What is Digg?321 Comments
- moxieman, on 10/10/2007, -9/+76I have a Honda that gets 102mpg. But it might be a scooter and only 49cc's.
- ThinkBox, on 10/10/2007, -8/+56Hybrids MPG is overrated. I laugh each time i remember that top gear episode.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=718900859924733158&q=top+gear+prius&total=39&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -5/+50This is news? Diesel cars are very popular in Europe.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -5/+36And the best thing about diesels are that they can all run on veggie oil and bio-diesel out the gate.
- yargthepirate, on 10/10/2007, -8/+35Try making the car smaller and we fat Americans won't be able to fit inside.
- yargthepirate, on 10/10/2007, -4/+29I'd agree with you, except for the part where when we all switch to biofuels, we don't have enough land available to both power our cars and feed everybody.
- Hoov, on 10/10/2007, -4/+26What about the Volkswagen TDI? This isn't really news...
- agrabob, on 10/10/2007, -8/+28Hopefully it runs on biodeisel and veggie oil's right off the line. I'd like to see state and federal governments try to hunt down all those people using non-taxable fuels. Even if it doesn't, this should bring more deisels to America.
- liuser, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19Not true. Diesel is denser than gasoline and produces more energy output per gallon than gasoline.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17Small diesel engines produce torque comparable to big V8s.
- allaboutdatiki, on 10/10/2007, -3/+17It's all about the torque ...
- Brownsound, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13I hate to break the bad news because I love Honda's and the Accord but that 62.8 MPG rating is in the British Imperial Gallon. By US standards, thats about 55 MPG, still an excellent rating.]
Diesel fuel contains 10% more energy than gasoline, and diesel engines tend to have more torque than their gasoline counterparts.
The new Accord going on sale in September should be a hit for sure! - Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13I know the feeling.
Sure an Accord is a luxury-size sedan. At 60MPG, on carbon-neutral biodiesel, does it ***** matter? When was the last time you couldn't see around a corner because there was an Accord in the way? When was the last time an Accord took up two parking spots without simply being badly parked? The main complaints about SUVs are low gas mileage, obstruction of view, and overall girth. An Accord has none of those problems.
If you don't like driving 'big' compact cars, get a Fit or a Civic. Otherwise, do shut the hell up. There's practical environmentalism, and there's ***** loony environmentalism. Please don't let yourself fall into the latter group.
That said, I wouldn't mind a Diesel Fit. I am partial to smaller cars; they're more huggable, and are built with an astonishing amount of room, despite their size. - MeMongo, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15Yeah, women use the "I have children" excuse to justify buying a Ford Excursion, a vehicle so heavy that you aren't allowed to drive it across some bridges and gets 8 miles per gallon while they are making multiple trips to soccer practice, school, friend's houses, etc. My response is "Someone FORCED you to have children?" The conversations usually go downhill after that.
- mstoneburner, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14Speak for yourself, Fatty McLardball.
- subliminalurge, on 10/10/2007, -8/+19When exactly did the Honda Accord become a "big" car?
As if all the SUV bashing wasn't tiresome enough, now even a Honda ***** Accord is too big? - GoatMonkey2112, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10It usually shows up in the form of more torque rather than more horsepower.
- thirdman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Who needs land? Kelp based biofuels are rapidly becoming an option.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1486633.0.0.php - lilbitmoreslyk, on 10/10/2007, -5/+14I'd take this over a hybrid. That is until Hydrogen fuel cell cars are feasible.
- smeagel, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9We don't need to power everybody off of biofuel. Not everyone will buy this car. What we do need to do, is maximize the usage of our farmland. Growing our own fuel keeps money in our own economy (and more importantly out of the economies of the middle east), and is for the most part a cleaner alternative. We can't completely switch over as you point out, but we can at least maximize our usage of crops instead of operating our agriculture industry at awful efficiency with massive subsidies to make up for farmers *not* growing.
