cars. SUVs. minivans. pick-up trucks.

Archive for March, 2010

GPS unit is only an aid, it’s up to driver to choose

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Q: In December a couple in Oregon were stranded for three days after their GPS unit directed them to drive down an unplowed, snow-covered country road. Should I be concerned about my GPS directing me on a dangerous route?

A: The brand of GPS involved in the Oregon incident wasn’t disclosed. However, at best, any GPS unit is only a mapping aid and can only offer suggestions. The device cannot see if a road is covered by snow, ice, fallen trees, flood waters or other debris (or perhaps, unsavory characters) that would make travelling on it inadvisable.

Traffic guidance, where the GPS alerts you to road closures, may be available for a fee on some premium models. But ultimately, the decision on what route to take is always the driver’s.

I can’t speak for all makes of navigation units, but my unit is extremely flexible on routing. It offers four trip options (fastest time, shortest distance, mostly freeways, fewest freeways) to get to each destination. You can also tell it to avoid toll roads or U-turns, if desired.

To keep you from making wrong turns, the unit has a “text to speech” function. This means it will say the name of the street you need to turn on next. And, the “lane advisory” feature tells you verbally and on-screen whether to stay to the right or left for the next required highway exit. I find both features to be lifesavers on highways where multiple exits are often only metres apart.

If you stray from the given route, the device soon recalculates a new route to get you back on track to your destination.

The point is that you are never tied to taking any particular route. If you feel any road suggested by your GPS is dangerous then, by all means, don’t take it. Regardless of which roads you choose, the device will still guide you to your destination and you will not get lost.

Q: Can a driver lawfully turn right on a red light from the second (dual) right-turn lane? These turns don’t seem safe, particularly if pedestrians are present.

A: Ontario Transportation Ministry spokesperson Bob Nichols replies:

Unless a sign tells you not to, drivers are permitted under S. 144(19) HTA to turn right after stopping for a red signal; however,they must yield the right-of-way to traffic in the intersection – including pedestrians. To keep everyone safe, drivers should watch for pedestrians both in or approaching their path before turning.

Eric Lai adds:

Dual turn lanes must be designated by signs or pavement markings. That is, you can’t just “create” your own and turn from any lane you please when the marked left- or right-turn lane is crowded.

Turns commenced from a dual turn lane must be completed in the corresponding lane on the intersecting roadway.

Note that the onus is on the turning driver to ensure that it’s done safely without affecting other traffic. In other words, if anything bad happens, you’ll be the first one police look at for charges.

Q: Can I upgrade the incandescent bulbs on my vehicle to the new LED bulbs to save energy?

A: If your vehicle was factory-equipped with incandescent bulbs, it’s generally best to stick to these. Brake and turn signals may malfunction or the dash “bulb out” warning light may be falsely triggered if light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs are installed in place of original-equipment incandescent bulbs.

Email non-mechanical questions to

Eric Lai at wheels@thestar.ca | Eric Lai, TORONTO STAR

Posted in GPS, unit is only an aid | No Comments »

Answering up to customers’ biggest buying beefs

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Some explanations for the top complaints that consumers have with auto dealerships

Customers are quick to praise franchised car dealerships when they are satisfied with the products and services they purchase. Most dealerships receive dozens of letters and emails every month from customers who wish to acknowledge their positive buying (or service) experience.

But not all customers are satisfied all of the time. Dealers regularly hear from those who have legitimate complaints when products and services fail to meet their expectations.

Here’s a list of 10 of the most common customer complaints, in no particular order, based on a survey that I conducted with my colleagues in the retail car industry.

Not enough knowledgeable salespeople. Consumers are better educated about vehicles today than ever before, and they aren’t impressed with salespeople who lack adequate product knowledge. Consumers also don’t like waiting around for salespeople when they’re interested in purchasing a vehicle.

New vehicles that already have 60 to 100 km. There’s an assumption that all brand new vehicles should have zero km on them when a customer takes delivery. This isn’t feasible, given that vehicles are often test driven and moved around the lot.

