I’ve always had the tires on my Toyota Hybrid rotated, but it wasn’t until recently that I decided to do a little research. After all, just because I’d always done it doesn’t mean I should keep doing it. Here’s what I discovered:

Rotating your tires is an important part of vehicle maintenance. Rotating your tires helps your tires to wear in a more even fashion, thereby increasing your tires’ lives and increasing the number of miles that you get from a set of tires.

Whether or not you can rotate your own tires depends a lot on your comfort and ability to work on a car. Generally speaking, if you’re able to change your own oil on a car, you can rotate your tires. You will need a floor jack and jack stands to do this, however.

If your mechanic charges more than $20 to rotate your tires, it probably isn’t worth it. The extra miles you get from your tires aren’t worth the large expense of regular rotations at that high price.

Many people choose not to have their tires rotated on a regular basis. If your tires have to be off already for another service, such as fixing your breaks, you can usually get your mechanic to rotate your tires for no additional charge.

I don’t know if you missed it or not, but Toyota Motor Corporation announced back in January that it will be building a plug-in hybrid car beginning in 2010. This is a bold step, and at least a little bit of a gamble for Toyota.

A plug-in hybrid is useful because it can run on lithium-ion batteries. These batteries can be charged from an external source, rather than from power generated by the wheels as is the case with a traditional hybrid.

There is some contention as to whether a plug-in hybrid cuts on pollution, however. The argument made by environmentalists is that, if the electricity that charges the vehicle comes from a coal-fired power plant, there really isn’t an environmental savings.

Of course, the fact that the plug-in hybrid is still a hybrid and will save greatly on emissions and increase fuel economy is still an important factor.

At any rate, whether or not people will be willing to plug in their Toyota Hybrid remains to be seen. If they do, however, Toyota is likely to see great success with this vehicle.

When it comes to economy cars, you very rarely think about speed. The Toyota Corolla XRS, however, breaks this stereotype. New for 2009, this is the sportiest of any Corolla ever built. In fact, after 10 generations of Corolla, this one finally hits the sporty image it ought to have.

The 2009 Corolla XRS features 17-inch wheels, a sport tuned suspension, a 2.4 liter four cylinder engine, a five speed automatic transmission, and a very aggressive body design. This car is gutsy.

Still, if you’re looking for fuel economy from Toyota, the Corolla isn’t the car you want. Sure, it gets great mileage compared to bigger cars. It even gets good mileage compared to other small cars in its segment. But if you really want to save on gas, you want a Toyota hybrid like the Camry or the Prius.

When I bought my 2007 Toyota Highlander 4×4, I was skeptical about such a large hybrid. On the upside of things, I knew that most of my travel was highway travel, so I was bound to get excellent mileage.

I wasn’t disappointed.

I could throw numbers at you, about how good my mileage is, or about how much I think I’ve saved on gas with my Toyota Hybrid. Those things might impress you, they might not.

The best thing, though, I can do is to tell you a story. Last fall, we drove 626 miles to my in-law’s house to spend the weekend. The trip is almost entirely highway, and it was cool and dry for the entire trip. On that trip, I got 33 miles to the gallon. That was amazing, considering that I was transporting four of us plus our luggage. Now, I don’t get that kind of mileage driving through town, obviously. But I know that I spent half the amount on gas as I usually do for that particular trip.

To me, that says it all.

On top of all that, though, I like the feel of the Highlander. It handles well. It doesn’t have the kind of zip that my old Honda Prelude had when I was single, but it’s not meant to either. I’d much rather save those big bucks at the pump (and have room for my family).

I was tickled to find out that the 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid has added some new features. While I’m happy with my Toyota hybrid, these new features have me excited already about what is still to come for my favorite vehicle.

One of the neatest things about the 2008 Highlander Hybrid is the EV Mode. This allows the driver to operate the vehicle on only electric power when they’re in the city, or at low speeds. That’s an awesome way to save fuel. There’s also an ECON Mode that will help to steady acceleration and control the throttle. Finally, they added a system indicator that actually helps the driver to know when the hybrid system is being used, and adjust driving habits accordingly.

Added to the fuel economy is a bigger size, too. The new Highlander is 4 inches longer than the old one, and 3 inches wider. It includes Toyota’s STAR safety system, too. It even offers backup cameras, the Smart Key System and Push Button Start.

These improvements tell me that I’ve hitched my wagon to the right star with the Toyota Highlander.

Apparently, some folks are having problems with their Prius stalling.

Some owners of the Toyota hybrid are apparently falling victim to a software glitch. When the gas engine stalls, the electric motor is supposed to have enough power to let the driver pull over. There is some speculation that this may not be happening correctly, because of a software glitch.

