lol - don't laugh gryphon -
brief rant - we could easily have cars that get better mileage - we don't want to buy them - when i was just in italy i was stunned - one of the largest cars there was the smart car - EVERYTHING was smaller and getting better mileage than the cars we buy here - there is no motivation to make or sell anything that does anything better
as for engines getting better economy, even without dropping the vehicle size, that is happening too - again though, only as much as the companies HAVE to in order to meet the standards - the same thing happened with the EV1 - they made exactly the minimum number the government said they had to, but only leased them, because there was a loophole that said they didn't have to actually sell them to customers
here is proof of the point, and something to write your congressman about: basic physics tells us that burning a fuel produces energy - we also know that in a gasoline engine power output increase is geometrically inverse to the increase in amount of fuel burned - it is physically impossible to make an engine that, after 50 years (the chevy small block for example) suddenly gets twice the power output without that same engine also being able to get at least twice the fuel economy instead of the increase in power
they are making such engines now, which produce nearly twice the power they did before, yet the fuel economy stays essentially the same - my 72 chevy pickup with a 220hp 350 averaged 13mpg - my 06 denali, with a larger engine making 400hp, averages 13.5 - my 86 civic got 38mpg - a new one gets 33
why? because that's what the public wants - that's what the oil companies want - when the demand changes, so will the cars
i would love to see HUGE penalties for anything that gets less than 30mpg, and big taxes on gasoline to fund alternative sources and public transportation - it is incredibly offensive to think that we can't have cars that get at least that rating, and says a lot that the public can be so naive to think that this is as good as we can do
but i digress - i what i really meant to say is that these are a lot like the cars looked like when i was in italy - they are becoming more and more cartooney
94 Midnight Metallic Blue Cab Porsche 968 w/deviating cashmere/black interior and WAY too many mods to list - thanks to eric for creating
www.968forums.com
"It isn't nearly as expensive to do it right as it is to do it wrong."