Purchase or lease incentives should apply to all vehicles. Customers feel that incentives (low interest rates, rebates, etc.) should apply across the board on new and pre-owned vehicles. Manufacturers and dealerships have many reasons for discounting some vehicles more than others.

Interest rates are higher on used vehicles than on new. That’s because used vehicles typically have a shorter lifespan than new vehicles, and because banks assume greater risk when extending credit on used vehicles. But dealerships and manufacturers will sometimes offer low interest rates and extended quality guarantees on used vehicles.

Vehicles aren’t ready when promised. I appreciate how frustrating it is when customers’ vehicles aren’t fixed on time. Service departments do their best to manage their workflows, but even the most organized and well-oiled departments struggle with this issue from time to time.

Vehicles aren’t fixed right the first time. This makes customers really upset and understandably so. Customers should expect their vehicles to be repaired correctly the first time.

Unfortunately, even with extensive training and large investments in technology, the diagnostic process is not foolproof. In most cases, the more information about a problem that you can offer the service adviser, the better your chances of getting your vehicle diagnosed properly the first time.

Parts departments don’t stock all parts. Keeping a complete inventory of parts for all makes and models would be logistically impossible and prohibitively expensive. But parts that aren’t in stock can be easily ordered (in person or online) and delivered usually within a day or two.

Not all makes and models are in stock. Customers are sometimes disappointed to learn that dealerships don’t have the vehicle they’re looking for sitting on the lot. It would be prohibitively expensive and impractical for dealers to keep every model on the lot.

Automated voice messaging systems. These systems are annoying and impersonal, but they are essential at larger dealerships, which receive hundreds of phone calls per day.

Why don’t dealerships keep longer hours? Most sales departments are open until 9 p.m. on weeknights (until 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday), and service departments are open Monday to Friday. Most service departments offer extended hours throughout the week and many are open on Saturdays.

Years ago, a common complaint was about the lack of disclosure in dealership advertising. The new Motor Vehicle Dealers Act 2002 (which became law on Jan. 1 and is enforced by the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council) now ensures that dealership advertising is in full compliance with all of the laws governing disclosure.

This column represents the views of TADA, email president@tada.ca or visit www.tada.ca

Ron Loveys, TADA president, TORONTO STAR, Mar 06, 2010

Posted in 10 common auto buying beefs | No Comments »

Tip No. 1: Shut up till team and car in place

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

If you are Williams or Ferrari or McLaren, and you approach AT&T or Santander or Vodafone, and you say (in so many words), “I need $50 million from you to go Formula One racing this year,” the chances are excellent that you will get a hearing and pretty good that you’ll get the money.

And why is that?

Because you – Williams, Ferrari and McLaren – have been around F1 forever and you have kept your nose clean and haven’t ripped anybody off and delivered excellent value for investment most of the time.

Corporations know that you are a good risk. You have a history; you have a good track record.

Which explains why those three old-guard F1 teams can go after – and expect to receive – multi-million-dollar sponsorships.

Okay, so now you’re a guy who’s been around the sport a long time. You know the ins and outs and who’s a player and who isn’t. You know how things work.

So you announce, to great fanfare – as did journalist Peter Windsor and his long-time friend, F1 engineer Ken Anderson last year – that you are going to start a brand-new F1 team from scratch because, one, you can do it better (you’ve been around and know what everybody else is doing wrong), and two, you can do it cheaper (why are all those people wasting all that money?).

Everybody you talk to thinks your USF1 racing team is an absolutely smashing idea.

You start to run into problems almost immediately, however, because there are all sorts of people out there who are gung-ho as all get-out when it comes to talk but slow as molasses when it comes time to walk.

“Sure, I’m in for a million bucks” is something that’s really easy for someone to say. Actually sitting down and writing out a cheque is infinitely more difficult.

That’s at the individual level.

At the corporate level, you might even think you have a deal with a vice-president until it comes time for the board of directors to approve the expenditure.

“You want to give $50 million to WHO??? You want to give $50 million for WHAT???”

That’s why, if you want to play in F1 these days, you have to either have a great track record (see above), be personally wealthy (Alex Schnaider, Peter Sauber) or be an entrepreneur whose businesses support your team (Red Bull, Toro Rosso: Dietrich Mateschitz; Force India: Vijay Mallya; Virgin: Richard Branson).

