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Eric's Autos: Driver's Ed 101

Eric Peters on

How much do you know about your car - and what's good (and bad) for it? Take this quick quiz and see!

* Regular vs. premium gas?

Some cars require premium; others merely recommend it. Which should you use? The answer is - either!

If your owner's manual says the engine requires premium fuel, it means is designed to deliver the rated horsepower (and fuel economy) using premium. But you can use regular (and mid-grade) without hurting anything. You may notice a slight dip in fuel economy - but it's not likely this will be enough to offset the 20-40 cents more per gallon that premium will cost you ($3-$6 more per tank, assuming a 15 gallon fill-up).

Conversely, if the engine was designed to run on regular - which is lower octane, not lower quality - and you feed it premium (higher octane fuel) all you're doing is burning up money and wasting fuel, as the engine will deliver lower fuel economy and you'll be paying 20-40 cents more per gallon.

* Are "high-performance" tires better than standard all-season tires?

 

The answer is - it depends! If by "better" you mean "lasts longer," you definitely do not want high-performance tires, which wear much faster (not uncommonly, 50 percent faster) than all-season tires. They are also noisier (usually) awful in the winter (invariably) and tend to make the car's ride harsher.

But, your car will feel more agile; steering will feel sharper, the car will be able to take corners at higher speeds without losing grip (or the tires squealing) and stopping distances will be reduced. Which of these attributes you value the most will help you decide which tire type is the one for you.

* Should you let your car "warm up" int he morning before driving off?

The answer is - no! Unless your car was made before about 1985, that is. Cars built since then are all fuel-injected and fuel-injected cars don't have chokes (as the older, pre-'85 cars with carburetors did). It will actually help the car deliver best economy and gas mileage to drive away almost immediately.

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