No matter what type of vehicle you own, keeping it in tip top condition requires attention to early service, periodic check ups and basic maintenance even if the car or truck seems to be running fine. April is the perfect time to get started, if you haven’t already done so, by taking part in National Car Care Month.
Whether you’ve visited and purchased from new or used car dealerships in Cincinnati, such as Superior Automotive Group, it’s in your best interest to follow the tips provided by the Car Care Council and the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation during National Car Care Month.
Consider these tips from the Office of Consumer Affairs.
Have a pre-selected repair shop that you’ve already researched on standby. Don’t wait until the car breaks down to start looking for help.
When visiting the shop, ask about their customer satisfaction policy, type of state-of-the art equipment used, are the technicians certified, is the shop a member of a known trade association such as AAA, do they use brand parts and what is the warranty policy on parts and labor.
Call the Better Business Bureau to ensure the shop has no complaints filed from customers.
According to a survey by the Car Care Council, the list below indicates the most often basic maintenance issues car owners fail to have addressed in a timely manner.
Low or old brake fluid
Air filters full of dirt and debris
Belts needed to be replaced
Coolant levels were too low
Tire pressure was not applicable to what it should be. This could be one out of four or all four were running at low pressure.
Engine oil was either too low or dirty
As you can see from the list, these issues are easily addressed with basic maintenance. Whether you choose to do-it-yourself or take the car in to an auto service expert for a general checkup, just taking care of the above issues can help keep your car running efficiently, safely and smoothly and save money in the long run.
If you’ve been holding off on having your car serviced or checked out; take heed. By finding and correcting an issue before your car breaks down and leaves you stranded can save you money in costly repairs. To avoid unnecessary expense and inconvenience, schedule an appointment today for a service checkup and a look under the hood with one of the qualified service technicians at Superior Automotive specializing in Honda, Acura, Hyundai and Kia vehicles.
Have a family and need a versatile, affordable car? You really need to check out the 2013 Kia Rio at Superior. Superior is the Cincinnati Kia dealer with the best deals on new and used Kia’s, so let’s take a closer look at what makes the Kia Rio a good choice.
What may first get your attention is the looks of the Kia Rio. It is a versatile 4 door with an available hatchback with sporty looks. It has sweeping headlights and side panels that give it a bit of an aggressive, almost muscular appearance. This is perfect for a young family who still want good looks and a sense of style in their automobile, but need the practicality of a hatchback.
The fuel mileage is also a big plus with the 2013 Kia Rio, with a 28 mpg rating in the city and an impressive 36 mpg rating on the highway. A new feature for 2013 is the stop and start feature in the Kia Rio that can boost mileage up to 30 mpg in the city. You’ll pay less upfront too, with a MSRP that starts at just $13,600.
The Kia Rio comes with standard safety options like airbags, anti-lock brakes and stability control. It has plenty of toys available to make it your own as well. You can add a rear view camera, Bluetooth capabilities, tilt and telescopic steering, AM/FM/CD radio with satellite and a USB port, cruise control, power locks, windows and mirrors and more. That doesn’t even include the exterior options that can give the Rio an even more personalized looked like upgraded wheels.
The Rio of course features Kia’s 5 year 60,000 mile warranty. If you are in the market for a sub-compact with surprisingly good looks, come in and test drive the Kia Rio at Superior Kia. Spring is a great time for a new or used Kia and Superior Kia has a great selection.
When it’s time for your used or new Kia Cincinnati, remember Cincinnati rolls with Superior!
The open road can be dangerous. Every day there are an average of 17,589 auto accidents and 3,700 die each day as a result of these crashes. It is estimated that one person dies every 13 minutes as a result of automobile accidents. But by knowing and being aware of your blind spot and learning how to compensate for it, you can avoid being a part of these static.
With rearview cameras and special mirrors, most drivers tend to believe that the infamously dangerous blind spot has been eliminated. But the truth is that most cars still have a blind spot, even if it is a tiny one. Each car has a different blind spots, which is why it is important to check for them every time you get into the car.
