The Best States For Driving–And The Worst: Infographic
What makes a state a great place for driving? Is it lower gas prices, or fewer fellow travelers on the road? Or is it higher speed limits--whether it's on your way to a destination, or purely for the enjoyment of driving?
And what makes other states among the worst places to drive?
TheCarConnection looked at five sets of data to choose our best and worst states for driving. We chose the most recent data available from a range of sources--some neutral, some not so neutral. We normalized the data so that each represented a percentage of change from the average, and added up the scores to determine which states earned the lowest total.
The factors we considered included the following:
Gas prices: The average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline, on May 8, 2012, as surveyed by AAA.
Miles driven per capita: From 2009 Department of Transportation data.
Speed limits: Highest legal speed limits posted by states, via the IIHS.
Accident rate: Per 100 million miles traveled, from 2009 NHTSA data via the Census Bureau.
Speeding tickets: Correlated by Motorists.org from Web searches for "speeding"-related terms, state by state.
For the winners and losers, see the infographic below. Have a comment, or want a high-resolution version to share? Talk to us--tell us about the driving in your state on TheCarConnection's Facebook page, or let us know how they're driving in your state via Twitter @carconnection.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
BMW, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz Are The Most Valuable Auto Brands
How do you value a brand -- not a company, not a world-renowned CEO, but a brand? Marketing research firm Millward Brown knows, and its recent rankings of international brands puts BMW, Toyota, and Mercedes-Benz at the top of the automotive sector.
Millward Brown starts with quantitative data, looking at how much money brands have made and how much they're likely to make in the future. The firm is careful to strip away distractions related to marketing, product placement, and such to calculate the earnings that can be tied back solely to the brand itself.
Then, the firm looks at things qualitatively, asking consumers to express their feelings about various brands. Do they love them? Hate them? How much? Combine the two, and you've got brand value. (Methodology fans, there's a much fuller explanation here.)
Millward Brown just released the data from its 2012 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study (PDF). The tip-top of the chart is dominated by a bunch of likely suspects: Apple, IBM, Google, McDonald's, and Microsoft. But a bit further down the line -- around #23 -- we start seeing automakers. Here's a list of the top ten, with overall rankings in parentheses for those brands that landed in the BrandZ Top 100.
1. BMW (23)
2. Toyota (28)
3. Mercedes-Benz (46)
4. Honda (65)
5. Nissan (81)
6. Volkswagen (96)
7. Ford
8. Audi
9. Hyundai
10. Lexus
In its comments, Millward Brown gives some interesting perspective on the auto sector as a whole.
As we know, the strength of auto markets varies wildly from country to country. However, consumer demand in the U.S. has been huge, hitting heights not seen since 2006. That's due in part to the increased availability of high-tech, inexpensive vehicles.
In fact, Millward Brown says that's causing problems for luxury automakers. Conveniences once available only in the cushiest of rides are now found on vehicles that cost less than $20,000. Lexus and its ilk are going to have to engage in some major innovation to differentiate themselves from the mass-market pack.
Two other factors at play in the auto sector are fuel-efficiency and Generation Y. The increased importance of the former explains how Toyota has been so quick to recover from the recall fiasco of 2010 and from the natural disasters that curtailed production in 2011. Thanks to the company's Prius lineup, when consumers think of fuel-efficient vehicles, they often think first of Toyota.
And as for Generation Y, Millward Brown believes -- as we've mentioned before -- that those young whippersnappers are forcing automakers to think very differently about the vehicles they make. Millennials are more interested in gadgets than gears, so finding effective, cost-efficient ways to turn 18-to-35 year-olds into car buyers will be key going forward.
If you've got some time to kill this Tuesday, you can peruse the complete 2012 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study here.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Mercedes-Benz G-Class To Live Through 2015–And Beyond?
"I'm not dead yet!"
