Posts Tagged ‘performance chips’

6 Pocket Rockets

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

Just because your car is small, doesn’t mean that it has to be slow. In fact, some of the fastest cars on the road today are subcompacts. How so? Because their owners have modified them to the point where they can squeeze out additional horsepower and acceleration. Let’s take a look at six cars that qualify as genuine “pocket rockets.”

For the sake of argument, here are some ground rules for a pocket rocket:

  • The car must be a compact or smaller.
  • The engine must be normally aspirated; no turbo charged cars – four cylinders only.
  • New versions of the car must all retail for less than $20,000.The following six cars all qualify as pocket rockets when each of the above stipulations has been met:

    Dodge Neon; Ford Focus; Honda Civic; Scion tC; Subaru Impreza; and Volkswagen Golf.

    Unfortunately, the Mitsubishi Eclipse retails for just above $20,000 so it does not qualify. Besides, it looks too much like a sports car; we are only examining those vehicles that are somewhat plain before being transformed by aftermarket parts.
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    4 Ways To Increase Automotive Performance

    Monday, August 17th, 2009

    In these days of high gasoline prices, it may seem ridiculous to consider ways to increase your car’s performance as they are almost always associated with increased fuel consumption. However, there are four ways to increase performance that do not have to negatively impact your gas mileage. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

    1. Reusable Air Filters. Landfills are stuffed with items we use once and then throw out. Auto air filters are one such item and through the life of a car you can go through 6-12 of them with no problem. For approximately three times the price, washable and reusable air filters are a great alternative. When you purchase one it likely will be the last air filter your car will ever need. Reusable air filters enable you to gain slight increases in horsepower and acceleration as well as to impact the environment in a positive way.

    2. Performance Chips. All new cars are operated by a computer chip that tells how much torque and horsepower can be displaced. Performance chips or recalibrations of your current chip can produce significant increases in horsepower and torque for your vehicle.
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