Rising Fuel Prices

[Hersbird]

The European diesels aren't allowed over here without many modifications that make them not nearly as efficient as there are in Europe. Trying to skirt around it almost bankrupted VW and all for something that wasn't a huge seller in the first place. Plus the added cost at the pump for diesel over here offsets the better MPG to a big extent.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

The European diesels aren't allowed over here without many modifications that make them not nearly as efficient as there are in Europe. Trying to skirt around it almost bankrupted VW and all for something that wasn't a huge seller in the first place. Plus the added cost at the pump for diesel over here offsets the better MPG to a big extent.

The EU has stricter light duty diesel emission standards than the USA. Half the PM and CO. The EU also has a PN standard.

VW (and others) cheated in Europe too.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by Autobahnschleicher

Even my RWD sports car has no issues at all in snow.
Even when I got surprised by by snow on summer tires in the mountains once, I had no issues.
However I did have to drive carefully as I did not expect my high performance summer tires to perform well at all under braking or cornering.
But then again, AWD doesn't help with braking or cornering either.

What happens with AWD trucks on improper tires and bad drives, has been seen in Texas not that long ago.
It's not a bad idea to visit an empty parking lot in snow for a little practice.
Many people seem to not know how to handle snow/ice and keep a car under controll and crash in snow due to that.

One time I was going through Texas in an ice storm that went on for about 120 miles of road. I went 25mph, and no faster, as did all the traffic. Then every once in a while a 4WD or AWD pickup or SUV would go flying by. When I started counting it seemed like every last one of them slid off the road further ahead, most flipped over. I counted 14 vehicles.

My philosophy is if you're not smart enough to keep from sliding off the road and getting stuck in the snow in a 2WD, you're better off stuck in the ditch and let a tow truck take you home. AWD or 4WD only helps if you have a long driveway you have to maintain yourself, or you have to visit someone with a long driveway they don't maintain in the winter. People get lazy and think it's in their best intrests to go get a tall 4WD vehicle with the best snow tires they can find so they don't have to clean the snow off their driveway. They don't stop and think that maybe some day they could gets stuck or have an emergency and need an ambulance, poilcecar or firetruck to make it to their house.

[JSH]

4WD and AWD help a lot in unplowed snow and on slopes. Our house in TN was in a subdivision with an access road with a 15 degree slope. Our 4WD Ranger (actually 3wd due to the open rear differential) would climb the slope without problem with a full 55 gallon drum of water tied down against the front of the bed for traction. To get down I would lock the hubs, put it in 4wd low, and let it creep down under engine braking. Any touching of the brakes would lock the rear and start a slide. Once we got rid of the Ranger would had to use chains on the VW and that was a huge hassle.

Same with the cabin we rented with a few other people for ski patrol season. Even with chains the Prius couldn't make it up the hill due to the horribly aggressive traction control. We had to park at the bottom of the road in a parking lot and ride in a friend's 4wd Tacoma.

For general driving on plowed and maintained roads snow tires are great and should be the first step for anyone. A 4wd or AWD vehicle on all-season tires is worse than a 2wd vehicle on snow tires. However, 4WD AND snow tires are best and required in some situations.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by JSH

The EU has stricter light duty diesel emission standards than the USA. Half the PM and CO. The EU also has a PN standard.

VW (and others) cheated in Europe too.

But it wasn't the PM and CO that was the issue. EU is strict there but US is strict on NOX.
https://longtailpipe.com/2015/10/02/...of-dieselgate/

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by JSH

Not effectively. ZOOM meetings are a horrible way to get anything productive accomplished even without counting all the side discussion that take place outside of the official events.

Back when I was visiting customers on a regular basis a huge amount of businesses really got done over lunch and dinner.

I get it. There's nothing like face-to-face.
It's just that, one comes off as a two-faced Janus, when they talk about how their nation is going to lead the rest of the planet into a renewable promised-land, then jump on super heavy, for a very long-distance trip, as if it made no difference.
He might have at least gone with net-carbon, bio-jet-fuel, and mentioned the fact. Stunt.
This is the apparent hypocrisy which motivates the Greta Thunbergs of the world to jump on a sailboat for the same type of trip. And into a Tesla, on wind power, for ground transportation portion.
Better PR. Better 'optics'. A chance for credibility.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

But it wasn't the PM and CO that was the issue. EU is strict there but US is strict on NOX.
https://longtailpipe.com/2015/10/02/...of-dieselgate/

That was then - Euro 6 is now. Today the EU only allows 0.08 g/km NOx

The fix for NOx is pretty easy - inject more and more DEF. VW was the only manufacturer not using SCR on their diesel vehicles in the US - which should have been a red flag for regulators. VW didn't add SCR to their 2.0 TDI until 2015.

Mercedes and BMW were using SCR on all of their US diesels from 2009.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by aerohead

I get it. There's nothing like face-to-face.
It's just that, one comes off as a two-faced Janus, when they talk about how their nation is going to lead the rest of the planet into a renewable promised-land, then jump on super heavy, for a very long-distance trip, as if it made no difference.
He might have at least gone with net-carbon, bio-jet-fuel, and mentioned the fact. Stunt.
This is the apparent hypocrisy which motivates the Greta Thunbergs of the world to jump on a sailboat for the same type of trip. And into a Tesla, on wind power, for ground transportation portion.
Better PR. Better 'optics'. A chance for credibility.

The problem with perceptions is that they often don't match reality.

It has become popular recently to demonize air travel but the reality is that all global aviation (both passenger and cargo) only make up 2.5% of global CO2 emissions.

It is also inconvenient for those that demonize air travel to admit that it is the most energy efficient way to cross oceans. Head's of states don't have the time to spend weeks on a sailboat not to mention that if they did that kind of PR stunt their sailboat would be escorted by a convoy of navy vessels.

Yes, Greta tried to shame politicians by sailing from the UK to the USA for an UN conference. What she conveniently leaves out this her trip was only made possible by flying crew across the Atlantic for both legs of the journey and it would have been less carbon intensive for her to just fly.

[Autobahnschleicher]

Just as an example, this is a weeks worth of groceries for 3 people and my car is anything but large.
Yet it fits with room to spare...

[redpoint5]

That's about what my basket looks like for 1 week of groceries for 3 people. I could fit all that in the Acura sedan easily.

A typical Costco run in the US looks more like this, and these baskets are larger than the standard grocery size ones.


I could get away with a smaller vehicle, but I'd need to utilize a trailer much more often. Navigating a Costco parking lot with a trailer would be a nightmare.