by Tim Joseph
Nissan is becoming quite the innovator. They are scheduled to release an Electric Car in 2010, they've developed a paint that fills in it's own scratches and they have developed their ECO Pedal that pushes back when you push the gas too hard. They already have advanced technology like CVT transmissions, intelligent key and GPS navigation.
The big buzz on the internet today is Nissan's new BR23C robot. The robot is equipped with a collision avoidance system that works the same way a bee's eye does. It is able to detect objects in a 180 degree range in it's forward direction. While I would like to take one of these robots home with him to watch it run around, Nissan has no plans of selling it. It's more of a concept robot that they hope to integrate with their PIVO 2 electric concept vehicle. When the system detects an object it is able to quickly move around an object.
If you're interested in seeing what Nissan has to offer, please contact Dick Scott Nissan at (734) 495-1000. Ask for Terri Young!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Nissan In The Future
Monday, September 29, 2008
When To Shift Into 1st?
by Tim Joseph
I read an interesting article today. You can click the below link to read it for yourself. Someone wrote in and asked a couple of car experts an interesting question I wondered about when I got my stick shift vehicle two years ago. The guy had just purchased a 2008 Nissan 350Z and let his friend drive it. When his friend would take off from a red light he would start off in 2nd gear. He said it was better for the engine and easier on the clutch and transmission.
The answer was the complete opposite. It is actually harder on the clutch and engine and will wear out 2nd gear quicker. Typically 1st gear does not get worn out and if any gear does, it's usually 2nd according to the article.
If you are interested in saving money at the pump, this is not the way to do it. We have several articles written here about how to save money. You can check some of them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 3 1/2, Part 4
http://www.courant.com/business/yourmoney/hc-ymclick0928-ylif.artsep28,0,6207868.story
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Chrysler Unveils Electric Vehicle
by Tim Joseph
There are three reasons why Chrysler is going to be okay through this tough time in the auto industry pictured above. A demonstration was given today outside the Chrysler World Headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The little yellow sports car was demonstrated on CNBC this morning by Chrysler chief executive Bob Nardelli. It is able to drive 150 miles before it needs charging again. It was unclear from my sources if this will be a production model or if another electric vehicle will grace the showroom floor. They did, however, say they would have an electric vehicle for sale by the end of 2010.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Dick Scott Nissan September Service Specials
$49.95
(regular $84.99)
Oil & Filter change, air filter replacement, nitronize all 4 tires, 27 point inspection.
*Must present coupon when order is written. Plus tax & shop supplies. Cannot be combined with other offers. Expires 10/31/2008
----------------------------------------------------
Fall Car Care Special
Free
(Regular $39.95)
27 multi-point inspection, battery charging analysis, top off all fluids, full report of vehicle inspection, 250 points added to your rewards card. 15% Off parts & labor on recommended service repairs
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
What Impacts Fuel Economy
by Tim Joseph
A lot of saving money at the gas pump is knowing what factors affect your fuel economy. There may be things costing you money that you don't know about and that's why educating yourself is so important. Today I came across an interesting website (http://www.willyoujoinus.com) created by the good folks at Chevron. I don't believe we have any Chevron gas stations here in the Detroit area but this website can help us none the less. If you click on the MPG Optimizer you can move these little sliding icons around to see what is impacting your fuel economy.
The website asks you to set the icons based on a series of seven questions. By moving the icons I found that I save 15 miles per gallon. The questions are:
- What kind of car do you drive?
- Are you an aggressive driver in the city, accelerating and braking suddenly?
- How fast do you drive when you're on the highway?
- Do you use the manufacturer's recommended grade of motor oil?
- How much extra weight do you have in your backseat and trunk?
- Do you get your car's engine tuned up regularly?
- How well-inflated are your tires?
Most people are not sure how often they need to tune their car up. Usually it's 60,000 - 100,000 miles so most people would answer "Always" to question 6. By changing a few little things, you could save big just by knowing that you need to change.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Employee Spotlight: September 2008
Bill Neu, Service Technician at Dick Scott Kia
In his free time, Bill enjoys reading books by Clive Cussler and W.E.B. Griffin, and spending time with his two "fantastic" grandchildren, Michael and Natalie. He loves Pizza and one of his favorite movies is The Goonies. Bill also loves to hunt, fish, hike and spend time on his computer. Currently, Bill drives a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee but he would love to own the original HumVee one day.
