Design Ideas on a car for primary highway use

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I would have thought of moving.

haha this was my second thought.

[cfg83]

zman -

I'd probably start with a 1st Gen Honda Insight drivetrain inside a GM EV1 body. That way you'd get long range with lean-burn tech.

CarloSW2

[Frank Lee]

I'd ride that Dutch streamliner bike 200+ mpg blows all else outta the water

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by cfg83

zman -

I'd probably start with a 1st Gen Honda Insight drivetrain inside a GM EV1 body. That way you'd get long range with lean-burn tech.

CarloSW2

But the EV1 had 21ft² of frontal area! No, I want the VW L1, Daihatsu UFE-III, or some sort of four-wheeled, tandem Aptera with a 5HP gas engine and a 30HP electric motor for acceleration, and a battery just large enough for a hill climb. I want all this, plus side airbags and intelligent seat belts.

[rbrowning]

Frank Lee, I thought of moving many times, but I am an engineer that has been job shopping since 1984. Since I've started doing that type of work I have commuted to pretty much every point on the compass to find work. But
I live in my home town and would rather commute than sell my house that is nearly paid off and move away from my family. So I commute. I just want a cheaper way to do it. I gave up driving a pick-up truck that allowed for good seating posture for a sedan. That doubled my mileage but increased my back problems too. So when I think of a 100+ mile a day commuter I am thinking of the total car's impact on my health and well being.

[rbrowning]

The problem that I have with the enclosed motorcycles is the weather. You still need to be able to put you foot down at a stop and that means an opening for cold air and snow and rain. Then there is the traction issue with snow, slush nd ice. Keeping the thing from spinning round and round about a vertical axis is one thing, add the option of spinning about a horizontal axis raises the pucker factor to a whole new level.

FuelVapor Technologies - fuel efficient vehicle automobile high mileage

This car seems to offer most of what I would want although I wouldn't have went with such a high top end. I wish they would put a "normal" engine in it and bring it to market and work out the production bugs on the chassis side while they continue to develop their fuel vapor technology and engine control systems.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by rbrowning

I gave up driving a pick-up truck that allowed for good seating posture...

Where do you find one of those? (Other than the '70s Toyota "Sport Truck") All the pickups I've driven or ridden in pretty much force a bolt-upright posture on you. Of course people are different, but to me that's quite uncomfortable.

But for this sort of commuting, it's hard to beat the original Insight. I spent a couple of years doing a 250-mile drive over the Sierra to the Bay Area. (Not every day, of course, about once every two weeks.)

The autostop also makes it pretty good in stop & go (freeway) traffic, once you master the trick of it, which is not to stop & go in lockstep with the car ahead, but let some space open up and smooth things out.

[Ryland]

I gave up my job in green building due to the long drives of 100-150 miles one way, I spent alot of nights sleeping on a floor or in a tent so I wouldn't have to drive back and forth.
If I had kept the job I was thinking about buying a Honda Insight as there are very few improvements that could be made to that car for highway driving.

[cfg83]

RobertSmalls -

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

But the EV1 had 21ft² of frontal area! No, I want the VW L1, Daihatsu UFE-III, or some sort of four-wheeled, tandem Aptera with a 5HP gas engine and a 30HP electric motor for acceleration, and a battery just large enough for a hill climb. I want all this, plus side airbags and intelligent seat belts.

Yes, those are great, but I am thinking in terms of what would have a chance of making it to production at a big-car company. They had a lot of tandem trike designs in the 1980's, but it seems like none of them got beyond the concept stage.

CarloSW2

[cfg83]

rbrowning -

Originally Posted by rbrowning

Frank Lee, I thought of moving many times, but I am an engineer that has been job shopping since 1984. Since I've started doing that type of work I have commuted to pretty much every point on the compass to find work. But
I live in my home town and would rather commute than sell my house that is nearly paid off and move away from my family. So I commute. I just want a cheaper way to do it. I gave up driving a pick-up truck that allowed for good seating posture for a sedan. That doubled my mileage but increased my back problems too. So when I think of a 100+ mile a day commuter I am thinking of the total car's impact on my health and well being.

That's fair. We've speculated on having "bus driver seats" where the seats are floating on springs.

I am *not* saying this will work, but have you considered a $$$ seat like a Recaro? Invest a lot of $ into the seat, and then transfer it from car to car. I think it would be worth it if the commute is killing your back.

CarloSW2