response 15 of 66:

Jun 20 02:40 UTC 2004

I had the starter replaced in my Civic ($220 including
labour).  I'll try to wring another year out of it if I can.

Whatever four-wheeled vehicle I eventually replace it with,
I'll miss its fuel economy (40 miles per (US) gallon, which
napkin maths suggest is about 5.7 litres per 100 km).

Perhaps I'll eventually get another motorcycle. I would like
a pushbike too. At present I can afford neither (but perhaps
the new house has a money tree growing in the garden ;-)


Re #11: What's CAFE?

Re #12: The difference between 4WD and AWD has never been
  explained to me (and I've never before found myself in the
  market for either).  Is AWD the (permanent?) provision of
  less drive to the rear wheels? Am I right in thinking that
  AWD<4WD?

response 17 of 66:

Jun 20 04:27 UTC 2004

I was also disappointed that Subaru dropped 4WD. It was a plus that you
could run in 2WD (front) for better fuel economy on dry, even, roads, and
engage 4WD only when you needed it. It also had an extra-low gear in 4WD -
much lower than "first", which would let you climb rough rocky roads at
very low speed. A drawback of the Subaru version of 4WD was that you could
not make tight turns on dry pavement because the wheels were not
4W-differential (and if you forgot, and found the car resisting turning,
it was difficult to disengage the 4WD). 

AWD is quite different. The wheels are NOT linked with a differential. 
The differential tries to distribute power so that each wheel receives
equal torque. Therefore the wheel(s) with the least *resistance* turn(s)
the fastest and receive(s) the majority of the power. That means that you
can't budge with one wheel spinning in a mudhole. AWD provides the torque
(and power) to the wheel(s) with the *most* resistance. Hence even with
three wheels on glare ice and getting no traction, if the fourth wheel
does have traction, it will move you. AWD has therefore been called "best
wheel drive". 

A drawback is that the additional mechanism for AWD consumes some power,
and hence one gets slightly poorer gas mileage than with 2WD alone. 
Another drawback is that you cannot tow the car on just its front or rear
wheels: you have to call a garage with a flat-bed wrecker to move your car
is disabled. 

response 19 of 66:

Jun 20 18:21 UTC 2004

Re #18: What I've read here suggests that I would prefer
  (manually invoked) 4WD to AWD.  I see very few Diesel cars
  here in the U.S, certainly far fewer than in Britain.  I
  think we also had more cars available with van variants
  (including small cars like the Corsa that I mentioned).  I
  might be persuaded to forgo the extra ground clearance if
  I could find something small, but with credible space.

response 21 of 66:

Jun 21 06:46 UTC 2004

Today we drove around some dealerships and checked out the
available vehicles.  I was horrified.  They all seem to have
petrol/gas engines and automatic transmissions.  I think the
best quoted fuel economy that I saw was 26 MPG (9 l/100km)
and many were < 20 MPG.  It's astonishing to me that they
sell any of these things.  It's somewhat baffling that they
are even legal!  Whatever vehicle I buy, it will not be any-
thing that I looked at today.  :-(


Re #2: I don't get it.

Re #18: Gas currently costs the approximate equivalent of
  US$ 4.85 per US Gallon in Britain.  Today we paid US$ 1.96
  per US Gallon here in Illinois.

response 23 of 66:

Jun 21 07:01 UTC 2004

My friend Nigel drives one of these in the course of his
work, and I like it. Does anyone sell something like this in
the U.S...?

