11–18 of 18 posts
I know a lot of people who would love to have a Diesel Cooper Mini, but like the Fiesta, it will never be sold in the US. I'd love to have one and run it on biodiesel. (This month, I am using Waste Vegetable Oil derived fuel.) My dad would love to have one, and he's almost 80!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a spike in fuel-obsessiveness about six weeks ago, but now prices have flattened off people care much less. People only care about saving fuel when fuel prices rise suddenly, not when they're flat-but-high.
Do you have a link for your six weeks ago asasertion? I don't doubt what you're saying, but that kind of data really interests me.
In my opinion, gas prices are one of those things which people are maximally irrational about. Since they vary from day to day people are far more aware of how much they're spending, while other larger expenses are more easily ignored. For a couple of months people were selling their SUVs for cheap and buying new small cars for more than RRP -- I was almost tempted to pick up a cheap used Lincoln Navigator or similar just to take advantage of it.
Just a note - the reason that small diesels are not popular here is because of the California Air Resources Board's idiotic measurement methods. They count total emissions not per-mile, but per-gallon, completely ignoring that the diesel-powered vehicle will go farther on the same amount of fuel.
They can't sell it in the US because it would destroy the carefully-perpetuated myth that expensive hybrid cars are the only way for fuel efficiency.
Ford doesn't have any interest in maintaining that myth -- they only have one hybrid model. Toyota is the only company currently getting rich off that particular myth. They couldn't sell it in the US because by US standards it's tiny, underpowered and expensive.
They can't sell it in the US because it would destroy the carefully-perpetuated myth that expensive hybrid cars are the only way for fuel efficiency.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have a link for your six weeks ago asasertion? I don't doubt what you're saying, but that kind of data really interests me.
No, six weeks ago was just a guesstimate. You could probably try plotting the frequency of the words "gas prices" and similar phrases showing up in news stories over time to gauge interest (speaking of which, trend picking via time-dependent news analysis is a pretty good startup idea...) In my opinion, gas prices are one of those things which people are maximally irrational about. Since they vary from day to day peo…
Just a note - the reason that small diesels are not popular here is because of the California Air Resources Board's idiotic measurement methods. They count total emissions not per-mile, but per-gallon, completely ignoring that the diesel-powered vehicle will go farther on the same amount of fuel.
I also really don't get the obsession of mpg, when comparing different fuels. Diesel is about 30% more energy dense than gas. If I told you that the car got 100mpg on coal (which has even higher energy density) would that be exciting?
Just a note - the reason that small diesels are not popular here is because of the California Air Resources Board's idiotic measurement methods. They count total emissions not per-mile, but per-gallon, completely ignoring that the diesel-powered vehicle will go farther on the same amount of fuel.
The federals standards are grams per mile. CA's testing facilities use parts per million gauges, but the threshold is model-specific so the readings can be used to identify grams per mile violators.