It's the favored sound bite of legions of Monty Python fans, and it also could be the battle cry for the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, now returning to the U.S. lineup again for the 2013 model year after a second close call with death.
The G-Class is "the founding father of the Mercedes-Benz SUV family," says model line director Axel Harries, explaining that the passenger version of the military Gelaendewagen gives the Mercedes SUV lineup a halo vehicle like Land Rover has with its Defender, or Toyota has with the Land Cruiser.
Updated with new drivetrains and safety features for the 2013 model year, the G-Class now will be in production through at least 2015, Mercedes-Benz confirms--and Harries told TheCarConnection that it's possible the utility vehicle will be around even longer than that, since it now meets all coming requirements for its most important global sales markets.
The G-Class is Mercedes' most rugged SUV. Engineered in the 1970s--by some reports, at the suggestion of the Shah of Iran--the brutish ute has been through relatively few major changes in its almost 35-year life span.
A low-volume niche vehicle, it's also been on the chopping block at least twice. The first close call came in 2005, when Mercedes had decided to replace it with a more passenger-friendly vehicle based on a new architecture, built at a new plant in the U.S. That vehicle would become the Tuscaloosa, Alabama-built GL-Class--but even while that vehicle was being engineered, Mercedes decided to update the G-Class to remain in its lineup as long as it could, upgrading its powertrains to meet stricter emissions requirements in Europe and the United States.
A few years later, the company was faced with the same decision as the G-Class' V-8 powertrains and interior again needed a major refresh. Harries--who had worked at the Tuscaloosa plant during its construction and the M-Class launch, before returning to Germany to work on the Mercedes car portfolio--inherited the G-Class project, with the job to determine whether to refurbish it, or to let it go.
Ultimately the decision was in favor of keeping the slab-sided vehicle that's become an icon. It's plugged away at its extreme duties around the world, serving as a military vehicle around the globe, while it's also become a celebrity favorite in the States, and has even been modified to serve as the "Popemobile," ferrying the Holy Father beneath a specially made bulletproof bubble.
For the 2013 model year, the G-Class earns a round of improvements that should stoke interest anew in some mature markets racked by recession, in Europe and America. Sales haven't waned at all in markets like China or the Middle East, Harries says, with record sales in the final model year of the current generation.
In the U.S. market, the 2013 G-Class goes on sale in August as the G550 with its carryover V-8 powertrain, and as the newly dubbed G63 AMG--which gets a 544-horsepower, twin-turbo V-8 and a seven-speed automatic found in other AMG vehicles. Both versions of the 2013 G-Class get new gauges, a new infotainment LCD screen and connectivity apps, as well as new safety features.
For markets outside the U.S., there's even a G65 AMG edition with the first V-12 engine ever implanted in the Gelaendewagen--an effort that beats long-rumored, long-mothballed BMW and Land Rover V-12s to the showroom.
In this form, the G-Class will be built at a Magna Steyr plant in Graz, Austria, where it's been assembled for more than 30 years in military and civilian spec. The current deal with Magna Steyr runs through 2015, but now that it's been updated, Harries says it's possible the G-Class could live on beyond 2015--and that if it's up to him, it will.
After all, it's already survived two brushes with death, he points out.
"This car is simply indestructible."
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Stop-Start Technology: 97 Percent Of Americans Ready To Accept It, Survey Says
Although many consumers might still be unfamiliar with stop-start technology, once they learn how it works and the potential benefits, a new survey finds that 97 percent of Americans say they’d accept it.
Briefly, stop-start technology automatically shuts off the engine during idle and restarts it when the brake pedal is released or the clutch engaged.
The survey, conducted in a series of eight focus groups in four U.S. cities, was commissioned by Johnson Controls, a leading supplier of automotive batteries. Most of the respondents said they liked the idea of saving on fuel costs, while 25 percent said stop-start technology “just makes sense.”
How much were consumers surveyed willing to pay for such a system? More than one-third said that for a 5-percent improvement in fuel economy, they’d be willing to pay up to $500.
