Wednesday, December 28, 2011

New Pennsylvania Law Requires Additional Practice for Teen Drivers

This is great news for Pennsylvania drivers. Young drivers need the best preparation they can get, and this new law should help accomplish that.

India Anderson, 17, of Chartiers follows instructions from Kiva Huffman during her driver's exam at the PennDOT licensing center in Bridgeville.

Julie Enright said she spent at least 80 hours behind the wheel during the past six months as she learned to drive.

That well exceeds the 65 hours required under a teen driving law that takes effect today. Before today, teens had to have 50 hours of practice on the road. Now, in addition, state law requires 10 hours of driving time clocked at night, and five hours during bad weather.

Enright, 16, of Castle Shannon passed her driving test at the PennDOT licensing center in Bridgeville. She agrees with the state's rules.

"I think it's in everyone's best interest," she said.

The law, known as Act 81, limits to one the number of nonfamily passengers a teen driver can carry during the first six months after receiving a junior driver's license. After six months, teens can transport up to three passengers younger than 18 who are not immediate family members.

The law gives police the authority to make a traffic stop and cite a driver if anyone in the car who is younger than 18 is not wearing a seat belt.

Tamela Moore, 39, of Brighton Heights said she thinks the rules will help keep young people safe.

"You know how kids are -- they think they know everything, but they'll listen if someone else (other than a parent) tells them they shouldn't do something," she said.

She and her son Travis, 18, split the approximately $300 cost for him to take driving lessons through the Kennedy School of Driving in Kennedy.

"It helped him," Moore said. "I think (teens) need driving lessons."

The education courses, which include 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours of in-car training, are provided by school districts and private companies. Taking a driver education course is one requirement for a junior driver to get an adult license before age 18.

Jerry Mancini, owner of Kennedy School of Driving, said the stricter requirements give teens more guidance.

"It's an attempt to make things safer for students," he said.

A parent or another experienced driver is responsible for keeping track of the time a student driver has had behind the wheel. And a parent or guardian must sign a form in the presence of a notary, or the person giving the driving test, to certify the student has had the required practice time.

"We didn't keep detailed records, but I made sure he could drive in the neighborhood and at night," Gerald Sandidge, 56, of Squirrel Hill, said as his son Gavin, 18, prepared to taking his test in Bridgeville. "I want to feel comfortable that he can drive."

Read more: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_773780.html#ixzz1hqYXXAqj

Monday, December 19, 2011

Hyundai makes Rhys Millen drift video in old headquarters

I love that a Hyundai service technician (not a marketing rep) came up with this video. The slow motion burnout is the best part. Check it out!

Hyundai celebrated demolishing its U.S. headquarters in Fountain Valley by producing this video with race and stunt driver Rhys Millen and his Genesis Coupe drift car pulling off a heist in the abandoned buildings.

The automaker is spending $150 million building a new North American headquarters on the site of its current offices in Fountain Valley.

The project will take at least a year to build and generate about 1,500 construction jobs, Hyundai said.

It will double the space of the current headquarters and provide room to double the fast-growing auto company's corporate staff to about 1,400 employees, said John Krafcik, chief executive of Hyundai  Motor America, the U.S. division of the South Korean automaker.

Krafcik said the new headquarters would have more than 400,000 square feet of office and garage space and be among the most energy-efficient buildings in the state.

Hyundai said one of its service technicians, Dustin Loranger, came up with the idea.

Amazing Hyundai Car Heist with Rhys Millen

Read more http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/12/hyundai-rhys-millen-drift-video-old-headquarters.html

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Greensburg Auto Dealerships Donate $22,000 to Food Bank

Each month, the Westmoreland County Food Bank helps more than 7,000 disadvantaged families by providing food to meal programs, soup kitchens, food pantries, emergency shelters and child care programs. This year, however, federal funding was cut by $92,000, which put the food bank in a tough spot. At Hyundai of Greensburg, we support the food bank’s cause, and we were happy to be able to help!

A combined donation of $22,100 from two Greensburg car dealerships means thousands of meals for area families in need.

"There's going to be a lot of people this Christmas who won't have to know the anguish of hunger," said Jennifer Miller, development director of the Westmoreland County Food Bank. "When community organizations come together and do something so amazing like this, it means a lot."

