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Americans are concerned about fuel efficiency more than ever and car manufacturers are listening. For instance, Ford made big changes to their 2008 vehicle line and came out with a series of vehicles that are noticeably more fuel efficient — even in the SUV marketplace. Here is a look at the top five:

Fuel Efficient Vehicle #5: Mazda 5

Although mileage does vary slightly depending on the model you choose, the 5-speed automatic, 4 cylinder SUV will get you approximately 22mpg in the city and 28mpg on the open road. The independent suspension, electronic brakeforce distribution, and other unique features make this minivan look and feel more like a sport sedan rather than the big family beasts of yester-year. If you talk to any of the Virginia Beach auto dealers, they will tell you these little machines have plenty of pep even with the higher gas mileage.

Fuel Efficient Vehicle #4: Mazda 3

Available in a touring, grand touring, and sport models as well as in a hatchback or sedan style, the Mazda 3s have a fuel rating of approximately 24mpg while city driving and 32mpg on the highway. They range from 144-151 horsepower with either a 2.0L or a 2.3L engine. Although handling is what sets these beautiful machines apart from the rest, says many Virginia Beach auto dealers, MazdaSpeed3 is the most popular model in the group because of its 2.3L 4 cylinder motor and 6-speed transmission.

Fuel Efficient Vehicle #3: Ford Focus

The 2008 Ford Focus has the look and feel of the Fusion sedan with better gas mileage. At 24 mpg in the city and 35 mpg on the highway, the car’s improved efficiency is attributed mostly to its lighter weight overall and more aerodynamic design. Although it is available in both automatic and manual transmission, the automatic does have a slightly lower fuel mileage on the highway. Ford has also altered the braking and suspension systems to give this car better capability and comfort that its predecessors.

Fuel Efficient Vehicle #2: Mariner Hybrid

The 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrids introduced a less expensive FWD model in addition to the all-wheel-drive version already available. The Mariner has a fuel rating of 34/30 mpg, which is equivalent to the Escape Hybrid. Where the Mariner really shines is in its luxurious options and chic design.

Fuel Efficient Vehicle #1: Escape Hybrid

Virginia Beach auto dealers prefer the Escape Hybrid to the Mariner because it costs less while still getting you 34mpg in the city and 30 mpg on the open road. This SUV has the same engine and chassis as both the Tribute and the Escape. The motor is a 2.3L Atkinson-cycle 14 that has 133 horsepower. The Escape also features electric drive as well as features such as regenerative breaking technology and a CVT automatic system.

This may not sound like a whole lot of savings until you look at the big picture. If you average out the fuel efficiency of all the SUVs available from Virginia Beach auto dealers, you will find they run at approximately 15-20mpg. With the Escape and Mariner, you can get twice the miles out of a tank of fuel and still enjoy the convenience and comfort of an SUV.

Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on Virginia Beach Auto Dealers
please, visit http://www.beachford.com.

To new muscle car owners going to the drag strip for the first time, quarter mile runs are usually seen from a single point of view: horsepower. A lot of dudes out there think that the more horsepower you have got, the faster you can go, plain and straightforward. Of course, over time, if they stick with the sport most drivers come to realize that there are actually a number of different factors that come into play when trying to get your car down the 1320 as fast as possible.

Power might be important, but the more power you have, the more control you are going to need. When you are ready to get serious about drag racing, that means it is time to start researching about suspension and chassis development, and how that can affect the ability of your muscle car to put power down to the ground and effectively launch down the track. All the horsepower in the world is not going to help you if you just sit there at the starting line spinning your tires.

Once you have gotten your suspension setup all planned out, and chosen the right type of tires to mount to your car, you might still be looking for an extra edge when it comes to keeping your horsepower under control. Have you ever noticed how some of the high-horsepower drag racers lined up at the track seem to have a staggered ride height that lifts one side of the car up higher than the other? This is to counter the twisting of the chassis that occurs when a huge amount of torque is released all at once. This chassis movement can be a serious impediment to traction, as it can lift the rear wheels off of the ground and cause them to hop and skitter, slowing you down and possibly causing damage to your diff.

Now, you probably do not want to end up having your street-driven hot rod looking like some Frankensteins monster with a bizarre suspension that you have to explain to everyone you meet. Fortunately, there is an alternative that is more than capable of handling daily-driver levels of power and chassis flex. By implementing components called subframe connectors, you can keep twisting to a minimum.

How do subframe connectors work? These small plates of steel bolt or weld onto areas of your cars frame in order to provide extra stiffness against the rotational force of your car’s torque. There are quite a few different types of subframe connectors some of them are simple to install, while others require you to tear out your floor and do some heavy welding. Ultimately, the type you will need will be determined by the original strength of your cars chassis, and the level of horsepower that you are running.

Subframe connectors can be a great way to get even more out of your ride by harnessing the horsepower that you are already generating and putting it to better use. It can also help tighten up your car for the street, giving it slightly better handling and smooth power delivery.

