Fuel Economy

We all have our preferences, but preferences don't change facts. I've built a few concourse 50's hot rods as I've show pictures of and I drive a tuned GM diesel pickup that lights up the tires, but those days are coming to a close for most people. We have to face the fact we will be going the way Europe has with smaller vehicles we can afford to drive. $5.00 every 15 miles has its affect. I do think that right now that American built cars are the best bang for the buck because quality has improved and the weak dollar makes them a better value. I have a 2006 Chevy diesel and it has been bullet proof so far, (knock on wood) and it gets 16 to 21 MPG, so I guess I'll keep it.

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Now if you want real mechanical simplicity and good mileage get a Chinese one cylinder diesel:

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1994 Accord....

When my Honda wore out it's second "last set of Michelins," it sat in my driveway with a flat tire and 348,000 miles on it for a year and a half because I couldn't make myself buy another set of tires for it...till my son needed a car to drive back and forth to work (at Toyota). Put a battery in it and Vroom, off to work. It leaks a little oil and could use a set of springs, but it still gets over 30mpg.

Jim
 
My LS1 422HP Covette gets 27.5 MPG at 80 mph. But...my 2007 V6 Explorer is worse than the 2003 V8 Explorer...go figure.

Hovis
 
Hp

Hovis:
That V6 in the Explorer is just too small. Poor Power to Weight ratio. What really ticks me off, is my old 54 Ford V8 got 25MPG and these new vehicles are supposed to be more efficient
 
Fred,
That was kind of my point in a round about way. My Porsche used to get over 32 mpg at 75 mph. My 1985 mustang used to get around 28-30mpg. All this new technology is just selling points in my opinion.

And this new Hybrid BS crap. Has anyone stopped and thought about the enviromental impact of all these batteries. If bunches of these are sold, we sure won't have to worry about the ozone holes...we'll never make it that far.

Hovis
 
Hovis-
Sorry to have to correct you sir but you are dead wrong about hybrid batteries. They are 100% recyclable and in fact, the Toyota Prius battery has a 200$ deposit on it to encourage it's return to the factory. There is a facility in Japan that is set up to refurbish these batteries but it is idle as there have not been any worn out due to age. They apparently last the life of the vehicle.

Mine just hit 102k with no issues whatsoever. I get an honest 55 MPG in mixed driving and 41 MPG when loaded and driving 80 mph on the highway. I have saved about 13-14k $ in fuel since purchasing it as compared to the 15 mpg truck I used to drive. It is a very enjoyable car to drive and is very flexible with it's hatchback.

I can load it up with camping gear luggage guns ammo coolers tables and other gear and drive out literally into the prairie with it for PD hunts or such fun as that. I saw Shelley Davidson at a match with his. He had all the gear for two people crammed into the back of his.

They have had the highest customer satisfaction rating of any car for the last 4 years running. You may like your American cars and trucks and that's great but when you run down hybrids and imports in general, you sound silly to those of us that drive them.
 
Good to hear your report on the Prius! I've wondered about the battery issues myself.
 
You had better look into it a little more. Sure the batteries are recycleable but that don't mean there not dangerous to the enviroment. There will not be an actual recycling facility in america because the EPA won't allow it. As soon as there are bunches of these things around....look out. The by-products of recyling them are about as bad as the batteries. There is no such things as a good battery when it comes to the enviroment.

Got this info from some people that work at one of the most advance battery developmental and test facilities in the U.S. (they also do failure anaylisis). It's on a Navy Depot in Indiana.

I am glad that Toyota (by no surprise) got the problems worked out. About six of them (when they first came out) went up in smoke because of some cabling or charging problem.

Hovis
 
Some time ago, I read about a 100 mile per gallon club. I don't know how to post a link. If you will just copy and paste you will find a lot of imformation on the web. This was when gas was under a 1.50 a gallon.
 
