Kind of a car newbie, looking for a good starting point.

To be perfectly frank, I know very, very little about cars, especially under the hood. Seeing as how I'm going to be getting my own car soon, I'd like to know at least the basics, and was wondering if someone could point me in the direction of a site or something that could help me get started.

Should've taken mechanics in school, but it's too late now seeing how i have one semester left...

howstuffworks.com

howstuffworks.com isn't a bad site to check out like MagicRat said. I would go pick up Auto Repair for Dummies also, it is only like $20 and it explains things in pretty nice detail. I bought it about a month ago and i really like it. Before I couldn't tell you the difference between an intake valve and a air filter but now i can (Car humor :) ). Whatever you get print it out or whatever and take it out to your car when you get it and pop open the hood and look for what their talking about. The Dummies books and howstuffworks.com has a bunch of pictures so you can see what it looks like and you can find it. Seeing what their talking about when your reading you get a better understanding of how things go together. When you get your car go to your local Autozone or Auto parts store and see if they have a service repair manual for your car. If not they might be able to get order one for you. those books come in real handy when you want to repair something, they tell you where every nut and bolt should go so you don't have extras ones laying around when your done with the repair :).

I wish i took auto repair at school too but i only have like 6 months left at school so, oh well. But alot of people on here will help you out if you get stuck with something.

You may want to grap a Haynes maual for your car. For $15, its about the most comprehensive book that will be of aid. These manuals are usually based on a complete tear down, and rebuild of your car. If you ever come across any problems or just feel like learning about your car, the Haynes manual will aid you greatly in any efforts. Of coarse if you plan on tinkering around on any car, your going to need at least (bare minimum) a set of mechanics tools.

I agree, when I first got Into cars I looked around alot and found www.howstuffworks.com << will teach you alot

Aww guys you make it too easy! Canuck, you should get the book, "Race Car Vehicle Dynamics" and memorize the ENTIRE book! ;) Kidding, the way I learned was getting my hands dirty. Messing around with a little 8 horse briggs motor on my go-kart to see how everything interacted with eachother. Eventually I moved on to the bigger toys (cars). If you know anyone who works on cars, just ask them if you can watch if you truely want to know. Do a lot of research (again, howstuffworks.com) and ask questions! Remember, there are no such thing as stupid questions, just stupid people! ;)