How Fuel efficient is your car?

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 7:29 pm

As you know, a couple months ago, I installed a Condensator in my ride, and converted to flex fuel. The consistent numbers are starting to come back.

I get 16.8 mpg, and tank-ups are averaging $45 for 20 gallons. My ultra-sexy dashboard has a message centre that tells me how many miles I have left before I need to tank up again, as well as average mph and mileage.

E-85 is running between $2.36 and $2.32 a gallon, $1.90 if you count the state-mandated tax rebate. All I have to do is save my receipts and I can claim up to $400 back on my income taxes. E-85 is 107 octane. Imagine, supreme performance for less than regular unleaded price.

The way this is going, the $700 conversion job is going to pay for itself in savings in a year. If your ride is 2006 or earlier, get it converted!! That goes double if you're in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Texas and Oregon. Would you believe Texas has more ethanol stations than California does? You guys down there have work to do.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 9:24 pm

diane o'thirst wrote:He's an asshole for getting a vehicle like that, the perps were assholes for doing what they did, the smuggites who cruise by and glare at him are assholes.

No heroes here, just a bunch of assholes.

Hopefully the guy's insurance will pay him back and he can get something better.

What? The guy is an ASSHOLE for buying a Hummer? Because it gets kinda' shitty mileage? How ass-holier-than-thou of you.
How many of us have pickup trucks with gas engines? I do. They get worse mileage. How efficient are motorhomes? Boats? Etc. etc. etc.
I know a lot of people who are wealthy and have a new Prius... and a HUGE house that uses 8 times the energy to light and heat as mine.
The article said this guy lived in "an upscale neighborhood". I bet those neighbors are the same kind; they drive a hybrid car to and from their energy-devouring homes, homes that consume way more than their Prius saves.

As far as getting something better - he said he was starting an image-based sports marketing firm. That Hummer is about the ideal rig to get the type of attention he needs for that kind of business. A Prius isn't gonna cut it for that. Looks wimpy. And yes, in this particular case, that's important.

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:11 am

Diane, that's great that your conversion is working out well. Here's some's ideas about ethanol;

A reminder from Kevin Kerr (by way of The 5 Min. Forecast ):

â€œThe building boom in ethanol plants is likely to go bust by the end of 2007,â€

Rabbi Dali Rick · Post by **Rabbi Dali Rick** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:49 am

My car is a 1991 Honda Civic HF, amazingly it got about 50 mpg off the production line. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calculat ... =1&id=7474

Mine is probably getting about 45 right now, needs work and tune-up, and it's got a racing 4 speed tranny in it, that needs to be changed back to a 5 speed. With a car from 1991 getting 50 mpg, with nothing particularly high tek, why are we praising a car that only gets 45 mpg,( Prisis http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?a ... details=on ) as a breakthrough?

With the 120 mile each way trip to LA for work, I am loving my car.

downside: it is a souped up, fire-engine red pocket rocket, low profile tires with racing rims, a modified exhaust, that sounds and feels like you're doing background driving work on a Fast and Furious film scene, even between stop light.

upside: it is a souped up, fire-engine red pocket rocket, low profile tires with racing rims, a modified exhaust, that sounds and feels like you're doing background work on a Fast and Furious film scene, even between stop light.

the rebbi

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 11:16 am

1990 van pulling a 12 hundred pound loaded trailer over some tall summitts @ 22.7 mpg.. in the cab 40 gallon of water and 25 gallons gas plus lots of camp gear

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:29 am

[quote="can't sit still"]Diane, that's great that your conversion is working out well. Here's some's ideas about ethanol;

A reminder from Kevin Kerr (by way of The 5 Min. Forecast ):

â€œThe building boom in ethanol plants is likely to go bust by the end of 2007,â€

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:07 pm

I wish I were a writer, then I could live on the Amalfi coast and write about any old thing,,,from paradise. I have no idea if he knows what he's talking about. The strange thing is that while Brazil has ethanol from biomass,,, we just use corn kernals. It makes no sense. Why don't we use silage and all the other stuff? HFCS would be a good thing to get rid of,,,, but why don't we just toss in the whole plant"
Ethanol is subsidised,,,,,I believe at 50 cents a gallon. If they change the subsidy, that might make a big difference.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:00 pm

can't sit still wrote:The strange thing is that while Brazil has ethanol from biomass,,, we just use corn kernals. It makes no sense. Why don't we use silage and all the other stuff? HFCS would be a good thing to get rid of,,,, but why don't we just toss in the whole plant"

That was my thought. It does make no sense in that we use the edible part and the rest of the plant goes onto the compost heap. (Not that that's a bad thing...).

A good idea would be to have a Western hemisphere ethanol conference and take copious notes from Brazil's people. They're hardly known for rolling acres filled with amber waves of grain...yet they've been on biofuels for eleven years! Gotta be doing something right...

