Thread: Hybrid Vehicles

Originally Posted by STF

...It is true that engines are usually smaller but then i have always thought that North American cars have ridiculous engines...

Not so much the case anymore. These days the American cars are in fact ridiculously fast and powerful but can still get very competitive fuel economy.
But the crux of it really hinges on what you are after. I had an old pickup years ago that I put a 429 (7.0L) in and it would pass anything but a gas station (mid 13s to 14 in the 1/4 mile depending on the gas I used) ...unless you stayed off the secondaries (spread bore carb. The secondaries were the size of beer cans). I had it for a long time. During that time is when the kids started suping up their little piss-ant cars with the little bee hive exhaust. I used to love to embarrass the crap out of them with the big old burnt orange pickup truck. Why those guys think that beer can on a rollerskate is the baddest thing on the road I'll never know.

Back to the point though. That thing got lousy mileage if you floored it but I didn't give a fiddler's fig about that. It wasn't so bad if you kept the pedal off the carpet but where's the fun in that? It would be a little rich for my blood these days and certainly not your economy vehicle but also not a 2 door speck. If you can stomach the crappy little gutless thing to get your 40+ mpg then more power to ya. Somewhere in the middle is where I want to be.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Not so much the case anymore. These days the American cars are in fact ridiculously fast and powerful but can still get very competitive fuel economy.
But the crux of it really hinges on what you are after. I had an old pickup years ago that I put a 429 (7.0L) in and it would pass anything but a gas station (mid 13s to 14 in the 1/4 mile depending on the gas I used) ...unless you stayed off the secondaries (spread bore carb. The secondaries were the size of beer cans). I had it for a long time. During that time is when the kids started suping up their little piss-ant cars with the little bee hive exhaust. I used to love to embarrass the crap out of them with the big old burnt orange pickup truck. Why those guys think that beer can on a rollerskate is the baddest thing on the road I'll never know.

Back to the point though. That thing got lousy mileage if you floored it but I didn't give a fiddler's fig about that. It wasn't so bad if you kept the pedal off the carpet but where's the fun in that? It would be a little rich for my blood these days and certainly not your economy vehicle but also not a 2 door speck. If you can stomach the crappy little gutless thing to get your 40+ mpg then more power to ya. Somewhere in the middle is where I want to be.

Yup, it all depends on your own set of needs/wants and your pocket book. In that respect not everybody is the same. You have to be careful when you speak of mpg because there is a big difference between Imperial gallons and US gallons as in a rating of 39 mpg on Imperial gallons would be 33 mpg on US gallons.

When I started driving gas was sold in Canada by the Imperial gallon but now it is sold by the liter. In 1969 the gas cost $0.45 per Imperial gallon/$0.10 per liter for premium. Today, locally it is $6.30 an Imperial gallon/$1.40 a liter for regular. That is Canadian dollar but you can do the conversion to US dollars and US gallons if you like. Today my priorities are fuel economy over gut wrenching power which I do not need and am not willing to pay the cost to get it. I even managed to find a very comfortable new vehicle to fit my 6 foot 2 inch frame into with all wheel drive while achieving good fuel economy.

For the past 30 odd years I have driven 4 bangers in the 2.0 to 2.5 liter class to both coasts, up to the Yukon and down into the US numerous times. All have been comfortable to drive on these trips for myself and my wife. You don't have to get a small 2 door tin can on a skate board to get decent fuel economy.

Bob

I bought a couple of motorbikes when i was in England, mostly because where i worked there were long queues of cars to get into the town and because the motorbike rules are different to here i could get to work in less than half the time. In England motorbikes filter to the front of traffic queues or lights.

I thought i would also save petrol too but my last bike was a Kawasaki 750 and I had to forget fuel economy because those things just don't go slow - especially out of town in the twisties.

I have found, for myself at least, that whatever power a bike or car has I will use the majority of it...not every moment but at least part of the time. That big block truck I had for example: I had it for 15 years and it was well into that time before I realized that if you didn't floor it the mileage wasn't so bad. But who can do that? It was fun to drive because it had so much power you'd get drunk with it. It would make you cocky because you could pull away from just about anything. You could be doing 80 on the interstate and punch the gas and it would yank you back in the seat.
I too don't need or rather want that kind of power now, not because of fuel consumption but because it got me in trouble that cost me a lot of money to get out of. Let's just say that I learned the hard way that 35 mph over the limit or double the speed limit is considered willful and wanton reckless driving in Florida.
That notwithstanding, it certainly was more expensive to operate a powerful car in those days. Even though fuel was cheaper they used a lot more of it.