This might be for another thread but there is something I am not getting. The Prius in the US is hailed as the super green car yet almost all of the cars people have been talking about get as good or better mileage (and probably don't look as stupid). Is there really any reason why the cars in the US, even when they are of similar size to a European car, use so much more fuel? On another note, I am really excited about having Fiat come to the US as they seem like a fun alternative to buying Japanese or Korean cars and with any luck, they will bring Alfa Romeo with them too. Oh, and: 2000 VW Jetta 2.0T (girlfriend's car) 29 mpg highway if you are very careful otherwise closer to 24-26
I get maybe 30mpg at the very most, and that's tailgating large trucks at 55-60mph. 50L gets about 250 miles both motorway and town driving. Landrover Defender 300TDi, 1995 model. I'm converting it to run on waste vegetable oil with a two tank system so that should drive it up
I've been asking the same questions about where the mileage cars are. We barely got the new Mini and the Smart cars were like pulling teeth to get here. We need the Fiats and the Diesel cars a lot but it will take some serious mind set changing and probably some legislative changes too. Part of the problem is the US is too damn big! Nebraska is over 400 miles wide by itself. A tiny Fiat on the Interstate system against the tractor trailers! The powers that be would rather see the trucks. john
To put it in perspective for the people who use US gallons, my polo does an average 38-40 mpg on a UK gallon for a US gallon thats 31.6-33 mpg
My Alfa Romeo 147 2.0 ts does 31.4mpg (summer) pretty much all the time (read from trip computer which is pretty accurate). I always fill up at 1/2 a tank and my driving consists of 99% country roads accelerating/decelerating from 40 to 60mph all the time. Occasional bit of spirited driving too. In the winter it drops to about 28mpg.
The prius is a joke. Every time I see one, it's on it's petrol engine... i've never actually seen one on the electric motors. It's a 1.5l petrol engine that has to haul a stupidly heavy car full of batteries (which are extremely toxic and polluting to produce). The end result is a car that is far more polluting than say a VW Lupo, or Citroen C1. Badly informed, gullable eco-wannabies are the only people who buy Prius, because some people are just happy to THINK they're helping the planet, even if they're actually killing it. The irony is that despite driving a Mustang, my total fuel usage per month is way less than the average Pruis driver, simply because the mustang is not my daily drive. My daily drive does 50mpg urban. I fill the tank (£25) and it lasts almost all month LOL. I only use the Mustang at weekends, and probably only do 100 miles in it. So... you can be green, and still drive a Muscle car at weekends, and still have a small "carbon footprint" If you buy a Prius.. you are genuinely stupid. I laugh at prius owners... especially at weekends when they give me that disgusted look LOL... I can smugly know that the truth, if only they knew it, would shock them... then I rev my V8 gratuitously and laugh some more. Losers.
According to Google Maps of my route I managed ~130 miles on 10 litres of petrol the other day. Not bad for motorway cruising in a power-less 10 year old Fiat.
= 60 MPG. Not bad at all. I'm sure mine's in the 20's somewhere, but I've never been bothered to calculate it. Being a 1.0L you'd think it would be more economical than that, but it needs thrashing just to get it to go anywhere at a reasonable pace.
I manage about 17 miles per gallon with my 07 FJ Cruiser.. But in my opinion as the fuel consumption goes down, so does safety. :-(
How do you work THAT out? Having a big car doesn't mean it's safe. Some small cars acheive a 5star safety rating, where as some big vehicles are woeful in a crash. You can design a safe car of any size.
Well, I've been through quite a few accidents on the road. Most recently, I was in a 1997 Ford Expedition (~11mpg with my driving), and the person who slammed into me was in a VW Jetta TDI (~tons more mpg). My car had a slight dent on the door and one of the windows cracked, theirs was totaled and one of them needed medical attention for something.. I made it to the party I was driving to. I'll probably be driving SUVs for quite a long time.. Tiny, economical car = death in an accident Big huge SUV = less death
Loads of small cars outperform large ones in safety tests. The safest cars always look worse after an accident because so much of their structure is designed to deform during the impact to decelerate you. The Jetta isn't a particularly safe car btw If you drive SUVs just because of a safety issue, you're misinformed. Thinking that having a car that looks undamaged after a crash is a good thing is also wrong... it means ALL the kenetic energy involved in the crash was transferred to the occupants, and the vehicle you hit.... one way or the other, your SUV will hurt someone.... but I guess so long as it's not you that's OK huh? LOL
I edit multiple times after posting, your quote holds an unfinished post. Having a parent that comes home and talks about the horrors of the emergency room pretty much every day doesn't help, but I'm pretty resigned to my idea that big cars are generally safer. I know that smaller cars somehow pull off 5* safety ratings or whatever, but in my experience the bigger car usually wins. Heavy snow every winter also helps the SUV case, not many other cars handle better on snow and ice than my car with the right set of tires. EDIT (I just read your edit): As long as the crash isn't my fault (and it hasn't been, so far), my conscience is perfectly clear.
As it should be.... it's not your fault. I wasn't saying you're heartless I know of many large cars that achieve poor safety ratings. Big isn't ALWAYS best... a big 5 star rated car will be better than a small 5 star rated car, assuming those are the 2 vehicles involved... but cars hit other things as well... trees, walls, lamp posts.... people... Safety isn't all about getting away with only a dented bumper. If I crash, I WANT my car to deform before that energy reaches the passenger cell. Yeah, my car will be a write off, but I'll be OK. PS I edit a lot as well
I don't think I have a single non-edited post. A quick search tells me that my car has 4 or 5 stars and 'GOOD's all around, and it's big. Win/win then?
I've done this myself a few times to see the effect of 'having fun' to being boring... Mazda MX5 mk2 1.8 Being boring my MPG is 33.02 Having fun my MPG is 23.93 You gotta pay to play!
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/nissan_navara/317.aspx Look at the results, and specifically read ncap's comments on that large, and at first glance very safe car. Even after modifying them to address the issues they still aren't great. http://www.euroncap.com/tests/nissan_navara_2008_2/319.aspx Now compare to http://www.euroncap.com/tests/ford_fiesta_2008/333.aspx Fiestas are small cars and get good MPG. From official stats a 5 door 1.4 middle of the range fiesta will do 45mpg combined. Navara's is 33mpg combined, but for a DIESEL . Edit: Obviously these are UK gallons.
