How to Keep a Car Running Like New

Be Good to Your Car and it Will Be Good to You
1. Think about the roads you drive on. It's often nicer to meander down an old country road than to take the much less scenic highway, but the highways are usually much easier on your car. You don't go bumping along, running over sticks and banging into potholes on the highway. You also don't drive on loose gravel that kicks up dust, dirt, leaves and rock particles into your car's grate and underside. Bad roads wear out tires and cars, they create dings in the paint, dents in the body, scratches on the glass and they can even throw off the car's whole alignment. Avoid bad roads if you can–it will save a lot of wear and tear on your car.
2. Downshift when you need to. Some people spend their whole driving lives without ever using their lower driving gear. If your car seems to be struggling to go up a hill, help it along by downshifting. It doesn't take any time or effort and it really helps reduce the load on your engine. Accelerating when the car is hesitating puts a great deal of stress on the motor, It causes rapid wear and it also reduces the flow of oil, which makes your car work a whole lot harder than it needs to. Overburdening the engine will wear your car out faster than you realize. If you drive on very hilly or mountainous roads, downshift before the car starts to strain and you may add years to the life of your engine.
3. Organize your errands and comings and goings. The car experiences the most wear and tear during the first 10 seconds when you start it up cold. This is because the oil in the motor isn't flowing yet and it is running dry for a few seconds, which leaves its various parts unprotected by that oil. When you start your car, get it moving as fast as possible. That doesn't mean spin out but start the car rolling quickly and don't sit and let it idle for long as this means the car runs that much longer with very little oil flow. Park on hills with the car nose facing downward. This will help the engine's oil not to settle as far down in the engine so it has more lubrication when you start it up. Also the flow of gravity will enhance the movement of the oil through the engine. Avoid parking facing uphill if you can as this has the exact opposite effect.
4. Keep your engine warm in the bitter cold. If you live where it gets really cold, think about putting a warm blanket over the engine and shutting the hood on it when the car will be sitting overnight or for a long time. You can buy a rather inexpensive engine block heater that will make it much, much easier to start in the morning as well as reducing the wear and tear on your engine by leaps and bounds. It's well worth the few seconds and the small outlay of cash it takes to use this.
5. Change the oil. This is the first thing you should be vigilant about if you own a car. An engine runs badly on dirty oil. A badly running engine will break down much more quickly. You can change the oil yourself or go to a generic department store where it's really cheap, but don't scrimp on this. It will destroy your car quickly to run on gunk instead of oil. Change it every 3,000 miles instead of 5,000 and you'll see a great payoff later on. Be sure to get all the regular maintenance that your car's owner's manual recommends. Slacking on this will cost you more in the long run. With a little tender loving care, your car will care for you for years to come.