What most people don’t know is that your blind spot isn’t something you have only when you are driving. Because of the way your eyes are positioned, people naturally have two blind spots in their vision. This means that if you are staring straight ahead, and someone walks in front of you, their will be two different points when they will be invisible to you. If you keep this in mind while you are driving, you can reduce your chance of having a vehicle literally sneak up on you and blindsided you.
The first thing you need to do is to take a good look around the car before you get in. Make a mental note of all the scenery and objects around the car. Then get in the car and check for all the things you observed before. Adjust your mirrors so that you can see behind you and to the side. Try to to eliminate as much of your blind spot as possible. If you are too short to see properly over the vehicle raise your seat as necessary.
If you have a rearview camera, learn to use it. The camera is no good if you find it disorientating. You should also remember to adjust your mirrors properly, even with the camera. While the camera can be a helpful addition, it is not a replacement for your mirrors.
By properly adjusting the mirrors in the car, and your seat height you can all but eliminate your blind spot while driving. However, you still need to be careful when driving. Make sure to turn your head and look for cars in every direction when making a turn or merging into lane or onto the road.
If you faollow these steps, you can be a good safe driver, and help reduce your chances of being in a dangerous accident.
Which kind of car wax is the best? The purpose of waxing your car is to give it a layer of protection from the sun and rain to keep your paint and clear coat strong. Choosing the right kind of wax sounds easier than it is. With new high performance waxes, liquids, pastes, and everything else on the market, it may make you second guess what you need for your car. So which one is the best?
Well, the first thing you should know is that a higher price does not always mean higher quality or protection. Consumer Reports just tested a batch of waxes and wax agents for cars and they found out that the lower priced waxes perform just as well as the ones that are described as maximum performance. If you are unsure about what kind of wax will best protect your car, you may be looking for a higher price and think that it is a higher quality, but just remember that is not always the case.
With new liquid waxes on the market, the ease of use makes people think that it is not doing as good of a job protecting your car. Well here’s some more good news. In the tests, the liquid waxes had a negligible difference between the pastes that take more work to apply and use. In fact, if you are an owner of a car with a darker paint job, you may do more damage with paste based waxes because it may cause micro scratches in your paint while application. So what it all comes down to is ease of application and a better price. Both of these things well not make much of a difference in the amount of protection they provide.
Waxing your car before the long fall and winter months will really help keep your car looking good all year long. If you are looking for a new car that already looks great, then come into Superior Cars.
Not all of us have the benefit of attending a Winter Driving School. Let’s face it, almost every year is like a winter driving school anyway. Sometimes winter driving tip is actually to not drive at all, but since that isn’t always a viable option, it will be in your best interest to learn how to correctly drive on snow and on ice. After all, as much as we want it to be, not ever day can be a “snow day” in Cincinnati. The video below has some really good points and tips to remember.
Get a grip. It pays to have the right tires on your Cincinnati car, truck or SUV. There is a difference between the tread on summer tires and winter ones. If you want to “get a grip”, having the right set of tires on your vehicle is paramount when it comes to keeping control on the snow and ice.
Make sure you can see. Two things here. If you have bad, or old wiper blades, you are going to have a hard time seeing. Also, you can put some de-icer in your windshield wiper resivoir. If you can’t see, you are just compounding your problems and ability to navigate safely in foul weather.
Run the air-conditioner. Running your A/C may sound backwards, but it will remove condensation and frost from the interior of windows Set the temperature on “hot” and make sure it’s fresh air you are circulating.
Check your lights. This is a no-brainer. Use your head lights so you can see and others can see you.
Give yourself a brake. It’s easy use antilock brakes: Stomp, stay and steer. Stomp on the pedal as if you were trying to break it off. Stay hard on the pedal. Steer around the obstacle. After you “Stomp”, the ABS will begin to cycle and you will feel pulses in the pedal and probably hear the system working. You might have the urge to “pump” you brakes, but resist this urge, the brakes are, in fact, already pumping.
