December 2007
|
|
200,000 Miles
The October 2007 report on getting 200,000 miles from a car recommends that owners consider oil-change intervals as frequently as every 3,000 miles. Yet a previous report suggests that is a myth. Is there any evidence that having the oil changed more frequently than recommended by the owner's manual lengthens engine life?
Rich Palladino
Ellicott City, MD
Owner's manuals typically include two maintenance schedules: one for normal driving and another for severe or extreme use. Follow the schedule that best fits your driving conditions. There's no reason to change the oil more often than the manual recommends.
I am a fleet consultant. I run cost-per-mile life-cycle graphs on all cars based on actual operational costs and manufacturer-recommended maintenance. Our top scores all go to American cars, which have the lowest cost per mile over five years and 100,000 miles.
Jay Golden
Omaha, NE
While it's logical for fleets to put a high priority on cost per mile, we feel average consumers want a good, highly rated car to drive and want to keep the hassle of service visits to a minimum. The article's list of Good Bets are models that have performed well in our tests and have consistently shown better-than-average reliability in our Annual Car Reliability Surveys.
Fuel-Cell Vehicles
The ultimate green machine (October 2007) should have commented on the use of hydrogen-powered cars in cold climates. The principal emission from fuel-cell vehicles is water, and this could freeze and clog the exhaust pipe on cars operated in Northern climates.
Douglas Henry
East Lansing, MI
That is still an issue with fuel-cell vehicles, but the latest Honda FCX has a vertically mounted fuel stack that allows the water vapor to fall away from the stack and thus keep it from icing at temperatures as low as minus 4º F.
Social Security
The information in Social Security: When to start collecting (October 2007) was informative and correct, but you left out one very important piece of information. While Social Security benefits are reduced for retirees who have not yet reached full retirement age and still work, those reductions are eliminated in the month when that age is reached.
Joe Cavanaugh
Waterbury, CT
In your letter to the editor, include your hometown and a daytime phone number so that we can contact you should we decide to print it. Send it to Consumer Reports, 101 Truman Ave., Yonkers, NY 10703, or at www.ConsumerReports.org/lettertoeditor.
