Cars

[Kaida23]

And god damn, diesel ain't that bad.

You've obviously never had to repair either a diesel motor or diesel pump. :P

 

Fun science fact: diesel is so oily that it doesn't evaporate. That's why the area around a diesel pump always looks dirty, and Shell (at least in Canada) has started colouring those pumps mostly black.

[Estonian dude]

We've had 3 engines on our car by now and I've made my fingers oily more than enough.

[obfuscator]

I don't care where american cars are made, but I wouldn't call electric cars fuel-less.

[obfuscator]

Bump. Wondering if anyone overseas (Europe or Oceania) sees many standard (manual transmission) pickup trucks over there. Been thinking how cool it would be to have one, but they're few and far between here.

[Blake]

I'm in America, and my brother has a 2000 manual Ranger.

 

I have a 2006 manual tiburon.

[obfuscator]

I'm in America, and my brother has a 2000 manual Ranger.

 

I have a 2006 manual tiburon.

 

I said pickup trucks :P (Rangers don't count, because they're shit.)

[Blake]

Whaaaaat, rangers are great trucks. Anyways, my aunt has a 2006 dodge ram that's a manual. She owns a horse breeding company, so it has the bed converted into a trailer hauling bed-thing though. Has like a 6L V8, and dual back tires. Does that count?

[obfuscator]

Whaaaaat, rangers are great trucks. Anyways, my aunt has a 2006 dodge ram that's a manual. She owns a horse breeding company, so it has the bed converted into a trailer hauling bed-thing though. Has like a 6L V8, and dual back tires. Does that count?

 

The RAM counts. Every ranger I've ever driven in has had a shitty v4...it was like driving a car in a pickup's body. I won't judge a v8...but to me if you're going to get a v8 and dual back tires you might as well get an f150 over a ranger.

[Kaphias]

Many of the early-mid 90's Toyota pickups (Hilux, for those elsewhere in the world) that I see around here have manual transmissions. V6 engine, too.

[Kaida23]

Like this one?

 

 

It was a manual transmission too. :P

[Tim]

Do americans class "driving stick" as driving automatic? lately everyone who says it reefers to automatic. I mean, you use a manual gear STICK to change gears often....why would you call IT manual, and auto "stick"?

 

Also I have to do a 10-hour drive in my car end of month. That'll be cool...except the Air con needs a new system as it still runs the R-12 gas (which is now illegal) and it has none of said gas left and isnt as simple as just shoving a different gas in.

 

 

and the fuel tank sensor is skewy and only picks up 20/50L tank.

[Kaida23]

I've always referred to "driving stick" as driving a manual transmission. Afaik that's pretty much the norm here in North America.

[obfuscator]

Never heard anyone refer to an automatic when saying "driving stick".

[The_Gabe]

Driving stick is manual. Driving automatic is automatic.

[Blake]

Same, never heard of stick referring to automatic.

[Kaphias]

Make it five.

 

Also, I quite like the look of this... thing:

 

http://www.autemo.com/dc/users/1/AT3MO/40/chops/Bugatti_Veyron_1945_by_rc82_workchop.jpg

 

It's a combination of a Volkswagen Bug and a Bugatti Veyron. Very cool.

[jasignhagj]

Make it five.

 

Also, I quite like the look of this... thing:

 

http://www.autemo.co...82_workchop.jpg

 

It's a combination of a Volkswagen Bug and a Bugatti Veyron. Very cool.

 

Looks cool, although it also looks like a speed bump would absolutely trash it.

[demby123]

Do americans class "driving stick" as driving automatic? lately everyone who says it reefers to automatic. I mean, you use a manual gear STICK to change gears often....why would you call IT manual, and auto "stick"?

 

Also I have to do a 10-hour drive in my car end of month. That'll be cool...except the Air con needs a new system as it still runs the R-12 gas (which is now illegal) and it has none of said gas left and isnt as simple as just shoving a different gas in.

 

 

and the fuel tank sensor is skewy and only picks up 20/50L tank.

I'm assuming you're from europe, if its anything like the american r12-r134 process, its pretty much that..... fittings need to be changed and the system needs to be evacuated for the new gas and oil. Some cars will need their driers replaced.

[demby123]

You god damn 'Muricans and your silly laws.

You're silly Europeans for not wanting to sell your fuel efficient cars to the Americans.

