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New riders (and shoot, old riders for that matter) often wonder what DOT Motorcycle Helmets are.  You’ll hear people bounce the word around and maybe you realize it’s related to safety, but the question will remain: what does “DOT” mean?  And more importantly, how the heck does DOT relate to Motorcycle Helmets?

Well hey, relax. I’m here to set the record straight and help you understand just exactly what a DOT Motorcycle Helmet is, and what it means for you.

First things first: DOT stands for “Department of Transportation”.  It’s pretty straightforward: a DOT sticker on a motorcycle helmet means that helmet meets the safety standards of the Department of Transportation.  The importance of this lies (apart from safety) in the fact that states with helmet laws usually require you to wear DOT-certified motorcycle helmets.  Fortunately, it’s really tough to find a motorcycle helmet that’s not DOT certified.  This is because all motorcycle helmets sold in the United States must, by law, meet the DOT safety requirements.

But what do those requirements mean, and before we answer that, just what the heck even ARE they?

Understandable question, and thus, I’ll explain.  The facts of what goes into the design of DOT Motorcycle Helmets can be explained in a few broad categories (Oh and if for some reason you’re bored enough, feel free to check out the NHTSA website for a more in-depth explanation of all this).  And by knowing these few basic criteria, you can learn how to verify whether a DOT motorcycle helmet is a genuine or a fake if you’re buying from an unfamiliar dealer.  

So here ya go folks, the basic criteria by which you can recognize a genuine DOT motorcycle helmet:

First: Inner Liner.  This is the polystyrene foam that’s truly responsible for absorbing the force of an impact and protecting your skull and brain.  A genuine DOT motorcycle helmet is gonna have a liner that’s about an inch thick, so if you pick up a helmet with a DOT sticker and the shell is extremely thin, or just plain plastic, then you know it’s not the genuine article.

Second: we’ll look at rivets, chin straps, as well as helmet weight and surface design.  These are a few design features that give you a “quick glance” idea of whether a helmet is legit.  Rivets and chin strap are easy to recognize: does the DOT motorcycle helmet look like it’s gonna hold together?Does it have a chin strap?How bout weight?  Genuine DOT motorcycle helmets will weight somewhere around three pounds.  Again, this isn’t an exact science.  The idea is simply that the helmet doesn’t feel like it’s only a pound or so.  Finally in this category: design.  It’s against regulations for a DOT motorcycle helmet to have surface features protruding beyond 2/10ths of an inch. So, sad though it may be, a german motorcycle helmet with a huge spike ain’t no DOT-certified helmet. 

So there you have some quick, fast ways to get a “gut check” on whether a helmet is genuine DOT certified.  Usually there’s nothing to worry about, but in a sketchy set of circumstances, it never hurts to be prepared.  Just because there’s a sticker on a helmet doesn’t always mean it’s the real deal.  So if you ever end up buying from a private party, just make sure you’re bolstered with some basic knowledge of DOT motorcycle helmet’s aesthetics and design!

Lexus is a name that is very easy on the tongue and seems that it took some long and hard effort to coin it. It sounds perfect and perhaps too perfect to the point of being unable to evoke real driver emotion.

The IS 250 range is the entry level model which hopes to compete directly against the German offerings BWM 3 series, Mercedes C class and Audi A4. Although the IS has been around since 1998 and is only in its second generation, it has done a steady job technically and does not lag behind the big three.

All in all there are three main choices for the IS range namely IS250 (153 KW) , IS 220d (130 KW) and the IS350(228 kW). Sports version IS-F which is a 311 KW V8 as well as a drop-top models IS250/350C complete the line up.

South Africa has at present only the IS range with pricing starting at R328 900.00 (manual) with the  most expensive model being R410 700.00 (SE auto). In general the IS250 is a good car and technically perfect as it was indented but for some reason the human elements seem to have been left behind.

