So what are you paying for gasoline?

[Sasq]

rylan, people in Oz usually have the same commutes as people in the states. see post above.

[gt40]

60 mpg??
the only vehicles here that get 60mpg are doing it in a free-fall off a cliff.

[bsdgeek]

Originally posted by Brian Ellis

Not really. I agree not to full-size SUV gas-guzzler standard. However, the Toyota Prius (and I understand the GM hybrid which will be launched shortly) has similar space and performance as a mid-sized car and will get better than 60 mpg, even in town driving.

The closest GM hybrids are pickups and I believe Ford has some hybrid SUVs in the works.

The Prius will never get better than (its rated) 60mpg city or 51mpg highway, in fact much less. Real world driving is seeing mileage in the low 40s, but Toyota is able to advertise it like that because the EPA's tests are 40 years old, outdated, and unrepresentative of real driving nowadays..

Take away our gas guzzlers? From my cold, dead hands!

[K6-III]

I don't see the value of the current generation of hybrids. The fuel economy dips significantly in cold weather, as the efficiency of the batteries drops. The batteries, on top of that, are only good for a few years.

I would think that similar advancements would be possible with a straight diesel motor. Just look at a car like the Volkswagen Lupo Diesel (70mpg). Even a VW with a larger diesel, like the Polo, Golf or Jetta/Bora, they can get fuel economy of 49 city/ 53 highway.

GM made a diesel demonstrator out of a Lotus Elise. They were able to get 0-60 acceleration of 8.8 seconds, while maintaining an astonishing fuel economy of 128 mpg!!! No hybrids required.

Otherwise, there is the much more interesting air-powered car from MDI. Powered by compressed liquid nitrogen, there is no combustion going on at all. All you need to do is plug in the air compressor for 4 hours to recharge the tank. By far the best in economy, it gets you 200 km, for $1.20 in electricity. Converting that to present gas prices in the us, that is like getting 300mpg!!!

In europe, feel free to mutiply that relative efficiency.

Check it out at www.theaircar.com

[rylan]

Didn't see your post before I posted Sasq Yeah I agree that most people don't need those stupid SUVs. Gotta love it when a huge gass guzzler with one person in it sitting in traffic on the way to work.

Something else that I think is silly are the SUV hybrids that are coming out soon. Throw an electric motor in it the size of the starter and they call it a hybrid, and it only improves gas mileage back to what cars are getting.

[Ajax]

$2.00/Gal. U.S. That's for 85 Octane. before 9-11 , the same gas was less than $1.00/Gal. U.S.

[GNEP]

Fuel cells baby. oh yeah. Methanol or hydrogen - whatever fits best with supply networks and storage at the time

As for the original topic: sorry, can't comment

[ZokesPro]

Originally posted by gt40
60 mpg??
the only vehicles here that get 60mpg are doing it in a free-fall off a cliff.

Or hybrids!!

[Jammrock]

Prices here are about $2.06 per gallon (~$0.55 per liter).

K6-III:

The current gen of hybrid batteries are garaunteed for 8 years.

Jammrock

[agallag]

The honda civic hybrid gets ~32-34 mpg in real world driving according to many unhappy owners. My 1998 Accord averages around 29 mpg. The Smart is waaaay better than most hybrids in real world mileage. It's a lot slower and smaller too, of course...

[ZokesPro]

It's all just one big conspiracy to get us to buy MORE gas. Notice how most cars aren't AS economical as they were back in the late 90's? Notice how there was a boom in big gas guzzling SUV's in 2000? And now since the war in Iraq, gas prices have skyrocketed. And car companies are still coming out with cars with BIG V8's. But this seems to be a North American thing.

I don't know for sure, maybe it's just me but there's something amiss in all this.

Prices here are at 94.9 cents a litre for 87 octane.

[gt40]

we should also note the diff between the U.S. gallon and the imperial gallon (3.8l vs 4.5l)

here currently about .90 litre 3.42/US gallon 4.05/imperial gallon for 94 octane

[The PIT]

Year 2004 and we're still struggling to get a car that can do 40 round town. I guess it's not in someones interests I wonder who's.

[Greebe]

There is a solid hydrogen storage cell that boasts double the storage of liquid tanks without the hazzards of explosion... developed by the husband wife team who developed NiCD/NmHd batteries being currently funded for developement for use in cars.

What noone has been yet able to figure out is howto produce quantities we need for it to be of practical use... well except Iceland with it's geothermal power plants.

[Greebe]

Originally posted by The PIT
Year 2004 and we're still struggling to get a car that can do 40 round town. I guess it's not in someones interests I wonder who's.

Ford Corporation for one... Saw the CEO of Ford whine on CSPAN to congress one day (last year sometime) about public transportation (mostly busing) was eating into his lucrative SUV sales.

LOL like that kind of person would be caught dead on a bus