Could not be said any better!! :+1:
I saved gas by moving over 25 years ago to a small town. Unless we get an arctic blast in winter which can last up to a month like this year, we mostly walk everywhere to do shopping. Keeps us thin and fit as well.
Hm? Whut’s the deal with 10spd trannies?
Yeah, that’s just stoopit. My old Cav would definitely feel sluggish when the tranny fluid was cold and syrupy. Felt like slogging through mud. That’s why I’d barely let it go above fast-idle on local streets ’til the slogging-through-mud feeling was gone. If the tranny fluid was like that, then for sure so was the oil. By the time I’d get to the expressway, it’d more or less be warmed up.
Unfortunately, my cars now are quite a bit more powerful, so it’s hard to tell any sluggishness when torque overcomes it way too easily.
Was it Beamers that would have a too-cold warning indicator? Ie, an idiot-light cautioning you to not get too punchy on the pedal if the engine/tranny wasn’t sufficiently up to temp?
Wellp, gotta stop keeping ’em chained up in the cold cold basement…
I try to do that, but again, hard to tell when it’s ready.
Prospects can be severely limited, though, unless you’re okay working the register at the local diner.
Main problem here is the lack of “progressive” companies. Ie, flex-time, working remotely, etc. Too many computer-based jobs still have you stuck, commuting back’n’forth every day as if you’re doing factory work.
Luckily, I started working-from-home on Fridays and was “grandfathered in” by Former Boss, as New Boss doesn’t allow that. Even people who were promised that ability to do so at least once per week were later denied by New Boss.
Certain people, especially some who poop out a new kid every 6mos or so it seems, have been working from home long enough I almost forgot what they look like. So some departments have no problem with it, whereas some others do.
I actually get more work done from home vs when physically at work. Fewer interruptions, and just in general being more “self-conscious” about it. Disappear for lunch when there, no problem, you’re out for lunch. Do so when working from home, and you want to get back as soon as possible so no one emails “Where are you??” and you feel “guilty” about being gone for even 15min and “keeping them waiting”.
So yeah, not having to commute every day by car, whether working remotely or being able to just walk to work, saves the most fuel. Rather than idiocy like trying to get daylight-time year-round, why not just encourage policies like telecommuting to make them financially appealing?
^^ I forgot to mention we had to start our own business after moving to the small town. Lots of worry and risk moving away from the big city, but it turned out to be by far the best decision we ever made in our lives. We give out so little for gas or food that it's almost shameful, but that's the lifestyle here, it's awesome. Being surrounded by mountains and lakes never hurts either.
I agree with you, if big corporations would encourage other ways of working instead of constantly commuting, it would take away of lot of unneeded stress, especially financially. Obviously it can't work for all business but where it could work it should be encouraged. I've known too many people that work their guts out only to barely survive after all the bills are paid and on top of that they are just plain worn out by the end of the day.
Car, 15min commute. Buses, 1hr 15min commute.
Forced downtime, which is nice if I got puzzles/magazines to catch up on, but otherwise just “wasted” time.
Sometimes it’s interesting just watching the scenery, but you’re still at the mercy of waiting for the buses, etc.
Thing is, if I save even that half-hour of commuting time, I can give it right back to the company. If I’m forced to spend it, well, I can spend it driving in/back, or let Mr Bus carry me. Either way, I ain’t spending it again.
Isn’t that the truth
The mileage tests on those sales stickers have start stops to show “urban cycles”, so the companies cheat by start-stopping the engines. Then sticking us with the stupidity.
In no engineering world does it make sense to do that to engines, but, the companies simply don’t care.
Then you have the dumbest in humanity adding to engine destruction by blasting the engine at start-up. As a car guy, I cringe when I hear that. One of my in-law does that and I tried to explain the damage he is doing to the engine….he dismisses it, his explanation is the harder you rev it, the faster it warms up, therefore less wear. Vroom-vroom voodoo idiocy.
