OT: What are your thoughts on this?

[-MIKE-]

Except that every time I drive through it, you still have @$$holes driving slow in the passing lane... and they even has signs that read, "stay right!"

[Ed Pawlowski]

My new car is 5 weeks old. It gets consistent 29 mpg with a 2.0 turbocharged engine and 6 speed auto. 0-60 is 5.8 seconds

Where have we improved? Compared to your older examples, it is faster, more comfortable, air conditioned, power everything, seats five comfortably, required much less maintenance, and the tires last at leas 4X longer than your '52 Ford.

I do hate to see what the 54 mpg cars will be like, but you can still get a decent sized car today.

[Keith Nuttle]

of driving 20+%

going 85 on interstate

posted limit of 35.

As for the places in the south with 65mph, you forgot the southern history. That is the only way to explain North Carolina going randomly from 70mph to 65mph on I-95. I wonder if they will make it uniform if they get their way and make I-95 a toll road. I doubt it as they would lose the speeding ticket revenue.

[Keith Nuttle]

Have you ever sat in the back seat of a 52 Ford 4 Door? There is more room in the back seat than in both seats of a modern cars. I drooled over a 1935 Chevy 2 door last week end there was more room in its back seat than in both seats of my Cobalt 2 door.

It is like southern squirrels, you look look at them and wonder how your grandparent cooked one for a meal and served four people. You then realize they were cooking fox squirrels not gray squirrels and realize it is possible. Because of the size you could do things in the back seat of the cars of the 50's that are impossible in today's cars.

Your new car still gets the same efficiency from it engine as the car of

80 years ago.

[Swingman]

Because of my size I did things in the back seat of a Renault 4CV in the

50's that would be impossible in today's cars.

[krw]

of driving 20+%

drivers going 85 on interstate

posted limit of 35.

Not buying that "explanation".

[krw]

That's not unique to KY.

[-MIKE-]

That is certainly true. But given KY put signs up reminding people and it's still ignored by most is further evidence of the fact that most people are selfish, inconsiderate a-holes when they get behind the wheel... which is sort of the theme of this whole thread.

[basilisk]

Now your talking, nuclear powered car, fusion I hope, comes with all the fuel it will ever need and a cruising speed of 400 Mph. Bring it on!

Hey, can we get with auxillary 3 phase out put to power our tools?

basilisk

[krw]

In other states it's not the law. That is, some states the left lane is for passing only, thus the drive-right signs. Others want both lanes used.

Certainly not unique to KY!

At one time truckers were known to be good drivers. Anymore, they're just as likely to be inconsiderate a-holes as anyone else. I don't know how many times I got stuck behind two trucks side-by-side going the same speed, this past weekend (1500mi trip from GA/AL up to IL for to a funeral).

[-MIKE-]

Some things are generally accepted common courtesy. But then we know that courtesy got outta Dodge years ago. I see if happen when there are 3 lanes. Not only will people drive in the passing lane and stay there when there are 2 lanes, but as soon as the road opens up to 3 lanes, then move over into the leftmost lane, again, and stay there.

I wish more cops would do this... (You may want to mute it to keep from hearing the inane comments of a couple of examples of America's brightest generation.)

> it's still ignored by most is further evidence of the fact that most

That's just truckers "getting back" at car drivers. Try driving an RV near trucks and see how you get treated. :-)

[Leon]

Let me throw some actual facts into the mix here. My wife and I just purchased a 2012 Camry SE V6. In town we are averaging 26 mpg in the first thousand miles, on the highway better than 35 mpg, those numbers will improve as the engine and trans break in. Our car has 268 hp and shifts into 6th great at around 35-40 mph. This from a 3400 lb vehicle, only 1600 lbs lighter weight than our Tundra.

The transmissions do not only have more speeds to increase gas mileage, they have more speeds to give a smoother ride. Shift points are almost undetectable other than looking at the tach.

I have heard that line before, from some one that reads a lot about cars but does not really understand the dynamics that are involved. I can assure that fuel injection, computer controlled ignition timing and variable valve timing does a world of good for gas mileage.

