Study Finds Cost of Owning Diesel Car in the US Lower Than Gasoline Equivalent

If you live in the US and are still not convinced of the financial gains brought about by diesel-power, then perhaps this latest study from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) on the finer details of the problem may help you understand it.

In fact, the values and differences presented in the study really shocked us, especially the most extreme ones like the Mercedes-Benz GL, which according to the information presented, should really only be bought as a diesel.

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Cars Becoming More Reliable, But Owners Still Having Trouble With Design Flaws and Gizmos

You can pretty much get any normal-sized car, and spec it up to a very high level, with all the electronic and connectivity gizmos you could possibly want. You get a touchscreen in so many cars today, and parking sensors, and a backup camera and many buttons and design touches neatly integrated into the general functionality of a cabin.

Cars are getting reliable too, and very few are hideous to look at also, so we wonder is there anything bugging modern car owners?

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A Third of U.S. Car Buyers Are Considering Diesels, Survey Finds

The times they are a-changin’ indeed, as Bob Dylan said in his famous song. Not long ago, diesel fuel was mainly used by trucks in the U.S. but now it looks like a third of consumers are considering buying a diesel car when the time of purchase comes.

A recent survey conducted by the National Association for Convenience and Fuel Retailing (NACS) shared by Consumer Reports revealed that among consumers likely to purchase a vehicle in the next two years, 31 percent are likely to consider a diesel. The main reasons for this are obviously fuel economy and environmental concerns.

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Audi Drivers Most Likely to Cheat on Partner, Peugeot Owners the Most Loyal, Survey Finds

If a survey was commissioned to find out the most annoying passengers according to drivers, why one about cheating on one’s partner based on make of the car driven? Believe it or not, it’s real and it has been commissioned by a married dating website called Illicit Encounters, which polled its 750,000 members.

According to the responses from the users of the website, Audi owners are the most likely drivers to have an affair, with 22.2% of them saying they cheated. Premium car brands dominate the unusual ranking, with BMW drivers taking second place as most adulterous drivers (13.8 percent), followed by Mercedes-Benz (8.7 percent) and Volvo (7.6 percent).

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Survey: And the Worst Backseat Drivers Are...

We have studies on just about everything nowadays, so it comes to no surprise that someone paid for one to find out who are the worst passengers, according to drivers.

The results of the survey of 500 drivers commissioned by the Insurance site are not that surprising. Husbands and wives are the worst backseat drivers, with 40 percent of men saying their wives are the most annoying passengers and 34 percent of women drivers saying the same thing about their husbands.

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Study Says Distracted Driving Causes 12 Percent of All Red Light Offenses

This goes along nicely with the multitude of videos from Russia that we post; you know, those crashes when it appears as if the driver isn’t paying attention, and either wonders straight through a red light and into the path of oncoming traffic, or simply does something very dumb, like run over a bus stop in an intersection.

Distracted driving is to blame, says a study commissioned by organizations that are looking out for road safety in the US.

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2014 Could Spell the End for Mitsubishi, Volvo and Road&Track in the US, Says Report

The modern business world is so competitive, that it is no longer an advantage to be one, or eight, steps ahead of the competition – it is a survival requirement. According to a report from financial news publication 24/7 Wall St., ten important brands may disappear from the US scene in the coming 18 months, three of which are automotive-related.

They say that Mitsubishi, Volvo and the Road&Track publication could bite the dust in the States due to “the brutally competitive nature of certain industries and the importance of not falling behind in efficiency, innovation or financing.”

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Discrepancy Between Real-World Economy Figures and Manufacturer Data On the Rise

We are all aware that the advertised economy figures for new cars are nearly impossible to match or surpass under normal driving conditions. It is something you factor in when looking for your next purchase, especially if you want it to be a particularly efficient one.

Now, according to a study published by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), the discrepancy between the declared and real-world numbers has risen to around 25 percent, up considerably from 10 percent a decade ago.

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Ford Predicts Four-Cylinder Engines Will Make Up Two-Thirds of U.S. Market by 2020

Ford is predicting that four-cylinder engines will represent two-thirds of U.S. new-vehicle sales by the end of the decade. Four-cylinder units now make up more than half of the U.S. market but their share will continue to grow as a result of strict federal fuel-efficiency standards – known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE).

The Blue Oval's estimates are high by some analysts' accounts, but it's not the first time Ford has gone its own way when it comes to powertrain-related predictions. Although some analysts believe Ford’s estimate is a little exaggerated, they don’t find it implausible.

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Toyota Reclaims Title of World’s Most Valuable Auto Brand from BMW

Toyota has ranked first among automakers in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study released by market research company Millward Brown. The Japanese carmaker has overtaken last year’s best ranks car manufacturer, BMW.