Justina Mathews writes issues that currently affect the performance car enthusiast. She also writes about issues that affect the street tuner industry, as well as import scene lifestyle. She’s a staff writer for Subframe Connectors.

Your cooling system is extremely significant. Once you start customizing your sports car for speed and horsepower, things can start to get really hot under the hood. This is because your cars energy only translates about 30 percent of the energy found in gasoline into power. The rest of it ends up as waste heat, and as any good hot-rodder or tuner knows, heat is one of the biggest enemies of performance.

This is because engines are intended to run inside fairly narrow temperature ranges. You have probably seen that a motor can be somewhat hesitant in the mornings on a very icy day it needs to warm up to that most advantageous temperature in order to become efficient and make the most horsepower that it can. Likewise, since the temperatures inside an engine can get scorching and do not forget, you are actually using controlled burns of gasoline to get where you are going too much heat can melt or damage important engine components. This is especially true if you are running performance parts such as aluminum cylinder heads.

So how can you maintain things as cool as possible? It helps to have a cooling system that is up to the mission of keeping your engine from baking alive. The more power you make, the hotter you engine could start to run. The first thing to keep in mind is that you should run the type of coolant that the manufacturer recommends for your car. Now I know a lot of people tell you that all coolant is the same and that you can go down to the local supply shop and buy green, blue or orange coolant and just dump it in there, but this is not true. Each type of coolant has a different chemical composition, and your engine was designed to run specifically with what it came with from the factory.

Another way you can help your stock cooling system deal with the increased load is by installing a more powerful electric fan. Most modern cars use electric fans as a stock accessory, but if you are running an older car, then you can use a conversion kit to switch over to an electric from a mechanical fan fairly easily. The key characteristic of an electric fan is how many cubic feet per minute of air it can move CFM. You can easily find a fan with a higher CFM than your stock fan, and sometimes, (depending on how much space you have in your engine bay), you can install two fans side by side in the same housing.

Electric fans are very useful if you have a turbo car. Turbos spin very, very fast sometimes tens of thousands of rpm. Naturally, they can get extremely hot, and so can their manifolds. A good trick is to set your electric fan to keep running even after you have shut down the car after a hard run. It might make you feel a bit weird to walk away from your car with the fan still whirring, but putting the fan on a timer or temperature sensor that shuts it down once your engine and turbo are back down to a reasonable temperature is a great way to prevent component damage and prolong the life of your vehicle.

Justina Mathews writes issues that currently affect the performance car enthusiast. She also writes about issues that affect the street tuner industry, as well as import scene lifestyle. She’s a staff writer for cooling systems.

If you have ever used up any time pushing your car hard through the corners, then you know that the hardness of the suspension really makes a difference in how well it holds the road. To begin with, any kind of lean in a corner can cause your car to loose traction as the tires struggle to keep their contact patch on the ground. Not only that, but lean can also put a fair amount of strain on the suspension components bearing the brunt of the force.

You have probably changed out your stock factory springs for sport springs with a more aggressive rate that keeps your car from diving too much under braking, creating an overall stiffer ride. You might have also matched them with heavy-duty shock absorbers which help to keep the car feeling tight over elevation changes and through rapid direction changes. Even with these kinds of mods, you might still be frustrated with the amount of body roll you feel on the track or even on the street. What other options are left for you to explore?

One of the best decisions you can make would be to install front and rear strut-tower brace. What is a strut-tower brace? Simply put, a strut-tower brace is a solid piece of metal (or carbon fiber, if you are into that exotic, ultra-expensive range of parts), which is used to horizontally brace the frame of the car. The strut tower is the mounting point for the top of the shock absorber, and it is directly connected to the vehicles chassis. By using the brace to attach the left and right strut towers together, it’s like you are adding on to the frame, except you are doing it from the top, instead of the bottom as you would with a sway bar.

The strut tower at the front of the car is found in your engine bay. This means that you need to make sure that any strut tower brace you are considering has enough clearance to make it over the top of your valve cover. Oh, and keep in mind that once you are done admiring your installation work, you will need to be able to close the hood as well so it cannot be too tall either.

The rear strut tower is a little trickier. On some cars, it can be found in the trunk, or cargo area if you have a hatchback. There is usually enough space to easily get hands and tools in and lock the bar down. However, many sedans have the strut towers hidden under the rear deck or seat meaning that the seat has to come out before they can be accessed. This extra step can be a pain if space in your car is tight.

One thing is certain about strut tower braces: once you have one in your car, you will wonder how you ever got along without one. With the tightened chassis, you will feel like your import is on rails, and corners that used to have your passengers holding onto the door handle will feel a lot calmer and more controlled which is exactly how your car should feel.

Justina Mathews writes issues that currently affect the performance car enthusiast. She also writes about issues that affect the street tuner industry, as well as import scene lifestyle. She’s a staff writer for strut tower brace.

