Paul,
I've marveled at this myself. In the past, I have tuned the Sprite to
run at 35 mpg on the highway easily. I didn't do anything drastic,
just slightly leaned the mixture. In Vizard's book, he writes about
setting up a Mini to run at 50+ mpg and he took it across America to
make a point. I believe that the Healeys, too, ran an economy program
and came up with similar numbers. Does anyone know what mileage a new
"Mini" gets?
A good friend of mine has a family of 4 (husband, wife, two pre-teen
boys). They are amazingly active, but own two older ('87 and '89)
econobox Hondas. For the three long trips they take per year, they
rent (usually big American iron or SUVs). He tells me that when he
ran the numbers, he comes out way, way ahead financially (initial
cost, fuel and maintenance, insurance, etc.).
I wonder what would happen if more people had 50 mpg Minis,
spridgets, or Moggies as at least their second cars? Would it lower
our dependence on oil (regardless of source)? Would it lower
pollution? Would there be less road rage 'cause everyone would be
grinning so much?
Nah, it'd never work. The technology is just not there...
...now that we've crushed it...
Jeff
At 8:42 AM -0500 1/2/02, <ptegler@gouldfo.com> wrote:
>This type of bill has come up before and I believe the last time it
>came up at a state level (California) it got shot down.
>
>The premise of 'old cars' and mpg ratings is a joke! The current
>U.S. new car average is something like 22 mpg (all inclusive)
>SUV's and pickups don't have the same mpg and efficiency
>(and for that fact - Safety) requirements of 'passenger' cars
>SUV's, nationally, nearly matched passenger cars sales the last
>two years running.
>
>How many of your lbcs only get 9-12 mpg like some newer SUV's
>out there. Even imports are only averaging in the upper 20's these days.
>
>Luxury imports...ha! Many get have the mpg my Spit does.
>
>Sure there are plenty of old 'American iron' cars out there that
>only get in the 'teens' or less mpg wise, but these cars are not on the road
>in any real numbers 7 days a week.
>
>Paul Tegler ptegler@gouldfo.com www.teglerizer.com
_____________________________________________________________
Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Assistant Professor, Emory Eye Center, Atlanta, GA, USA
Senior Editor, Molecular Vision, http://www.molvis.org/molvis
mailto:jboatri@emory.edu
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