4th of July Celebration

Our great 1 day celebration!

117 Degrees this weekend! Hot, Hot, Hot!

“That time of year” comes a little early to the West this year with spikes in temperatures that we shouldn’t see until the end of July! With that in mind, it’s time to protect yourself, your family, your pets and your car from this heat!   Of course, #1 is hydration for both 2 legged and 4 legged beings.   If your lips are dry you are dehydrated.  If your pets usually drink a gallon of water a day – be sure to have 2 gallons of cool water available. 

Arguably #2 has to be not leaving pets or people sitting in the car without the a/c running.  On a 95⁰ day the air inside a parked vehicle can quickly reach 145⁰!  It doesn’t take long for this temperature to take its toll on any living thing.  At only 85⁰ and the windows lowered 2 inches, the temperature inside your car will reach 109⁰ in just 15 minutes. So a quick run in for coffee is too long!  If you see this happening – call the authorities immediately.  Even 10 minutes is too long.

The steering wheel on a 95⁰ day can reach 159⁰ and the dash can become a sweltering 181⁰!  There have been tests done showing that the dashboard can be used to cook bacon and eggs!  Wow!  And that’s at a 95⁰ day.  It’s going to be over 115⁰ here in the West this weekend – you do the math. 

If you use sunshades in your car you can reduce the heat build-up in your vehicle by 48⁰ and dark tint can do even more.  The glass on your vehicle acts as a magnifier so protection is imperative.   Even with some sort of sunscreen on your vehicle (whether tint, cardboard or reflective foam) I would recommend that you cover your seat and steering wheel with a towel.  It makes it a lot more comfortable to drive.

If the heat in your car is so intense that the a/c is not cooling it down, be sure to open all windows, sunroof or lower the top, so that the hot air can escape quicker. 

As for keeping your vehicle healthy in this heat….watch this short video with suggestions from our Service Manager, Scott Nordberg.

Sorry, it’s been so long since the last Child Safety post.  We have been very busy here at Findlay Chevrolet – lots of events.   So, here is the final installment on car seats.

This post is going to focus on Booster Seats and correctly adjusted Seat Belts. 

Booster seats are for the older child who has passed the age/height limits of the car seat but can’t fit the shoulder and lap harness as needed, usually when the child reaches 4’9” in height and around 8 years old.  A booster seat is designed so the child is lifted and the seat belts will fit correctly as if they were adults.  The booster seat is not usually attached using the LATCH system rather using the child’s weight and the seat belts to hold your precious cargo in position. 

The lap and shoulder belts should fit your child snugly – with the lap belts lying low and snug and the shoulder belt lying across your child’s chest.  Make sure it doesn’t lie across the neck.  Backless booster seats are less expensive and easier to move from vehicle to vehicle making them a good choice.  The booster seats with backs should be used if your vehicle doesn’t have head rests.

When your child hits the 4’9” height requirement they will most likely fit perfectly in the adult seat belts. Make sure that the shoulder belt lies across the chest and should – not touching the neck or throat. The lap belt should lie snugly across the upper thighs.  If not, back to the booster seat for a little extra growing time.

Children should stay in the back seat until they are 12 or 13 years old – just for extra safety.  After that they can move up front with you.  Be sure to read about the airbags in your owner’s manual at that time.

If you need help with the installation, to double check that you have installed it correctly or to check recalls you can find someone qualified  at your local fire department or police department.  You can find a CPS Certified technician by checking out:

            NHTSA 888.327.4236

            SeatCheck 866.732.8213

            National Child Passenger Safety Certified Technician 877.366.8154

Additionally, here in Las Vegas Sunrise Hospital, St. Rose Dominican Hospital and Summerlin Hospital can assist.

Remember, 71% of all car seats are not installed correctly. All it takes is 15 minutes to ensure the safety of your child.

If you have any questions or suggestions – please let me know.

5 Worst Cars Of All Time?

I was re-reading an old article about the 5 worst selling vehicles of all time written in 2012.  The author listed the Cadillac Catera, the Edsel, the Pontiac Aztec, the Yugo GV, and the Lincoln Blackwood as the baddest of the bad.  The article cited poor choice of targeted buyers (Catera), poor design (Aztec), poor quality (Yugo), lacking high end features (Blackwood) and a marketing failure (Edsel).


 targeted buyers (Catera)

 a marketing failure (Edsel)
 lacking high end features (Blackwood)

poor quality (Yugo)

poor design (Aztec)

While I agree with most of the choices, I think we are missing a few vehicles.   Any ideas?

How do you remember your first car?

