While the majority of adults drive a car daily, they don’t necessarily understand car basics. Many people rely on well-meaning family, friends and co-workers for advice. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Except when it is.
Many drivers pass along statements they were told when they got their first car, without ever questioning whether or not the information is still true (or was ever true).
In the past, asking other car owners questions about your car was almost a necessity. Who else were you going to ask? Mr. Henry Ford quit giving out information decades ago.
In our current information age, you can simply “ask” Alexa or Google for an answer. But this doesn’t mean you’ll receive an accurate one.
To make your search for information easier, we’ve made a list of the top car myths that have been around for ages but that aren’t actually true.
Myths about Your Car That Aren’t True
Myth #1 – A Manual Transmission Gets Better Gas Mileage Than an Automatic
This used to be true but no longer. When automatic transmissions were new, they were bulky, extremely heavy, and had a negative impact on gas mileage. Today’s new technology allows for an infinite range of gear ratios. This boils down to greatly improved gas mileage, and in some cases, better mileage than a manual transmission.
Myth #2 – Firing a Bullet into a Gas Tank Will Make the Car Explode
Those big explosions you see in the movies when the hero fires their gun at the gas tank is Hollywood movie effects at its finest. However, in real life, this doesn’t happen. A bullet will simply pierce the tank and go through it, causing a gas leak, but that’s about it. If you don’t believe us, check out this video from the Discovery channel.
Myth #3 – Filling Up the Tank in the Morning Gives You More Gas
The thought is that when temperatures are cooler in the morning, gasoline is denser, giving you more fuel per gallon. However, gas is stored in underground tanks, where the temperature remains consistent. The gas won’t drastically change temperature while you put it in the tank. The good news is that you can now feel free to fill up anytime that suits you.
Myth #4 – Off-Brand Gas is Cheap and It Can Damage Your Engine
This may have been true in the past when independent gas producers could mix their gasoline with anything. Today, though, there are only big-name oil and gas companies who provide their gas to most of the no-name stations. All gasoline must meet certain federal and state requirements, so why pay more?
Myth #5 – Dirty Cars Are More Fuel Efficient
Again, while some of the logic sounds good, in practice, it’s another story. For the same reason there are dimples on a golf ball, it’s thought that mud or dirt on a car reduces drag. Studies, however, have shown that a dirty car creates more drag than a clean one and can actually cut your gas mileage by as much as 10 percent!
Myth #6 – Premium Fuel is Worth the Price
Not really. More expensive gas isn’t any cleaner or purer than regular gas. It is, however, less combustible, which will make a difference for some engines, but not all. If your owners manual or dashboard says your vehicle must use high octane gas, then you must (or risk engine damage). Otherwise, save the money. It won’t be helping your Camry or Accord. If your car isn’t running right and you think premium gas will help, give us a call or stop by. We will be happy to talk to you about it.
Myth #7 – Red Cars Get Stopped by the Police More Often
Again, we understand the logic here: red, flashy, easily noticed, right? The truth is that color makes very little difference. A study by Forbes found that it wasn’t color, but simple speeding that gets most cars pulled over. If you’re curious, the Mercedes-Benz SL Class Convertible gets more tickets than any other car. Considering that it goes from 0 to 60 in less than 5 seconds, we aren’t really surprised.
Myth #8 – Performance Chips Will Make Your Car Faster
You’ve seen those ads on the internet. If you replace or add this chip, you will get more power, better gas mileage and a smoother running engine. There are people who can reprogram or even replace a car’s electronic control unit (aka “computer”) to help it produce a bit more power. However, this is not the same as those chips sold on eBay or other websites. Those ‘universal’ chips? Nothing but a scam. There are so many car models with so many variables, you couldn’t possibly make a one-size-fits-all chip. Most of these products do nothing more than turn on a light to make you think it is doing something. If your car needs more power, it might need a tune-up. Drop by or give us a call, and we can tell you if your car needs one.
Myth #9 – Old Cars Are Better Than New Ones
If you are talking about styling, we wouldn’t argue the point. However, only someone who never had the benefit of pulling out the manual choke knob, pumping the pedal, hoping the car would start, then taking off the air cleaner, spraying engine start in the carburetor, and repeating this three or four times on a freezing morning would say old styles were better.
The fact is that older cars (let’s say 1980 and earlier) were terribly unsafe. There were no airbags, sometimes no seat belts and no reinforced doors or pillars. They could even be difficult to drive if there was no power steering or power brakes. Yes, they were easy for an average person to work on and the styling was top-notch, but that’s where it ends.
Myth #10 – New Cars Must go to the Dealer for Service to Keep Your Warranty
This is one of those car myths that is 100 percent false. Unless you are leasing a vehicle and the lease says you must return to the dealer, you can go anywhere you want for maintenance. If your new car is covered under warranty, yes, you will need to take it to the dealer if you don’t want to pay for the repair. Otherwise, you can bring your car to any repair shop you like for maintenance, such as ours, and the warranty will still be valid.
In fact, our mechanics will be happy to inspect your car, and if a repair is needed and your car appears to still have a warranty, we will tell you! You can feel comfortable bringing your new car to our shop and not worry that you might be paying for something you could have repaired under warranty. We’ll also be happy to discuss any of the above or other common car myths you should know about.