By simply raising the octane of the fuel and advancing the ignition timing you will increase gas mileage and performance. Same fuel, higher octane. Higher octane fuels enable engines to run more efficiently.

We have

I believe you are clueless.

[Leon]

Lets see here my old 79 GMC 350cid/5.7l with 165 hp got 12 mpg on the highway. My bigger 4 door 2007 Tundra with 347cid/5.7l with 380 hp gets 20 mph on the highway.

You do not see an improvement there?

[Keith Nuttle]

I would rather share the highway with a big trucks, than with a bunch of people returning from a day at some place like Disney world, or Six Flags.

The best way to share the road with the big ones is to drive and observe Trucker's Rules.

[Keith Nuttle]

I have not driven an RV, but have pulled a 21" boat with an Astro van several times up and down the interstates. I always try to be courteous to the truckers, helping them in traffic, helping them change lanes, etc. I must be successful as many times I have found they were helping me do the same thing.

[Keith Nuttle]

Obviously you did not take Chemistry and Physics when you were in school. If so you would have learn about bond energies, and the the energies released during chemical reactions. When gasoline reacts with oxygen (approximately -CH3 + O2 = CO2 + H2O) a define amount of energy is released, that is fixed, and can not be changed by all of the high technology in the world. The energy of these chemical bonds and reactions can be found in any handbook on chemistry and physics, in the library. This information is also available on the internet. This is the reaction of Natural gas.

you have the total energy produced you must reduce it by the percent of the energy you can collect in the system in which the reaction occurs. ie car's engine. There are slight differences when using the gas propane, methane and the liquid aerosols, ie gasoline.

The first submarines with engines occurred in the mid 1800's and used a engine to produce electricity that was held in batteries, The battery was then use when the submarine was submerged. Here is a history of submarines

is the history of the Diesel locomotive that uses a concept similar to a submarines.

[Keith Nuttle]

Look to the gear ratios and gross vehicle weights. Trucks by definition are designed to pull or carry heavy loads they are geared significantly different than the standard passenger car which is designed for speed.

A truck design for load are have low gear ratios. ad passenger car has high gear ratios. This is the specs for my 2005 Astro Van the Rear end ratio is 3.42/1 The van has a 4 speed transmission with Third Gear Ratio (:1): 1.00

This is my 2002 Cavalier the Rear end ratio is 3.94/1 The car has a 5 speed transmission with Fourth Gear Ratio (:1): 0.98

If you want to compare vehicle to vehicle with out considering what it is; My JD tractor gets much better mileage that my 1986 Omni which go 37 mpg

[-MIKE-]

I've been on too many bus tours to count and truckers treat bus driver as one of the club, which they are, since they need a commercial license to drive one.

I've also been on tours in huge RV's that are essentially the same size as a bus, but poorly constructed, lighter, and anyone can drive one as long as you're not being "paid to drive" it. On many of these tours, the manager or tour manager will drive these RV's or they'll have the merch guy drive it and these guys never got the training to drive a behemoth vehicle like this and it shows. If the truckers on the road can't tell there's an amateur driving by the plates and tags, they can tell by the amateur driving. And they love to mess with those amateurs, believe me.

I would enjoy their pranks more if I weren't the guy trying to sleep in my bunk at the time. :-)

[Leon]

Your dribble is pointless and with out direction.

[Leon]

stored energy, I did not disagree. What seems to be way over your head is Physics, which you apparently did not take, I did. Just because a fuel only has so much energy does not indicate that the machine unleashing that energy cannot do so more efficiently than an other. Read that as the engine that burns more of the fuel and puts it to use rather than one that blows some of the unburned fuel out the exhaust and or wastes the burned fuel in producing heat rather than power.

Still clueless. You are stuck on the non fact that preparative engines were just as efficient as today's modern engines. False False False False False False False False False False False!

The fact that any given fuel can only store "x" amount of energy is off track to your original comment of modern vehicles not being more efficient than those build many years ago.

You have a basic understanding, but are lost with what to do with that understanding.