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Originally Posted by 320touring
Fair cop, but filling my "relatively" ecoonomic 1.8L car costs me £75-80, that's $116-125 per tank...
I'm not so sure that the USA's average yearly salary is that much lower that the perspective would be that far seperated?
I do enjoy these discussions- keeps the "debating" part of my brain active!
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Ouch! That is a lot of cash for such a small amount of fuel. A few weeks ago I had a discount of $0.40 off per gallon, and spent exactly $100 to fill my 35 gallon diesel truck, and I thought that was spendy.
The most frustrating experience I had was back in '08 when diesel was $5/gallon, and the low fuel light came on in my truck. I put $20 into the tank just to get home, but it wasn't enough to turn the low fuel light off.
I too enjoy a rational debate. There are many opinions that I have changed over the years due in no small part to the information and debates from forums such as these. I'm actually quite happy when someone shows where I am wrong, or haven't properly considered something from a different perspective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CigaR007
Thing is, transportation is so inefficient in the USA, just like it is in Canada. I look forward to the day where bullet trains will be common here in North America. I was in Europe back in 2008, and I was impressed by the vast rail infrastructure. Fuel costs are higher there, but the alternative transportation is faster and cheaper. Nothing like cruising at 300 km/h while reading a book and enjoying the scenery !
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Part of transportation efficiency has to do with population density. It makes a lot of sense to develop these mass transit infrastructures when moving people relatively short distances from one high density area to another. Most of the US is still farmland or wild, and our large cities are spread far apart.
Expanding high speed rail in North America probably makes sense in some areas, but economics will dictate the development. It has to cost the consumer less than driving.
I'm looking forward to the day that my car can shuttle me to my destination while I check out ecomodder to see what people are doing to improve the efficiency of their autonomous vehicles.