It's Always Greener on the Hybrid side of Toyota!

A hybrid vehicle is one that combines a petrol engine with an electric motor for optimum efficiency. By combining the engine with an electric motor, the vehicle has the ability to have more powerful acceleration, significantly reduced CO2 emissions, the ability for self recovery of the battery, and to be more energy efficient.

With a hybrid vehicle, you can drive up to two times as far on a tank of gas and release up to two tons less CO2 emissions, making your drive more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

CO2 emissions are reduced by the electric motor taking charge when accelerating from a standstill or stopped position and also when the car is at rest. When the hybrid vehicle is idling, no fuel is used; therefore no exhaust is emitted from the vehicle.

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In 1997, Toyota launched the first mass produced complete hybrid system in Japan. That first year alone, Toyota sold 18,000 vehicles.

Three years later in 2000, the Toyota Prius was introduced to the United States. To meet the high demand of the new introduction of the Hybrid, Toyota produced 47,000 units for the American market.

Since then, Toyota has released the Highlander Hybrid and the Camry Hybrid, while working on a Hybrid model for the RAV4 (estimated release date to be 2013).

The Prius is now in its third generation and is available in four model levels: Prius II, Prius III, Prius IV, and Prius V. Each model has an outstanding estimated 50 miles per gallon rating.

The Highlander Hybrid is available in the base hybrid model and also in the Limited model. The Highlander Hybrids each have a 27 mpg estimate for city driving and a 25 mpg estimate for highway driving.

The Camry Hybrid model emits up to 70% fewer smog-forming emissions. This hybrid model can get an estimated 34 mpg on the highway.

Interested in learning more? Please visit our website, or stop into Basil Toyota in Lockport today to test drive a 2010 Hybrid!

Some 411 on Engines 4 Life

For many car owners, it is important to know the ins and outs of their vehicle. The most complex and most difficult piece of any car to understand is the engine: the heart and brain of your car; the single part, consisting of several smaller parts and pieces, which make your car run and work properly.

Unless you are a mechanic or an automotive genius, it is nearly impossible to completely know and understand every single functioning part of your engine, making it even more difficult to understand, if something stops functioning, what occurred or why it occurred to affect your car in the way that it did.

When purchasing a vehicle, one of the very first things mentioned about the engine is how many cylinders it has. The cylinders are the central working part of the engine. The more cylinders a vehicle has, the better it will perform overall.

↑ Cylinders = ↑ Horsepower

In some instances, it may even give your vehicle better gas mileage because the engine isn’t working as hard to function, therefore burning less fuel.

All cars have multi-cylinder engines, consisting of four, six, or eight cylinders. Below is a table showing Toyota vehicles and how many cylinders each model offers.

Vehicle	4 cylinder	6 cylinder	8 cylinder
Corolla	X
Camry	X	X
Matrix	X
Rav4	X	X
Tacoma	X
Tundra			X
Sienna		X
Venza	X	X
4Runner			X
Highlander		X
Avalon		X
Sequoia			X
Land Cruiser			X

Choosing a car with a higher-cylinder engine is not the only way to increase the power and efficiency of your engine, though. There are several little tricks of the trade that can help you help your vehicle.

1. Increase displacement. This can be done by either adding more cylinders (as discussed above) or increasing the size of the cylinders.

2. Increase air volume in the cylinders. By ensuring that your vehicle has highly efficient turbochargers and superchargers that pressurize the incoming air to your engine, you are also ensuring that more air can be stuffed into each cylinder, making room for more fuel to pass through.

3. Cool incoming air. As the air comes in through the turbochargers and superchargers, it becomes pressurized and, as basic chemistry teaches us, heats up. To cool the air, some cars have an intercooler to cool down the pressurized air for higher efficiency. Cooler air expands more easily than warm or hot air, also increasing the air volume in the cylinder.

4. Let air come in more easily and let exhaust exit more easily. This can be done by having a polished intake manifold and also by adding an extra exhaust pipe to your vehicle.

5. Make everything lighter. This is exactly what it says. Use lighter parts for your engine. The lighter everything is, the less energy it takes to use.

By educating yourself on the functionality and efficiency of your engine and its basic parts, it may become easier to detect a problem. The most common problem we see come across our service departmenthere at Basil Toyota regarding engines, is a water pump leak.

If you don’t know how to treat your engine and your water pump leaks, your engine could overheat, leaving you on the side of the road with a smoking, potentially destroyed engine.

Other problems that could ensue are lack of compression, lack of spark, a dead battery, out of oil, and defective valves.

With all of these problems that could potentially cost you thousands of dollars if your engine does not receive the proper maintenance, how are you supposed to guarantee the life of your engine?

Basil Toyota has the answer.