Lets begin with the engine sizes for the car. The entry R328 900.00 price is arguably okay for a 153kw engine but how would Lexus justify paying R420 000 for exactly the same engine?

Furthermore the difference to put it in very simple terms between the models costing R330 000.00 and R420 000.00 is really just extras for comfort and convenience. These are better headlamps, Electronic Multi Vision display with dvd navigation, seat heating, park distance control, Mark Levinson digital surround audio system, memory for seats and steering configuration. Nice and cool gadgets but what if a particular individual would rather compromise DVD navigation and smart headlamps for a more powerful engine?

Besides the odd(in my opinion) pricing arrangement, the rear seats are also a little too cramped. In fact some owners of the car feel the IS range is overall noticeably smaller than its German competitors.

Now the most important talking point, the exterior design. The car looks very good, as good as a Mazda 6 and unmistakably Japanese. This is where things get odd for the Lexus IS. If the car was launched without the L badge it would be a little difficult to identify it as a competitor to the 3 series or C-class never mind as a Lexus. The car looks too sporty and with very little hints towards elegance and seriousness.

In the end you have a technically perfect car that wins quality surveys, does not break down nor causes any controversy in its styling but just a little odd to normal people. Normally people would expect at least a power increase if paying close R100 000 more on the base model. And normally people expect that a car costing up to R430 000 would have enough interior space. And finally people expect a car at this price range to look the part without needing its badge.

Lexus has developed a range within the best of their ability yet they are yet to create an IS so appealing that buyers cannot resist.

If you are in a tight budget you might want to consider buying cheap old cars for sale, either online or from used car dealers. There are also many old cars being sold through auction, which is one of the best ways in getting cars at a greatly reduced price.

Most online car auctions will feature both old and later models, and you expect that most bidders will aggressively contest for the later models driving the price high.

The good news however, most old cars will be sold at a very cheap price to speed up their disposal.

What you must need to remember though is to make sure that parts are still available in the market for replacement and maintenance purposes. This is to ensure that you will be able to enjoy your car and improve its appearance as well as its performance, especially if you know something about mechanics.

Take the time to inspect in detail all the aspect of the car that you are interested in, and never do it in a hurry. Test drive to get a feel of the car performs, and if you´re not keen in car engines and all its jargon, it would be best to bring along someone who has some knowledge to help you in your inspection.

You can buy cheap old cars either directly from owners, car dealers or auction houses. The choice is yours, although the pertinent details remain the same. Make sure that registration papers are complete as well as safety standards and other documents included in the purchasing of vehicles.

Government seized car auctions is one good way to buy used cheap cars. Not many people know you can buy cars from the government and this helps to keep the bidding price low. Since the cars need money to be maintained and stored, the government agencies are more than willing to sell these seized cars at cheap prices.

You can often find used seized cars that are still brand new, less than a year old being sold for more than 90% off the retail market value.

If you are looking to buy cheap seized cars from government auto auctions, check out gov auctions. Check out my Gov Auctions review and learn how to buy seized cars at 90% off retail prices.

Are you planning to improve the aesthetic appearance of your car? Want to get that sporty and sleek look? Then here are some styling tips that will help you dress up your car.

What products to select from

When considering what options of setup you will do to your car, you should first keep in mind that there are a many different parts being sold out there which claim superior performance and economical. But the reality is there are some good ones and many bad ones. Be choosy when looking for car accessories and remember it is better to look for the established brands before considering untested brands.

The wheels

One of the initial things that a car lover does when styling a car is to replace the existing standard wheels with custom ones. But this is not just for looks since performance wheels and tires also enhance a car’s handling and performance. Choosing between tall wheels and short ones will be the next step. Larger wheels get noticed more and improve the appearance of a car dramatically. Smaller wheels on the other hand have that retro look.

