Ten Most Fascinating Automobile Trivia

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bmw, cadillac, cadillac v16, cars, chrysler, corvette, ford mustang, holmes wrecker, horch museum, macpherson strut, rolls-royce, Transportation, wheel drive cars

1938 Horch car displayed at the Horch Museum

1. Back in 1900, a new car company named Horch appeared in Germany, founded by former Benz engineer August Horch. He didn’t get along with his directors and, when he left nine years later, the company took legal action to prevent him from putting his name on any new automobile. Horch roughly translates to “listen,” so he used the Latin version: Audi.

2. The MacPherson strut is a spring/shock absorber combination used on the front suspension of most of today’s front-wheel-drive cars. It was invented in 1947 by Chevrolet engineer Earle S. MacPherson for the rear suspension of a planned compact model called the Cadet. The car was never built, and a disappointed MacPherson left GM and moved to England to work for Ford.

3. From 1956 to 1959, you could order your Chrysler with a record player. You got six discs with the car and could buy more from the dealer, but your choices were limited to artists signed with Columbia, which made the unique records that worked with the player. They tended to skip over bumps and didn’t work very well, and disappeared for 1962.

4. The first Chevrolet Corvette, introduced for 1953, didn’t have any outside door handles. It was a soft-top roadster that also lacked side windows, so you simply reached inside to unlatch the door.

1938 Cadillac V16 Fleetwood

5. Henry Ford started two unsuccessful companies before hitting his mark with the third, the one that exists today. His second company was taken over by its board and run by director Henry Leland, who renamed it Cadillac to build cars of his own design. After selling Cadillac to General Motors, Leland started Lincoln, which Ford eventually purchased.

6. Studebakers were built in Hamilton for two years after the automaker closed in the U.S. in 1964. Because the government now considered it a Canadian automaker, it could import cars duty-free. To make extra money, the cash-strapped company bought Volkswagens in Germany and sold them to VW Canada. Even with Studebaker’s markup, the cars cost less than what VW would have paid to bring them in. Studebaker also tried to distribute Japanese cars but the deal fell through, partly due to a Studebaker board member on the advice of his law partner: future U.S. president Richard Nixon.

Importer Charles Rolls and his engineer Henry Royce decided to join hands and worked together on a venture. A year later, the first Rolls Royce rolled out of production.

7. Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce, was the first Englishman ever killed in an airplane and the 12th person worldwide when the Wright Brothers biplane he was flying at an air show in Bournemouth, England, in 1910 snapped its tail and crashed. Henry Royce ran the company after his partner’s death, mailing instructions to his employees when deteriorating health confined him to his home.

8. The first production Ford Mustang went on a tour of the U.S. and Canada in 1964, and was eventually sold to airline pilot Stan Tucker in St. John’s, Nfld. Two years and some 16,000 kilometres later, Ford realized the car’s significance, swapped Tucker a brand new 1966 Mustang for it, and donated it to the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.

Ernest Holmes original tow truck

9. The tow truck dates to 1916, when Ernest Holmes of Chattanooga, Tenn., was asked to help pull a crashed Ford Model T out of a creek. It took 11 men almost a day to do it with ropes and blocks. Figuring there had to be a better way, Holmes bolted three poles to a 1913 Cadillac chassis, added a pulley and ran a chain through it, which provided leverage to lift vehicles. He also built up a truck body on the chassis for tool storage. His patented design became the standard for vehicle recovery.

Hollywood actor Cary Grant poses in a 1955 BMW Insetta during a filming break of To Catch A Thief, in Munich Germany. The Insetta was the most popular car in Europe in the mid 50′s that it bailed out BMW from post-war bankruptcy.

10. BMW started as an aircraft company, moved into motorcycles and truck engines, and in 1928 built its first car, the Dixi, a licensed version of the British Austin Seven. Bigger and better models followed, but the company fell on hard times after World War II. It was saved in 1955 by the Isetta, its version of a tiny Italian model. It used a motorcycle engine and its single door was the car’s front end, but its low price resounded with buyers, and its success put the automaker back on track.

1955 BMW Isetta

4 Gigantic Companies That Started From Nothing

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advertising, business, cars, fred deluca, technology, Transportation

We’re all familiar with the story about Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniack building a computer in a garage, but what about other entrepreneurs like them that started with nothing more than a few thousand dollars and an idea?

There are millions of entrepreneurs across the globe that have started profitable enterprises without the help of big investors, but only tiny fraction make it to the top of their industries.

