OT: Toyota ads

[Truvelo]

Going back to some of the earlier posts in this thread regarding oil changes, why is it necessary to change the oil as often as every 3000 miles? My current car, a diesel, has 12,500 mile intervals. The previous car, a 1.6 gasoline, had 20,000 mile intervals. This car did 270,000 before it was replaced. If I had changed the oil every 3000 miles would it have made a difference apart from the increased cost of replacing the oil every couple of weeks which is the sort of mileage I cover. I suppose if you only make short trips every now and then it makes sense to change the oil more frequently but people like me who drive 80k to 90k a year don't have problems with running the engine cold all the time.

[Brandon]

My mom's HHR is great outside the poor visibility caused by the low windshield.  It really has too much power for the platform as it has a lot of torque steer.  It's quick for what it is (2.4L DOHC engine, automatic tranny) and gets excellent gas mileage.  And she hasn't had a bit of trouble with it.  It's fairly roomy for its size.  The plastic is pretty hard, but it's a low priced car. 

did I just get a bogus one?  I got 23mpg the last time I rented one (still beats the PT Cruiser's fucking 18, which is a travesty upon an atrocity mixed with a calamity with a steady dose of farce)... and the rear visibility for me is terrible.  Just huge pillars everywhere... I swear I once accelerated and noted that my blind spot had previously been occupied by the USS Iowa.

Don't know how you've been driving, but I average 27mpg with mine.

[Brandon]

Going back to some of the earlier posts in this thread regarding oil changes, why is it necessary to change the oil as often as every 3000 miles?

Oil change company propaganda.  The best advice I can ever give regarding oil change intervals is to read your car's owner's manual.  Far too many people hop in their cars and fail to read the owner's manual.  There are usually two schedules in the manual: regular use and hard use (stop & go, dust, extreme temperatures, etc).

But,

ALWAYS READ YOUR CAR'S OWNER'S MANUAL! 

[corco]

I drove the Corolla 900 miles today, so I have a better feel for it now.

Good things:

-Averaging 39 MPG using a mix of 85, 87, and Iowa-grade 89 on a whole mix of road conditions at a whole bucket full of speeds (everything from I-80 in rural Wyoming to N-2 through the Sandhills to N-91/Iowa 44 in the Missouri River area to US-6 through Omaha during rushhour) . That's pretty solid
-Power outlet inside the center console. At first I saw that and said "Wait, what?" Then I realized I could put my battery recharger in there and let it charge without having to smell the toxic fumes of batteries recharging quite as much. Nice roadgeek feature.

Bad things:

-I thought Toyotas were supposed to have their suspension tuned to be smooth- my 2002 Jeep Liberty has a smoother ride than the Corolla
-A good way to test the cruise control's abilities to adjust speed is by driving on rolling hills. This car fails in the rolling hills of Eastern Nebraska/Western Iowa. Set cruise at 65, car drops to 55 going up and then goes up to 70 going down. Some cars are better at this than others, but this was about the worst.
-Surprisingly poor cornering- not as bad as a Jeep Liberty, but not as good as my Grandma's 15 year old Ford Escort
- I haven't figured out how to make the radio display the clock, and the main clock is buried way down by the gearshift. I tend to keep things timed down to 5-minute intervals so I can maximize roads/daylight hours, so it was annoying to have to look way down there to get the time

[Scott5114]

What were you doing to that PT Cruiser that you only got 18 MPG out of it? I tend to get 23 in mine...

[agentsteel53]

What were you doing to that PT Cruiser that you only got 18 MPG out of it? I tend to get 23 in mine...

23 is still shit.  If I can get over 40 out of an '89 Escort...

[corco]

23 is still shit.  If I can get over 40 out of an '89 Escort...

While 23 is bad, cars of the late 80s got better gas mileage than almost anything on the road today. I had a 90 Dodge Colt that averaged well over 40, and then you had cars like the Geo Metro XFi that were rated in the 50s- without hybrid technology or diesel motors!

How did they do that? Safety regulations weren't nearly what they were today- it was physically possible to build a car that weighed ~ 1 ton that didn't cost an absurd amount of money. We can't do that today, and technology is just now starting to allow us to build normal petrol cars that get the gas mileage of your Escort and meet current standards without costing a fortune since these days it's damn near impossible to build and sell an economy car under 2500 pounds

[mightyace]

cars of the late 80s got better gas mileage than almost anything on the road today

I know.  My brother has an 87 T-bird he is finally getting rid of.  It had a 302 V8 and he got 28-30 on the highway!