Fuel Consumption

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Tue 9 Mar 2004 12:52
Fuel Consumption - Marcos{P}
Last week I went on a short break to Boston and the Cape cod area. I had pre-booked a 4wd vehicle from Hertz as the last time I went around this time of year we had about 3foot of snow.
When I went to collect the car I was offered an upgrade to a Lincoln Navigator. Having seen these giant beasts before I decided to go for it. www.lincoln.com/vehicles/interior.asp?sVehi=nav

This car is huge, very comfy, loads of gadgets, unbelievable THX sound system but the fuel economy shocked me. It has a 5.5ltr V8 that sounds glorious but the best I managed was 14mpg on a 150 mile stretch of road and 5-8mpg around town.
I have never worried about pollution/resources as such before but this started worrying me and when you consider the amount of cars in the U.S. with great big engines you begin to worry.
Is this worrying due to me getting old or should we all start to worry?
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Tue 9 Mar 2004 17:36
Fuel Consumption - Andrew-T
Perhaps 'worry' isn't quite the word I'd use, Marcos, but I am surprised this thought hadn't troubled you before you tried a BIG car. It's one reason I use a diesel. Another is that there are millions of other people doing the same, most of them not being troubled either.
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Tue 9 Mar 2004 21:53
Fuel Consumption - Civic8
I have my doubts it worries most people that own 4x4`s or big engined motors.as if they did they would not own them.after all big motors are not cheap to run.and a lot are burners.ie not looked after are going strong too burn or not too burn.I may be wrong but US is not interested in reducing co levels and so they carry on correct me if wrong?
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Tue 9 Mar 2004 23:11
Fuel Consumption - Andrew-T
As a cynic, mech1, I suspect that many drivers - especially of borrowed cars - consider fuel as a minor, and in any case necessary, expense compared with depreciation or insurance in a high-risk area. I bet even those who follow bangernomics don't drive particularly frugally, perhaps because of all the money they save by that policy?
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Tue 9 Mar 2004 23:54
Fuel Consumption - Civic8
Maybe it is about time fuel economy is taken into consideration
even by the countrys that have high powered motors.with cheap fuel.I see your point though.but that don`t make it right.
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Wed 10 Mar 2004 01:13
Fuel Consumption - dieselhead
The US is very confused about its enviromental policy...

It's a scandal..vehicles like the Navigator are in the same category as light trucks so are not subject to fuel economy and emissions standards applied to cars - it's something like average for each marque's fleet of 20 mpg and 28 mpg for cars. This has not increased now for nearly twenty years in the US. There has been several attempts to increase this to nearer 40mpg but they all get voted out.
I think we should all be concerned by the waste of resources. Oil production can only be increased so much to feed the gas guzzlers and all the millions that are going to want to drive in the third world pretty soon.
We could also think about how we use cars here..despite the high fuel prices many people manage to drive big petrol engined cars that often cover 100k+ mileages in just a few years of driving.
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