Gary Semanchek, general manager of Hyundai of Greensburg, and Toyota of Greensburg general manager Dan Owens presented two checks on Friday to Miller at Dino's Sports Lounge in Greensburg during a Food and Fund Drive being held by radio station 107.1 WHJB.

With a new philosophy at Hyundai, Semanchek said, community organizations will be seeing more good will from the dealership. Hyundai donated $10,600.

"We're taking portions of our profits every month and donating it back to the community," he said. The food bank is the first to benefit.

Toyota's Owens said he just wanted to help the community and people who have fallen on hard times. The dealership contributed $11,500.

"Things are a little tougher out there now," he said.

Any donation means a lot to the food bank, Miller said. Cuts to the program have been significant: This year federal funding has dropped from $100,000 to $8,000, and the food bank is receiving $33,000 less from the state, she said.

Monetary donations go far: For every dollar donated, the food bank can purchase $5 worth of food, Miller said. The most-needed items are the ones that are typically the most expensive, including peanut butter and cereal.

The food bank feeds 15,000 people monthly, and Miller said the car dealers' donations will help stock up and replenish funds.

Read more http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_771330.html

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Vanity Plates: The 411 on Those CRZE PL8S

Want to make your own amazing vanity plate? Check out the article below, then use the vanity plate dictionary to put one together!

You see a vanity plate on the car ahead of you. Perhaps it's on a Ford Mustang, a Volkswagen New Beetle or a Mini Cooper— cars that just beg for vanity plates. You read it over and over, wracking your brain to decipher its meaning, wondering if you're missing a good joke.

It helps if you know "the code." Like the abbreviations and symbols used in e-mail and instant messaging ("BTW," "LOL," "TTYL"), there is a shorthand for vanity plates (also known as "personalized license plates" or "custom plates"). Fortunately, there are dictionaries that will tell you, for example, that "U4IC" means "euphoric," and "6S" means "success."

Dennis Cowhey, author of What Does That Mean? The Personal Stories Behind Vanity License Plates, calls himself the "world's greatest expert on vanity plate meanings." Cowhey traveled the U.S., stopping total strangers to hear their stories. He also distributed questionnaire cards and got about 850 cards back, many with full explanations.

The responses are a testimony to human creativity. It's not easy to invent a meaningful, one-of-a-kind label for your wheels within seven or eight letters and numbers.

"You wouldn't believe how clever the plates are," Cowhey said. "Some are touching, heart-rending, hysterically funny and everything in between. People wear their hearts on their sleeves."

Apparently so: Cowhey's personal favorite is a series of two plates, held by a married couple. His says, "TYED-UP"; hers says, "KEENKY2." The pair intentionally drives alongside each other as they commute each day to their family-owned business, taking great enjoyment from the shocked faces of pedestrians and other drivers.

On most days, it's not hard to find vanity plates that express the nature of the car or driver ("XCLR8TR"), occupation ("HV A SLCE," on the car of a pizzeria owner) and personal statements ("WAS HIS").

Many Edmunds.com readers have vanity plates as well. Burt and Jacquie Harwood of Washington bought their vanity plates with safety in mind. (Attention, parents!)

"Each time I provided a car for one of my children, the car had a vanity plate with their first name on it, front and back," said Burt. "Living in a small town, their driving habits were more easily reported to me, and they knew it."

Though Harwood's kids did get into a few scrapes, he's convinced that the vanity plates made a difference in their driving.

Reader Brian Bear's family likes to play on their last name. "I have two plates — 'SU BEAR U' and '4 BEARRS'," he said. "The 'SU BEAR U' one is on my '04 Subaru Forester XT (and my previous '00 Subaru Outback)," he said. "'4 BEARRS' is on our '02 Mazda MPV. We are a family of four, plus the last name. I've always had some sort of plate with the word 'BEAR' in it over the years." Even his parents and other relatives have vanity plates that incorporate the Bear name.

Wisconsin reader Robert Hammen chose his vanity plate in order to defend his car: "I own a 2004 Pontiac GTO, and got a lot of flak from traditional GTO owners who didn't think the car was worthy," he said. "So I got the plate, 'REAL GTO' just to rub it in."

