The VX has made it to 200K miles

[jadziasman]

After three and a half years and 75K miles, my 92 VX has passed the 200K mark. The actual mileage is probably about 230K because someone rolled it back (grrrrrrrrrrr).

Nevertheless, seeing 200000 on the odometer felt like an accomplishment. My previous high was 155K on the other VX.

So, in almost 14 years, I've driven these VX's a total of 230K miles and used 5350 gallons of gas! (43 mpg city/hwy average).

Knowing that gas prices will soon soar to unimaginable heights, my next car will get more than 60 mpg equivalent. I'm saving up for it now and hope that it will be available soon.

Until then, I hope my VX keeps running strong and doesn't fall apart! Michigan's roads are deteriorating as quickly as its sorry economy.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by jadziasman

Knowing that gas prices will soon soar to unimaginable heights

What do you know that I don't?

[bowtieguy]

Originally Posted by theholycow

What do you know that I don't?

here here!

if fuel prices return to last summer's high, the world economy will be like none ever seen. tough times will be the understatement of HISTORY!

[jadziasman]

What I know is the competition for fuel from China and India will become more intense and raise gas prices in the U.S. to $8/gal or more. How soon? 2012 - 2014?

Imagine 500 million more cars/trucks on world roads as many of these formerly poor people move up to the middle class. Most buy their cars with cash currently. It won't be long before easy credit financing is embraced by the People. Bankers are seeing visions of money stacked to the sky!

China is building 10 miles of new inter-province highway each day. So, instead of taking buses or trains to see the family they will be hopping in the car just like we do.

Whether or not peak oil is really here, the cost of energy is going up regardless of bringing new types on the market. Supply will not match demand until a high price reduces the demand to match the supply.

I would love 100 mpg but who will build it? Government regulation for safety and emissions make it tough to bring a new car to market quickly.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

what car are you saving up for.

we could argue all day about what gas prices may do. I agree that they will go up in the future. the value of the dollar may also have something to do with that hike in prices in the future as well. printing more money isn't really that good of an answer to the economines woes.

I am however curious about what car you are saving up for. when you say equvalent 60 mpg makes me think you are going electric or some other alternative source of energy.

so what car??? (the suspense is killing me)

[R.I.D.E.]

I am already averaging over 60. Automotive technology will FINALLY improve dramatically in the next decade.

If not we are headed for several global catastrophies, the least of which may be economic.

What happened last summer? We were warned of the future. I watched the face of traffic change from SUV to economy car. Now we are back to the SUV phase.

The tipping point was just under $4 a gallon here.

We are still chasing the revolutionary battery technology that will change the game. That chase has been going on for 100 years. 20 Billion dollars later and how many cars on the road are pure electric (percentage please)?

In the meantime real solutions get no funding. If we had used the same philosophy in WW2, Germany would have developed the bomb, and the World would be a much different place.

regards
gary

[GasSavers_BEEF]

ride,

I hope you are right about the next decade being one of major cange to the car market and what is available.

I don't really see fully electric as the answer. I may be wrong and I don't have a different solution to the problem so I usually keep that opinion to myself. if the battery technology got better, then maybe. I still think that people are going to expect the same refueling and range limits that they have with gas. a fill-up taking about 10 minutes and a range of 300-400 miles. gas does that but so far, electric can't do it. it has gotten a lot better, speeds are coming up with electric and charge times are going down. the range is also extending. there is also the factor of price.

I am actually a really big fan of the air car. I know, it has a lot of drawbacks itself. the advantages seem to be pretty good. the short fill time (with the right equipment) relatively long range vs fill-up time. no emissions...no harmful emissions. I have heard that they can freeze up and that they are loud. I haven't seen one in person so I can't coment too much on them.

like I said in the beginning. I hope that the next few years really do bring more options.

and it does suck that more viable options get left on the back burner.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by BEEF

I don't really see fully electric as the answer.