Engines need oil pressure and volume for the bearing surfaces. The problem with cold starts is that the oil is so viscous, that even though the pressure is sky high, it does not flow fast enough through the oil passages, thus starving the bearing surfaces. That is why some have gone to synthetic and 0 weight. The lower the weight, the faster the oil flows in cold weather.
Remember the days of 20w40 summers and 10w30 summer oil? Gone. With synthetics, they resist shearing off far better and they don’t break down as quickly in higher summer temperatures so now we have 0W20 or 0W30 all year round.
How long one warms up the engine depends. In a modern car, in summer, on a flat driveway, through suburban roads, slow acceleration for a few minutes, ten seconds are enough. As long as there is no high rpms needed to overcome some obstacle or merge into speeding traffic. As the temperature drops, the need to warming up increases. If there are obstacles, like going through snow, uphill driveway, need to merge into fast moving traffic, then the time keeps rising and rising.
I can see 5-6 minutes for 0.F merging into moving city traffic. Worse case for the car engine/drivetrain is to jump into highway speeds. Consider an engine block heater and votive candles to the Car Gods. At minus 20 Minnesota winter…a good bon fire. Lol
In my area, at O.F, unless there is snow on the ground, one is idling out and practicaly idling/puttering through multiple blocks of slow suburban stop-go before encountering moderate speed main roads. Ideal, low stress start-up driving. A minute is enough.
How long one takes is a calculated decision that separates a good driver from an appliance jockey.
Yep, and it just doesn't seem right. I know the feeling first hand and was glad we made the move.
Wow and to think when I first posted about this it was just a note on seeing
that gas may rise up above five bucks on the news.
As for a lot of you that are in the EU and other places, you have to remember
just one or two counties in a state in the US can be the size of a small country.
A lot of us have to drive to get the things needed that a lot people in small towns
and large cities take for granted that they can just walk down the street to buy.
Looks like sanctions on Iran and Venezuela are contributing quite a bit to this recent price increase.
Just one tiny question for all who wonders “how fast li-ions do degrate”:
Have you ever disassembled/rebuild any gasoline (diesel) powered engine?
I have. What’s your point?
You should wonder how many parts there are, how uneven they degrate and how this influence on total lifetime (when one broken $5-part can ruin whole engine).
It’s a machine with hundreds of parts, some wear more then others. Some can go a million miles. Some will be replaced even though they could still go on. Some can be lightly re machined and go on.
I’m not sure where you are going with this.
Fuel engine (consist from thousands parts) have more probability to be broken at same mileage.
Fuel engine output is not easy to measure, same time on-board fuel consumption meters are not precise at all.
At the same mileage, fuel engine car will lost much more power and efficiency (in % to the new one) neither li-ion battery pack.
But fuel cars are not equipped with big touchscreen that shows you this information, so you dont care.
Comparing apples and oranges.
A good diesel engine will run for 1 too 1.5 MILLION kilometers. Routinely done by Benz taxis. They still have 80% of their power. Then they could be rebuilt for another million kilometers.
That’s 5000-7000-10,000 cycles for battery packs. Fantasy stuff.
Nissan guarantees the battery in the LEAF will have at least 66% of original capacity after 160,000 kilometers.
The highest mileage internet claims, but no actual proof, is for over 600,000km by a few Tesla owners. I tend to ignore internet claims by fan boys. On the other hand, I have ridden in lots of diesel taxis in Europe with far more actual mileage.
Right, comparation between modern cars and cars that were developed 50 years ago is defently apples vs oranges.
Go to the MB website, choose any model, check engine code at wikipedia - and we can continue this discussion.
Engine code? Wiki? What are you talking about?
There is nothing to discuss if you can’t make a coherent argument.
When there is a big data, coherent arguments are not required.
When you can do few clicks and check out how many spare parts are were sold per each sold car. How many versions of compressors, HPP and injectors have been changed just in one engine generation. How many employers do this job and how many tons of broken parts are sent by each dealer service each month back to the manufacture.
Yes, I would like to know which engine can reach 1.5M km (not reachable for many trucks nowadays). Please choose it here: List of Mercedes-Benz engines - Wikipedia