Can anyone explain it?

[Days]

thx gaffer, I'll keep my eye on it.

 

[NightSwimmer]

Damn Gaff,

You're a pretty good salesman. I can see why they called you back out of retirement.

 

[NightSwimmer]

All Americans would handle an inconvience when getting double milage, or are you saying Americans are so lazy & rich that they'll payy 100.00 bucks to fill a tank & go 300 miles, when the could pay the same 100 & go 600 miles.

I know they woan't if given the choice, we're all to broke to just piss away money on gas when we could double our milage & as I said there is not 1 gas station in any of the towns I visit that don't sell diesel.

Which is why I suspect yu don't want to name any towns, because I could show how abundant easily availabe diesel is.

& the subject was always about why over in europe & the uk, it's easy to get a great & huge selection of cars that get 75 or more MPGs & these aren't little cracker boxes as the uninformed always like to assume they are.

But I can continue this tomorrow as its my bedtime.

Goodnight.

Richard,

I'm not attempting to project my own views onto society. I'm merely telling you what I have objectively observed. I have no motive for being dishonest. I am personally supportive of smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles, but I'm also a realist.

 

[degsme]

What I would say to you is


"Don't make the mistake of conflating your personal views with what the market generally demands." there is a HUGE demand here in America for vehicles that get 75MPG, & I can prove it. Put them on the market & watch'em go.

Tell sell like hot cakes on a cold morning.

Also There is not a single gas staion in my town & columbus ohio, louisville Ky etc that doesn't sell diesel along with their gas.

Still extrapolating from YOUR PERSONAL experience. i seriously doubt you've polled every gas station in Columbus and Louisville. And since Petro companies set gas prices and product mixes on a BLOCK BY BLOCK basis, your claim just isn't believable.

 

[degsme]

This aint the 80s no more, people are broke.

No they aren't. Many FEEL broke. but "many" is not the MAJORITY. Furthermore those that FEEL broke - are not going to buy a new car. Whcih means that the very market you claim would drive buying NEW high milage cars, is the market that is NOT BUYING new cars.

Put'em on the maket & watch'em fly off the show room floor.

They ALREADY ARE THERE and are NOT "flying off the show room floors" except in the AFFLUENT areas where they are purchased for SOCIAL STATUS.

Of course big oil ain't gonna let that happen & let their sales be slashed by up to 50%,

RIGHHHTT... Do tell how "big oil" is preventing this...

Getting popcorn... this will be good

 

[degsme]

VW Passat in Europe 78.5 MPG
UK Toyota Prius 72.4 MPG
UK Ford Fiesta ECOnetic – 65 MPG

All are DIESEL Hybrids.

Diesel does not sell well in the USA.

Ty buying a Ford F150 Pickup in Europe. or a GMC Suburban... they aren't there. Different markets, different product MIXES... doesn't mean that one has "more choices" than the other.

US Car ownership is 828/1000 polp. Of 310 million popl that's about 256 million units
EU ownership is about 1/2 that 473 cars/thousand popl but has 731 mil in the Greater Europe For about 350 mil units.

so you will have similar number of DIFFERENt vehicles.

Your point is not a meaningful one - other than to say... different markets, different product mixes.

 

[TaiPan]

Not sure if this is the correct place for this post, but here goes anyway.

Why is it, that in Europe & the UK getting a car that gets 75 miles or more to the gallon of gas/diesel is very common & the selection of vehicles is vast & abundant, but we don't get those same options or cars made available to us here in the USA?

I have heard its because big oil has our politicians in their pocket & they keep those vehicles from being made available to us, all for their financial gain.

Do any of you have any insight on this?

Thanks
Richard Hammond.

The car you are talking about is a Volkswagon Diesel and the reason it isn't sold here is simple, it doesn't meet the EPA Clean Air Standards at this time. Giving Volkswagon credit for its engineering, no doubt some day it will. The Jetta and Passat TDIs sold here already reach 35+mpg, a friend has one that is @ 5yrs old that routinely gets 40+ mpg on the road. The technology is there, the vehicles are there, it truly is a matter of changing the what that we buy that will make the difference in the marketplace. IF companies can't sell it, they quit making it.

I won't try to predict when cars with the ability to get 75 mpg will hit the US market, but sooner or later they will. One of the real problems is that some people who can count have figured out that the average cost of gasoline today, adjusted for inflation is actually a bit less than it was before the 1st Arab oil embargo, back in Nixon's day - less than $1.00 per gal. Inflation has been about 420% +/- during the same period, and the value of that 1968 was a hell of a lot more than a dollar today. If you balance it all out, in terms of 1968 dollars, I seem to recall the actual cost per gal is somewhere around 76-92 cents per gal. Compare that to the cost of a candy bar which has risen on average 1200% over the same time frame.

In any case that's another side of the story on supra fuel efficient engines, and gas prices. Remember the revolution after the 1st Arab Embargo and the change in direction for the US Auto Market that bankrupted Chrysler and thew GM and & Ford into a tailspin. Imports with higher mileage numbers took a giant share of the US market. The next round of efficiency will have a similar effect, as ultimately will natural gas, hydrogen and electric powered cars.

Tai Pan