IMO, I don't see any one answer as The Answer. To satisfy the large variety of needs that dinosaur juice currently satisfies so well, there's going to need to be variety, and people are going to choose what works for them.

For me, fully electric would be perfect. The Volt's all-electric range is 1.5mi longer than my commute, for example; replace the gas engine, generator, fuel tank, etc with a couple more batteries (weighing and costing less) and I can make some stops on the way home from work. I should be able to charge at work, I work at a college and the higher education industry tends to encourage that sort of thing.

Break Chevron's stranglehold on battery technology and I could do my non-commute driving with it too, though I often need more vehicle than a commute car for that stuff. So, for my non-commute pickup truck, internal combustion, maybe some kind of hybrid. Maybe biodiesel or ethanol, made from waste products (like landfill-bound waste, algae grown on sewage, or the more well known WVO).

The problem with electric for my commute car is scaling it up; if it becomes popular, where does all that energy come from? There are lots of options for that, and it's much easier to do at a power station than in a vehicle.

[dkjones96]

Originally Posted by BEEF

like I said in the beginning. I hope that the next few years really do bring more options.

and it does suck that more viable options get left on the back burner.

It's more a lack of infrastructure than a lack of options. Someone has to take the plunge or it has to come gradually.

They have the technology to power cars via underground magnetic inductors. No batteries, no charging. The problem is, if someone was to make a vehicle that could do that it wouldn't go anywhere until someone went in and dug up all the streets in a town and laid that system down. We may eventually get to that point though but it won't happen over night. Especially when you take into account the extra electrical load.

We're finally getting to a point where hybrid-electric is becoming more common, we are now seeing plug-in hybrids, then to electric-only as distance per charge increases or the amount of available charging stations goes up, then electric-only with road-grid capability, and as the road grid gets more common you'll see grid-only cars offered.

That's only an example of the most likely path for us to have for a technology like that. Not everyone will want or ever buy a car that is electric and runs off a grid. A lot of that will probably be that the government can control your car because most likely it won't just leech off the grid, it'll have controls on how much current your car can pull and how fast you can go based on what the city has setup for that road and you'd NEVER be able to work on your own car again. I'm sure a car like that would have the hoods sealed from the factory and any signs of tampering will void your warranty.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

my problem with "THE ANSWER" being many things. is that you have to support several platforms if that were the case.

(please understand that I am not arguing a point, but more posing possibilities of negaitve issues)

I think about VCRs. Beta vs VHS, you only had enough market share for the one platform. they both struggled for that marketshare but eventually beta fell. the same has happened recently with blue ray and HD-DVDs. I'm pretty sure that blue ray won out. maybe there are still some of the HDs floating around.

I know that I was thinking about a diesel bug for my wife a few years back and realized that I could only go to certain gas stations to refill. that has gotten much better but imagine a gas station with a mult-solution answer to this question.

gas up front with diesel available, charge in the rear, propane on one side but the blue nozzel is hydrogen, there is also the huge compressor for the air cars.

the near future will probably see many different types of cars using many different fuels but eventually people are going to want some sort of standard.

the volt doesn't really fit with the equation though because of the hybrid. if you only use the plug in feature, now you are back to the 50 (or so) mile commute and I don't think I ever read how long it took to charge it. you could add more battery capacity to increase range but now your charge time has increased.

I am willing (depending on the situation) to deal with charge times. the soccer mom on the other hand isn't. the business man that is late for his meeting isn't.

I think that within the next 10-15 years, I will have a car that runs on something other than gasoline (don't quote me on that). I just think that for the masses to accept a solution, it will have to be as standard as gasoline. they will have to be able to easily refuel instantaneously (relatively speaking). humans are creatures of habbit. we have gotten ourselves used to these habbits and conveniences and so they must continue.

(I say again, I am not arguing a point, but more posing possibilities of negaitve issues)

*edit* dang it, DK posted before me and had some of the same points.