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Show us a picture of your.. CAR!!!
cmpm:
@ Shades I agree that leaving 5 minutes early helps save energy.
When I'm not rushed, I drive without as much stress. So I don't stress the car either. Take off slower and keep my foot out of the tank.
Tinman57:
That's a myth, and a damn sad one at that. -Stoic Joker (August 02, 2013, 09:49 PM)
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Sorry, you can't argue with physics. It's a scientific known that you can only get X amount of power out of a gallon of gasoline. Most of the energy in a car is wasted in the form of heat, then there's friction and other factors (a bunch of factors). Sure you can use a lot of technology and get superb power and economy, but just look at the price of those Mustangs and you'll figure out why they cost so damned much. (BTW, I just sold a 70 Boss 351 Mustang). So most car manufacturors either go for fuel economy or power. Then they put out one or two that has both but at one hell of an expensive price tag, the tech cost money.
Take a look at the cage that surrounds the Elio, your not going to get crunched unless someone hits you at an extremely high speed. Even a tank will come apart if something hits it fast enough. I've been hit on my bike too, in fact, that's why I no longer have my GSXR 1100, some 15 year old teeny-bopper gal ran over me, and I do mean OVER ME. I had the tire imprints on my ass to prove it. Sorry, but I'll take the cage over nothing any day.
My GSXR was geared low, I think first gear had the highest ratio of all the gears, up to 60 mph. Seconds gear only got me up to 90.
I've had performance cars all my life, mostly 70 Mustangs. I also have a heavy foot, I don't take five minutes to get up to 60 like most grandpa's. lol In fact, I hate getting behind those slow ass grandpa's, which is why I bought a turbocharged performance car, very little patience. 8)
The only reason the Elio is classified as a motorcycle is because it only has 3 wheels. It's actually a motorcycle/car hybrid, which makes it that much more unusual, and good looking at the same time. If you read Elio's biography, you'll see the idea behind the Elio is a car that gets ultimate gas mileage and can be afforded by all, can even be bought with a credit card. I can afford just about anything I want, but I fell in love with the Elio for it's style and super gas mileage to top it off. If I should decide that I want more umph out of it, I'll just slap on a turbocharger..... :P
Stoic Joker:
That's a myth, and a damn sad one at that. -Stoic Joker (August 02, 2013, 09:49 PM)
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Sorry, you can't argue with physics. It's a scientific known that you can only get X amount of power out of a gallon of gasoline. Most of the energy in a car is wasted in the form of heat, then there's friction and other factors (a bunch of factors).-Tinman57 (August 03, 2013, 08:02 PM)
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Quite to the contrary my friend ... I'm not arguing the physics...merely how they're being applied. I'm well aware of there being a fixed amount of energy in said gallon of gas. And that there is an inherent loss of ~80% between combustion pressure and tire patch. That part is indeed pointless to debate.
My point is that the previous held and still sadly quite common (axiom?) belief that one must settle for either economy (e.g. MPG) or performance is solely based on the antiquated technology commonly knows as the carburetor. The carburetor, being nothing more than a variable rate leak between the tank and engine... Had to be of a predetermined fixed size and quickly fell out of range due to an entire rang of atmospheric variables. You had either large (performance) or small (MPG) and ever forward you were stuck with what ever you picked.
Enter EFI...
Sure you can use a lot of technology and get superb power and economy, but just look at the price of those Mustangs and you'll figure out why they cost so damned much. (BTW, I just sold a 70 Boss 351 Mustang). So most car manufacturors either go for fuel economy or power. Then they put out one or two that has both but at one hell of an expensive price tag, the tech cost money.-Tinman57 (August 03, 2013, 08:02 PM)
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Price is irrelevant...the question on the table is... Does the technology exist? Well... The mere fact that some of the vehicles are actually available at dealerships today ... Does rather go a long ways towards supporting my assertion. Not to mention that many of the European super cars not only get several hundred horsepower per CI more than we seem to be able to pull off, but also have a handy option to switch engine maps for even more HP on the fly. Well, it just looks to me like somebody in engineering just isn't trying hard enough.
