Experts: $4 a gallon gas coming soon
- Thread starter Bob Hubbard
- Start date
OP
OP
From what I hear. I'm still waiting on the huge cash payoff for running MT to get one.
Hmm...the MT H3!
Hmm...the MT H3!
hardheadjarhead said:
Steve,
CR aka Consumer Reports does a pretty good job. There is no standard test for them to run. They drive the car to work and to the grocery store and on a trip. They ahve hte windows down and radio on and or the AC on and the windows up, depending . . . , . They try to use it like they own it, and they see who close it is. I have not read the latest CR, I will browse it and give you my opinion of their numbers.
** Warning ** Warning ** Disclaimer **
I am not a public representative for a company and cannot answer officially anything. I will present to you my best ideas on this subject though.
What I have heard and not confirmed:
Electric vehicles in California was cancelled by the Power companies when they presented the bill for the infrastructure changes. Everyone would have to pay for the changes, even if you did not buy an electric car. This would spread the cost around, yet is very poor politics. No one wants to sign up for that.
Compressed Natural Gas has an issue with range, and to make sure that it is available to avoid people being stranded is an issue. In larger cities for taxi's and buses this is great.
Ethanol is ok and most vehicles today run on E85 which is 15% Ethanol. Yes this is backwards, just thank the government for Ethanol plus 85%Gas was their intention. Yet the fuel economy using this fuel is less than the fuel that does not have the Ethanol. Now Ethanol is good politics for farmers, but poor politics for fuel economy.
Now if you look at E15, yes Ethanol and 85% GASOLINE, gets very poor fuel economy. From full size pick-up trucks and suburans I have seen tested, the fuel economy goes from 17 MPG to 10 MPG if you are lucky. This is a very bad marketing hit, but like I said, Ethanol is renewable.
Also these technologies have been proven, just not cost feasible in the given climate for the public demands.
Fuel Cells maybe sooner than 30 years, but that is just a guesitmate.
With Nafta all the jobs went south to Mexico, where they were paying $0.75 an hour many years ago. Well the quality places pay about $10 an hour with benefits.
In China they pay $10 or less a day for their labor. Also they have lots of people getting very poor wages, workign on the vehicle. The specifications for the Mini-Van are small per USA standards, and has no engine power, and would get run over. The 3 cyclinder Spectrum has more acceleration. Or at least once again this is what I have heard.
The Hummer, the HEMI, and any other Truck you buy for Commerical use. Yes for business/Commercial Use. Now the Use is greater than 50%, so yes you can use it to go grocery shopping and maybe a trip up north, but this works with all trucks. The issues is that the HUMMER is flag ship of the SUV's and gets all the press for this.
I thought you did get a Tax Break on Hybrids through the end of this year. I think the current budget they are working on now would determine if they extend it out for future years of now.
Smaller cars and Diesel. The penetraion of Diesel's is about 85% or greater in Europe. They have no problems living with the carbon exhaust. They now do require particulate filters on the exhaust which is more money into the vehicle.
Also that penetration of Manuals in Europe is about 85% with the automatic growing slowly.
Riddle me this. I have a 2000 Convertible Firebird with a 3800 V6 engine and a 5 speed transmission. When I race the car from stop light to stop light I get 23 to 25 MPG. When I drive normally and keep it under 75 MPH on the express with equal or more city driving I get about 27+ MPG. When I drive highway and keep it under 75 MPH I get 30 or 31 MPH. This is with a sports car. Now, some of this is becuase the manual can be shifted to optimize the fuel economy. So one might ask why not do this for our Automatics. When we do, everyone complains in JDP and at the dealership that the car has no power and the car drives like crap and the engine seems to be lugging sometimes.
So, if you want to get better fuel economy, buy a manual and drive it so you never go over 2000 RPM.
This one I have no idea for.
As to the OIL though, in the old days Oil was just that and the quality was questionable and not repeatable. The engines ran hotter and dirtier. So changing the OIL every 3000 miles was ok. Now read your car manual or check the percent oil life remaining. The Car companies program in a safety margin, so if they can survive a 100,000 mile durabilty test with oil changes at 7500 miles or even 12000+ miles for some, and others that could go longer is the vehicle is driven in a manner to not heat the engine fast and or abuse the OIL.
So to save money and OIL. Check your Manuals and followed the proscribed oil change in there. Now this does not mean if you check it and you smell it to be burnt, or it is gritty, that it should not be changed. So, check your oil from time to time and go in when the light goes off, or when your percentage is low like 5% of less. You can go to 0% and still drive the vehicle, just if you are towing or loading the vehicle, this could be a long term issue.
I am not a public representative for a company and cannot answer officially anything. I will present to you my best ideas on this subject though.
Bob Hubbard said:
What I have heard and not confirmed:
Electric vehicles in California was cancelled by the Power companies when they presented the bill for the infrastructure changes. Everyone would have to pay for the changes, even if you did not buy an electric car. This would spread the cost around, yet is very poor politics. No one wants to sign up for that.
