ThrottleHolic

Why Take Your Car to the Mechanic When You Can Simpy DIY?

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Ask Throttle (1st Episode): Clunking Noise, Guzzling, Et Al.

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The auto world is an interesting (and complex) one. If you understand a vehicle (and its problems), handling it is usually a piece of cake, whether the car is a new one or an older model. You just diagnose and fix (without conscious thought). On the flip side, if you're not conversant with the c...

Ending The New vs Used Car Debate (Without ANY Sentiment)

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Recently, a friend who is way richer than I am called me and asked a simple question. “Throttle,” he inquired, “Is it better to buy a new or used car?" Without waiting for him to ask me what I thought, I answered: “Buy a brand new car, if you can afford it…damn the economists and accountants!” ...

3 Reasons Sellers of Used Cars Conceal Their License Plates

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I was recently interested in a used vehicle I saw online, which was locally available. Everything appeared to tick the boxes, except that the seller claimed to have recently imported the vehicle and used it for less than six months in the country. This 'fact' was supposed to justify the premium...

Plain Water as Coolant: 7 Reasons Why This Is a Very Bad Idea

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Out of every 1,000 vehicles on the road in summers (or tropical regions), at least half, a whooping 500, use water as coolant. This means, their owners/drivers are willfully (or ignorantly) running plain water in their radiators and cooling systems, instead of the recommended coolant.  Of t...

Do Cars Consume Less Gas When the Tank Is Full? The Full Story

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I've never bothered watching my fuel economy or, worse, being bothered by it, although my daily driver is a 3.3-liter naturally aspirated V6. I've also never bothered about whether or not cars consume less gas when the tank is full. I've also shunned the very idea of converting my daily driver t...

When Should You Get an Oil Change? At 5K Miles or by Engine Time?

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Much like Idiot’s Lights, every car on sale today comes with a period which, according to the manufacturer, the engine oil needs to be changed. For my daily driver, this period is 5k miles. There's a problem, however: when should you get an oil change, realistically? Are car manufacturers simply...