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Originally Posted by eekowarrior
1. I can service and tune it myself.
2. It's been restored to original condition, it has a galvanised chassis, rustproof alumininium body panels and will probably outlive me.
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Being reparable is very important. However, although there are a few things I can't seem to do on my newer cars because of lack of experience or tools, it seems the most important thing is how available are parts, and if they are of a decent quality.
It doesn't do much good to have an engine that's super easy to rebuild if you can't get pistons, for an example.
Other than that, for the most part brakes are still brakes, engines are still engines, and transmissions are still transmissions. You might have to take off the intake manifolds to change the sparkplugs, but sparkplugs are still sparkplugs.
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Originally Posted by eekowarrior
1. It has the aerodynamics of a brick.
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There are aeromods that can help fix that. Or just drive substantially slower.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eekowarrior
2. It'll be in 2 wheel drive most of the time and I'm not fitting freewheeling hubs, so it'll be expending energy rotating the front axle and drive train.
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How often do you "need" 4WD? Front axle delete? Front axle converted to hybrid drive?
Quote:
Originally Posted by eekowarrior
3. The 2.25 litre petrol engine was only ever claimed by the manufacturer to be able to achieve 19mpg. I'll do my best to keep it in tune and at max. efficiency.
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On older cars I do everything that's supposed to make the engine explode only to get better fuel efficiency. More ignition timing advance, leaner mixes (at part load, full load I keep at around 12:1 and don't let it ping). I've even modded the heads to get a higher compression ratio. Just don't let it ping and don't drive it like it's stolen and you'd be amazed at how much better fuel efficiency you can get with a little tuning. Of course there's always the chance of blowing your engine.
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Originally Posted by eekowarrior
1. It is generally accepted that the carbon footprint of manufacturing a car is roughly equivalent to the CO2 emitted during it's driving lifetime.
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I don't accept that, unless lifetime is like 3 to 5 years. Maybe up to 10 in an eco car. Or a 30, 40, 50 year lifetime if you drive like 3,000 miles per year or something.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eekowarrior
2. The CO2 emitted during manufacture is higher with all-electric/hybrids and then there are also additional toxicity concerns regarding lithium battery production.
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True, those are valid concerns. But there are non-hybrids that do get great fuel mileage.