kneel in and put my full weight into it so as to make it as tight as humanly possible.  You want the seat to be as tight  as if it came manufactured there.  Side to side movement should be no more than 1 inch.

Hope this helps… if all else fails “read the owners manual”  If you are  still unsure come to one of St John days or if you can’t make that call us and schedule an appointment with me and I’ll check it for you…

**disclamer** the above is generalized info that I have condensed to fit into this small blog… Do your own research as well.

There is loads of info at Transport Canada’s website…

cheers

Lou

When I was younger lad I loved to build my model airplanes and helicopters.   I mean, I did have a certain place for autos but airplanes and helicopters were my thing.    Cars were in third place.. makes you wonder how I got into the automotive trade, doesn’t it?    I grew up in Sault Ste Marie Ontario and we  never ever saw any kind of exotic cars on the road.   A Porsche 911 was the only thing I ever managed to approach in a parking lot with awe.   However, there was an abundance of muscle cars…  it seemed like every young man of driving age that pined for something cool ended up with a Chevy Chevelle with big fat rear tires and a cam shaft with more lift than push up bra.  I mean the cars could barely stay running the cam shafts were so lumpy…

Then one day at the hobby store I spotted a model of a Ferrari 365 convertible, yeah the one that eventually became famous by Don Johnson and his famous facial stubble on Miami Vice.  I begged mom for it and I discovered a world of cars outside of North American Iron.  Not that I have a problem with North American cars, I just have no love for them.  Ferrari’s and Lotus’ and Carol Shelby 427 Cobra’s.. were my thing…

So to present day… I get to drive a fair amount of cool cars and own one, too.   I now have this far off in the distance appreciation of old Ferrari’s.  I’m not sure I would ever want to own one, who am I kidding?  Of course I would.

Danielle, my eight year old daughter came into work with me today so that she could get some un-interrupted  computer gaming time away from her younger sister and I think to myself wouldn’t it be cool to take her for a spin in the 82 Ferrari 308 GTS that is in for service?  I get my camera out to record this momentous occasion and off we go all the while I’m  explaining to her how cool this is… In addition, this is the first time Danielle has ever sat in the front seat of a car because everything we drive day to day has front airbags and she has to sit in the back.  So a double wammy..right?   Well of course nothing works out the way we think it is going to…  Danielle’s response after the drive…”Yeah so, its red”.  And back to her Nintendo she goes.

Interesting car in this week,  definitely on the “you don’t see everyday” list.   It’s amazing what people have stashed away in their garages.  Here is no exception… a relatively clean Porsche 912.   The 912 was an entry level model brought out in 1965 to bridge the gap between the 356 and the 911.  It featured the chassis and body work of the 911 and the 4 cylinder engine from the 356.  It initially out sold the 911 and was in production from 65 to 69.

This car was towed in last week as a no start having not been on the road in 6-7 years.  Overall the condition of the car is pretty reasonably considering its 45 years old.  Before it was parked it had some fairly extensive work done to it like the brand new tires (now 7 year old tires) that still have the stickers left on them.

I’m about to take it out for a spin, I’ve driven lots of 911’s but this will be my first 912.  I’ll try to get some video coverage.

Oh well, who cares about the old stuff lets talk about the new stuff.

Enter the new, the bold, the handsome, the Brad Pitt of alignment technology.

The John Bean Arago V3d

The list of what this thing does is far to long and you probably don’t care either, all you need to know is that starting in a week or two we are going to be sporting the best darn alignment machine in the industry. Got a spare $32.000?  Yes, we are going to be paying this off  for a little while.

When we checked in last, we saw the Super 7 being pulled up and onto a flat bed tow truck as I wasn’t about to take any chances driving it home.  I do wish I had the foresight to grab my video camera though because it sounded really bad and I know you would have loved to hear it.  We got it home to All About Imports in time for me to jump into my Audi and high tail it back to the auto cross event for couple of last minute runs with the Audi.  So the day wasn’t a complete waste.

Monday morning I said a quick prayer and proceeded to pull the valve cover off hoping to find some pesky little valve train piece sitting neatly and conveniently waiting for me to simply re insert and drive away.   (This would be a good time to insert Aerosmith’s “Dream On” as my theme song of the moment.)  This is where I admit to an error that I probably made 8 years ago.   This car still uses (almost antique) Weber carbs,  and for some reason (years ago) I left a stud ( a stud is a bolt without a head)

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that I was not using go un-attended without a locking nut on it to keep it in place.  Don’t get me wrong, it was tightened 8 years ago but without the locking nut it eventually worked itself free and proceeded to get sucked into the engine.   Like the “Magic Bullet” from Oliver Stones “JFK” movie it got past the air filter horns into the cylinder head, then down to the intake valve where it got stuck there for a bit and damaged the intake valve, then finally it broke free from there and dropped into the combustion chamber where my custom made flat top pistons pounded it a few dozen times and then finally ejected (almost) into the exhaust valve seat  where it got stuck in its final resting position causing  that valve to stay open (when it shouldn’t be) and cause more damage there…  wheeewww that was a mouth full…

So now I wait for the machine shop to tell me whether or not we can save/repair all the damaged parts..

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I’ll get back to you on that…