Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Emissions and safety might be the reason. Also the general bias against diesel in the U.S. In the 80's there were some diesels on the market but drivers disliked sluggishness, noise, and poor performance in cold weather.
The problem lies in the EPA regulations and the different diesel mix being used for the vehicles in Europe vs. the diesel we use here in the USA.
Nasty judgement you pass on those with diesel pick-ups. Do you know they have not been using their vehicles for work or to haul things when you do not see them? Do you know that they do not need that ground clearance when out of town where they may use it? Do you know if they cannot afford a second vehicle so they can simply leave the large one parked when in town on errands?
Oh no, I'm not talking about work trucks. I'm talking about the ones that obviously have never so much as seen a pebble, let alone a dirt road, even though they are 4WD, are jacked up to dangerously high heights, and have been modified with the loudest-ass exhaust system on the market. The ones with mud tires that have never seen any mud. The ones that have never seen any sort of payload in the bed, except maybe a 12-pack from the grocery store. The ones that make my ears ring as they drive by the house. The ones with exactly one teen or young twenty-something whippersnapper at the helm. The ones who think that a diesel with loud pipes actually sounds GOOD!
Grrrrrrrrr.
Hell, I'd put the 70 Chevy Camaro I had as a kid with a high compression, tunnel-rammed 396 and uncapped headers (that bugged the hell out of the old people at the time, like I am now) up against these damned wannabes any time.
Oh well... I'm more interested in these 70 mpg diesel cars now. I'm past my noisemaking stage. Oh, and get off my lawn.
Emissions and safety might be the reason. Also the general bias against diesel in the U.S. In the 80's there were some diesels on the market but drivers disliked sluggishness, noise, and poor performance in cold weather.
I remember the diesel VW Rabbits and Volvos in the late 70's and early 80's, with the entire back half of the car coated with thick black soot.
Nasty judgement you pass on those with diesel pick-ups. Do you know they have not been using their vehicles for work or to haul things when you do not see them? Do you know that they do not need that ground clearance when out of town where they may use it? Do you know if they cannot afford a second vehicle so they can simply leave the large one parked when in town on errands?
He's talking about the vehicle itself. You will not find a diesel vehicle anywhere outside the US that makes as much noise as this American Pickup. There are plenty of powerful diesel trucks out there that can haul more (and not need a 6 liter engine) than these can and yet not rattle your fillings loose. I've driven both, so I do know the difference.
You're strapped into a seat with air bags, it's huge difference in protection. If you go back to that video of the 70mph crash you easily survive if the impact doesn't kill you. If you're on a bike you're now superman until you hit the unmovable object.
As far as maneuvering you ever see one of these cars? It's pretty damn close. LOL My brother's ATV is bigger.
Seriously though most accidents happen pretty quick and you never have time to react to them. I know most accidents involving motorcycles I see in the paper involve someone pulling out in front of a bike usually at an intersection because they never saw them. What might be small fender bender in any car turns into death on a motorcycle.
I have nothing against motorcycles but I have the same opinion as plwhit, it's death wish driving one in town.
Sounds like you've never ridden one...
Ignorance is a powerful thing.
I've sen the cars, it IS NOT as maneuverable (Or anywhere near) as a Bike.
Oh, I've wrecked a Bike at 50MPH...
I'm still here.
(I wear gear)
Can you get killed on a bike?
Easily.
Does the smart car have disadvantages and none of the bennies:
Yes.
You ever here the saying about ASSumptions. I've driven motorcycles my entire life starting with a little 50cc Honda minibike when I was about 10. Wish I still had it, probably a collectors item at this point. Largest bike I owned was a CR 500...... Never really got into the street machines, too dangerous driving on the roads in my area because it's mostly in town.
Sometime in the 1980's I bought a Chevy Wagon with a rebuilt Olds Diesel engine. That car averaged (I keep notes) 24 mpg and I drove the thing six years and nearly 90,000 miles before the engine sized. Not bad for a $1,100 used car.
While I was in college I designed a car for the Urban Vehicle Design Completion. The contest involved over 60 engineering schools nationwide. My final design was a small, rugged (2” X 4” steel tube frame and cage) mid engine two passenger vehicle driven by a VW 4 cylinder fuel injected engine. It finished with an Honorable Mention which means it was still running at the end of the testing. The actual car was a 1600 lb. tank.
I wanted to power the thing with a 20 hp Diesel generator unit providing energy to the electric drive motors and battery chargers in a Hybrid system. Great idea but the electrical engineering was not available (none of the EE students wanted to try this), lead acid batteries were too big and way too heavy and the project would have cost about 10x as much as the auto we actually built. Oh, it would have had to be controlled by a Commodore 64. Ouch!
I would like to see more diesels available at low enough prices so I could pick up a well used one for under 5 grand in 7 years or so. A plug in Diesel hybrid would be even cooler
Oh, it would have had to be controlled by a Commodore 64. Ouch!
One of my friends as a kid was a bit of computer genius, he took his old C64 and turned it into a robot. He used an electrically powered wheel that was made for some type of medical device that could rotate and some servo motors. At one point he was running a BB with it, this was back in the mid to late 80's. I'll never forget the wonder of posting to it from another computer half way across the country while visiting another computer geek in Kansas.
VW offers smaller cars in the European market that get higher MPGs.
Here's a little VW Polo Bluemotion. It's smaller than a Golf (about the size of a Mini Cooper). It's got a tiny little 1.3L turbodiesel, and gets upwards of 84 mpg (British gallons) if you drive it carefully.
1 British Gallon is about equal to 1.201 US Gallons, so 84 mpg translates to roughly 70 mpg.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Oh, and get off my lawn. 