Compressed Natural Gas has an issue with range, and to make sure that it is available to avoid people being stranded is an issue. In larger cities for taxi's and buses this is great.
Ethanol is ok and most vehicles today run on E85 which is 15% Ethanol. Yes this is backwards, just thank the government for Ethanol plus 85%Gas was their intention. Yet the fuel economy using this fuel is less than the fuel that does not have the Ethanol. Now Ethanol is good politics for farmers, but poor politics for fuel economy.
Now if you look at E15, yes Ethanol and 85% GASOLINE, gets very poor fuel economy. From full size pick-up trucks and suburans I have seen tested, the fuel economy goes from 17 MPG to 10 MPG if you are lucky. This is a very bad marketing hit, but like I said, Ethanol is renewable.
Also these technologies have been proven, just not cost feasible in the given climate for the public demands.
Fuel Cells maybe sooner than 30 years, but that is just a guesitmate.
Bob Hubbard said:
With Nafta all the jobs went south to Mexico, where they were paying $0.75 an hour many years ago. Well the quality places pay about $10 an hour with benefits.
In China they pay $10 or less a day for their labor. Also they have lots of people getting very poor wages, workign on the vehicle. The specifications for the Mini-Van are small per USA standards, and has no engine power, and would get run over. The 3 cyclinder Spectrum has more acceleration. Or at least once again this is what I have heard.
Bob Hubbard said:
The Hummer, the HEMI, and any other Truck you buy for Commerical use. Yes for business/Commercial Use. Now the Use is greater than 50%, so yes you can use it to go grocery shopping and maybe a trip up north, but this works with all trucks. The issues is that the HUMMER is flag ship of the SUV's and gets all the press for this.
I thought you did get a Tax Break on Hybrids through the end of this year. I think the current budget they are working on now would determine if they extend it out for future years of now.
Bob Hubbard said:
Smaller cars and Diesel. The penetraion of Diesel's is about 85% or greater in Europe. They have no problems living with the carbon exhaust. They now do require particulate filters on the exhaust which is more money into the vehicle.
Also that penetration of Manuals in Europe is about 85% with the automatic growing slowly.
Riddle me this. I have a 2000 Convertible Firebird with a 3800 V6 engine and a 5 speed transmission. When I race the car from stop light to stop light I get 23 to 25 MPG. When I drive normally and keep it under 75 MPH on the express with equal or more city driving I get about 27+ MPG. When I drive highway and keep it under 75 MPH I get 30 or 31 MPH. This is with a sports car. Now, some of this is becuase the manual can be shifted to optimize the fuel economy. So one might ask why not do this for our Automatics. When we do, everyone complains in JDP and at the dealership that the car has no power and the car drives like crap and the engine seems to be lugging sometimes.
So, if you want to get better fuel economy, buy a manual and drive it so you never go over 2000 RPM.
Bob Hubbard said:
This one I have no idea for.
As to the OIL though, in the old days Oil was just that and the quality was questionable and not repeatable. The engines ran hotter and dirtier. So changing the OIL every 3000 miles was ok. Now read your car manual or check the percent oil life remaining. The Car companies program in a safety margin, so if they can survive a 100,000 mile durabilty test with oil changes at 7500 miles or even 12000+ miles for some, and others that could go longer is the vehicle is driven in a manner to not heat the engine fast and or abuse the OIL.
So to save money and OIL. Check your Manuals and followed the proscribed oil change in there. Now this does not mean if you check it and you smell it to be burnt, or it is gritty, that it should not be changed. So, check your oil from time to time and go in when the light goes off, or when your percentage is low like 5% of less. You can go to 0% and still drive the vehicle, just if you are towing or loading the vehicle, this could be a long term issue.
Good questions...Bob Hubbard said:
I think that the current power structure (both economic AND political) in the U.S. prevents serious work on alternative or more efficient vehicles. That's unfortunate as the supply of oil is not infinite. One possible good effect of high gas prices is, however, that consumers may DEMAND more fuel efficient vehicles.
heretic888
Senior Master
Rob Broad said:
Technically, you're talking about two different men there.
One has the IQ and speaking ability of a middle-schooler --- and the other one's first name rhymes with 'prick'.
Care to take a gander??
hardheadjarhead said:
Steve,
My apologies I was confused becuase you said latest, and the November issue had just arrived the other day.
In The October Issue it talks about how bad most cars are for the City EPA and then they tell you to look at the best and the worst in each class, the numbers presented in the Highlighted article with Best and Worst, are taking the Highway for the best and the City for the worst with Trucks being 4x4 etc, of the published data.
So I would have to say no these numbers are not indicative what you will get.
I also would have to say that if you are not getting what you think for MPH, try change gas stations to one that does not have ethanol in it. Yes it may cost you a couple of cents per gallon but you might see upwards of 1 to 2 MPG improvement.
We finally made it down to $2.19 here.
I did not have time last night, but it was $2.27 last night by me.
It just got down to $2.03 today.
Although Diesel is still a lot higher, which gets passed onto the cost of parts and supplies shipped.
Although Diesel is still a lot higher, which gets passed onto the cost of parts and supplies shipped.
