besthybridminivan.com

Whether you drive the oldest, most beaten up car on the block or if you have the latest car to be produced, something you always need if you own a car is spare parts. Hopefully, you won’t need many of these very often, and if you do, perhaps it’s the time to change your car as too many spare parts can equal the value of quite a decent second-hand car.

However, once in a while, things need replacing on any vehicle. Whether you get genuine Honda original parts for your Civic or genuine Chevrolet parts for your Malibu depends on your personal choice. If you have a car that has always been fitted with OEM parts (original equipment manufacturer), it’s probably best to continue along that trajectory. A car with a full service history and that has OEM parts will keep a better resale value than if you go down the aftermarket parts route.

The advantage to using OEM parts is that you can go to the dealer and you’ll get one choice – it’s easy. If you go to a local garage and they take a look at your car to see what it needs doing to it, the chances are that they will have a suitable aftermarket part in stock to do the job. What’s an aftermarket part? Well, it’s the generic term for spare parts for cars that aren’t manufactured by the car’s original manufacturer.

The benefit of aftermarket parts is that they usually cost less than OEM parts, and there is a variety of different makes –and prices – to choose from. Sometimes, though, that variety can make choosing the right product more complicated. Don’t go too cheap – as you may end up with your car back in the shop sooner than you planned.

If you have a new car that’s fresh off the production line, you might feel it a wiser choice to take up a servicing package option with the dealership. For example, Honda offers a package called Honda Happiness. This is a five year, or 62,000 mile, servicing package that you pay for upfront. It includes regular servicing and the use of Honda parts that are fitted by trained Honda technicians. Paying ahead means that you won’t get any unexpected surprises in terms of car maintenance bills and you’ll have the added value of a full service history for if and when you decide to sell the car.

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Last summer, Peugeot showed the motoring world its latest concept hybrid – a six-seater MPV that clearly has luxury styling high on its agenda.

Peugeot has taken the same Hybrid4 system which features in the 3008 and RXH. The front wheels are powered by a 2.2 liter HDi diesel engine with 204 bhp. Meanwhile a 95bhp electric motor turns the rear wheels. When the electric motor and engine work at the same time, the car has four wheel drive attributes.

The HX1 can travel on all-electric power for up to 18.6 miles, and Peugeot suggests that the HX1 can achieve 88.2 miles per gallon and has carbon dioxide emissions of 83 g/km, clearly placing it in the low emission cars category.

The HX1 has combined the ability to carry six people with a sportier shape than most MPVs. It has a stubby bonnet which help keeps the profile sleek. Aerodynamics figure strongly and the drag coefficient is 0.28. There are active aerodynamics as well – with fans that extend from the alloy spokes when travelling at higher speeds, creating a smoother surface. And at speeds over 62 miles per hour, a roof spoiler deploys. The floating grille from the SR1 and HR1 has been reworked and there are narrow LED headlights either side.

All four doors open up and outward to provide one huge opening so that access to the inside is very easy.

On the interior luxury is accented with a natural oak and leather trim. The seating is unique – with two permanent seats in the front and in the rear, and an extra two fold down seats that are attached to the front seat backs – like in a London taxi. Passengers have access to an integral coffee machine and minibar in the white marble console in the centre.

On the dash, there’s a digital instrument panel and a central touchscreen display.

The Peugeot HX1 is an impressive hybrid minivan concept, and not only does it rival other new eco cars for its planet friendly features, but is doing so while clearly aiming at the luxury market.

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Many fans of hybrids are eagerly awaiting the arrival of more options that have the capacity to take more passengers – the hybrid minivan.

Ford showed its hybrid minivan off at the Detroit Motor Show in 2011, with the C-Max minivan.  But instead of having seating for seven people, both the plug-in hybrid and full-hybrid versions rather disappointingly only had seating for five, so it’s questionable as to whether they really count as minivans.

The C-Max Energi is the manufacturer’s first plug-in hybrid and is set to have a range of over 500 miles. The full-hybrid C-Max will be able to achieve more than 47 mph in electric mode. Both models will use lithium-ion rather than nickel-metal-hydride batteries, because they take up less space and are lighter, which is great news for fans of hybrids.

Meanwhile in Japan, Honda has released an updated version of the Freed minivan. This sees the Freed with a hybrid powertrain for the first time, although new petrol-only models are also on sale. There are also models designed for people with special needs.

The Freed hybrid will be available as the Freed Hybrid minivan and the Freed Spike Hybrid tall wagon. The Freed will seat seven people and the whole vehicle is only 166 inches in length.

