Arnell Motors Gives Back with Extreme Car Makeover

Arnell Motors is bringing the holiday spirit to Northwest Indiana with the “Extreme Car Makeover”, where the dealership will aim to fix as many family vehicles as possible before Christmas.
The Arnell Auto Group is asking people from Northwest Indiana to submit their story of why they need auto repair before November 30th, and with the company’s budget set, they will provide auto repair to as many families in need as possible.


“We do our best to give back to the Northwest Indiana community,” said Dave Arnell, owner of Arnell Auto Group. “This year more than any year recently, families out there are in need of some help, and we’ll do our part to help as many in need as we can.”




The budget Arnell has set aside for the Extreme Car Makeover will be enough to help repair between five and ten vehicles to those in need in Northwest Indiana. The opportunity is available to any family in the area, not just satisfied Arnell customers.

“I think this program is exactly what many families in Northwest Indiana may need at this time of year—just a helping hand,” Arnell explained. “If we can help families by performing some much-needed repairs, then
they can use that money for food, bills, or even presents for their friends and families.”

All submissions can be directed to Jessica Richa, the Business Development Manager at Arnell Auto Group via email at jricha@arnellmotors.com or mail at 239 Melton Road, Burns Harbor, IN 46304.

The Best And Worst States For Drivers

With its politicians hiking the Appalachian Trail or facing sex charges, South Carolina draws more than its share of bad publicity nationally. So here's some good news about South Carolina: By our reckoning, the heart of the Old South is the best state to drive in, by far. The country's lowest average gas price, plus cheap insurance, good legal protections and the sixth-best rating for infrastructure/safety, make the Palmetto State a dreamland for motorists.

Using the same measures, California is the worst state to be a driver--also by far. The Golden State has the third-lowest rating for infrastructure/safety, the third-highest gas prices and the fifth-highest insurance. Legal rights for drivers aren't so hot either.

Forbes put together its ratings of the best and worst states to drive using a number of published studies evaluating different elements of the driving experience. All the studies touched in major ways on pocketbook issues. Giving the studies equal weight, we used their 1-to-50 rankings to figure out which states were friendly to motorists, and which were not.
Here are the criteria we used, and the sources:

Gas Prices
For many motorists, this is the single most important factor in the driving environment. Numerous sources provide regular updates on average fuel costs, which can vary among states by as much as 36%. We used data from GasBuddy.com. South Carolina and New Jersey have the lowest average prices, and Hawaii and Alaska the highest.

Insurance Rates
According to Insure.com, the average cost of coverage moves around even more than gas prices, with rates in some states nearly three times those of others. The cheapest are found in Maine and Vermont; the highest are in Louisiana and Michigan.

Infrastructure/Safety
For 19 years the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, has cranked out a lengthy study--the latest is 109 pages--assessing each state on road and bridge infrastructure and safety-related indicators. Obviously better roadways reduce a motorist's costs in all kinds of ways, such as fewer gas-wasting delays and costly accidents. The latest study puts North Dakota and Montana at the top, and Rhode Island and Alaska at the bottom.

Legal Protections
The National Motorists Association periodically rates the states on 17 criteria it says look at whether police and courts are "exploiting" motorists. Areas include enforcement practices, speed traps per capita, treatment of traffic ticket defendants and whether radar detectors are banned. The study concludes Wyoming and Idaho afford the most legal protections to motorists, and New Jersey and Ohio the least.

Eating South Carolina's dust on the best list are Nebraska and Missouri. Inhaling California's fumes on the worst list are Illinois and New York.
Generally the more populous states fare worse than those with low populations, but there are exceptions. Giant Texas ranks No. 6 on the best list, while tiny Rhode Island comes in No. 7 on the worst list.

Our compilations produced some surprising results. New Jersey misses being in the 10 worst list---it ranks 13th--only because the state's many oil refineries help give it the nation's second-lowest average gas prices. North Carolina, home of Nascar, misses being in the 10 best list--it ranks 13th--because of a low score on legal protections.
Generally thought to be a good place for motorists, Montana lands right in the middle of the 50 states. High ratings for infrastructure/safety and legal protections are offset by low rankings for gas and insurance prices.

Worst 5 States For Drivers

No. 1 California
Despite its reputation as a car-culture haven, the Golden State is by far the worst of the 50, with low rankings in each of the four categories. From highway congestion and poor legal protections to the high cost of gasoline and insurance, the nation's most populous state has it all.

No. 2 Illinois
The Land of Lincoln is also a Disaster for Drivers, garnering low marks, like California's, in all four categories. The lowest grade is in legal rights for motorists.

No. 3 New York
The Empire State fares a lot better than California and Illinois in insurance rates, which were pretty close to the national average. But that is more than canceled out by rock-bottom expenditures on road maintenance and sketchy legal motorist protections.

No. 4 Michigan
Ironically the center of America's remaining auto manufacturing is none too friendly to end-use customers. The Wolverine State really chews up motorists on insurance, with the country's second-highest average rates.

No. 5 Alaska
Despite all that oil production, Alaska has the nation's second highest gas prices, as well as the next-to-worst rating for infrastructure/safety. But the self-styled Last Frontier does rank in the top one-third in legal protections for drivers.

