h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does not make sense, only in America!

SUV drivers who fly an American flag on their gas guzzling vehicle is like a whore wearing rosary beads while doing busines."
by Paul Hilmartin - comedian
Comedy CentraL

Speaking of more comedy >> check out the Hollow Men
Most or all are British!
The flare of Monty P and Kids in the Hall like stuff...
Thursday nights on Comedy Central

Define "gas-guzzling".

I give.
Does that answer "a joke?" as no?
Or sick joke?

So what is bugging you , go ahead if you like.
I'll be back eventually if you require a reply.
I can usually read for a short time , it is signing in and posting brings on freezing it's maddening.

Ok guessing you need no answer = low miles per gallon combined with the high number of owners and leases. The guy joked about

Hummers getting a yard to the gallon!

**********
Odd my video was working I have really missed my video of all sorts. I have been watching stand-up comedy.
Hmm
Oh well, glad I got some laughs in.
Refreshing

I have often made reference to "inflight refuelling" when talking
about vehicles that get 8 miles to the gallon.
But modern vehicles, with enough ballast and properly maintained, get very much better gas mileage than comparable vehicles of twenty years ago.

Back in the bad old days of the late sixties, people were using bad gas in poorly maintained vehicles and enormous amounts of the pollution generated came from improperly combusted fuel, a large portion of which was coming out the tailpipe. So, you had people who were driving old or used cars who couldn't afford or weren't smart enough to properly maintain them who were paying for gas that wasn't making much of a contribution to the horsepower of their vehicle.

While I agree that SUVs are many times unnecessary, in my part of the world, a tremendous number of people have been driving pickup trucks and Suburbans for as long as they've been around. Those good ol'folks think of gas prices as part of the cost of doing business, because most of them are in the building, repair, or maintenance trades. This is not forgetting the horsey set and the farmers.

"Gas-guzzling" SUVs are not really an issue. Poorly educated folks driving poorly maintained vehicles of any kind is.

Abbi, the last car I had was a 'Rolls Canardly'...rolls downhills and 'can hardly' get back up them

So how came they can't build a fuel efficient SUV? Is it simply because of the engine sieze? Or is it politics and capitalism?

I don't think the problem is with tradespeople etc driving 4WDs. It's the suburban set doing it when there is not reason apart from fashion.


I'd be interested in an environmental audit that compares taking 20 year old cars off the road and replacing them, with letting them run out their natural lives. NZ imports all it's cars now - how much 'gas' is used to do that?

er, that should have been 'engine size', obviously

"So how came they can't build a fuel efficient SUV?"

They are, compared to similar vehicles built twenty and thirty years ago.
If you want to complain about fuel efficiency and unnecessary vehicles, how about the GAO's attempts to get the U.S. Military to stop using vehicles that have no pollution standards, few safety standards, inefficient and even obsolete engines, and gas mileage that is so poor that Rommel could commisserate.

I, for one, would rather see people spend $30,000 on a vehicle that can actually carry something as opposed to the same amount on a pregnant roller skate. Station wagons and soccer mommy haulers I can tolerate, but a two door or four door car with a trunk is a waste of carrying capacity to me.

One of the real issues with the monster vehicles is that people drive them empty. They don't carry things they might need in an emergency, like spare shoes and rain gear. They don't carry tools or routine maintenance materials. They don't take riders along with them even when they are going to the same place. The selfishness and vanity involved in driving a status symbol with the hauling capacity of a Conestoga Wagon (many of which were built by Studebaker in an earlier incarnation) is the true bother.

Another issue with me is two and three, even four vehicle families.
Out of shape children who have been driven around since they were born are given cars as soon as legally possible. So, you have families with a 30 year mortgage on a $200, 000 cracker box spending more than that amount in car payments over the same period.
It don't hurt to walk and get a little exercise.
A bicycle is not a bad thing.

So, ultimately, it doesn't matter what a person drives, if there is little or no thought involved in the purchase and the maintenance.

I see that here in the UK a lot of petrol stations are supplying LPG pumps! (liuid gas)and the price is lees than half that of petrol

Whats the betting that as soon as the amount of vehicles converting to gas goes right up.............so will the cost of the gas

After all, I cant see any British government, now or in the future, missing the opperntunity to fleese the British motorist!!!
I mean! why cahnge the habit of a lifetime
Smudger,

LPG... Is that what we call Natural Gas over here?

yes, all it is, is gas super cooled so that it becomes a liquid

>>"So how came they can't build a fuel efficient SUV?"

They are, compared to similar vehicles built twenty and thirty years ago.<<

TR, I got your point about this the first time round. My question still is why can't they build large 4WDs more fuel efficiently - is it a technical limit, or a political/capitalist one? You personally don't have to answer that of course I was just wondering out loud.


I agree with you about thoughtful use of cars. For me at the moment I'm trying to decide whether to buy a mid 90s model to replace my mid 80s car (19 yrs old). I'm still not convinced that the fuel economy of later model cars outweighs the environmental cost of getting rid of all the old cars and replacing them.

kea.

my veiw is, the petro-chemical industry rules the world economy, so they will not give up easy, but if they stopped making high 'CC' engines and only made them say! 1000 cc max for all cars, that would bring running costs and speed down plus petrol usage would be a lot less. But that will never happen while Rolls Royce/Ferarris and all the class car makers are about

Lots of comments.
I totally agree with use for the individuals need.
People have a right to own whatever but to be responsible there are kinder environmental choices for many. Yes they are better than they used to be but that is no reason to give up trying and pressuring for better ways.

