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Fuel Economy Somewhat Important to only half of US New Car Buyers
Most Americans want a car with better fuel economy, but only about half say they would be willing to sacrifice size or performance to get it, according to a national survey conducted by Consumer Reports.
http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/070524/052407_cr_mpg_survey.html?.v=5&.pf=loan...
Hard to Have Best Hopes,
Alan
I stuck that one in Drumbeat after you posted it. I am just sort of working my way through ad hoc and adding stories as I run across them (while I have a few minutes).
Great minds think alike ! :-)
But so do mediocre minds,
Alan
Robert, I (and others, I'm sure) really appreciate your generosity in doing the Drumbeat in Leanan's well deserved absence. I know it is time consuming, but it is so useful to find all this info on TOD every day.
Two Responses
Response #1
Dear Alan,
Although U.S. gasoline usage is inelastic at this time, sustained higher prices or a spike due to market tightness will turn this trend around. Perhaps prices in the $4.00/gallon range will do the trick. Time will cure the problem.
best hopes,
Dave
Response #2
Dear Alan,
When this American idiot juggernaut jumps off the peak oil cliff, they will take me and my loved ones with them. It is at times like this that I am forcefully reminded that I have a very low opinion of Homo Sapiens generally (present company excepted) and of our prospects as a species.
no hopes,
Dave
Best hopes for no hopes, (response #2).
Present company excepted of course.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2088589,00.html
Even in the context of "larger issues" looming about this one sucks. It is yet another reason why we, as a family, do as much as we can to simply NOT buy Chinese-made goods. This includes toys, clothing, shoes, foods, etc. It's amazing that a country like China, with as large a military presence throughout their populated provinces can't police this and other issues. Write an article critical of the local party head and you'll likely be before a judge quickly, and often with horrific results.
Our boycott is not absolute, however I would estimate we've reduced our acquisition of Chinese-made goods by well over %90 compared to average American consumers. IMHO our government is nothing to be proud of (to say the absolute least), but that doesn't mean I will support other ham-fisted, oppressive regimes.
Poachers are scum of the earth...
Of course having just read back through my post two things come to mind; Peak Oil and Global Warming, both in different ways, will seal the deal on the loss of species worldwide. Secondly, I have food on my table; who am I to criticize some dirt-poor Asian family man trying to survive and feed his family.
/rant off
I really think you are on the right track. Buying locally makes even more sense the more I hear about the whacko stuff being found in food and products coming out of China. I heard something about antifreeze in toothpaste from China recently....
Here it is:
FDA to check toothpaste imports from China:
Officials inspecting shipments after reports of tainted products
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18841928/
I will definitely not eat anything that has wheat gluten in it after the pet food scare.
Watch this and you will feel a little better about our species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs
Diesel provides better performance AND a third better economy. Too bad you Americans haven't figured it out.
If a fairy sprinkled magic fairy dust on the whole US fleet and tomorrow you all woke up driving diesels, The US would save something like 5m barrels of oil per day.
Some of us figured it out years ago...
Some, like the Sierra Club, are dead set against use of diesel in the US because it is much more difficult to reduce emissions. If I recall correctly the latest scheme involves something like injecting urea into the combustion chamber to reduce emissions. That requires a "fillup" of urea solution as well as diesel fuel. Not a bad solution for those of us who need to stop often to urinate.
The buzz is that in the 2008 MY, VW will bring back the diesels that will be 50-state clean and will pass emissions. Still waiting to hear details, but the rumors are that the smaller cars like Jetta & Rabbit won't need the urea thing.
Bring It On... Lets Roll
and it's the right color for evasion :)
The little stratified charge 1.5 and 1.6's routinely made 50-55 mpg w/o turbo. Still have one. Today's 1.2liter. 3cyl. and 3 l. per 100k is better than that. Do you think it'll ever show up in America?
We can do so much better feeding a little lower down on the fractioning tower. Thinking total emissions/mpg per passenger mile. Be interested if you hear more rumors.
I am aware of the 1.3l diesel (Lupo in the U.K., I guess), but we haven't seen them as of yet. I guess they think they won't sell enough of them as long as fuel is cheap, but in reality they needed to solve the emissions problem first, I suppose.
My Jetta has a 1.9l turbodiesel and gets about 50mpg. That's the only diesel engine configuration that VW sells in the U.S. (I suppose I could order parts from overseas and build a frankencar - don't laugh - I know people who have done things like this).
There are people at www.TDIClub.com who work to maximize fuel economy - one guy drove from Salt Lake City to Philadelphia, and got > 70mpg. He got stopped by the police for driving too slow however, so this wouldn't work for everyone. The guy who did this is a retired aeronautical engineer, and gave a talk about coefficients of drag and maximization of fuel economy.
My guess is that you could scale the Jetta back to a 1.6l engine and the car do just fine - just a little slower. For the 1.3l to work, you would probably need a lighter body like the Lupo.
Thanks for yor response. I bumped this topic ahead to today to allow more people to grind it through the hopper.
Hello Jjhman,
I am hoping that a small diesel scooter, trike, or motorcycle becomes available soon here in the US. A 250cc diesel should provide sufficient motive power and if beer is still cheap enough: no widespread problem generating sufficient urine for clean tailpipe emissions.