Courtesy of Forbes.com

Best Car For Your Teen!

One question we are often asked at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance is, Which car should I buy for my teen? In our December-issue Best List, we pick our favorite new car for young drivers: the Kia Soul.


Your teen may try to persuade you to buy a sporty, speedy model (the Porsche Boxster comes to mind). But the best car for a teen, some car experts say, is on the other end of the spectrum -- an older, larger, uncool sedan (think the Ford Crown Victoria or an aging Volvo station wagon).

We think an even better idea is to buy a small sedan -- after all, many state laws limit the number of passengers teens can carry -- that’s also maneuverable, safe and doesn’t go zero to 60 in 5 seconds. In fact, we have a checklist of attributes to evaluate when choosing a suitable car for young, less-experienced drivers, and the Soul scores highly on all of them:

Top safety pick. The Kia Soul is a Top Safety Pick of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That means it gets the highest score on the Institute’s front, side and rear crash tests. The Soul also has a long list of standard safety features: stability control -- to prevent skids -- four-wheel anti-lock brakes, front side airbags and head curtain airbags. Kia also provides 24-hour roadside assistance for five years or 60,000 miles.


Low ownership costs. The sticker price for the 2010 manual-transmission Soul + is an easy-to-take $15,890. This is our favorite model because it provides a good mix of standard equipment and value. With fuel economy of 30 miles per gallon on the highway and 24 mpg in the city, it’s relatively cheap to gas up, too.

Low insurance and repair costs. These are important for any family with a teen driver. The cost for a typical family to insure the Soul is $920 a year -- on the low end of the scale for all vehicles. Repair costs are held to a minimum because of Kia’s warranty, also five-years or 60,000-miles.

High resale value. We put a lot of stock in how well a car holds its value. And with a resale value of 56% of sticker price after three years, the Soul is solidly above average.

Moderate speed. When it comes to power, the Soul’s horsepower is an adequate -- but not excessive -- 142. This is not a street racer.

Coolness. Even though the Soul isn’t going to win Le Mans, it has cachet. The hatchback design is funky-cool, and its fold-down second seats provide more than 53 cubic feet of cargo room, making it easy to haul stuff -- bikes, camping gear, dorm-room supplies. Rear legroom is a roomy 39 inches.

Inside it has a USB connection for an MP3 player, a three-month free subscription to Sirius satellite radio and a Bluetooth hands-free phone connection.

Put it all together and, if you’re shopping for a young driver, the Kia Soul should be at the top of your list of cars to consider. If you want to expand your search to other cars, use our checklist to make sure you get a good, safe car.

Courtesy of Yahoo.com & Jessica L. Anderson

Chevrolet beats Ford in heavy-duty pickup torture test

Which automaker has the most macho heavy-duty pickup truck?

Our friends at Pickuptrucks.com decided to torture test Chevys and Ford to see who would come out ahead in towing impossibly heavy loads up impossibly difficult hills. They called it the "Rumble in the Rockies."

The Ford Super Duty heads up the hill with a lot of weight
CAPTIONBy Pickuptrucks.comThe result was a bit of surprise given all the hype: Chevy won.

But then again, Chevy was behind the test.

Chevy challenged Ford to a Rocky Mountain tow test. Ford said no. Chevy moved forward and invited PickupTrucks.com and Diesel Power Magazine to oversee the test with trucks bought off the lot from Ford and Chevy dealers.

Pickuptrucks.com compared a 2011 Chevy Silverado 3500 LT (397 horsepower, 765 pounds-feet of torque 6.6-liter Duramax V-8) and a 2011 Ford F-350 XLT (400 hp, 800 pounds-feet 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8) and tested them pulling an 18,920 pound trailer up and down a 7.6 mile stretch of I-70 from Dillon, Colorado to the Eisenhower Tunnels, the highest vehicular tunnels in the U.S. at 11,000 feet elevation.

Pickuptrucks.com editor Mike Levine says the trucks were probably the most evenly matched heavy duties that the they had tested. Besides the same rear axle ratios, the $54,805 8,440-pound Ford was just $65 and 220 pounds more than the $54,740 8,220-pound Silverado.

Gross combined weight rating for the Chevy was 27,140 pounds before four adult males jumped in and added another 800 pounds, for a grand total of 27,940 pounds, or 96% of the Silverado's maximum gross combined weight rating. The total for the Ford F-350 was 28,160 pounds, or 94% of the Super Duty's maximum GCWR.

The trucks were tested for towing time up the hill and exhaust brake effectiveness going down.

The fastest time up the grade for the Ford was 10 minutes, 46.8 seconds at an average speed of 42.41 mph. The Chevy Silverado was significantly faster:

It finished more than two minutes ahead of the F-350, in 8 minutes, 38.2 seconds. Average speed cruising up to 11,000 feet was 53.63 mph, 11.22 mph faster on average than the Ford.

Going downhill with exhaust brakes on in both trucks, we had to apply the wheel brakes 10 to 11 times in the Ford to keep its speed below 60 mph. We had to hit the wheel brakes 1 to 2 times in the Chevy to keep its speed under 60 mph.

Courtesy of USA Today.