Most refinanced: Nissan Altima

Refinancing your home has been a common practice for years.  Every time interest rates drop, there’s a new opportunity to lower your mortgage payment or speed up the repayment process or squeeze a little more out of your home’s equity.  But refi for your car?  That’s not something you hear about every day, and certainly not something you see pushed in commercials.

That may be changing.  According to CNW Research, auto loan refinancing is predicted to grow to 14.1% of existing contracts in 2014, a 12% percentage increase since 2012, and a 228% increase since 2009.  The same forces that have kept mortgage rates low have also kept car loan rates low, and the increasing durability of cars across the spectrum has made refinancing your car more feasible.

The appropriately-named CarRefinance.com has just released a list of the top ten most refinanced vehicles:

1. Nissan Altima
2. Ram 1500
3. Honda Accord
4. Toyota Camry
5. Dodge Charger
6. Ford F-150
7. Toyota Corolla
8. Chevrolet Impala
9. Chrysler 300
10. Honda Civic

The list appears to me to be a cross-section of average vehicles — not exactly economy cars, but  not luxury vehicles, either (except perhaps the Chrysler 300).  Have you looked into refinancing your car?  Have you gone through with it?  What has the experience been like for you?

Fast? Under $50k? You’ve got our attention.  There’s nothing quite like the feeling of a car that responds instantly to a touch to the accelerator.  Check out the Forbes/Yahoo!/Edmunds list of the fastest cars under $50,000.  Of interest in this list: it’s dominated by American muscle.

Read it: 10 Fastest cars under $50,000

Sarah Robinson — engineer, Michelin test-track driver and one of the few female test drivers— teaches teens safe-driving skills. She also offers parents tips on maintaining a safe vehicle and how to effectively teach their young drivers about safety.

Sarah’s tips for teaching teen drivers:

Situational awareness: To keep yourself out of danger, nothing is more effective than being aware of your surroundings.

Vision: Train your eyes to anticipate danger, focus as far ahead as you can see and use your peripheral vision to observe your immediate surroundings.

Stay focused: Distractions can result in fatal accidents. Parents should set rules limiting the number of passengers riding with a teenage driver. Using a cell phone, text messaging, changing the radio station or iPod tunes, or applying makeup should never be done while driving.

Speed and distance: Obey the speed limit, adjust your vehicle’s speed to match weather conditions and maintain a proper distance from the vehicle ahead of you.

Defensive-driving class: Practice is the best defense against accidents. A third-party instructor often can influence teens more effectively than the limitations of the typical parent–teen dynamic. Instructors are trained to teach teens car-control skills so they can avoid or minimize accidents.

Seating position: Proper seating position maximizes your ability to control your vehicle. Sarah provides tips to ensure drivers are positioned with arms the proper distance from the steering wheel and legs from the brake and gas pedals.

Set mirrors properly: Side mirrors can help maximize the view of the road, rather than reflecting the side of the car.

Steering position: For optimal control, hands should be placed at the three-o’clock and nine-o’clock positions on the steering wheel.

Tire pressure: Parents should teach their teenage drivers to check the pressure of all four tires once a month. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 33,000 injuries and 700 deaths occur every year due to underinflated tires.

Safety equipment: Prepare the vehicle with the necessary safety equipment and an emergency kit. Cars equipped with stability-control systems, antilock-braking system and airbags help reduce accidents as well as the severity of injuries if an accident occurs.

Parents’ role: Parents can play a significant role in teaching their teenage drivers basic safety. First, they should be a good role model to their children when they are in the driver’s seat. Next, they should establish safe-driving rules and enforce them. They also should enroll young drivers in defensive-driving courses. Finally, parents should explain the responsibilities and dangers of handling a 3,000-plus-pound vehicle.