Here are four examples of amazing success stories that prove you don’t need millions from investors to make it big:

1. Hewlett-Packard

HP was the original tech startup formed in a garage. Bill Hewlett and David Packard started the company with $538 in 1939 as an electronics maker, getting a boost from its first successful product, an audio oscillator. The company expanded into all sorts of test electronics, and eventually entered the computer business in 1966 with the HP 2100 minicomputer.

Now 72 years old, HP has grown into one of the world’s largest information technology companies. It now has more than 300,000 employees and posted revenues of $126 billion in 2010.

2. Starbucks

Two teachers and a writer got together to start up a Seattle coffee bean seller with their own money in 1971. One of their personal connections was Alfred Peet, the founder of Peet’s Coffee & Tea, whom they bought all their coffee from in their first year. It wasn’t until Howard Schultz joined the company in 1982 when Starbucks coffee shops came to be, though the founders initially hesitated to change the business plan so drastically.

After the company went public in 1992, Schultz’s idea grew into the largest chain of coffeehouses in the world. Its 17,000 stores today are spread across 55 countries and can be found on what often seems like every street corner.

3. Subway

Founded by Fred DeLuca with $1,000 of buddy-turned-partner Peter Buck’s money back in 1965, Subway’s original goal was to open 32 stores in its first 10 years. Nine years later, they realized that they were going to come up short, so the pair started franchising.

Subway now has more locations worldwide than fast food juggernaut McDonald’s, with more than 34,000 locations in 98 countries, and the company hauled in $15.2 billion in revenue in 2010. It’s still privately held, and is owned by DeLuca and Buck’s company Doctor’s Associates.

4. Mattel

Originally a picture-frame maker run out of the house of founders Ruth and Elliot Handler in 1945, the still-tiny Mattel got into the toy business by using leftover wooden scraps from the frames to build dollhouses. Its first toy to make it big was the Uke-A-Doodle musical toy in 1947.

Mattel had already grown into a $5 million venture by the mid-1950s, but in 1959 Ruth Handler came up with the Barbie doll, changing the toy industry forever.

It’s now the world’s largest toy company based on revenue ($5.9 billion in 2010), and no longer has any toy factories in the U.S.

Kim Bhasin is a writer for the War Room section of Business Insider. Previously he worked for a financial and strategic management consulting firm. He is also currently a graduate student in Business and Economic Reporting at New York University. Kim holds an MBA in Strategic Management from Pace University and a BSc in Business Administration from Sacred Heart University.You may email him at kbhasin@businessinsider.com or you may subscribe to his twitter feed

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Ten Interesting Automobile Trivia

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cars, front wheel drive cars, henry leland, macpherson strut, Transportation, wheel drive cars

1938 Horch car displayed at the Horch museum.

1. Back in 1900, a new car company named Horch appeared in Germany, founded by former Benz engineer August Horch. He didn’t kget along with his directors and, when he left nine years later, the company took legal action to prevent him from putting his name on any new automobile. Horch roughly translates to “listen,” so he used the Latin version: Audi.

A Macpherson designed suspension.

2. The MacPherson strut is a spring/shock absorber combination used on the front suspension of most of today’s front-wheel-drive cars. It was invented in 1947 by Chevrolet engineer Earle S. MacPherson for the rear suspension of a planned compact model called the Cadet. The car was never built, and a disappointed MacPherson left GM and moved to England to work for Ford.

v

A record player that plays on a 45 RPM vinyl disc.

3. From 1956 to 1959, you could order your Chrysler with a record player. You got six discs with the car and could buy more from the dealer, but your choices were limited to artists signed with Columbia, which made the unique records that worked with the player. They tended to skip over bumps and didn’t work very well, and disappeared for 1962.

4. The first Chevrolet Corvette, introduced for 1953, didn’t have any outside door handles. It was a soft-top roadster that also lacked side windows, so you simply reached inside to unlatch the door.

5. Henry Ford started two unsuccessful companies before hitting his mark with the third, the one that exists today. His second company was taken over by its board and run by director Henry Leland, who renamed it Cadillac to build cars of his own design. After selling Cadillac to General Motors, Leland started Lincoln, which Ford eventually purchased.

