Time for a Change?

Q: The manual for my 2007 Honda Accord practically ignores the issue of how many miles or months to go between oil changes. It suggests following the “symbols” that appear on the odometer that inform what maintenance is needed. When I called the dealer to ask whether my 7-month-old Accord with 2,900 miles is overdue for a change, he said my odometer shows 50 percent and I can wait until it shows 15 percent or lower. Any comment on this?

A: If your recent driving is any indication, you’re a low-mileage driver, clocking only about 100 miles a week or less (and when you’re ready to sell that vehicle, you should definitely get a top-dollar reward).

Listen to your dealership – and the information your car is giving you. Your vehicle is, through the miracle of technology, doing an accurate reading of the quality of your oil. While you may have abided by a set schedule in the past, that applies to the majority of the driving public. However, even though oil degrades over time even in the absence of high mileage on the odometer, you’re clearly not doing any of the things that age oil more quickly, like jack-rabbit driving or hard driving during hideously hot days, for example.

Worry not. Just be prompt when the car says, “change my oil.”

Q: I see references to “moonroofs” and “sunroofs” and I guess I really don’t know what is the difference. Can you help?

A: The distinction was clearer years ago. Generally speaking, a sunroof was removable or retractable so light and wind could enter. And a moonroof was a see-through inset on the top of the car that didn’t move and was often tinted so the sun didn’t blaze in but was instead diffused or muted.

That said, these definitions were not regulated or overseen by anyone, they were merely general rules of thumb that might or might not be followed. Automakers got to call the window on the top whatever they wished, and gave it as much or as little function they wanted.

And these days, there’s just no telling what you might get when a moonroof or sunroof is advertised as part of the equipment on a vehicle. Some don’t open all the way, they just tilt; some are called one or the other based on the level of the tinting or whether the opening is in the front or the back, and allows just a little or a lot of air in.

In virtually all cases, there is a sliding shade that you can open or close to let the light in or not.

If you have a preference for a specific level of tinting or a specific degree of open-and-close functionality, you should dig deep into published information when you begin your research for purchasing a new car to establish exactly the specifics on a given model’s sunroof or moonroof.

Reader feedback.

A reader recently asked what the “ute” that she keeps seeing in stories and headlines stands for. I told her it means sport utility vehicle, “ute” being used (for reasons unclear) as an abbreviation to “utility.”

A nice reader from California, who offered that she always learns “something useful” from my columns, declared that this time, however, I was wrong.

Ute, she said, is “the term used in Australia to describe what in the United States is known as a pickup truck.” Such a truck is “known in Australia as a utility truck, hence the abbreviation ‘ute’,” she explained.

“This has been the case since utility trucks have been in use. The word is also used in New Zealand. I first learned the term in the 1950s when I went to live in Australia, so the word has been around for a very long time.”

I sincerely appreciate that new knowledge. That said, when the term is used over here, it means sport utility vehicle. This is yet another example of how a word by any other name may be ... well, something else.