Top Market Cars

Archive for October, 2009

Car Loans Vs The Credit Crunch

Car loans are the way to overcome that credit crunch if you are looking for a car.

The credit crunch may have taken away the individuals consumers ability to spend large sums of money at once but alternative finance options with car loans are enabling consumers to obtain the cars they want.

That is definitely the way that some car manufacturers have read the situation anyway. A prime example of this being the new Spyker four ndash;seater SUV super car.

A 500bph fourseater SUV super car costing around pound;185000 might not be a great example of an affordable car for the average man or woman but the theory is still the same. Car manufacturers are still producing the cars they were set to produce and consumers although purchases have gone down for those not on finance are still buying the cars they want through car loans.

A car loan can be split over as many or as few months as agreed with the car loan lender. This means that monthly payments are organised with an interest rate agreed on the loan. Cars are an expensive item at the best of economic climates let alone when the country is in a recession.

The car market has received in terms of car sales but there has however been an increase in the cars purchased through financial loans to consumers; Mintel 2008

The Mintel reports fail to consider the implications the financial market has on the lenders themselves. Banks have begun to tighten the purse strings and are not willing to lend to consumers that they deem have higher risk factors when it comes to repayments. This will affect car loans as a car loan will not be given if the lender does not think that the loan will be repaid at the rate agreed.

To counter act this some lenders have increased their interest rates this has a deterrent to those who do not wish to have such a high interest loan and also this means that repayments made on loans are of a larger sum than a lower interest loan for example.

An economic downturn can be perpetuated through these increased interest rates as lenders may prefer to lend to those who can afford the higher interest but it could also harm the ability of some consumers to keep up with repayments.

Nissan 370Z Roadster

Chevrolet Camaro

Mercedes EClass Coupe

VW Passat Bluemotion 2

These are just four cars to be released early into the New Year. With companies such as Nissan Chevrolet Mercedes and VW all continuing to spend on new product development the consumer could be forgiven to think the credit crunch isnt affecting the car market.

As stated research displays there has been an effect but its down to the consumer in order to make sure that they explore the avenues such as car loans in order to ride out the credit crunch. The larger car manufacturers are looking to increase their market share in these harder times so prices should drop. Consumers could be set in a strong position to take advantage of car values.

About the writer:  Visitcars

Which Transmission For Racing?

Should you choose a manual transmission or automatic? This is the dispute that muscle car owners have been having with each other since the dawn of time or at least since the dawn of the Sixties. Whether you prefer to squash rocks with a Muncie 4speed or let your Hydromatic handle the shifting duties for you lets take a look at some of the good things and bad things of each type of transmission from a performance perspective.

The manual transmission is of course the conventional method of changing gears dating back to the original automobiles of yesteryear. The greatest disagreement for the continued use of manual transmissions despite all of our years of technological advancement is that the human brain is much better at calculating when to shift than a computer. The logic behind this is that a computercontrolled transmission cannot see up ahead to know what corners or hills are coming therefore putting it at a disadvantage on the race track when it comes to selecting the proper gear.

There is a lot of truth to this and it is the primary reason why there are no serious race cars with fully automatic transmissions. However manuals also have more moving parts than an automatic and items like the clutch can stop working if not used properly or if it is exposed to too much power all at once.

The majority of muscle cars are equipped with automatic transmissions. This is because many prefer to just sit back and drive instead of having to make decisions about what gear they should be in. From a performance perspective automatic transmissions have speed on their side they can shift much much faster than even a professional driver using a manual.

This instant shifting makes them ideal for drag racing as they can slam the car from gear to gear while going down the track at lightning speeds picking up valuable fractions of a second over someone having to coordinate their clutch and stick shift. The knock against automatics is that well they are boring. That and the fact that they are quite sensitive to heat which can wear them out internally and lead to an expensive repair.

So which is it? Manuals or automatics? It all really comes down to personal preference as well as the situations you are going to be placing your car in. If you will be competing in events which take place on road course or if you love blasting down twisty mountain passes then a manual is definitely going to provide you with more fun and greater control.

If your passion is drag racing or if your car frequently finds itself in bumper to bumper traffic then you might want to consider keeping things automatic to save yourself the issues associated with the wear and hassle of clutching in stop and go. If you are looking for a compromise then some of the semiautomatic transmissions available today can be retrofitted to pretty much any muscle car giving you the ability to shift when you want to shift or let the computer take over when you enter heavier traffic.

About the writer:  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 performance transmissions.

Turbo Conversion

It is common sense that a stock car would eat dust in a racing circuit against cars which were finely upgraded. This is also true in street racing. So most people who enter street racing or circuit racing would give their care some level of turbo conversion. Because the price of full conversion is very high there are ways to partially convert the car and there are available turbo kits.

There is a problem however in both cases first the fact that a partially converted car is not recommended by anyone and people only do it out of desperation or experimentation. Then those who converts cars for a living know that not all cars has the same process of conversion they are usually custom made so bolt in turbo kits are not that hot either. The proper solution is to do a complete turbo conversion to avoid those problems. To properly convert the car would need part replacements and a good deal of car knowledge.

First of all the car must have fuel injection system before the turbo conversion can take place. Fuel injection is important because the car would experience problems in driveability and would run the risk of seal failure and float failure. The next thing you would have to convert is the engine. Aspirated engines do not do well with the heat and the pressure which comes from a turbo charged car. This may cause more problems so some proper adjustments need to be made. The compression needs to be adjusted to a level that the engine would be able to handle easily. Somewhere around 8.0:1 would be good. Then replacing the piston and the rings is needed. Forged pistons are ideal for turbo conversion.

However if that is not available or is too expensive then the alternative for a forged piston is to use a turbo charged version of the piston from the manufacturer if there is an available one. Using TotalSeal rings would reduce the risk of blow by and would keep all the power of the cylinder. For the cylinder head then stainless steel valves are ideal for durability and longer life span. If you cannot afford this one then there is an alternative by having the stock valve coated for heat protection. For a car that runs on pump gas then it is important to install an ignition timing control. If you do not replace the normal aspirated ignition control then you can end up damaging the pistons and the rings even if you use the best of them.

Turbo conversion is a long hard process of replacing parts mixing and matching to attain the best boost possible with your car. Not to mention that it would be very expensive. An alternative is to purchase a turbo kit but that cannot guarantee the best result. Finding all the parts you may need is also a problem but the use of internet can help you find and analyze the best parts you can use for the turbo car you always dreamed of.

About the writer:  Sam is the owner of Turbo Specialist Turborevs. You can find more information on Electric Supercharger and Dump”>http://turborevs.org.uk/enginetuning/dumpvalves/viewallproducts.html”>Dump Valves Turborevs website.