If you are like someone in the previous paragraph, you will probably be able to play in F1. But otherwise, forget it.

It’s impossible and you can’t do it and that’s what the folks behind USF1 have unfortunately found out. On Thursday, the FIA officially announced USF1 would not participate in F1 this year. Anderson followed by saying he still holds out hope the team can race in 2011.

Listen, I’ve been there. I have personal experience of what happens when you think you know what you’re doing in the world of upper-level motorsport.

In 1988, after having been around racing cars forever, written about racing cars forever, gone racing myself and owned racing cars, I decided I knew enough to be able to go racing at the Indianapolis 500.

I knew how I was going to do it. It would be on the cheap but I had a business plan and I would be able to do it over three years.

I made a deal for a car and engine (through a fellow involved in IndyCar racing at the time), had a driver lined up, had sponsorship lined up, had associate sponsorship lined up, and on and on.

I even gave an interview to the local weekly newspaper in the town where I was living and said not only was I going to take a team to Indy but I was going to win the race someday. (I still think that, by the way …)

The deal started to come apart when the guy who owned the car and engine he was going to sell me called to say he was leaving the sport and wanted more money than we’d agreed.

When I went to the major sponsor I had lined up to say I was going to need more money because, etc., he said that business hadn’t been so hot lately, he’d been rethinking our agreement and, well, he really didn’t want to do it any more.

When the associate sponsors (they were just in for product, in any event) became aware that there wasn’t an Indy racing car in my shop because I didn’t have the money to pay for it, they either cancelled or came and got their stuff.

Like Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson, my IndyCar deal was over before it really got started.

Lesson learned: have the car and infrastructure in place; then make the announcement.

When Windsor and Anderson called a press conference on Speed TV in February 2009, and proceeded to talk in generalities, I cringed because I sensed that they might be going down a road they thought they knew but maybe didn’t.

I’ve often thought since that maybe, as one journalist to another, I should have written Windsor a letter and told him my sad little tale.

But I didn’t. I don’t think he would have listened anyway.

DONALDSON PODCAST FRIDAYS

I have great news today.

Gerald Donaldson, acknowledged to be Canada’s foremost authority on all things Formula One, will begin recording an audio podcast next Friday in which he will preview each and every Grand Prix race this season.

Donaldson, who reported for the Toronto Star during the Jacques Villeneuve era, will record his first podcast next Friday from the press room in Bahrain, site of the first F1 race of the 2010 season.

The 10-minute podcast, complete with visual images, will be available on wheels.ca by noon every Friday of a Grand Prix weekend.

Donaldson, who started writing about F1 in the 1970s and is the author of two dozen books on the series — including biographies of Gilles Villeneuve and the late world champion James Hunt — will report on practice times, driver performance and, yes, all the gossip that Formula One is famous for.

He did this previously for TSN, answering questions put to him by Vic Rauter. He will now have to answer to me.

Practice for the Grand Prix of Bahrain will take place next Friday. Go to wheels.ca at noon for the first of Donaldson’s preview podcasts.

nmcdonald@thestar.ca Read Norris McDonald’s Auto Racing blog at Wheels.ca.

Norris McDonald, Motorsport Writer | TORONTO STAR

Posted in F1, racing tip No. 1 | No Comments »

Rio owners feeling surprisingly grand

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Remember when $1.25-a-litre gas changed everything?

“My wife had traded in her gas-guzzling Jeep Cherokee and we laughed at her choice,” starts a post about a family buying a 2006 Kia Rio.

“When gas prices rose, I began using it for selling real estate. My clients are shocked when they find how roomy the back seat is.”

Kia Motors can thank the oil price shock of 2008 for introducing the brand to die-hard V8 worshippers.

“I’m used to driving high-horsepower, American-made trucks, so for me to actually say this thing has some power means something,” posted another convert.

Instead of crushing burned-out Kia shells under their monster-truck tires, some good ol’ boys started commuting in them.