If you test vehicles for a living, you will eventually come to the conclusion that cars that are good on the street are not so good on the racetrack. Racecars are one-dimensional vehicles designed for going fast in controlled conditions. Street cars, on the other hand, have to perform a much wider variety of tasks. So we have to admit, we were a bit curious — if not skeptical — about what the all-new, limited-production BMW 1 Series M Coupe would feel like on the track. What we found is that the M Coupe can more than meet the rigors of a very challenging course. Yet, like Superman when dressed as Clark Kent, it is perfectly at home in more mundane settings, like commuting to work or picking a child up from school. In other words, it is one of those rare passenger cars that is in its element on the track, but also utterly practical for day-to-day use. It’s an amazing feat accomplished by judicious acquisitions from the BMW parts bin and a serious influx of engineering dollars.

If you follow performance cars, you know that BMW has been building highly tuned M versions of many of its models for decades. These cars raise the already high level of handling, acceleration and braking from those of the marque’s standard passenger cars, which carry the bold slogan “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” Plus, when putting the 1 Series M Coupe together, BMW engineers borrowed liberally from the same bag of tricks they used to make the M3 — one of the most respected sports coupes in the world. So M’s are, put simply, the “Ultimate Ultimate Driving Machines.”

So why isn’t the M Coupe called the BMW M1? Well, the 1 Series M Coupe is to the 1 Series what the M3 is to the 3 Series, so it might logically be called the M1. However, that would be flying in the face of history. Back in the late 1970s, BMW introduced a sports GT called the M1, which became an instant legend. Like a Teutonic Ferrari, the M1 was all low, swoopy and super-exotic — all things that the 1 Series M Coupe is not. What they share is an innate ability to go fast, but the last thing the BMW executives wanted to do with the 1 Series M Coupe was prompt comparisons to the M1. Thus, the new car is tagged with an unwieldy name.

Frankly, that’s the only thing about it that is unwieldy. With 335 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque available from its twin-turbo, all-aluminum, in-line six-cylinder engine, the M Coupe is a rocket sled. It will sprint from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 4.7 seconds, and its top speed is electronically limited to 155 miles per hour. Offered only with a six-speed manual transmission, the car has EPA fuel economy ratings of 19 miles per gallon in the city and 25 on the highway — a performance car with a conscience.

It’s also equipped with computerized electronic driver aids that allow you to push its limits, yet help prevent you from tumbling over the other side. For example, its standard Dynamic Stability Control keeps a sharp eye on overaggressive maneuvers that could dent its handsome sheet metal … or worse. But the DSC also has an intermediate M Dynamic Mode that M Brand Manager Matt Russell refers to as a “track training mode.” It allows yaw and wheel-spin, but if the electronics intrude upon your driving style in this mode while you are on the track, you are probably doing something wrong. Like a stern but loving kindergarten teacher, the DSC quickly nudges you back in line.

While we can’t say we were in love with our kindergarten teacher, we love the 1 Series M Coupe a lot. Our only regret is that so few will come to the United States, something on the order of 1,000 cars. Now that might be the extent of the market for a $50,000 car of modest dimensions equipped with a manual transmission, but we have to admit we are thinking very seriously of putting down a deposit and getting on the waiting list. The 1 Series M Coupe may have a clumsy name, but it is anything but clumsy.

Tom Ripley is a Driving Today contributing editor who writes about the auto industry, performance cars, and the human condition from his home in Villeperce, France.

If you want to collect truisms, here are a couple: “Accordion players wear rings” and “Rich guys buy a lot of cars.” Now we’re not sure if the annual Gateway Canyons Classic Auto Fest will offer a chance to sample some accordion playing (we can only hope so), but we know for a fact it will offer a unique look at one rich guy’s car collection. Held for the sixth time at Gateway Canyons, the boutique resort and premier adventure outfitter located on the western slope of Colorado, the event will begin on May 7 and will showcase the personal collection of John Hendricks, who founded the Discovery Channel. Very conveniently, the collection is housed at the Gateway Colorado Auto Museum, and it is valued at over $10 million. Every year, the Auto Fest draws hundreds of vintage-automobile aficionados who come to appreciate classic American-made cars, display their own collectibles and enjoy a day or a weekend at Gateway Canyons.

