Compressed Air Powerd Car To Be Sold In US

[Tony_SS]

I did get out 14-15mpg out of my old 350/quadrajet too.. in my 84 Elky with a 700-R4.

I do notice worse mileage in our cars during the winter... I've heard its a cheap fuel being sold. ???

Whats the RFG thing?

I don't totally hate GM. I'm still happy with the 2.4 HHR we have. It moves the family around great and we are getting an average of 24.3mpg. On the hwy it gets 30.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

RFG stands for Re Formulated Gasoline. Basically, the Federal Government mandates that certain additives are put into fuel at certain times of the year to cut pollution. These are the so-called Oxygenated fuels. MTBE's were the first wave of this, but it was found that they seep into ground water and are almost impossible to separate from water once it is there. So, that is why we are now using Ethanol blends with our gas. It was really going in that direction anyways, and not for the sake of cutting gas costs. Unfortunately, all of these chemicals do not enhance the actual burn process and so you get fewer BTU's of energy for a given volume of fuel than you would without them. Conveniently, the EPA decided to change it's MPG ratings on older cars at about this time. I used to get better than EPA rated economy out of my cars before the fuel change. Now, I get worse than original but about the same as the new ratings. Conspiracy? You decide. I regularly monitor these things as they are all part of my costs as a delivery driver.

Oh, and fuel formulations are seasonal too with different blends depending on what time of year it is. I believe there are 96 different blends mandated by the government based on time of year and geographical location.

 

[Tony_SS]

There is a 'run your car on water' banner below... Ha!

Our whole system is based on consumption... Why would they want us to get better mileage anyway? So they make more efficient cars and the gas less efficient.

 

[megaladon6]

the RFG/ethanol blend reduces emissions when the car is cold. they use it in the winter because people idle their cars to warm them up.
of course the emissions are offset by the fact that you get less MPG when driving and thus, greater total emissions. you have to love EPA engineers.
safety wise, you are NOT safer in an suv, quite the opposite. they are much more likely to tip/roll over, even without an impact. i've towed a number of them that rolled on a slight curve in a drizzling rain. plus they have had the structure cut down so much to save weight that they collapse just as easy as a car, sometimes easier due to the greater unsupported roof area.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

As far as hating GM goes, I kinda do now. Everything they make is big, bloated and poor quality. I like my G body, but it is probably the last GM product that I would consider owning. Everything since is not very well put together, and usually FWD. The creaky, cheap plastics used on the interiors really kill GM cars for me. They may very well make good stuff now, but I wouldn't notice it. No one I know drives new American cars, and none of my friends would even consider buying one. If I was to buy something new, It would be a Nissan, Honda or Toyota. Non union labor costs less and that money can be put into a comparably better product.

As for making more efficient cars, they already do in several other countries--we just can't but them here. The safety Nazis will not allow us to buy truly small cars, so we get 3,000 lb Civics instead. That's my point with the Lupo. 78 MPG car with a standard diesel powertrain, not a hybrid. The stupid Prius gets worse fuel efficiency than the Lupo by around 20 MPG, and is more expensive, but we can't buy the cheap Lupo here because of NHTSA. The real conspiracy is between conflicting groups of Liberal do-gooders who want to keep us safe from ourselves and also supposedly save the planet. The oil companies have little to nothing to do with it, or else these cars would not be sold in Europe, Asia and Australia. Even Mexico has the Nissan Tsuru, which is a 2100 lb 91-94 US model Sentra. They get over 30 mpg city and sell for $7500 new. They can't sell it here because of safety regulations and because it has an older emissions system. It also has a 1.6 liter engine versus the 2 liter small engine in the new one, and weighs 900-1,000 lbs less.

 

[Coveted]

As far as hating GM goes, I kinda do now. Everything they make is big, bloated and poor quality. I like my G body, but it is probably the last GM product that I would consider owning. Everything since is not very well put together, and usually FWD. The creaky, cheap plastics used on the interiors really kill GM cars for me. They may very well make good stuff now, but I wouldn't notice it. No one I know drives new American cars, and none of my friends would even consider buying one.

QFT

Expecially this

I like my G body, but it is probably the last GM product that I would consider owning.

I don't even like my 3rd gen fbodys to be honest.
Ones getting scrapped the other is forsale hahaha.
I'm a gbody guy, and not because its one of the few cars I fit in (6'5'' and stocky)

It was just designed right IMHO. V8 rear wheel drive and swap compatabile.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Not only that, but the interior plastics are not that chintzy hard as a rock and brittle stuff the newer ones use. They squeak and rattle less when they are put together right. Compared to an F body, the floor is actually usable on the passenger's side, and the car is not a flexi-flyer. F bodies make great parts donors though.

 

[Coveted]

Not only that, but the interior plastics are not that chintzy hard as a rock and brittle stuff the newer ones use. They squeak and rattle less when they are put together right. Compared to an F body, the floor is actually usable on the passenger's side, and the car is not a flexi-flyer. F bodies make great parts donors though.

hahahahahaha. Its donating me headaches right now.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The sad thing is, the F Body is far from the worst GM product. That award goes to the Crapalier and all of the J body swill they foisted upon the US public for 20 years---yes 20 years, the same car! I don't care if they look different, they are the same damn car underneath. Then there is the "Malibu"-Altima clone they made. I rented one back in the day with 30k miles on it, and it was awful. My friend had an Altima with 90k miles on it and it felt like new. The Maliboo squeaked and groaned like an old bed in a wh*re house.

As for today's offerings, many of them look like copies of popular models from other companies. The new Malibu looks like a VW Passat except for the nose-where GM managed to make it even uglier than the VW, the Impala looks like a Nissan Altima except for the nose and tail, and the Cobalt looks like the 1994 Cavalier. Which is funny, because they took so many pains to have it thought of as not a Cavalier. The 60 degree V6 has been carried over from the 1980 Citation, and then there's the Ecotec. The Ecotec proves that the GM of today can make an engine that is just as good as the Nissan of 1991. Then there are the times when GM tried to do something bold and unique, which have not turned out so well. The Saturn Ion and Pontiac Aztec come to mind. The Holden GTO was actually a good car and a great value, but it looked like a boring mid 90's Grand Prix and so it excited no one.

What is so sad is that GM used to have the very best styling in it's vehicles. Their designs in the 50's through the mid 70's were the best looking cars you could buy. So far as I can see, the only bright spots for style today are the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky and Saturn Aura. Everything else either looks like a copy, like a rental car, or just awful. What happened?

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I'll also add that the 3rd and 4th generation F bodies were great "Driver's cars". Because of their great handling and acceleration? Naah. It's just that the driver was the only person who could be comfortable in the car! I mean, most companies succeed in making sporty coupes that have uncomfortable back seats. Only GM could make one that has an uncomfortable front passenger's seat as well. Whoever designed that floor pan hump was a genius. It ensured that the car would never be used for car pooling since no one wants to be a passenger in a F body!