Now, I haven’t had this happen at all on my Prius. From the stories I’m reading, not all Prius cars are affected. In fact, it’s not even clear yet whether the stalling problem is driver error or some other problem.

To this point, there have been no reports of death, injury, damage, or accidents. Suposedly, this stalling will happen at high speeds on the highway. There were only 33 reports nationwide of this stalling problem.

Toyota has identified a programming error that can be fixed at the dealership for free that could be related. it is nto expected that there will be a recall on the prius, or that the problem is widespread.

Driving a Prius says something about you. It says that you’re concerned about the environment, or at least about the high price of gas. The better your Toyota Hybrid looks, though, the more credibility you add to your environmental arguments.

I told you the other day about why I’ve started waxing my Prius. Today, I want to tell you how you can wax yours, step-by-step. Here’s what you need to do:

• First, you need to wash your car well and be certain it’s completely dry before you start to wax it.
• When picking a car wax, pick one that’s nonabrasive. An abrasive car wax will damage your car’s finish and paint job.
• If possible, wax your car in the shade, if possible. This keeps the wax from baking onto the car while you’re waxing it.
• Apply the wax to the car using small circular motions. If wax gets into the seams use an old toothbrush to get it out.
• Wax the car one section at a time.
• As you wipe off the wax, shake out the cloth to avoid streaking or buildup.
• Inspect the surface of the car closely when you’re done. Look for residual wax that should be wiped up.
• Finally, use a cheesecloth to polish the surface of the car.

Your car’s paint job fades over time. There’s no way around it. On top of that, your car’s body is going to be vulnerable to the elements. If you live in a Northern climate like I do, you’ve got to contend with the effects of snow, rain, ice and everything else. One of the best things you can do for your Toyota car is to keep it waxed.

I was skeptical about the benefits of waxing until a few years ago. A cousin and I both bought the same Toyota cars. After about six years, my paint job had faded quite a bit, and I was starting to see signs of rust. His car looked like it was almost new. Based on the body alone, his car seemed to be in much better shape than mine all around.

So, I’ve started waxing my cars now. Since I bought my new Toyota Hybrid, I’ve been waxing it twice a month. I really think it’s going to make a difference. Even if it didn’t help my car’s body in the long-term, I know that it always looks good right after a wax. On that basis alone, I think it’s worth waxing.

So, I was having a discussion with an engineer friend the other day, and we were talking about gas mileage. He pointed out something to me I really hadn’t thought about before.

See, just because you’re driving a Prius doesn’t mean you’re getting the best possible gas mileage. The fact of the matter is that there are things, on top of your car’s engineering, that can impact exactly how much mileage you get. Here are some things you can do in order to increase your gas mileage and get the most from your Toyota Hybrid:

Stop more slowly. When you’re stopping your Prius, its electric motor works as a generator, using energy while it’s slowing down and helping the brakes to do their job all at the same time. If you slow down too fast, you make the brakes do all the work and you waste that extra power.

Don’t drive too fast. The faster you drive, the more drag you create for the car. This means your engine has to work that much harder. I didn’t really give this idea much creedence until I read this little tidbit: at 70 miles per hour, you create twice as much drag as at 50 miles an hour.

Try to drive at a consistent speed. Most of the energy your engine uses it uses to adjust your speed. By going at a constant speed, you use less horsepower, less energy and less fuel.

You’ve already taken a great step towards reducing your carbon footprint by buying a hybrid Toyota vehicle. That’s a great start, but you can’t buy one every day. What about the little things that make a difference too? Here are some little tips for things you can start doing right now to make changes one baby step at a time.

When you go through a lot of dishes, it’s hard to give up the dishwasher entirely, and many eco friendly dishwashers use less water than hand washing. But for the really tough dirt, it’s normal to want to rinse your dishes before loading up. Just by scraping them off instead of rinsing them, you can save a whole lot of water right away. And make sure you only wash full loads!

Since you’re not going to be eating lots of hot meals in the summer anyway, try microwaving your smaller dishes instead of heating them in the oven. A few minutes in the microwave uses a lot less power than a comparable amount of heating in the oven.

While a lot of people are trying to reduce the amount of time spent watering their lawns and gardens, sometimes it has to be done. When you do have to water your lawn, make sure you’re actually watering your lawn, and not the street, the sidewalk and half of your house. Make sure the water you use is actually going to good use.

Did you know a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water a day? That’s 73,000 gallons of water every single year. A quick call to your plumber can keep a river full of water where it belongs.

Pay attention to your packaging. Obviously, if you have hybrid Toyota vehicle, you’re not out buying a bunch of useless stuff that will only end up in a landfill. But many people don’t pay attention to the packaging their environmentally friendly purchases come in. A little bit of focus on packaging can make a big difference to the environment.

If you don’t have a Toyota hybrid yet, stop by our Devon area Toyota dealer today.