Toyota’s 2013 brand value rose 12 percent to $24.5 billion (€19.03 billion), mainly due to its significant inroads in the hybrid market, the study said. The Japanese automaker ranked 23rd amongst all brands, while came in behind at No.24. The German carmaker’s brand value lost 2 percent to $24 billion (€18.65 billion)) compared to last year, with the reason for this being the lack of new product launches compared with past years.

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BMW Rated as Top Automotive Brand by Forbes

It’s no secret that BMW, as a brand, is one of the most powerful and well recognized in the world. Many of the Bavarian automaker’s cars are unanimously acknowledged as being among the most advanced in the world, with the decades of experience paying off in the modern era.

Proof of this is the Forbes list of the World’s Most Powerful Brands, which ranks it 9th overall and 1st among the automakers.

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Family Sedans Losing Ground to Crossovers in the U.S.

Although they still represent the single largest segment of the U.S. auto industry, family sedans like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord are losing ground this year to crossovers.

The market share of family sedans has shrunk in 2013, while vehicles like the Ford Escape have increased their share of the market. "While the segment is still growing year-over-year, it's nowhere near what it was growing last year as the industry was launching a lot of new midsize cars," Toyota brand U.S. boss Bill Fay said about U.S. auto sales in April, according to a report from Reuters

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Atmospheric CO2 Levels Surpass Symbolic Threshold of 400 PPM

The question of what is causing the temperature of the Earth to rise is a very tricky one, and you’ll probably get as many answers as there are knowledgeable and informed people – everybody thinks they are right.

Some correlate the heating up of the planet with the high level of CO2 in the atmosphere, and the depletion of the ozone layer, which lets more of the Sun’s radiation seep through and down to ground level.

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U.S. Drivers Warm Up to Diesels - Registrations Rise 24.3 Percent between 2010 and 2012

Once a fuel reserved only to heavy-duty trucks, diesel has begun to gain ground also among U.S. automobile drivers in recent years. Clean diesel registrations increased by 24.3 percent in the U.S. from 2010 through 2012 following similar trends of double-digit diesel car sale increases throughout the country, according to data compiled by R.L. Polk and Company. Read more »

These Are the 10 Best New Interiors of 2013, According to Ward’s Automotive

Every year, Ward’s Automotive has its editorial staff pick out the best interior of any new or significantly improved car. This year they picked out their 10 Best Interiors from a total of 46 cars "that were all-new or sported interiors that have been significantly upgraded" for 2013, with Asian brands taking 7 top spots, and American marques occupying the remaining three positions. Read more »

Self-Driving Cars Not Coming to Market Until 2025, Says Expert

If there’s one thing that is for sure in the uncertain climate of the modern automotive industry, it’s the fact that in the future we will choose if we want to actually drive our car, or not. Advancements in this area are already being made with Google’s self-driving cars, as well as the slew of active and passive safety aids found on modern cars. Read more »

Toyota Questions Polk’s Statistics, Says Corolla Beat Focus as World’s Best-Selling Car

Toyota says its Corolla compact car was the world’s best-selling vehicle in 2012, not the Ford Focus, as the U.S. carmaker said yesterday citing R.L. Polk & Co.’s global new vehicle registration data for the full-year 2012.

Ford said it sold 1.02 million Focus vehicles last year topping the Toyota Corolla, which was attributed sales of 872,774 units. The Japanese carmaker’s was quick to contradict its rival.

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Ford Focus Was the World’s Best-Selling Car in 2012, Says Polk

Ford Focus ranks as the best-selling vehicle nameplate in the world, according to Polk’s global new vehicle registration data for the full-year 2012. Sales of the compact car totaled 1,020,410 cars worldwide, according to the automotive data and trends forecasting supplier.

Ford’s “global car” recorded market gains in China and the United States, with China registrations up 51 percent last year. Put into context, that means more than 1 in 4 Ford Focus vehicles sold worldwide went to China. In the U.S., Focus sales were up 40 percent in 2012.

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Continental EU Recession Seems far Away from UK Where Sales Are Up 5.9 Percent in March

The automotive sector in Europe has been hard-hit by the failing continental economy, with all manufacturers announcing some form of measures designed to alleviate the extra strain put on their operations. Factories are closing down, dealers are going out of business and people are buying less new metal than they did a few years back, and the new cars they are turning to are cheaper and smaller than most would have preferred. Read more »

"Lost in Thought" Drivers Cause More Accidents than Those Using Mobile Phones, Says Study

Latest police data in the United States reveal some surprising statistics. It seems that the use of mobile phones while driving, blamed by many as one of the leading causes of traffic accidents, is not as harmful as being “lost in thought” or simply put, daydreaming.

Ten percent of fatal auto accidents in the States involved at least one motorist who was distracted, according to a statement by Erie Insurance Group that analyzed 2010 and 2011 national crash data from NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The causes of the distraction in 62 percent of the cases was daydreaming and being “lost in thought”, with mobile phone use being blamed in only 12 percent of the accidents caused by distracted drivers.

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