CONFIGURATION

Kia enlarged its second-generation Rio for 2006, gaining economies of scale with corporate master Hyundai by adopting the Accent’s front-drive platform. The subcompact arrived from Sohari, South Korea, as a nifty four-door sedan and cheeky five-door hatchback, the Rio5.

The Rio was a little wider and taller than the outgoing model, but not one iota longer.

Still, the wheelbase was stretched 9 cm, which yielded four newfound centimetres of backseat legroom (apparently enough to astonish real estate clients).

If the car looked vaguely European, there’s a good reason: Kia is winning impressive sales volumes over there, proving popular with budget-minded consumers in that pricey part of the world.

The interior was nicely laid out and made the most of the limited space. The materials looked more expensive than they were, and the fit and finish belied the car’s cut-rate price.

The Rio came with roll-yer-own windows and few hedonistic pleasures, although options packages could fill most of the blanks (cruise control was sorely missed by many, however).

One thing product planners did not scrimp on was safety: front, side and head-protecting curtain side airbags were standard issue. Kia knew marketing a subcompact in North America required a surfeit of safety equipment to ease buyers’ minds.

By adopting variable valve-timing, the Rio’s solitary 1.6 L DOHC four-cylinder motor gained six horsepower for a total of 110, along with 107 lb.-ft. of torque.

A five-speed manual transmission was standard; an efficient four-speed automatic was optional. Antilock four-wheel disc brakes were optional on all but the base sedan.

The suspension was unremarkable: MacPherson struts up front and a torsion bar with coil springs in back.

In typical Korean fashion, it was tuned for a forgiving ride with too little sport baked in.

Subsequent model years did not offer much in the way of updates beyond the usual tinkering with trim levels and options.

ON THE ROAD

While it’s quiet at idle, the iron-block four-banger becomes quite raucous when revved. There’s excessive wind noise at speed that, coupled with the engine racket, makes for tiresome long-distance treks.

The steering is reasonably accurate and the car is relatively fuss-free in crosswinds. Find one with rear disc brakes and the stopping power is uncommonly good.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the Rio’s acceleration.

Zero to 96 km/h comes up in 9.9 seconds with the stickshift; 10.5 with the automatic. A Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris can shave a full second off those times and their engines are smaller still.

Here’s why: the Rio is a little porky and the Kia/Hyundai engines of this vintage were not tuned to maximize fuel economy.

The proof? Some drivers reported disappointing gas consumption, as much as 11 L/100 km (26 mpg) around town – not a great performance for such a small car.

“The gas mileage is nowhere near what Kia advertises,” wrote one owner, voicing a common lament.

WHAT OWNERS REPORTED

Consumers looking for a simple transportation appliance at a minimum price likely settled for a Rio with the lowest of expectations. Owners got considerably more than they bargained for.

“My 2006 Rio5 has already 385,000 km on it and is still running perfectly. It never gave me any problems at all. The only things I fixed so far are ball joints, wheel bearings, tie-rods (rough country roads) and fuel purge valve.”

We found precious few complaints about the 2006-09 Rio models in our Internet scan.

The most common had to do with short-lived batteries. In some cases it was a mysterious drain on the battery, in others it was just a bad cell. Owners may be better off buying a good aftermarket brand.

A few owners reported faulty air conditioners, and a few more leaky automatic transmissions, but in neither instance could it be characterized as an epidemic (the original 2001-02 Rios did have a troublesome autobox).

The last word goes to a Rio owner who has heard all the jokes, but who’s sitting pretty in a pretty good little car.

“You don’t have to be stupid to buy anything else, but it helps.”

We would like to know about your ownership experience with these models: Land Rover LR3, Cadillac SRX and Subaru Tribeca.

Email: toljagic@ca.inter.net.

Mark Toljagic, Special to the TORONTO STAR

Posted in Kia Rio, happy customers | No Comments »

OPP charges 470 drivers in first month of phone ban

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Ontario Provincial Police laid 470 charges and issued 468 warnings to drivers caught breaking the rules in the first month of the province’s new distracted driver law.

Drivers are banned from using cellphones, iPods or other hand-held devices or electronic display screens while driving.