Since one of the resort’s major attractions is the auto museum, with its inventory of pristine classic cars arranged in a timeline that spans 100 years of automotive history, car hobbyists like to come for a visit. The Colorado Corvette Club will be visiting this week, and the Wild West Racers Cobra Club from California will gather at Gateway Canyons in May.

Visitors to this year’s Auto Fest will be treated to a glance at three vehicles that were recently added to the Hendricks collection at the museum: a 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS (sic), a 1934 Ford Cabriolet and a 1931 Stutz. Each of these American beauties has a story: The ’65 Chevrolet is one of only 201 built; the ’34 Cabriolet was the top-choice getaway car for notorious bank robber John Dillinger, and the ’31 Stutz boasts a DV32 inline eight-cylinder engine that sports 32 valves.

Other Auto Fest highlights will include 23 Best of Class categories, with awards in each category. Classic and antique cars from the early 1900s through the 1970s will be on display, as will American special-interest cars that include Camaros, Corvettes and Mustangs. Hot rods, muscle cars and pickup trucks will round out the exhibition. Awards will also be given for Best of Show, Best of Marque, Gateway Auto Museum Choice, Partner’s Choice and People’s Choice, but there will be no Miss Congeniality … at least not officially.

The Gateway Canyons Classic Auto Fest is a benefit for the Mesa County Partners program, and tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 years old and younger. Gateway Canyons is located one hour southwest of Grand Junction on Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway 141.

You won’t often get auto, marine, motorcycle, outdoor power equipment, personal watercraft and snowmobile groups to agree on anything, but there is one thing they do see eye-to-eye on: They don’t like the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling that allows the sale of a gasoline-ethanol mixture that contains significantly more ethanol than before. Called E15, the gasoline-ethanol mixture has 50 percent more ethanol than the currently sold E10, and it has all these manufacturer groups worried. They are worried because they say the 400 million engine products used by tens of millions of people every day in the U.S. were not designed, built or warranted to run on any fuel that contains more than 10 percent ethanol. Because of that, they have filed a petition asking the EPA to ensure the continued sale and availability of E10.

“Misfueling is our prime concern, and we foresee that consumers will be forced to fuel with E15 — unless EPA requires stations to carry both legacy (E10) and new E15 fuels,” says Kris Kiser, speaking on behalf of the organizations. “Many stations may not be equipped to accommodate an additional fuel, leading them to choose between E15 and E10 fuels — and E15 will likely win out, since it may be more profitable for them to carry. This means consumers might have no choice but to fuel with E15, and there will be little to prevent them from mis-fueling when they come in with a lawnmower, chainsaw, motorcycle, snowmobile, boat or older car.”

The organizations point out that the EPA’s prior experience with fuel transitions and mis-fueling demonstrates that labeling alone is insufficient to prevent consumers from using the wrong fuel either intentionally or by mistake. In 1974, as the EPA led the transition to unleaded fuels, the agency reported a mis-fueling rate of 15 percent some 10 years after the introduction of unleaded gasoline. The organizations also claim that E15 might impair vehicle emissions-control systems.

I have to say, the minivan is pretty spectacular.

First off, we wisely chose not to pay depreciation- we got a 2005 van from Carmax, with their super-duper guarantee. Which means that for less than a new van, we got something that was fully loaded in 2005. Leather, heated seats, and ALL the extras. Yeah, it has a few miles, but with kids we put about 5000 miles a year on our vehicles. Used will last us quite a while.

But as much as I’m enjoying the minivan, with all that increased interior cargo space and old man-comfort, I have to take issue with something. The minivan’s image. Even my wife remarked how a minivan is a woman’s vehicle. Say what?!

