Wheels - April 6, 2017

Wheels

April 6, 2017

INSIDE

CARS » TRUCKS » MOTORCYCLES » ATVS

• Chevy Trax: New features • Motorcycles: Spring fix-up • Car Talk: Battery or carburetor?

• Kia Forte: Updated, still a good value

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Thursday, April 6, 2017

How to prep your motorcycle for safe spring sightseeing Sharon Naylor CREATORS.COM

S

pring is a popular time for sightseeing motorcycle tours, as spring blooms come to life and sunny days welcome road trips.

Get your bike ready for a scenic spring road trip.

COURTESY OF SHARON TORIS

CREATORS.COM PHOTO

Mark Zimmerman, author of “The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance,” says that bringing your motorcycle out of storage in spring requires steps to maintain your bike’s performance ability and protect you on the road.

“There should be some preventive steps taken before you put the bike away,” says Zimmerman. Your bike should be properly stored, your tires filled and your battery on a smart charger. Yet even with the smartest pre-storage steps taken, your bike will still need to be prepped before you take it out on the road this spring. Zimmerman shares his top tips: — “Do a general check-over to be sure that mice haven’t made nests in the air intake. That happens often, even if you’ve taken steps to prevent mice from getting access. They can still find a way in.”

— “Make sure the battery is fully charged up.” It’s also smart to get a ‘smart’ battery charger that turns off when the bike is fully charged.

Check your battery fluid levels before charging. If you have lithium batteries, check the owners manual for proper charging.

— “Check the tire pressure. Even if you filled the tires before you put your bike into storage, air will still leak out.”

Use a tire gauge to be sure your bike’s tires are filled to the specifications in your owners manual. Check for signs of tire wear as well, as it may be time to replace the tires before your first spring road trip.

— “Make sure that the lights and horn work.”

— “Check to make sure all nuts and

bolts are tight. When you give your bike a good wash and wax, that’s when you may be likely to discover loosened nuts and bolts that need to be tightened.”

— “Check to be sure your brakes work well.” Since brake fluid tends to absorb oxygen over time, do a complete flush of your brake system using new brake fluid.

Additional steps include checking your fuel and fuel system. Gasoline deteriorates quickly, and after a few months the more combustible elements of gas will have begun to evaporate, which may cause your bike not to work. And gas that sits in the gas tank also reacts with oxygen, potentially creating deposits in the fuel system that can clog your fuel line, filters and injectors. Proper winterization removes unused fuel or adds fuel stabilizer in the tank. If you did drain your fuel last season, inspect the inside of your gas tank for signs of rust or condensation that can affect your bike’s performance.

Then add fresh fuel to the tank.

If you did not change the oil as part of your winterizing steps, change the oil before this new riding season. And check your owners manual for the proper timing and steps for your air filter replacement, as well.

Check to be sure your coolant is at the proper level, or do a complete flush and replacement of your coolant.

And finally, the fun part: It’s time to ride. Zimmerman warns that the first spring ride may have you on a road that still has sand on it from winter-weather treatment, so you’ll need to exercise extra caution while riding. “Casual riders who don’t ride year-round can often be rusty with their motorcycle skills,” says Zimmerman. “On your first ride, you’ll need to re-acclimate yourself. And casual riders tend to underdress for the first spring ride. While the temperature may be a comfortable 50 degrees outside, it can get chilly when you’re going 60 miles per hour on the road.”

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Is this a case of a bad battery or evaporating gas?

D

ear Car Talk: I have a 1986 Toyota two-wheeldrive pickup with a fourspeed manual transmission, no power steering and a carburetor.

To start, the old beast requires cranking for at least two minutes before it will fire up. Usually, I need to jump the battery, as the old battery doesn’t last long enough. After starting, it runs fine, so a tune-up is not needed. If I stop the engine and restart it, it’ll start right up.

Is the gas in my carburetor evaporating?

There’s never any gas smell or gas on the ground. Any idea what else could be causing the need to crank the engine so much? — Dave This sounds like a real beauty, Dave.

I’m surprised the Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance folks haven’t been hounding you for it.

You could be right about the gasoline evaporating. But before you go down

that road, make sure it’s not just a weak battery.

If the battery is weak, or your starter motor is drawing too much current, then maybe the engine just isn’t cranking fast enough to start. That could explain why it’ll crank for two minutes without starting, and then start up after you give it a jump from a healthy battery.

So don’t crank it first with your existing battery. Try jump-starting the engine right away next time, and see what happens.

If you still can’t get the truck to start, then the gasoline probably is evaporating. It’s likely leaking out of the float

chamber into the intake manifold, and evaporating overnight while you’re dreaming of 2017 Tundras.