 

Actually, diesel is cheaper than gas now in a few states.

Just California, as far as I can tell.

 

And seriously, VW Polo Bluemotion gets 71 mpg combined... No hybrid can get anywhere near it.

...which is calculated on the European cycle, which is anywhere between 20 and 30% higher than the U.S. cycle. Taking that into account puts the Polo squarely in the sights of the Prius, which is a larger car.

 

Actually your whole car industry could build a lot more fuel-efficient cars,

How about the rapidly growing number of cars that we build that don't use any fuel at all?

 

And I seriously can't get the American hate for diesel cars. For come on, we have a 20-years old VW Passat, that is HUUUGE, it has a 1.9 diesel engine and gets 40 MPG (American). And you have it a big deal if a car gets over 30 MPG, or at least that's what I've seen reading American car forums and websites.

The hate carries over from the (previously correct) idea that diesel cars are loud and smokey. Just 10 years ago VW was exporting diesel Jettas to the U.S. that make quite a racket (I've heard a few examples over the past couple months). Maybe efficient diesels will catch on here one day, but it's clear that U.S. and Asian manufactures are going the direction of electric cars and it seems the European manufactures have little desire to export their best diesels to the U.S.

You also forgot to add the higher price of diesel engines (and the the trims they go in) due to emissions regulations.

[demby123]

Beating this poor dead horse of a thread

[obfuscator]

Speaking of alternative fuels, does anyone have any experience with propane engines on trucks? (Or cars)

[Kaida23]

A year and a half ago, my company built two LNG (liquified natural gas) depots for a trucking company; one in Montreal and one in Toronto. About 1/3 of their fleet are LNG powered trucks now. It's cheaper than diesel fuel, and delivers more power but they can't go quite as far. They're currently planning to build two more depots between the two they already have so they can replace more trucks and have them make the entire run back and forth.

 

So far those are the only two I know of in Canada, but from what I understand it's a big thing in California.

[obfuscator]

A year and a half ago, my company built two LNG (liquified natural gas) depots for a trucking company; one in Montreal and one in Toronto. About 1/3 of their fleet are LNG powered trucks now. It's cheaper than diesel fuel, and delivers more power but they can't go quite as far. They're currently planning to build two more depots between the two they already have so they can replace more trucks and have them make the entire run back and forth.

 

So far those are the only two I know of in Canada, but from what I understand it's a big thing in California.

 

Interesting. But Propane and LNG aren't the same thing....from what I've heard of propane the engine power is the same, the engines run cleaner, but you can't go quite as far. It's also cheaper.

 

The major drawback is trying to fill it up...we seem to have one propane station where I live...

[Tim]

Do americans class "driving stick" as driving automatic? lately everyone who says it reefers to automatic. I mean, you use a manual gear STICK to change gears often....why would you call IT manual, and auto "stick"?

 

Also I have to do a 10-hour drive in my car end of month. That'll be cool...except the Air con needs a new system as it still runs the R-12 gas (which is now illegal) and it has none of said gas left and isnt as simple as just shoving a different gas in.

 

 

and the fuel tank sensor is skewy and only picks up 20/50L tank.

I'm assuming you're from europe, if its anything like the american r12-r134 process, its pretty much that..... fittings need to be changed and the system needs to be evacuated for the new gas and oil. Some cars will need their driers replaced.

 

check the location next to my name ;)

 

When I had it checked, aside from ridding what gas there is, there's a few parts that need changing, pressure needs changing, new gas, thermo needs adjusting and even then theres only an 60% chance it'll work. the 40% is it'll break the entire air-con system.

[Kaida23]

[interesting. But Propane and LNG aren't the same thing....from what I've heard of propane the engine power is the same, the engines run cleaner, but you can't go quite as far. It's also cheaper.

 

The major drawback is trying to fill it up...we seem to have one propane station where I live...

 

Yeah, I know they're not the same but propane is really falling out of favor here. Back in the 90's it was all the rage; taxis, delivery trucks, even some buses, but people started moving away from it when the price started going up. I only know of one place left in Ottawa that still sells it, and it's almost as expensive as gasoline is.

 

A few places have started selling E85 (85% ethanol) and a lot of the major car manufacturers make E85 compatible vehicles. I'm not sure about the price, but given how expensive the parts for the pumps are (it requires special seals and treated aluminum casings) I can only imagine what it costs to fix the cars.