Stickers Galore

Applying sticker designs on the car hood or the other parts of the car body is one of the cheapest ways to enhance the appearance of your car. Sticker designs range from popular performance parts logos of manufacturers as well as those designed for rally and indy races. If you are capable of making your own stickers, it is important to get permission for copying a design as it may be copyrighted. If you are planning to put stickers on the bonnet, choose the kind that will not be damaged by the heat of the engine. Metallic foil stickers are ideal for use on car hoods.

Lowering Kits

Lowering your car means making your car more stable when making a turn and giving it an aggressive look. Cars are not the only ones that have lowering kits, so if you have a pickup truck, chances are, there is a lowering kit made for your vehicle. Although having a lowered car means improved handling, the downside is poorer ride quality since the car springs are stiffer and shorter.

These are some of the things that you can do to improve the look of your automobile. Your car represents you, so naturally you want it to look attractive. Of course, having a good looking car also means spending some serious cash. If this is your passion, then paying extra will not be an issue for you.

See this modified BMW M3 Car as an example of sports car styling.

For more information and guides on how to modify your car especially your BMW, visit website www.BOBmodifiedBMW.com website where you can see many BMW Auto pictures and articles to refer to as a guide. You can also download “Modifying Guide” for your Car.

Other Car Guides can be found at BMW 3 Series

Wanting to sell a vehicle and you realize that you have a whole bunch of those little dents and dings on your it? Dents from other car doors hitting your doors in the parking lots, or tiny rocks hitting your vehicle as you’re driving? It doesn’t matter how the dents got there, but what does matter is what it makes your car look like while you’re trying to sell it.

You might want to get this new service called paintless dent removal or paintless dent repair. It’s truly amazing. It cost much cheaper than taking your vehicle into the repair shop, and the time taken to repair your dents and dings is much faster, like 10 to 20 minutes per ding or dent if you have an experienced PDR technician. If not, it may take a bit longer, but it really shouldn’t take that much time.

There are specialized methods that these PDR specialists get at the dents and dings from the inside of the car, and then how they do it is basically massage the dent or ding out of the car. It’s a very cool process, and if you know how to do it, you will make a bunch of money helping car owners sell their vehicles by making them appear sharp and without dents.

So if you want to get your vehicle sold and you want to get the most money out of it that you can, you should look into paintless dent removal services and check out if they can help your vehicle appear as good as new. You would be sure to make more money from a car that has no dents and dings than one that is full of them. A vehicle that is sharp looking and has no dings will command a better price than the one down the block that only has a few dents.

So with this option of paintless dent repair, you can get most probably a few hundred dollars or pounds more on your car than what you had planned to get with all those dings from the cars parking too close by you in a parking lot.

Find either a auto body shop that provides this type of service, or a mobile PDR technician. See how many cars they have repaired and see if you can compare the prices with a regular car repair shop. You will be surprised at how much money you will save and the amount of time that you will have to leave your vehicle at the shop to have the repair done, or to have the PDR done.

Like stated above, if you get a PDR specialist who knows what to do, every ding or dent should only take 10 to 20 minutes. If you go to a shop and leave the car in to be fixed, you will to have to leave it over night at least. It could even take a few days if they have a lot of cars to repair before starting on yours. So check out paintless dent repair and get extra money from your vehicle!

The Vauxhall Corsa has been about for what seems like an age. Some might say almost as long as Bruce Forsythe who is a British institution, rather like the good old Corsa. {The problem is that unlike good old Bruce who is still at the peak of his powers the average British car buyer became bored of the old Corsa with its dated style and were instead tempted away by the sleek, sophisticated look and feel that other European}.

The original Corsa which was released back in 1993 was an improvement on the boxy Nova that it replaced but the 2000 model was not much of a revelation despite good sales and the competition was hot on the heals of the Corsa by then. As a result the all-new Corsa launched in 2006 attempted to win back the buyers it had lost to the likes of Peugeot, Toyota, Renault and of course Fiat with the Grande Punto.