Too much steering is bad. Over-correcting, or over-steering will probably lead to an accident. What happens is as you come off of the ice onto the asphalt your tires will grab and ultimately redirect your car…usually into a barrier, or another car. Keep your wheels straight, you can’t steer on ice.
Remember, ice amplifies bad driving techniques! Learn how to drive safely before it starts snowing and icing over. You’d better hurry, Winter is right around the corner…literally. However, if you do end up in a fender-bender, you know that you can always bring your Honda, Acura, Kia or Hyundai into your Superior Automotive Group location.
Don’t think your Cincinnati car has a fingerprint? Think again! All vehicles contain a very important strand of car DNA and that’s the VIN number.
VIN stands for Vehicle Identification Number. Way back in 1981, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) required VINs for all vehicles. Read on for more from DMV.org:
Vehicles made during or after 1981 have a VIN made up of 17 characters (letters and numerals). Before that, the VIN usually ranged anywhere from 11 to 17 characters.
The VIN provides clues as to a vehicle’s background, including the manufacturer, model year, and where it was built. In other words, it records the vehicle’s identity. To learn what the individual characters in a VIN represent, visit our page on decoding the VIN.
The VIN also provides a means to trace a vehicle from its “cradle” (the factory) to its “grave” (the scrap heap). In that way, it is similar to a Social Security number for Americans. So it is important to know where the VIN is in order to order a vehicle history report from AutoCheck.
A VIN appears on many forms: registrations, titles, insurance identification cards, accident reports, recall reports, and body shop records, to name a few.
For those of you that don’t know where your VIN number is…trust me, I know you are out there…your vehicle’s VIN can be located at the lower left corner of your dashboard. If you still can’t find it, just give your Cincinnati Car Dealers at the Superior Automotive Group a call.
Getting a flat tire can really put a huge wrinkle in your day. IT always seems to happen at the most inopportune tine too. Throw in the fact that you haven’t been maintaining your spare tire and you’ve just set yourself up for the the most frustrating day ever.
If I had to guess, I would say that only a few people take the time to actually make sure that their spare tire is kept in good working condition. By working I mean primarily filled to the right PSI. You should check the tire pressure on your spare tire once a month, or at least every other month. Tires lose air over time so it is best to add checking your spare tire pressure to your regular maintenance routine.
If you do need to use your spare tire, remember that it is just a short term fix and that you should get to your new car dealership Cincinnati, like the Superior Automotive Group, to get your flat tire fixed, or your old tire replaced.
I also recommend familiarizing yourself with where your spare tire is located as well as where all of the tools are located to get your spare tire up and running. Also, learn how to install the spare tire too and practice changing a tire every so often. This will make it much easier for you if the time ever comes.
If you drive a vehicle where the spare tire is kept underneath your vehicle you should learn how to lower or release it. Sometimes in bigger SUVs, you will have to use a special tool that goes through the hitch receiver which can be very tricky if you don’t know how to do it. I would highly recommend practicing getting access to your spare tire if it is indeed located underneath your vehicle.
Check out this video on how to change out a flat tire with a spare tire:
At every Superior Automotive Group location we service all makes and models and can help you with all of your car needs! Stop by today!
There is no doubt that as we search for a solution to solving some of our dependence on oil by increasing research and development of alternatively fueled that our modern gas engines also need some re-vamping as well. The modern gasoline engine has gone through some serious redesign in the fuel-efficiency department. Modern gasoline engines have been put under the microscope recently in efforts to get more miles per gallon. Major manufacturers like Kia have been at the forefront of the gasoline engine revolution.
So, what type of improvements are we talking about here? Check out 5 new technologies for improving the fuel efficiency of the gas-powered engine.
