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America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

bloomberg.com

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Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#131

Post by hoorayimhelping »

fiblye wrote: post #113
valuearb wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US only about 1 out of every 70 deaths is from an auto accident. As a single cause of death, it's not even in the top 10. Less than 1 in 3 accidental deaths is auto accident related. More people commit suicide (42,000) than die in auto accidents (40,000). http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929.php Deaths per mile driven have plummeted over time. From 24 per million miles in 1921, to 7 per hundred mill…

1 out of 70 is pretty damn huge. We have global campaigns about preventing cancers that are less dangerous than car accidents. There was panic over Ebola, which killed essentially nobody compared to car accidents. Yet the general response to 1/70 people deaths being because of cars is "meh, oh well."

Because you don't make an implicit cost/benefit analysis when you get ebola. You do when you drive. Every time you drive, you willingly take some risk and accept it.

It's the same reason people shrug their shoulders when a mafia guy gets gunned down but lose their shit when a child is killed by stray gunfire. The mafia guy opted in to the risk.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#132

Post by exclusiv »

fiblye wrote: post #113
valuearb wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US only about 1 out of every 70 deaths is from an auto accident. As a single cause of death, it's not even in the top 10. Less than 1 in 3 accidental deaths is auto accident related. More people commit suicide (42,000) than die in auto accidents (40,000). http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929.php Deaths per mile driven have plummeted over time. From 24 per million miles in 1921, to 7 per hundred mill…

1 out of 70 is pretty damn huge. We have global campaigns about preventing cancers that are less dangerous than car accidents. There was panic over Ebola, which killed essentially nobody compared to car accidents. Yet the general response to 1/70 people deaths being because of cars is "meh, oh well."

Agreed. Part of the problem is that we use the word "accident" when it's almost always someone's fault.

Everytime I see someone driving terribly I know there's a 50%+ chance they have a sizable dent on their car from a car crash or from them hitting some inanimate object. It's actually a game I play - I'll see someone driving poorly and then say "where's the dent" and look for it. Sometimes I'll even switch lanes to check the other side where it will inevitably be. For certain cars like the Pontiac Grand-Am, my theory puts the dent % and dent damage much higher.

In many ways, insurance and how we treat collisions as "accidents" enables them to drive with no regard. By the time they're dropped from insurance, they probably already hurt someone.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#133

Post by gph »

jdlyga wrote: post #128

If there's an affordable, reliable car that performs well that's better than what Honda and Toyota have to offer, I'll sure as hell buy it. I don't care if its a Chevy

Article title is misleading you, this isn't about American-based car companies it's about the cars Americans drive including Honda/Toyota/BMW/etc.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#134

Post by jonknee »

r00fus wrote: post #114
DamnInteresting wrote: post #73

A few weeks ago I bought a Chevy Bolt EV...according to the dealer it was the first one sold in my state (Utah). I'd been on a waiting list for almost a year. Sure, ICE engines are getting better, but EVs are rapidly gaining and will soon surpass. The Bolt is a bit expensive for a car of its body type, but "gassing up" at home is amazing, the 200+ mile range is great, and the sharply reduced emissions are a weight of…

The Bolt EV 0-60mph is rated at 6.5s. That's amazingly fast.

Is it? My diesel SUV is listed 0-60 in 5.8s...

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#135

Post by kakarot »

jabl wrote: post #54
kakarot wrote: post #26

If only the auto industry hadn't canned Henry Ford's efforts to mass produce cars with hemp-composite materials.[0] They would be arguably faster, lighter, more efficient, and safer than anything on the market. But, ya know. Car wrecks are good for business, and efficiency is bad for business. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srgE6Tzi3Lg

There's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forged_composite Not as good as hand-spun fibers, but cheaper to produce.. Not sure if it per se is that innovative, similar tech has been used for a long time for (cheaper) pleasure boats, though with chopped glass fibers and polyester resin.