6. Studebakers were built in Hamilton for two years after the automaker closed in the U.S. in 1964. Because the government now considered it a Canadian automaker, it could import cars duty-free. To make extra money, the cash-strapped company bought Volkswagens in Germany and sold them to VW Canada. Even with Studebaker’s markup, the cars cost less than what VW would have paid to bring them in. Studebaker also tried to distribute Japanese cars but the deal fell through, partly due to a Studebaker board member on the advice of his law partner: future U.S. president Richard Nixon.

Charles Rolls poses beside his bi-plane.

7. Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce, was the first Englishman ever killed in an airplane and the 12th person worldwide when the Wright Brothers biplane he was flying at an air show in Bournemouth, England, in 1910 snapped its tail and crashed. Henry Royce ran the company after his partner’s death, mailing instructions to his employees when deteriorating health confined him to his home.

8. The first production Ford Mustang went on a tour of the U.S. and Canada in 1964, and was eventually sold to airline pilot Stan Tucker in St. John’s, Nfld. Two years and some 16,000 kilometres later, Ford realized the car’s significance, swapped Tucker a brand new 1966 Mustang for it, and donated it to the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.

The first tow wrecker designed and built by Ernest Holmes.

9. The tow truck dates to 1916, when Ernest Holmes of Chattanooga, Tenn., was asked to help pull a crashed Ford Model T out of a creek. It took 11 men almost a day to do it with ropes and blocks. Figuring there had to be a better way, Holmes bolted three poles to a 1913 Cadillac chassis, added a pulley and ran a chain through it, which provided leverage to lift vehicles. He also built up a truck body on the chassis for tool storage. His patented design became the standard for vehicle recovery.

10. BMW started as an aircraft company, moved into motorcycles and truck engines, and in 1928 built its first car, the Dixi, a licensed version of the British Austin Seven. Bigger and better models followed, but the company fell on hard times after World War II. It was saved in 1955 by the Isetta, its version of a tiny Italian model. It used a motorcycle engine and its single door was the car’s front end, but its low price resounded with buyers, and its success put the automaker back on track.

How To Score A New Car At Half The Price

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automobiles, AutoNation, best deals on wheels, cars, chevrolet volt, Discounted Cars, e bay motors, Ebay, ebay motors, ford f 150, Transportation

By: Jerry Edgerton

Some buyers with fast fingers are scoring new cars at half price as part of a joint promotion of auction site eBay Motors and online seller AutoNation.

AutoNation, the largest group of U.S. car dealerships, is promoting the launch of its AutoNation Direct online sales arm by offering 29 new vehicles from Ford, General Motors and Nissan at half price on e-Bay Motors.

But you must be quick. Four 50-percent-off models appear at random times each day. So far they have been snapped up within minutes, including a Chevrolet Volt and a Ford F-150 pickup. The four-a-day postings will continue until this Friday, when AutoNation will cap off the promotion with a half-price 2012 Chevrolet Corvette. Corvette list prices start at $49,600.

Made in USA: 5 great American cars
Used cars: 5 to avoid (and 5 better alternatives)

If you want to get in on the chase, you need to set up a free account with eBay. The quick first bidder on a car must post a $500 deposit within 24 hours and then will have three days to make full payment on the discounted vehicle.

The half-price cars sold this past weekend included sporty models like the Chevrolet Camaro at $12,272 and a Ford Mustang at $15,142. To see the full list of cars already sold, check here.

If you are really taken with this promotion, get all the tools. Equip your smart phone with the eBay Motors mobile app for those times you may have to be away from your computer.

Jerry Edgerton

Jerry Edgerton, author of Car Shopping Made Easy, has been covering the car beat since Detroit companies dominated the U.S. market. The former car columnist for Money magazine and Washington correspondent for Business Week, Edgerton specializes in finding the best deals on wheels and offering advice on making your car last.

Toyota and Honda Offering Big Deals on New Cars

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Auto Shopping, Automakers, automobiles, Best Bargains on Cars, Best Deals on Cars, cars, Detroit Cars, Honda, Toyota, Wheels

Honda and Toyota, hoping to make up for lost sales earlier in the year, are putting unusual amounts of promotional money behind new-car discounts, finance and lease deals. The end result: Buyers can get some of the best deals of the year.

Both automakers suffered greatly after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March, when tight inventories meant a sharp drop in sales. Even in September, the first month of return to full production, sales were 17% lower for Toyota and 8% lower for Honda than a year earlier.

