Good man, i've still got my Mk1 sprite which I have had since 1984 and it did return really good mileage when driven sensibly, still good when driven like a lunatic. From the detail though that's a 948cc engine and unladen weight of 660kg (1452 lbs), given that spec any modern vehicle should be able to beat the mpg easily by a vast margin. It seems to me that while modern vehicles are getting safer and the structure lighter the vehicles are getting heavier. Too many power electric accessories?. Renault introduced a 6k euro car idea for emerging markets a few years ago and IIRC later reduced it to 5k euro. Basic car, no thrills, simple to maintain, one body style, really took off from what I read and many were imported into europe by people wanting simple transport without the bloat.
Likewise. All you can buy is cheap but overpriced Chinese CRAP that burns out or otherwise fails in less than 2 years - generally within 6 months. I still have a few incandescent bulbs in the house that were here when I bought it 27 years ago.
Todays long tube flourescents are also nothing but crap. Untill I changed out to halogens in my office/rec room I was replacing tubes every couple of months, and ballasts every year or so.
My 1976 Vega with stick shift got 40+ MPG on the highway, with the A/C running. I always wondered if they made a mistake and put in an auto trans axle ratio. I used to joke it had "4 speeds, that's 3rd, 4th, half-grumble and full-grumble". It was a little difficult to drive, a very touchy clutch that wore out at 18,000 miles. I put a 12" clutch in it, and then it was nearly impossible to drive. I had to invent a whole new clutch technique that I called the "inertial dump mode". You revved the engine and then engaged the clutch until you got rolling, then removed your foot from the gas and let is stall - completely. While this happened, the clutch could be locked up and the car's momentum jump-started it. If you tried to feather the clutch in, it would start massive clutch chatter until the front bumper struck the pavement! I'm not kidding, but my wife proved that a Vega can actually do a "wheelie"!
My 1989 Toyota Corolla wagon with 5-speed will do over 40 on the highway under the best conditions, and does 32+ MPG in mixed driving.
Niether of these are extremely light vehicles, or highly aerodynamic. And, they both are straight Otto-cycle engines, with all the pumping losses that entails.
The problem with the Prius and other hybrids is the engine is WAY too big, and the batteries and motor/drives are way too small. The highly aerodynamic Prius ought to be able to cruise on the highway with under 10 Hp applied, mostly for wind resistance. Why the HELL they need an 80+ Hp engine in that thing must be beacuse Toyota has a big plant that makes 80+ Hp
4-cyl engines! Otherwise, that sized engine is totally ludicrous. Properly sizing the engine, and maybe going to a stratified-charge or Diesel cycle, should allow a nearly stock Prius to get 80 + MPG.
I have found out a few things. One, don't use electronic ballasts in the bathroom, the steam kills the 400 V electronics. Newer ones seem to be tougher in this regard. My entire shop is lit with either tube or compact fluorescents, some have lasted
5+ years. Again, the magnetic ballast ones seem to last to complete lamp burnout, the ring ones can usually be relamped cheaply and continue in use. The electronic ballasts seem to pop before lamp burnout in most cases, I'm still watching this issue. I think maybe the electronic ballasts went through a bad time about 2002-2005 or so, when they had very short life. As I marked the date on them, I could bring them back to the local hardware store for a free exchange if less than 6 months old or so.
I always write the date of installation on the base of a CF so I know how much life I'm getting out of them. Incandescents have a really short life, in many cases a month or two. If you have to replace an incandescent bulb 12 times over 2 years, the cheap CF's start looking good even forgetting the energy saving.
They ARE getting better. Get a couple electronic and a couple magnetic (usually in the ones with ring tubes) and mark the date of installation. These things are going under $5.00 now. I usually use the largest sizes, 26 - 32 W, and I know the eqivalent lumens compared to XX W incandescent is a fabrication on the order of the old air compressor and shop vac ratings wars. The electronic ballast ones switch on in milliseconds, and I put the magnetic ones in places where I have instant light from electronic CF's or rapid-start tubes, and the slow start of the magnetic ballast CF is not a problem as they add aditional light.
