Better Gas Mileage

I am hoping it pushes us some hyper efficient turbo diesel hybrids (90+ MPG average on a full size sedan)!!!

 

I just want to see HOW the tweak the average car to get the 35mpg number I keep hearing... I mean, look at our trucks. Just say, for the argument, they all get an average of 20mpg. What the hell are they gonna do to squeeze out an extra 15mpg? And IF they pull it off by the deadline (which is when?), are people gonna be pissed off? As in, you could do this already and you DIDN'T?!?!?! So I've been buying twice as much gas as I really needed to?

 

They don't have to have every car they offer get a certain mpg. It's the average of all models available with some sales numbers thrown in for weighting purposes I believe. You could still have our trucks getting an average of 20mpg al log as they have a car getting 50mpg to balance it out.

 

Ah... I see... I kept hearing talks about "all vehicles" getting 35mpg by such and such date. That makes more sense. Still, it's gonna be interesting to see how they balance it out... Unless it's by selling 1 3-cyl geo-metro-like ecobox to fudge their numbers.

 

OK - I'll give the horsepower improvement to you. The 1991 Ranger was a 2.3 liter with 100 HP versus a 2.7 liter with 159 HP for the 2007 Tacoma.

Gas prices have only gone in one direction so I am just surprised that we have seen such small improvements in fuel efficiency. One area that continues to surprise me is the that most manufacturers do not make 5-speed automatics available on models with 4cyl engines. My thinking is that the 5-speed auto would be able to keep the engine in the sweet spot for economy more often and allow less abrupt jumps when a little more power is needed.

 

The other factor to look at is weight. A 1991 Ranger weighs much less than my 2007 AccessCab PreRunner 2.7L.

As far as the transmissions, everytime you have a shift point, you loose power, and momentum. The best thing they could do to maximize torque and economy would be a heavy duty CVT transmission (similar to what Nissan makes in the Murano, Altima, Maxima, etc...). Unfortunately, Toyota hasn't quiet gotten those down to a science. Even then they are not heavy duty enough to handle what we put our trucks through...

You are correct though - engines and transmissions will need to change greatly to get a fleet average of 35 MPG across the board. I just hope they don't freak out like they did in the 1970's and start putting out junk cars that get great gas mileage only if you can keep them running.

 

FINALLY someone else that has had 2 tickets within a couple weeks lol, i knew i wasn't the only old fart on here with a heavy foot

 

that IS true, however, how miserable would i make myself for an extra $115 a year? i'd end up spending it on something stupid anyway so why hate myself for driving slow to save $100 bucks, just dont go to the bar one night a year

 

If it were not for Missouri's point system I would just start a savings account to pay for traffic tickets and not worry about it.

Speak of tickets... The first ticket I got the cop was super cool and knocked it down from a 76 in a 45, to 50 in a 45.

My next ticket I was not so lucky... 83 in a 65.

Now the 5 over ticket was a $119... the 18 over ticket? Was only $12 higher... pfft.

Lesson learned. If your going speed in Kansas City... go all out.

 

Get a Valentine 1 Best investment i have made....

Spendy but works great!!

 

Or slow down...

If you stay under 10 mph over the limit, you'll be fine. No cop wants to waste their time possibly having to go to court over that and if they do, they would've pulled you over regardless.

BTW, laser detection does you no good when it's pointed directly at you.

 

I do better without a detector. 3 speeding tickets with my old cobra or my ex's one. None since I stopped using them. Using a lead car to take the heat, watching out for hiding spots, and just plain relying on my gut has worked better.... .Especially since the truck is faster than the cars I got those tickets with...

Then again, there's something to be said about camouflage! hehe My first car was a fire-engine red Tercel. I think I had 2 tickets with that. Another 1 or 2 with my Maroon (still red....) Corolla. This dark blue taco with a cap, lift, bigger tires, etc seems to get ignored. Like "oh it's a truck, it's not really going that fast..." Or it's the family inside instead of some young punk for them to bust on. I'm not sure, but I've flown past a few local troopers doing 65 in a 55, and with my 285 tires it was probably closer to 67-70 and they don't even slow down. Now, this is the same stretch of road were someone's pulled over in front of my house at least 2-3x's each week. So I KNOW they patrol it!