Now, so-called incentive spending — for all sales promotions — is up nearly 18% for Honda in October and nearly 13% for Toyota over a year earlier, according to estimate by auto pricing site TrueCar.com. Although the roughly $2,380 per vehicle for both companies is less than incentive spending by Detroit companies, it’s unusually high by the Toyota and Honda’s past standards.

Here’s a look at a few of the best deals. Data provided by TrueCar.

Honda Civic

The 2012 Civic (at right), introduced earlier this year, was downgraded from the previous model by Consumer Reports, but defended by other reviewers. If you’re a Civic fan, leasing looks especially interesting, with a three-year deal at $189 a month and $1,999 due at signing. For buyers with good credit, financing is available at 0.9% interest for up to 36 months.

TrueCar shows dealers offering the Civic DX sedan for as low as $15,499, or $1,076 below the $16,575 sticker price.

Honda Odyssey

The Odyssey, redesigned for this 2011 model, keeps its title as the best-driving minivan. For those who like to lease, Honda is offering a three-year, $360-a-month deal with nothing down at signing.

Financing deals for the Odyssey (at left) are for 0.9% up to 36 months. TrueCar shows the Odyssey selling as low as $26, 750 — 7% below the sticker price of $28,885.

Toyota Prius

Both new and used car prices spiked for the Japanese-made Prius after the spring disaster. Now inventories are increasing, and Toyota is offering a $500 rebate on the 2011 Prius (at right).

Some buyers still are paying full sticker price for the MPG champ, but TrueCar shows dealers on both coasts and the Midwest selling the Prius in the Two versions (they are numbered one through four) for around $23,000, or about 5% below the $24,280 sticker price. For leasers, Toyota is offering a $279-a-month deal for 36 months with $1,999 due at signing.

Toyota Avalon

If you are interested in what reviewers describe as a roomy and comfortable highway cruiser, Toyota’s deals are especially good. The automaker is offering customer rebates of up to $1,500 or, if you qualify, 0% financing for up to 36 months.

TrueCar shows the Avalon selling for an average of $31,120, about 8% below the $33,955 sticker price. For leasers, Toyota is offering a three-year, $309-a-month deal with $2,999 due at signing.

If you are a buyer who sticks with Detroit brands, of course there are plenty of good deals from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler out there too. As we move toward the end of the year, discounts should remain big, especially for 2011 models.

Photos courtesy of the manufacturers

 

Jerry Edgerton, author of Car Shopping Made Easy, has been covering the car beat since Detroit companies dominated the U.S. market. The former car columnist for Money magazine and Washington correspondent for Business Week, Edgerton specializes in finding the best deals on wheels and offering advice on making your car last.

 

Car Buyers: Wait Until Fall

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Auto Shopping, Car Dealers, Car rebates, cars, Edmunds.com, Kelly Blue Book, Yahoo Autos

By October, automakers will likely be rolling out a slew of new rebates, financing deals and other bargains.

Consumers watching the U.S. debt downgrade, the plummeting stock market and the faltering economy may think this is no time to buy a car. But if you are among those who need a new vehicle soon, you may be wondering: Can I get a loan? Will rates be higher? What will happen to prices?

The news is somewhat reassuring. Analysts believe that as inventories rise and dealers need to clear out 2011 models for the upcoming 2012s, buyers will get the best deals of the year from October through December. And the experts at automotive web site Edmunds.com think financing will remain stable and available as well: “All market factors suggest that credit will remain available, that interest rates will remain stable and that incentives may help keep car prices low in the immediate future,” says Edmunds chief economist Lacey Plache.

Car sales already have slowed down since spring, although prices have remained high. Dealer inventories are likely to rise and prices fall as Japanese companies get back to full production after the earthquake and tsunami there and try to catch up for lost sales.

Here’s a closer look at the factors affecting loans, rebates and other deals, as well as new- and used-car prices:

Car Loan Rates

If you have reasonably good credit (a FICO score above 660), you should be able to get a loan. But with a lower credit score — say, below 620 — you may have problems. Edmunds economist Plache predicts car loan rates will not rise because they are tied to U.S. Treasury rates, which have remained stable or fallen despite the debt downgrade by Standard and Poor’s.

According to Yahoo Autos, recent rates were 5.73% for borrowers with FICO score above 720, 7.37% for scores between 690 and 719 and 9.40% in the 660-689 range. Be sure to check local banks and credit unions for rates lower than you may get at the dealership.