Then, when you try to start it the next day, there’s no fuel left in the reservoir. So the mechanical fuel pump has to draw fuel all the way from the gas tank at the back of the truck. That takes a while.

Here’s how you test this theory: You are fortunate to have a carburetor so old that it has a glass observation window in it, so you may be able to see if there’s gasoline in there in the morning. When the truck is cold, remove the air cleaner, locate the glass window in the carburetor, and push down a little bit on the fender. If there’s gasoline in there, you often can see it sloshing around. My guess is you won’t see any.

Then crank it for a couple of minutes

until the truck starts, shut it off and check again. Once you know there’s gasoline in the float chamber (because the truck has just been running), shake the fender and look again. If you see gasoline sloshing around, you have your answer.

Then you’ll have two options: You can either visit some local assisted-living centers and see if you can find someone who remembers how to rebuild an ‘86 Toyota carburetor, or you can buy yourself a new one. It’ll probably cost you a few hundred bucks, but thanks to the miracle of the worldwide web these days, you can order it in your pajamas, Dave.

Got a question about cars? Write to Car Talk write to Ray in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com. (c) 2017 by Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman

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Thursday, April 6, 2017

Chevrolet Trax New styling, features in 2017 model and the early reviews are good, as it continues to set U.S. sales records in the fast-growing hevrolet has given its small SUV market. popular Trax a more The five-seat Trax registered its best contemporary look, a January and February this year, and new instrument panel and the sales gains followed record U.S. more safety features for 2017, sales of 79,016 for 2016.

Ann M. Job

FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

C

The 14-foot-long Trax is Chevrolet’s smallest and most fuel-efficient SUV, with federal government fuel economy ratings of up to 25 mpg in city driving and 33 mpg on highways for a two-wheel drive model.

It is also Chevy’s lowest-priced SUV, with a starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $21,895 for

a base 2017 Trax LS with automatic transmission and two-wheel drive.

That includes the destination charge, and it is $700 more than last year’s base model.

The starting MSRP for a 2017 Trax with all-wheel drive is $23,895, up TRAX » 5

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TRAX

Continued from 4 from $22,695 for the 2016 version.

The 2017 Trax is nicely outfitted.

Standard equipment on every model includes rear vision camera, Bluetooth hands-free phone connectivity, remote keyless entry, power windows, doors and outside mirrors, audio controls on the steering wheel, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, and two USB ports and an auxiliary jack.

The Trax also has a few features not usually found on other small SUVs, such as 4G LTE connectivity with Wi-Fi hotspot.

It comes with 10 air bags, including rear-seat side thorax bags and frontseat knee air bags. That is more than any other 2017 small SUV, including the premium BMW X1.

The Trax also earned five out of five stars in the federal government’s overall safety rating after frontal and side crash tests. Consumer Reports magazine predicts that the 2017 Trax will have much better than average reliability.

The vehicle’s dimensions didn’t

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Thursday, April 6, 2017

change from 2016. Cargo space behind the second-row seats is 18.7 cubic feet, or less than half the cargo space that’s behind the second-row seats in a 2017 Toyota RAV4. The Trax’s front-passenger seatback folds flat to help accommodate long items that slide in from the hatchback.

In addition, front-seat passengers have a comfortable 40.2 inches of legroom, while back-seat riders enjoy longer-length seat cushions, 35.7 inches of legroom and nearly 39 inches of headroom.

The Trax’s solitary engine — a 1.4-liter, double overhead cam, turbocharged four-cylinder — is unchanged. It’s peak torque is 148 foot-pounds at 1,850 rpm and it generates 138 horsepower. During a test drive of a front-wheel drive Trax, the SUV sometimes struggled to respond to flat out, hard acceleration on highways and could sound buzzy going uphill.

The only transmission is a sixspeed automatic that managed power mostly smoothly. But the test-driven model averaged only 23.7 mpg in city and highway travel, rather than the 28 mpg estimated by the federal gov-

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For 2017, Chevrolet smoothed the front end by eliminating the heavy-looking bar across the grille.

Now, the Trax has Chevy’s new dualport grille that pushes the larger grille opening down low for a more attractive look.

Inside, the big upgrade is what’s

in the dashboard — new instrument panel gauges and a new 7-inch driver information center.

Many drivers likely will notice that the red needles in the tachometer and speedometer point straight down to the floor when at zero, which is different from many other vehicles.

TRAX » 7

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Thursday, April 6, 2017

Kia Forte Sedan is updated, retains its value Ann M. Job ASSOCIATED PRESS

K

i a’s c o m p a c t Fo r t e sedan retains its valuefor-the-money status for 2017 while adding refined new styling, upgraded seat fabric, more features and a new, fuel-efficient engine.

Starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, for a base, four-door Forte with

automatic transmission is $18,495.

