Anyways, for any one who loves cars, the following gifts will surely get their motors running. Buy from following the links below and get great savings. It is not too late. Each product comes with full reviews from previous buyers and the highly-trusted Amazon rating system!

Following is the hand picked selection of gift items, from our Amazon-powered Car Lover’s Gift Store.

Collector’s Item Gift Catalog

How about a cool-lookin’ engine replicas to adorn your desk? Any petrol-head (or any one owning a car!!) would truly enjoy your gift of small engines! Check out our Desk Engines Gift Catalog

Car Care Gift Catalog

Anything from snow scrapers, wax kits, interior leather conditioners, electric polishers, you name it and these gifts are available at amazing prices! Check out the Car Care Gift Catalog

Car Interior Gift Catalog

Car seat warmers

Steering wheel covers

Car seat covers

A tight selection of items that are not only top quality but they offer great value for money. Check out our Car Interior Gift Catalog

That’s not all

Of course that’s not all. That’s hardly even scraping the surface. But we want to be picky when selecting presents for our loved and dear ones, don’t we? Have a look at some of the best-sellers in the automotive and car category to get further ideas.
And if there is something you want us to cover or review, do let us know in the comments section!
Happy Eid and Merry Christmas to us all!
God bless and good luck!

Cars (and vehicles in general) are rightly considered to be one of the biggest constributors to global warming and a general decline in the environment. The fuel that they burn leaves gases that harm the planet (including us!).

The above is a fact that no sane person can deny*. Hence the build up of interest in greener cars. Thanks to advocates like Al Gore, people are warming up (no pun intended) to the idea of global warming being a menace created by humans and most importantly, a meance that can be controlled. One of the most powerful moments in Al Gore’s award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth is when he compares the rising auto industry of Japan to the dwindling auto industry of North America. Japanese are way, way ahead in terms of producing cars that not only are easy on the environment, but serve a growing and close-knit market of self-aware, caring individuals.

Toyota has been making Prius since forever it seems! Honda has caught up with their Honda FCX Clarity.

Honda’s FCX Clarity (set to be released in the US Both cars are more pleasing to the eye, and both car companies are from Japan. The eco-aware North American and European consumers are left with little choice but to go for the Japanese cars. Of course, nothing wrong with that. US Presedient Elect Obama’s car is a hybrid and environment is on his agenda.

It will be interesting to see how these two companies inspire (out of sheer business competition, if nothing else) other car companies to start producing responsible cars. It now makes business sense to go green and this early in the game, will almost always prove to be a unique selling point.

Know more

• Check out more details on Honda FCX Clarity (LINK)
• You may read up more on Honda FCX’s technology news (LINK)
• Check out the new Honda hybrid set to be released in 2009 (LINK)

*The exact implications of global warming, also implied in Al Gore’s documentary, are still debated. An instance of such debate can be found in Michael Crichton novel ‘State of Fear’ where the pro global warming argument is debated against.

He did what any Internet savvy person would do, he searched online. Not surprisingly, he found Pakwheels.com, one of the largest online forum about Pakistani cars.

Knowing that a lot of people search for information regarding car audio system, I thought that here at Car Adivce, there should be a basic criteria for purchasing a car audio system. The following is to help you decide the type of system you want, based on very important factors apart from just the price (Price is a constraint, never to be mistaken for a feature). So I present to you the progressive guide to buying a car audio system:

Here are basic questions that you need to ask yourself to get to the right type of sound system you want for your car:

