Customer Reviews

Modern Automotive Technology

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is very interesting for anybody interested in learning everything about modern automotive technology. It focuses mainly on the engine, drivetrain, suspension, steering, electrical and computer systems of cars. It does not really focus on the frame, body and interior of auto's. The book is great for the uninitiated and has plenty of examples and color figures. Duffy uses examples from Porsches to Toyota's and does a good job of defining every auto industry term. He explains basic car tools and teaches how to read auto specific repair manuals. If you are looking for information on cutting edge technology like fuel-cell driven cars, hybrid technology or composite body materials you won't find it. Although it is 1088 pages, to become an expert one would still need to read more books specifically geared toward certain categories like suspensions or transmissions. I would recommend this book.

I read this book as part of a college class, I enjoyed the detail and step-by-step education it gave. The ASE Review questions and chapter review helped pin point areas that needed more study. Two negative points I should tell you about there is no answers to the review questions in this book and no NATF Outline for areas you need to know per (ASE) areas of knollege, (A1-A8). For a Basic to Mid Level education in Auto Mechanics this book covered what was needed. In this Day of buying alot of books to get an education. Buying one well rounded book Helped keep the money in my pocket.

Some of the best aspects of this book are: A) Many detailed color pictures that help keep interest and foster understanding B) Much more detailed than most how a car works book C) Set up as a school textbook, with ASE questions and summaries D) The author gets right to the point

The only negatives of this book I can think of are: A) Since it is about all automobiles, it's not car specific. If doing the repairs, I still would suggest a Haynes or Manufacturer manual. The repair sections are somewhat general because this book covers all cars, limiting it's use as a supplement to read before looking at a manual for repairs. B) I would have liked to see more information about hybrid vehicles. There was only about a paragraph

I highly suggest this book if you have some basic knowledge of automobiles but really want to gain an overall knowledge of all the parts of a vehicle and how they work. With some patience it is also a great choice for beginners with little knowledge. Beware though for beginners this is no quick overview and it will take a lot of time and effort. If you want to gain knowledge in a short period of time you could get a how cars work book/general book (such as Recipes for Car Care) and then if your still interested move to this book. To give you an idea this book is over 1,500 pages, with half going to fundamentals and the other half to repairing. However, if you take it one chapter at a time and just read the fundamental chapters it's not so bad (lots of pictures also). This book is designed well, with summaries and well-separated chapters making it easy for you to tackle one area of automobiles at a time. It's also well built, as no pages have fallen apart. Overall, I highly recommend it

This is a pretty good book for either the inexperienced or master mechanic. I would recommend this book to any person who is limited in knowing the inner wotkings of their cars and would like to know what the mechanic is really talking about. The chapters in this book will give you basic information on how the different systems work in your car from engines to brake systems to drivetrain systems. the second part of the chapter will give you tips on how to troubleshoot and repair your car, if you decide to take the task upon yourself. This book provides highly detailed pictures and diagrams and explains everything in easy to understand terminology.

This book is great for the beginner or the semi-experienced. There is a lot of useful information and detail. Some aspects are outdated but overall the book is very accurate. Keep in mind this is a textbook and it reads like one. However, if auto mechanics is your interest then you should have no problem enjoying this book.

If modern automotive technology fascinates you (as it fascinates me), you will absolutely love it. Duffy really drives home the key points about the computer and electrical systems.

From one enthusiast to another - great job Frank.

This is not a review, but a comment on this item (I'm giving an average rating so i'm not skewing the statistics). If you want to buy used version from listed vendors, do make sure you are buying the text instead of the job sheets or workbook. They are both listed under the same title and ISBN number, the latter is considerably cheaper which caused me to purchase it. But it's not useful at all. Amazon really should improve how they are listing books in this kind of scenario.

The book has a great writing style that is clear and to the point. It explains complex modern systems in great detail and in a manner that is clear and engaging. Another thing that is rather unique are the extremely detailed illustrations. They display not just the component, but also how it relates to the rest of the vehicle as part of a system. This gives you a strong visual impression of how the component works, how it interrelates to other components, a good idea of its location within the system, and so on. As they say, a good picture is worth a thousand words! I've found these highly detailed illustrations to be absolutely invaluable.

I am still in the process of reading this huge textbook that I purchased to follow along with my auto repair course. It is an easy to read book with lots of illustrations which makes it much easier to understand and grasp the concepts. Highly recommended even if you want a self-help textbook.

This textbook is great and very informative!!!!!!! I got it for all my ASE certified technicians to go with just to refresh their knowledge.