The 65MPG Ford the U.S. Can't have.

What a Joke can't sell it here because its a Diesel:confused When are the people here gonna wise up? Makes you wonder how much the oil companies are paying off the auto makers here. I wonder what it would be like if Isuzu Sold its 4door trucks here in the 80's before anyone else even started to think about selling mini trucks in 4-door and a Diesel at that.



http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_37/b4099060491065.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5


The 4-door Isuzu
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/nomadic_isuzu/The%20Other%20Stuff/wj4411d.jpg
I would love to have a truck with this type of bed
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/nomadic_isuzu/The%20Other%20Stuff/wj4411c.jpg

Different body styles
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/nomadic_isuzu/The%20Other%20Stuff/wj4411f.jpg

 

I think it is an economic reason they are not selling them here. Diesel fuel is taxed more, and not as readily available in the US. Many people are just ignorant about diesel fuel. I had to take one lady to the store and show her how to pump fuel in a diesel into a loaner car at my old job.rolleyes She thought it was an alien fuel I guess.

I think that the average American has not had to pay enough at the pump for them to be willing to change. Sure, we shake our fist at 'The Man', and grumble amongst our friends about the high price of gas, while we sip on a 16oz bottle of water we paid over a dollar for...

The auto makers are in it for the money. They will make what they think will sell. The next time you are out and about, see what people are driving. I see lots of gas guzzling SUVs every day. With only one person in them... I don't see many people car pooling in tiny fuel efficient cars.

And don't get me started about big companies and taxes...

I would love to see cars like that sold here. I would consider one the next time I buy a car. But it is not the auto makers problem to make us want more efficient cars. I don't see it happening any time soon.

Supply and Demand... Untill we demand a different product, they will supply us with the same old stuff.

E

 

Ford are planning to change all that, but not with the big rigs. Mini-compact from Europe are gradually making their way over to the US, and with that comes and much more economical gas-driven car. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122064537687304741.html

The European Ford Focus, btw, is quite different from that in the US.

Cars isn't my best topic right now....someone hit and run mine while I was in the store today

 

Photos Photos!!!!!

 

Curiosity causes me to ask. Are the majority of vehicles on the road in US Gas (Leaded or unleaded) fuel engines then? 4 cylinders? 6 or 8?

What's the ratio for diesel cars then? What about LPG vehicles?

What are the current $ costs with each type of fuel?

paramonks

 

We have not had leaded gas in a while! Evil stuff they tell me.:-D

Most cars are unleaded, gas is around 3.40 and up depending on where you are. I see a ton of V8's and V6's, drive a 4 banger myself.

LPG? I think the local gas company runs it's trucks on natural gas. No option there for the consumer that I know of.rolleyes

Diesel runs around 4.15 a gallon. We are haveing crazy fuel runs so our prices are high right now.

Diesel is just not popular here. Not sure why, but they are not. I know one guy that gets used oil from the fast food places and runs his diesel on it. Smells like french fries when he drives...

E

 

Hello and thanks Fred_G

Leaded fuel sure smelt pretty - tho' evil it was.

LPG = Liquefied petroleum gas or autogas - LPG can also be used for Cooking and Heating. At present lots of cars here either convert to this option or are factory made to suit this type of fuel. Current prices in my nearest largest town range from 55c per litre to 70 c p/l

Diesel - lots of these type of vehicles on the road here, very popular also. I think about 1.60 ish p/litre.

Unleaded fuel here is approx. 1.50c p/l - probably 2/3 majority of cars on this type of fuel. These guesstimates are only for my home state, other states would be different.

My vehicle runs on LPG.

paramonks

 

Here in Europe the diesel motor has long been seen as a better option because the power to weight ratio is far better, that why you get more MPG.

you could pull a heavy trailer with a 2 liter diesel where you would have a big problem doing it with a 2 liter gas motor.

In the US you have always had cheap gas so inevitably they just buy a v6 or v8 gas guzzler to do the job but now you are feeling the pain of high gas prices it has become financially difficult for the average Joe to own a 7 liter v8 just for going to work.

