(Everything here is just my opinion, and yours may be different.)
Hi all,
Not long ago, my wife was involved in an auto accident. She's fine,
thank the Lord, but the car was totaled. So, we found ourselves having
to go car shopping fairly quickly. Being an engineer, I made a
checklist of things that we wanted to look for, features, safety, gas
mileage, carfax, condition, etc. But, in the end, I found there were a
number of things we discovered we DIDN'T want. It's those things that I
want to talk about.
--------------------
NO TIMING BELT
As you probably know, an internal combustion engine works by sucking or
forcing air and fuel into a cylinder, squishing it with a piston,
igniting it, exploding it (actually a fast burn), then removing the
exhaust. During the intake and exhaust phases, valves open and close to
allow fuel and air in and exhaust out. Those valves must be precisely
controlled. The rotation of the crankshaft controls the position of the
pistons. The crank shaft is in the bottom of the engine usually. There
are usually cam shafts in the top of the engine which control the
opening and closing of the valves. The cam shafts' rotation must be
exactly synchronized with the crankshaft's rotation.
The typical methods of synchronizing all this stuff include a timing
chain tying all this together or a timing belt. I figured out long ago
that I don't want a timing belt. It's simply a question of longevity
and maintenance cost. A timing chain can last 200,000 miles or more,
possibly even the life of the car. A timing belt typically has to be
replaced every 60,000 miles.
You DON'T want to ignore it if you have a belt. You see, the engineers
came up with this "brilliant" design called an Interference Engine.
What the heck is that, you ask. The intake and exhaust valves extend
downward from above the cylinder and piston area. In an interference
engine, if the valves open at the same time as the piston is at the top
of its travel, then the valves COLLIDE with the piston. This is BAD.
Thus, if the timing belt or chain breaks, and the rotating components
become unsynchronized, but continue rotating due to inertia, it can
WRECK your entire engine and cost thousands of dollars to fix.
As I understand it, you don't have to worry much about breaking a timing
chain on a modern car unless it starts rattling or something, but you DO
have to worry about breaking a timing belt. Think of it this way, break
your timing belt, buy a new engine.
When I bought my Hyundai Santa Fe small / mid sized suv, I bought it for
other reasons, but I knew it did have a timing belt. The problem is, I
didn't know the maintenance history of the car. So, I chose to
preemptively have the belt replaced. It's buried pretty deep in the
engine, that that was a $ 600 expense I had to absorb right after I
bought the car. In 60,000 miles, I have to do it again. The water pump
is usually right there, so they usually replace that too while they're
in there.
So, I don't want a timing belt.
Here's a way to determine if you have a timing belt, but not with
absolute certainty. Go to the link below and find parts by
application. Select passenger cars and light trucks, then proceed to
find your car. If Gates sells a timing belt or timing belt kit for your
car, you have a timing belt. It will also note if it's an interference
engine.
You could try my car as an example, select passenger cars and light
trucks, 2005, hyundai, suv's, santa fe, 2.7L engine.
http://www.gates.com/part_locator/index.cfm?location_id=3598
If it doesn't show anything, maybe you don't have a belt or maybe they
don't sell it. You'll have to do more research.
You can try googling your car name and the word timing belt, for example
2011 toyota camry se timing belt.
For Toyota's, I found a faq on the subject on their website.
http://www.toyota.com/support/#!/app/home
--------------------
NO HYBRID
A hybrid drive train has an internal combustion engine and an electric
motor. The electric motor gives extra torque when accelerating and
becomes a generator to recover energy when decelerating. This extra
energy is stored in a BIG NIMH battery pack typically and extracted when
needed. We looked at Toyota Camry Hybrids and even drove one. They're
beautiful cars, and they average 35 MPG for a family sedan. What's not
to like? I will say that when the engine suddenly shuts down at a stop
light, it feels really weird. When it wants to, it starts up again, and
keeps doing that.
But, the main problem is the battery pack. These are only warranted for
100,000 miles for a Toyota. They cost about $ 3000 - $ 5000 to
replace. If you buy an aftermarket battery pack, you don't get the
factory warranty. So, if I bought a Camry Hybrid with 80,000 miles, the
pack could fail in a short amount of time after the warranty runs out,
and I'd face that expense, which is about 1/3 the price of the car
(used). Even if it failed within the warranty, I'd have the same
problem again 5 or so years later. When I ran the numbers, and figured
out the amount of gas I'd save, I figured that the savings probably
would NOT offset the cost of buying a new battery pack.
