This Automotive Podcast Lost Its SmartKey at the In-Home Car Wash

The economy is coming back and car sales continue to hum along, with predictions for March sales looking good. One group of buyers, those between 24-34, are changing their preference from mostly Japanese brands to more Korean and American brands.

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Those young people are usually the most expensive to insure, and we look at the most and least expensive states for car insurance. One factor affecting insurance costs: lawyers. Insurance costs might be going up in Nevada, where some questionable folks are staging scam car crashes.

The government hoped to make electric cars safer for pedestrians, but car makers are saying the volume they want on the safety sound is too loud. In other electric and hybrid car news, the Mayo Clinic found they won't affect pacemakers.

Don't leave the car without it. via MSN

Someone on the Secret Service is probably having a heart attack after the wrong type of fuel led to a breakdown of President Obama's limousine.

Fuel savings is a big deal for big trucks and fleets, and now some are considering natural gas as a potential fuel, while others are working to make big rigs lighter and more efficient.

While this home car wash won't save much money, it is pretty cool. Audi's new super LED headlights are hot, so hot they are illegal in the U.S. Finally, keyless entry for cars is convenient, but also has the potential for other follies.

Was That the Last Time I'll Wash My Car in the Driveway?

It was a hot summer evening in Seattle last night and I had two cars that needed a good wash. It had been a long time since I washed a car at home. In fact, I hadn't done it since we moved to the Seattle area last year.

Don't pollute from teresia via Flickr

I still had a bucketful of rags, car wash soap and other tools of the trade in the garage. With the kids "helping" me, I rinsed and lathered up the new Mercedes and then the Mazda.

It was enjoyable, but as I rinsed off the cars and dumped the remaining soapy water down the driveway and into the gutter, I thought about the potential damage to the water system and the cost in time and materials that was put into that wash.

Also, I remembered all those little signs on the storm sewers with pictures of turtles and fish warning you not to pollute.

And so, I'm thinking that is the last time I wash the car at home. I will still vacuum and detail myself in the driveway, but I won't do the soap wash.

I like to use the self-serve wash places and I'm a fan of local Brown Bear and Pink Elephant (what's with the animal themed-car wash chains around here?). It's fairly cheap to do a decent wash and they recycle their water.

And, while researching this post, I found that Washington would like to ban car washing in the driveway. That explains the dirty looks I got from a neighbor.

Tips for eco-friendly car washing:

• Use a hose with an adjustable nozzle. 
• Only use the hose for rinsing, not washing - fill a bucket with soapy water for the washing phase.
• Swap paper towels for re-usable microfiber towels.
• Wash your car using any number of waterless formulas available.
• Spray your car once (fast). Rinse fast.