i recently got a 99 gt convertible.. i really like it.. it's an auto (i know, i know..)..

anyway, i have some newbie questions.. here goes nothing

1.) how can you tell how much mpg you're getting?

2.) should i get an extended warranty? are they worth it? I can probably get a 3 year one for around 1,200

3.) how can i tell what kind of gears my car has?

4.) does that autogeek website (for detailing) have decent prices? i need to buy stuff to wash/wax/whatever my car.. but don't want to get ripped off.

that's it for now.. i'll try to take pix soon.. and i'll definitely have more noob q's.. thanks in advance!

 

fill it up, reset tripometer, drive till you need to fill up, fill up. take the trip reading and divide by the gallons you put in. reset trip and do it all over.

I would say not to mess with it, but thats just my opionion

http://www.tchracing.com/tech/gearcalc.php?

I just have used local auto stores for cleaning stuff, havent got any cleaning/wax stuff online yet.

 

Fill gas tank, then reset your trip odo. Next time you fill up, divide the miles you drove to the gallons you put in.
For the gears, jack up car, spin rear tire 1 revolution, count how many times driveshaft spins. If you have 3.27 your shaft will spin 3 1/4 times. 3.55, 3 1/2 turns. 3.73, 3 3/4 turns and so on. Dont get an extended warranty if you plan on doing alot of mods. As for detailing, check out the detail section here on the forum to get some ideas.

 

your better off just buying washing/waxing materials at your local store rather that paying for shipping on something not that expensive. you can get a lot of good tips off this forum, and most of the stuff you can find at the store.



EDIT: this is a free forum paid for by sponsors such as AUTOGEEK! The LEAST you could do is check them out.

~ mike

 

You should be able to get most of your cleaning supplies (wash, wax, cleaners, conditioners, etc.) at a good local auto parts store or a store like Wal-Mart.
I did buy claying items from autogeek (or someone else online) because I couldn't find them anywhere locally. Claying your car's finish is really worth it. If you are not familiar with the process, read about it and then do it. It's not very expensive and definitely worth the time to give you a real smooth finish.




EDIT: This is a free site paid for by sponsors such as autogeek. Try not to make us look bad, please.

~ mike

 

i just got a used 04 escape and got the extended milage warrenty. it is 72000 miles or 7 years. I thought it was a good idea but at the rate i drive i will be at 72000 miles before 2007. If I didn't drive as much as I do the extended warrenty would have been good but I regret paying the extra money for what is going to be only about a 1 year warrenty. So even though it says 3 years, check to see what mileage it runs out at. Then figgure up how long it will last at the rate you drive. If it will last the full 3 years i would do it.

 

The extended warranty is great to have if you ever use it.After it runs out and you haven't gotten anything out of it you feel stupid.My advice is to take the $1200 and put it in the bank or invest it some way.This way if anything breaks you can get the money and fix it.If nothing breaks you get to use the money for anything you want.Once you start modifying the car your warranty comes into question.Some mods will void parts of the warranty.These cars are pretty reliable and the reason these warranties are offered is because the warranty company is betting that there will be no problems,you are betting that there will be.Another way of looking at the question is if these programs were not profitable for the issuers they would not still be selling these warranties.Keep your money.

 

thanks for the info, guys.

i'll definitely be hitting up an autoparts soon then.

as for resetting the tripometer, i have no idea how to do this.. actually i'm a little confused.. on my car, it tells me how many miles (total) the car has.. is that what you're talking about? blah..

as for the extended warranty.. i know the brakes are going to need to be replaced within a year most likely.. and who knows about the other stuff.. so i'm definitely considering it.. the warranty said 3 years/ 20k miles.. i'm not sure if it's 20k a year (good).. or total (bad). we'll see..

 

Lol on the odometer it shows your cars total mileage. Press the black button sticking out. That goes to your tripometer. When that shows up press the button and hold it and it will reset. And youre set.

 

LOL

i had a feeling that that was what i needed to do.. i just wanted to double check. i didn't want to like reset the odometer and then be screwed if i tried to sell my car down the rode.

okay, sounds good.. i probably won't really do it.. but it's good, just to know.

another newbie question.. i'm pretty sure everything (except wheels) are stock on my car... so.. it's pretty fast, but i'd like it to be faster.. but i'm broke.. so i'm thinking, maybe getting some new gears would help? it's an auto.. so i hear 4.10s. but this is also my daily driver.. is that a problem? man, i definitely need to read up and learn all this stuff..