Big Al,
You are talking about hyper milers. I won't even comment on them as I one finger type and it would take too long. I have several customers with the Prius. All of them are in the 48mpg area in combined driving. They have had no troubles with them. It will take them a very long time to pay them out though with the fuel savings.
Butch
 
Butch Lambert said:
Big Al,
You are talking about hyper milers. I won't even comment on them as I one finger type and it would take too long. I have several customers with the Prius. All of them are in the 48mpg area in combined driving. They have had no troubles with them. It will take them a very long time to pay them out though with the fuel savings.
Butch
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My point in the post was simply that there has been people out there getting high mileage long before the current problems. I seem to recall a benchrester that was among them. To many years to recall who it was. I just found it interesting. I do know for sure that I long ago learned how to pick up five miles to the gallon by no more change than driving style. I don't feel bad about 33 to 34 miles to the gallon. Up from 27-28 MPG.
 
A good friend of mine and retired GM engineer drives an old Toyota pickup. Its a 4 cyl diesel, 5 speed. He was complaining the other day that the mileage was really starting to drop. He now gets around 60 mpg, down from 70 mpg. He's tweaked the engine since it pulled out of the factory. It used to have a turbo charger. If I remember correctly, he's changed the fuel system and bored it slightly over.

Honda and Toyota may have some of the highest fuel economy vehicles, but they also have some very poor ones. The Toyota and Honda trucks seem to get worse economy than the GM trucks. And as pointed out, some of the GM cars get great economy. I almost bought a 2006 Monte Carlo a few years ago instead of my GMC Sierra. I thought the fuel economy would be nice, but I needed the room and 4x4 for hunting trips. If I remember correctly, that fairly large Monte Carlo got 34 mpg out of a 190 hp, 3800 cc 6cyl gas burner.
 
I usually rent an Impala or Monte Carlo when I drive down to Cartersville to visit my father.

And, well, they're rentals. So they're not babied. And the -worst- mileage I've gotten with them was around 30mpg... I like that Monte Carlo...

If you don't drive like that, you can probably tack on another 5mpg or so...
 
Chuck............................................. ...................

I bought my wife a new a 2007 Impala SS I paid $17,000.00 for it, it was a car left over to 2008, it gets 28 miles a gallon on the highway and 22 around town....it has every option you including sun roof, remote start, leather, XM radio, leather, and every other option available...including 100,000 warranty. She drove the Honda's, BMW's, and just about every other import out there......she said the Impala was the best car regardless of price. I still think American's can do anything better than anyone else, and they will continue to get my money, even though I hate the unions as bad as I do!!!
 
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In 1930, a fellow in Canada developed a carborator system that ran on dry fumes, not a wet, atomized mixture. It worked by heating the gasoline. He got 200 MPG on a V8 Ford. :) NOT a stripped down light-weight, but a complete car. The Candian oil market crashed! They quickly put additives in the fuel to render his system (for high fuel mailage anyway) un-workable. :(

Can't have back-yard inventors upsetting the status quo....can we now? :rolleyes:
 
ultramag44 said:
In 1930, a fellow in Canada developed a carborator system that ran on dry fumes, not a wet, atomized mixture. It worked by heating the gasoline. He got 200 MPG on a V8 Ford. :) NOT a stripped down light-weight, but a complete car. The Candian oil market crashed! They quickly put additives in the fuel to render his system (for high fuel mailage anyway) un-workable. :(

Can't have back-yard inventors upsetting the status quo....can we now? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That's such an old myth you should be embarrassed to post it...:)
 
Dennis,

I read about it LONG before the internet! Not a myth.

The quicly inserted (after the system was made public) fuel additives defeated the system. 25 + years ago, men attempted to re-create the system to work w/ todays poor fuels. They could "only" get 70 or 75 MPG out of a Linclon Continental.

Consider this: Just in the last week, due to reduced demand, the price of crude has dropped (fact). Now, let's just suppose, that all cars and trucks suddenly got 3X the fuel mileage they got last week. What would happeen to the price of crude oil? Drop or crash (suposition)?


You should be embarrassed...to dismiss the work of a gentleman who thought "outside the box" before it was fashionable.
 
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I didn't say it was an internet myth, I said it was an old myth... it has become an internet myth recently...

It first came out in 1948 and even back then it could not be verified...

The story details may have changed slightly over the years but it is still a myth..

You can read about it here: http://www.snopes.com/autos/business/carburetor.asp
 
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