So if you really look at the price of the various models today (the wife and I have been quite a bit lately), you will see that the models that I'm referring to are actually in the center of the price range...not the top. The top slot is reserved exclusively for the eco-spastic hybrid models that try to get 50+ MGP usually by primarily running on a set of excruciatingly expensive ($3,000 -$5,000) batteries.
Being that my truck is currently in the frame shop after I got hit, and my bike was having issues (hay it is an 87...) My brother and I had to use the wife's (econo-box) Dodge Caliber to make a parts run. While having (almost exclusively) driven all manner of high performance vehicles ... I have never in my life been that flat out scared as I was at the prospect of trying to launch that gutless POS across traffic on a busy highway. Slamming the petal to/through the floor resulted in what I will simply describe as no discernible effect. And that was after waiting almost 10 minutes (as traffic piled up behind me) for a hole in traffic that was large enough to increase the odds of getting killed to at least 50/50.
That is just flat-out not an acceptable way to design a "modern day" car. There are options...and my life is worth the price (to me of course.. ;)).
Take a look at the cage that surrounds the Elio, your not going to get crunched unless someone hits you at an extremely high speed. Even a tank will come apart if something hits it fast enough. I've been hit on my bike too, in fact, that's why I no longer have my GSXR 1100, some 15 year old teeny-bopper gal ran over me, and I do mean OVER ME. I had the tire imprints on my ass to prove it. Sorry, but I'll take the cage over nothing any day.-Tinman57 (August 03, 2013, 08:02 PM)
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Hay man, I hear you... This is why I have a truck for those days I really just want to level the playing field against stupid people. There is a good and obvious chance that if I'd of been on the bike was I was rear-ended at ~50mph that my day could have sucked a lot more. If just never been really warm-and-fuzzy with the whole balloon in a tin can version of crash safety. But then again my definition of a (real) car is more along these lines:
Show us a picture of your.. CAR!!!
My GSXR was geared low, I think first gear had the highest ratio of all the gears, up to 60 mph. Seconds gear only got me up to 90.-Tinman57 (August 03, 2013, 08:02 PM)
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Ah! close ratio tranny, I'm running one also (fun stuff). But I went tall on the final drive so my launch is a bit sluggish ... but the old girl is long legged as hell when she gets rolling.
I've had performance cars all my life, mostly 70 Mustangs. I also have a heavy foot, I don't take five minutes to get up to 60 like most grandpa's. lol In fact, I hate getting behind those slow ass grandpa's, which is why I bought a turbocharged performance car, very little patience. 8)-Tinman57 (August 03, 2013, 08:02 PM)
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Cool, my brother has a 66 Mustang that we due to start restoring shortly (now that the Softtail project is finished). We really do have much in common in the grandpa department.
The only reason the Elio is classified as a motorcycle is because it only has 3 wheels ... If I should decide that I want more umph out of it, I'll just slap on a turbocharger..... :P-Tinman57 (August 03, 2013, 08:02 PM)
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Right (3 wheels - knew that), (turbo) now you talking! :D :Thmbsup:
Tinman57:
Stuffage Deleted-Stoic Joker (August 04, 2013, 11:51 AM)
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Sorry Stoic, but because of a focus problem with my browser, I can't keep all the quotes and edit.
I see where your coming from on the tech, but one big difference between Aussie cars or any other country for that matter, in the U.S. there's that dumbass Pollution Control laws that makes the manufacturers add on all kinds of crap to the engines that degrade horsepower and economy. California is even worse with their pollution control pumps that eat up more energy. What's sad is with these pollution control devices not only using more energy, but changing one type of poison to another plus adding a buttload of money onto the price of the car.
Take that nice n fast Mustang with it's 35 mpg, remove all the pollution control crap from it, and watch it gain anywhere from 20 to 40 horsepower.
Now for Caddies, I used to have a red 1962 Cadillac De Ville that had a 525 CI engine. It was basically an aircraft carrier that got like 12 miles to the gallon. Of course if it had the modern day pollution controls it wouldn't get but about 8 mpg.
I also had a 1967 Mustang GTA (Which means with an automatic tranny) with the 289 HiPo and factory Keystone Classics. My god that thing was beautiful, Midnight Blue, and very fast too. ;) When I didn't have my foot in the carburetor I was getting around 22 mpg.
allen:
The whole fleet
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