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:29 am

"Currently worth about a grand for an electric battery offering significant speed and range, â€œLiIonâ€

Post by **mdmf007** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:36 am

I think it is awesome that Brazil can meet its demand with bio and alcohol. for that to work in the US we would need to dramatically change our habits though.

a brazillian does not drive nearly as much as an american. It is part of our lifestyle that leads us to represent 5% of the planets population and use a quarter of the earths resources.

Soybeans, Bio, etc wont work in america. Just the tractors (OTR trucks) consume more diesel than we could grow in soy.

I like rail - one ton 400 miles = 1 gallon of diesel. Why not use trains like ferries? get on at your local depot in Seattle, get off in Denver, and finish that last 150 miles on the road? saves tons of fuel.

Put depots around the nation where you drive to the nearesst one, get on the ferry and go to the one closest to your destination.

Seattle to Miami - 3360 Miles. 40 tons of truck at 6 miles a gallon = 560 gallons of diesel.

Seattle to Miami - 2800 miles by rail (rail lines more efficient in paths) 280 gallons of diesel = Half Thats quite a savings.

a car - at 2 tons = 168 gallons on the road
a a car on rail at 2 tons = 14 gallons!! more than 90% savings. True some cars get better mileage I used 20 miles a gallon for math. Many get worse though/

I put together an entire plan at university for a thesis concerning rail as an option.

just my 2 cents.

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:12 pm

Just the ticket http://pesn.com/Radio/Free_Energy_Now/s ... hnologies/

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:55 pm

This looks pretty cool;

"electron-generating bacteria and a small electrical charge in a "microbial electrolysis cell" to belch out hydrogen gas"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.j ... dro112.xml

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:22 pm

Meanwhile...

I replaced my spark plugs with pulse plugs. Costed a pretty penny but I expect to make it back in fuel savings. I've already realized a 2% improvement in mileage, it bumped me up to 17mpg.

I know, not great compared to some of the numbers bouncing around here. But a tank of gas going from gone in a week, to gone in a sesquisennight (10 days), means one less tank I need per month.

Here's how they work:

Stock spark plugs only put out 50 watts each. Pulse plugs put out a million watts each. This burns the fuel more completely and the ignition bloom expands twice as far, twice as fast as stock.

Therefore: the manufacturer claims increased horsepower, increased fuel efficiency, increased mileage (up to 11% recorded, albeit in a midsize sedan), slightly higher tow capacity. The jury's still out on that, but what I did notice immediately, along with the 2% mpg increase, was that Cristobel got all kinds of giddy-up overnight.

At traffic lights now, I have to downshift into park because it's...how shall we say? Chomping at the bit. The car strains to go forward and I don't want to wear out my brakes.

And when I want to accelerate on the freeway, say, I press the gas pedal a little more and â€” no lurch, no nasty gear pop, she just <i>go-o-o-o-oesssss</i>. Vroom, off and away, and clear of hazards and trucks with neither fanfare nor drama.

Haven't towed the trailer since getting the pulse plugs but I'm looking forward to running that test. I'm gonna upgrade my air intake and filtration next and bump the efficiency up a little more...

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:34 pm

Cute idea http://www.registermail.com/stories/111 ... .GID.shtml
The hit man cometh

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:56 pm

The above story is quite interesting. Lest you think that it's all crackpots, keep in mind that the PTB don't bother to kill crackpots. The list of the dead just got 1 person longer;
http://pesn.com/2007/12/05/9500463_self ... ntor_dead/
Dan

Apollonaris Zeus · Post by **Apollonaris Zeus** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:21 am

can't sit still wrote:The above story is quite interesting. Lest you think that it's all crackpots, keep in mind that the PTB don't bother to kill crackpots. The list of the dead just got 1 person longer;
http://pesn.com/2007/12/05/9500463_self ... ntor_dead/
Dan

I heard that they have a lead form a neighbor about a constant beating drum and something crashing into the wall.

Apollonaris Zeus · Post by **Apollonaris Zeus** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:43 pm

The Nano!

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01 ... ex.html?hp

It gets 54 mpg but isn't emission control ready for the american market.

Cost $2,500.00

add $1,000 - $1,500.00 for future emission controls

AIIZ

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:33 pm

Aside from the emissions systems, Do you have any idea if it can pass crashworthiness tests? The YUGO has come and gone. I don't think that many people will buy this if they feel it is a rolling coffin. Dan

the fire elf · Post by **the fire elf** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:40 pm

How Fuel efficient is your car?

seems to neglect notions of how far you go how often...

how car efficient is your lifestyle?

mereth · Post by **mereth** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:43 pm

the fire elf wrote:seems to neglect notions of how far you go how often...

how car efficient is your lifestyle?

A finer question indeed...

Glittering Clitoris · Post by **Glittering Clitoris** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:28 pm

Apollonaris Zeus wrote:The Nano!

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01 ... ex.html?hp

It gets 54 mpg but isn't emission control ready for the american market.

