Originally Posted By: BertieBlue
Originally Posted By: cheesepuffs
Originally Posted By: BertieBlue
I had a look at the specs on that truck.
15 mpg?
lol, I'd have torched it long ago. 15mpg is nuts! How much is petrol over there?
(Its €1.50L) over here
I actually average 13 in the summer and averaged 11.9 over my past 100 miles due to winter gas and obviously my idling time. Does it add up? Yeah, its expensive. You know whats more expensive though? Buying a whole different vehicle to save at the pump. My next vehicle is gonna be a car because I wouldn't wanna continue paying for fuel like this all over again, but for now the truck runs fine so I'm sticking with it.
What do you drive?
BMW 3 Series Diesel
I get +40MP(US)G combined
140 Horses is enough for me
I changed recently due to my old car Failing its Worthyness Test. Over here in Europe, if a bar isn't roadworthy, its illegal. My Fuel Bills have halved and my old car wasn't dreadful to start with. Coupled with the reduction of 75% in the tax, and the fact that i have a much, much better drive, it was really a no-brainer.
The USA really need to get on board with Vehicle controls imho. 6L V6/8 engines have no place in the modern common man's world where natural resources are dwinding. Ok for someone driving into the arse of Alaske, but for Mr Jones driving 5 mins to work, its beyond wastefull.
In the US, it varies state to state. Some states mandate yearly inspections that go through a safety checklist that I imagine is similar to you Worthiness test. Other states, like mine for instance, have no such inspections, and as long as your vehicle passes it's emissions tests it's good to go. After a vehicle is 20 years old though, you are exempt from emissions. Regarding inspections though, if a police officer pulls you over in my state and happens to see something out of the ordinary that seems to pose a threat to your or other drivers' safety, they can make you go through a state conducted inspection upon request.
Regarding whether or not larger engines still have a place in the world, that's where we disagree. New V8s are putting out more power than ever and getting acceptable fuel economy. Here we have CAFE, or "Corporate Average Fuel Economy". It's a Federal standard in which an automaker must meet pre-determined fuel economy standards of their cars, SUVs, and light trucks in their respective "footprint" classes. They are on a scale that gets more stringent each and every year. It depends on the "footprint", or size class of vehicle, but basically every vehicle in a given size class that each manufacturer builds has to see about a one MPG average improvement every year through 2025. Because of this, even the V8s that our market demands have seen a large increase in efficiency compared to the large engines of yesteryear. For example, Chevy can't afford to have their Camaro SS and V8 equipped Silverados drag their average fuel economy down. But there is a very large demand for those vehicles so they've turned to tech like cylinder deactivation and direct injection to bring the efficiency of these engines up dramatically. Current American V8s aren't the wasteful and simplistic powerplants they used to be. They're as sophisticated and high tech as any.
Now, you may be asking, "Why is there such a demand for V8s in the first place?". The short answer is, "because we can". As you're not aware, gas is much cheaper where I live than it is for you. And back before 2008 it literally used to cost half of what it does today. The US is a nation of big things. We have big families, we own big houses on big pieces of land, we drive to big stores on our big and wide roads to buy our big TVs so we can watch the big game! There's less congestion here than there is in much of Europe and Asia. I daily drive my fullsize pickup truck just fine for example, along side millions of other fullsize pickup truck drivers. A V8 car or truck isn't a necessity. It's a "want", and it's a feasible one. Why, might I ask, did you chose a 3 series diesel over a Golf TDI? Because the BMW handles worlds better than a VW economy car, that's why. I've driven 3 and 5 series', I totally get it. And good going! I bet you work hard and you deserve to drive a BMW over a VW if you have the means. That being said, you did not "need" to own a BMW. A Golf diesel would have gotten you from point A to point B sufficiently. It's the same here with V8s. And most people don't even care and just buy a Honda Civic or a Camry and that's fine too. But this world isn't so black and white and quite frankly living to only ever suit your true "needs" and never indulging in anything would be a sad existence. People like the power of V8s in their trucks when they tow their boat, people like the power of V8s in their Mustangs when they wanna feel the wind in their hair, hear the noises, and put a smile on their face. Just like you'd rather look at your BMW than a Ford Fiesta.
On to diesel. Diesel in the US is taxed at a higher rate than gasoline, making is substantially more expensive than gas. Sure, you get better fuel economy, but what good does that do if you have to pay more for the fuel in the first place? On top of that, our diesel cars are much more expensive than their gas powered counterparts. Often times the diesel engine must be paired with a leather interior, navigation, etc which drives up the price too. For instance, here a base model VW Jetta has a starting price of $16,895. Want the diesel? Starts at $21,295. If you're getting a diesel to save money in the US, think again. And you don't even want to know about trucks... 2014 Chevy Silverado 2500HD. 6.0 gas V8 as standard. Want the Duramax diesel? That engine is gonna cost you an extra $7,195. Oh, and it requires a heavier duty transmission as well that's gonna run you back an additional $1,200. Because of our highly taxed diesel and cost of entry into buying a diesel vehicle in the first place, they just don't make as much sense for us. There's no wonder diesel sales capture such a small fragment of the market here in the US.