"CNSRSHP" OR "FRESPCH"?

Unlike bumper stickers, which aren't issued by state governments, vanity plates are subject to significant legal controversy. Columnist Ken Paulson of The Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to first amendment rights, describes some of the legislative battles waged over the censorship of vanity plates. Many states, for example, ban vanity plates related to obscenity ("SHTHPNS"); hate speech ("ARYAN-1"); references to alcohol, tobacco or drugs ("VINO"); religion ("ROMANS5"); or the implication of violence ("GLOCKEM," which refers to Glock, a semiautomatic handgun manufacturer). Paradoxically, this last plate was stripped from the car of a Tennessee law enforcement officer.

Each state determines which vanity plates will pass muster. A California vanity plate request, for example, is thoroughly reviewed by several people with both foreign language and slang dictionaries. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has the right to refuse or recall any plate that may be considered "offensive to good taste and decency, which could be misleading, or conflict with any license plate series currently issued," according to the state's vehicle code.

What constitutes good taste and decency, however, is up to the screeners and open for speculation. What's more, once a plate is issued, anyone who finds a plate offensive for any reason can submit a written request to the DMV to have that plate rescinded. (The latest one to be recalled in California as a result of a complaint letter was "FDUBYA.")

The state's right and ability to censor vanity plates is vague territory. When the Cal Berkeley football team was knocked out of the running for the Rose Bowl (many say unjustly), fan Paul Lewis ordered a plate online which said "IH8 BCS" ("I hate the Bowl Championship Series"). The initial order was processed and accepted, but when Lewis went to pick up his plates, he was told by the DMW that he couldn't have them, because of the "H8."

Ironically, Lewis didn't intend to use the plates for his everyday driving.

"I was going to drive with them for a day, or save them for football season, but then eventually give them to Cal football," he said.

Lewis appealed in a letter to Sacramento, explaining that because the BCS wasn't a person, his plate shouldn't qualify as "hate speech," and that educational scholarships were lost as a result of Cal's contested elimination. He's still waiting to hear back. In the meantime, Lewis sold T-shirts featuring a mock-up of the plate — and donated all the profits to Cal Berkeley's athletics department.

REAL MONEY, REAL CRAZIES

Car-crazy California issued its first personalized plate in late 1970. As of July 2007, there are over 1.4 million such plates on California roads. During that time, the state has raised more than 1 billion dollars from vanity plate sales, according to the DMV. Nationwide, vanity plates can cost anywhere from $10 to $65 per year, depending on the state. California calls them "environmental plates," because it uses the revenue to fund programs that preserve and protect the environment, such as the purchase of land for preserves, studies of endangered species and public education.

The U.S. doesn't hold a monopoly on being plate-crazy, though. In February 2005, a Hong Kong man, wearing a mask to protect his identity, paid HK$7.1 million — then $910,000 — for a license plate which said, simply, "12." Why would anyone pay that much for a license plate? Because the number, when pronounced in Cantonese, sounds like "certainly easy."

But $910,000 wasn't even close to the highest price ever paid for a vanity plate in Hong Kong. In 1994, business magnate Albert Yeung paid HK$13 million (US$4 million) for the number nine, which sounds like "everlasting" in Cantonese. Yes, 4 million. Which makes one wonder: What's up with these guys?

One man is capitalizing on the plate craze without buying or selling a single plate. Richard Barnett has just launched Great Plate Exchange, an online forum where users can purchase or sell active vanity plates, similar to an eBay auction. Barnett gets a small fee for listing the plate, and a commission on the transaction. Once a deal is struck, he links the parties to the appropriate DMV to make the legal transfer. Although there are only a handful of plates on the site so far, the concept is one that could take off once enthusiasts discover it.

Collector Mania

Like other hobbyists, plate enthusiasts buy, sell and trade plates on eBay and any number of plate-specific sites, such as PL8S.com. This includes not only vanity plates, but rare plates, plates for a certain color or type of car, and plates from all 50 states. A member of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association (ALPCA) built an incredible Web site, "License Plates of the World", which illustrates plates from every corner of the planet, as well as special-issue military plates and U.N.-issued plates. ALPCA has just issued its own book, A Moving History — 50 Years of ALPCA, 100 Years of License Plates, to celebrate its golden anniversary.

