Click on the image above for more shots of the 2008 Ford Focus

There sure are lots of automobile choices out there vying for your hard earned dollars. Cars come in all shapes and sizes, and finding the perfect one can be a daunting task for those who are not very well versed in the market. Today, as gas prices continue to climb, choosing the right-sized car for your needs is increasingly important to the pocketbook. A recently-widowed woman who needs to downsize from her current Ford F-150 truck sent a letter to Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better known as Click and Clack, wondering what new vehicle would best suit her needs. The real question: How much power is enough?

Simply put: drive all your options before making a decision. Be sure to consider how many miles will be driven on the highway as opposed to the city and how many people you will regularly be taking with you. For those who drive predominately in the city and alone, the smallest available engine is most likely going to work out just fine, which, incidently, is true for the majority of the population of the United States. Now, need and want are two completely different questions...


[Source: The Detroit News]

You all know Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the vaudeville act of auto advice. Also known as Click and Clack or the Tappet Brothers, the two have a talk show on NPR and a newspaper column. In their latest installment the brothers discuss biofuels. After having fun with BioWillie, the banter reaches straight vegetable oil (SVO). Tom says, "So SVO is still for the wacko fringe (go ahead, write to me and complain, fellas; I can take it).

The brothers' Web site does have entertaining explanations about alternative fuels that are informative and opinionated. But go ahead and write to Tom, if you want.

[Source: Tom & Ray Magliozzi / nwitimes.com]

Tom and Ray Magliozzi, who host of the popular NPR program Car Talk as "Click and Clack", address the controversial issue of ethanol efficacy. According to a listener's letter,131,000 British thermal units (BTU) are needed to produce a gallon of ethanol. However, that gallon only produces 77,000 BTU of energy. The listener wonders if the 54,000 BTU shortfall per gallon is truly cost-effective compared to gasoline.

The Magliozzi's first point out the difficulty of calculating what constitutes the elements in producing the fuel. Scientists agree that the energy to plant the corn and processing it into starch should be in the equation. They disagree, though, if the energy to manufacture the tractor used in processing corn should be included as well. Also, converting corn into ethanol creates various bi-products such as corn oil. When the energy producing such products are entered into the equation, the shortfall vanishes. Tom also reminds readers that the equation only considers corn as the source of ethanol. Sugar cane, which can also be converted into the fuel and is more energy efficient, can wildly change the figures.

You can listen to Car Talk here.

[Source: The Sun News via Myrtle Beach Online, picture by Singer]