So for the past couple months, Amanda’s ‘02 Altima has been acting up. The thing was idling hard when we’d start it up and the check engine would come on intermittently. So we took the car in and after $800+ in repairs with some new parts, including spark plugs and some gaskets, etc. we were back on the road.

Recently, the problems returned and we took it back to the garage. This time they thought it was a ignition coil, or the battery. Really though, they didn’t know. So we ended up getting the battery swapped out, and the oil changed. But in the meantime, I found a whole slew of people having similar problems with their Nissan Altimas. So after seeing that, Amanda and I were both on the same page that it may be time to dump the Altima while 1. the check engine light was off and 2. the car still had some value.

So we ended up at the local CarMax and traded in her Altima and in its place got a 2005 Honda Accord EX. Amanda has really seemed to warm up to the car and it’s pretty decked out – leather seats, seat warmers, 6-disc in-dash CD changer, sunroof, dual zone A/C, etc. The thing is nice. Plus, with it being a Honda, the hope is that it will last and need minimal work over the coming years.

It took pretty much all last night and all of this morning to get everything squared away for the new car, including insurance, financing through our bank, etc. and it’s worn me out. It was nice having the day off, but we going nonstop. One of these days, I’m taking a day off and not doing anything. I wish I could have at least ridden tonight. Oh well. I will tomorrow.

But anyway, back to the car. I think we lucked out, finding a nice car at a decent price. The car is about the same size and power as her own car, so it shouldn’t be too much of an adjustment. It really would have been nice to get Amanda a new car once the 4Runner was paid off, but those are the breaks.

Ignore the crappy web site design and the Google ads everywhere. I remember seeing something along these lines before. Just watch the video. Cool concept with some nice advantages over the traditional door setup.

They’ve addressed the first thing that came to my mind – ground clearance. But they never really talk about cost.

Disappearing Car Doors

Good for Easley for having some foresight to setup this whole project. Granted, I still don’t get the whole plug-in concept fully. To me, it seems like another form of changing dependancies from one pollutant and problem, to another. Switching a bunch of cars away from gas stations, and instead plugging them will mean higher home and business power bills and will mean the power plants (many still coal-based) output more. Sure, I’ve read about how the collective batteries of a bunch of hybrids and electric cars will work as an off-peak holding ground for electrical grids, which is nice, but still doesn’t seem like a flawless solution.

State Launches Center for Plug-in Hybrid Cars

Nice write up on the technology behind the Chevy Volt concept. It’s pretty cool, but at the same time, they’re using technology available during the freakin’ first world war. Imagine where cars tech would be had they been doing R&D on greener technologies and alternatives to petroleum-based fuels.

Futuristic Car Runs Like WWI Submarine

There are some great tips in this substantial list of ways to maintain your car. Some are damn obvious, such as changing your oil regularly, following the break-in period guidelines. Other suggestions though, aren’t as obvious.

I tried the one tip about putting your car in neutral while at traffic lights. I wonder though if all that shifting from drive to neutral and back trades wear and tear in one place for wear and tear in another, though the shift may be an easier or cheaper repair.

75 Tips to Keep Your Car in Top-Notch Condition

I wonder how many of these type of projects are going to get renewed interest (and funding) as our gas prices continue to ascend.

A couple of different alternatives would really help us out. So we start supplementing with a couple of different alternative fuels and reduce/remove foreign independence. Why hasn’t this already been done? Big oil money.

MSU Researcher Finds Renewed Interest In Turning Algae Into Fuel

Holy crap, that’s quite a manufacturing defect. Can you imagine, flying along at supersonic speeds and the whole cockpit breaks apart?

Even crazier though that the manufacturing defect is the second video in that article – mid-air collision and turns out the pilot’s F-15 lost a complete wing. But the pilot and navigator were totally unaware it was missing the wing and they were able to land it. Only once they were on the ground, did they realize how un-aerodynamic their F-15 Eagle had become! Crazy!

F-15 Eagle Literally Breaking Apart

I saw a video on this on CNN.com yesterday. This company used a Saturn VUE and patented off-the-shelf components to get a car that could get about 40 miles to the charge and ended up with the equivalent of 150 miles to the gallon. So if the little guy is doing stuff like this, how are the big companies not kicking some butt in the MPG category? Is it lack of motivation?

Hybrid Gets 150 Miles Per Gallon Using Ultracapacitors

I’m not a big fan of Neil Young’s music, but this is a pretty cool endeavor. He’s taking an old American gas guzzling behemoth and converting it to a hybrid electric/biodiesel vehicle. I hope he releases the movie. I’ll check it out.

Anyway, the whole article begs the all too common question of if a little guy with no high school education can do this, why can’t the auto industry match or surpass the results and reduce our dependancy on petroleum. While there may be more complicated answers, I’m thinking it’s because they don’t want to, and lobbyists keep the regulations from passing that would force the auto industry’s hands.

Gas Guzzlers Get New Lives – as Tire-Smoking Hybrid

Wow, a domestic car I’d consider buying. It’d be a great commuter. They gotta work on the miles per charge though. Didn’t the EV1 get like 150 several years back?

GM May Make 60,000 ‘Volt’ Electric Cars in First Year