One of Edmunds.com's own programmers, David Haber, developed CALPL8S to highlight his collection. He notes that, unlike some other hobbies, plate collecting appeals to both young and old.

"You see them all the time: kids play games, spot states on license plates on long trips and get little plates with their name on them for their bicycles," said Haber. "I've always been interested in plates, and about six years ago I discovered other collectors sold plates on eBay. Before then I had never considered they were something you could collect."

Haber's car sports a creative plate that includes a symbol of a hand, one of four symbols available for use in California. It reads, "G(hand)DALF," for Gandalf the wizard, of Lord of the Rings fame. Other available symbols are a star, a plus sign and a heart, leading to all sorts of imaginative combinations.

If you enjoy the challenge, you can find a way to express just about any opinion or passion in a vanity plate. The rest of the world will enjoy laughing at what you said — or puzzling over what you meant.

Read more http://www.edmunds.com/driving-tips/vanity-plates-the-411-on-those-crze-pl8s.html

Monday, December 5, 2011

Can Hyundai rival Mercedes? In a Word, Yes

Looking to buy a luxury car? Read this first.

If you're thinking about dropping big bucks on a luxury car — perhaps a Mercedes S-Class or Lexus LS — it might be worth your while to stop at a Hyundai dealer first.

Hyundai, the Korean brand known for cheap economy cars 10 years ago, is building some absolutely brilliant vehicles lately, including one that competes with Mercedes and Lexus in the full-blown luxury market.

It's called the Equus, and it's quite literally one of the best cars in the world.

Consider:

• It's the smoothest luxury car I've ever driven. It feels more supple than the S-Class and even slightly softer than the famously comfortable LS.
• Its heated and cooled driver's seat controls both the temperature and humidity of the seat surface. It has a built-in massage feature, too.
• It has a 608-watt sound system made by Lexicon, the same brand Rolls Royce uses in the $380,000 Phantom sedan.
• Instead of an ordinary printed owner's manual, it comes with an Apple iPad with a digital owner's manual loaded on it.
• If you opt for the Ultimate version, you get a back seat with luxury that rivals a private jet. You get a refrigerator, entertainment system, and a heated and cooled rear seat that reclines with leg support while giving you a back massage.

In fact, it's so filled with bells and whistles that it's hard to find any reason to pay more for a high-end German or Japanese luxury car.

Still, I've got to wonder how much the Equus suffers from Phaeton syndrome.

The Phaeton was a luxury car built by Volkswagen a few years ago that, like the Equus, was one of the best cars on Planet Earth and happened to be built by a bargain brand.

And it was a colossal flop.

Few cars in recent history have been as big a disappointment as the Phaeton. I distinctly remember driving a $100,000 Phaeton with a V-12 engine and thinking it would be a hit because it was better than the V-12 Mercedes for about 30 percent less money.

I was wrong. Eighteen months after launching the Phaeton, Volkswagen had only sold about 2,500 Phaetons compared to more than 31,000 Mercedes S-Classes. VW's wundercar was quickly axed because nobody bought it.

That makes sense. A lot of people buy luxury cars not just for the luxury features, but also for the luxury badge, which Volkswagen's Phaeton simply didn't have.

There are plenty of parallels with the Equus, Hyundai's wundercar, but it's also obvious that Hyundai learned a few lessons from VW's blunder.

For starters, the Equus is far less expensive than the failed Phaeton. A top-of-the-line Ultimate version costs $65,750, a pittance compared to the triple-digit price of the VW, and the Signature model is even more affordable at $58,000.

Hyundai is also taking steps to make the buying experience more spectacular. You get real white-glove treatment when you buy an Equus — including having drivers pick it up when it needs service, leaving you another Equus or a Genesis as a loaner in its place.

You can also schedule the time and location of your service calls on the Equus iPad app.

In short, it's a remarkable car that puts an exclamation point on Hyundai's equally remarkable turnaround.

Does it have enough prestige to overcome the Hyundai name? Only time will tell, but I definitely think it's worth testing a $58,000 Equus before buying a German or Japanese luxury car.

It just might be good enough to change your mind.

Read more http://clintonherald.com/cnhins/x229381174/Can-Hyundai-rival-Mercedes

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