• Do you rock or do you roll?
  A lot of people focus entirely on the power output of their woofers, and regardless they listen to hard rock music, would play sounds just to get the windscreen vibratin’! This is where you, being the oh-so-sensible shopper, decide if you’d be listening to a lot of say, Rock music or are you more of an instrumentals person? How can your music listening styles affect your music system? Well, if you are more into Rock, then yes, a woofer would be a wise investment, but if you are into instrumentals then sacrificing raw wattage for sharper sound quality will help you enjoy each note of any symphony! Enhance your driving pleasure by choosing the sounds wisely, friends!
• Compatibility with home recorded CDs and MP3s
  This is an often overlooked ‘feature’ of your car audio system. I own a Honda Accord CF3 2002, and the CD player that comes built in always gives me problems while playing burned audio CDs (.wav format) and does not play MP3s at all! Make sure that your system plays all sorts of CDs because sooner than later, most of the music you will be listening to will be burned from your computer to a CD. Then that music will not play on your car and your woofer, your tweeters, amp and pre will just sit there and look pretty.
• Can the system connect to different devices?
  Also called ‘Preouts‘, does your system have extra connectors for devices such as an external CD changer that you plan to put in the boot/trunk/dikki(!!) of your car? But be careful, you might forego a great pre only becuase it does not have preouts, whereas you yourself may not need them that bad. Better look into that.
• Two-way, Three-way?
  The speakers in your car depend largely on your car manufacturer, but you probably will either be getting rid of the car speakers totally or combining them with the new speakers that you will buy. I recommend not wasting a probably good pair of speakers altogther and combining them with your new ones. Speakers are either two- or three-way. Two way speakers have a tweeter (for high frequency sounds) and a woofer (for low frequency sounds). Three way speakers have an additional ‘channel’ for mid-range frequencies. Basically, Three way speakers give more ‘depth’ to the sound and are usually a better choice than two-way speakers.

Remember, a good sound system is the one that lets you enhance your driving pleasure. If you think that an investment in to a high quality sound system is going to make that commute in your car all the more pleasureable, then that might as well be money well spent.

Happy driving.

When it comes to cars, CNG stands for Compressed Natural Gas.

CNG could also mean saving worth thousands of rupees per month. It can also mean that you have something to show for after watching An Inconvenient Truth . Although not many (hardly any!) people here in Pakistan are concerned about their carbon foot print, there are many who would love to save. This little article gives you the low down on CNG for your car, answering questions about CNG safety (exploding cars?!?!) and engine life.

Fuel Savings: It is by all means a great way to save on fuel, given that the fuel prices in Pakistan are rising. A friend of mine, living in Gujranwala, has a Toyota Vitz 2002 on CNG; he is getting Rs 2 to a liter. That is unheard of for petrol as anyone who has done the calculations would know. Would know by heart!

CNG and car performance: Yes, your car will not have the same pick with CNG that it has with Petrol. I used to own a Suzuki Mehran with CNG and the car would actually refuse to go above 90 Kmh when on CNG. On petrol, the car would be flying at 120 (for a Mehran, 120 is definitely ‘flying’!). A friend has a CNG fitted Honda Civic 2001, and the difference in the car’s acceleration is actually quite insignificant; I had to ask him that if the car is on CNG or not, I could not tell while we drove around Lahore. A car engine above 1300 CC will not let you feel the difference between CNG and Petrol, whereas for below 1300 CC, the difference is more in top speed than in pick/acceleration. If you do face drawn out acceleration when on CNG, it is probably because your engine needs some cleanup; oil change, oil and/or air filter replacement etc.

CNG and Engine Life: Getting CNG for your car does NOT affect your engine and does NOT reduce its life in a worrisome way.  People in opposition of CNG, do say that ‘Engine life gets reduced from 20 to 15 years after putting in CNG,’ as if they have done the calculations. I would save enough in those 15 years to buy two more cars, and that is the main point of getting CNG; cost savings.

CNG and types of cars: CNG can be fitted in any car that is being driven on the roads of Lahore. I have seen Toyota Land Cruisers on CNG and do plan to put up pictures of a Cruiser that I saw with four cylinders fitted at the back. Mostly people are of the opinion that only Petrol cars can be kitted out with CNG; a modified diesel engine can be converted to CNG. Although I have not heard of such a ‘conversion’, in theory at least CNG and Diesel go good together.

The CNG ‘threat’:There has been incidents of car CNG cylinders exploding. Now this is dangerous. But how real is the threat? As long as your CNG tank is inspected at least after every 5 years (look for an approval stamp sticker), you are good to go. The problem of exploding CNG tanks is due to cheap material being used while fabricating the tank. CNG tanks that do not pass quality standards is not a ‘good-thing-to-have’, it is a must. Make sure you ask for a quality stamp from the workshop, and also know that CNG tanks do not explode; it is so rare that God willing, it will probably never happen if you take the above mentioned precautions.

As the gas, inherently, is compressed, that automatically poses a greater risk than Petrol, which just ‘lies’ in the car petrol tank. So the quality of the car’s CNG tank can not be overstressed; make sure you get the best.

For the nitty-gritty on CNG technology, please check out the CNG page at caradvice.pk’s technology pages. (as per plan, this is where different car technologies will be explained, God willing ).