RhadamYgg wrote:The low price of gas has enabled suburban sprawl. In the 1950s there developed this version of heaven that we have detached homes with cars, garages and white picket fences and that is what we (generalized) want now. I don't think it required any manipulation by the oil companies. It is the American (TM?) dream to go to college, get hitched, move out to the suburbs and have a bunch of rugrats.
GM "built" the first suburb in a ploy to get working families out of the city, therefore forcing them to have to drive to get to work.
People in first world countries love the freedom and power that comes with owning a big house in the suburbs and a big beautiful car (SUV?) to go with it. There is no way that these people are going to give up their lifestyle. Companies will keep trying to develop new technologies to replace oil, but in the meantime there is too much money in the petroleum industry for the industry or government to let it go just yet.
hmmm, I don't know. GM didn't seem to appear officially in the information about Levittown.
Now, once suburbs became a viable concept... Of course GM would be foolish not to support the idea. Its like being a bank and someone says they deserve to charge for ATM use - damn, I'd jump on that train.
RhadamYgg / Skydiver / Motorbike Rider / Mountain Climber
FZ6/11302 mi|Suzuki B-King/5178 mi|Ninja 250cc/5300 mi| (rented)ST1300 850 mi
Hoping my kids don't hate me too much in the future.
Random 2003/Corwin 2006/Cordelia and Morrigan 2009
I'm gonna have to get my buddy in on this discussion. He co-owns a business here in Colorado that sells and installs renewable energy products. It's doing really well. (He just bought himself a fully loaded 2010 Tacoma, lifted it, wheels and 33" tires, and a 2007 Aprilia RSV 1000R) The stuff for renewable energy isn't as expensive as it once was, and it's more efficient and lasts longer now.
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha
Marvin wrote:The future of motorcycles are going to be the scooters, every other year the emission standards are getting stricter, whats Harley Davidson bikes going to look and sound like with a closed loop system with cataylic converters with a O2 sensor?
My Yamaha TMAX Scooter meets and exceeds 2012 Tier 2 emissions, I get 51 mpg and I can go just as fast and faster than any full size cruiser bike!
and,,, I am saving mother earth from global warming, look at the volcanos in Iceland, the only reason they are erupting is because of global warming melting the ice that covers them.
My Honda Shadow Deluxe VLX which is a 1996 model gets 55 mpg so my Cruiser is better than your scooter.
flynrider wrote:According to Yamaha, 2010 FZ6R = 43mpg and 2010 TMAX = 47mpg. If you really want to save Mother Earth a CBR125 like csspostal's might make a more significant difference.
Yeah and those figures are based on not being an ultra miler like those morons that think shutting their car off at every intersection is saving them money. Cept they dont realize they are buying new batteries WAY more often than some of us folks that drive normal plus other electrical and mechanical issues caused by the fact things a harder to start than to stay running. Heck I am just about done with year 9 on the battery in my 9 yr old mini van.
When I first got my KLX250S, it got about 58 mpg on the road (not off-road). Since then I have gone one tooth down on the front sprocket, changed the pilot and main jets to richen the mixture, drilled out the cap for the mixture screw and richened it, installed a adjustable needle and lowered it, drilled out the slide, tossed the airbox lid, ripped out the smog equipment, added a FMF powerbomb header, and a HMF slipon muff. The bike now starts instantaneously hot or cold, idles perfectly, and runs like a scared ape. And surprise of surprises, it now gets over 60 mpg.
HYPERR wrote: Honda, the greatest engine builder in the world bar none (If you dispute this, ask any Indy driver) fully realizes this and that is why they do not build a Hybrid SUVs. They even stopped making Hybrid Accords, and only have the Hybrid option on the tiny Civics and the ultra tiny Fit. Honda has always been the most green out of all the automakers on the planet. Their cars have been LEV (Low Emmission Vehicle) & ULEV (Ultra Low Emmision Vehicle) as long as those certification were available. The fact that the leader in ULEVs chose not to use this flawed technology should tell you something. The big difference between Honda and Toyota is that Honda is run by PhDs in Mechanical Engineering while Toyota is run by MBAs in Finance. This explains why Toyota/Lexus is so big on Hybrids and Honda/Acura is not.
From todays Calgary Herald:
"Sporty Honda Hybrid launches in summer; larger system for Sport utes in the works: Honda is developing an all-new hybrid drive system that will go in to large cars and sport-utility vehicles within the next two years......."
I don't like the technology either, and think that there are going to be a lot of disappointed owners out there in a few years looking for answers with regard to battery costs and the effects of those batteries on the environment. However, the above article made it clear that Honda is walking away from making a large SUV hybrid.