The answer was if you can’t beat them join them and so the third Generation Corsa was born. Based on the same platform as the Grande Punto the Corsa was an entirely different proposition to what had gone before and more akin to a baby Astra than anything else.

The car has a far higher quality feel about it .The Corsa name had gained a reputation for being dull – that was until the latest model was introduced. With a sharper style and a tidy interior it’s a massive leap forward compared to its predecessor offering more comfort, more space and more refinement. Like its big brother, the Astra, it has two distinct profiles for three and five-door models - and both variants look good. It’s enjoyable to drive too and thanks to a comfortable ride and decent noise insulation makes a surprisingly smooth motorway cruiser. There's a wide choice of engines but it's the diesels that really impress, especially the frugal 1.3-litre CDTi. There’s also a performance model in the shape of the 1.6T SRi that is just as exciting to drive as the VXR hot hatch.

There’s a good choice of engines in the Corsa range and they all offer decent economy. The entry-level model is the 1.0-litre petrol but with just 60bhp the three-cylinder unit struggles for pace and feels sluggish - the 80bhp 1.2-litre is a better bet if you intend to cover more than town miles. Theres also a 1.4-litre unit but it only has 10bhp more than the 1.2-litre and isn’t much quicker - it also needs to be revved hard to achieve decent momentum and will quickly lose interest when faced with hills. For a sporty performance there is a.6-litre turbo-charged SRi model which was introduced in mid-2007 - it uses a less powerful version of the engine found in the VXR with 150bhp instead of 192bhp. However it still has more than enough go and with a 0-60mph time of 7.6 seconds it doesn’t hang about either

It’s the diesels that come out the best though. The most powerful is the 1.7 CDTi with 125bhp and plenty of pulling power it makes it ideal for town and motorway driving and it’s a surprisingly relaxed cruiser, sitting at low revs at 70mph. The pick of the engine range is the newer 1.3 CDTi available with 75bhp or 90bhp. It is far smoother and much more refined than its bigger counterpart and although it lack a bit of the mid-range power its super economical – the less highly powered version averages 63 mpg. All petrol models have a five-speed gearbox with the exception of the 1.6T which, along with the diesel engines, comes with a six-speed transmission. The gearboxes do feel a little notchy and slow to shift but the change is positive enough. An Easytronic (automated manual) system is available on the 1.2-litre models, while a conventional four-speed automatic can be specified on the 1.4-litre

The Corsa may not have the French sophistication of a Renault Clio or the sporty appeal of a Mazda 2 but is a great all rounder and a superb choice if you’re after a good value, small hatchback.

It cost me £83 English pounds to fill up my old Land Rover at the petrol station today. The attendant almost had to force my hand open in order to prise out my debit card to pay for the fuel. As I stood there in shock and close to tears thinking about what else I could buy for that amount of money and more to the point how long it would take me to earn it back it suddenly dawned on me that in the words of the Stranglers (something better change).

In my case I think I need to change my vehicle pretty damn quick before we go broke. Not just because of the Land Rover you understand but we also have a 2001 Ford Mondeo 2.0 Petrol which was hardly considered a “gas guzzler” when we bought it some three years ago but due to the retrospective tax bandings coming out next year it falls into a high polluting bracket. Crikey I feel as though I am entirely to blame for the destruction of the Earth and in a way I suppose I am definitely contributing towards it.

I guess we’re in no different a position to a lot of people but by rendering our current vehicles practically worthless it will be quite hard to buy a new low polluting vehicle with effectively nothing to trade-in. The Government which is renowned for countless different “initiatives” usually in response to a crisis could have incentivised a scheme whereby you get discount off the price of a new low polluting car in return for trading in your old vehicle like a sort of amnesty.

