I love all this great mpg and stories about the hybrids etc. However I think we many times are selling our old clunkers a little short. I have a 2000 VW Jetta that I bought used for $7000 US. It had 50000 miles on it. It now has 140000 miles on the clock. It returns 30 to 32 mpg on the hiway and consistantly returns 26 to 28 mpg around town. It carries 4 adults comfortably and is comfortable on trips of long trips (400 to 500 miles in a day). So please help mr to understand why I should be spending $25,000 to $35,000 for one of these eco friendly wonder cars when for a small amount of maintenance money I can drive another 100,000 miles in my Jetta.
Burning Volts.
- Thread starter lonesomebob
- Start date
It makes perfect economic sense to hang on to your current model longer. My 4x4 does 25 mpg as against like 40 mpg or so I might get by trading up. It's 20 years old and I've had it 10 years. The difference I would have to pay would buy me an awful lot of fuel, + of course, there's all the pollution and energy consumed involved in making new cars!
I would add that I only do around 5,000 miles a year..
But, to me, the major advantage is, there is not a single sensor or computer on-board yet it has all the toys that a new ish one has except electronic load sensing (that's in my right foot :laugh: ). Therefore it has never failed to start in any weather and has never broken down ever even when I was punishing it on extreme off-road courses.
I would add that I only do around 5,000 miles a year..
But, to me, the major advantage is, there is not a single sensor or computer on-board yet it has all the toys that a new ish one has except electronic load sensing (that's in my right foot :laugh: ). Therefore it has never failed to start in any weather and has never broken down ever even when I was punishing it on extreme off-road courses.
I, for one. would love the EPA and AAA and others to let go of this "55 mph is where you get the best highway mileage" BS. Every car is different.
My 1995 Acura Integra GSR saw its best mpg cruising at 80 mph. 4 adult passengers, going from San Diego to Las Vegas, with AC on. We were in a caravan, and someone had to stop for gas. I was far from needing to get some, but I filled up anyway. I was getting over 40 mpg. My boss has a 1996 GSR, and he saw similar numbers going 80 mph when he worked for IBM in NY.
Ian
My 1995 Acura Integra GSR saw its best mpg cruising at 80 mph. 4 adult passengers, going from San Diego to Las Vegas, with AC on. We were in a caravan, and someone had to stop for gas. I was far from needing to get some, but I filled up anyway. I was getting over 40 mpg. My boss has a 1996 GSR, and he saw similar numbers going 80 mph when he worked for IBM in NY.
Ian
If you love the Volt, here's an opportunity to get a $40,000 car subsidized for $250,000 each at the giveaway price of $2,529 down and $260 a month lease!
"According to TrueCar.com, the current Volt lease offer—which expires on September 4—is $2,529 down, and $260 a month for 36 months. But PluginCars.com is hearing about even better lease offers from individual dealers. There are anecdotal reports of a two-year lease for $249 a month, with $2,479 due at signing; and a three-year lease at $268 a month, with only $999 paid upfront."
Chevrolet Volt Lease Was Competitive, Now a Steal | PluginCars.com
"According to TrueCar.com, the current Volt lease offer—which expires on September 4—is $2,529 down, and $260 a month for 36 months. But PluginCars.com is hearing about even better lease offers from individual dealers. There are anecdotal reports of a two-year lease for $249 a month, with $2,479 due at signing; and a three-year lease at $268 a month, with only $999 paid upfront."
Chevrolet Volt Lease Was Competitive, Now a Steal | PluginCars.com
And now the Nissan Leaf appears to be another flop in the electric care arena.
Is It Time to Declare the Nissan Leaf a Flop? | Business | TIME.com
Is It Time to Declare the Nissan Leaf a Flop? | Business | TIME.com
Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
I think I'd rather walk than drive one of those. Why can't I buy a Ford Fiesta with that three-cylinder EcoBoost engine that they sell overseas? Or a 1-liter diesel, dammit? Every country but ours.
Jim,
I would have thought this diesel I saw yesterday would be more up your street.
Miles per gallon 68.9 @70 mph
Top Speed Over 190 mph
Acceleration 0-60 mph in 3.7. seconds
Fuel range Over 2000 miles
Cruising engine revs 70mph @ 980 rpm
Fuel
Mineral diesel, Bio diesel (either RME or UCO)
Palm oil, Linseed oil
Chassis
Folded Stainless steel 4003 grade
Guaranteed for life (100 years)
Body Unstressed composite
Luggage capacity Four suitcases and a set of golf clubs
Aero dynamics
Flat floor twin venturis
with optional under wings
Safety
Front and rear crushable zones plus
Driver and Passenger air bags
Servicing Annually or 100,000 miles
Attachments
Pete McCluskey.
