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| High MPG cars built in the USA but are banned from the USA | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 28 2016, 04:55 PM (1,014 Views) | |
| dayle1960 | Mar 28 2016, 04:55 PM Post #1 |
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Fastest Hampster EVER
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http://www.relfe.com/wp/money/50-300-mpg-fuel-efficient-cars-banned-usa/ Pisses me off to know that some Frenchman or English dude or German guy is driving around in an American made car which gets 78 mpg while I'm tooling around in a metro getting ONLY 44 mpg. So, how do we get our hands on the internals of one of these cars and make a MPG warrior in our backyard?
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| Silver2K | Mar 28 2016, 05:23 PM Post #2 |
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Some (all?) of those are diesels. Can you say VW smog scam? The EU announced they would not fine VW for defrauding the EU smog tests. My point is some of those diesels may not meet US EPA smog requirements, even if they say they do. VW committed the scam because they could not meet standards cost effectively. |
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| Stubby79 | Mar 28 2016, 05:25 PM Post #3 |
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Welcome to the land of the free! (Free is expensive, apparently, at least by the mile!) |
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| GeoNorth | Mar 28 2016, 05:26 PM Post #4 |
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New Member
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I agree. Ive travled out of the country many times and find it absolutely ridiculous that the use does not allow these cars due to the fact that "They do not meet emission Standards." Complete and total BS. |
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| GeoStalker | Mar 28 2016, 05:29 PM Post #5 |
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"Chicks dig me and guys think I'm cool."
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Part of the reason you'll never see these cars on our streets is the incredible amount of tax revenue generated on our consumption of gas and oil products. Overnight the states will have to increase taxes elsewhere to make up the difference lost from fuel use. We've already seen it in California and their mileage carbon footprint tax they're imposing. The politicians can talk about conservation, but they're not too serious about it. |
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| smysmbrg | Mar 28 2016, 05:39 PM Post #6 |
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SteveO
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Funny how vw was all over the news and then they dont get fined wtf why is that not all over the news. |
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| myredvert | Mar 28 2016, 06:06 PM Post #7 |
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myredvert
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The idea that "these cars are banned in the US..." or implying there is some great government coverup to keep these from us is conspiratorial hooey. Any manufacturer would take virtually any car they produce and certify it it for US safety and emissions standards in a heartbeat if they thought they would be profitable doing so. Meaning we as a country would have to actually buy them. A lot of them. the fact that these types of cars aren't readily available in the us is not the government's fault, it's the consumer's fault. The real problem is that there is a country full of consumers that as a whole simply don't support more fuel efficient cars - the country has spent decades spending our money on "more horsepower." and with fuel prices staying low, that isn't likely to change anytime soon. It took Europe and other countries decades of fuel prices that would make Californians cringe to produce fleets of cars with the fuel economy they have. Blame the government all you want, but the truth is that our government that has been raising the requirement for the manufacturers of cars sold here to increase their overall fleet economy, while companies like Mistubishi can't even sell off their 2015 Mirages which had been selling for a VERY good price normally, then had to practically give them away recently. My hat's off to those here who recently bought new Mirages - that is the kind of behavior as consumers that will gradually nudge us towards more and more fuel efficient little cars. ![]() And something new that gets 50+ mpg isn't going to be had for anything even close to Mirage prices. I think we won't see a lot more cars like that when we're actually ready to spend money on them. |
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| mt999999 | Mar 28 2016, 06:42 PM Post #8 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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Those emissions standards are insane. Regardless whether it relates to these cars or not, one single country "trying to make a difference" isn't helping anything when the majority of the rest of the world doesn't care. The EPA is a joke...