The rule came into effect Oct. 26, and a three-month grace period offered to educate drivers ended in January. OPP officers issued 3,300 warnings during the grace period.

Officers can still give drivers warnings on a discretionary basis, Const. Graham Williamson said.

Charges and warnings from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28 do not include those issued by local police departments.

“We’ve noticed a reduction in drivers using devices, so there are more people complying, but there are also more people trying to conceal their use of cellphones while driving,” said Const. Hugh Smith of Toronto’s traffic services.

“It’s not so much crafty at all. It’s just dangerous. They’re lowering their phones out of view of the window and before they’d hold it by the steering wheel so at least they could look ahead.”

Williamson said there was only “anecdotal” evidence of safer roads because drivers disobeying the law usually see a police cruiser first and put their phones away.

The OPP handed out the most fines – 155 – in the GTA.

Drivers can challenge the $155 ticket in court, where a judge can lower the penalty to $60.

In Halton, which covers Oakville, Burlington and Milton, officers charged 245 drivers in a month.

A Milton officer caught a driver turning left at a major intersection with his right hand holding his phone to his ear and his left hand clutching a piece of paper on the wheel, said Sgt. Brian Carr

Posted in OPP charges 470 drivers | No Comments »

APA catches shady dealers in the act

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

CTV report reveals used-car lots filled with vehicles with dubious collision histories

If you think plaid jackets and corny openers are the worst aspects of buying a used vehicle, think again.

It’s undisclosed collision damage and misrepresented dealer fees that continue to taint the used-car purchasing experience.

On the bright side, new industry regulations may help curtail shady dealer practices.

Those were among the conclusions of the latest undercover investigation by the Automobile Protection Association (APA.ca), whose mystery shoppers approached 16 Toronto used-car lots and five curbsiders late last fall.

Only one lot earned a “pass” rating after the APA examined numerous second-hand vehicles offered for sale by the dealers. The investigation is the subject of a W5 report airing tonight at 7 p.m. on CTV.

“The pass/fail results are numerically poor, but qualitatively better,” says George Iny, the outspoken president of the APA who noted greater transparency in the process.

“Historical information on vehicles, though incomplete, is much easier to come by than it was five years ago. You can relatively easily find out if the vehicle is from out of province or written off.”

The APA focused on smaller used-car lots rather than those affiliated with new-car dealerships. It scrutinized their advertised deals found in free-circulation auto dealer magazines.

Perhaps the most disheartening discovery was the realization that Toronto’s discount used-car lots are brimming with collision-repaired vehicles.

The APA sought low-priced examples of popular models, such as the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla, and anticipated finding cars with some repaired collision damage. Disconcertingly, one dealer admitted to APA staff that 15 of the 20 vehicles on his lot had been in a collision.

“That’s not a problem if damage is cosmetic,” maintains Iny.

While some consumers shy away from vehicles that show evidence of paint overspray – the telltale sign of collision repair – many others will snap up a repainted Japanese or European car if the sticker price is low enough.

“There’s a ready market for rebuilt cars in the $4,000-to-$7,000 range,” says Bob Pierce, director of member services for the Used Car Dealers Association of Ontario (UCDA).

“Some dealers are buying up the hitters because they know they can sell them easily and quickly. Cars with $3,000 to $5,000 in body damage is not serious.

“The standards for rebuilding vehicles are pretty good since 2003.”

The good news is accident disclosure information is more readily available, thanks to services such as Carfax and CarProof that scour government and insurance records to uncover vehicle histories.

But the APA points out the information is not always shared properly. Investigators noted a few dealers underreported collision damage by showing a history search – but without a critical page or two of the report.

In other instances, dealers failed to draw attention to any damage repair not listed in the history report. A weakness endemic to the report itself, it will not disclose collision repairs previous owners made privately without the knowledge of their insurance companies (estimated to be as common as half of all bodyshop work).

One dealer added the words “structural damage” to an offer of sale after he and the secret shoppers had signed the agreement (he originally claimed the car only had a rear bumper replaced). According to the APA, the total value of the two accident claims on that one vehicle was about $14,000.

Beyond collision-repaired vehicles, the APA noted ongoing problems with dealer fees that inflate the final transaction price.

