^^ good point.

But I have to say I do see difference in different parts of the country. Rust belt areas, hardly any older 10 year plus older cars.

Non rust belt ares like the South, Southwest, you see lots of older 10 plus cars.

__________________
1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

Volkswagen has NOTHING on these guys!!!! Protesters, take a little diesel coal!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBQFnUgv37c

There is a lot of electric car kool aid drinking going on here.

I work at an engineering fir that deals almost exclusively with lithium batteries and electric motors. We also design and manufacture some of the chargers that you will get if you buy certain OEM electric cars. I could tell you almost to the hour how long the battery packs will last and it is most definitely not infinite.

When Tesla first came out with their little roadster a bunch of us were very excited, especially since they used the same batteries we use in our products. We sat down and figured out the cost of replacing that pack and spread out over the miles the car could do it ended up being slightly more expensive than buying gas for an average car. That doesn't count the energy cost of filling the batteries each time, just battery replacement.

The engineer I sit next to bought a Leaf the first year it came out. He is on his third drive motor, luckily replaced under warranty both time, and now he needs a battery pack. He is true believer in electric vehicles and he is not going to buy electric next time. They are not magic, just different. And if you think they are really zero emission just do a little research on lithium battery production and losses involved in production, transmission, and charging with centralized power.

Just go into electric vehicles with your eyes open and don't believe the marketing and best case scenarios.

I did not know that. It may come down to how "defeat device" was defined, which will likely be argued in court. In my aerospace work, every specification needs a method of verifying it was met. The EPA has some responsibility in that process. If there is no auditing or enforcement, then people usually assume the rule or law doesn't actually apply. There are many cases where that is true. Does Indiana law still require every motor vehicle fire a gun 3 times at every stop sign to warn horses? A nearby homeowner closely read his neighborhood covenants and found he was dis-allowed ownership since African-American (no Jewish either), and went to court to change the covenants.

__________________
1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

^^THIS

__________________
2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

I'm probably a dreamer but I think piston steam got a raw deal. I met a 90 year old man in the late 70s and we became buddies. His wife had suffered TB during child rearing years and had died 10 years prior, they had no children. He was sharp as a tack and told me stories of his uncle, a polio sufferer, who had owned 3 steam cars largely because he wasn't strong enough to turn a gasser crank.

He described the smooth even torque, how such a car would pull out of a muddy ditch that a gas car 'would be stuck in yet!'

The last steamers had flash boilers that dramatically shortened the waiting time to get up and running. When Lear tried to revive the steamer, he insisted on going with turbine, dismissing piston steamer advocates as cranks.

External combustion is much more thorough than internal, I've read that emissions are as much as 1/20th of ICE engines. A real sticking point would be condensation of steam so as to avoid the need for overmuch water use and fillup stops.

I read a story of Jay Leno driving his Stanley Steamer in public. He was stopped by a policeman who thought it was on fire.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

A steam engine would be the answer ,steam would be the purest way to make energy .Its the process of getting steam ready to drive the motor to then drive the car as one of the few hurtles .It would be somewhat of a hybrid in that too start the process of steam a smaller motor would be needed ,either electric or gas.I invision a possibility of a microwave device that could pre heat /or precharge the water for steam then a super heated tube for steam-off .It wouldnt need much for precharging of system ,maybe 20oz of water depending on the amt. of cylinders ,the key would be how long the wait til start-up could be initiated.Heres some earlier ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COP9iGRUQV4 .Diesel glow plug wait -time could be possible .

It's a helluva dream. The sober realist in me says it would have been pulled off by now were it practical. OTOH, there were compelling reasons that the ICE got the nod back in the day. The instant startup and the exciting vroom, vroom for starters. I've heard steamers in old movies. Not the same. However, anyone who's had to deal with firetrucks or the like in their neighborhood late at night would probably welcome a switch to that steam sound.

I recall reading a comment from a GM exec I think it was, though any major auto maker exec could have said it, something like: 'we have huge investments in place for the purpose of building engines, transmissions and differentials and we're not going to scrap them because steam engines put out a little less pollutants.'

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

GM is the devil. Once upon a time, they deliberately filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy to avoid billions in recalls/updates to a certain model GM truck. They saved billions and the poor truck owners took it in the shorts!!

I have mixed feelings about GM. Their cars don't have much soul IMO. I spent many hours in large Chevies (Chevys?) when I drove taxi. Adequate but boring.

Their trucks are OK. And they did do a lot for the WW2 effort. Of course they were paid for it. But what you describe is not good. In general, there has been a lot of inertia wrapped up in the US auto industry that made them like tortoises to Europe's hares.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Totally depends on the model. A Chevy malibu is about as bland as it gets. My Saturn sky has the most character of any car I've owned. Granted, they killed that brand...

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Sorry to say, I wasn't even aware of that model. Do you see many for sale used? I searched it, said it had a platform similar to that of the Opel GT which I've read good things about.

I drove a used Saturn sedan in '02, bought an E30 instead.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Drove some rental cars in the last few years. Many seemed to be lacking seriously in many ways. I even wondered who would buy cars like these?

There was much better available for about the same retail dollar if buying. I even priced the worse one at a dealership. Out of curiosity. Thirty thousand and the only thing I found good about it was the feel of the automatic transmission in the rental. It only had been in the rental pool for a short tine as the odometer milage was very low.

Not to worry though. A dealership owner told me that todays new cars are now being engineered not to last too long. Plus vastly overpriced for what most of them are. We were standing alongside a new Chevrolet Cruise with some options at the time.

It had the suggested sale price on the window sticker at almost twenty seven thousand. Out the door price plus sales tax. He told me a fair price would be ten thousand less for what it is. This was a Canadian price.

Same platform as the opel gt and Pontiac solstice. They didn't sell too many of them, obviously a niche car but they killed both Pontiac and Saturn pretty quickly after launching these. They are around, and you can pick them up used without too much hassle (though a manual turbo model like mine can be tough to find).

Another case of getting it right then shooting themselves in the foot. Steering is not as sharp as the miata (245 series tires part to blame) but the turbo models will stomp them around most courses. The engine is also incredible, 260/260 stock and bumps to 300/330ish rwhp with just a tune. Of course independent suspension, LSD and all that. The non turbo models were competitive with the miata in autox.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

diesel will be available longer than gasoline. i dont see a possible way to replace long haul trucking powerplants anytime soon.

i won't buy a new car until the electrics settle down in price - but that's what ill get. modern ICE is too much computer in too harsh of an environment - and I'm an electronics engineer!

as to the questions if diesel is going away - look at what they drive in europe in a high oil price environment...diesels.

__________________
-------------------------------
'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car