MIT Engineers

[Bklyn]

They absolutely are not. The poor OPEC countries need oil revenue for transfer payments. Richer OPEC countries can withstand the lower prices because they have more diversification. Now, with the Sauds, the princes are antsy because their level of extravagance is not as abundant...but they certainly are not like the Nigerians who keep lights on with the oil revenue.

Best believe Nigeria and Algeria and Venezuela are not pleased with the production of the spigots right now.

[hedge]

29 mpg for mostly city driving is pretty good...

[crashcourse]

seems like my Honda crx got 45 on the hiway and 35 in the city back in the day--that was a 90 or 91 I got in 97. like an idiot sold it to a buddy in need for his son and it was wrecked a week later

point is I thought hybrids should have better mgp then my old petroleum only vehicle of 20 years

[aTm]

A 1991 Honda CRX was only 1700lbs and only had 90 horsepower.

A Toyota Avalon weighs 3500lbs and 200 horsepower.

The CRX is barely a real car compared to the Toyota Avalon hybrid. Both are/were roughly 40 mpg rated vehicles.

Also, hybrids typically perform equivalent city vs highway, because they have electircal components that recapture energy under breaking and thus even things out when stopping and starting. A new hybrid will also get lower gas mileage and get better after a breaking in period.

[crashcourse]

Honda crx think I paid 1200 for it in 97 had less then a hundred k--buddy was going to bosnia
Avalon 45,000 dollars
same gas milage
yeah twice as big a car
i got twice as good acceleration though
hatchback could hold a lot of stuff
avolon seats 4 crx 2
i will never pay 45 k for a car though

[aTm]

My main point is that its a twice as powerful car, twice as heavy, and roughly the same gas mileage. Clear and some would say amazing progress, not "its the same as my car years ago!"

The CRX was also a tinfoil death trap. I highly doubt a CRX would have a better 0-60 or quarter mile time than the Avalon hybrid. Im sure it felt exciting like a go cart from behind the wheel, because it basically was, but it wasnt fast by today's standards.

[aTm]

Motortrend sez 7.4 sec 0-60 and 15.7 sec quarter mile for a 2014 Avalon hybrid.

Internet sez 8.6 sec 0-60 and 16.3 sec quarter mile for a 1991 CRX Si (which was the performance trim version of the car)

[Bklyn]

and there you go.

Nostalgia and bad benchmark selection are the problems here.

[sardis]

Late 80's Honda Prelude was the best car Honda made.

And a pre-emptive f.u. to ATM for any statistical dipshittery proving otherwise.

[hedge]

I'm surprised on the 0-60 stats on the CRX. A buddy of mine had one, it seemed like a motorcycle taking off when he hit the gas. Like you said, it was basically a glorified go-cart, but it seemed like the pickup was faster than what you posted. Maybe it was because it was so small and you are so close to the road...

[eCat]

imagine the changes with electric cars

gas stations will go away and parking lots of restaurants, malls , big box stores will be filled with charging stations that take credit cards. People will plan on charging their cars around their shopping or eating schedule when they are out.

or the gas stations will be converted to battery replacement centers where you pull in, they take out the old battery with a low charge and replace it with a fully charged one -assuming electric cars standardize on batteries.

gas cans will be replaced with portable battery packs that will get you another 20 miles or so down the road.

[crashcourse]

you will shut off your airconditioner, wipers, headlights, electronics to try to get a few more miles when low on current
you will spend thoudsands every 50-60k miles to replace said battery
you will leave an enormous wasteland of used batteries whose remnants will remain well past your lifetime
you willavoid the great expanses of Americas for fear you cant make it to the next charging station
you will continue to need massive amounts of coal to supply the energy for all those charging stations

[hedge]

Pretty sure technology will take care of most of those issues. Hard to imagine that in 50 years they won't have batteries the size of a football that will get you 1000 miles or whatever and last for the life of the car. Etc...

[Bklyn]

Tesla is putting a lot of money towards increasing the production of batteries, lowering the cost of the battery, while simultaneously increasing their efficiency. The battery is the biggest singular cost to electric cars and its cost has been steadily dropping. When it gets low enough, the pressure on the internal combustible engine will be great.

[CAT]

I have a 10 year old Ford Escape with 52000 miles and excellent condition. looks new. I have had lots of offers to buy it. Its the limited sports edition so has lots of extras. Drives nicely so why shoud I sell it?

[eCat]

I have a 10 year old Ford Escape with 52000 miles and excellent condition. looks new. I have had lots of offers to buy it. Its the limited sports edition so has lots of extras. Drives nicely so why shoud I sell it?

I have 3 cars older than that

[AlabamAlum]

I have a 1986 Mercedes with 785,000 miles.

[hedge]

Damn, you've been putting 26,000 miles a year on it?

[AlabamAlum]

I bought it used in 2004, but I average well over 20K miles a year.

[hedge]

So then it was averaging closer to 30K miles a year when you got it. That's a lot of annual mileage. Is that the only car you drive?