OT: 230 MPG car ..., Cars related Options

[johannes]

A 230 MPG car that ... looks nice ...

(IMG:http://apteramotors.com/images/photo_7.jpg)

http://apteramotors.com/

[johannes]

The Smart FORTWO Turbo diesel already reaches an average 75 mpg...

(IMG:http://www.ma-location-voiture.fr/images/photos/smart%20fortwo-Flippy%20Odegard.jpg)

[byndbad914]

The Smart FORTWO Turbo diesel already reaches an average 75 mpg...

(IMG:http://www.ma-location-voiture.fr/images/photos/smart%20fortwo-Flippy%20Odegard.jpg)

I wouldn't drive that death trap if you gave it to me. My dad's Escort was already little and a bit of a death trap - my dad had a 1984 Ford Escort wagon with a Mazda 4cyl diesel engine that got 55mpg in town and 57mpg hwy. So how the F with all the current technology (like TDI and such) do we have diesels that only get 40-45mpg when that old-tech simple diesel Escort got 57mpg?? Or why do we have to get some small little 2-seat motorcycle in car clothing?

I tend to view waving the conspiracy flag as a bit of a joke but sometimes you have to wonder (tho' I doubt the car companies and oil companies are really organized enough to pull off said conspiracy). They offered that car one year - essentially I think Americans didn't care to have a sluggish diesel when gas was $1/gal, but when you consider Europe, I can't begin to imagine how we have gone backwards on mileage with better technology. It was a bit gutless pulling hills, but a turbo and new f.i. and so forth should now pull hills and still get 55mpg.

And the argument that there is added weight with the newer safety standards in no way will account for 10-15mpg - that is always the excuse that seems to be used but a few hundred extra pounds won't drop 10-15mpg at cruising speeds (hwy mileage), especially considering the cars are more aero than a squared up 1984 Escort I would expect even more mpg.

[Mark Henry]

The Smart FORTWO Turbo diesel already reaches an average 75 mpg...

(IMG:http://www.ma-location-voiture.fr/images/photos/smart%20fortwo-Flippy%20Odegard.jpg)

I wouldn't drive that death trap if you gave it to me.....

We have them here and they have a good safety record. One of our members owns one. Many government cars are the smart.
They have a roll cage type design and bounce like a beach ball in a mishap. We have your standards as far as auto safety goes...so I don't know why you don't have them.
They look too high, but you sit on the engine so it has a low center of gravity. Head on against a humvee you're dead in any car.

They don't have the smart for four here or I would consider it. $25 a week for a 100mile per/day commute sounds good.

[byndbad914]

...They have a roll cage type design and bounce like a beach ball in a mishap. We have your standards as far as auto safety goes...so I don't know why you don't have them...

the issue I see is there is nowhere to put a crumple zone in that car, so I am sure it does bounce like a beachball, which implies your body will take all the g-loads due to an impact. That car should come with a HANS device as standard equip (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Against a hummer is a somewhat bad example as I consider center dividers at 75mph highway speeds just as bad. Even if we all had really small cars the threat still exists of a mishap involving and inanimate object like a tree or something. So the crumple zone I see in that little car is my leg bone in the front and neck bone to the rear... even if you are surrounded by airbags something has to give in a sudden-stop accident situation.

One of the first purchases I made after getting my racecar all done was an R3 device because I know that as stiff as my car is, I am taking all the blow in an accident. The car will ricochet off everything but my neck has to bear the impulse.

My beef is automakers can't build a nice, "Jetta-size" car (tho' you couldn't give me a VW either as the repair bills after about 70K miles start to equal a car payment) that gets 55-75mpg with modern technology. I sincerely would expect a Jetta diesel sedan with TDI and so forth to at least get the same 57mpg my dad's 84 Escort did on the highway. Those cars are reasonably safe (safer than the escort for sure), have crumple zones, and have room to carry more than a couple suitcases.