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/njs.cube/photos/axion/photos/hoovering.jpg

                      ...it's a Vauxhall Corsa Combo Van.  I
understand that the chap with the vacuum cleaner is an
optional extra ;-)

response 25 of 66:

Jun 21 16:49 UTC 2004

Diesel engines produce soot as well as stinking.
I thought you said your wife had her own car.  How can she veto what you get
for yourself?
Did you look at cars, or vans/SUVs?  Fuel efficiency rules hold only for cars.
Half of new private motor vehicles sold are not cars (roughly).

response 27 of 66:

Jun 21 17:32 UTC 2004

Re #25: Suffice to say that she can. Whether that's right or
  not is a topic for another conference. We looked at trucks
  and SUVs.  I would like a /real/ utilitiy vehicle (RUV?)
  though.

response 29 of 66:

Jun 21 18:41 UTC 2004

Re #28: I wouldn't feel comfortable buying a Ford, in part
  because of their reputation for poor reliability.  I hear
  good things about Toyota though, perhaps I'll be able to
  find a manual, Diesel Toyota truck.

response 31 of 66:

Jun 22 14:58 UTC 2004

Re resp:9: Keep in mind that a Civic is an unusually low car.  Most
cars, including my 240, have a couple inches more ground clearance than
a Civic.

Re resp:12: "Mainly the problem I've had with a 2WD truck is getting
started at icy intersections (especially those on hills).  It really
doesn't take much to get stuck with 2WD if you aren't careful."

A limited-slip differential helps quite a bit.  So does adding weight to
the rear.  If you don't have a limited-slip diff, sometimes applying the
parking brake slightly when trying to get started on a slick surface
will help.

Re resp:20: Most current 2-door hatchbacks aren't rated for towing,
unfortunately.  My Civic's manual just said towing was "not recommended."

Re resp:29: I don't think Toyota currently sells diesels in the U.S.  VW
does, but they don't make a truck.  All the other diesels you're likely
to find will be V-8s or bigger.  The company I work for has a Chevy 2500
diesel pickup truck.  It gets about 25 mpg, which is far better than the
same truck would get with a gas engine, but still not impressive.  There
is the Dodge Sprinter (aka. Freightliner Sprinter, aka. Mercedes
Sprinter), which is available with a 5-cyl. inline diesel, but that's a
full-sized van.

Basically, diesels were briefly popular here during the two major oil
shortages.  After that, they fell out of favor.  GM produced some really
terrible V-8 diesel cars in the 70s that were unreliable, smokey, and
hard to start, and that pretty much turned people off on the whole idea.
 Then there were the early diesel VW Rabbits that were underpowered and
kept blowing head gaskets.  Basically, your typical American's opinion
of diesel engines is not very high.

response 33 of 66:

Jun 28 02:56 UTC 2004

Diesel fumes are particular bad for innocent bystanders who have asthma, as
well as smelling terrible.  The soot is what bothers people with asthma. 
Minimizing driving would work better than getting something diesel.

response 35 of 66:

Jun 30 06:48 UTC 2004

Re #33: As a person with Asthma, I think it's nice that
  you're considerate of that.  All the talk about soot &
  smells may be appropriate to large, poorly maintained old
  engines, but it doesn't sound like any of the modern small
  Diesels that I have experienced.

  I would love to minimise my driving.  My last job had me
  based in an office literally just across the street from
  where I live.  I could walk to the recycling centre with
  the office recyclables, to the post office to collect mail
  and to the bank to deposit my paycheque.  There were times
  when I actually had to remember to drive my car just to
  'stretch its legs'.  Unfortunately those paycheques that I
  mentioned dried up, forcing me to take a job at a factory
  twenty miles away.  I wish that I could afford the luxury
  of minimising my driving.

response 37 of 66:

Jun 30 16:10 UTC 2004

Re #36: No, especially not on my shift (16:00 - 24:30)

response 39 of 66:

Jul 1 06:33 UTC 2004

Re #38: It is fairly awful, and speaks of the difficult
  position that I find myself in.  I lack the financial
  resources to go into business for myself, although it's an
  option that is frequently suggested to me. I can only hope
  that things will improve once I have an Associate Degree
  to go with my existing British vocational qualifications.

  A new Ballmobile would take me to work, to earn money to
  pay car payments, other bills, tuition fees, buy textbooks
  etc.  It would also take me to college (at least 20 miles
  in the opposite direction) for those classes that I must
  take face-to-face.  I certainly couldn't afford to run one
  of the hideous gas-guzzling trucks I saw at the dealer
  -ships.  :-/