Vehicles with stop-start
As automakers try to comply with increasingly stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards – 35.5 mpg by 2016 and 54.5 mpg by 2025—the incorporation of start-stop systems in mainstream non-hybrid vehicles is likely to take hold.
Now, annual production is about 3 million, and that’s mostly in the European market. That’s expected to grow to 35 million worldwide by 2025.
Which vehicles are available today with the technology? Originally offered in some luxury models from BMW and Mercedes-Benz, stop-start technology will be available on the new 2013 Ford Fusion mid-size sedan and the 2013 Kia Rio subcompact. The 2013 Porsche 911 will also get the technology.
As for the price point of the system in mainstream cars, Auto Start Stop in the 2013 Ford Fusion costs $295 and is available as an option with the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine. Fuel economy is projected to be 26 mpg city/37 mpg highway.
In the case of the Kia Rio, the technology was supposed to deploy in late 2012 model year, but has been moved to the 2013 Rio as part of the Eco package. Pricing for the Eco package is $400, but it also requires the $1,150 Convenience package. Fuel economy is 31 mpg city/40 mpg highway, although commuters navigating through highly congested stop-and-go conditions may see 10-percent improvement (compared to Rios without stop-start). Read more about the 2013 Rio in this review.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Kids Who Grow Up Around Traffic: Less Functional Members Of Society?
Progress in technological advancements, easy and instant access to information and entertainment, and a host of other new and better items to make everyone’s life more convenient on-demand: It's all good, right? Who really longs for the good old days anymore—the days when kids played stickball and kick-the-can and jump rope in the streets?
Over the years since most of adult Americans were born, something changed rather dramatically. The streets became an unfriendly place for children, so much so that parents increasingly opted to drive their kids to and from every possible destination.
This may be having a profound effect in how today’s kids not only view their surrounding environment but also how they learn how to function in society.
Sound far-fetched? According to a recent article in The Atlantic Cities, kids who get driven everywhere have difficulty connecting with their neighbors and community. The article goes on to say that these children don’t even know where they’re going, citing work by Bruce Appleyard, the son of urbanist researcher Donald Appleyard, who’s been looking into how children’s constant exposure to traffic affects their perception and understanding of their “home territory.”
Appleyard studied and worked with children in two suburban communities, one with light traffic and infrastructure conducive to the kids walking and biking to school on their own, and the other with heavy traffic where the kids traveled almost exclusively by car. Using a technique called cognitive mapping, Appleyard encouraged the children to draw maps of their neighborhoods, showing places like school and the houses of their friends, as well as marking places they liked or disliked.
Not surprisingly, the results of the study showed dramatic differences between the children’s perspectives. In heavy traffic neighborhoods, the kids expressed feelings of dislike and danger, drawing little detail of their surroundings. In contrast, kids in light traffic neighborhoods drew rich detail, more places they liked, and fewer cars or signs of danger.
What’s the take-away from this? Is there anything that can be done to change our high-traffic neighborhoods and encourage children to once again walk or bike to school? Appleyard points out that there are groups and programs committed to helping communities improve infrastructure and make streets and sidewalks safer for kids.
One such group is Safe Routes to School, which began research on children safely walking and bicycling to school in the early 1970s. The first modern safe routes to school program began in 1997 in the Bronx, New York.
In 2005, Congress passed federal legislation establishing a National Safe Routes to Schools program. The Federal Highway Administration administers the funds to states to use in infrastructure projects and non-infrastructure activities.
What programs such as Safe Routes to School can do is to help communities build sidewalks, pedestrian paths and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, reduce speeds in school zones and neighborhoods, address distracted driving among drivers of all ages, and educate generations on pedestrian and bicycle safety.
