Not sold in any stores...

[AndyM]

Well, not any, but the smallest Japanese cars sold in the U.S. today are larger than the biggest Japanese cars sold in the U.S. 20 years ago.

The tiny basic cute 1976 Toyota Corolla with rubber floor mats and AM radio has evolved into today's mid-sized car with power windows and CD player.

 

[shvl73]

I had a Rabbit diesel, a '79 I think. Had a problem at highway speeds, oil would go from the valve cover breather tube connected to the air cleaner, & collect there. At 65 - 70 mph the air would be coming in fast enough & the engine would be sucking in all the oil that had collected, accelerating on it's own. Kind of weird. The key switch would go to lock if you turned it off, no off without steering wheel lock. You had to get on the brakes to make it stop. It got your attention if you were coming up on slowed traffic as it happened. The other thing was the plastic housing on the clutch cable. It let go & dumped the clutch in stopped traffic without stalling the engine. I didn't have my foot on the brake & almost hit the car in front of me. The final "fond" memory is of some jerk in an old Buick late at night on the highway. He decided to try & get as close as possible, his headlights were not visible he was tailgating so close, with me in this little tin can maxed out at 75 mph.

 

[Currmudgeon]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I'm curious where all the hydrogen for these fuel cells is supposed to come from? It's not like there is are a lot of 'free' hydrogen atoms out there. Hydrogen likes to bond and breaking that bond is going to cost us energy... where does that come from? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif)</font>

Why, we burn oil, of course. Or Uranium.

Personally, I think liquid fuels make a lot of sense. A fuel tank is the perfect rechargeable battery. In the end, it may come down to using Nukes to produce synfuel, even at an energy loss, just for the convenience of being pourable at atmospheric pressure.

All the alternative fuels to date appear to be energy sinks.

What ever happened to that carburator that will "burn water." The one the oil companies are supposed to be supressing. That's the one we need. Where's my tinfoil hat?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Well, not any, but the smallest Japanese cars sold in the U.S. today are larger than the biggest Japanese cars sold in the U.S. 20 years ago. )</font>


AndyM, please understand that some of us (actually the majority of American drivers) simply don't want the most efficient little lightweight box to drive around in on the highways and byways of our nation. Also, many of these tiny little vehicles seen elsewhere in the world are really URBAN transport vehicles and are not suitable for our type of road systems. I spent some time in a little DAEWOO van recently and while I would love to have the cargo version for hauling stuff on my property, there is no way I would drive one from my house up to Chicago (a 45 mile journey) and feel even remotely safe. The attached photo shows my 9 year old daughter standing in front of the van we had. I also rode in a version of the same vehicle that had 2 seats in the cab and a pick up style bed on the back. These little vehicles are fine for short trips, city driving, etc but I think the winds coming off Lake Michigan would blow one of these things off the highway and into a ditch if I ever tried to drive one on our highways. And as for safety equipment, these things simply don't have them. The bumpers seem to be for "show" purposes only. Airbags NO! Side impact reinforcement in the doors? NOT. Many don't even have seatbelts.

Now do I believe we should have efficient cars? Yes. Do I wish we could have both NICE, SAFE, SPACEOUS, SPORTY cars that are ALSO efficient? Yes I do. I just can't find those cars.

 

[daedong]

Don
Kia make a range of good cars today, the Rio is every bit as good as the festiva.

 

[Boondox]

Bob -- there's the rub! We get the occasional lost tourist from Boston or some other big city coming up our road and you can hear them coming a mile away from all the crunching, grinding sounds they make as their fuel-efficient, ground-hugging urban mobiles scrape the rocks and ruts of our little country road. I drove a Honda Civic for a while, but in wintertime the air dam would create a bow-wave of snow and send it up and over the hood, reducing visibility to zero.

I need ground clearance and all wheel drive. I need a truck to haul hay, wood and animals. What I don't understand is why, when I fly to someplace like Los Angeles on business, there are so many huge vehicles with one occupant! Pete

 

[Bob_Skurka]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What I don't understand is why, when I fly to someplace like Los Angeles on business, there are so many huge vehicles with one occupant! Pete )</font>



Pete, there is a one word answer for that: ego!

 

[AndyM]

<font color="blue"> AndyM, please understand that some of us (actually the majority of American drivers) simply don't want the most efficient little lightweight box to drive around in on the highways and byways of our nation. </font>

Now that gas is over $2.00 per gallon, maybe more people will care. Unfortunately, when demand for these cars increase, the American companies usually rush something into production that isn't worth buying. I don't know what psychological price barrier we have to reach before people's automobile buying and driving habits begin to change...
$2.00? $2.50? $3.00?

<font color="blue"> Now do I believe we should have efficient cars? Yes. Do I wish we could have both NICE, SAFE, SPACEOUS, SPORTY cars that are ALSO efficient? Yes I do. I just can't find those cars. </font>

I believe the technology exists to make these cars, but they choose not to bring them out, so long as the demand exists for the profit-making SUV's. Let's face it, that's where they are putting their money (Ford has four SUV models, Toyota has five!)

I'm just starting to get to the point where I'm concerned about how much I'm spending on fuel per month, and I'm rather disappointed with the available choices.

I'm a loyal Ford person, and I've looked at a new Focus, but is 26 city and 33 highway REALLY the BEST that Ford can put out? I think they can do better than that! I used to get 29 with my 1993 Taurus! Are we going backwards?

 

[slowrev]

Andy,
Perhaps the vehicle downsizing is beginning. Ford Truck and SUV sales dropped a lot in April. By this time next year the used lots will be full of the guzzlers.

 

[KubotaSteve]

Andy, as far as the mileage, I think a lot of it has to do with the fuel now days. They are putting so much extra crap in it that the mileage just isn't there like it used to be.
As far as the Ford Focus, I love my little Focus. I have the automatic (because I'm on the lazy side in traffic) and it is pretty peppy (around 9 seconds 0 to 6) and it will run up to 80 or 90 like nothing and handles great all the while getting 30 mpg. This mileage was attained when driving in rush hour traffic on my way to work in Washington D.C. which included plenty of stop and go traffic and hard acceleration. When I was shopping for the Focus I was also thinking about a full size pick-up. Glad I went for the Focus. You can get great deals on used ones (a year or two old) since a lot of rental companies use them.