Okay this REALLY makes me MAD!!!!!!

[CajunCamper]

I just read an article about a competition that's been taking place since 1939 called the Shell EcoMarathon. People from all over the world develop gas powered cars and compete to see who can get the most mileage from one gallon of gas.

This year the French team will try to beat the record they set last year  of (now get this) 8,924 miles to the gallon. Yeah you heard me right 8,924 miles to the gallon. Sure this is a one seater and it's light as a feather and it only travels about 20 miles an hour, but don't you think with this kind of engineering and brain power they could do a lot better with the vehicles us regular folks drive.

I'm not asking for 8,924 miles to the gallon, hell just give me 1% of that, I'll settle for 89 miles to the gallon just let me keep my A/C, radio and continue to tow my pup.

Ya think the oil companies have a deal worked out with the car manufacturers to keep the mileage low and the fuel consumption up.

Anyway, I just had to vent.

CajunCamper

[AZsix]

Years and years ago I had heard that a man came up with an invention that would let cars get 100 mpg's. I heard that the oil companies promptly bought his invention.

On another note, there was an article in our local paper that Shell had posted a 9 billion, yes that's BILLION dollar profit for last quarter. Not the year but for one quarter. Then they have the urge to tell us that they are only passing on the increases to us. Remember back in the 70's when oil prices only seemed to go up when OPEC would meet and decide to raise prices? Now it seems that the oil companies use any excuse in the world to raise prices. Reasons that I have heard have been hurricanes, refineries shut down for maintenance, fire at a refinery, switching to summer blend and I think once they said that some guy named Bill had called in sick and they had to raise prices just in case he didn't get better and had to stay out and extended time. Gotta love the oil companies.

[Dee4j]

It's all a conspiracy :eyecrazy:

[spicyville1]

I agree with Dee4j on this one. I remember in the mid 70's when gas went to 0.60 a gallon. I thought I was going to have to stop cruising! We are getting closer and closer to "Mad Max" days I tell ya!

[beacher]

Time for some solutions !  Remember these?  

Way back. when gasoline first hit $1.00/gallon it seemed that everyone's dad in my neighborhood was ordering J.C. Whitney catalogs so they could install their own water injector!  That was the first time I ever heard of J.C. Whitney!!



.

[MomboTN]

Before we start going too crazy on the conspiracy theories, I thought I would add my theory.  
Let's say I build a house and it cost me $100k, and I decide to sell the house.  It is the only house on the street and 10 people want to buy it.  I start at $110k for a reasonable profit.  The next thing you know we are in a bidding war and the top bid is $200k.  I sell the house for $200k and and make $100k profit.  What did I do wrong?  I didn't build 10 houses so I could sell them each for $110k.
The same is true for fuel.  OPEC and other suppliers regulate how much oil they will pump and refineries convert it into gas.  If they don't pump enough or refine enough then we get into a bidding war with others that want fuel.  This includes some of the fastest growing populations like India and China.  We are not expanding our drilling or Shale conversion in the US and we are not building new refineries so we are helping to limit supply.  
Prices for fuel are set by the commodities markets in NY and Chicago not by some big wig in Dallas or Saudi Arabia.  
The part I am not sure about is how much control the companies like Exxon and BP have over how much they are allowed to pump and how much is determined by the contracts they have with the foreign governments where they are pumping.
OK, I will put my soap box back in the closet now.

[Old Goat]

I can remember when gas was .10 and .11 cents a gallon during the Great Depression. Back then, a lot of people did not have cars and many of those who did could not afford to buy gas so they did a lot of walking, riding bicycles, buses and car pooling. The population of America was about half of what it is now so it was not neccessary to import any oil and just about every thing was made or grown in the USA.

[austinado16]

Of course it's a conspiracy.  If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck.

If we've got the fuel resources to power this BS war in Iraq and Afganistan for the last......oh......6-7 years, then we've got the recources to fuel our own country by ourselves and not buy anyone's oil.  Don't forget that most of our oil is sold to overseas, including what comes from Alaska.  And what about those huge blow-off flames that run 24/7 on the drilling platforms in Alaska.  Funny how with global warming and melting polar ice, those insanely huge blow torches continue to burn around the clock.

The reason why the mileage contest is run by a petroleum giant is simple.  Find out who's got the technology, buy it, and throw it away.  Want to see the industry hard at work?  Go rent the DVD, "Who Killed The Electric Car."

[Old Starcraft]

I just read an article about a competition that's been taking place since 1939 called the Shell EcoMarathon. People from all over the world develop gas powered cars and compete to see who can get the most mileage from one gallon of gas.
 
This year the French team will try to beat the record they set last year of (now get this) 8,924 miles to the gallon. Yeah you heard me right 8,924 miles to the gallon. Sure this is a one seater and it's light as a feather and it only travels about 20 miles an hour, but don't you think with this kind of engineering and brain power they could do a lot better with the vehicles us regular folks drive.
 
