[Bob in St. Louis]

When I worked for Honda back in the early 90's, they had a Civic VX that did 45 MPG.
That was a simple ordinary fuel injected four cylinder. No batteries, nothing "hybrid", no turbos, nothing fancy to achieve that economy.
It had all the bells and whistles (of the time), with A/C, so there were no sacrifices in that aspect.

Twenty years later......we haven't made much if any progress at all. I'm really not impressed with todays technology.
Now days, I'm working for Volvo. Some of the 2015 models will have turbos and superchargers, and are designed for the engine to die while sitting at stops. All in an effort to save gas. But it's still no better than that 20 year old Civic.
What gives?

[sts9fan]

Hi guf
17 hours is a little long.
If you come back from work at 6pm and go back to work at 6am
that's only 12 hours of charging (1110V.)
I know that the battery is rarely completely empty and you don't do 12 hours shift.
Anyway, the solution is  really charging at 220V.
Thanks for the info.

Guy 13

Are you driving the full range so when you get home its dead?  My commute is ~25miles round trip so I could get by on 110v over night to full charge.  I have had a 220v charging station installed which cuts a FULL charge down to ~4hr.  That said, if I was only using it for work 110v would be enough. 

[RDavidson]

When I worked for Honda back in the early 90's, they had a Civic VX that did 45 MPG.
That was a simple ordinary fuel injected four cylinder. No batteries, nothing "hybrid", no turbos, nothing fancy to achieve that economy.
It had all the bells and whistles (of the time), with A/C, so there were no sacrifices in that aspect.

Twenty years later......we haven't made much if any progress at all. I'm really not impressed with todays technology.
Now days, I'm working for Volvo. Some of the 2015 models will have turbos and superchargers, and are designed for the engine to die while sitting at stops. All in an effort to save gas. But it's still no better than that 20 year old Civic.
What gives?

The original Honda Insight which started production back in 1998 was EPA rated at 70 mpg! People have reported getting 100 mpg with careful driving. One person even drove 2254.4 miles on a 10.6 gallon tank. What the hell, Honda? I've also seen aftermarket chips / professional tuneups for these cars which, more regularly, can make the car get 100-115 mpg. I don't understand why this technology isn't still available / produced.

[Bob in St. Louis]

The original Honda Insight which started production back in 1998 was EPA rated at 70 mpg! People have reported getting 100 mpg with careful driving. One person even drove 2254.4 miles on a 10.6 gallon tank. What the hell, Honda? I've also seen aftermarket chips / professional tuneups for these cars which, more regularly, can make the car get 100-115 mpg. I don't understand why this technology isn't still available / produced.

WOW! Now that's truly impressive. I didn't work for Honda when the Insight was out.

[skifasterslc]

Recently went from 2004 jeep grand cherokee w 185,000 miles to this awd honda.  I live in utah and ski so I need AWD and this works for me. Loved the jeep, but as I age I want the comfort and convenience of honda

2010 honda crosstour

[guf]

Are you driving the full range so when you get home its dead?  My commute is ~25miles round trip so I could get by on 110v over night to full charge.  I have had a 220v charging station installed which cuts a FULL charge down to ~4hr.  That said, if I was only using it for work 110v would be enough.

I could of got by on the 110 for sure, it is SO much easier with the 220. I rarely am on empty. It really helps that SF is only a 7 mile by 7 mile square.  I try to search out public chargers when i'm doing errands mostly because its fun and cool to get a free top off.

[Guy 13]

I could of got by on the 110 for sure, it is SO much easier with the 220. I rarely am on empty. It really helps that SF is only a 7 mile by 7 mile square.  I try to search out public chargers when i'm doing errands mostly because its fun and cool to get a free top off.

Hi guf.
I wonder how electric car would do in January in Montreal Canada when the thermometer can go down often to -30C?
How about the batteries, they usually loose their charge as temperature goes down and the heater and window defrost ? ? ?
That the reason why all electric vehicles will never be popular in Montreal, Canada,
unless you want to do the same as motorcycles, drive them only in the summer season.

Guy 13

[jqp]

My new daily driver...





2009 e90 M3 in Space Gray with Fox Red Extended Leather Interior

Pretty much all options and some extra goodies as well.

George

zybar - nice!

We don't really need a second vehicle that is a daily drivers here in the south because the weather is usually not that bad.

But this is my new daily driver 650i convertoble in Carbon Black (bluish tint) with M-sport package.



Not my actual car - pics soon

[guf]

Hi guf.
I wonder how electric car would do in January in Montreal Canada when the thermometer can go down often to -30C?
How about the batteries, they usually loose their charge as temperature goes down and the heater and window defrost ? ? ?
That the reason why all electric vehicles will never be popular in Montreal, Canada,
unless you want to do the same as motorcycles, drive them only in the summer season.