Cost $2,500.00

add $1,000 - $1,500.00 for future emission controls

AIIZ

the vehicle of choice in India is the motocycle which is a problem with children and family. Environmentalist are worried about the pollution with all these cars displacing the motorbikes, but these vehicles pollute half of what a motorcycle produces and you can put 5 people into them so it will reduce air pollution.

How safe are they? No car on the market will save you from a collision with a semi, how big will the cars of the future be? They won't be much bigger then a Nano any way! All cars will be much lighter then the tanks sold today

lifetime Odds for dying in a truck or van as compared to a passenger car is less then 3x. Truck 1 in 965, Car 1 in 240 that's lifetime!

I wouldn't worry about it, your odds of dying from worrying only increases your chances of a heart attack!

I would worry about dying from Accidental poisoning by and exposure to noxious substances 1 in 180 lifetime. that really should scare you worry warts!

AZ

help · Post by **help** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:07 am

Odds of dying as a pedestrian 1 in 610.
(source:http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_odds.htm)

_________________________________________

http://www.freerice.com

erri2000 · Post by **erri2000** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:32 am

No oil powered engine is efficient.

Why did GW kill the electric car bill to go with hydrogen anyway? Hydrogen is good, I think (?), but why trash something that could have only helped? And in addition he killed it right before it went in to effect, all those years of prep for nothing.

I wonder if he has any connection to the oil industry?

SNARK!

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:04 am

Rabbi Dali Rick wrote:My car is a 1991 Honda Civic HF, amazingly it got about 50 mpg off the production line.

I've been looking for a Civic or CRX HF for a while now, but every one I find has had a larger engine swapped into it with custom exhaust, half-finished body kit, etc. Kind of a shame.

Green Wood · Post by **Green Wood** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:46 pm

help wrote: Odds of dying as a pedestrian 1 in 610.
(source:http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_odds.htm)

Should have drove a truck!

Europe to ban certain biofuels. Hopefully N. America follows soon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/busin ... ref=slogin

AZ

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:15 pm

Super cheapo cars seem like a good idea. But, what if they get people off of bicycles and into the drivers seat?
http://www.howestreet.com/articles/inde ... le_id=5504

Apollonaris Zeus · Post by **Apollonaris Zeus** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:29 pm

Car dealers are asking an additional fee of up to $5,000 as a delivery fee for SUV hybrids from the big three auto companies!

What a rip off!

But buyers should remember that hybrids are only efficient in stop and go traffic where the electric engine is used the most. light autos with just a gas engine can be as good if you do most of your driving on a highway.

But still they can't produce enough of the hybrids because there is a shortage of batteries.

anyone hear of the car that runs on Air?

http://www.theaircar.com/acf/air-cars/air-cars.html

AIIZ

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 2:23 am

Glittering Clitoris wrote:
Apollonaris Zeus wrote:The Nano!

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01 ... ex.html?hp

It gets 54 mpg but isn't emission control ready for the american market.

Cost $2,500.00

add $1,000 - $1,500.00 for future emission controls

AIIZ
the vehicle of choice in India is the motocycle which is a problem with children and family. Environmentalist are worried about the pollution with all these cars displacing the motorbikes, but these vehicles pollute half of what a motorcycle produces and you can put 5 people into them so it will reduce air pollution.

How safe are they? No car on the market will save you from a collision with a semi, how big will the cars of the future be? They won't be much bigger then a Nano any way! All cars will be much lighter then the tanks sold today

lifetime Odds for dying in a truck or van as compared to a passenger car is less then 3x. Truck 1 in 965, Car 1 in 240 that's lifetime!

I wouldn't worry about it, your odds of dying from worrying only increases your chances of a heart attack!

I would worry about dying from Accidental poisoning by and exposure to noxious substances 1 in 180 lifetime. that really should scare you worry warts!

AZ

I don't fully understand your statistics, but safety is an issue with larger vehicles.
They are preparing to separate heavy truck and car traffic on freeways.
My proposal for a light highway system would separate light vehicles from those over 2000 pounds.
This actually saves money, as paving for lower weight is incredibly cheap by comparison.
To my shock, highway engineers support my idea.

Apollonaris Zeus · Post by **Apollonaris Zeus** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:39 pm

Those are chances in a lifetime that person will die 1 person out of How many others.

Shit, I'd drive those smaller cars anywhere!

I hear that the AirCar will get up to 90mph as fast as a 2 litre gas engine a souped up version is racing on european races.

I drive a small car (38-44mpg) anyway worrying about getting into an accident is like worrying if i'm going to get cancer someday

they control you by your fears! that is way everyone has bought into the SUV fad and now they're paying the piper- the oil co. and he's got them by the balls and squeezing all the juice out of them.

$60 bucks to fill the pig and only 18 mpg

Suckers!

AIIZ

SonOfUgly · Post by **SonOfUgly** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:51 pm

20 mpg in my diesel pick up

How Fuel efficient is your car?

What is your gas mileage"

..... Lost In Space .......

Re: ..... Lost In Space .......