Bill is our Spotlight Employee for September because of all the hard work and dedication he has shown. He has been a great asset to the Service Department at Dick Scott Kia and to our Dick Scott Automotive Group Family! If you ever have a question about your vehicle's maintenance, he is the one to ask. Thanks Bill for all that you do; you are an important member of the Dick Scott “Best Shot” Team!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Dick Scott Motormall September Best Shot Deal
2009 Chrysler Jeep Patriot FWD
Bright silver, 5 speed manual transmission, air conditioning, CD stereo, rear defrost & much more... Stock #: 16104.
Chrysler Employee: $13,648*
General Public: $14,417*
2008 Dodge Charger SE PLUS
Own, don't rent! Payments as low as $234/mo**
2008 Chrysler Sebring Sedan
$21,555 MSRP. Automatic, A/C, cruise control, power locks/windows/seats, my gig media radio system and much more. Stock #: 26129
Chrysler Employee: $15,551*
General Public: $16,421*
*Plus tax, title, plate, DOC Fee and destination charge. Must qualify for Loyalty Rebate and Military Rebate. Chrysler employee must provide valid Chrysler Employee Control Number for Employee deals. All rebates to dealer. See Dealer for all details.
**Plus tax, title, plate and DOC Fee. Must qualify for Employee Discount, provide a valid Chrysler Employee Control Number and be a returning lessee. Must finance through Chrysler Financial, qualify for A-Tier Credit and provide 10% down payment. All rebates to dealer. See Dealer for details. Offers Expire 09/30/2008
Dick Scott Nissan September Best Shot Deal
$169/mo* on a 39 month lease. $2,999 Due at signing.
*Plus tax, title, plate, DOC Fee and destination charge. Must quality for College Grad Rebate. All Rebates to Dealer. Initial due at lease signing of $2,999 includes first payment, down payment and $0 security deposit. Payments are plus tax. To get the total of payments, multiply term x payment. Option to purchase at lease-end at pre-determined price. Based on 12,000 miles/year. 15 cents per mile in excess. Lessee responsible for excess wear and tear. Picture may not represent actual vehicle. Must take delivery from dealer stock. With approved credit. For well-qualified buyers; not all people will qualify. See Dealer for details. Prior sales excluded. Expires 09/30/2008.
Dick Scott Kia September Best Shot Deal
2.5% APR plus $1,000 Bonus Cash for Qualified Buyers! Financing for A+ Credit only through KMFC. Program concludes 9/30/2008
Please call us at 800-730-9872 for more details!
Dick Scott Dodge September Best Shot Deal
2008 Dodge Charger SE PLUS* Plus tax, title, plate and DOC fee. Must qualify for Employee Discount, provide a valid Chrysler Employee Control Number and be a returning lessee. Must finance through Chrysler Financial, qualify for A-Tier Credit and provide 10% down payment. All rebates to dealer. See dealer for details. Offer Expires 9/30/2008.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Tim's Travel Tips: The Detroit Zoo
by Tim Joseph
The weather is getting cooler and there may not be much time left to spend outside. To me, that's the best time to go to the zoo. I love spending my last days outside before winter hits looking at the beauty that nature has to offer us. One of my favorite exhibits at the zoo is the butterfly house. You walk into a room where there are trees and plants everywhere. Next thing you know there are butterflies fluttering about. My 2 year old got a big kick out of them. Also, the polar bear exhibit is amazing. You walk underneath the bears and can look up through the glass to see them swimming above you. The zoo is no doubt the most unique experience to be had in Detroit.
In addition to all the fun you will have, you're helping a worthy cause. The Detroit Zoo is involved in many conservation efforts that support communities abroad. Definitely a worthy cause.
Ticket prices are $11 for adults (Age 13-61), $7 for the kids (2 and under free) and $9 for seniors. Open daily from 10 am to 5 pm. See detroitzoo.org for more information
Thursday, September 11, 2008
2009 Borrego Earns 5 Star Crash Test Rating
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Inside The New Cube
Found this one on http://www.examiner.com
We have seen the future and it is…a Cube? It is for Nissan, anyway, beginning in the spring of 2009. Sold in the Japanese market since 2002, the Cube is aptly named because, well, it’s a cube.
Technically it’s a parallelepiped, defined as “a solid with six faces, each a parallelogram and each being parallel to the opposite face,” or more colloquially, a rectangular solid. Or more simply, a box. Who says you don’t learn anything here?
Even more precisely, however, the Nissan Cube is two parallelepipeds stuck together, one box for the engine and another for the people. And of course, with wheels, which at least with today’s technology, makes it easier to move about.
The Cube—Nissan calls it the “CUBE” but we have no intention of wearing out our shift key—fills the same space, so to speak, that the Scion xB does for Toyota. They’re both rectangular to the max, though in its second generation the Scion has had its edges significantly beveled.
