Gas $$ Questions

[bj229r]

Originally posted by Lazerus
Mini is made by BMW now.

Ah..splains much ....You know why Brits don't make computers?.......cant figger out how to make them leak oil:rofl

[beet1e]

See Rule #5

[Jackal1]

See Rule #4/#5

[beet1e]

Jackal, it's no BS.

In 1979, I was working for the State of Illinois in Springfield. There were a few other Brits there. Most had just got there, and were in the process of buying cars. I got a 1977 Camaro Type LT. One of the other guys, Chris, bought a large 1967 Buick. I don't recall the model name, but it was an ordinary 4-dr car - saloon, or "sedan" as you guys call them. Remember that we had been used to paying more for fuel in Britain as you read this.

Chris was bemoaning the amount of fuel his Buick went through. I remember the conversation well. It went like this.

Me: "I see you've bought one of those huge monsters - what made you buy that?"
Chris: "It was going very cheap because of the fuel crisis"
Me: "Oh - what IS the fuel consumption in one of those?"
Chris: "9mpg"
Me: "9 miles per gallon??? wow - what do you get on the highway?"
Chris: "That IS the highway mileage. In town it's around 6mpg"

I'm just reporting what I was told, Jackal. You might argue that his Buick needed a tune up, but so did thousands of other cars. Speaking of which...

A ladyfriend I met had a 1974 Ford Thunderbird. It was in such a bad state of tune that it could idle half a tank of gas away in 2 hours. Don't ask me how I know this.

A couple of weeks later, she took me to Springfield Memorial for emergency treatment - good job she filled up with gas before setting out!

[lazs2]

"The 1969 Hemi big block powered Ford El Camino, the epitome of motoring pleasure."

untill you have driven a showroom stock example of one beet... you and your brit friends will never understand what it is to be American!

It's like when you take the safety off of your .45 magnum revolver for the first time.... It can't be described except maybe by a brit action novel writer.

lazs

[lazs2]

when diesels get good enough I may get one for a cruiser... no rush.   They aren't where I want a car to be at the moment.  

Diesel is going to go up even more than gasoline here in the states with our new 7ppm low sulphur laws... When you guys have to stop poluting... so will it  there.

The only real advantage I see to it now is that it stores easy but until I have a lot of land it is a moot point.

Like I said... when the hair dryers and microwave quit working.... the women will use tree huggers and spotted owls to feed help keep the coal fired power plants running...

It may be a tad early to get all panicy and weepy.

lazs

[ghi]

Originally posted by lazs2
[Diesel is going to go up even more than gasoline here in the lazs [/B]

 I think only in US the diesel has the same price like gasoline or higher in most of the states, but is cheaper in most of the world . From the same amount of crude oil can be procesed 10-15% more diesel than gasoline. On top of that diesel in US is taxed more than gasoline. But the diesel fuel powers the  economy

[beet1e]

Lazs

Esso (Exxon in the US) was producing low sulphur diesel 5 years ahead of the EU deadline. The brand name is ULS2000.

[Jackal1]

See Rule #4

[beet1e]

I wasn't talking about a '54, and I wasn't talking about a Caddy. And I wasn't even talking of of a NEW car. I was talking about my friend's 1967 Buick, which was by then 13 years old.  In all probability, the engine was not in as good condition as a new model, and probably wouldn't have been even after a tune up and/or other maintenance. THAT is the point.  

City driving under varied traffic conditions resulted in an 11 mpg average. Highway cruising average was about 16-17 mpg at steady speeds of 50-65 mph. Overall average was just under 14 mpg

14mpg is "good"?

[Jackal1]

See Rule #4

[beet1e]

I was referring to your statement you made pertaining to the U.S. consuming most of the gas supply in which you stated that the 50 models got 5 to 6 mpgs, Remember that?

No, I didn't state that 50s models got 6mpg,although that might well have been true as they got older. And I never said that any car got only 5mpg. I was referring to my friend's 1967 Buick, which got 6mpg in town - 9mpg highway. And from what I saw, there were many such cars driving around in 1979.

You mentioned some other cars, but always gave the BEST mileage for those cars. One of them got 11mpg. In town driving, it would have been much lower, and as the car got older and deteriorated as the carburator jets wore and the ignition system wore, it would have become lower still. Perhaps as low as 6mpg.

I was never talking about spanking brand new cars, but of the sort of rust ridden clunkers I saw driving around, with busted exhaust systems. And there were many.

I think I did say that America's fuel consumption in the past 50 years had been out of proportion to that of the rest of the world, largely because of those gas guzzling cars that America had. Surely you don't want to argue about that in front of a world-wide community?

[Jackal1]

See Rule #4/#5

[Jackal1]

See Rule #5

[beet1e]

See Rule #5