Beginning of Essay
1.If your car needs a tuneup or is due for its regular service, get it done now. Bad hoses, belts, water pump, spark plug wires, distributor cap, etc. can leave you stranded in the winter. Better to fix them at your convenience than after yo ....

Middle of Essay
.... car in winter, you also get LESS power from the same battery. Batteries are rated by a measure called "cold cranking amps" (CCA), the maximum number of amps that the battery can deliver at zero degrees (F) for 30 seconds. Good, powerful batteries are rated at or above 600 CCA. We've never really liked this CCA thing because some batteries rated at 600 CCA can just barely make the 30-second criterion, and some can pump it out much longer--clearly better batteries. Along come our pals at Consumer Reports. When they rate batteries, they do the CCA test *and* report how long the battery puts out the 600 amps. So, take a look at the October 1997 issue of C ....