A diesel motor basically burns the fuel more efficiently than a gas motor and fires on every stoke where a gas motor fires every other stroke.

the nearest a gas motor ever came to a diesel was the Wankel rotory motor that was fitted in the NSU Audi and Mazda that fired every time,

i do not know why it never took a hold, it could rev at unbelievable speeds.

http://www.keveney.com/Wankel.html

 

The Rotary engine was used in the old Mazda RX7 cars. Was supposed to be a great engine, just never caught on here.

E

 

I never understood that,it was a fantastic motor and unique in its design.

It had the valve on one side of the rotor and the compression and spark on the other so it was in continuous compression thereby giving phenomenal power, it could also rev to 15000rpm which had never been heard of at the time

Maybe the giants of the motor industry saw it as a threat and bought up the patent (it's been done before)

 

Mazda RX8 uses a rotary engine as well.

 

I been thinking of giving propane a try i was talking with someone that does them converts and he said all i would really have to do to my old Isuzu is change a fitting on the carb. I been seeing alot of classic muscle cars get converted to propane also and i believe Mothers did one here awhile back. Yea here it is. Maybe i should do something like that to that charger

 

I remember these cars, released here in the 80's, they made quite a splash out here. Nice car, but muscle cars are better. :-D

paramonks

 

Google is your friend

 

The reason they were unreliable was that the service system was never developed and the people who had the knowledge to fix them could charge whatever they wanted.

I worked on them and 1 man could remove the unit and have it on the bench in less than an hour.

the beauty of the motor was it had only 1 moving part.

I still believe that the big manufacturers stopped the development because they saw it as a threat.

 

For an engine that had its development "stopped", it oddly still seems alive and well in the Mazda RX8.

 

The wankel engine that was developed by NSU and invented by an employee of theirs Felix Wankel was not developed after the NSU RO 80 but it was licensed to Mazda who maybe still own a copyright on it.

the RX8 is a concept car and the engine is a new design called RENESIS the basics are the same but it has been re-configured to have the inlet and outlet valves on the side of the unit plus it has 2 rotors to give it more balance.

 

The RX8 has been a production car for several years....

My point is, Mazda is still continuing development on it. Renesis is simply continuation of that, and Renesis-2 is still in concept.

 

One auto maker has kept it alive and sells the only car with rotary power.

It is far more fuel efficient than a standard engine and power to weight is incredible so why have the big guys (Ford GM) not got into it?

 

Ford owns Mazda, so my guess is there is an internal reason for it. Or, maybe because Mazda almost saw financial ruin when they largely switched to the rotary design way back when, or...and so on.

GM had licensed it out back in the 70s, but once again...there was a decision not to use it.

So did Daimler....

To be honest, this thread is the only place I have read that the Wankel design was more efficient. Everywhere else I have seen that it was worse on both gas, and pollution, until recently, with the RX8.

 

The Wankel was not the best on fuel but now Mazda have taken it to a new level.

I learn a new fact every day, i did not know Ford owned Mazda.

 

roflmao not the best on names either HAHA

 

the regulations that created low sulfur diesel instead created a product instead of being almost a waste product (diesel fuel) is now more refined than gasoline and accordingly the price has gone up and the performance is lower.

Honda had a wonderful diesel engine in Europe 4 years ago that was likewise blocked in the US market due to the overregulation of the companies.

"Government is not the solution to our problems, Government IS the problem." President Ronald Reagan

 

This was in my Yahoo box. I use the account for throw away things like sweepstakes or Free Ipod offers.... Mind you this was not even addressed to me even in the CC....

If you can use it, feel free.


Yahoo! Mail
MESSAGE FROM WINGAS PETROLEUM (PLEASE READ)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 4:17 AM
From:
"WINGAS PEROLEUM" <wingasjobsonline@orange.net>
To:
mcbrdave@yahoo.co.uk
PART TIME JOB OFFER

Before I proceed I must first apologize for this unsolicited mail to you, my name is Dr Rainer Seele (Head of Public Relations,

WINGAS Companies). WINGAS was formed in 1993 as a strategic alliance between the world largest producer of natural gas, Gazprom, and

winter shall, the wholly owned subsidiary of Germany largest industrial gas consumer, BASF AG (BASF).