Oh I neglected to think about carbon fiber. That is probably the way forward.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#136

Post by rxhernandez »

komali2 wrote: post #111
old-gregg wrote: post #84

I suspect that people of the future will look back and be amazed that for more than a century we've been legally allowing our slow-reacting bodies [1] to ride around at 80mph in a 2-ton hideous mechanical equivalent of a horse, killing ourselves [2] and simultaneously destroying our cities [3]. I myself used to be a "petrolhead" my 20s and it's quite amazing to observe this awakening when looking in the mirror. I sus…

I don't think people should generally be driving day to day, but as a passionate driver and motorcyclist, it does make me sad to think that I won't be allowed to tear rubber up and down, say, Highway 1 sometime in the future. Tracks are great and all (and where the real speed belongs) but nothing beats bendies next to the ocean.

I truly hope they don't ban motorcycles. Motorcycles will be much more fun once we no longer have to risk getting killed by an irresponsible driver on a commute.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#137

Post by tyingq »

mikeash wrote: post #83
DamnInteresting wrote: post #73

A few weeks ago I bought a Chevy Bolt EV...according to the dealer it was the first one sold in my state (Utah). I'd been on a waiting list for almost a year. Sure, ICE engines are getting better, but EVs are rapidly gaining and will soon surpass. The Bolt is a bit expensive for a car of its body type, but "gassing up" at home is amazing, the 200+ mile range is great, and the sharply reduced emissions are a weight of…

I own a Tesla S85 and recently had a Cadillac ATS rental for a few days. It was an interesting contrast, since the official 0-60 times of the two cars are almost the same, yet the Cadillac felt like an absolute slug by comparison. I think a lot of it is that there's a great deal of lag in traditional drivetrains, and we rarely do 0-60 in actual real-life driving. More typically we're doing 0-30 or 30-40 or 55-65. Onc…

Tesla fudged the 0-60 times for the S85 to be slower than actual. They claimed 5.4 seconds, independent testers saw 4.9 seconds or better. I suspect this is at least some of what you saw.

The "lag" at launch would be the power curve...power doesn't peak at low rpms.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#138

Post by afuchs »

bacongobbler wrote: post #53
perryh2 wrote: post #9

The chart makes me sad. My Subaru BRZ (2013-) "sports car" comes with only 200hp. Many people looking for more power install aftermarket superchargers.

Same thing could be said about the Toyota AE86 in its day. The AE86 came out around the same time when the e30 M3, the mk3 supra, and the FC RX7 were also being released. The AE86 made "only" 128hp, the RX7 turbo made 200hp, and the mk3 supra made 230hp. Guess which one became the icon of drifting in Japan? Take one look at the grassroots drift scene over at Ebisu Circuit and you'll notice that nearly everyone's runn…

The Subaru BRZ, and its Toyota equivalent (FRS/86/GT86/FT86) sharing the same platform, was designed to be the spiritual successor to the AE86.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#139

Post by jjawssd »

notatoad wrote: post #121
timelol wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an electric _bicycle_ that routinely dusts off ICE cars at stop lights. It just takes a while for all that machinery to start rolling.

I have a pedal-powered bicycle that dusts ICE cars at stop lights. For, like, 5 metres... Not only does it take a while to get all that machinery rolling, doing it quickly kills your gas mileage. Most drivers aren't drag-racing out of the stoplights.

> Most drivers aren't drag-racing out of the stoplights.

You sure about that? Out here they do.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#140

Post by rbritton »

DamnInteresting wrote: post #73

A few weeks ago I bought a Chevy Bolt EV...according to the dealer it was the first one sold in my state (Utah). I'd been on a waiting list for almost a year. Sure, ICE engines are getting better, but EVs are rapidly gaining and will soon surpass. The Bolt is a bit expensive for a car of its body type, but "gassing up" at home is amazing, the 200+ mile range is great, and the sharply reduced emissions are a weight of…

Are you in any of the areas of Utah that are prone to a decent amount of winter weather? I'd be interested to know how the range is affected by cold weather. We routinely take 600-2000 mile (round trip) ski trips in the winter, so that kind of vehicle is a non-option still.
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