With a goal of creating safer and more pedestrian-friendly streets and neighborhoods for our kids, parents and communities can help children begin to view their home turf, at least, as a much more kid-friendly environment. If the research is on point, this small but very important change may give them a boost in learning how to be more functional members of society.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Official: Mercedes-Benz R-Class Dropped From U.S. Lineup
The Mercedes-Benz R-Class, the six- or seven-passenger crossover vehicle spun from the same architecture as the ML-Class and GL-Class SUVs, is officially off the Mercedes-Benz USA docket for the 2013 model year.
The fastback wagon was conceived as a sleeker, lower-riding version of the family of vehicles that are built at Mercedes' U.S. assembly plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. With a flexible interior and an available diesel model, it also had some ironic styling resemblance to another vehicle in the company's distant past--the Chrysler Pacifica, a minivan derivative engineered and put on sale a few years after Chrysler was acquired by Mercedes' parent company Daimler in 1998.
Introduced in 2006, the R-Class never lived up to sales projections, or to the strong sales of the other vehicles that used the same running gear. While the M-Class moved almost 37,000 units in the 2011 model year, the R-Class accounted for only 2,385 sales, off 19 percent from 2010. Even the smaller, German-made GLK crossover bested the R-Class by a wide margin, at more than 24,000 sales.
With sales of the 2012 model trickling to a halt, Mercedes will keep building the vehicle in Alabama. However, if you're eager to buy one, you'll need to look to Canada or China to find one. Sales will continue in those markets, possibly through 2015, until the next major model change at the Tuscaloosa plant.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
7 Things To Remember When Your Car Breaks Down
America is in the midst of graduation season, which can only mean one thing: high school graduates across the country are motoring around in their very first cars, taking their first road trips, and buying their first (and last) air-fresheners disguised as fuzzy pairs of dice.
But along with those joys comes another, less pleasant first: the very first breakdown. How will your teen driver perform in the face of adversity? The folks at AutoMD put together a quick checklist to help them through the rough patch, and we're going to share it with you, along with a suggestion of two of our own.
(Note: this list is directed at novices, but it really applies to drivers at every level of experience. Have a look. You might learn something.)
1. First things first: get your car off the road. Even when things go seriously wrong, moving vehicles don't usually stop working entirely, so hopefully, you'll have some time and momentum to get your car to the side of the road. (If not, turn on your hazard lights and skip to step 2; don't get out of the car while it's stranded in traffic, especially if you're stuck on a busy highway.) When you reach the side of the road, put the car in park, engage the emergency brake, and spin your steering wheel away from the road. That way, your car won't accidentally roll out into oncoming traffic. Turn on your hazard lights, too.
2. Call for help. According to the Pew Research Center, about 77% of American teens have cell phones, so odds are good that this won't be a problem. (For the remaining 23% of teens, parents might consider stowing a limited-function feature phone in the glove box, just for emergencies. Or you could purchase a roadside assistance device like OnStar FMV, which is now on sale for $99.)
3. Let other drivers know that you're in trouble. Hazard lights are a start, but they don't necessarily shout to the world that you're having car problems. (For example, you might've pulled over to take a call.) If you can get out of the car safely and if you have road flares available, place a couple of them about 50 feet behind your car. Raising the hood isn't a bad idea, either.
4. Stay with the car. For at least two reasons, it's usually best if you stay with your vehicle. First, if you've called AAA or another roadside service, they typically can't do anything to a vehicle without the driver present. And second, as we mentioned above, roadways are dangerous places for people on foot -- in fact, about 4,000 pedestrians are killed each year in the U.S. The situation is far more deadly when cars are flying by at 60 or 70 miles per hour.
5. Now probably isn't the time to take a blind stab at auto repair. If you've got some tinkering experience, you might be able to identify a loose battery cable, but if your problem is a flat tire and you've never changed one before, leave it be unless the situation becomes desperate. Changing tires can be tricky, even under ideal conditions -- and frankly, perched on the shoulder of a highway isn't what we'd call "ideal". If you do know how to change a tire, proceed with caution. In the best of all possible worlds, you'd wait until a police officer shows up, just to help slow down traffic.