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| myredvert | Mar 28 2016, 06:55 PM Post #9 |
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myredvert
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Keep right on blaming the EPA... ![]() All the while manufacturers, instead of spending the last few decades keeping the overall size and hp down to "Metro" levels and making those new engines more and more efficient keep right on making cars with more and more hp and are still trying to catch up to Metro economy in their smallest cars. Which they likely won't do for quite a while (if ever) with gasoline engines until they start backing off a bit on the hp. And why have they done this? Because that's what consumers have wanted. |
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| Metromightymouse | Mar 28 2016, 09:01 PM Post #10 |
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Powdercoat Wizard
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And Europe is regretting their move to Diesel with the health impacts they are having. |
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| Cobrajet25 | Mar 29 2016, 01:31 AM Post #11 |
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Europe moved to diesels because a diesel engine is about 50% more efficient than an identical gasoline-powered engine. If a 1.5 liter gasoline engine is good for 30 mpg in a particular car, then a 1.5 liter diesel engine will typically be good for 45 mpg. All else being equal. Not sure who told the Eurocrats that diesel engines don't pollute at all, but it's no big secret that they do. They just pollute differently. The US government HATES diesels, and there is not much arguing that fact. Between the EPA, who would like to see increasingly lighter vehicles to improve MPG, and the NHTSA, who would like to see increasingly heavier vehicles for the purpose of safety, the government does limit what we can drive to quite an extent. If all Mahindra had to do to sell cars in the US was simply ship them here, they likely would do it. But there are miles and miles and miles and miles of US government regulatory red tape to contend with. But the main reason cheap, simple, hyper-efficient cars are not sold in the US is: profit. When it comes to automobiles, manufacturers sell over-powered, over-tech'd, over-expensive vehicles to Americans for one simple reason: THEY WILL PAY LOTS OF MONEY FOR THEM. People in other countries simply can't or won't pay USD$60,000 for a PICKUP TRUCK. As I have said before, GM lost money on every Metro they sold. But, because of CAFE standards, selling those Metros allowed them to make billions selling big, thirsty, clumsy, heavy, expensive SUVs. |
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| Woodie | Mar 29 2016, 04:52 AM Post #12 |
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This article is quite disingenuous, plays very loose with the facts. The VW Passat she mentions has 120 HP and weighs 4,000 pounds. Once the difference for Imperial gallons and a VERY different testing procedure are factored in, it gets about 50 mpg on the highway. It also starts at $35,000. No one in the USA is going to pay close to $40K for a diesel that is slower than a Metro. She also claims that the Nissan gets 26 mpg in the US, but if you put "an ethanol mix" in it it gets 18 mpg. That's complete bullshit, even if she's referring to E85 (which would be a very disingenuous comparison) the difference is not going to be that huge. The US consumer is simply not interested in fuel economy, and why should he be when we pay 1/4th the price for gas and a substantial penalty for diesel? Another huge wave of monster trucks have hit the streets during this past five months of record low gas prices, and the new owners aren't really having buyers remorse just because the price has gone back up to $2, they're paying $100 a month for phone and $200 a month for TV. The consumer's position has partially been molded by the manufacturers, as has been mentioned. I read an article on the economics of the car business a few years back that pointed out why the manufacturers don't want you buying small cars. These are totally made up numbers just to illustrate the point, but the concept is accurate. It costs a car company $10,000 to sell a $10,000 car. It costs them $20,000 to sell a $50,000 car. They don't want people clamoring for the cheaper car, it's shitty business. |
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| MarkZ28 | Mar 29 2016, 02:01 PM Post #13 |
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Those facebook stories are usually bs anyway, just a way to get you to click on the site for their hundreds of advertisements there. The main reason the cars wont be sold here is crash safety regulations. The safety equipment required to sell in the US is heavy and expensive. The Metros we drive probably wouldnt pass the current standards in use now. And as stated, they wouldnt sell a lot of them since the demand is not there. They wont spend millions of dollars to certify a car that wont sell enough to even cover that cost, let alone make a profit on. They wont lose money on a poor risk gamble. Plus if there are more than one small car sold here with such low demand, any competition would surely be the demise of that car. |
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| myredvert | Mar 29 2016, 05:13 PM Post #14 |
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myredvert
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![]() Especially when in Europe right now for example they are paying on average double or more for gas than we are. While I agree with that to an extent, if we (as a consumer group) hadn't allowed ourselves into being brainwashed into "needing" more and more and more horsepower, just think where we would be even with slightly heavier "Metro" type cars with the same horsepower but having benefited from years of technological advances allowing for improvements in engine efficiency. There's no reason why we can't be 50 mpg cars even with the stricter emission and increased safety standards, except for the fact that all they have been building are 70+ hp engines for them. to get back to "Metro" efficiency levels with gasoline would generally require a sacrifice in performance, something we don't seem to be ready to do. Maybe when fuel hits $5-6/gallon or more, like Europe has been paying for years.... But I doubt it. We have a friend in the used car business. When gas prices are this low our friend with the car lot can't get enough trucks from the auction to keep on his lot, and when gas starts closing in on $4 again people are screaming because they can't afford the gas to drive back and forth to work, and the trade in value has tanked becasue they are being dumped left and right. Then when gas begins to drop again the same people are right out buying the biggest truck they can get.
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| Old Man | Mar 29 2016, 05:29 PM Post #15 |
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manufacturers putting out what the American public wants? Maybe, but not completely. Look around at all the Ford Ranger Pickups on the road.--I bought a new one in 2001 and with discounts it was under 10 grand. last year I was going to trade it in on another new one. Dealer told me "Sorry, Ford quit making the ranger. Smallest now is the F-150 and I can sell you a new one for $18,000.00............ |
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