“Extra fees are the highest ever observed for e-test, safety and administration, frequently totalling in excess of $600, and occasionally as much as $1,000,” says Iny. “These are frequently misrepresented as remittances to third parties, when most of the charge is in fact retained by the dealer.”

The APA also checked for accuracy of representation of financing offers. One lot advertised 0 per cent financing, but the ad failed to mention that a 50 per cent downpayment was required.

Only one dealer was found selling a car with an odometer that had been rolled back. The APA’s criteria for failing a dealer include:

Advertising a bait-and-switch price that was not honoured because the car was “sold.”

Failing to disclose structural (or frame) damage, or four or more repainted body panels.

Charging more than $350 in misrepresented extra fees.

Preventing the consumer from taking the car offsite for a third-party inspection.

In addition to assessing used-car dealers, the APA investigators approached five “curbsiders” – suspicious characters who sell vehicles from their home, or elsewhere, while posing as private sellers.

“The curbsiders in Toronto appear to be more professionalized,” says Iny.

At one home with two vehicles for sale, the APA investigator spotted a dealer plate in use.

“One location was a towing company and collision repair shop that looked like a licensed facility, with cars for sale in the parking area in front,” he says.

“Over 20 per cent of classified advertising by so-called private parties is actually placed either by auto dealers who are failing to identify themselves, or by unlicensed retailers.”

If the study sounds like a resounding condemnation of the entire used-car retailing industry, Iny and the APA want to give consumers some hope, too.

“Sweeping new rules are supposed to clean up a lot of the misrepresentations APA saw and dramatically improve retailing practices,” says Iny.

The revamped Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, which came into effect on Jan. 1, ushered in welcome changes, including full disclosure obligations for sellers and retailers, as well as “all-in” inclusive pricing, increased Compensation Fund claim coverage to $45,000 and stiffer penalties for convictions.

TORONTO STAR

Posted in APA, shady dealers revealed | No Comments »

10 ways to be The Good Driver

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

What makes a good driver?

Loads of things.

I have always maintained it comes down to a “Triple A” mantra: Attitude, Awareness and Ability.

Last first. Unlike a lot of physical activities, driving (at least driving on the road) doesn’t demand Gold Medal-worthy reflexes, hand-to-eye co-ordination, or strength.

Certainly, there are a lot of skills you should master, and one can never have too much training.

But the Ability requirements to be an excellent driver, those which could even remotely be considered athletic, are well within the reach of anyone who can, quite literally, walk and chew gum at the same time.

It’s the other two A’s that matter most.

Here are some things to look for to evaluate the Attitude and Awareness levels of your fellow drivers.

Needless to say but I’ll say it anyway: You either do or should do these things yourself.

We’re not talking obvious things, like wearing a seatbelt or not driving impaired, but some more subtle indications that the driver has HAC (Half A Clue).

To maintain gender neutrality here, I’ll refer to TGD – The Good Driver.

1. The car has four black steel rims (it’s still winter here), if The Good Driver has taken off the alloy rims (none can survive long in a Canadian winter) and replaced them with cheaper sacrificial steel rims, shod (let us hope) with four proper winter tires. Remember: All-season tires are really no-season tires – lousy all year long.

2. TGD doesn’t just scrape a peephole in the snow on the windshield, doesn’t even just brush off the front, side and rear windows. TGD gets ALL the snow off the car, especially the headlights and tail lights for see-and-be-seen visibility, and off the car roof, so it doesn’t blow onto the rear window or onto someone else’s windshield.

3. Speaking of visibility (that’d be as in Awareness), TGD will not hang anything from the inside rear-view mirror. Not parking passes, not love beads, not religious symbols, not bronzed baby booties, not – God particularly forbid – old CDs. The windshield is for looking through, not expressing yourself. It needs to be as unimpeded as the car manufacturer intended.

4. At an odd-angled intersection, TGD squares up to as close to a right angle as possible. For instance, if a street joins a major artery at a shallow angle and there is no traffic light or (we can dream) a roundabout to ease passage through the intersection and the plan is for a left turn, TGD will steer slightly right at the stop line.

