American Beasts

[marcos]

Last week I went on a short break to Boston and the Cape cod area. I had pre-booked a 4wd vehicle from Hertz as the last time I went around this time of year we had about 3foot of snow.
When I went to collect the car I was offered an upgrade to a Lincoln Navigator. Having seen these giant beasts before I decided to go for it.

www.lincoln.com/vehicles/interior.asp?sVehi=nav

This car is huge, very comfy, loads of gadgets, unbelievable THX sound system but the fuel economy shocked me. It has a 5.5ltr V8 that sounds glorious but the best I managed was 14mpg on a 150 mile stretch of road and 5-8mpg around town.
I have never worried about pollution/resources as such before but this started worrying me and when you consider the amount of cars in the U.S. with great big engines you begin to worry.
Is this worrying due to me getting old or should we all start to worry?

 

[kikkthecat]

A very emotive subject but my two penn'orth for what it's worth.

As long as the Americans are paying less than £1 a gallon they have no incentive to make smaller cars.

And as long as 5% of the worlds population continue to use some 25-30% of the worlds oil I think we're all in trouble at some time in the future. I have both friends and family living in the US and I find that an environmentally aware american is a rarity.
They are the only country in the world that didn't sign up to the Kyoto agreement mainly because it would have meant cutting back on consumption.

 

[Satch]

The current wave of urban cowboy SUV mania is a real big issue and a lot of people in the USA are really upset about it including the real 4x4 fraternity who feel it is all going to go bad on them as a result of the bad press Example:

http://4wheeldrive.about.com/gi/dyn...nmonthly.com/features/2001/0212.mencimer.html

Also there was a campaign to sticker SUV's and shame their drivers:

http://4wheeldrive.about.com/gi/dyn...www.changingtheclimate.com/bumpersticker.html

This the one I like best:

The foreign oil argument.

"What the uninformed population does NOT know is that most SUVs have 6 or 8 cylinder engines. The few people who DO know how engines work will instantly understand why SUVs do not need much gas. Here's how it works. Most sedans have 4 cylinders. Those 4 cylinders have to work all by themselves to power the 2 wheel drive vehicle. In a 4-wheel drive SUV with 8 cylinders, not only are there twice as many cylinders (which means they each work less), the two rear wheels help drive the vehicle also. With all these extra 'helpers', the average SUV hardly uses any gas at all. It practically moves by self-propulsion.

This is why if everyone drove an SUV, we would not need to go to war with foreign countries for their oil. Our economy would be up, George Dub-Ya would be having a better time in the White House, and the world would be a happy place with patient, courteous drivers.

Go on, get yourself that Escalade you've always dreamed of. Don't let 'em tell ya a Hummer costs as much as a small fighter jet. And don't stop being an American.

I eat at McDonalds 3 times a day, I have fifteen credit cards, I like to watch football with my large Caucasian (and 1 minority) buddies, I smoke in the shower, I like to watch teenage girls fight, my 8 sons are in the Army, and my big-ass Expedition is double parked in front of my suburb palace, proudly wearing an 8.5" x 11" American flag decal on the inside of the tinted back windshield. Bitchin."

 

[samuelellis]

i hate american cars, sommat that alwasy makes me laugh is when i tell americans that MY car gets a good 50+mpg but there are some that will buy a car cos it does less MPG as it is a statement about how much money they have

ffs america you do not need these big stupid cars, and yes they are stupid looking

 

[Motard]

What I find really scary about the US is that not only are they not making any attempt whatsoever to conserve fossil fuels they are actually becoming more dependent on them.
Malls are moving further and further out of town and with the exception of the largest cities public transport is virtually non existent.
One interesting period near the end of 98 petrol was cheaper in the US than bottled water was here in France!
Do not forget however that they are still sitting on an awful lot of oil over there, capped because it is seen to be too expensive to exploit. No doubt when they have used all they can from the rest of the world they will open these again. Does anyone think they will share?

Bob

 

[Sp!ke]

Do not forget however that they are still sitting on an awful lot of oil over there, capped because it is seen to be too expensive to exploit. No doubt when they have used all they can from the rest of the world they will open these again. Does anyone think they will share?

My understanding is that they no-longer have these reserves and that they are now importing the majority of their oil from overseas. If they do not try to limit this expenditure and continue to burn fuel at their present rate, then they will not remain the cash rich country that they currntly are for very long.

Unfortunately, the same could be said about the UK as North Sea Oil is no longer yielding enough to meet home demands and we are having to import more and more with little or no money made from its export. This is and will continue to have a knock on effect on our economy - and its only just begining. Anyone still got shares in BP?

 

[Motard]

They still have reserves Sp!ke only now they are listed as stragic resources rather than economic.



Bob

 

[PJH]

Ref:- Lincoln Navigator, It's got POWERED fold down seats !!

Just how lazy can Americans get ??

 

[fuzzer]

Stuff the Navigator ....

just go right to the top Remember , this is a pickup :O

http://www.dodge.com/srt-10/index.html?context=homepage&type=vehicle_nav