Automobiles? Any other car freaks out there?

[mrperq]

Originally Posted by Chevette Girl

how many Europeans have 50 km or more daily commutes? My poor Chevette did around 500 km per week for the ten years I was working where I was).

You might be suprised. I drive 50km a day to and from my job, and
at least half of my department do the same, or farther. At a price
of 1,6€/l diesel thats no fun at all. Lucky I drive diesel, and a
verry small car at that, people who drive petrol pay 1,8€/l, and use
more for the same distance. If only I was not so allergic to trains .

PS: For our American friends: thats 7,7$/gal for Diesel, 8,7$/gal for
Petrol.

[Vance G]

I got 28 U.S. mpg in a Dodge Caravan with gasoline before ethanol was ubiquitous and now get 22 mpg. My wifes Sebring got 33 now 25. My work truck Dodge Hemi gets 16 at 65 mph both before and after. I get to pay more for fuel and I get to pay subsidies to farmers producing the corn, distillers making the alcohol and the vehicle wears out faster. People on 1200 calories a day in India probably see little logic in our choices. I do not uderstand how a nation as rich in oil as Canada tolerates paying what you do for fuel so a segment of the population can feel good about themselves. Since we in the U.S. tolerate a Government owned company producing Chevy volts at a $49,000 per copy loss each, I acknowledge we have the same segment here.

[Chevette Girl]

Originally Posted by mrperq

You might be suprised. I drive 50km a day to and from my job, and
at least half of my department do the same, or farther.

Sorry to generalize there, mrperq. Most of the guys I was dealing with on the chevettes forum were Brits of one flavour or another, and most of them moved to where they had shorter daily drives or could take public transit because the petrol prices were just so horrid. I couldn't rely on public transit here even if I wanted to, it couldn't have gotten me to work and it won't get me to my horse, it will only get me to one of my current jobs once a week...

And to be fair I think a lot of the money Canadians pay into gasoline actually goes to taxes, we're often taxed way more than Americans, although often not as much as the Europeans pay...


Vance, maybe it's a carburettor thing? I don't take that kind of hit on my mileage when I intentionally seek out gasoline with ethanol. Maybe the Chevette's too low-tech to notice...

And in other Chevette news, I finally got a new battery for the Beast, got sick of having to use my booster pack just about every time I needed to start it...

[wayneb]

It is far more likely to be an "early North American fuel injector" thing. The control systems on those early (especially the single, throttle body) injectors were so lame that the introduction of anything outside of the parameters of gasoline to a fuel mix really played hell with mileage. More modern systems, like those in use for about the past decade in American vehicles, have rendered those issues largely moot.

BTW - with my old Chevette (1980 vintage, so definitely an oldie, and definitely carburetor rather than fi), the mileage actually improved slightly when early ethanol "gasohol" blends were introduced. Of course most of the non-metal parts in the fuel system eventually dissolved in the mix, adding to it's relatively early demise (only 110K miles when I had to retire it).

[Chevette Girl]

Originally Posted by wayneb

It is far more likely to be an "early North American fuel injector" thing. The control systems on those early (especially the single, throttle body) injectors were so lame that the introduction of anything outside of the parameters of gasoline to a fuel mix really played hell with mileage. More modern systems, like those in use for about the past decade in American vehicles, have rendered those issues largely moot.

I think it still left a bad taste in a lot of folks' mouth, my mom calls it "that $hit", as in "I don't want that $hit in my car" because her early-90s Honda didn't like it, she says it ran like crap and my dad's early-90's Honda did get worse mileage while my Chevette's improved...

Originally Posted by wayneb

BTW - with my old Chevette (1980 vintage, so definitely an oldie, and definitely carburetor rather than fi), the mileage actually improved slightly when early ethanol "gasohol" blends were introduced. Of course most of the non-metal parts in the fuel system eventually dissolved in the mix, adding to it's relatively early demise (only 110K miles when I had to retire it).

Yeah, the Chevettes were considered outdated by the late 80's, and were replaced by the Sprint/Firefly, which were front-wheel drive and fuel injected and got pretty spectacular mileage if I recall, they even had a three-cylinder model. Had the same kind of engine wobble that my Beast has always had (two slightly low cylinders)... I had read that they had problems with the seals etc on military jeeps run on straight ethanol, so I always made sure every couple of tanks to run regular stuff through it (this was before 10% of regular gasoline could be ethanol), and my first Chevette's engine made it well into the 300,000 km region (had to swap frames though), and this one's over 350,000 km now (and slowly losing compression, but I'm pretty sure that's either valve or rings which I'm sure ethanol wouldn't have played a part in, and all its new leaks and degradations are because of the little engine oil leaks that piddle all over my engine compartment).

[TheAlchemist]

My 2005 Mustang got 25mpg no matter what gas I gave him.

If you're concerned about world hunger you quit eating beef...come to think of it, that's good for decreasing global warming as well...but that's a subject for another thread.

[Cal]

Car nut here. I am building a 97 Nissan 240SX. Right now the main mods are suspension.

Coilovers
An LSD
Adjustable rear upper control arms
Front and rear sway bars.

The rear still needs toe and traction rods and maybe lower control arms. (pita to install)


The front needs along tension rods, tie rods and LCAs.

After that then it will be time for the engine.

[Chevette Girl]

Ooh, that's a sweet little car! I used to drive by a purple one, but I guess they sold it or moved since I haven't seen it in a few months... Good luck with yours!

My Beast just got new brake pads (apparently the old ones were misshapen after getting the calipers unseized) and a pair of brand new winter tires so we're good to go for messing around in all the snow! And after coming home from Sudbury in the dark, my Xmas present to the Beast is going to be a new pair of headlights, apparently my sealed beams aren't sealed anymore, as there's condensation in them, not so good for illumination...

[Cal]

^Thanks. I hope to be able to make around 380WHP on it one day. Then I can start an 88 Monte Carlo build. I've always dreamed if having a twin turbo LS2 Monte SS.

I just read through this. All the talk of snow driving. Ha. GA got around 2.5inches of snow in 2011. Half the state shut down. People were trapped in their offices in northern GA.

[Chevette Girl]

A lot of us who're used to some amount of snow laugh at that, and think things like people freezing to death in their cars in Washington because the temperature went a few degrees below freezing are just incomprehensible... but we forget that when you're not used to something, you don't have the tools and infrastructure to be able to deal with it... I guess I'm somehow lucky to live somewhere with a temperature swing of 60 degrees celsius (+30 to -30C), but we're screwed if too much or too little rain...

Well, I certainly didn't become enamoured with Chevettes because of their power... 68 horsepower brand new off the line... 0 to 60 mph in thirteen minutes... (ok, more like 30 seconds but still).

Ooh, I've always wanted a Monte Carlo... I think the Cutlass Surpreme was its Oldsmobile equivalent...