The Scion is also significantly larger. The current JDM (Japanese domestic market) version of the Nissan Cube has a wheelbase of only 92.9 inches, almost ten inches shorter than the xB. The Cube is a mere 146.9 inches long; the Scion stretches out more than twenty inches longer—nearly two feet! The xB is also a half-foot wider.
The Cube is fairly conventional with its transverse front-mounted front-drive four-cylinder engine, even if rather small by American standards at 1.3 liters. Optional, however, is an electric motor powering the rear axle for a sort of four-wheel drive. Not only does it aid in slippery conditions but it also gives a needed boost during low-speed acceleration, making it a hybrid of sorts, sacrificing a little trunk room in the process by raising the floor by a couple of inches.
The cabin is quite roomy for its exterior size. At 64 inches tall, the Nissan is almost exactly as tall as the xB, allowing tall seats and therefore generous legroom. The interior of the Japanese market car is very spare, almost industrial though certainly inexpensive to make. Five doors, with a side-hinged door for access to the cargo area, allow easy access.
American journalists have been clamoring for an American edition of the Nissan Cube almost since its Japanese debut and, with exquisite timing—assuming prices don’t plummet between now and then—the second generation of the Cube arrives Stateside in the spring of 2009. It’s likely to have a larger engine, perhaps a whopping 1.4 liters. However, with an overall vehicle weight we estimate will be less than 2,500 pounds, its 90 to 95 horsepower engine, particularly with the bump from the rear-mounted electric motor, should be adequate for urban and suburban driving, based on a brief drive in on rural roads.
Although the split front bench is comfy enough, there’s a lot of road noise that comes up through the floor even at moderate speed on less that perfect speed. That wouldn’t be a problem on city and suburb streets but on long highway hauls it would be tiresome. One hopes this will be ameliorated by the time the North American-spec Nissan Cube crosses the Pacific.
The Americanized Cube—we expect it will be designated a 2010 model—should also be able to hold its own on the freeway and highway, though its tall, blunt contours will be harder for a 1.4-liter to push through the air. No doubt crosswinds and the wakes of semis will also play with those slab sides.
We expect Japan market version of the Nissan Cube’s rather Spartan accoutrements to make it across the Pacific. Buyers of the ultra-utilitarian Cube will probably prefer it that way, something of a hair shirt to prove their commitment to the environment, as well as a concession to price. One should expect price to range between $12,000 and $15,000, depending on the level of equipment.
The ultimate upside, however, is the high-volume utility—yes, the rear seats will fold or remove or whatever it takes to maximize the interior, well, cubic cargo capacity—combined with fuel economy in the 33 to 40 miles per gallon range, and that without complicated full-hybrid technology.
We forecast a major hit. We’ve seen the future, and it’s a parallelepiped. Or a Nissan Cube.
Additional thoughts: Timing is everything, and while Nissan clearly had to commit some time ago—considering design changes, certification, production engineering, &c., &c.—to bring the Nissan Cube to the United States, as fuel punched through the $4.00/gallon barrier, the Cube is certainly seemed to be arriving when the time is right. Of course, that assumes that a year from when this is written, prices will not have fallen. Any retreat will be slow, however, much like earlier spikes and retreats, but while consumers may not have elephantine memories, having been burned once they’ll be twice wary. And that’s all the Cube will need to be a hit.
Nissan should, in our opinion, avoid the temptation to dress up the Cube or overly civilize it. Not that Nissan should upholster the seats with barbed wire, but we think Cube customers will want some austerity as proof of their ecological piety, just as sports car drivers want a modicum of discomfort to justify their purchases.
Not immediately visible on the Nissan Cube is asymmetry of design: For example, the C-pillar (rearmost) on the right side is exposed and larger than that on the left, which is concealed behind wrap-around glass. It’s ostensibly form over function, an “industrial” touch, though with most cars in the world symmetrical, there’s little reason that the Nissan Cube must be different one side to the other. But there you go.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
NISMO GT-R
by Tim Joseph
Edmunds said it was the fastest car they've ever driven but it's not fast enough for you! Your new GT-R is here and for the most part you've enjoyed every minute of it. If only it could be faster you hear yourself saying over and over.
NISMO (Nissan Motorsports), Nissan's motorsports and performance division has released a package that may help you. The GT-R NISMO package (only available in Japan at the moment) includes Bilstein adjustable dampers combined with firmer coil springs and a set of 20-inch Rays forged aluminum wheels wrapped in Bridgestone RE070R tires. To make the vehicle lighter the package also includes an exhaust silencer that's shed 11 pounds, manually adjustable seats with carbon fibre backing and a carbon fibre undertray.
The price tag is set at 5,460,000 yen which is currently $50,074.32. We'll keep you updated on the package when it comes to America.