6. Use common sense. Every breakdown is different, depending on where you are, what you're driving, the time of day, the underlying problem, and so on. For example, if you're on a quiet stretch of road and you know what's wrong -- say, for example, you ran out of gas and you're certain there's a gas station nearby -- it's probably okay to ignore item #4 and hoof it. Just exercise caution, and don't exit the car on the same side as traffic is flowing.
7. Be wary of strangers. Your parents probably told you that a thousand times when you were young, but it bears repeating. There are plenty of good Samaritans out there, eager to help folks in trouble. However, there are also a handful of bad eggs that can really spell trouble. If a stranger pulls over and offers help, it's probably best to remain in the car with the doors locked. Roll down the window a bit and tell them that help is on the way. Call the police if need be. Sorry if it seems that we've lost all faith in humanity, but if you've ever been to a cutthroat garage sale, your views are probably a little jaundiced, too.
Got any other tips for folks experiencing their first breakdown? Drop us a line, or leave a note in the comments below.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
On Tour: AT&T Driving Simulator Helps Teens See Texting Danger
By now, most teens know that texting and handheld cellphone use while driving is dangerous. Yet they continue to do so; a Consumer Reports survey reported just last week that eight in 10 young drivers admit to texting and driving.
Laws are getting tougher on this type of distracted-driving behavior. Thirty-eight states, Washington, D.C. and Guam now have laws banning all texting by drivers, and 31 states and D.C. ban cell phone use by novice drivers. But how do we get teens to keep both hands on the wheel?
AT&T, a major wireless carrier, commissioned a new study of teen drivers as part of its “It Can Wait” campaign. The results are not surprising, but nonetheless deeply disturbing. There’s a profound disconnect between what teens consider as “dangerous” or “very dangerous” behavior and what they actually do.- The survey found that 97 percent of teens know texting while behind the wheel is dangerous, 43 percent admit to sending a text while driving, and 75 percent say the practice is common among their friends.
- Stopping at a red light and texting? Seventy percent thought that was dangerous, but, again, 60 percent said they do it anyway during a red light stop.
- Eighty-nine percent of teens (almost nine in 10) expect a reply to a text or email message within five minutes.
- Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of teens surveyed own a smartphone and 54 percent report owning a traditional cell phone.
- When asked how many messages they send and receive on an average day, nearly half (46 percent) said they send and receive between 21 and 100 text messages a day. An additional 17 percent said they send over 100 text messages daily.
See the complete AT&T Teen Driver Survey results here (PDF).
Making it real with the use of a driving simulator
Trying to change teen behavior, once entrenched, may seem like a difficult challenge. But it is one that AT&T as well as safety advocacy organizations are tackling. Case in point is the wireless carrier’s 30-market road tour to U.S. high schools of the texting-while-driving simulator, offered by The Peers Foundation.
The simulator is a computerized car that permits users to virtually text and drive – the only instance in which such behavior can be conducted safely. Check out the video below to see how the simulator works and how teens are reacting to the experience.
The tour, which runs from May 8 through June 2, is making stops in Portland and Eugene, Oregon; six cities in California (Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco); Phoenix, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Omaha, Nebraska; Little Rock, Arkansas; Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Texas; Brentwood and Knoxville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; and five cities in Florida (Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Wellington).
Bottom line: Teens come away from the simulator with a better appreciation of the risks of texting and driving. And, as 89 percent of teens in the AT&T survey agreed, a phone app that prevents texting and driving would help them stop this form of distracted driving.
A number of such phone apps are available, including the AT&T Drive Mode, T-Mobile DriveSmart, and Sprint Drive First.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Putting Regular In Your Premium Car? Think Twice; Here’s Why
As we get closer to Memorial Day weekend, there’s closer focus on gas prices for the heavily-traveled holiday period. For the moment at least, fuel flows about 25 cents cheaper per gallon than this time in 2011, according to AAA. That’s also about the current price gap between regular and premium, give or take.