I'm not asking for 8,924 miles to the gallon, hell just give me 1% of that, I'll settle for 89 miles to the gallon just let me keep my A/C, radio and continue to tow my pup.
 
Ya think the oil companies have a deal worked out with the car manufacturers to keep the mileage low and the fuel consumption up.
 
Anyway, I just had to vent.
 
CajunCamper

Thats what I've been wondering lately. A friend of mine purchased a 86' CRX HF ni 87'. He bragged about his top of 58mpg on a trip from SC to Wisconsin. Mind you that he was moving with all of his stuff, it was packed so tight he the only "wiggle" room he had was in his seat. The only window he could see out of was his drivers side window.
 
So.... how is that we now have these expensive hybrids that get only marginally better gas mileage than a non-hybrid, but had cars in the 80's with close to 60 mpg's?? :confused:   AND competitions like CajunCamper speaks of with better than 8,000 mpg's ? :compumad:
 
P.S. I'm just a "youngster" here, I remember pumping at $0.45 per gallon, and didn't get too excited until $1.10.

[MotherNature]

I hear ya!

My Dad has been yakking for years (he's 65) about how "years ago" there was a gas engine invented that got 55+ mpg but "someone" didn't want it to be known.  The older I get, the less crazy he sounds.

I personally DO NOT believe that we can have all of our modern conveniences (cell phones, computers, medical advances, etc.) and not have a gasoline engine that gives high mpg yields.  It just doesn't make sense.  Something's wrong here.

[austinado16]

I too laugh at all the hybrids.  There have been high mileage cars around since the late 50's, it's just that nobody cared back then.

For example:
1959 the Britished introduced the 850cc Mini.....40+mpg easily
1962 British introduce the 1100/1300 sedans and wagons....high 30's.
1970 Honda introduced the 600.....45-50mpg all day long
1973 Honda intruduced the Civic.....high 30's, easily
1974 VW introduced the gas Rabbit.....high 30's
1977 VW introduced the diesel Rabbit....50mpg
1980 VW introduced the diesel Rabbit pickup.....50mpg

In the mid 80's VW's with tall 5 speeds got mid to high 30's at speed on the freeway.  Honda's line continued to get high 30's and up into the 50's as noted above.  VW continues production of their diesel and turbo diesel cars, although they were not allowed in CA, they all got in the 50mpg range.

1995/96 VW introduces the TDI diesels.  Quiet, as powerful as the gas cars, and 52mpg on the freeway at 75+mph.  Their TDI's are still the highest mileage getting cars.

What VW and Honda did with standard engines is still impressive to this day.  What Toyota has done with a hundred million dollars worth of research and technology.........uh, not so impressive, and their transaxles are already failing, not to mention the battery packs.

[Darrell T]

I have to agree with not being impressed with the mileage vehicles get today.
In 1988 I had a 1987 Honda CRX and could get 60 mpg on the hiway and 46 mpg in town. That was with 21 year old technology. I haven't seen a vehicle today that gets that, hybrid or otherwise.
I also have a 1990 Ford Mustang GT with the hi output 5.0 liter. The car is a blast to drive and plenty of power and gets 30 mpg on the hiway and 22 in town. Today I see all kinds of commercials for boring underpowered econoboxes that brag about 30 mpg or a little better on the hiway.
I also have a 1979 IH Scout II that is built for playing in the rocks ie:it is heavy with skidplates, spare parts, tools, big tires and all kinds of extras that add lots of weight and it gets 15 mpg on the hiway...heck that is what some of the new suv's of similar weight and aerodynamics (or maybe the lack there of) get.
Any one see a problem here??
I don't know if my vehicles are exceptions to the rule or what but I doubt it.
DT

[austinado16]

I had sort of forgotten that Honda was king of mileage, until just recently when a neighbor was talking about looking for one of the old 80's ones; that they are gold right now and impossible to find.  

We have friends with an '02 Dogde Durango that gets 16/21.  My wife's Aunt and Uncle own a Prius and it only gets 35ish on the highway when it's in gasoline engine mode.  Our $1,400 '86 Jetta gas would get 37 on the highway at 70+mph, and had 220k on the clock when we sold it.  I'm looking forward to seeing the Prius' at 200k.....and hearing about the thousands spent on them for batteries and electronics.

[wavery]

I've always said that the 1st person to develop the next generation battery, that will actually last, will become richer than Bill Gates.

It really disturbs me that there hasn't been more of a concerted effort placed on developing fuel cell automobiles. To heck with "Fuel economy". That mentality has to stop. We must get away from the internal combustion engine.

[austinado16]

That's one of the great things in the movie "Who Killed The Electric Car."  There is a guy who invented "that" battery.  IIRC GM bought the patents and then sold them to Texaco.  Then GM put standard batteries in the EV-1 because CA was going to mandate that a higher and higher percentage of EV's be sold. GM wanted to show that EV's weren't viable because there were no good batteries for them and people weren't going to buy a car that couldn't go anywhere.  It's mind numbing.