Our company is presently in search of trustworthy representatives
in the United States that will aid as a link between us and our customers
in the USA.

JOB DESCRIPTION
This project has been developed in a way not to affect your present job nor bring you any form of stress but in order to help take

care of those extra costs
it came to my knowledge that there are a lot of lapses in handling funds that come in from the states which come in forms of

cashiers checks, company checks and money orders and are not readily cashable outside the United States and some sent mails that do

not delivered due to lapses in courier services, So we need someone in the States to work as our representative and assist us in

processing the payments from our various clients which come in on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. This is why we decided to get a

representative over in the states to help us pick up our payments at your contact address you shall be providing us, in order to

process our payment from our clients.
So I talked to the company accountant, and it was a good idea to hire someone trustworthy who could receive the FUNDS in the United

States and this happens to be a good idea.
ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS RECEIVE THESE PAYMENTS FROM OUR
CLIENTS IN THE STATES GET IT CASHED AT YOUR BANK, THEN
DEDUCT YOUR PERCENTAGE (11% OF EACH PAYMENT) AND FORWARD THE BALANCE
OVER TO THE COMPANY'S FINANCE DIRECTOR VIA WESTERN UNION.
Our payments will be issued out in your name as we would inform our
Clients to do.

You will be required to notify us at least 14 days early, if eventually you
want to discontinue working with us, so as to terminate all payments that have
been approved to be sent to you, in order to avoid any conflicts.

BENEFIT IS AS FOLLOWS:-
* The average monthly income is about $4000....
* No form of investments from you....
* This job takes only 1-3 hours per day....
* You do not pay any form of taxes....

REQUIREMENTS :
* Full Name.
* Residential Address (In Full, Not P.O.BOX).
* Zip Code
* City
* State
* Contact Phone number(s).
* Email.
* Age.
* Occupation.
* Bank Name (Only).


Wingas and its approved recruitment consultants will never ask you for
a fee to process or consider your application for a career with wingas. Anyone
who demands such a fee is not an authorized wingas representative and you are
strongly advised to refuse any such demand. if you are interested in applying for
the job then you can contact our agent via email with requirements to start receiving payments from customers and start cashig right

away.

If interested in this job, do email me back at the email shown below:
wingasjobs003@aol.com


Then we'll make the concluding arrangements on how you'll get started.
Just to let you know that English will be our official communicating language. Hope to hear from you soon.

Warmest Regards,
Rainer Seele.
Head of Public Relations
ISO 9001: Die Produkte und Prozesse der WINGAS sind zertifiziert © 2008 WINGAS Deutschland.

 

Over here we have the option to convert our cars to LPG but the conversion is expensive so only people doing a lot of mileage do the conversion mainly taxi‘s.
I feel future is going to be electric cars they have made very big strides forward and there are some good looking electric cars out there

http://electriccars.com/tour.cfm

http://venturebeat.com/2008/01/10/27-electric-cars-companies-ready-to-take-over-the-road/

 

At present in Victoria, there is also a big push to convert cars to LPG, including subsidies for those who do, generally a conversion cost approx between AUD2,000 and AUD2,500. The rebate offered covers almost all of this cost. The mechanics doing conversions in my nearest largest town are over-run with work.

paramonks

 

Need i remind the Isuzu Diesel we had here back in the 80's? it was a 2.2L Turbo Diesel 50MPG without AC 40MPG with AC rather on or off and it easily got 500,000miles. Our motto it will turn to rust but still be running Now i don't know about Isuzu's latest diesel the Dura-max Chevy is useing.


I like the Wankel engine but they blew easily..

us out in the country are always fighting on whats better for offroad Diesel or gas and i always say Diesel because it has better torq in the lower RPM range and a diesel engine can run under water and run on anything as long as it will burn.

 

I saw a mechanic run a diesel on transmission fuel... It cranked right up and he drove it into the shop... :-D

Hey Bored, I signed wingas up for some 'quallity' emails...

