One of the highlights of having a car is picking one that suits your tastes. Most of us create our first memories of cars from our childhood whether that was going on family road trips with our parents or travelling for special family occasions in a car. One of the most important things these days is choosing cars that suit tight budgets considering the tough economic climate that is around.

Vauxhall Zafira review should be used to decide if the Vauxhall Zafira is the right option for car drivers who are looking for extra value for money. If you are considering this car, take a look at the advantages of choosing this economical motor:

-Space: There is a lot of value for money to be had with the Vauxhall Zafira because of the amount of space that is available within the car. There are seven seats after all and this is ideal to cater to the number of people in an average family as well as extended family members who might want to jump into the car with you. (more...)

When we move about from place to place, our enemy is our weight. The more weight we carry the more energy it takes to move us, and it takes even more energy to move us faster. This is one of the problems faced by car manufacturers who have to make a car strong enough to hold together, and also to accomodate all its pasengers and protect them in the case of an accident. For many years metal was seen as the only material strong enogh for the purpose of making car bodies and originally they were built on a heavy metal sub-frame or chassis, until the monococque construction was invented whereby a strong and rigid bodyshell could be fabricated and be much lighter in weight. Steel was used as the main, if not the sole metal in the manufacture of car bodies for many years, although the lighter metal aluminium found its way into some more expensive machines where speed was important, like racing cars and sports cars for the road.

A major breakthrough came with the appearance of composites on to the scene which allowed engineers to build stronger lighter structures than before. It was discovered that, by combining two or more materials with very different properties it was sometimes possible to produce a material which was different in important ways from the constituents, sometimes stronger, yet lighter. This, of course, could have a potentially big impact on car manufacturing, since lighter weight cars would be more economical to run requiring less energy.

One of the earliest forms of composite was fbreglass and this material was used by some low-volume car manufacturers in the 1970s like Lotus and Marcos. The material, also known as glass reinforced plastic, was of course, unaffected by rust which was a major problem with some cars of the day, like Lancia, where the metal was very thin in car bodies, and inadequately protected against rust. Improved technology has overcome this problem so the advantage of a plastic bodied car is slightly less apparent to the ordinary motorist. There is also a considerable difference when it comes to repairing crash damage. Whereas a damaged or dented metal wing of a car can often be beaten back into shape, fibreglass tends to shatter and thus is more difficult to repair, often requiring a whole section to be cut out and replaced. (more...)