Unfortunately it is always the less well off that suffer as a result of new legislation and this is a good case in point. I remember a couple of years ago Government Ministers were smugly parading around in hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius (whilst still having the Ministerial bullet-proof Jaguar waiting around the corner to whisk them away when the cameras had stopped rolling)

When thinking of polluting cars you automatically think of large 4×4’s and such like but surprisingly the newest generation of high performance vehicles, especially the one’s emanating from the USA where they have been working to reduce emissions for a while and as usual are way ahead of us, are much less polluting than you would imagine. It pains me to sit here and defend them but I read about a 5.7 litre V8 Petrol that hardly registered on VOSA’s equipment! Compare that to my Diesel Land Rover which would have them all reaching for their resuscitators! That’s not to say that the V8 won’t still use loads of fuel but those who would buy such a vehicle wouldn’t care.

It always makes me chuckle when people see someone in an expensive car and say stuff like “imagine the insurance costs”. Well guess what they don’t care ‘cos they can afford it in the first place and so will continue to drive whatever they like whereas the rest of us who could easily spend a day’s wages just filling up the tank need to have a drastic rethink .

I need to stop ranting on now and turn to what seems to be the future for the car market and the saviour for us all.

Ford has unveiled the Fiesta Econetic at the motor show in London. It comes with a 1.4 litre diesel engine that emits just 98g/km which puts it pretty much into the top slot for the lowest polluting four-cylinder car on the market. Fuel economy is claimed to be over 76 miles per gallon. 

Ford have stated that it is the low emission high economy Diesel engine that will deliver cheap running costs for the masses and not the petrol electric hybrids.

In a statement Mark Ovenden, Ford’s UK Marketing Director puts it “Making available for the many what’s been available for the few”, who points out that the petrol electric hybrids pioneered by Honda and Toyota remain expensive when compared with conventional petrol or diesel engines. Other car makers such as BMW, Mercedes and VW have also acknowledged diesel to be the way forward at least in the short term.

With that in mind Ford’s assembly line in Dagenham is churning out diesel engines at a rate of knots with some 575,000 units expected next year.

With technology moving so fast no-one can predict what we will all be driving in five years time but you can be sure in my case it won’t have an eighty litre fuel tank and will probably be a cheap Ford!               

Hybrid electric vehicles are automobiles which make use of a combination of conventional propulsion systems and rechargeable energy storage systems (RESS). The manufacturing of such a mixed engine system is justified by the efficiency in terms of fuel consume, in comparison with regular cars. Then, batteries are just used for support, and limited propulsion needs, without requiring any recharging due to the storage and energy renewal system.

Modern times have seen the mass production of hybrid electric vehicles coming from a number of well known car manufacturers. The reasons why many car producers jump on the green bandwagon are varied. Some producers are truly interested in preserving the natural resources, while others show a form of interested caring for the environment as a means of attracting more clients. Fuel consumtion can be significantly improved when using hybrid electric vehicles. First, they lower the amount of wasted energy during idle or low input (turning off the ICE); secondly, they collect waste energy (regenerative braking), and thirdly, they reduce the size and power of the ICE and inefficiencies generated by under-utilization.

The batteries that supply the electric motor get charged when you drive around, thus preventing the input necessities. Some hybrid electrical vehicles designs depend on the use of an electric generator that is spun by the engine and allows the recharging of the battery. Many of the existing hybrid electric vehicles’ capability is to reduce idle emissions by shutting down the internal combustion engine at idle status and restarting it when necessary (this is a start-stop system). The engines of the hybrid electric vehicles are smaller than those of non-hybrid petroleum fuel vehicles. These engines may function at various speeds, thus generating more efficiency.

The making of the hybrid electric vehicles started in the late 1990s and the first ones came from Honda (Honda Insight) and Toyota (Toyota Prius). The history of hybrid electric vehicles is marked by the buyer-oriented policy that aimed at making such cars available to anyone. The future of hybrid electric vehicles is definitely positive, and this is the forecast by some automobile makers who label hybrid electric vehicles a central segment of the automotive market of the future.

Get more info on hybrid cars here Honda Hybrid Cars