Rebates & Other Incentives

Special deals sponsored by the manufacturers may help you out on either price or loan interest rates. For instance, General Motors is offering a choice between those two on its 2011 Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan (at right). List price starts at $21,975 before options, but it carries either a $2,500 rebate or 0% financing on loans up to five years.

The rebate goes to anyone buying the car. But to qualify for the 0% loan, you must be in the top credit tier (above 720). If you can get a good financing deal preapproved outside the dealership, your best deal often is to take the rebate.

GM is also offering financing deals — but no rebate — on its strong-selling new compact, the Chevrolet Cruze; buyers can now get 2.9% financing for up to five years.

New Car Pricing

The supply disruptions from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami cut the supplies of Japanese-made cars and even some U.S- brand cars that use Japanese parts. As a result of lower inventories, dealers have been discounting less and the average transaction price on cars has risen, according to TrueCar.com. (Prices have spiked especially for cars like the popular Japanese-made hybrid Toyota Prius.)

Now, Toyota and others say they will be back to full production in September. And analysts predict that likely incentives from these companies will help bring down overall prices, since GM, Ford and others likely will have to match the special deals.

Used Cars

Now, the bad news: Don’t expect lower prices ahead if you are shopping for a used car. Kelley Blue Book notes that the average price for 1- to 3-year-old used cars has has risen by 16% a year since 2008 because of lower supply, as fewer cars have been traded in or returned from leases. “We expect used-car values to remain strong for the next two to three years,” says Alec Gutierrez, manager of vehicle valuation for Kelley.

The upshot: If you need to buy a used car, go find the best deal you can from local ads or on web sites like AutoTrader.com. But if you are a new-car shopper, continue to be patient.

Photo courtesy of General Motors

Jerry Edgerton, author of Car Shopping Made Easy, has been covering the car beat since Detroit companies dominated the U.S. market. The former car columnist for Money magazine and Washington correspondent for Business Week, Edgerton specializes in finding the best deals on wheels and offering advice on making your car last.

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6 Myths About Gas Mileage

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automobile association of america, automobiles, car advice, car maintenance, cars, gas saving tips, summer break, Transportation, travel, vacation

The summer driving season is at hand, which probably means you’re spending more on gasoline. Not only are you likely to be filling up more often, you’re also paying more for the privilege: Since last May, gas has risen 36 percent to a national average of $3.95 for a gallon of self-serve regular, according to the Automobile Association of America.

So as you prepare to hit the road for beach trips, visits to grandma, or just to see America from the open road, it’s worth a quick review of the best ways to boost your mileage. The only problem is that much of what you have been told about boosting mileage is a myth. Here we debunk six of the most widely believed mileage misconceptions.

1. If your owner’s manual says “premium fuel recommended,” you’ll ruin your car by filling it up with regular.

Reality: Unless you’re driving in the Indy 500, using regular gas in a car that says premium fuel is merely “recommended” is perfectly fine. And doing so will save you about a quarter a gallon.

“Unless you have a job that requires regular sessions on a racetrack, there is no legitimate need to ever put premium fuel in your vehicle,” says Susan Winlaw, co-author of the book, Car Advice for Women (and Smart Men). Using regular gas could cost you a few horsepower when you’re driving at higher speeds, but chances are you won’t notice the difference, and it definitely won’t hurt your car. Your engine’s fuel-management system is perfectly prepared to handle lower-octane fuel, says Winlaw.

On the other hand, switching to regular in a car for which premium fuel is “required,” as it is for a few high-performance luxury rides, could cause noticeable knocking. And over time, that could lead to faster engine wear.

Those cases aside, just how much could switching to regular gas save you this weekend? According to the AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report, the national average price per gallon of unleaded regular recently was 27 cents less than the $4.22 stations were charging for premium. A long road trip could account for four fill-ups of about 20 gallons each, meaning you’d save just over $21 by sticking with regular.

PUTTING ON THE BRAKES ON GAS-SAVING MYTHS 

2. In the summer, you should only buy gas at night or early in the morning when the gas is cold. Because cold gas is more dense, you’ll get more fuel for your money.

Reality: Buying cold gas is a lot harder than it sounds, and the potential savings are scarcely worth it.

Consumer Reports thoroughly tested this theory using its own underground tank, similar to those used by gas stations. They found that it’s surprisingly hard to accurately predict whether a given tankful of gas will be cold or warm. For starters, if gas was a given temperature when it was delivered from the tanker truck, it tended to stay that temperature for a while, even after it had been transferred. Not only that, but the first gas to be pumped in a given day could be warm because a certain amount of gas collects in the aboveground pump. So even if you manage to be the first customer of the day, you might still be buying warm gas.