Variable valve timing and lift. Gasoline engines have valves on them that open and close to let the air/fuel mixture that powers your car in and out. Generally, the valves will open for the same amount of time regardless of how fast the vehicle is going. However, some fuel ends up being wasted because the vehicle is using the same amount whether it’s towing a large load or coasting. If the valve time is varied, the engine will get only as much fuel, as it needs for the amount of work it is doing. And according to the U.S. Department of Energy, this can make a vehicle about 5 times more efficient.
Cylinder deactivation. Cylinder deactivation works on the same principle as variable valve timing in that only the amount of needed cylinders will work depending on the amount of work the vehicle is doing. If a vehicle is maintaining a steady speed and not accelerating, some of the engines cylinders that are not needed will shut down. And if they are not in use, they are not using fuel. This can improve engine efficiency by 7.5 percent.
Direct fuel injection. Researchers have found a way to inject fuel into the gasoline engine without using a spark to ignite the fuel. This process reduces the amount of gasoline your vehicle’s engine needs and allows it to burn cleaner and more efficiently. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, this can improve efficiency by up to 12 percent.
Turbochargers. A turbocharger is a fan powered by gasses from the vehicle’s exhaust system. By adding a turbocharger to a smaller engine, this will help it to the same amount of work as a larger engine, thus saving fuel.
Light-footed drivers. The biggest determinate of how much gasoline your vehicle uses is the driver. The faster and more powerfully you accelerate, the more fuel your vehicle will have to use, as opposed to gradually accelerating. Automakers are helping drivers know when they are driving efficiently. The Kia Forte is one of the vehicles that have a green light on the dashboard to let the driver know when they are driving efficiently.
For more information on fuel-efficient technology visit www.energy.gov. And stop by your your Cincinnati Car Dealers, the Superior Automotive Group to check out the latest gas engine technology for yourself.
Getting to sell the best Hondas, Kias, Hyundais & Acuras in Cincinnati at Superior Automotive Group, sometimes we forget that not all cars are created equal. In fact, throughout automotive history, there have been the good, the bad and the ugly. I guess that’s what you get when you push the boundaries of design and engineering. So, do you know what the worst cars ever made were? Of course, the list isn’t the definitive list because everyone has their own ideas about what they like, or don’t like. This, of course, is just for fun and I’m sure you have a few on your list that are deserving to be on this list. Let’s take a look at a the 10 worst cars ever made:
So, what do you think? Tell your Cincinnati Car Dealers, The Superior Automotive Group what you think are the worst cars ever made.
Have you ever put any thought into understanding what it’s like to drive an 18 wheeler on a crowded and hectic roadway? Your Cincinnati Car Dealers, The Superior Automotive Group wants to remind you that, even though you share the road with truck drivers and their cargo, you have more maneuverability and a clearer line of sight which makes you the game changer if there is a sudden reduction in speed or lane change. Chances are YOU will be the one that is either rapidly approaching a rig in your lane, or changing lanes to get around one.
I can say that most big rig drivers follow the rules of the road fairly well, if they don’t they could incur sever penalties, or fines which can affect their ability to be hired by the companies they truck for. So, you see, most of the time when you are frustrated with a slower moving rig, it’s not his fault, he’s going the speed limit; it’s you who needs to drive less aggressively.
To really appreciate the difficulty in driving an 18 wheeler, you have to understand their physics. They have wide turning radius. They have large blind spots. That also take 800 feet to stop going 55 mph, whereas you would take only 400 feet. In other words, pass them quickly, don’t follow close behind, don’t cut them off when you make lane changes, etc. Common sense may not be so common for many drivers.
The bottom line is give these guys a break. Slow down. You will make their driving task much easier and less stressful, and at the same time you will be less aggressive and less of a nuisance. It’s just a matter of respect. Even if you’ve been behind the wheel since you were 16, there are still those of you out there that could stand to learn to share the road with others.The Superior Automotive Group just want you understand that courtesy is contagious, avoid problems, don’t be a part of them.
The Superior Automotive Group and Mike Albert Direct have been serving Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky since 1928. We care about you, your cars, your safety, and our community.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask and any suggestions are always welcome at [email protected]
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