PumpTalk - Petro-Canada

Some birthdays are ALL about the number…

 

Photo credit: Marjorie Lipan

They say a birthday is just a number and it’s all about how you feel, not how old you are. Not so with your tires. As you can see, I’m staying on this tire safety theme. You read in my last post that taking proper care of your tires is important for the overall safety of your vehicle, its passengers, not to mention helping with fuel efficiency when the tires are properly inflated. In fact, next to a smart and aware driver, your tires are truly the most important safety feature on your car. And, when it comes to your tires and their “best used before date” or “birth date”, it is all about the number.

March Break Is Here!

The middle of March is now upon us, and it's a very exciting time for most school-aged children, and their parents.  It's that lovely week that gives you a breath after a long winter (kind of), and gets you excited for the summer months to come. 

I wanted to wish everyone a very happy March Break!  If you're traveling by car, be sure to check out some tips we have on fuel efficiency.  Or if you're luck enough to go by plane - enjoy.  Even if you're staying around the house - have a safe and wonderful week.

Just think, this means summer is that much closer....

Winter’s Humble Pie

I have to admit that I’ve been a bit smug inside lately – I think everyone in southern Ontario has been. I really thought that we had successfully escaped the good old Canadian winter and had nothing but spring blooms to look forward to. However, if this week’s weather was anything to go by, I was very much mistaken.

So after driving through a winter storm to get to Sarnia, I enjoyed a duly deserved piece of humble pie served by Mother Nature herself and I started to wonder if my car had used more gas on the journey because it had to work harder than it normally would to drive through all that snow. You see I just bought my first car so, like any first time car owner, I watch the fuel gauge like a hawk and am constantly obsessing about any noise or rumble that I assume is not normal. 

Where's my flying car?

Growing up on the border with Michigan, I can’t help but feel the influence of the Motor City. It goes without saying that Detroit hasn’t had an easy time of it lately, but one thing that definitely revs the city up is the annual Auto Show, which just wrapped up this past weekend. This is the biggest car show in the world, and many of the vehicles on display look like something you’d expect to see on the Jetsons. Certainly there was plenty of attention paid to how low key an event it was this year compared with years’ past, but what struck me most was the marked increase in focus on “green” and compact vehicles. Virtually every major automaker had hybrid, diesel and fuel-cell vehicles on display. While traditional technology clearly reigns with hybrid sales only accounting for only about 3% of all auto sales, it’s neat to have a little look into the future and imagine what kind of car my kids may be driving one day. On second thought, maybe I don’t want to think about that too much…

Photo credit: quasimonda

 

Earth Day – just one day away

April is a feel good month. Yes it’s my birthday month, but here’s why everyone can feel good about April: spring is just around the corner with blooms and buds making their green debut, the Girl Guides are out selling cookies, you can donate your Petro-Points^TM to cancer (you can donate points year-round, but we see more donations in April perhaps because with Daffodil Days people are thinking about cancer) and April has Earth Day.

Who’s helping you save $ during Depression 2.0?

     

Is it just me, or has every advertiser on the planet honed in on the saving money message? There seem to be A LOT of advertising dollars being spent on campaigns telling folks that how we buy a particular a sandwich, car, cell phone etc , will save us money.  But I’m interested in some objective advice from someone other than a company’s advert.

Winter tires … Sorels for your car.

I can’t decide on a suitable theme song for Calgary roads these days…

To capture the futility of attempting to climb a steep hill or make a sudden stop it could  be Paul Simon’s “Slip Slidin’ Away.”

Or to portray the frustration and rage of some of Calgary drivers it could be any song by Rob Zombie.

What I do know is that a number of the skidding frustrated motorists are driving around on all-season tires.

Pump Talk: Best of 2008

What would the end of another year be without a look back at the highs and lows of the last 12 months?  PumpTalk celebrated it's first birthday sometime in September (exact date is still up for debate), which means 2008 was the first full-year of "being part of the conversation".   I'm getting a little tired of that phrase, but it still has meaning because we certainly were part of some interesting conversations in 2008.

So, for our loyal readers or those just dropping by, allow me to share the highs, lows and funny bits that stuck out in a pretty remarkable year.

Aerodynamic drag and babies? ‘Cause babies come with a lot of stuff!

I had no idea how much stuff babies come with. Ok, so the actual babies don’t arrive with the stuff, but it’s the stuff you need, or perhaps accumulate, when you have a baby that has me floored. And I think all that stuff is going to have my car crammed.

So is it time to say hello to the roof box and goodbye to fuel efficiency?

Fuel Efficiency doesn’t have to be difficult

I haven’t blogged on fuel efficiency lately, what with the August gasoline shortage (again – thanks everyone for your patience) and the September price fluctuations. But we’ve not forgotten about the topic. In fact, over the last couple of months, I’ve seen a number of easy-to-follow tips. I’ll share them here, adding to the miscellaneous tidbits I assembled in a post last spring.