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Why don’t we have a 100 MPG auto?
While Europe has cars that get up to 100MPG we can’t because of some EPA rule. Yes they are slow, but on the island 55 MPH is the top speed and we have a lot of 45 MPH.
Most of our autos get 25 - 30 MPG so even a 60 MPG auto would cut fuel use by half. These are small cars by our standards but a lot of us drive 1 or 2 people per car. Any one else think these small auto would work on the island?
Bill
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Are there any 100MPG cars? Not even the tiny Smart Car can match that.
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Both the Audi A2 and the Volkswagen Lupo 3L turbodies get close to 100 MPG and you can buy them in Europe. Other get 60 and over MPG.
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The answer is federal safety collision standards--because the little cars are going to get mulched. The only way you're going to build a little car that gets 100 miles to the gallon is to build it very very very light.
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The days of the 6,000 lb 360 cu in V8's are ending. This is why the proposals for Hwy. 130 need more thought and community activism. DOT wants to build a "highway to the past"... exactly what has failed them on Oahu.
I have been an advocate of a PMAR plan (Puna Makai Alternate Route) which would be receptive to lighter fuel efficient vehicles and have sufficient right of way to add rail in some distant decade. Right now the land is cheap. Honolulu waited for rail planning and now are looking at $200 million a mile.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
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Little cars, mopeds and motorcycles don't win in the slugging match between them and just about anything else. Which is why I'm hoping we can get some "slow roads". Roads with a top speed of 35 mph were the light ultra gas mileage cars, the electric cars, mopeds, the bicycles, golf carts, donkey carts and any other slow method of travel folks want to use. We can't safely run alternative vehicles on the highways and yet we don't have any other roads to travel on. There are all the old cane haul roads which could easily be put into service along many parts of the island. Perhaps a back road from the back of Hawaiian Paradise Park to the backside of Hilo? Repave Stainback Highway? That would give a secondary route from Hilo to Volcano. With these slow roads we would have more of a chance of getting some of these really high mileage cars.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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Especially because you can't get into town half the time without seeing a newly mangled guardrail, some vehicle upside down beside the road, or wheel tracks flying off into the brush. I've never lived any place where the driving was so unbelievably hazardous, including the stretch of highway 97 in Oregon state that for years was rated the most dangerous piece of road in the nation.
My dad was the undertaker in the area. I've little tolerance for unsafe driving. Perhaps this would be a good place for some local advocacy? Car crashes will kill one in 20 of us on average.
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There is a company in Germany that is going to begin production of a car that they call the "Loremo", Low Resistance Mobile car in 2010. Estimated MPG 100 to 120 miles to a gallon of diesel in their two cylinder engine. Evidently they have streamlined this car and eliminated a lot of weight. Comes with a 5 gallon tank. They also have a couple other models that would slightly reduce the fuel efficiency. Unfortunately, no plans to bring them over to the USA yet. Now, my only question is this, if the Germans can manufacture a car that performs like this, why can't the US auto makers do it?? Check out the company link at Loremo.com.
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Because we Americans are so concerned with safety testing we've made a seperate industry for it. And they will prevail unless we drop our demands for absolute safety and be willing to drive safely therby eliminating most of the problem! Mabe sign a waiver at purchase?
Double lane 130, and you get the same effect. Remember the (BMW Isetta 3000) it was one of the first banned.
Gordon J Tilley
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Larry could you provide a web link showing these as current production and with those performance numbers?? I couldn't find, but would like to read about them. Not only EPA, but safety standards differ between US and other countries. When I lived in Europe, there were even Ford and GM models that weren't available in US.
It would probably easier to have the smaller, lighter, more efficient vehicles here, not just the tiny cars, but truck types etc.
David
Ninole Resident
Ninole Resident
