PAGE 18, WETBYFPREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24,1992 by Ji1 Mclntosh For car Iongevity Theres no doubt about it, an automobile i. going to.b. on. of the. largest purchases most peole evor make. For thbs reason, it's bard fer me to undorstand why se, many pooplo thon use that enormous purchase evr day and nover pAve. any thogt eits upkoo.- WJL eâne exception, overy car l'y. ovor ownod han had. more than 100,000 miles on it, yet, for the moot part, the. probiema I had *with thom wer. minor. When PIm asked- for the secret of their longovity, 1 reply that.thoe are throq thingr. aiteaCe, maintenance and maintenance. Roguar mantnace i. mething that every car neods, whether îts,50. years aid or just off the. showroom floor. In the tougiior tumes, people ofl.n forgo the. price of maintenance, but if yo do; you can find yourself faighigh ropair bilse or evon daqrsdriving conditions. Oinu your moet important maintenance item. Meut people dont cane t fen enough, or don't hveenough in their enie.Either situation can rout in prematuro engin. wear. I 1k. to change my oil every throe menths, or oven every two months -if fin doing a lot of start-and-stop driving in ýhot woather. (Itis short tripe, not long highway drives, that are hardest on your car.) I instali a new oil filter' with .vory ail change and also grosse the chassis ut tii. same time. Engine ail gradually breaks down with use se, that it can't p the ii.og epropeior, over turne, it aeal eorne contaminated with tiny metal filings that can bwild up and damago rnoving Parts. You will mu upkeep, nover- hurt your ongine by chanjfng yourcil too frequontly and utIs botter te, ovordo it than lot it g o long between changes. Brakes r iction items, meanung that 'they work by rubbing aganet o chother and they naturally woar out with use. I check mine twice a yoar te ueS if theres enough friction material stili on thein; I aise ccheck tiiem right away if they start ta mako a squoaling noise or if the. car pulls ta one aide wiien the brakos are appiied. Ti. key hero is 'right away.' Pads are relativoly cheap, rotors are not. Driving wvith b&d bralce pade cmn quickly lead te expen- sive rotor, damage as woll as unsafe brakos. If you'v. made a switch ta, front-wheol-drive, remembor that your brakes usually wear eut faster than roar-wheel-drive *cars; don't thiink tiiere can't b. a probleni bocause it's 'toooon te, neod brakes.'o rkei! Speaking *o rks e important te usee tiie omorgoncy or parking brak.e t lIst once a week to keep it frein sezing Up. So many times lNe.heard pole say.'ldWtk0W-why it seizeI nover ueed it." Tbat's tii. reaun. lb. transmission le anotiier item that re j.s eua maintenance. Juat 1k.the. eng@ine, an automatic trans- -mission centains its own special ail and filter; I change mine overy year. [f it isnt replaced, the. fiter can become cloggod, causing tii. transision te rn uch hotter than it usually doS& (Adding a transmission ail cooler, if your car doesn't alroady have one, is alse a goed idea.) If yeu regulsrly tew a SEE PAGE 21 1992HONDA CIC HATCHBACK CX Jiy Glen Konorowdd ii. 1992 -modol' year for Honda *mrks tii. introductio of tii. fii goneration (Jivice and sedans. I had tii. pleasure ef drivln a two-door hatchback On the. outaide tii. new Civics genoral retain their practical shpeb ut improve on it by m fig it more aerodynamic. Both the. hatchback and tii. sedan are as far as I amn concer- ned, tiih~eUt iooking Civics te date. To me tiie sodan looks very similar. te tle bii BMW sedans, hailed by some 0 b. tii. most b.autiful cars in tii. werld. I have te admit I reaily 1k. tii. styling of tii. sedan, it's round enough to emodern yet stili looki conventional. Stepping inte tthe paat, tii. iiatchback modols featur, two- pic hatches. Yes, 1ke tii, staon wagons of the sixties, tii, hatch opens from tiie tep and thon tiiegate is dropped down. Like th e outside, the, interior follows tii, soft-round.d tiieme with plenty of curves in tii. dasii. Good design allows ail tii. con- trois te b. piaoed witiiin easy reach of tiie der. Seating in the. Civic foiiows tradition with M=n Yet comfor- table s.ating- in both front snd rear. 'Tii.model wili detormine the. quality cf the material of tii. interior. Even the. base- modela I teeted at "tiie introduction in Afliston, Ont. had veuy attractive interuîors. On. surprise with both models was the amount of rear seat room. Beth tii,'sedan and hatch- back iisd onough head room for my 5 foot 9 inchi body. Ills, te nme, ls quite a feat in cars cf this siz,. There are three englues in the. Clvic lineup? for tii. '92 model year. Two have variable valve timing and the, third has a nor- mal valve train. What variable valve timing does for the, car la gve it power at. both low and hi speeds. An add.d b.nefit of tin engin. la aise botter fuel economy. Ii. VX iiatchback cames wlth the riocili variable valve four- l lide &' (9hp)just for here ln, giving tiie customer on. of the. iilhiist muleage cars around wlthout going te a diesel. In fact, accordinte toTransport Canada, on th i igiiway the. VX get an incredible 3.9 11100km or about 71lmpg. Now with t at kind of miesg, the car dees suifer a littie in performance compared te the- normal 102 hp model. I did flnd wilo testing tii. car that I had te shift-more often, as the car ia geared for-mileage sud net con- venienae and miîleage. Ti, K sedan I tested had the. 1. litfour-clinde with a veryr onergetic 102p. lTus kind of power gives tii. car good ail- around performance for everyday driving. Thome wio have te have it al can opt fqrthe. 16 litre variabieÎ valve one e that pumps eut 125ip. lis ongine makos the EX-V sedan and theiiatciback 'mini-mights in, tii. performnance car field& Getting back te things more practicalthe. trunk room in tiie sedan I testedis quit, generous. It opens iow for easy ioading and goes in quit. deep te give 351 cubic litres of cargo capacity. [f on. neede iuet a littie, more caruu apacity, the rear seat foide down, allowing for longer loade. After speuding Borne tint. lu tii. hatchback and tiie sedan, fiuding s;ometiiin~~rn s jut nit-pikig. ethe-r yu choose sdn or hatciiback <rny cholce),' you won't b. disappoin- ted wlth the. quality onda builds inte every car., ZERO"'DOWNPAYMENT IZERO FREIGHT & P.DUI. 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