OT. Vehicle Efficiency

[Dean Hoffman]

The author isn't a fan of government regulation.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Stupidly written. Yeah, batteries are heavy. Yes, we'd get better mpg if we were more likely to get killed in an accident.

[Clare Snyder]

They are a LOT more efficient than years ago - whether you are talking ton-mile or passenger-mile depends on the vehicle. Per ton/mile today's trucks are definitely more efficient. On a passenger-mile basis NO truck has ever been efficient - but today's cars (what are left) are much more efficient on a passenger-mile basis than pretty much anything from the past.

[Ralph Mowery]

When I see the President and congress taking a bus or public transportation and riding around in the subcompact cars I will think there is something to it. I bet that beast the president rides in gets

5 miles per gallon on a good day.

[Snag]

A choice that just doesn't exist for most Americans . Are you willing to walk ten miles to town for groceries and then haul them home on foot ?

[rbowman]

Putting Biden in a Smart Fortwo would be appropriate; clown car for a clown.

[Xeno]

Blame the urban architects for that!

[invalid unparseable]

When in the senate he drove maybe five miles to the train station to take the train to DC. Now anywhere he goes there is not only his vehicle but maybe twenty more to accompany him. I saw that when he would emerge from his basement with numerous police vehicles to go with him to the riverfront. Once I saw about twenty state police SUV's and an equal number of motorcycles waiting for him to emerge. Woman told me he even has an army when he goes to church. Another told me that when he retired as vp his wife would jog on the road and had a couple of vehicles driving slowly to guard her. She clogged up traffic on a main road pissing people off.

[Snag]

There are no "urban architects" in rural Arkansas ... and I doubt they would run a light rail spur out to every clearing in the woods . Not exactly cost-effective use of my tax money , I'd rather they use that money to repair the roads .

[Dean Hoffman]

I remember the Arab oil embargo back in the 1970s or so. We were blessed with the Chevy Vega and the first Ford Maverick. Guys of my dad's generation (WWII Coast Guard) thought a vehicle was pretty much used up at 100,000 miles.

[invalid unparseable]

I recall time I got transferred from suburban laboratory to downtown office. Downtown I would have to pay parking and considered taking a bus. I would still have to drive a couple of miles to the bus terminal parking for free. I got bus schedules and literature which talked about their fuel usage and passenger miles. I calculated that the bus used a gallon of gasoline to transport a passenger 9 miles.

[Ed Pawlowski]

My brother had a Vega. It was OK around town. He moved from Philadelphia to San Diego and had three cars at the time. He asked me to drive the Vega out. All I did was drive highway speeds for a few thousand miles and it was never the same after that. The aluminum engine was not made for hours at time at 70 mph.

[trader_4]

This is another fine example of why today's conservatives are an embarrassment and how so many of them have turned into morons. This dope compares a Datsun 1600 from the 60s to today's Prius as if they are comparable cars, with the extra 1000 pounds the Prius carries being attributable to the heavy hand of government regulation and that somehow the Prius would be so much better without it. Of course he doesn't list the other data:

............Datsun 1600 Prius

Length 163" 180 Width 61 69 Height 56 58 MPG 22 55

And did the Datsun have features that consumers want today, like AC? The Prius gets 55 MPG by being a hybrid, which of course brings added weight. Of course he eschews all the safety gear that saves lives, like air bags. He points out they only matter if you have a crash. What conservative brilliance. The magazine should be ashamed to publish this crap. The sad thing is a lot of people will read this clap trap and believe it. I expect Mr. T will be fully on board. It's also interesting that the 1600 was not sold in the US, the US equivalent was the 510.

[Jim Joyce]

+1

I'm not familiar with the 510 but in 1979 I briefly rented a Datsun B210, which I'm guessing is a downgrade from the 510. I was not impressed by then-current standards. I'd be much less impressed today.

[Jim Joyce]

Is Biden the first President to have a Secret Service security detail accompanying him, or is he just the first President from your neighborhood?

[Scott Lurndal]

I had a Datsun 810 (first generation maxima) in 1981. Nice car, it even nagged you ("your lights are on").

[invalid unparseable]

Point is, do they all milk it like Biden?

[Wade Garrett]

During the 70's gas crunch, I lived in the burbs 40 miles NW of Detroit and worked downtown. My daily driver was an 8 cylinder monster that sucked down gas like nobody's business.

Fortunately, I also had a dressed-up BMW motorcycle that got pretty good mileage and rode that to work if there was no ice on the road or snow forecast.

Wore coveralls or snowmobile suit over my Brooks Brothers 3-piece, carried my wingtips in the right saddlebag, brief case in the left.

My boss was a butt-head and regularly carried on about me arriving to our plush offices that way. I reminded him that I, unlike a fair number of empty-tanked coworkers, made it in to work every day. I also visited clients riding the bike and most of them thought it was cool and appreciated me being there!

[Ed Pawlowski]

I don't think they have a choice while in office. Maybe after.

[Jock]

Of course they do, he is the f****ng president.

No maybe about it.