best car to use/start with

[LostCause]

The cheapest option would be to sell you car and buy a Ninja 250 with cash. You could see 80mpg if you change to a smaller rear sprocket and hypermile. Those motorcycles are cheap to purchase, maintain, insure, and they hold their value.

The best sound system you are likely ever to buy is a high quality set of headphones. If you can fit them under your helmet, the audiophile problem should be taken care of...

Assuming gas @ $3.75 and your 500 mile a week commute, a Ninja 250 could save you ~$42 a week in gas alone. Your operating cost would plummet even more after registration, insurance, and maintenance are factored in. You would need protective gear and a license, but otherwise it would be cheap. Just a thought...

- LostCause

[TheDon]

I like 4 wheels and cages of steel. I don't trust people in cars. I do my best around those that ride bikes. But jeeze when you blast through the middle lane doing 150, It scares the crap out of me

[DifferentPointofView]

You should be able to squeeze some good numbers out of that turbo diesel. I don't know about this, but have you ever thought of making your own bio-diesel? There's websites dedicated on how to make it, and most tell you to start with small batches of about a liter first to make it first before you make 40 gallons of the stuff. Problem is finding a cheap version of the things they make. and finding cheaper methane. But once you get started, diesel for less than 2 bucks sounds pretty good to most people.

[Twerp]

Originally Posted by TheDon

I like 4 wheels and cages of steel. I don't trust people in cars. I do my best around those that ride bikes. But jeeze when you blast through the middle lane doing 150, It scares the crap out of me

I've never ridden a Ninja 250, but I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about doing 150 on one. It would be a serious gas saver, but I can understand wanting a metal cage around you in FL. I used to visit a friend in the Tampa area and I've never seen so many flaming wrecks in my life. I couldn't go anywhere without seeing at least one three car pileup. Maybe it's different in your section of FL, but that's one state I wouldn't want to ride through, and I've taken my bike through Boston.

[brucey]

The Don, it sucks you aren't any closer, I just saw Back to the Future on the big screen from an original 35mm reel. A delorean showed up too. I love little indy theaters.

As for the bike idea, I'm not so sure how much bikes actually save you money. Have you seen how much the tires are and how long they last?

[LostCause]

Hypermiling, I'd expect at least 15-20,000 miles out of a $100-120 set of two tires.

"Economy" touring tires are priced @ $50/tire (~$100-120 per tire in car mileage terms). Since you only need two of them, the tires are essentially $50-60 "car" tires. The cheapest car tires I've ever seen were on-sale R13 tires for ~$30.

Good point about the tire issue, but I think its the bike junkie, ripping up performance tires in the twisties, that gives motorcycle tire tread wear a bad name...

- LostCause

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by brucey

The Don, it sucks you aren't any closer, I just saw Back to the Future on the big screen from an original 35mm reel. A delorean showed up too. I love little indy theaters.

As for the bike idea, I'm not so sure how much bikes actually save you money. Have you seen how much the tires are and how long they last?

They played BTTF at the movie theater in Celebration during the big concourse car show they had. Christopher Lloyd was there and I got his autograph ... I'll post some pics later..



I'm not asking about a bike.. it was a CRX, a 4 wheel, steel caged, car...

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by DifferentPointofView

You should be able to squeeze some good numbers out of that turbo diesel. I don't know about this, but have you ever thought of making your own bio-diesel? There's websites dedicated on how to make it, and most tell you to start with small batches of about a liter first to make it first before you make 40 gallons of the stuff. Problem is finding a cheap version of the things they make. and finding cheaper methane. But once you get started, diesel for less than 2 bucks sounds pretty good to most people.

I used to make my own biodiesel in high school. I did it for a year and half. It was a project for engineering but I took it to the max and went all out. Back before this whole issue we are going through I was making a gallon of B100 for $.80. I would love to get back into the game but I don't have the time to make bio, plus I was strong armed out of my supply lines for veg. I'd buy B100 if I could get it local but alas, I cannot. I can get it delivered but I'm not all for paying a fee for delivery and then having the truck come from tampa just go give me 100 gallons of the stuff. That would be very negative efficiency.

[brucey]

I'm really surprised how well the movie holds up. When we watched it in the theater last night people were cracking up at the smallest jokes. It's just so much magical watching a movie you've always seen on TV on the big screen again.

And yes, I'm jealous of the christopher lloyd autograph, he was the best part about Tremors the series.

I now apologize for going off topic.

[JJW]

Just curious, why is a CRX acceptable but a Metro is not? I actually lived in Pasco County FL for quite a few years, and I owned a 99 Metro 3 cyl. Hatch. Of the cars I've owned, it was easily in my top three favorites. Over time I had made quite a few mods, including pulling the rear seat entirely and dropping in a pair of RF 15s with twin 1000 watt amps and running 6 1/2" clarion separates front and rear on a precision power 100W amp. At full volume I had to watch the volt meter to see what I was doing to the battery, the little 1.0 liter couldn't keep up. Anyway, the 3 Cyl 1 liter with the 4.10 gearing was *great* for Florida. With no hills to climb it was never a problem, and I could easily wizz by just about anything on 75. Even after I put 16" rims on it and low profiles, I still got around 50 mpg and could move out just fine. Once I dropped it down 2" my mileage went up and the ride was even better. The big secret about the Metro hatch is that its really a Suzuki Swift, and there are plenty of people modding them for performance or mileage or what have you. I really think the only reason to pick a CRX over the Metro would be because of the badge on the hood, and I took all my badges off anyway. One thing to think about: That Metro would get you the same mileage the CRX would, but at least you'd have air bags and could run the AC, something that is a bit of a necessity in the FL summer.