Car Tech: Poll: Would you consider buying a hybrid or alternative-fuel car?
- 5/3/07 11:55 AM
No not at this time.
by rwilson2003 - 5/4/07 8:10 AM In reply to: Poll: Would you consider buying a hybrid or alternative-fuel car? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I need a mini-van or van that is converted for the handicap, to drive and be able use a rampr lift totally automatic.
absoulty never ever !!!
by dart170 - 5/4/07 8:13 AM In reply to: Poll: Would you consider buying a hybrid or alternative-fuel car? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I refuse to own ANY "new" car. The inprovements in vehicles are pathetic at best! In 1976 you could buy a 3400+ pound car with a 3.7 liter inline 6cyl engine and a 4 speed overdrive, EPA rating 36mpg hwy. This was without computers, efi, check engine lights, or any of the other geegaws that "new" cars have. The models in question were the Dodge Dart Lite and the Plymouth Feather Duster. Many 70's compact cars got better mileage then todays cars. My old cars are MUCH easier and cheeper to fix and run. I know, I work on this new junk every day. I even had a 1971 Pinto (yes a Ford Pinto) that got over 40mpg when driven in a "sane" manner, never ever less then 30mpg.
As far as the new VW TDI cars getting 55mpg if driven gently, a buddy had a 82 VW rabbit diesel that always got 50+mpg. I work in a shop that works on all kinds of cars, hybrids get to pay 1.5 X the standard labor rate, mostly for putting up with the people who own them 
To all you hybrid owners posting here, thankyou for proving that the tv show South Park was right all along. You all do pollute worse then the worst gas engine.
GIVE ME SMOG OVER SMUG ANY DAY!
South Park episode info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smug_Alert!
Death Trap Pinto!!! YEAH!!
by stockdad - 5/4/07 9:01 AM In reply to: absoulty never ever !!! by dart170Do you have any idea how much more those old vehicles pollute then today's machines?
Do you know how much safer new cars are to drive then the death traps you espouse?
gee lets see
by dart170 - 5/4/07 9:45 AM In reply to: Death Trap Pinto!!! YEAH!! by stockdadFirst off, I don't care about pollution, it is not nearly as big of problem as people think! Remembere, the ocean floor has ozzed crude oil in to the oceans for eons, with no human help.
Second, death traps? I think not, I know many EMT's that are very scared of hybrids. Your house 220 volts, hybrids, much more. Im sure the EMT's will be rescuing me, while you wait for the specially trained hybrid EMT to show.
Third, any 70's car, take the Feather Duster for example, 3400 pounds of REAL STEEL vs whatever plastic new car you want, steel will crush plastic evertime. This is why my wife drives an 80's pick-up, untill I can either get her an 250 series Dodge van (the deadlyest vehicle ... for whatever it hits) or a 60's Chrysler Imperial, the very first car BANNED from demolition derby competition.
I would rather be even in a pinto then a new car. The explosions were a bunch of government hype. Ever seen a pinto postal vehicle? The government bought about 35000 in 1971 under the guise of using them as postal vehicles. Give me 35000 af ANY vehicle and I can figure out how to crash them and make bad things happen! The "government approved" fix? A piece of plastic less then 1/8" thick and about 18" long.
You enviromental wackos can't deal with talking to someone who actually knows cars, because most of you dont!
I cant beleive that you all are so arrogant as to beleive that humans could effect this planet in any way short of thermo nuclear war.
Not even close.
by Andy77e - 5/4/07 7:39 PM In reply to: Death Trap Pinto!!! YEAH!! by stockdadYou are crazy. I have an 82 Buick. Hit twice. Both times, I drove away with ZERO damage. Both times the other cars were messed up. One was a Honda Civic. The entire front end of his car was bashed in like a bulldogs face. Not even a scratch on my chrome bumper. You think that guy in the plastic midget mobile is safer than me? ARE YOU NUTS?! HA! No no. I could get hit by a bus and survive. You can smell my gas for all I care, but as far as safety, trust me, metal cars are safer than plastic bannana midget mobiles.
Reply
by zigjig - 5/4/07 9:21 AM In reply to: Poll: Would you consider buying a hybrid or alternative-fuel car? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hey Lee
This sort of survey was exactly what I was driving on about last week. It categorises our responses perfectly.
Some day
by Norm Harding - 5/4/07 10:29 AM In reply to: Poll: Would you consider buying a hybrid or alternative-fuel car? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
For now I just bike to and from work and do not own a car but in the future I would like to get a type of car that is completely free of fossil fuels. It is nice that there are hybrids and other types of cars, it is a start. I just want to wait till we step beyond that. 100% electrical, assuming it is charged using earth-friendly sources, while not as fast as fossil fuel cars, is what I would like to see. NO MORE GAS!! :-P
My favorite alternative fuel is compressed air
by deebeefc - 5/4/07 11:25 AM In reply to: Poll: Would you consider buying a hybrid or alternative-fuel car? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
We watched a two-part TV program on alternative fuel autos and saw a French company making a car that runs on compressed air, and includes its own compressor. It takes its fuel right out of the air (free) and replaces it with air emissions. They said the car only costs about $15,000. That's my alternative fuel choice. Of course, the oil companies will probably move mountains to keep it off the market.
Dee
HUH?
by keeferzjr - 5/4/07 2:23 PM In reply to: My favorite alternative fuel is compressed air by deebeefcAnd what, pray tell, does the compressor run on? You can just say a car runs on compressed air without saying how the air gets compressed! There has to be SOME KIND of energy used to do that, doesn't there? HUH???
Hot Air
by haf canadian - 5/5/07 12:32 PM In reply to: You missed it by Andy77eThe hot air here would run it. But a solar array on the roof could juice the compressor - or at least assist the pipe under the seat technology.
Right....
by Andy77e - 5/6/07 8:45 AM In reply to: Hot Air by haf canadianHow much real power do you think a solar array will provide verses how much power is needed to run a compressor? I highly doubt, I am a skeptic, that a simple solar array would provide enough consistant power to run a compressor, not including sustained cloudy days that happen often here in ohio. New Mexico maybe, but not going to work here.
Diesel Electric
by hlhenry - 5/4/07 5:55 PM In reply to: Poll: Would you consider buying a hybrid or alternative-fuel car? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I would love to be able to buy an affordable hybrid vehicle. Why aren't more diesel electric vehicle out there. They offer almost every advantage from what I can see. The diesel engine is efficient and reliable. The infrastructure is already there and the diesel engines can be made to burn very clean.
I would love to replace my F350 4x4 with a diesel electric version. I think it would have awesome pulling power and off road ability, good road manners and would be cleaner.
Yea, but...
by feelinjunky - 5/5/07 2:05 PM In reply to: Diesel Electric by hlhenryDiesel engines are very complex compared to gasoline engines. To make a hybrid version will increase complexity exponentially, increasing the total cost of the vehicle, making it less appealing due to its cost, and eventually less profilable for the company.
I think you are in error.
by Andy77e - 5/5/07 3:12 PM In reply to: Yea, but... by feelinjunkyDiesels are less complex. That's one reason I support them. You do not have a coil, a distributer, spark plugs, a throttle plate, spark plug wires.
Plus a gas car has to maintain a 14 to 1 air to fuel ratio. This requires the computer to know how much air is going in and how much fuel is going in, at all times.
Diesel does not control air flow, it merely control fuel flow. More fuel, faster run, less fuel slower run.
A Diesel is far simpler. You don't have to worry about ignition timing because it's compression ignition. No knocks or pings. There is really only 3 things that can really break. Fuel pump, glow plugs (IF your diesel has them) and the fuel injectors.
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