That’s only $55 more than the comparable 2016 Forte and includes heated outside mirrors; Bluetooth, hands-free phone connectivity; keyless remote entry; power windows; doors and outside mirrors; outside temperature display; and a trunk that rivals that of some mid-size sedans.

Plus, the Forte, like all Kias, comes with the best new-car warranty package in the business, which includes powertrain coverage for 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first, along with a limited car warranty for

five years/60,000 miles. That compares with five years/60,000 miles for powertrain coverage and three years/36,000 miles for basic car warranty coverage for a 2017 Toyota Corolla.

The Forte is a recommended buy of Consumer Reports magazine, where predicted reliability for 2017 models is above average.

The U.S. government gave the 2017 Forte sedan an overall five out of five stars in government crash test results.

The five-seat Forte is also sold as a coupe and hatchback, but the sedan is

the price leader with a starting retail price that’s at least $1,600 below the others.

Amid today’s changing tastes where car buyers increasingly prefer SUVs to cars, the front-wheel drive Forte continues to shine. Through February, it was the only Kia car with U.S. sales above last year’s levels.

The new exterior styling is a mostly subtle change, but it makes the Forte sedan more closely resemble Kia’s larger and pricier Optima sedan. The side KIA » 7

KIA

Continued from 6 profile of the Forte sedan is particularly attractive as it makes the car look like a coupe. The sleekly sloping rear roof doesn’t intrude too much onto rear-seat passengers, who still have 37.3 inches of headroom.

The new 2-liter, double overhead cam, Atkinson cycle four-cylinder engine produces 147 horsepower and 132 foot-pounds of torque at 4,500 rpm, which is nearly the same power as the previous 1.8-liter four cylinder.

But the engine works in a thrifty manner and with an updated sixspeed automatic transmission. So fuel mileage is improved to a top federal government fuel economy rating of 29 miles per gallon in city driving and 38 mpg on highways for a 2017 Forte sedan with the automatic. With the Forte’s 13.2-gallon fuel tank, it now can travel for up to 422 miles on a single fill-up.

A manual transmission is still offered in the Forte sedan for the new base engine.

An uplevel 2-liter, four-cylinder, direct injection engine without the Atkinson cycle that generates more

TRAX

Continued from 5 The test-driven Trax was a topof-the-line Premier model with a rich-looking black and brandy-colored leatherette on the seats. This combination made the Trax look more expensive than its $27,290 window sticker. But the lack of a covered center console between the front seats and no middle head restraint in the back seats were noticeable.

The Trax doesn’t have the most refined suspension, but it’s still an easy-to-drive vehicle whose smaller dimensions make it nimble and easy to park.

Passengers sit up a bit from the pavement to be able to see above or through cars and other SUVs in front.

Trax models from the 2017 model year were among 3.6 million General Motors Co. vehicles recalled last September because front air bags or seat belt pretensioners might not deploy during a crash.

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Thursday, April 6, 2017

horsepower and torque than the base engine is mated to the updated automatic transmission.

This 164-horsepower engine was in the test, top-of-the-line Forte sedan EX and provided good power that could get the front wheels to screech

FACT SHEET

BASE PRICE: $21,000 for LS; $22,900 for LT FWD; $24,400 for LT AWD; $26,100 for Premier FWD. AS TESTED: $27,290.

TYPE: Front-engine, front-wheeldrive, five-passenger, small SUV. ENGINE: 1.4-liter, double overhead cam, turbocharged, Ecotec, inline four-cylinder with VVT. MILEAGE: 25 mpg (city), 33 mpg (highway).

TOP SPEED: 116 mph.

LENGTH: 167.2 inches.

WHEELBASE: 100.6 inches.

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as they worked to grab the pavement during some startups.

Torque peaks at 151 foot-pounds at 4,000 rpm.

The test Forte sedan EX had three

drive modes — Normal, Eco and Sport — and averaged the federal government’s combined city/highway estimate of 28 mpg even though the car was driven in an occasionally aggressive manner and spent most of the time in Normal mode.

The Forte’s ride and management of road bumps was nicer than expected for a lower-priced car, and passengers rode comfortably.

There was road and a bit of wind noise, and the engine was readily heard during accelerations.

Brakes worked strongly, and the electric power steering provided a decent road feel and response.

The test EX and the new mid-range Forte S sedan include a standard rearview camera.

Unfortunately, the base Forte LX automatic sedan does not, and buyers must pay $900 for an option package that includes a rearview camera.

Buttons and controls in the Forte sedan are well-marked and easy to understand, and the EX tester even had an illuminated glovebox.

Windows on the rear doors open all the way, the rear-seat floor is nearly flat and everyone gets a head restraint.

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