Yeah. The VW's get pretty poor results in the car ratings, as you would have to pay a dealer a PILE of money over time to fix a bunch of little issues.
If you can live without the car being "new" for the entire life of it, you can do an awful lot of stuff yourself.
Depends on your situation, very much.
I have the Jetta, a spare parts Jetta, and a GM 4x4 with a 6.5 in it.
Gettin' WAY to familiar with the diesel engine and it's needs. :-)
On Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:59:46 -0800 (PST), with neither quill nor qualm, Brent quickly quoth:
I dislike incans due to their yellow look, so the blue is beauty to my eyes. I have CFs in all the longer-used sections of my house and love them. While some tubes last eons, many have gone dead far too soon, quicker than incans. Feit Electric stands behind them and they've sent
4 replacements so far, on their nickel. Warmup time isn't critical in most places, but one lights faster than the other in the bath, so there is nearly instantaneous light in there, then it gets REALLY bright on 200 watts worth. That's 46w total. I love 'em.
Amen.
Agreed.
Since they're guaranteed so well and have been on sale for $0.99 for eons now, what's to lose by swapping out? CF and LED should replace the ugly old yellow bulbs just as soon as the prices get reasonable. In CFs, that time is already here.
-- Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. --e e cummings
The 1.6, and by default, the 1.9 IDI engines. Not sure how the 1.5's fit in the family tree.
Fifty thousand hours/ half million KMs at highway speeds.
That does not account for the wear items, like timing belts, IP's, nozzles and the like. Pretty solid little engines!
They don't fare well on paper, as the horsepower numbers don't draw the ooohs and aaahs like some of the gas engines, but they sure pull. I think my Turbo Deisel is rated 65 HP on it's books.
Really don't know why the diesels have not made as much of a penetration into the US markets as they have in the rest of the world.
let me point out, for the benefit of truth, at least, that 35 mpg is no big deal - your VW bug did better than that, my 56 porsche averaged 45 mpg (city), so it is absolutely not the case that you need to change any laws of physics to meet this requirement.
Now, as a matter of policy, I think it's better to raise the price of gas by a stiff tax and let folks decide for themselves how efficient they want their cars to be, but policy is different from physics.
I have a '79 also. I think the older diesel Rabbits got the reputation for noise because the RH motor mount doesn't last long, and when it fails lots of vibration is transmitted to the body. Mine needs changing again, and it isn't easy.
I also have an Isuzu turbodiesel pickup. 35mpg in town, on the road, full, empty, pulling a trailer, whatever. I picked it up a few years ago for less than $1,000. Folks wanted big pickups and SUVs, not small trucks then. Even our Mercedes diesel sedan gets 35mpg on the road. There is no reason the vast majority of vehicles on the road couldn't meet or beat 35MPG. Biodiesel is easier and cheaper to make than ethanol, too.
For those of you who drive the thirsty gassers, and think it should be your birthright, remember how much of your money goes each month to support madrassas around the world. You are making a conscious choice to support radical Islam. You do have a choice.
The Heart of my car i have no complaints with. Reliable engine Cozy on the Keester but i do have to learn some german curses for when i do stuff like change the oil filter (Poorly engineered placement) and when its a fit or finish issue i have to curse in spanish (Mexican made)
I'm just waiting for someone to help nudge some kind of bacteria to eat food waste and compost and poop out combustible plant oil, that will sink a HUGE chunk of the Gas market when diesel fuel suddenly becomes easily renewable from waste
But the best investment i made was the bentley book for my car.
I look at soem jobs and i usually say, OK or i say Ok i need a shop tool
but occasionally i see a job that needs more specialist tools than you can shake a stick at and i see that job and i say, nope forget it thats a shop job. I took the car in to change the front wheel bearing because i dont have presses or pullers and there was a PILE of special VAG tools and fixtures involved in the job. It looked like it MIGHT have been doable but i would need to have seen it done once first before i tried tackling it alone.
For me the car is easily maintainable in most cases but the secret is KNOWING WHEN TO NOT TRY IT MYSELF =)
get commercial grade flourescent bulbs from an electrical or lighting supply place. Anything at home depot is junk. You will pay more, but those cheap crap bulbs don't work.
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