17 replies to this topic

[Mr Dev]

OH ...oh ..oh and did I mention .....You can Phill-er Up ...At Home !! Nice....

[Rogerdodger]

I'm sold on Honda's. I've had about 5 since my first 1981 Accord. I have a Civic now (it's no Accord). It gets great mileage near 30mpg. But it's gasoline powered. I understand that CNG contaminates the engine oil much less than gasoline so it lasts longer as does the engine itself. I guess it also burns cooler than gasoline. There are lots of fleets running on it such as UPS. I see it on city vehicles and school busses. My biggest problem with CNG is finding refuelling stations. With a 3000+psi gas tank, you can't just disconnect your stove and fill 'em up with a garden hose. Do they really have something for home refilling?

Edited by Rogerdodger, 19 May 2007 - 02:11 PM.

[fib_1618]

OH ...oh ..oh and did I mention .....You can Phill-er Up ...At Home !!

Yea...pretty nifty. 24 city / 34 highway as well.

However, you might want to look into where you can "Phill-er Up" when you're not at home. For you see, the state of California, in spite of all of their rant and rave about being an environmentally friendly state, have not been supporting the expansion of natural gas service stations through out the state. In fact, they have been cutting back on them - so if you're doing anything besides day trips prepare to be inconvenienced.

Fib

[...]

Wait till gas gets as expensive as it is in Europe, then you'll see some more significant changes in behavior.

Why would you think that?

Europe has had gas prices 3 to 4 dollars/gallon higher (because of taxes) than the U.S. for many years. Hasn't made a bit of difference.

Gas prices here are twice what they were but a few years ago and it hasn't made any difference here, either.

But, never mind that demand for gas is relatively inelastic. That "greenhouse gasses" have any effect on anything is utter rubbish. Water vapor dwarfs all "greenhouse gassses" by a factor of about 8 to 1. Not a thing we can do about water vapor. You know, that ocean thing.

The entire supposed man-made effect on the minimal global warming that's going on (after all, we are still coming out of the "little ice-age") is a joke, and will soon be recognized as exactly that. Just as global cooling, which was all the rage in the '80s was summarily laughed out of public discussion only a few years after the maximum media cooling hype. We have already passed the stage of maximum media hype about "man-made" global warming.

Shades of Paul Ehrlich. You know, the author of Population Bomb in 1968. According to Ehrlich, we're all supposed to be dead of starvation. Yet, here we all are, still typing away.

[Rogerdodger]

If all the cars in the world were placed bumper to bumper...You'd be in L.A. From Johnny Carson: "Today the California Highway Department announced that by 1980 the cars on the L.A. freeways will be six inches apart from one bumper to the next. Believe me, that's quite an improvement!"

Edited by Rogerdodger, 20 May 2007 - 01:30 PM.

[spielchekr]

I think propane is being glamorized.

[Rogerdodger]

I buy lots of propane for business equipment use. The "highway use" price is $1.90 gal. right now. Retail for gas grills, etc. it's over $3. However, I understand that a propane conversion in an automobile will result in a 7% loss of power. Add the inconvienence of finding propane when you need it, at all hours, it's not worth it to me.

[PorkLoin]

Last year there were times when it seemed to me that people were actually going slower on purpose on the interstates to use less fuel. Yesterday and today I went from the WV Panhandle to southern Illinois and back for a party. This morning there were whole packs of cars and trucks going like crazy -- if anything it was like higher fuel prices have spurred drivers to faster speeds. Pickup trucks and cars going 90 - 95 MPH on I-64 through southern Indiana, a pretty and uncongested drive, glorious to haul some serious butt. Then through Louisville and head for Cincinnati, still averaging over 80 and most times near 90...sweet. On to Columbus and east on I-70 until the Buckeye state was in the rearview mirror. Must have been something in the air -- people were just plain rocking and rolling. Maybe getting in one last fast weekend before the deluge of cops next weekend for Memorial Day. A fuel consumption feast it was. Doug