- Dougman82, on 10/10/2007, -4/+12I see no valid point in the "make the car smaller" argument. Some people, yes, would benefit from a small, easy-to-park car that gets better mileage. However, I think most people benefit from the capability to carry passengers (including car seats for children) as well as luggage in the trunk. Not everyone views a car merely as an alternative to a bicycle.
- Nougat, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9And another really good thing about diesels is that higher demand for diesel would spark more interest in converting coal to diesel, which would get us out from under the thumb of OPEC.
- randomtask72, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9I have the UK Honda Civic 2.2 i-CTDi diesel and I almost always get over 60mpg over a full tank. It isn't unusual to get over 70mpg on my 10 mile drive home. 0-62mph in 8.4 seconds isn't half bad either.
- Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Hydrogen is not an energy source; it's a carrier. Meanwhile, HFC's enjoy a 90% efficiency, while Hydrogen production, storage and transportation does seriously not.
Consider that energy must be dumped in the form of electricity to produce hydrogen. The efficiency for that is around 30% (Joules (kWH) in:Joules available from H2). Then it must be condensed into a liquid and stored in a dewar tank (dropping the net efficincy significantly, as refridgeration is EXTREMELY expensive.
DEFC's (Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells) seem a better option - same high efficiencies, except that they're in their infancy (we just recently figured out a way to run them without poisoning the catalyst), and can presently only achieve outputs in the milliwatt range. Not to mention what happens when we switch to an ethanol-based economy: Fuel and food compete for space, and we outsource our energy issues to South America instead of the Middle East. From one unstable area to another.
Thorium as a nuclear fuel looks very promising, though. Much lower energy and water requirements to mine it, higher burn efficiencies (near 100%), no trans-uranic waste (it's all sub-uranic, industrially useful and largely non-fissible isotopes). Also the fuel can't be used to make a weapon (aside from the small charge of U-233 that's needed to start the thing), and isn't itself radioactive. Also: physically impossible to melt down even if EVERYTHING ***** up (since it RUNS at critical state, the only direction to go in in terms of neutron flux is down). The only problem with Thorium is presently one of corrosion (it's in the form of thorium tetraflouride; flouride atoms are constantly being freed and recaptured, and do damage to the container and processing systems). - adgreene, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9The year 2010? How about by 20:10 today? Seriously, whats the holdup?
- MeMongo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Get a 2008 Volkswagen TDI. They won't be available until January because of new engine requirements, but VW completely redesigned their engine to optimize the diesel consumption on the Ultra-Low Sulfer diesel
- Korexz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Hydrogen will never be feasible. They have been working on the technology since the 70's! It is the golden carrot of transportation. Watch "Who Killed the Electric Car" and it will all make just a little more sense.
- dm33, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10VW has been doing this for years. No big deal.
- pjdk28, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7that's ridiculous. have you been to Europe? did you see the gas prices? they are all about public transportation bikes and minis, not BMW's Audi's and Maserati's. europe is not a giant james bond movie
- AzraelRenegades, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6If you can't park an Accord you shouldn't be allowed to drive. It's not a big rig, it's a mid size family car.
- MarvelingOne, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8I've been looking for a diesel car for a while now, yet now this won't get stateside till 2010, well at least I can start saving now.
- skew009, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Diesel engines have MORE power... HP doesn't really matter anyways when compared to torque. Would you believe me if I said the typical semi only has in the range of 100-200 HP? Well they do, but they have monster torque.
- Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6That's kind of true. Diesel engines must have stronger, thicker walls to deal with the higher pressures they do relative to an ICE.
However, with the greater amount of low-end torque a diesel engine provides, the transmission can be smaller and a bit simpler. Combine that the hydrostatic CV trannies that a lot of newer diesel vehicles use, and what you gain in engine can be lost in transmission, weight-wise.
Personally, I think a cool thing would be a dead-simple wheel-bearing torque converter, controlled by wire, ad just connect those directly to the driveshaft. Not sure how well it would work, but I'd love to actually experiment with the idea. Imagine: no transmission, no differential (or, more accurately, the transmission and differential are built into the wheel bearings). Changing them out could be as simple as changing a tire and connecting a coupling.