Lifetime Supporter
Not on the track? Mr.Morton may not agree?:evil:
Keith,
Used to think the same about diesels but they have come a long way since the early days , maybe objectors will feel the same about electric vehicles in a few decades
. I'm just off to the local chippy to see what they do with thir old cooking oil.
.With his usual size hangovers, there are times when a whispering diesel at Le Mans and Silverstone are a bonus, that, and he gets paid for it...
Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
Where do I buy one? I'll even take RHD if I have to.....who makes this?
One of the biggest reasons your "American friends" don't like diesels is because they have been told it is a carcinogen for decades.
Anytime the government uses the term "carcinogenic," our wallets get thinner.
The other reason is the GM diesel of the late seventies that was a rushed V8 gasoline engine converted to diesel. Responding to the false Carter warning that we were out of oil, a huge market was more than willing to give diesel a try, and GM was there for them with one of the worst mass production engines of all time.
Anytime the government uses the term "carcinogenic," our wallets get thinner.
The other reason is the GM diesel of the late seventies that was a rushed V8 gasoline engine converted to diesel. Responding to the false Carter warning that we were out of oil, a huge market was more than willing to give diesel a try, and GM was there for them with one of the worst mass production engines of all time.
Much worse, this was a regular 350 GM gasoline V8 hastily converted to diesel. It never ever worked well enough to achieve POS status, but had lots of buyers because of the desire for fuel economy.
This engine was a main contributer to the destruction of the GM reputation for reliability, and set back acceptance of the diesel in a passenger vehicle decades in America.
350 equaling 5.8.
Sorry Bob... Not true. The 350 diesel you are talking about, while never a stellar performer, was indeed a true diesel through and through. It is a common misbelief that this was a gas engine converted to diesel - but that is far from the truth. What the real story was that GM's Oldsmobile division made the engine block and cylinder head castings very similar to the gasoline engine, they were done that way so the diesel cars could use all the same bolt-on accessories. The internals were all quite different and of substantial strength as you would normally find in a diesel engine.
Basically the largest downfall of this engine was the public that bought them soley on the basis of saving a few dollars at the pumps. The engines ran pretty well for what they were, but as you can imagine, they were down on power from the gasoline powered cars. I believe that these little diesels only put out 120-125 hp at best.
Fuel contamination was a HUGE problem with these cars.
As I recall the first ones did not have a water separator on them (GM screwup there).. Also there were the dolts that accidently fueled them up with unleaded gasoline (my next door neighbor's wife did that) and immediately bflew both headgaskets and caused a number of othere prolems in the fuel system and injectors. She did say that while the car was very noisey, it was really "peppy" for a few blocks before it stalled,,,
Getting up to temp. No engine likes being worked hard before all the parts are warmed up and friendly. Diesels are even moreso in that category..
Many people did not run them long enough to get the up to temperature before wringing the little engine's neck while they floored them to get them up to highway speeds as fast as they were accustomed to.
So - that's a little history lesson on the 5.7 GM Diesel. Too bad Americans (for the most part) are so inept when it comes to the proper treatment of an engine. This makes them even less likely to purchase a diesel...
Well, Randy, I was dumb enough to buy one of them. A very nice burgundy Olds Cutlass wagon.
It never ran well, smoking, running very roughly, just plain stalling out and getting towed to the dealer. Going up a mountain was an embarrassing nightmare. It spewed smoke all the way up the hill and struggled the whole way with two adults and no further load.
The dealership I took it to, on a monthly basis, even built a special clean room to work on the injection system, and nothing they ever did kept it going more than a week or two without a new problem. They never once told me someone put gasoline in instead of diesel, and I know we didn't.
The dealership was very sincere in trying to get this thing right, but they never could and finally admitted they couldn't. I got out of it, knowing I couldn't afford to pay for this kind of service myself when the warranty would end, and took a drubbing on trade in. I was happy to get rid of it.
Here's just a random sample of guys dealing with these things, very telling;
The GM 5.7 Olds 350 Diesel Thread - Topic
It never ran well, smoking, running very roughly, just plain stalling out and getting towed to the dealer. Going up a mountain was an embarrassing nightmare. It spewed smoke all the way up the hill and struggled the whole way with two adults and no further load.
The dealership I took it to, on a monthly basis, even built a special clean room to work on the injection system, and nothing they ever did kept it going more than a week or two without a new problem. They never once told me someone put gasoline in instead of diesel, and I know we didn't.
The dealership was very sincere in trying to get this thing right, but they never could and finally admitted they couldn't. I got out of it, knowing I couldn't afford to pay for this kind of service myself when the warranty would end, and took a drubbing on trade in. I was happy to get rid of it.
Here's just a random sample of guys dealing with these things, very telling;
The GM 5.7 Olds 350 Diesel Thread - Topic
