It's getting more and more expensive every day to operate a vehicle. One of the major expenses is fuel. No one wants to pay more for gas than needed, so MINI of Portland wants you to know a few tips to get better gas mileage in your vehicle.

Driving in an efficient manner is one of the best ways to improve overall fuel economy. One way to drive more efficiently and save gas is to always drive at or below the speed limit. Driving at a slower speed saves gas and keeps you safer. Cutting down on idling time…

Suppose you were to drive upon any situation where public servants or an automobile were in the breakdown lane. Would you know what American laws expect you to do? At MINI of Portland, we want to help you be an informed, safe driver, and we can answer that question.

Every state in our nation has a Move Over Law. These laws heighten safety for police officers, emergency workers and motorists in breakdown lanes. Of course, each state's law contains unique wording, but all Move Over Laws expect you to give people and autos in breakdown lanes a cushion.  

There is a lot of work that goes into applying touch-up paint. While you may think it’s simple to cover up a paint chip or scratch with a touch-up kit, there are actually a few things that you have to do to pre-treat a spot on your vehicle so that it blends in all the way. The best way to use it for areas that are small, and when you have larger issues, such as a key scratch, you should buff and prime the spot first.

Most automotive touch-up paint doesn’t blend well. This is because it isn…

The expense and inconvenience of having to switch summer tires for winter and back again once the season is over makes the option of simply driving on them year-round very tempting. Winter tires are constructed differently, however, and driving on them throughout the year can be more expensive than the cost of replacing them with summer tires.

Winter tires can be studded or unstudded, but both varieties have deeper tread patterns and rubber that remains soft in cold temperatures. When temperatures rise, this rubber blend can become a liability, wearing out quickly on hot roads. 

When you're driving at night, you'll want every advantage to help keep you safe. Thanks to incredibly advanced technology, more such safety equipment is becoming standard on today's new vehicles. One of these technologies is the electrochromic rearview mirror.

These mirrors automatically dim when they detect light from headlights of the car behind you. Two sensors, which are either small cameras or photodetectors, sense the glare and sends a charge through an electrochromic gel.  

We love the snow! While winter can be exciting and fun, we want to make sure that our community prepares well for winter driving. An emergency kit is a wonderful way to feel like you can handle the situation if something happens while you are in the car.

When you make your kit, think of the things you need and then add a few things you'd want if you had to wait for help. A few necessities may be water, food, blankets, and boots. You may also want a cell phone charger, some extra clothing, and a book if…

With the availability of winter tires and the weather, you are going to need to know the type of winter tires you are going to be looking at. There are three different types of winter tires. They are studded winter tires, studless winter tires and performance winter tires. They each give you benefits.

With the studded winter tires, you are going to have metal studs that dig into ice, but may damage the road. The studless is a nicer alternative for the road. It takes care of the snow and maintains traction without the snow. 

Nowadays, car thieves only need a Wi-Fi connection and a few hacking steps they've learned from the Internet to steal your car. In order to prevent your car from being stolen through the use of technological advancements, you should take precautionary measures.

For starters, place your vehicle key fob in a metal container while at home to prevent hackers from accessing the code using an Electronic Signal Amplifier. You also should never leave the key fob on the table while dining at a restaurant or other public eatery places.  

If your car doesn't turn exactly in the direction that you want it to, you could either be experiencing an oversteer or an understeer. Both of these situations can be dangerous if there other vehicles, pedestrians, or obstacles nearby. There are many stability features built into some of the models that we have at MINI of Portland to account for steering issues.

During an oversteer, your car will be turning more sharply than expected. This is more likely to happen in a rear-wheel-drive vehicle, since the back wheels are where all the power is being delivered. 

There are a lot of myths surrounding motor oil. Some of them used to be true, but others never were. If you're under false impressions, that might impact how you have your oil changed. Here are a couple of myths that you can be sure have been debunked.

Some people believe that if you use synthetic oil that you can never go back to conventional oil. This is simply not true. It is, however, true that high-mileage vehicles can benefit from high-mileage oil, which is often synthetic. Talk to your mechanic about the right oil for your vehicle.