Of course: No drinking, then riding. Just motor to your local tavern for a 'fillup'. =)
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
The KLR Kawasaki's that are converted to diesel for the USMC are available if you look hard enough. Good fuel mileage, big tank, huge range.
Over 90 mpg at 55 mph and capable of 90 mph if needed, run on diesel, biodiesel or jet fuel.
http://www.dieselmotorcycles.com/military.htm#bike1
hi - SailDog
...can they "program" the refineries so to speak ,how much of a certain or particular distillate one wishes from the crude volum?
Diesel is taken from the heating-oil-segment, as petroleum is a complete different distillate - much lighter part.
To clarify - can they make diesel from petrol ?
OT. Maybe....
At a small town in western KY in the graveyard across the street from where
my mother lives, volunteers could be seen placing flags on the graves of veteran
soldiers. While this is going on all across our nation this Memorial Day weekend
let us take a moment to honor those who sacrificed so much so that we can
enjoy the life we have today.
In the coming years we will need to band together as a community and as a
nation to mitigate the coming catastrophe that we so often discuss here. We
can debate what should have or could have been done differently to have
averted the crisses that lies before us but the end result is the same. We are
here and what can we do now to lessen the severity of a reduction in energy
rescources?
Best hopes that our veteran men and women's sacrifices were not in vain.
rude
Had a little confusion between Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
According to what I found it seems that Memorial day was previously Decoration Day and started in 1865 to place decorations on the graves of Civil War soldiers.
Being reminded by Rude Crude that we should remember all our veterans I will remember on Monday to visit my hometown cemetery where some of my uncles who served in WWII are buried.
As I have mentioned before my father had 6 brothers and during WWII my father and 5 of his brothers were all in the war at the same time. The last brother served for 30 yrs in the Air Force and in all major conflicts since WWII. Retired to Germany and came back last year and died soon thereafter. Now only one of my fathers brothers remains and lives up the road from me. One was captured and imprisoned for 3 years by the Germans,one was being operated on as his battleship was shelling Saipan,one was in Tank Destroyers,another a tank commander. They were all good men but drank far too much as a result of that war. Some did not pass away well but yet they served and never once spoke of it. Not a word. Never.
Of all those men only me and my brother and one other son was born. Of those only I have a son,my brother never married and my son will never marry. From 7 men(and 7 aunts) it narrows down to only one who continues the line that will soon disappear(me) yet for those who did serve(as did I and my brother) I will bow at the graves and thank them for going in harms way for this country.
BTW in that same graveyard there are graves of Confederate soldiers as well. One next to my future gravesite. My gravesite is at the foot of my great great grandfather who came to this country in 1820. On his tombstone is an anchor crossed with anchor chain. He was once a sailor,,same as me.
I think I will be in good company.
God Bless America, even in this time of tribulation and woes
Airdale..Airdale is a navy slang word for those whose 'rates' are in Naval Aviation
rude crude & airdale
I understand that for a YES ...
Robert is far better qualified than me on this, but I think they have some latitude, but the fractions depend on the type of crude and it API.
I am not sure that is a relavant question though. Europe has been moving to diesel cars for years - now sales about 50% diesel, but the fleet is proably miuch less than that. They do not seem to have problems with how much petrol vs diesel is produced.
I don't know where you live, but this is not going to be an issue for the lifetime of any diesel car you buy or own now. PO will take it off the road long before any worries about insufficient diesel being avialable.
I run my diesel Golf (same as a Rabbit, but it is the latest version, which I do not think is available in the US). I run it on biodiesel, available at a discount of about 20c per litre to mineral diesel from a service station just up the road. Biodiesel is made from tallow mainly here. It gets about 50mpg around town and 60mpg in the country. Despite only having a 1.9 litre engine, it has more torque than a 3 litre GM petrol car (called Holden here). It performs well and is the "perfect" town car for a guy with three kids. It was cheap to buy and is cheap to run. PO will take all the SUV's off the road long before me! When we go on holiday I tow a trailer and the extra torque from the diesel engine handles it fine.
Halfway there is better than nowhere.
In my hometown of San Diego, I am seeing many more
Priuses suddenly---at least close to the UCSD campus.
Not coincdentally this has corresponded to an increase of production and drop of price. Today's newspaper ads show "$3000 OFF MSRP" for some new models.
Outside the wealthier La Jolla or university area, few new hybrids, but looking around at
the obviously new cars people are driving in general, I
actually am starting to see more efficient cars in general, and not quite as many gargantuan *new* SUV's. Most US branded cars (versus trucks) are rentals or likely former rentals. Few people buy new from Detroit here.
Plenty of new civics, camry's and small nissan's. I bet when the next corolla is out it will sell very well.
People still drive their older (2-10) year old SUV's and a few macho guys are still buying new big ass trucks.
I'll admit this isn't Texas.
I think a plug-in hybrid would sell remarkably well, no doubt made first in Japan, after Detroit claims it couldn't be done or will have no market.
The persistence of the high fuel prices might be starting to convince people that they're not going back down soon, or that it will be an "every damn summer" phenomenon now.