What do you remember about your first car?  Mine was a Camaro (of course) - I used to take it to the drags on Wednesday nights.  Those were the days! It's been a while but it is still my favorite car. Wish I still had it.  Did you love your first car?  Tell me about it!

We have a specialty Camaro in our showroom right now...it's a gorgeous Neiman Marcus version Camaro Convertible.  The picture doesn't do it justice so stop by and take a look at it!

A Great American Made Diesel Car? Finally!

In the 2014 Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel Americans will finally get what they have wanted.  An American made diesel passenger car!   We will be competing head to head with Volkswagen and should easily become the victor.  In Europe, 4 out of 10 Cruzes sold are diesel.  Our Cruze is going to get an estimated 42 mpg with 0-60 in 8.6 seconds.  Not bad for a 4 cylinder.  The 2.0L Turbo Diesel is going to give you 148hp and comes with an overboost function for that extra bit of power. 

With 650 miles possible on every tankful, this car is not only be fun to drive but actually save us time and money at the pump.  Plus it's going to come with a 2 year maintenance plan.  That's going to save us lots of money. Diesel fuel is priced a bit higher than gasoline but diesel has a higher energy density which means that more energy can be extracted from diesel as compared to the same volume of gasoline.  

Forget about the old smelly, noisy diesels.  Today's clean diesels are so far advanced that drivability is the same as a gas fueled car. Plus clean diesel generates a minimum of 90 percent less nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions than previous generations of diesels. The US has very high diesel environmental emission standards and the Cruze TD is expected to be well below those standards.

 I am really looking forward to driving one when they are available in a few months.  I have been told that there is a lot of pep for a 4 cylinder.  I already love the Cruze Eco that I drive so moving over to the more environmentally friendly diesel will be another step towards a better environment for my kids and my kid's kids.

How do you feel about diesels?

It's a beautiful car but....

I like cars. I like cars that go fast. Spending over 2 million dollars on a car? Not so much.  No one can say that Bugatti makes a bad car and the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport is a gorgeous car..but the price tag seems a little bit over the top.

This beauty has some interesting stats:  Price around $2 million.  50 colors available.  1001 hp. 253 mph. GPS in the rearview mirror.

Now, let's look at a contender.  I would rather spend $130k on a classic American sportscar.

Stats on this ZR1 are:  638 hp. 205 mph. 10 colors available. GPS in heads up display.

Does anyone really need the extra 48 mph?  And if I am going 250 mph do I want to take my eyes off the road to look at the GPS in the rearview mirror?

What are your thoughts?

“It’s been said the only people who can change the world are those who want to. Well, we want to. That's why we are exploring more fuel-efficient options and technologies with our vehicles. But we want to do more.”

So says Chevy’s website.  Every day we contribute to the climate change - to the greenhouse emissions.  Each of us can make personal choices in our homes, our travel, what we discard as unusable, what we are eating.. I used the Carbon Footprint Calculator at nature.org and was amazed that my carbon footprint is nearly double the size of rest of the country’s. When I looked at it closely I realized that it was because I live here in Las Vegas and my home energy level was off the charts. Since I have done considerable work to reduce my “footprint”, and am still producing 44 tons per year, I am in awe that Chevrolet has such an altruistic goal – and they are accomplishing it!  Their goal is to reduce 8 million tons of CO2 by 2014.

“If we want to leave the world a better place, we need to change the way we do things,” said David Tulauskas, GM sustainability director and manager of the Chevrolet carbon-reduction initiative. “Climate change, population growth, urbanization and other issues require our industry to transform itself. We are going beyond our traditional scope of responsibility – building efficient vehicles – into these community-based carbon-reduction projects to help demonstrate our commitment.”

Chevy has come out with great “green” cars in the last few years, like the Volt, the new Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel and the Ecotec3 engine for the Silverado (just to name a few). It’s the significant investment that Chevy is making in the community at large that is going to make the big difference.

One of their ongoing projects right now is called IdleAir.  This project is to help truckers avoid idling during their rest stops.  It can help the truckers save a gallon of diesel fuel per hour while keeping the cab comfortable and the TV or laptop on. The truck is turned off after the driver installs a reusable plastic window adapter – no noise, vibration or exhaust fumes. It saves fuel, reduces emissions and keeps the power on to the trucks amenities. Wow!  What a concept!

Chevy is also working with the Nature Conservancy to manage approximately 20,000 acres of forest to produce a long term supply of timber, a wind farm in Oklahoma, managing an almost 14,000 acre tract of land in California to allow the trees to grow and it was the largest corporate buyer of voluntary carbon reduction credits in the United States in 2011. 

It’s a great start and I am proud to be a part of Chevrolet.