Honda has some ( 3 models I think) that use alternative fuels and I am sure a few others. I hope they are a success, the hydrogen( ? is that right) centers and battery places and other laternatives are getting more established so that is not the problem it once was. The guy in Boulder that runs vehicles on old french fry greese is slowly growing. It is hard to believe that it has not picked up steam with all the fried foods in America! *raised eyebrow* Which brings me to the point TR had about why are the kids being driven everywhere in places it is not neccesary?

TR for me this is the best!
"A two door or four door car with a trunk"
When you have to carry a wheelchair and the person too without spending what our house cost in order to have an equiped van this is perfect. Wheelchairs are stolen frequently and it is best if you store one in your vehicle to have it hidden.

Hubby is in construction and has a Nissan, small model that is his 4th in a row over 25 years. He drives and halls stuff constanly. They run clean and get good gas milage, cheaper maintenance and insurance. He would like a bigger shinny truck but there are very few days he actually needs it.

If he had one other people would be needing to use it frequently! In fact we built the addition for my needs for what one of those big fancy trucks would cost. It will not only appreciate it will give quality of life and is a savings account rather than a depreciating,polluting using an oversized for neccesity truck.

Some people do need large ones and they are a huge ppart of their working life just like hubbys tough little efficient Nissan. No problem with that, it is a blessing to them.

The larger than needed - no business truck with one person in it is who I was talking of. The ones that would cry if the bed got scratched or dirty and never leave the pavement.

Why does anybody non- military or police need a hummer?
Least of of to drive to High School
On the other hand giving a teen a tiny communter made of tin is not the best answer for safe travel at that age!

I am not 100% sure, but years ago,I think someone invented a fuel that used seawater and household chemicals, very cheap. The petrochemical companies paid him millions for the rights to the formula and then apparently destroyed it

There have been a number of developments squashed by being bought with no intentions of use.

The guy in Boulder with the old fry grease -- I thought surely it would catch on. The corn fuels caught on but unfortunately that was profitable to the *right people at the *right time and place for them BUT it's not as enviro friendly or as cheap as first thought.

The animal wastes - methane seems good for places that have an abundance to use for fuel. Zoos have a tremendous opportunity to show a lot of inovation with all of their small vehicles. I have always heard lawnmowers, golf carts and small engines pollute a lot.

We drove an Izuzu Spacecab pickup for years. It served us well in many ways. Unfortunately, Uvula doesn't believe in preventative maintenance.
The Kia Sportage we have now has proved to be a very efficient hauler with it's folding seats.

I had Volkswagen air-cooleds for a few years. My Type 2 Bus was very fuel efficient, held a lot of stuff (but not couches), and I stayed on top of the maintenance until I got sidetracked by Uvula's Mazda GLC.

The vehicle I have sitting in the driveway waiting to be rebuilt is a short wheelbase 83 Dodge Ram Prospector van, the prototype for the soccer mommy hauler minivans. It has a 318 V8 in it and the potential for about 20 mpg if treated right.

Most people don't realize that fuel efficiency depends upon thought.
You can help make a vehicle more fuel efficient by keeping the gas tank as full as possible. You can also increase fuel efficiency by carrying ballast when the vehicle is empty. Tire pressure, shocks, wheel bearings, brake condition and frequent oil changes can affect fuel economy also.
Using the minimum of add-ons to the engine helps, too. If you can live without air conditioning or a heater blower, it helps the engine.
The blower on the Kia actually slows the vehicle down when it is switched on. I usually don't engage the A/C or the heater until the vehicle is going at least 45 MPH.

Alternative fuels are useful up to a point. When the big semi-tractors that supply most of the country are running on alternative energy, then that will really make a difference.

Yes, it is true, small engines, such as found on leaf-blowers, lawnmowers and garden tractors are very polluting. The emissions from the cut grass are interesting, too. Plus, they are very loud, for no really good reason. Again, this is a case of people not thinking.

Hello everybody!

Some things may be done ...

- Encourage people to walk and ride bikes!
- Improve public transport systems!
- Promote a 'culture' that is not so fast and hurried!
- Support alternative fuels!

In terms of 'alternative fuels' it may turn out that some of the alternatives are also polluting. It would be good if they managed to develop an efficient solar-powered vehicle. I am not keeping up with this stuff ... but I think it might be possible to make an efficient fuel from wood, or other plant material ... so long as the chemical processes used to make the fuel, as well as the fuel itself, do not produce bad pollutants. I dunno, maybe this 'problem' has been solved already ...

Good old-fashioned human muscle power, derived from nutritious regular common or garden food, should not be underestimated. It built the pyramids ...

Good points Willem.

My Dad was a mechanic so I do understand what TR is saying ; Maintenance counts for a lot

Hi Folks, The car we have now is form the "government mobility scheme" that means we hand over our book and in return we get a new car every 3 yrs. With the packege you get, insurance, Tax disc all servicing and punture repair free!
Because we needed a larger car in order to fit in MK2s elecric scooter, it cost us a deposit of £150 (some thing to do with resale value on completion of contract?)So we got a Citreon Picasso, with the back seats out I can drive the scooter straight in!

I used to have a wee Micra before, but as my back got worse, I needed a Higher car. Im fact this Citreon does the same milage as my Micra used to do! Approx 42mpg! Not bad for a 1.6ltr engine

We are due a new one this Sept. and I think it will be another Citreon!
Smudger,