[ale] Ot: Geek Squad

[tfreeman at intel.digichem.net]

I about wet myself laughing the time I was in a showroom where somebody 
had put a Chevy LUV and a snowplow together.  Not a dinky little snow plow 
either, but a large one that probably weighed a large portion of the 
truck's weight.

We bought my wife a diesel Dasher wagon years ago. Just under 40 mpg city, 
mid40 mpg highway. Fairly nice vehicle unless you decided to take on 
mountans. That car was a little scared of mountains... Also deep cold 
could be a challenge getting started, but we only risked that once that I 
recall.



On Wed, 17 Aug 2005, Matt Magee wrote:

> I used to drive a Chevy LUV 4x4 (Isuzu P'UP) with a 2.2 4cyl diesel that 
> only made 50hp when new.  I'm sure it was down a few ponies with 200k + 
> miles.  Got between 40-50 mpg.  Sure, it would barely run 65 mph, but I 
> have a lot of patience when money is involved. :)  If I ever find one 
> that hasn't rusted into oblivion, I will snap it up (my last one was so 
> rusty it literally broke in half on an overpass).  The only time the 
> lack of acceleration is a problem for me is merging from entrance ramps 
> and even then I'll just borrow the shoulder if I need a little more room.
> 
> The best way to acheive better efficiency in internal-combustion engines 
> is with long strokes, compact combustion chambers, high compression 
> ratios and relatively low-speed operation.  This makes Diesels ideal.  
> Now, add a turbo and you get the bonus of being able to adjust the power 
> output as needed without any appreciable economy loss.  No need for a 
> second turbo, just size the single turbo appropriately and let the 
> wastegate handle the rest.
> 
> I favor a minimalist approach for my machines though it is difficult to 
> find others with a similar opinion.  I can see the writing on the wall 
> when "economy" cars cost 15k and up and get worse fuel ecomomy than ever.
> 
> Anyway, that's the end of my ex auto mechanic rant.  I'll be quiet now.
> 
> Warren Myers wrote:
> 
> > Well, we've also tromped on the idea of getting cars with 50hp and 
> > 0-60 times of 20 seconds. The Smart car achieves its stellar mileage 
> > with a teeny engine, and really low acceleration times.
> >
> > The cool thing to do to one, in my mind, would be to strap a second 
> > turbo on the top and see if we can't get more horses out ot it. OTOH, 
> > for in-city driving, and low-traffic highway driving, the low 
> > acceleration times isn't a big deal. It's just the constant 
> > get-on/get-off driving of commuting on short highway stretches where 
> > it would suck.
> >
> > WMM
> >
> > On 8/17/05, *Matt Magee* <mattslistmail at earthlink.net 
> > <mailto:mattslistmail at earthlink.net>> wrote:
> >
> >     I still find it interesting that in the early 90's you could buy at
> >     least three cars that acheived around 60 mpg (Civic VX, CRX HF and the
> >     Metro XFI).  Now to get 60 mpg, the best we can get is the smart,
> >     which
> >     is far smaller and not really inexpensive either.
> >
> >     Is this the best the world's engineers can do?
> >
> >     Grant Robertson wrote:
> >
> >     >I so wish the smart would come to the US.. They're becoming kinda
> >     >popular in Canada. Neat little buggers, and suprisingly roomy.
> >     >
> >     >-G
> >     >
> >     >
> >     >On 8/16/05, James P. Kinney III <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com
> >     <mailto:jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>> wrote:
> >     >
> >     >
> >     >>I'm partial to
> >     >> http://www.zapworld.com/cars/smartCar.asp
> >     >>for geek-fleet cars.
> >     >>
> >     >>
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> >
> > -- 
> > http://warrenmyers.com
> > "God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is 
> > going on with the prime numbers." --Paul Erd?s
> >
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If you think Education is expensive
Try Ignorance
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