Mini trucks doing 60 miles per gallon

[dmbwest]

Thanks Mary,

Been to that site before ... Eh Carol, you gotta take a number for grabbing another on of those : )

aloha,
pog

[Carey]

You may want to look into the USA made Tiger Trucks (Have been watching them most of the last decade... they have EPA, CARB & front end collision ratings:
http://www.tigertruck.com/

[tada]

thanks for the Tiger truck headsup especially since looks like the Mahindra truck rollout delayed indefinately.


I used to have a Suzuki Samurai. At 1800 lbs it's glorified atv. Probably smaller than the jeep that MacArthur used to drive around occupied Japan that it was based on. Lot of guys seem to snap up the surviving rusted hulks and mount swamper tires on them- the 66 hp engine is slow enough without them. didn't like the thudly ride and handling of the solid axle suspension- very basic transportation. Good thing it don't reach 70 mph on the open road. Crosswinds blow it around make for treacherous driving.

So I took my loss and looked for something with independent suspension. Settled on a 2dr awd 1996 rav4 about the smallest suv ever at 2800 lbs. There's not many Samurai's or 2dr rav4's left in the junkyard but guys love go aftermarket on the Samurai reckon I'm not man enough. The extra 1000 lbs of the rav4 is worth it for me.

[dobanion]

Ya know....there are kits to convert a Suzuki Samurai to a VW diesel engine (old 1.6L or newer 1.9L TDI). I hear they get 35-40mpg like that, and will roll over just about anything.

[tada]

Also needs a aftermarket suspension. I can understand Patton crashed his jeep now.

No interest in nascar or rockcrawling but I always watch Paris to Dakar and Baja 1000 on versus tv. Imagine flying thru the air on leaf springs?

[Bullwinkle]

"(a 4 cyl Perkins) I could get about 60 mpg"

let me guess - a perkins 4-107? great little diesels , i know them well Perkins also made a big brother to the little 4 banger the 4-256

Funny how this technology has been around for 50 years or so and never really utilized in the US. These motors can go 200k miles between rebuilds - they were constructed to be rebuilt in frame as the cylinder liners can be removed / replaced in situ, complete overhaul kits coming in at about 500$ before Penske bought them out.........

They technology all here - we just need to learn how to apply it