HYPERR wrote: Honda, the greatest engine builder in the world bar none (If you dispute this, ask any Indy driver) fully realizes this and that is why they do not build a Hybrid SUVs. They even stopped making Hybrid Accords, and only have the Hybrid option on the tiny Civics and the ultra tiny Fit. Honda has always been the most green out of all the automakers on the planet. Their cars have been LEV (Low Emmission Vehicle) & ULEV (Ultra Low Emmision Vehicle) as long as those certification were available. The fact that the leader in ULEVs chose not to use this flawed technology should tell you something. The big difference between Honda and Toyota is that Honda is run by PhDs in Mechanical Engineering while Toyota is run by MBAs in Finance. This explains why Toyota/Lexus is so big on Hybrids and Honda/Acura is not.
From todays Calgary Herald:
"Sporty Honda Hybrid launches in summer; larger system for Sport utes in the works: Honda is developing an all-new hybrid drive system that will go in to large cars and sport-utility vehicles within the next two years......."
I don't like the technology either, and think that there are going to be a lot of disappointed owners out there in a few years looking for answers with regard to battery costs and the effects of those batteries on the environment. However, the above article made it clear that Honda is walking away from making a large SUV hybrid.
plus toyota is currently being run by NASA engineers. Well at least in the US of A it is lol. I can say alot of bad things about toyotas and why they have issues but thats for another thread not this one.
flynrider wrote:According to Yamaha, 2010 FZ6R = 43mpg and 2010 TMAX = 47mpg. If you really want to save Mother Earth a CBR125 like csspostal's might make a more significant difference.
Yeah and those figures are based on not being an ultra miler like those morons that think shutting their car off at every intersection is saving them money. Cept they dont realize they are buying new batteries WAY more often than some of us folks that drive normal plus other electrical and mechanical issues caused by the fact things a harder to start than to stay running. Heck I am just about done with year 9 on the battery in my 9 yr old mini van.
Ultra milers are definitely morons!
Cars like the Prius and some Hondas that turn themselves off at full stops are definitely designed for the many more than normal starts and can take it. Most normal cars can't.
But damn, man 9 years on a battery. In cars, I suck with batteries, I get 4 to 5 years. It usually goes well, until I do something stupid like leave lights on, or accessories that drain the battery even when the car is off. Then a cell goes and the battery is junk.
RhadamYgg / Skydiver / Motorbike Rider / Mountain Climber
FZ6/11302 mi|Suzuki B-King/5178 mi|Ninja 250cc/5300 mi| (rented)ST1300 850 mi
Hoping my kids don't hate me too much in the future.
Random 2003/Corwin 2006/Cordelia and Morrigan 2009
Well, even if Honda goes to larger vehicles for hybrids (which I think is what I got out of that sentence) there are some advantages to hybrids in larger vehicles. Even a modest increase in mpg can be big bucks when your vehicle starts at 15 mpg. We may see a lot of this with the new CAFE standards and some of the companies with a lot of larger vehicles need to bring their overall vehicle mpg up.
I also suspect that internally, car manufacturers may set quotas on the maximum number of large vehicles they will sell to keep their overall mpg higher. So, people might be forced in to smaller vehicles as demand outstrips the number of larger pick-up trucks that say - Ford/Toyota/Chrysler/GM really want to sell in a year because their cars don't get high enough mpg or sell enough of the higher mpg cars to make up for the bad mpg of the larger vehicles.
RhadamYgg / Skydiver / Motorbike Rider / Mountain Climber
FZ6/11302 mi|Suzuki B-King/5178 mi|Ninja 250cc/5300 mi| (rented)ST1300 850 mi
Hoping my kids don't hate me too much in the future.
Random 2003/Corwin 2006/Cordelia and Morrigan 2009
RhadamYgg wrote:Well, even if Honda goes to larger vehicles for hybrids (which I think is what I got out of that sentence) there are some advantages to hybrids in larger vehicles. Even a modest increase in mpg can be big bucks when your vehicle starts at 15 mpg. We may see a lot of this with the new CAFE standards and some of the companies with a lot of larger vehicles need to bring their overall vehicle mpg up.
I also suspect that internally, car manufacturers may set quotas on the maximum number of large vehicles they will sell to keep their overall mpg higher. So, people might be forced in to smaller vehicles as demand outstrips the number of larger pick-up trucks that say - Ford/Toyota/Chrysler/GM really want to sell in a year because their cars don't get high enough mpg or sell enough of the higher mpg cars to make up for the bad mpg of the larger vehicles.
The good news is that larger pick-ups are finally seeing better mileage. The F-150 that I brought home today is rated at 25 mi / imp gallon, and judging by the demo that I had last weekend that is really not that far off. The GMC that I also looked at was rated at 30 mi / imp gallon. That is a heck of a lot better than the last one that I owned. It's no Prius, but a Prius sucks at pulling a trailer and hauling my quad
