NEW CARS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 234, 4 October 1927, Page 16

NEW CARS.

GREAT CARE NEEDED. HINTS TO DRIVERS. Although we have only been favoured with a few fine days so far, there is a distinct tendency towards better business, and it will not be long before we see many new cars cm the road. The following hints may be found useful to new owners.

There is always room for comment on care of the new car. A big percentage of the new machines on the road are handled by notices, who are proud of their possession, and anxious to get the best out of it

One of the worst things that can be done to a new car is to make premature tests of its utmost speed ond power. Xew car parts, and particularly engine parts, require working in, t>v reason of their very newness. Fresh from the factorv. they are necessarily tightly adjusted, and only constant work of the hearings against one another will bed them together with the perfection of the sweetlv running machine that has done upwards of 1000 miles.

With every mile of its running the car will improve nntil it is in the pink of condition at the end of 500 or 1000 miles of careful driving. Maximum speed should be about 20 m.p.h. on the level, or 25 on a downgrade. It is not much use travelling at a moderate speed over level road if one opens the throttle fully on a hill in order to maintain the same.speed. Some expensive cars are fully "run in" by being driven a considerable mileage in roed tests before delivery. But in the case of moderate-priced cars this is not usual, owing to the fact that expense involved would immediately send up the price. It is therefore necessary to resist the temptation to drive the car all out for the first few hundred miles, otherwise the engine will be likely to suffer. Advice to this effect is often printed on strips of paper and stuck to the wind screen as a gentle reminder. On certain cars, instead of leaving it to the judgment of the purchaser, a washer is placed in the induction pipe, which restricts its available diameter. Thus, if the accelerator pedal be pressed down as far as possible, the effect is only that of a half-open throttle. As well as keeping down the maximum speed, this limits the hill-climbing powers of the cars, and makes an early change necessary. If the driver learns in consequence to change down early when climbing hills, it does good in this way also, After a certain number of miles the washer can be removed, and the car will be in first-rate condition.

In the early periods of a car's life, the lubrication should also be carefully watched. It is desirable to go gently when first taking the car out, so that the engine may have time to warm and the oil to flow nicely before any hard work is attempted. The pinions in the gearbox also move with more freedom after the car has run a mile or two. Every adjustment on a new car must be checked more frequently than will be necessary a little later on. This applies especially to the brakes, and upon these the safety of the car may depend. THE ADVENT OF SPRING. j After months of the wettest winter for a number of years, there are distinct signs of a change for the better with the advent of spring. Given a week or two of dry weather there will be a marked improvement in the roads outside the city, and motorists will have the chance to make longer runs into the country. We heard all the winter of the depression in trade, stagnant sales and what not, but one should not pay too much attention. These troubles have a habit of melting away before the sunshine. The finest "booster," as they say in U.S.A., is Dr. Sunshine, and all good motorists with imagination will picture him just over the crest of the next hill. Spring time calls. It calls you on the roads of this Britain of the South, and it calls you to traverse those roads by car. There is no other way worth while. FAST DRIVING USES MORE PETROL. Wind resistance encountered by a car TV? 9 a^ cube of the speed. ° re ° J r , e ' the resistance increases much Irnl L n d ° eS the s P eed of the sSeed fl eqUently the hi ? her tlle rate of greater the percentage of engine power which is lost. ticularmnt 8 " ® Btimated with one Par•lrops by about P , etr ° l mile age crease of 10 m n h aho , e . vei 7 inFor example?# «£ owi®"**" 10 miles per i ->ur, the consumption would be 16 "'■PS. at 3.», and h m.p.g. at 45.