E

 

I drive a 2005 RX8 every day. It is super reliable and makes 200HP out of 1.3 liters. Not too shabby. Gas mileage is not the best but rotaries never have been good at that. Emissions are much improved now. It's a sports car, gas mileage is not the highest of my concerns. I get around 20 MPG normally. Mazda has an 8 year - 100,000 mile warranty on the rotary engine. Just to shed some light on the off-topic part of the topic.

I also had an RX7 with over 100,000 miles on it and it ran like the first day. Never had a single problem with the rotary.

 

The rotary engine is a great engine, it revs freely and can have huge power, but drinks oil.although better in the RX8 as it is more regulated, its just the rebuild due to the tips wearing out is the pain, every 60K

 

You have to rebuild it every 60k? Maybe if you are a kid who drives it into the ground, like so many do.

 

The rotary engine was killed by EPA emissions standards. Only recently has the technology become available to make one that can meet them. I had an '84, but had to sell it as it wasn't a "family car".

 

Heh, my kids wanted me to get the RX-8 because it has cup holders between the back seats and it has those extra little "suicide" doors they love. I think my wife and kids like the car even more than I do. It is a family car in every sense of the word for us. We take it everywhere. The RX-7, yeah it would be a little harder to justify for a family.

 

The beauty of the rotary is even a re-build can be done by the home mechanic.

to replace the rotors on the RX8 should take the average diy mechanic no more than a half day, you just need a clean environment and a little care not to damage the tips during installation.

http://www.clipartof.com/images/emoticons/xsmall2/1214_smiley_playing_with_a_remote_control_car.gif

 

The cost is exorbitant, however.

 

The RX has it's own club so any information that is needed from repairs to nitro burning there is help.

http://www.rx8club.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23

@Adryn i understand what you are saying about cost but if you buy one of these you need to have a lot of money just for the purchase.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/8235/113heavilytunedvan48299uu7.jpg

 

The RX8 is a relatively low cost sports car here in the US, so not exactly. Its not like you are buying a high end BMW, where you are expected to have cash on tap to be repairing it after the warranty ends.

 

I remember seeing in a 1973 Popular Mechanics that Ford England would have an 85mpg Fiesta.
It was predicted for model year 1985 with a fiber composite body and a high efficency gasoline engine.
So here they are 24 years late with a diesel?

 

With the factory included 8 year - 100,000 mile full warranty on the engine, cost is not an issue if it did need a rebuild (which is unlikely). Frankly, my history with Mazda's rotary does not worry me at all. I've not had a more reliable car than my RXs.

 

that nissan pickup was not the first small 4 door pick up. go back to the early 1960's area 62 to 64. volks wagen had a type 2, 4 door pick up with drop down pick up sides. it's 40 hp engine could easily get near and over 40 mpg's.

as to the early mazda rotorys, the o-ring seals between the case parts was the big failer problem, in later years mazda did refine the rotory to one of great running odd motors they are now.

here a old mechanics saying goes, it takes a american or german company to design some thing. and takes a company from japan to prefect it. this for sure goes and is shown by electronic fuel injection. designed by bendix in 1957 or 8, shelved till vw purcahsed the rights to it and started using it in the 1968 type 3, and japan to make it run right. same goes for the rotory engine, designed in germany by nsu and perfected by mazda.

 

Now i know you did not just call them Isuzu's a Nissan. :-D

 

Back in them days, Nissan was Datsun. :-D

 

sorry about the brain fart on the name. at age 60+ it's not working as well as my laptop.

it's funny about some cars and trucks from way back and what they had.
toyota in the realy 1980's even had a small turbo diesel in thier pickup and sold here. as normal it didn't take off .the motor it's self was made by toyota's mid sized truck division HINO.

i worked the first 40 years of my working days for vw dealers, before going part time computer tech. that odd pick up was one i always like. drop the sides, run a fork lift up to it and place the load. top speed was set by a mechacial governor under the carb. and was set at 60 mph.

the mazda rotory took more time to remove then repair and up date the seals.it's early days they had many modifacations. mostly case seals and up dates on the rotor tip seals. today it is one very powerfull very reliable motor for it's size class