Okay, for the record, my dream vehicle is a jacked up, AWD minivan with roll bars, off-road rally lights and all the luxuries. I want to be able to go anywhere, in Cadillac luxury. With plenty of room to spare. Our current ride falls a tad short of these goals: It’s FWD, but does have traction control. No rally lights, but it has some tremendously bright fog lights. I realize in a roll over it wouldn’t fare so well, but to be honest, I drive like a grandpa, so I don’t envision any rollovers in the immediate future.

In looking online, I see there’s lotsa hatin’ goin’ on for minivans. I can see where Jimbob Singlepants might prefer a 4×4 truck to haul carcasses around in the hunting season, but I don’t have that need. Nor am I going through middle-age anxiety and need a car capable of being driven four times as fast as the legal speed limit. Nope, I’m a dad. I have two girls, a wife and a dog. I need more room than a truck can offer.

In my online research to determine the origins of minivan hate, I looked at a bunch of sites online. One, Why Minivans Suck sums it up in several ridiculous points:

1. They’re too big
2. They’re too big for drivers stuck behind them
3. They’re full of screaming kids
4. The people who drive them have no business driving something that “big”

First off, when is big unmanly? And when do women EVER want to be considered big?

Should I care people behind me can’t see? They can’t see past tractor trailers either. Are they going to follow a big rig to a truckstop and tell the tobacky chawin’ driver he’s driving something better suited for soccer moms?

“Full” of screaming kids? Hey, it’s a van, it can hold, volume-wise, way more than it has seats. My 91 Toyota Camry, that was “full” of screaming kids. Nowhere for the sound to go but in my ears where it began liquifying my brain. Thank God for the internal capacity of the minivan so I have some room for those bouncing banshee soundwaves.

There are loads of drivers on the road that shouldn’t be. I don’t think it matters one bit whether they’re on a Japanese crotchrocket motorcycle, in a middle age super car or a big honkin’ 4×4 with huge mudders. Most people don’t buy their vehicle based on need. At least, not until they become a parent. Then it’s budget first, need second.

Minivans are not HUGE. They’re mini. Duh. The vans of the 70s, like the Ford Econoline- those were huge vans. Minivans are much smaller and easier to operate, what with the 12 windows and oversized rear view mirrors. And who could possibly not see you in a minivan? No danger of being rear-ended.

Yes, Minivans do help moms. In our modern Mom-does-it-all-Dad’s-a-boob society, the minivan could help with child and household chores. Like soccer practice and grocery shopping. But they do more. Much more.

When was the last time a mom ran down to Home Depot to buy a sheet of drywall to repair that hole in the wall caused by the rowdy kids? That’s dad’s job. And a sheet of 4 x 8 drywall fits in the back of a minivan much easier than the pick up truck, or Crown Victoria. And it stays dry.

What about the drive in? Surely dads go to that as well. Why take dad’s truck, forcing the kids to ride (illegally) in the bed, when you can take the DVD entertainment system-on-wheels?

But the real decider for why minivans aren’t just for mom goes back to the size. The internal size. Most moms are smaller than dads. Yet minivans can accomodate folks up to 6’4″ tall. They have plenty of shoulder and elbow room. More than in any SUV I’ve ever ridden in (except maybe a Suburban). Why would a tiny mom need all that room?

Stow N Go seating? Why, throw in a tarp and I could put JimBob’s deer carcass right in the back. Hopefully it will actually be dead when I do so.

Minivan’s can accept trailer hitches. When was the last time you saw a mom launching a small boat for some fishing with the soccer team?

Do mom’s need all those internal 12V adapters? My van has five! three up front! I know kids want to charge their Nintendo DS’ on the go, but clearly gadgets fall much more in the dad domain, and my minivan expects the driver to have two gadgets just for him/herself.

Minivans aren’t just for chicks. They’re for families. They meet a need for space, luxury and utility quite nicely. And unless Mary Kay gives one out as a sales prize, I don’t expect to be seeing any pink minivans anytime soon.

The North American Car of the Year was awarded to the Chevy Volt.  With a production goal of 60,000 cars a year, Chevrolet hopes the car makes as big a splash with consumers as it has with the judges this year.  The North American Truck of the Year award went to the Ford Explorer.