The objective is to get the best possible view of traffic coming in both directions.

Now this manoeuvre might confuse following drivers who might think that a right turn is in the offing. Therefore, the TGD will make sure the left turn signal is on (What am I saying? Of course TGD will have it on …) and will keep an eye out to the rear as well.

5. TGD always backs into a parking spot (unless a drive-through spot is available) but will also angle the car within the spot to maximize door-opening arcs, hence minimize potential ding damage to all cars concerned. If the spot is particularly narrow, TGD will try to cheat towards the passenger’s door side of the adjacent cars if possible, leaving the larger margin to the driver’s door. Because if one of those cars leaves the scene first, there may or may not be a passenger but one can always be pretty sure there will be a driver, and TGD will never assume that the other car’s occupant(s) will be as careful.

6. Speaking of positioning, if you see a driver who seems to be meandering around in the lane on a highway, it may not be someone who is impaired, or (still!) chatting on a phone. It may be TGD, positioning the car in the lane so as to maximize visibility down the road. In the left (passing) lane, for example, this is often best achieved by running as close to the left shoulder as possible so as to see beyond the car or cars ahead.

What if the car ahead is also driven by a GD? Won’t that spot already be taken? Maybe; just consider yourself lucky, and stay far enough back to keep your vision and options as open as possible. Or try sliding to the right of the lane to peek down between lines of cars.

By the same token, TGD will try never to be caught for long behind a van, truck or other “opaque” vehicle. TGD always wants to look through the windshield(s) of the vehicle(s) ahead as well, which gives more advance notice of any potential problem, which is always a Good Thing..

7. Another positioning trick will endear TGD to fellow drivers: When approaching a red light in an urban (multi-lane) environment, TGD will check the rear-view mirror, and if a following car looks like it might want to make a right turn at the intersection, will make an exception to the otherwise inviolable rule by moving out of the right-most lane to enable that move. If the lane to the left doesn’t exist or is not available, TGD will try to squeeze as far left as possible, if there’s an overwide lane, to increase the chances that the following driver will be able to make the turn. It only saves a few seconds, but it is always appreciated, because it shows that TGD is in fact aware of what is going on. And of course this assumes that whoever replaces David Miller as mayor of Toronto will also have Half A Clue, and will abandon Miller’s idiotic plan to ban right turns on red lights.

8. If the dream-of-a-lifetime car (or the only car that can be afforded, or anything in between) happened to come with fog lights because this benighted invention was bundled in a package with stuff intelligent people might actually find valuable, TGD will never, ever, turn them on. A particularly conscientious GD might even remove them, or for the more dramatic, blow them out with an over/under 12-gauge shotgun. Very satisfying. Or so I’m told.

9. If you see a car approaching a traffic obstacle with the four-way flashers on, you can bet it’s being driven by TGD who has obviously been looking far enough down the road to see what’s happening, and has had the presence of mind and (un-)common courtesy to warn following motorists of possible danger.

10. You’ll never hear the grating CLICK-CLICK-CLICK of a parking brake being applied in a car driven by TGD.

Instead, the thumb button will be pushed in, the parking brake handle pulled up and set to the desired position, and only then will the thumb button be released.

Failure to do it this way might even fail you in the British Police Driving Course.

What’s the big deal? Simply because this reduces wear and tear on the pawls of the parking brake mechanism, and, well, you just never know when a failed or worn component might lead to unfortunate consequences.

Of course, hand-operated parking brakes are going the way of buggy whips; cars are increasingly going to the dreaded foot-applied parking brake, or worse-still, the electronic brake, which gives the driver no control whatsoever over that particular function. Off, On, nothing in between.

Who comes up with these ideas?

Certainly not TGD.

BTW, I might add sort of a “10-B” here. You might not be able to spot this tip from outside the car, but TGD will also always secure the car with the parking brake first, before selecting Park in an automatic transmission. The idea here is that the parking brake is specifically designed to hold the car when it is parked; the entire weight of the car should not be borne by the transmission.

As always, send us your suggestions!

jim@jimkenzie.com

TORONTO STAR

Posted in 10 habits of the good driver | No Comments »