Guy 13

yeah turning on any thing affects the overall milage and temp does affect battery life. I am in sf the the weather is between 55 and 70 95% of the time. I have heard the safety rating isn't great on them, and driving in hard rain is a little sketchy for me. but over all i love it.

[sts9fan]

Hey Guy,

An Elio will have a range of around 650 miles with an 8 gallon tank. 84mpg isn't bad. Okay, it's not electric. I, for one, think that's a good thing. If the point is reducing one's ecological impact, batteries aren't the best answer. I know that petrol powered vehicles aren't the answer either, but simple efficiency is critical and this vehicle is simple and efficient. One of Paul's mantras is 'no new technologies' - just applied physics. I don't know if/when these will ever be exported to your corner of the world - not even available here yet, but things are progressing. Here, in the US, the Elio will insure as a motorcycle - even more savings!

At the end of the day this is not really a solution in the US.  We have not accepted the use of single seaters,M'cycles and scooters as the rest of the world has.  Just enclosing it will not fix that imvho.  The "no new technologies" is an issue for me.  We need to push things forward.  I took my neighbor's Tesla Model S for an extended test drive yesterday.  While it is currently out of my price range, you guys are doing yourself a disservice not taking one for a spin.  It really is a game changer and can do things a IC car never will.   

[jtsnead]

Thinking of buying the new 2015 VW GTI, any owners of the MK Vi version here.
Wondering about relaiability, maintenance costs etc. I will be commuting to and
from work 55 miles each way, would like to get over 30 mpg highway also want
some performance to have fun with on winding roads.

I was a tuner before they used that term, had a 87 Toyota FX-16 with alot of up grades
HKS, wheels, springs etc.. Then had a 90 Honda CRX with Japan spec motor, header,
Greddy, springs, fuel system no AC it was a blast I could compete with V8 red light to
red light

[Danny Richie]

When I worked for Honda back in the early 90's, they had a Civic VX that did 45 MPG.
That was a simple ordinary fuel injected four cylinder. No batteries, nothing "hybrid", no turbos, nothing fancy to achieve that economy.
It had all the bells and whistles (of the time), with A/C, so there were no sacrifices in that aspect.

Twenty years later......we haven't made much if any progress at all. I'm really not impressed with todays technology.
Now days, I'm working for Volvo. Some of the 2015 models will have turbos and superchargers, and are designed for the engine to die while sitting at stops. All in an effort to save gas. But it's still no better than that 20 year old Civic.
What gives?

My old 90 model CRX HF would get 56 mpg on the highway.

One year I drove it to CES. 2,400 miles round trip from Iowa Park, TX to Las Vegas, NV, plus driving all over Vegas and everywhere else on $80 worth of gas. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

My old 90 model CRX HF would get 56 mpg on the highway.

That's what I'm talking about! 
And that was a quarter century ago. We not only haven't made any progress, we've gone backwards. 

Bob

[Danny Richie]

That's what I'm talking about! 
And that was a quarter century ago. We not only haven't made any progress, we've gone backwards. 

Bob

That was a unique engine design. It had a primary and secondary combustion chamber design that made it very efficient. It was also a long stroke design that made good low end torque but not much horsepower up top. The car was also light weight at only 2100 pounds. And it was geared high. So it maintained a low rpm on the highway. It had a lot going for it.

If you ran the AC those highway mpg's dropped into the mid to upper 40's though.

[Mike B.]

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Another C6. I drive it in all types of weather. Carry building materials, and don't wash it very often.

[DaveC113]

That was a unique engine design. It had a primary and secondary combustion chamber design that made it very efficient. It was also a long stroke design that made good low end torque but not much horsepower up top. The car was also light weight at only 2100 pounds. And it was geared high. So it maintained a low rpm on the highway. It had a lot going for it.

If you ran the AC those highway mpg's dropped into the mid to upper 40's though.

The 2100 lbs is the key to old economy cars fuel efficiency. Modern safety standards won't allow it. And modern cars are not as slow either.

My friend had a Honda fit that is pretty c close to the old econo boxes but it is faster,  safer and larger...

[Bob in St. Louis]

That's true too ^^^
Cars now have dozens of electric motors so we have "power everything". Lord knows we can't manually slide a temp knob or adjust our mirrors, or move our seat forward, we have to press a button to ask a computer on one of the networks to then have an electric motor carry out that function for us. 

[C17FXR]

I have no trouble finding a parking place for my daily driver.

[Bob in St. Louis]

  Amen Brother 

(I love the avatar too)

[loving_it]

12MPG