The fuel system is the livelihood of your imports engine. To put it simply, if at any given time your car becomes starved of gasoline, there is a good chance that damage will occur to your engine, especially if you are using nitrous oxide, forced induction, or running at very high rpms. So critical is fuel delivery to high performance street machines that most turbocharger kits or nitrous systems provide larger or extra fuel injectors and heavy duty fuel pumps to keep up with the demand.

It is obvious that keeping your fuel system in the best possible shape is critical when it comes to maintaining a healthy engine. There are a few different areas that you need to keep an eye on in order to make sure that your fuel system is running at the highest level.

The first and easiest step you can take is to regularly replace your fuel filters. Now, I know this does not sound glamorous, but fuel filters are in all probability the most forgotten serviceable component in the entire system. This is usually because unlike an air filter, fuel filters can be hidden out of sight anywhere along the fuel line. They are usually found either near the fuel pump or near the tank. Some vehicles have an in-tank fuel pump with a filter located nearby, and some even have an additional fuel filter in the engine bay.

Wherever yours are, over time they can clog up due to impurities in fuel or corrosion in the gas lines or tank itself. This clogging drastically reduces fuel delivery, and can lead to bad news under the hood of your car, not to mention lower fuel economy. Replacing fuel filters is usually cheap and easy, so it’s worth doing at least once per season.

The injectors themselves can also get dirty or fouled, and this can lead to reduced power and mileage as well. What usually happens is that carbon or other contaminants coat the tip of the injector and turn the fine spray of gasoline into a trickle or a thicker spurt. This reduces the atomization of the gas, and is a general performance let-down. You have got a couple of options if you suspect that your fuel injectors might be dirty. You can use an in-tank fuel additive that will use chemicals to try to strip away to coating on the injectors, but this is not always effective. The most surefire way to clean up your act is to remove the injectors and have them sent away to one of the several companies which specialize in cleaning them off. Sure, you won’t be able to drive your car while they are away, but when they come back they will be as good as new.

Finally, you should keep an eye on your fuel pump to make sure that it has still got some life left in it. If your car has an in-tank fuel pump, listen for any strange sounds coming from the rear of your car when you turn the key to the on position. In-tank pumps use fuel as a lubricant and coolant, and if they are starting to wear out, they can get quite noisy. It is always better to replace a fuel pump than to have it fail on you out of the blue or in the middle of a quarter mile run.

Justina Mathews writes issues that currently affect the performance car enthusiast. She also writes about issues that affect the street tuner industry, as well as import scene lifestyle. She’s a staff writer for racing fuel systems.

You maybe have heard of an old trick in the world of automotive performance that uses special pulleys to somehow pick up more horsepower from an otherwise stock motor. This might seem a little too good to be true, but believe it or not, it actually it is a proven technique that you could apply to your engine in order to increase performance.

How does it work? Well, keep in mind that your engine is providing power to more than just the wheels of your car. For example, the alternator, the air conditioning compressor, and the power steering pump are all connected to the engine through a belt and pulley system. Each of those accessories has a small pulley that gets rotated by your serpentine belt that big belt located at the front of the engine. These pulleys take a small amount of horsepower from the engine in order to keep turning and working while you are driving. This is known as parasitic drag.

Now, normally this is not an issue. After all, the amount of energy it takes to turn two or three small pulleys is in the 5 to 7 horsepower range. No big deal, right? Well, when you are trying to squeeze every last drop of performance out of your engine, you should grab whatever you can. If this horsepower is there for the taking, why not take advantage?

The way to eliminate a substantial portion of this parasitic drag is to install special pulleys that take less energy to turn yet are still capable of running your accessories. These are called underdrive pulleys. The most obvious difference between an underdrive pulley and a standard pulley is that it has a smaller diameter. This makes it so that the pulley does not turn as fast as the stock pulley, meaning that less energy is used in the motion. More importantly, these pulleys are also much lighter than a stock pulley, and the reduced mass makes them far easier to rotate. It is this last feature which gives you the biggest performance gains. Usually you can access about 3 to 5 free horsepower with these devices.

I know what you are thinking if the pulleys are not spinning as fast as they used to, doesnt this mean that my accessories are not going to get the power that they need to work properly? Yes and no. It is usually safe to underdrive your accessories by about 20 percent. If you go below this point, you might start to notice issues like an alternator which does not generate enough electricity to keep the engine running, or a power steering pump that you have to fight against in order to turn the wheels.

These issues, when they appear, usually occur only at idle. This is why the 20 percent limit is recommended on a street car. If you are running primarily on the track, where you will see wide open throttle most of the time, then you can take the chance of running a more aggressive set of pulleys that will reduce parasitic drag by a greater amount.

Justina Mathews writes issues that currently affect the performance car enthusiast. She also writes about issues that affect the street tuner industry, as well as import scene lifestyle. She’s a staff writer for underdrive pulleys.