Converting the ignorant.
 

Don't know about you, but i'm astonished at the bloody mindedness of some people. I frequent (in uk) Landrover forums, and VW aircooled forums (for the bus). I try to tell them about hypermiling, and even link to this site, but nearly ALL wont, cant be bothered to look and learn, 'I DON'T GIVE A MONKEYS WHAT THE MPG IS....' type comment, when you are trying to enlighten them. I think it must be the ignorance of the unknown, that causes then to become defensive, almost derisory. Therefore I officially 'give up' trying to help people save money. YOU LOT on the other hand are all barking mad!:thumbup: Welcome to the real world. I like it here.:D

You cant fix stupid.
There are plenty of people out there who believe a vehicles fuel economy can not be improved and that every one out there who has is running some kind of scam.

I figured with gas being over $6 per gallon there, more people would care about fuel milage.

Welcome to 'our life'!!!!!!

I had an infiniti forum digress to 'them' posting a picture of my daughter and making nasty sexual comments about her!

...the Bible says: "...the meek shall inherit the earth..."

...I believe it should say: "...the stupid have inherited the earth..."

I recently took the passenger seat as an intern from work drove. Commenting that their driving sucked, I emailed a link to the 100 tips to improve mileage. The person read it and learned some things, so I expect their mpg to improve significantly.

Well hey - everybody knows that it's impossible to exceed (heck, meet) the rated fuel economy of any car.

And if our silly modifications really worked, the automakers would already be doing this stuff to their vehicles.

:)

My philosopy: don't bother trying to convert the ignorant. Save your energy for talking to the inquisitive minority that's genuinely interested in what you're up to.

You need to distinguish between the ignorant (who don't know) and the stupid (who don't care). As the old saying goes, "Ignorance can be fixed, but stupid is forever."

The solution to ignorance is just education. As far as stupid goes, sometimes you just gotta respect people's right to be stupid.

And if you think you got it rough going on VW forums talking about fuel economy, try going on a diesel pickup forum! Most of those dimwits don't even think it's physically possible to get half the mileage I do.

It certainly seems like the gubbmit (Frank's term) is heavily invested in subsidizing stupidity. The end result (my prediction) will be an increase in stupidity. Help people who are under water to stay in their house that they can not afford. The result will be many very run down homes that were built shoddy and not maintained properly. Ten years paying for what they should have walked away from in the first place.

regards
Mech

I can ONLY imagine :eek: :rolleyes:

I find more success talking this up with younger people. I've had some good luck with the over-40 crowd too but a higher % success rate with people in their 30's and 40's. Speaking with them in person, that is.

...yep, that's *how* the gubbmit "stays" in control...and, in office (wink,wink)!

I remember being an Lexus IS300 owner and on the forums people used to bash anyone who tried to get 30 mpg out of those cars. Saying if you wanted fuel economy, you should just buy a civic... The sad thing is you can conserve fuel in just about anything. Just civics are pretty darn good at it!

Sometimes to convert people something has to happen to them to convert them that affects them directly in a bad way. The reason i was converted was because i would constantly be doing 100+mph down roads everyday my car was bought at 111k miles and the oil pump quit which unless u want to pull the motor the car was totaled at 118k miles. This experience turned me into wanting to treat my car better, which if I am going to be driving easier i mys-well get the best mileage I can while i do it.

I think one of the challenges we face in English speaking nations is we lack the word, and concept of lagom. People tend to gravitate to extremes here, and fear extremes.

Say you have an absolutely certain way to reduce fuel consumption by a modest 1% on any car:
If you promise a 1% improvement, nobody cares - even if you can deliver it.
If you promise a 200% improvement, some people will believe and become frustrated and jaded when you only deliver 1%. Everyone else will be skeptical of your 200% claim and reject it outright, even if it would give them a 1% benefit (better than nothing)

We run into this fear/love of extremes in almost every corner of Western society and far too often let an impossible ideal be the enemy of an achievable good.

lagom= right tool for the job, not to big or small, just right?

Sure, enough is as good as a feast and so forth. It's a general concept of understanding that extremes are rarely optimal (though it's fine, too, when they are)

As it applies to our behavior in the culture of America there seem far too many people unwilling to put air in their tires or take some of the random objects in their trunk out to save a little fuel, simple acts that won't half your consumption but certainly are worth it. It applies when nobody wants to buy, sell or develop a product that offers only a modest improvement.

Who in America would buy Just Nacho Enough brand chips when they're sitting right next to EXTREEEEEM NACHO MAYHEM FLAMETHROWER CHEESEPLOSION! chips?

We also tend to have a strange relationship between esteem and utility - cars in particular are cool in inverse proportion to how good an idea it is to own one. Pinnacles of this include the aeromodded minivan nobody wanted and the iconically cool supercars of the world which are nearly impossible to live with. Nobody wants a small car unless it's also quick, and it seems few manufacturers have any interest in trying to sell a car here that doesn't look aggressive or surround us in a drab, 80's concept of high tech with black and silver and maybe a stripe of wood...

I guess there are a lot of reasons people aren't interested. Fuggum. I know I had a good time driving around on empty streets when Phoenix had a fuel delivery interruption in 2003 - I had long since been tinkering with my transportation and wasn't about to let petroleum's scarcity stop me from going about my business.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...ling_homer.gif

Oh- converting the ignorant? You can try
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...nouncement.jpg

but it's best to forget it, unless you're in it for the entertainment value. Best one can do is live by example and hope someone notices.

Amen to that, brother. The best among us for that are those who do the visible aeromods. Aero caps and especially boattails attract a whole lot of attention and questions.

Exactly, as another old saying goes, "A man with an argument it not at the mercy of a man with an experience."

Hey, that can pull the boat I don't own up the mountain I don't live near!

It can also get me a quarter mile a whole second faster than the one that is still capable of pulling my nonexistant boat up a mountain but costs $10k less. :cool:

You don't wanna know what yostumpy is paying for his diesel ;)
It's a lot more than $6 / gallon.

Even $10 gas can't fixing the stupid.
It'll only fix the poor.

Small surpeise there !
It's butt-ugly.

Efficient can be pretty - remember the streamliners of the 30s.

There's plenty of people wanting a small car.

We're having waiting lists for VW's tiny Up! - actually, you'd have a BMW Z4 or 3 series sooner than an Up! .

You say that. I don't see what's ugly about it, it looks like it does the things it does.

I think the PT Cruiser is one of the most awful looking abortions on the road and those sold like hotcakes.

I like chrysler and and I could not be paid to drive a pt or the caliber.

I remember the first time I laid eyes on the Aztec show car at the Detroit Auto Show. I was astonished to find that the coolest thing on their entire display was the trailer for the jet skis it was hooked to. :rolleyes: I thought it was a joke and later on it appears the buying public agreed.