Not that I'm complaining, but I've had a few close calls on the highway were I though for sure I'd get nailed. So far so good!

 

Living in Crapchester I generally drive on the loops, posted 55mph, set my cruise for 60-62 and sing show tunes ! Yeah !

 

When I was going to RIT I worked at the Hess on West (or was it East?) Henrietta Rd. The local Sheriffs came in for beer, and would hang out in the parking lot in a van rather than go to a bar. They tagged our plates so we never got messed with... lol

Oh, and I was going back to my apartment one night after closing up. I was doing 60 in a 40 with another car on my ass.... Thought to myself "I wonder if that's a cop...." At the red light it turned out to be a local red n white. He flipped his lights on to run the light, killed them, and kept going! Here I was going 20 over, and it wasn't fast enough for him!

A buddy of mine up there got passed doing 80 in a 45 during a pizza delivery run... 4 or 5 red n whites flew by him like he was standing still, all blacked out. He almost hit one when he swerved over to avoid a kid on the side of the road cuz he didn't see them all. That cop just gave him a during look and kept going with the rest of them.

 

Crapchester Police are only decent when you know them, other wise they're just dirty.

 

Yes I believe it will change some but you can expect the truck makers to have one particular model that will jump enough to get them over the top.
I think anyone who had looked at the automotive world in the last 5yrs will agree that its always "more powerful" , with much larger engines, even though they are more fuel efficient (compared to 4yrs ago). Bigger tow weights, overall heavier SUV's , just mean comprimises . They did get rid of the giagantic SUV's, Ford in particular. Everything is horsepower . They just need to cut 800pds out of some of these vehicles and the fuel mileage will improve. They are making efficient engines, the low emmisions prove that, along with 6 &7 speed transmissions.

Jeff , 06,V6, 6spd, 4x4 Radiant Red

 

Honestly, I think the answer lies with fleet vehicles. If a manufacturer like Toyota can score a fleet contract with some treehugger city like Seattle, they'd be set. Imagine a fleet of hybrids in a city like that. You'd be hitting the CAFE no problem.

Of course, the large majority of vehicles a manufacturer sells are obviously to private individuals. But think about who the CAFE hurts the most: domestics. Honda and Toyota will have no problem hitting the CAFE numbers but Ford, GM, and Chrysler will suffer greatly.

Another thing, corn ethanol is a joke. For anyone to think that's the answer, they're delusional. It takes 1 gal of corn ethanol to produce 1.3 gallons while gasoline takes 1 gallon to produce 5 gallons. I've seen figures for ethanol made from switchgrass as high as 1 gallon producing 15 gallons. Let's not forget the cost of corn skyrocketing which in turn increases the price of MANY products: http://www.iowacorn.org/cornuse/cornuse_6.html

Articles like this one opened my eyes. Note the reasoning they use for our current push of corn ethanol: http://www.rollingstone.com/politic...one_of_americas_biggest_political_boondoggles

 

On ethanol, you are correct, but you must also remember corn or switchgrass, or whatever is a replenshing source, something that we can control of how much we have to consume.

 

But therein lies the problem. In order to produce enough corn ethanol for our needs, we'd have to starve. Switchgrass is a much better alternative and you barely hear it mentioned. You also don't hear anything in the new energy bill, which is a bunch of liberal nonsense designed to appeal to the treehuggers, about advancing our economy. Looking at the energy bill, it seems they want our economy to stagnate while they go after ridiculous "solutions" like corn ethanol while we ignore the huge oil deposits in ANWR or the Gulf. The energy bill talks about ethanol from switchgrass or wood chips which makes no sense since the tech doesn't exist for it right now.

Bottom line, we need to get off of foreign oil, no question. But let's come up with real solutions, not feelgood treehugger timewasting "solutions". Maybe if more people got away from the moronic idea that the oil companies are "bad" then we'd be much better off. There's nothing wrong with oil as an energy source, anyway. Buying it from terrorists is a problem, though.

 

Yeah we definitely need to sharpen our pencils, but why don't we gather some troops and secure the terrorist area so as to stabilize world petroleum economy... oh yeah, we...ah...mmm... well O.K. then.