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Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Oldest Car And The Oldest Carmaker

Ever wonder how the first ever car invented looked like?
United Kingdom, vintage cars: La Marquise
Unfortunately, the oldest cars that were invented are not in the roads anymore. But the oldest car that was built and still running up to now is right there at the side of your screen.
That one is steam-powered car is made by De Dion, Bouton & Trépardoux of France in 1884 and is most commonly known as the La Marquise. It is fueled by coal, wood and some paper and will need at least 30 to 40 minutes before it could build up enough steam for it to run and be driven at 38 miles per hour.
It uses a thin metal wheel with with solid rubber wrapped in it. Owning it makes you the first ever car race winner as well because this car won the first ever car race in the world in 1888. So obviously it's not Henry Ford who built the first ever car as what most younger American generations know. That particular car holds a very high value, and it prove it when it was auctioned and sold to a whopping $3,250,000 at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Though it can still be used, the new owner might have thought its better off as a displaying material.
It is also a good point to note that Henry Ford and his company is not the first car maker to mass produce cars. The oldest manufacturer to mass produce cars is definitely the Oldsmobile group.
Oldsmobile manufactured their first car mass production in 1897, with Henry Ford building his company around 6 years after.
However, Oldsmobile is already not currently in existence. It was phased out in 2004 and the last of its car is named Oldsmobile Alero.
During the time it's still active, it has produced 35.2 million cars! Its name last for 107 years in the car making history of the United States and of the whole world. Car brands like Daimler and Peugeot are the oldest car brands but did not mass produced cars before Oldsmobile did.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Study: Average male drives extra 276 miles/year because he won't stop for directions



That long-running joke about men unwilling to stop for directions? Well, it's no joke, at least not according to British insurance firm Sheilas' Wheels. In fact, the average male motorist in Britain travels some 276 extra miles per year simply because he refuses to ask for directions. Worse yet, that amounts to £2,000 ($3,100) worth of wasted fuel over the stubborn man's lifetime.

In the UK, 25 percent of all men would rather wander aimlessly for up to a half hour before stopping to ask for directions, and one in 10 simply refuse to ask altogether. On the flip side, three quarters of women polled have zero qualms about asking for help. And here's our favorite stat: 41 percent of men admitted to telling their passengers that they knew where they were going... even though they didn't.

Though the study took place in the UK, we'd bet that, if anything, it's worse here in the States. After all, as a much larger country with sometimes huge stretches between destinations, we probably waste more time and fuel pretending like we know exactly where we're going.

2011 Hyundai Genesis Gets Horsepower Bump

With a major revamp expected for the 2012 model year, Hyundai is keeping the changes to the Genesis light for the 2011 model year. The big news is a 10-horsepower increase for the 4.6L Tau V8 model for a total of 385 horsepower on premium unleaded fuel (378 on regular). According to the automaker, the Genesis V8 now propels itself from zero to 60 miles per hour in 5.3 seconds, an improvement over 5.7 seconds of the 2010 model.

In addition to the horsepower upgrade, Hyundai is also adding more equipment to the Genesis by making all features of the 2010's Technology Package now standard on the Genesis 4.6. Some of these features include the Lexicon® 7.1 Discrete surround-sound audio system with 17 speakers, Ultimate Navigation System featuring the intuitive Driver Information System (DIS) with 8-inch screen, smart cruise control, electronic parking brake, cooled driver seat, adaptive front lighting system with HID headlights, and parking assistance system featuring front and rear sensors and rearview camera.

The 2011 Genesis has already started to arrive at dealerships. Pricing remains the same for the 3.8 models at $33,000, while the 4.6 is now $43,000 to reflect the additional standard equipment it receives for 2011.

[Source: Hyundai]

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