Some drivers are doubling-down their savings. They’ve stopped running higher-grade gas in favor of the lower-octane option. Though as the Los Angeles Times cautions, saving a little now could come back to haunt motorists down the road.
Engine knock, characterized by a metallic pinging sound, can occur when an engine is under load and things get out of sync in the combustion chamber, with misfiring low-grade gas often the catalyst, so to speak. It’s not a beautiful noise, and it’s not at all good for an engine’s health.
Cars today are equipped with knock sensors to prevent or least minimize this through dynamic engine timing. So when an engine designed to benefit from premium fuel runs on regular, the immediate driver’s seat translation can be less responsive acceleration and slightly lower gas mileage. Some drivers, having done the math, find they still come out ahead and are willing to sacrifice some horsepower in the process.
Long-term effects are less certain. Knock sensors, however well they function new, may not perform to the same level after tens of thousands of miles. Less effective engine management could open the door to internal damage.
Perfect opportunity for a large-scale experiment? Possibly. But as Harold Schock, director of the Engines and Automotive Research Labs at Michigan State University told the Times, don’t expect it to happen. Even the EPA isn’t about to test how a couple hundred cars fare on different types of gas, short-term and long-term.
There’s nothing stopping consumers from trying it on their own cars, though. The consensus is to check the owner’s manual first. There, Schock says, you’ll find “the best set of practices for...the longest life and the best performance."
If the manual suggests premium fuel is recommended, you can probably segue to the cheaper stuff without any drama. If it reveals premium is required, you probably shouldn’t tempt matters.
If it’s any consolation--especially to the latter crowd--the interviewed engineers agree there’s more to be saved through proper maintenance and sensible driving than cheaper gas can deliver. Besides, a 25-cent per gallon difference on a 15-gallon fill-up only amounts to $3.75. Something to ponder over that $6 cup of coffee.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco, 2012 Hyundai Azera Earn Top Safety Ratings
The 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco, and the 2012 Hyundai Azera—both recently redesigned family-size sedans—have earned top crash-test ratings across the board from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Also taking into consideration their standard safety equipment, they've been named among the list of IIHS Top Safety Picks.
The 2012 Hyundai Azera, which went on sale earlier this year—and is quite highly rated here at The Car Connection, especially due to its standout design and luxurious, full-featured interior—already has an impressive set of standard safety features. There are a total of nine standard airbags, including a driver's knee airbag and rear side-impact bags, and the front seat design is one that's impact-reducing in itself. Also, the Azera includes a rearview camera system in each of its trims. And in new IIHS tests, it completely swept the ratings matrix, with top 'good' scores in all the subcategories of frontal and side-impact testing.
The new Malibu Eco almost swept the board, with top ratings in all of the IIHS's subcategories; the sole exception was an 'acceptable' score for driver torso injury. In the relatively new roof strength test—a measure that correlates to the likelihood of injury in a rollover accident—the Malibu Eco was able to withstand 5.22 times its body weight in a particular test area of the roof.
Withstanding 4.76 times its weight, the Azera also earned a 'good' rating. In any case, that was a substantial improvement over the previous (2011) Azera, which had earned 'acceptable' ratings for rear and side impact.
The Malibu, on the other hand, has been a top performer for several model years. Although we should caution that these results don't extend to the rest of the (non-Eco) 2013 Chevy Malibu lineup, which hasn't yet gone on sale.
Neither of these models has yet been rated by the federal government, as part of its new-car assessment program (NCAP) crash tests, but we'll update our review pages as soon as they're available. In the meantime, if safety is one of your top priorities, both of these roomy sedans deserve to be on your shopping list.
And go here to see the full list of 2012 Top Safety Picks.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