The Engine 4 Life Warrantee Program is now being offered here at Basil Toyota. With the purchase of one of our select used vehicles, maintenance of your engine will be covered through the Engine 4 Life Warrantee Program for as long as your own that vehicle.

Engine 4 Life covers the following components for the life of your engine:

1. Cylinder block and head, and all internal parts – complete engine and motor
2. Intake manifold – regulates airflow into the engine
3. Timing gears and gaskets – adjusts component timing for optimal performance
4. Timing chain/belt and cover – works with the timing gears and gaskets
5. Flywheel – starter engages this to crank the engine
6. Valve covers – cover for intake and exhaust valves
7. Oil pan – houses engine oil
8. Oil pump – pumps oil through the block and head(s)
9. Engine mounts – rubber insulators to prevent vibrations from engine felt in your vehicle
10. Turbo charger housing and all internal parts – increases air flow into the engine to increase performance, torque, and power
11. Super charger housing and all internal parts – similar to the turbo charger; pushes air into the engine
12. Engine control computer – the brain of the vehicle, controls all electronic functions of your vehicle (clock, windows, locks, turning signals, etc.)
13. Water pump – coolant pump, pumps coolant through the engine components and maintains the engine temperature **note that this is the most frequent problem we see here at our Basil Toyota Service Department**
14. Fuel pump – pumps fuel out of the tank to the fuel rail and injectors
15. Seals and gaskets – bonds the engine components together to prevent fluid leaks

This warrantee program is non-transferable between owners or vehicles. Stop into our dealership today and ask one of our product specialists for more details about the Engine 4 Life Warranty Program to protect the life of your engine.

And if you are experiencing engine problems, stop by our service department for a maintenance checkup. No appointment necessary, but if you prefer one, you can contact us at (716) 625-8444, or make an appointment online.

A Brief History

For fifty-seven years, the Basil family has made the car business a family affair, constructing dealerships all over Western New York from the ground up. Joseph Basil started it all when he bought his own dealership in 1965.

After working his way from a salesman at Cottrel Ford and D&E Lincoln/Mercury to a Manager at Dietrich Oldsmobile, Joe Basil Sr. bought his first dealership. The dealership was Holiday Oldsmobile in Depew, not yet labeled with the now well-known Basil name.

In 1974, Joe Basil Sr. bought out Paul Wilson Chevrolet in North Tonawanda and re-named it Joe Basil Chevrolet, the first Basil Dealership to appear in the Western New York region. Basil Chevrolet remained in North Tonawanda for eight years until Joe purchased Bob Bain Chevrolet in 1982 and relocated his dealership.

Joe Basil Sr., still actively involved in the Basil auto group, has seven children (6 sons and 1 daughter), all in the automotive business, representing the family name. Of the seven children is our very own Mike Basil, the third oldest and the owner of Basil Toyota on South Transit Road in Lockport, NY.

In 1989, Mike bought his oldest brother’s, Joe Basil Jr., Oldsmobile dealership in Tonawanda. Mike later sold this property to Chuck, the second oldest Basil brother to buy Jack Adkins in Hamburg. In the year 2000, General Motors reorganized and bought the dealership out, leading Mike to purchase what is now Basil Toyota in late 2001.

On October 19, 2001, Mike Basil began his dealership, Mike Basil Toyota, with a mere nine employees and fifteen cars in his inventory. With hard work and dedication to his work and his customers, Mike has built Basil Toyota into a hugely successful Toyota and used car dealership. Basil Toyota now employs approximately 60 people and has 600 cars in inventory, with an average of 200 vehicles sold monthly.

Because of Mike Basil’s personal philosophy that the dealer needs to be available, open, and honest to the customers and Basil Toyota’s philosophy of being the easiest place to buy or lease a car without hassles and having warm, friendly, and honest relations with our customers, we have the highest customer satisfaction service department in Western New York. Basil Toyota also boasts consistent Sales and Service Excellence Awards among other prestigious awards.

Each year, Toyota Motor Sales recognizes its stellar dealerships with the prestigious President's Award. It's a very high honor a dealership can receive from Toyota, and is only awarded to those dealerships who have demonstrated a commitment to maintaining Toyota's high standards for customer satisfaction.

In order to qualify as a President's Award winner, dealerships must excel in each of a series of categories, including Customer Sales Satisfaction and Customer Service Satisfaction. Dealerships which meet the requirements in all categories receive name badge recognition at all dealer events, national recognition in an Automotive News advertisement and, of course, the beautiful President's Award Tiffany crystal trophy.

Basil Toyota is the only multiple President’s Award Winner in Buffalo, NY.

Looking toward the future that is already underway, Basil Toyota is moving into a 27 acre, 37k square foot state of the art facility from our current 3.3 acre, 16k square foot facility. The new dealership will be located next door to the current one (previously Gambino Ford) and is scheduled to be complete in summer 2011.