service

  • 2013 Tesla Model S

    Loaners cars are now routinely provided by luxury carmakers when their customers have cars in for servicing. Now Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] is joining the crowd, providing Model S luxury sports sedans to its Model S (and Roadster) owners while their cars are in the shop. But according to CEO Elon Musk, these aren't just any Model S: All the loaners will be the top-end, most luxurious Model S Performance version with the 85-kilowatt-hour battery pack and punchier acceleration than lesser models. Road testers have logged the Tesla Model S Performance accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds...

  • GM engineer fits structural reinforcement to distribute crash energy away from Chevy Volt battery.
    Does $5K Tool Really Cause Chevy Dealers To Drop Volt Electric Car?

    If you were a car dealer, would you decide not to sell a plug-in electric car because you had to buy a $5,000 tool to service it? We didn't think so. Late last year, trade journal Automotive News wrote a story saying that a few Chevrolet dealers have stopped selling the Chevy Volt range-extended...

  • 2013 Suzuki Kizashi
    Should I Buy A New Suzuki (Now That It's Leaving The U.S.)?

    There's nothing like a bargain price on a brand-new car. And since Suzuki has announced that it'll stop selling cars in the U.S., there are bargains galore on new Suzuki models. But is buying a brand-new car from a departing manufacturer a good deal? That depends on how the carmaker exits; unlike...

  • Steve Marsh's 2011 Nissan Leaf: 11 Months, 36,000 Miles
    Nissan Leaf: Does A Battery Inspection Give Peace Of Mind?

    When a Nissan dealer services an all-electric Nissan Leaf, the garage’s diagnostic computer produces a Battery Information Sheet that can give the owner a an at-a-glance assessment of how healthy the battery is in his or her Leaf. But with several dozen Leaf owners, mainly in warmer states...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf Software Update
    Got a 2011 Nissan Leaf? Here’s What Your 6 Month Service Is Like

    While some lucky 2011 Nissan Leaf owners have had their cars now for nearly 8 months, most are in the magic six-month honeymoon period of owning their new electric hatchback. But what happens when you get to six months of ownership and it’s time for your first Nissan Leaf service? As...

  • 2011 Toyota Prius
    Do Battery-Pack Failures Reduce the Life of Hybrid Cars? A Reader Asks

    Our reader Jonathan P asks: I have a 1997 Saturn that, remarkably, is still running. It probably has the book value of a large watermelon, so if anything major goes wrong with it, that's the end of that. If that Saturn were a hybrid, I'm guessing the battery pack would have died about four years...

  • 2012 Ford Focus Electric

    A few days ago we told you what you needed to know about Nissan LEAF and Chevrolet Volt servicing. After all, an electric car doesn't have many of the serviceable components you associate with a fossil-fuelled vehicle. Not one to be left out, Ford are now extolling the virtues of simple servicing on their upcoming 2012 Focus Electric. Despite the higher initial cost in buying into such new technology, Ford are joining Nissan and GM in showing the financial and convenience benefits further down the line when it comes to maintaining your vehicle. Ford have come up with a list of not one, not...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt
    What You Need To Know About Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt Servicing

    A few months ago we asked the question, what exactly do you have to service on a 2011 Nissan LEAF? After all, the LEAF doesn't even contain many of the items that require regular attention on a regular car, such as oil changes, spark plugs, filters, transmission fluid and muffler parts. Brakes...

  • Shenyan Chevy Dealer
    How Are Car Dealers Getting Ready to Service Electric Cars?

    As we've discovered, some car dealers are less than enthusiastic about the prospect of selling and servicing electric cars. Luckily, others are more game. Either way, what can you expect from your local electric car dealership when you take your shiny new EV in for a service? Training You'd be...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    LEAF Task Force: Nissan's Electric Car Soldiers Of Fortune

    In 2011 a crack task force was sent to the United States by a Japanese manufacturer for a car that's making headlines. These men were promptly trained to be experts in their field. Today, wanted by thousands of owners, they survive as a rapid response unit. If you have a problem, if no one else can...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    So What Exactly DO You Have to Service On a 2011 Nissan Leaf?

    Despite initial purchase prices higher than those for gasoline cars of equivalent performance (before incentives, anyway), electric cars undisputably cost less to run. Not only does the grid electricity to drive a mile cost just half to one-fifth the cost of the gasoline to go the same distance...

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