Got into a bad discussion about FE

[Jay2TheRescue]

Project84: The 80's were great! I graduated high school in 1989 so I lived through all that, even the mullet! Here's a good pic of my mullet... Circa very early 90's.

-Jay

[GasSavers_BEEF]

Mr. incredible,

it is very ironic that you said early twenties but they will grow out of it. I had a dodge truck that would do 0-60 in less than 6 seconds and it isn't a hemi either. I had it for about 4 and a half years, I sold it about 2-3 months ago because we are getting ready for our first child. I also just turned 29.

there is a lot of truth in what you have said. I guess I can be an example too. I did have the cavalier at the same time. I have always driven a good distance to work. I just grew up that way, you live in the sticks and commute to work.

I never had a mullet and now I don't have the hair to have a mullet. when I was on the dodge truck forum, nobody ever talked about gas though. it was still about $2.50 a gallon or so. I put a lot of money into that truck and when I sold it, I got none of that money back. I guess hind sight is always 20-20.

[Mayhim]

Beef, thank you for your insight.

The more points of view one has held, the more points of view one is able to understand and/or accept as valid. By and large, that comes with time. Seeing one, doing a class paper on one, or discussing one is wholey different from living it.

Then, by the time we figure most everything out, it's time to punch out...

Live long, and prosper.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

just before punch out time (as you call it), most people don't really care about the small stuff. vehicles are just modes of transportation and a house (be it modest or extravegant) is just a place to live.

I used to care about horsepower (well actually torque) but now, what's the point. I never really hauled that much in my truck. I hauled little stuff but nothing I can't do with my element and a trailer.

my truck was not a huge jacked up bohemoth or a lowered street machine either. it was fairly modest. it was a dodge dakota short bed regular cab. 4.7 with the 5-speed manual. I actually liked the sleeper look. nobody really knew what I had. it didn't say V8 anywhere on the outside of it. suprised a lot of people in that little truck. I guess this is where the old people get those stories that they tell over and over and over. I'll be old some day and will tell those stories too I guess.

[JanGeo]

Hey you just touched on a sore subject of course! Watching the news of people down south where the gas has run out in the storm areas - PEOPLE DRIVE AROUND LOOKING FOR GAS DUH!!!! I also see cars waiting in line with headlights on - indicating engine is running!!! DUH!!! And how many of the vehicles waiting in line are fuel efficient?? not too many!

Don't let it bother you too much - there are some people you just can't help. I tell salesmen in Toyota dealerships about my high MPG in my Scion and it doesn't even phase them.

[theholycow]

I started putting together this reply and realized I was going on for pages and pages responding to different stuff, so I might as well break it up into a few posts...

Originally Posted by Project84

maybe it's the fact that I'm a jack of all trades maintenance man, and my day to day is fixing other people's messes because they were TOO STUPID to educate themselves on the equipment before using it; breaking it and then again, not caring enough to learn how to fix it themselves....

I can totally identify with that, as an IT guy. We have the same problem. I have managed to gain a little more philosophical, accepting perspective on it in the last few years -- users are dumb, always have been, always will be; they are lazy; they will not change; and they can not change. Sometimes it's annoying to fix the same crap over and over, when I'd rather be learning something, fixing something new to me, which is more fulfilling; but either way, I have a job -- and at least fixing the same crap over and over is easy.

Originally Posted by Project84

giving some kind of excuses as to why GM has little to no offering for a high mpg car, stating "the general public doesn't want a futuristic bubble car" as if to be aero friendly it has to be a bubble? Shows the mentality.

That mentality is shared by the general public, unfortunately. They don't want a "futuristic bubble car", which is probably why the Ford Taurus went from the #1 seller to Out Of Production in one generation (though recently the Taurus name was exhumed and pasted onto the failing Ford Five Hundred). That's actually a change of direction, as they DID want a "futuristic bubble car" when the original Taurus first came out, with its bubble shape being the first rounded car after decades of squares and corners...although that one never looked as bubbly or futuristic as the failed last-gen Taurus.

