"Inspired" by gas prices...

I don't think a media campaign will do it. Natural market forces and pain at the pump should take care of the mentality. Though you will not be able to include guns racks.

Recently, we had a republican candidate crack wise that you can't put a gun rack I'm a Chevy Volt. He is an old, out of touch man who basically lost already.

Here is an American who took offense and proved him wrong:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/22/man-proves-gingrich-wrong-puts-gun-rack-in-chevy-volt/

 

Yah, I heard Ginrich s statement on the BBC. And I see on Yahoo home page that the Ford Mustang, an unremarkable car , has been voted Americas Favorite or best or something...both are the media influencing the consumer.

Taxation is a big hammer...its effective, but hopefully gentle persuasion thru the media can accomplish the same . When people view being seen in a VOLT as cool then everyone wins.

 

Fuel is getting cheaper all the time and this is worldwide . . . .

Not in money but in time you have to work for it . . . :idea:

Fuel consumption keeps growing because people can afford to use more of it . . . . .

Look it up . . . . .

How many minutes do you have to work for a gallon ?

And how many minutes did someone with the same job have to work for a gallon - 10 years ago ? - 20 years ago ? - 30 years ago ? - 40 years ago ? - 50 years ago ? - 60 years ago ? - etc...​

Cheers,
Angel

 

Off course what you say is true. Us middle class boat fixers have a good life. Important to include frugality into this good life eqaution if your expect life to keep getting better.

 

Now, if oil went to $3000.00US a barrel over night we'd see some huge changes by the end of next week!

"Change the American mentality"... ROTFL!

-Tom

 

Don't forget to keep the windows closed while driving as the extra air drag of open windows causes more fuel use then running the A/C . .

Cheers,
Angel

 

I was in the car industry big time.

-depreciation is the killer.. BUY USED.

-do not lease,unless you can write most of it off. Leasing in order to get cheaper payments so you can get a bigger/nicer/faster car is stupid.

-most people are upside down ( owe more than the residual value) in their car leases,due to the car values crashing.
So when the lease ends...you give back the car and owe money on a car you don't drive.So you take a loan and make payments,or add the deficit onto the next lease....BOOM you are now stuck in the circle.

I'm fortunate I can walk anywhere for shopping, so my Rondo doesn't get used much,and I often take my Isetta,Heinkel,Messerschmitts out for drives.

Can get used Japanese Kei cars for very cheap here,and have fun with them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Kei_cars

 

I'd seriously question the accuracy of that projection. Did it account for resource depletion and exponential doubling ? There simply isn't enough refining capability or fuel resources available to power 4 billion cars, let alone produce them. I'd love to see those numbers, its just hardly seems possible. I read somewhere a while back that since the invention of the car there's only been about 3 billion produced total as of about 2010. And we are well beyond peak oil.

I'd agree wholeheartedly though that a massive reorganization of society is needed. Even my own efforts to escape the clutches of big oil are nearly futile as any really meaningful change would have to involve the masses and a far better use of resources than even what I'm doing with all my recycling of fuels.

I can recycle all the petroleum products I want, but I'm still depending on petroleum.

 

There are no gizzmos to add on to get significantly more mpg.

That water vapor injection thing, a jar with water and an additive, it was called the Mark II Vapor Injector and I put it on a 55 Chevy in 67! Didn't do squat! Water injection was used in WWII in fighters to give them more power to climb, not a new idea at all.

I'll be riding my motorcycle on nice days and think the F-150 will stay where it is....parked!

Get a bike!

 

I'll tell one thing water injection will do.

It'll keep the cumbustion chambers immaculate. No carbon build ups!

It can also inhibit pre-ignition and improve mileage, but not noticably.

-Tom

 

In 2006 i bought my first diesel car, a 1996 vw passat tdi with 192000 miles on it on ebay, i drove it for 60000 trouble free miles getting low to high 30s in all city driving and a solid 52mpg on trips at freeway speeds, unfortunatly i wrecked it a year ago but kept it as a donor and spent the year looking for a suitable recipient which i finally found 2 months ago in the form of an absolutly rust free 1996 passat glx wagon which i had to fly to NJ to pick up just after xmas, i drove it back to minnesota,loaded up with tools then drove to florida and just arrived back in Duluth on satureday in time for the current blizzard, sooo, i have 60000 miles experience with the TDI and 8000 miles experience with the V6 gas, what i can tell you with absolute certainty is that the TDI gets 2x the mpg in the identical car as the V6 and with better power.This coming summer, out goes the V6 and in goes the TDI and i will have the car of my dreams for short money, sometimes if you cant buy what you want you just have to build it. Now i could easily buy a much newer TDI passat wagon and not have to do all the work but unfortunatly like all auto mfgs VW has made them bigger, more luxurious,more airbags etc, etc, etc and consequently they are heavier and get about 10 mpg less than my 1st generation TDI and this, to me, is completly unacceptable. Ive considered a hybrid but i like to tow things and have yet to see a Prius with a hitch. I towed a 19ft beachcat from Fairfax, VA to Minnesota a month before i wrecked the TDI and got 52mpg going out empty and 30mpg towing the cat thru the mountains of west Virginia. As you can tell i love TDIs and have good reason to.
Steve.

 

Motorcycles have very poor aerodynamics. Look at their mpg, that's very bad for what they actually do. Here's some improvement.

Than... a good pair of walking shoes will cost me € 100 and I can walk 2,000 km on them before they are worn out. So they cost 5 cents per km. Which makes walking with a family of five will cost € 0.20 / km for good shoes alone. I can drive a small car for that..!! - (I think € is interchangeable for $ in this case)

Driving cars increases so much because it's so cheap compared to other costs. But we want more of everything which includes driving and flying.

Whining about fuel prices is of all times, but it's realy a wealth issue for most of us . . . . :idea:

Which actually is a good thing as it stimulate us to get more from a gallon or use less of it for the same effort . . . .

Cheers,
Angel

P.S.

5 cents x 5 = 0.25 - - See this post . . . . .

 

hmmmmm, I'm not ready to buy another car yet as the trucks not quite done yet. But your thoughts on that first generation Passat Steve are very interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out for one. 96 eh, did you strip it down or anything ? Even on free fuel, I hate the mileage I get out of my 250, its a hog.

 

You have to realize something. Free energy propulsion has been done a number of times, the problem is those making it get silenced and quieted down faster than they can make something.

The government want you to spend your money on them - if every one can ride around for free or almost no expense the government would go bankrupt overnight - so they don't look on this kindly.

If you can generate energy for (almost) free just think of the consequences. Power, fuel, boats.... all paying a handsome amount into non working pockets. Think they will let you ?

 

If there was free energy, you can bet I would be installing it on my new boat.

I have as close to free as possible. Very well performing sail boat optimized to sail instead of motor.

There is no free energy, except solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, or other natural phenomenon. You need equipment to tap those though.