Also heard that a deisel engine could be made to run used cooking oil from resteraunts... seriously, some guy was actually doing that too... would suck if you were hungry though... the car would smell like that last thing you cooked in it... oh, and they did that on mythbusters, and it turned out to be true.RedEye wrote:As long as we Americans buy and drive apartments on wheels called SUV's and Mini-Vans, these itty bitty cars are going to be rolling coffins.
There are people who legitimately need big cars, but they are not the people who usually buy these SUV's. Mostly, these boats are status markings or compensation; not transportation. What's even worse is the fact that these vehicles are usually single occupant cars...not what they were developed for, but what they are used for.
Gas will even things out. As the prices rise, these road palaces will become less affordable to own and keep...unless they're diesel. Diesel is very much overlooked here in the U.S. Pity, that; they're much more efficient and you can get more Diesel out of a barrel of crude than you can Gasoline.
In Europe, one thing the people don't have are Automobile Cities; where the car is the only transport, and urban sprawl makes even going to the store a fifteen minute drive. There, towns and cities are more foot friendly and there are a web of interconnected transport services that make cars optional as transport. There are more scooters and mopeds, too; and they are safer to use over there. Drivers watch for them. Here, a scooter/moped/cyclist/motorcyclist is either invisible or the drivers just don't care. If you were important, you'd own a car, not a bike.
We'll get there. It won't be fun, but we'll get there.