Anyway, I digress. They don't want a "futuristic bubble car", and that's what they think of when they see anything that looks different than expected, unless it looks more macho (which means more blocky and a bigger grille).

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Mr Incredible

They're snotty and full of themselves, and you can't change that. But you can lead them to knowledge. Some of them will walk away with a seed of need to understand, others won't . Be a beacon of light, Project 84, in a sea of youthful male know-it-all darkness.

Keep in mind that from their point of view, we are snotty and full of ourselves, and we're holier-than-thou too. Especially when we force them to actually google for our "secrets".

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Project84

Seriously though, it's odd over there, almost like people who have something because they think its cool, but none of them use the car for the intended purpose, although they all talk, and walk, the lifestyle of a drag racer.

That's how most people are with their vehicles and most other things in life. They talk the talk and that's good enough; they enjoy living in a fantasy world. It's not wrong, even though it feels that way to me; it works out great for them -- they get a car that looks like the image they want, show it off to others, brag, and they get their fulfillment out of life.

I am very much the opposite, to a fault -- I am really not good at the fantasy thing, so bad at it that I can't even do it to a healthy extent. Instead, however much my reality sucks, that's what I'm stuck with. That's great when my reality is good, but extremely depressing when it's not -- though at least I've learned to have lower standards than people who can spend much of their time in their fantasies.

As for never using the car for its intended purpose, I may be guilty of that one if I ever manage to get a Camaro. I want the new fifth gen, and I want the 300hp V6 with the 6MT. I want to hypermile it as my commute car. I want it for these reasons:
- It actually looks like it will be comfortable
- RWD
- Manual transmission
- Inexpensive
- It may be reasonably large
- Decent FE
- It looks nice when I look at it, and I don't care if other people think it looks nice or not

Sure, I'll fly around curves in it faster than most people would (I said would, not could) in any Camaro, Corvette, or even Lamborghini; that's just how I roll...but I even pull that off in my VW. It may never see 2000rpm if I can get a taller 6th gear into it, I'll never drag race it, and I'll rarely accelerate really hard. I won't be using it for either of its designed purposes, which are obviously to look macho for the fantasy folks and to accelerate hard for the drag racers, but I will be using it for a purpose for which you really can't find many choices.

Anyway, one of the biggest purposes every vehicle is designed for is image, because that's the most important thing to so many (most?) new car buyers. So, when they're talking the talk, they really are using it for its designed purpose.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by BEEF

honestly, I am a dodge guy myself

I always knew you were a bit dodgy.

Originally Posted by Project84

I'm a Dodge guy too,
I'm some sort of nutcase I guess.

An apt label, IMO.

[Project84]

hehe very good stuff going on in here... I like the tone here much more than any other thread I've been a part of.

theholycow, I'd say if you buy the v6, you aren't doing the car any injustices by not beating the snot out of it... afterall, they're planning to offer two versions w/ V8's, and only the 300hp v6, so you're not going overboard to spend a fortune on a daily driver for the image alone.

The people I talk about buy super nice cars (nothing wrong w/ that) and then spend TONS AND TONS of money making them FAST... but then rarely or never race them, mostly I'd bet, due to not wanting to damage the car they've invested a years worth of income on.

Myself? I bought my Z28 for $1k needing head gasket and a clutch, replaced everything, and with a full investment around $2k, I beat the snot out of it and take it to SCCA races every chance I get (not often, but hey, I'm still out there giving it hell). My turbo Miata will sing to about a $3k investment price when done, and it's going to replace the Camaro as my race car and the Camaro will either be sold or upgraded w/ a rear mount turbo setup (cheap and efficient) and brought back to racing.

I also had a "half-fro" for a while... wanting to be different I guess. Then friends decided to put blonde highlights in it and they turned orange because I have dark hair... so my nick name was the "calico-kid" in reference to a calico-cat. LOL I'm telling ya, I'm a goofy bastage.