sorry, further investigation reveals that i was talking out my ass.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=172

it's a federal requirement apparently.

I bet the tire manufacturers wanted it taken off. too bad, so sad!

How do you compare/evaluate engines? I get 4/6/8 cylinders; but what about capacity in liters? Is an engine with a bigger capacity always more powerful? And there seems to be lots of other fancy terms I don't understand. I feel like I'm comparing apples to oranges.

I don't want a car with a wimpy little engine. I'd rather get one with a medium powered engine that will get me up my hill and not fade on me as time goes on.

Better to compare what the engine does than how big it is.

What is the horsepower? What is the torque? How fast does it accelerate? What is the MPG? Those numbers will tell you how powerful and efficient the engine is.

There are all sorts of tricks to get power out of an engine, and engine size is only one of them. An important one, but not the only one.

Better still is to drive the damn thing and see if it's good enough for you.

Thanks, glatt, I will look at those numbers. But I don't understand exactly what torque is. "Torque" to me means twisted--but what does it mean for an engine?

Of course I will be eventually driving the cars I'm interested in, and I understand that is a good way to evaluate the engines in a practical way (as long as it's a proper test drive and not around the block),

Torque is what produces the seat of the pants feeling of acceleration. Horsepower measurements are taken at the maximum the engine will produce and usually it's produced at higher engine RPM than you will ever see in normal driving, which makes it kind of a useless measurement for anything but racing and bragging rights. Torque is what you feel.

Trading an '07 HHR LT with 38k on it for $8500 right now.

ooh! (makes frustrated face)

oops! they had to bump it up to $9000... made a mistake on the rebate amount. d'oh!

[joepescivoice]They fuck you on the trade-in![/joepescivoice]

Only buy a VW if the engine is in the back, a 4 banger, and aircooled. The rest of them suck.

I don't think my car aesthetic filter is the same as everyone else's. I like the Element, the HHR, I don' t mind the Rogue and Murano's "smile," and I think the Nissan Juke is really cool looking! It comes out in the fall and looks like a really neat car.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&s...=&oq=&gs_rfai=

but then, why be like everyone else?

I agree Cloud.
And I also like the looks of the Juke, and cool that theyre offering a diesel.

By all means, please yourself. :thumb:

do you thinking buying a new model in its first year is a good idea, though?