Honda will use its Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system alongside a 1.5litre i-VTEC engine. The Freed hybrid will get 51 miles per gallon (US).

As with the 2012 Honda Civic and the  2013 Honda Accord, the manufacturer has put in technology to assist the driver to be more eco-friendly. There is an ECON button which automatically adjusts all systems to operate at their eco-friendly potential and the Eco Drive Assist system gives a visual display to show how green your driving is. If you stray from the green bars into the blue, it’s time to adjust your driving – by slowing down or driving more smoothly – to get back into the green zone.

As for European drivers, it seems they’ll have to wait a little longer for hybrid minivans.

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As a trend continues toward making the world a more environmentally friendly place, there has also been an increase in the amount of hybrid vehicles that are being produced and driven. One of the more recent additions to the family of hybrids is the hybrid minivan. This is a vehicle that offers the same level of comfort that many individuals and families enjoy with a “regular” minivan, but with now the added reduction in the amount of fuel used and a reduced impact to the environment thanks to technology that leverages electricity as a power source.

In the past, some of the barriers to a successful hybrid minivan were the size of the vehicle, the complexity of having a battery system with sufficient storage capacity, and the increase in fuel economy to make the vehicle marketable. These obstacles have been overcome and several manufacturers are increasing production of these minivans due to their popularity with families.

The overall benefits to driving a minivan include the convenience factor of being able to get children in and out of the vehicle easily and safely. Many taller individuals and senior citizens also enjoy the minivan as it represents a vehicle that is much easier to enter and exit without having to bend down too low. The fuel economy even before adding the hybrid aspect was somewhere between the sedans and the sport utility vehicles. Now that additional fuel economy has been added, the hybrid minivan for many people represents an ideal approach to daily travel both from a perspective of comfort as well as the cost of travel.

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Is it possible that minivans of the future won’t need a driver at all – thus making deliveries and pick-ups etc. – autonomous?

The short answer is ‘yes’ but it’s still many years away, of course.

Google has already made a prototype driverless autonomous vehicle and the US state of Nevada is the only place in the world where driver autonomous vehicles are street legal. OK, they may not exactly be clogging up the Las Vegas highways just yet – but these twin actions are a small insight into what the future holds for driving technology.

So it’s entirely possible that within the next two decades or so, driverless technology will become a reality. Drivers enter their vehicles and – just as they may program a satellite navigation system today – they do that for the car and the car does the rest. This allows the passenger or passengers (for there is no ‘driver’ as such) to relax, eat, sleep, play or work – with communication via whatever means he or she chooses with the wider world in a far safer environment than manually driven vehicles allow.

Taking this one stage further, it would be theoretically possible for deliveries to be made by vehicles completely without any kind of driver or human interface beyond the pick-up and delivery points.

Minivans could, theoretically, be whizzing around everywhere with parcels and groceries with no-one at the wheel.

This may sound like science fiction, but if Google’s efforts are anything to go by – it may be closer than we think. And it may not even be the traditional car makers who make tomorrow’s vehicles – as alternative companies like Google, or purely electronics companies enter the market-place.

But we’ve already seen giant leaps in technology pioneered by Honda and other car companies in developing new technologies such as all- electric cars and hybrid vehicles. So perhaps the most likely outcome is collaboration between two or three industrial giants from different sectors in developing driverless technology further.

It may take a while – but it’s most definitely on the way.

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The only minivan offering all-wheel drive is the Toyota Sienna. A top rated minivan, the Sienna’s overall look was improved on for 2011. It exists with a four or six cylinder engine, rated at 18-19 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. The sportier Sienna SE model is new for 2011. It comes with a powerful V6 engine and only front-wheel drive.

A close competitor is the 2011, newly redesigned Honda Odyssey. This minivan is big on special features and seats up to eight. A preferred option on the Odyssey is an expandable second row that can be widened to accommodate up to three car seats. The Odyssey’s engine is a smooth V6. It comes with front-wheel drive and an estimated 19 mpg city and very impressive 28 mpg highway.

The 2011 Kia Sedona is more economically priced, but definitely a top rated minivan. It comes with an appealing 60 month or 60,000 mile basic warranty and a 10 year or 100, 000 mile powertrain warranty. This 2011 minivan has a great performing 271 horsepower V6 engine that gets 18 mpg city and 25 mpg highway. The interior is comfortable and seats seven.

A bit more of a top end minivan is the 2011 Chrysler Town & Country. The luxurious interior is nice, but it comes with a higher price tag than the others. It boasts Chrysler’s new, and powerful 283 horsepower Pentastar V6 engine, but is still competitive with the other minivans receiving ratings of 17 mpg city and 25 mpg highway.

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