To make matters worse, the standard low voltage battery for the Camry
Hybrid is not a standard 12 V battery. It's proprietary and costs about
$ 400 to replace. Furthermore, if the high voltage battery pack fails,
since the motor / generator is what starts the car when you pull away
from the traffic light, you cannot run without it. You cannot just run
the car in gasoline mode after the battery pack fails.
So, I don't want a hybrid.
--------------------
NO TURBOCHARGER
A turbocharger wrings more power out of an engine by stuffing more air
into the combustion chamber. It's driven by exhaust gasses. We drove a
turbocharged Hyundai Sonata. The feeling of power and acceleration was
great. Even if you don't use it all the time, which would generate
terrible gas mileage, it's good to know it's there.
However, in reading around on forums and blogs, we found that a number
of Hyundai owners were having problems with turbos malfunctioning. The
car would abruptly lose power. Since the cars usually have a 20%
smaller engine, losing the turbo function cripples the car. Not only
that, even the engine's remaining power is not usable since the engine
cannot breathe properly. Many owners reported problems with the turbo's
wastegate, or other ancillary systems related to the turbo. However,
since these ancillary systems are often not in the "powertrain" they're
more likely to be out of warranty. Some customers reported spending
thousands to restore their car to functionality, particularly when the
dealer couldn't figure out what's wrong.
So, I don't want a turbo.
--------------------
NO DARK PAINT
Just a matter of preference. But, it's my feeling that dark cars are
harder to see and more likely to be in accidents.
So, I don't want dark paint.
--------------------
NO ELECTRIC STEERING
For years, cars have had "power steering". This is more accurately
power assisted steering. In the conventional system, a hydraulic
system, an engine driven pump provides pressure which goes to the
steering rack and reduces the force that you have to turn on the
steering wheel to twist the tires. That's why it's much easier to turn
the steering wheel in such a car than it would be if you had an old
military Jeep, for example, with manual steering.
According to Wikipedia, hydraulic power steering was first
commercialized in 1951, so it has 63 years of development and proof of
operational capabilities. It can certainly have its problems, but it
works well.
The latest thing being adopted rapidly is electric steering. Wikipedia
describes it thusly.
"Electric power steering (EPS or EPAS) uses an electric motor to assist
the driver of a vehicle. Sensors detect the position and torque of the
steering column, and a computer module applies assistive torque via the
motor, which connects to either the steering gear or steering column.
This allows varying amounts of assistance to be applied depending on
driving conditions. Engineers can therefore tailor steering-gear
response to variable-rate and variable-damping suspension systems,
optimizing ride, handling, and steering for each vehicle."
Electric steering can, theoretically, be better than hydraulic, and
allow the automated stability system in the vehicle to function better.
However, when doing research on the Hyundais, some users reported
difficulty keeping cars in the lane, wandering behavior, fatiguing
operation requiring constant attention, and pulling to one side.
Even more of a concern is a couple of reports I read that said the car
suddenly veered off course on its own without the driver asking for the
change or being able to control it. In one case, this caused a fatal
accident.
I am a big Hyundai fan, and the car that we're replacing was a Hyundai
Sonata which we really liked. I didn't want to cross Hyundai off my
list, but I did because of these concerns. I think all the newer models
have electric steering. And, the older ones are not available in the
dealer certified preowned programs which offer an extended warranty.
It's getting harder and harder to find any newer cars without electric
steering. I don't know if the other brands have had problems with their
systems.
If you want to know if a car you're looking at has electric steering,
look under the hood and find the hydraulic power steering fluid
reservoir. If you can't find it, you almost certainly have electric
steering. Some users reported substantially higher diagnostic and
repair costs for electric steering versus the old hydraulic systems.
So, I don't want electric steering.
--------------------
OTHER THINGS
Other things I don't want, which are self explanatory, are excessive
road noise AT FREEWAY SPEED, odors, stains, scratches, dents, too many
owners, and recalls. For a certified preowned car from a dealer, all
recalls should have been handled.
--------------------
In the end, we bought a 2011 Toyota Camry SE which meets all these
criteria. I'll certainly be considering all these things when I next
buy a car.
Hope you found this info useful.
Sincerely,
Ron
--
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)
Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com
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