Member Spotlight: klutsyme.

Most new car buyers won’t admit that their expensive driveway art is flawed in any way. ExpoTV driver klutsyme wasn’t blinded by her purchase decision. She liked her first Honda Civic so much that she traded it in for a new one — but neither car was spared from honest critiques that any prospective buyer would love to hear before “taking the plunge.”

That’s the beauty of ExpoTV!

Diana’s review highlighted one issue that I particularly agree with. Combination taillamps that use red brake lamps and red turn signals don’t offer the same alert qualities that amber turn signals afford. On Houston’s fast-moving freeways, amber turn signals keep drivers apprised — especially at night.

Abroad, amber turn signals are the standard. There’s a reason why, even in the US, front turn signals are required to flash amber. Enthusiasts in the Edmunds CarSpace Forums have discussed the topic before — what are your thoughts?

Many happy miles,
Adam

Add comment July 22nd, 2008

Member Spotlight: zipadeedoodah.

Natural gas is domestically abundant, available anywhere, clean-burning, and cheap. No wonder government and corporate auto fleets turned to the fuel en masse in the 1990s. Those cars have now reached retirement age, and can be found at auction. Private buyer zipadeedoodah found a retired Chevrolet Cavalier Natural Gas Vehicle, and did a great job of walking ExpoTV viewers through the positives and negatives of NGV ownership.

Today, the only NGV on the market is the Honda Civic GX. It’s essentially a stripped Civic — with a two-speaker sound system — for $24,600. That’s $2000 more than the much-better-appointed Civic Hybrid.

NGVs’ environmental strengths never seemed to outweigh the cargo-area compromises and added upfront costs that plagued the Nineties examples. Now that series hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles are on the distant horizon, NGV technology may never get the research dollars needed to overcome those problems.

Many happy miles,
Adam

Add comment July 15th, 2008