But the biggest buzz coming out of Detroit has not been about cars from the Big Three; European and Asian manufacturers have stolen the spotlight with vehicles all over the spectrum.

The EyesOn Design award is given to (arguably) the best-looking cars at the show.  Awarded in two categories and chosen be industry design executives, the cars must make their debut at the show to qualify.  This year, both winners came from the continent.  In the concept category, Porsche walked away a winner with the 918 RSR, a beautiful race car concept.  But our eyes were drawn more to the winner in the production category.  Maybe its because this is a car it is actually possible to own, or maybe it’s just because we already like the design characteristics of Volkswagen-owned Audi.  Yes, the 2011 Audi A6 is this year’s EyesOn Design production winner.  The mid-sized sedan offers a nice blend of performance and luxury, but more than that, it just looks great.  We’ll take one in Night Blue, please.

While Korean manufacturer Kia has made a splash with its minivan concept vehicle, the car we’ve heard most about this year is not one car at all, but the new expanded Prius line from Toyota.  After the pummeling the auto maker’s sales and reputation received in the wake of the safety recalls it has had to make in the past year, Toyota is focusing attention on a brand that does get positive feedback by expanding the Prius line from one hybrid car to three.  They’ll continue to offer the familiar hatchback, but Toyota is expanding the line in both directions with the larger Prius V and the new Prius C compact.  The compact is expected to be the most affordable and most fuel efficient car in the lineup.

The announcement of the highly-anticipated collaboration between Toyota and Tesla Motors — an electric version of the RAV4 crossover utility set for introduction in 2012 — posed more questions than it offered answers. Toyota and Tesla teamed up in what many see as a marriage of convenience to be quick-to-market with an electric vehicle. But even after the press conference introduced their collaboration at the Los Angeles show, many questions remain about exactly what form that vehicle and its powertrain will take.

The demonstration vehicle Toyota showed is powered by a lithium metal oxide battery with useable output rated in the mid-30 kilowatt-hour range. Some 35 vehicles in that configuration will hit the streets next year in a development effort. But Toyota says that final decisions on both the vehicle and the production and marketing plans for it are still up in the air.

What’s clear is that the electric RAV4 EV features several exterior styling changes –including a new front bumper, grille, fog lamps and head lamps — to distinguish it from its non-electric RAV4 brethren. On the exterior, new EV badging and the custom paint color make the RAV4 EV stand out, while the interior offers custom seat trim, plus EV-oriented changes like the multimedia dash displays, push-button shifter and dashboard meters.

Amazingly, no cargo space was lost in the electric transformation, and the RAV4 electric is also said to accelerate about as rapidly as the V-6 version of the vehicle. All the EV stuff adds only 220 pounds to the curb weight.

While the demonstration vehicle clearly displays all of the above, quite a few questions remain attached to the production version. Tesla plans to build the battery and related components at its new facility in Palo Alto, Calif. — but how and where these components will be installed remains undetermined. That’s not all that surprising, since Toyota says battery size and final powertrain ratings, as well as pricing and volume projections of the vehicle Toyota plans to bring to market in 2012, have not been decided.

The new RAV4 takes Toyota full circle in a sense. In 1997, Toyota brought to market the first-generation RAV4 EV in response to the California zero-emission vehicle mandate; now renewed environmental activism is spurring the creation of this new version. Frankly, there didn’t seem to be much wrong with the first edition, since it offered a range of 80 to 110 miles on a single charge — and 746 first-generation RAV4 EVs are still on the road.

• $400 annual registration/tags
• $1000/yr. insurance
• $1500/yr. maintenance
• $3000/yr. fuel, etc.
• $120 smog certificate

• $3000 one-time sticker price
• $0 insurance
• $100/yr. maintenance
• $0 fuel (save for carne asada burritos for dada)
• ZERO pollution, save for the carne asada miasma coming from pilot sweat.