After all that, even if you’re successful in buying cold gas, the difference in density is so slight — perhaps a maximum of 1 percent per fill-up, according to Consumer Reports —that the savings are marginal. “It’s an urban myth” that you should always buy gas at night or early in the day, says Gabriel Shenhar, senior auto test engineer for Consumer Reports.

3. Shopping around for cheaper gas is seldom worth the extra fuel you burn up trying to find it.

Reality: It’s easy to find where the cheapest gas stations are online, and crossing state lines when you can saves plenty of money.

The AAA’s TripTik Travel Planner not only gives you point-to-point driving directions, but also allows you to highlight gas stations along your route, including frequently updated gas prices for each location. You’ll have to zoom in to a pretty detailed view of your route, but the tool allows you to plan where to stop for gas ahead of time instead of roaming around looking for good prices. You don’t even have to be an AAA member to use the feature.

And especially on an interstate road trip, planning ahead can save you a significant amount of money because of different state taxes on gas. Some states with the lowest average cost per gallon are next door to some of the highest-cost states, such as New Jersey and New York. The recent New Jersey average price per gallon was $3.88 for regular versus $4.16 in New York, according to the AAA. If you’re already planning to cross the George Washington Bridge, then you should plan to buy gas on the New Jersey side, where a full tank will cost about $4 less, which will help pay the $8 toll for the bridge.

4. For the best gas mileage, you should keep it below 55 miles per hour.

Reality: Fuel efficiency doesn’t really start to drop until you reach speeds higher than 60. And how smoothly you drive makes much more of a difference on gas mileage than how fast.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), most cars’ fuel efficiency peaks at speeds from 35 to 60 miles per hour. After 60, though, fuel efficiency does drop significantly; the DOE says that every 5 miles per hour you drive above 60 is like paying an additional 24 cents per gallon for gas. That’s because at higher speeds your car encounters more wind resistance and the tires encounter more rolling resistance.

Once you get your car going, though, it takes remarkably little energy to keep it going, even at 60 mph, according to Terry Penney, technology manager for advanced vehicles for the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. But getting it rolling burns up a lot of gas, which is why you should listen to your old driver’s-ed teacher and drive as if there’s an egg between your foot and the gas pedal. The DOE estimates that constantly accelerating and decelerating can cut your mileage by as much as 33 percent. The fact is, easing up on jackrabbit starts and Indy-500-style highway maneuvers will save you more money than puttering along at 55.

5. A car with manual transmission will always get better mileage than one with an automatic.

Reality: Newer automatic transmissions can get the same highway mileage as a manual transmission (or even slightly better).

Following previous oil embargoes, there was a rush on cars with manual transmissions because they got better mileage than automatics. But that’s less true today, especially at highway speeds, says Gabriel Shenhar, senior auto test engineer for Consumer Reports. Older three-speed automatics had to work a lot harder at highway speeds than today’s four- or five-speed automatics. And the new automatics produced in the last few years have an “overdrive” top gear that reduces engine rpm’s at higher speeds.

In city driving or mixed city-highway driving, a manual still tends to get better mileage, Shenhar says. But on the highway and long driving trips in particular, your automatic may get as good or even slightly better mileage than the manual. The 2010 Chevrolet Aveo, for instance, gets an EPA-estimated 35 miles per gallon highway. And the sporty 2010 four-door 2-L Mazda3 gets 33 miles per gallon on the highway, manual or automatic.

6. To save gas, open the car’s windows and shut off the air conditioning.

Reality: At higher speeds, leaving the windows open increases wind resistance so much that you probably wipe out any gain from shutting off the AC.

Air conditioning does burn up gas, which is why Ford recommends that you at least turn down the AC and use the “vent” settings on your climate control as much as possible. According to Ford’s Web site,Driving Skills for Life, reducing AC usage can save up to 10 to 15 percent on fuel.

But at speeds above 50 miles per hour, lowering the windows increases wind resistance so much that you’re better off closing them and putting on the AC at a moderate temperature. It’s also good to remember that once a car is cool inside, it takes a lot less energy to keep it cool. Result: Some of the best AC-related mileage boosting you can do occurs when the car’s not moving. That is, when it’s hot, park in the shade. (by: JIM HENRY, CBS MONEYWATCH)

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