Of course, an actual reverse gear would need to be provided at the engine level, but that's a LOT lighter than a full automatic or a discrete CVT.
Really, only wear is an issue, as bearing torque converters are friction-based devices. Still a simple sensor checking the width of the bearing pads could alert the driver of the need to replace them ahead of time. And, unlike break pads, the result of not changing them is damage to the already worn-out item, and an inability to move the car.
Of course, 'Neutral' would have to be a decoupling of the bearing pads, not the engine. So if you're all neglectful of proper maintenance, at least you can still push your car to the mechanic. - scabbers, on 10/10/2007, -4/+10Biofuel seems a great idea until you notice the cost of food increases, as farmers grow biofuel crops instead of like, food.
- jeffeb3, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7why is it that every time the letter UK show up on digg, there is so much aggression? No one blamed you for anything. I think it's great that you're getting that information. But you aren't pretending to know the g/km CO2 figure for this new diesel accord are you? Do you think you could have mentioned the fact that the UK has these figures on all spec sheets without acting condescending?
- mississippiman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7I've got a diesel jetta that gets close to 50 mpg
- BOBcat5785, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8It's the European Accord...hence the diesel. It has the body of an American Acura TSX.
- sunroom, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Algae, my friend. Algae.
See http://digg.com/environment/Brilliant_Idea_The_Greenbox_Captures_Car_Exhaust_Gasses
and
(Dugg 1.5 yrs ago) http://digg.com/general_sciences/Algae_may_save_the_planet_from_global_warming - shortcircuit13, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7US farmers are essentially paid to produce far less than peak capacity because such a supply glut would crash the agriculture market. So, they could now grow more and convert the excess to E85.
That being said, the environmental impact of E85, from corn growing to fermentation to distillation to transport, is no better than that of plain old gasoline.
I'm all for the algae cars, though. Astroturf buggies for everyone! - ijustam, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Also GM really ***** up the American perception of diesels in the 70s so the average person wouldn't dream of buying one.
- 0crabby0, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I have used waste cooking oil for almost two years in my diesel pickup.
I'm using an oil that's already been used to cook food and is to be discarded... Whose mouths am I taking food from? - sail191912, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Diesel engines are generally bigger than gasoline engines.
- Jonjonr6, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Not necessarily. Some of the prolems with the safety ratings are simple. Noone wants to spend $40K on a Honda Fit, even it if were outfitted with a racing grade cage that would be safer than most everything else on the road.
At the root, everyone believes bigger is better and more luxurious or prestigeous.
To some extent, its a paradox. We could all benefit from smaller, more economic cars, but we look at bigger, less economic cars as a luxury to be desired. - d03boy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5you're living in the 90s. diesels arent the same as they used to be
- gogun, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Nevermind about the EV1
Or about being driven by an electric motor that's charged by a diesel generator, pffft locomotives been doing that for ages.
OUTSIDE THE BOX people - Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6I doubt it; larger cars, statistically, get into more accidents.
Harder to miss, I'd guess. - techsmack, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7The Volkswagen TDI has been doing this for years... I Guess it happened before people wanted to buy more fuel efficient cars. http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/auto/20030804a1.asp its surprising the technology keeps getting overlooked. Some areas diesel is cheaper than unleaded.
- johnholden, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Right, but not imported anyways... made domestically. Around here VW TDIs sell like no other car used, because everyone's converting them to biodiesel. When VW starts selling them again new in 2008, they're going to be just as hard to get, I'd guess. http://www.vw.com/vdubopedia/en/us/html/detail_105.html
- Erectile, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7Completely normal for many diesels if you know how to drive economically.
- Synchro, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6They make em, just not in this country. Toyota has the hilux and Nissan has the Navarra, but in diesel. Any time you see a little pickup truck carrying around people on the slopes of the mountains of Afghanistan on the news, guess what vehicle they are in?
As for electric, everyone talks about the EV1, but GMC did make the S10 pickup in electric as well for a bit. it was crushed too, except for about 50 of them out there still that were purchased instead of leased. -
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