Engine life, I rebuilt a Ford 300 (4.9) 6 cylinder for a 1980 F100 that lasted 22.5 years before it developed a rod knock and the 2nd auto trans lost 3rd gear. Found a 86 F150 with a four speed manual on the floor to replace it. This truck has same engine (4.9) but has a rod knock so I baby it till I can pull and replace with another I rebuilt for my work van. Been knocking on start up till oil pressure builds up, has been for the last seven years but gets almost 18 MPG, not bad for a 33 year old motor with 240K on the clock. I change oil often, it is the life of the motor. So for me, electric vehicles, nah, I don't think they will last as long.
Anything good about the Audi Etron SUV? I don’t think it is available to buy yet but I saw something about a pre-order option.
Are you able to get new modern and safe car with such motor?
How long youll be able to use your small car until you will catch people from some green political party that have organized miting right in the clouds from gas and oil that have not burned?
I wonder how conservative you are. Your experience is great for people from 50s. But if someone little younger searching car nowadays, he is not able to repeat your experience. They would like something smaller, faster and more safety, than track with tracktor engine. And 99% of cars that meet this conditions have aluminium engine block which can last 150-200k kms.
And this is common at least for last 20 years. I didnt want to leave this comment, but to prevent someone young who will read this thread and was ready to get new MB (and hoping it will last long) - no, they could last long when your grandfather was young.
I like my cars to go vroom. It scares the plebs.
Hows it going back there?
Filling up here in FIN at about 7,82USD/U.S.Gal or 1,83EUR/L 
Digging up olds but a few notes on this:
- By default, ICE on a hybrid has same efficiency, as same ICE on a normal car so I agree.
- OTOH, on some hybrids (Or the most, Toyota), they use Atkinsons cycle ICE engines, which have a bit higher efficiency.
They are typically not used in normal cars, at least I don´t personally know a single one that uses. I have HEARD that some London cabs use it but I´m not at all sure.
- One thing that has been also tweaked for lower consumption, is the inf.variable transmission. ICE engine is kept as much as possible on the most efficient RPM range.
Losses on that kind of transmission are actually small. For reference, check WeberAuto on YT. I was surprised a bit about how small amount of parts go in there after all :o
- The other trick made available by electric-everything is, that when you lift gaspedal and COAST (not regenerating), in lower speeds, engine is off. That saves also SOME fuel, depending on where you drive.
(Normal ICE start/stop for traffic lights and such is pretty much in most vehicles today).
- 45mpg I agree on but on my car (old 2010 prius), it means I have to overspeed year round… I hate doing it because penalties here are, hrmmm, “high”. It kind of eats away the benefit of trying to save on gas if I take tickets
After 2 years, 45mpg is ± the max that I have gotten out from it. I drive 80% or more highway but speed limits are here 50-62mph. Highest consumption is achieved in winter. Typically at around –4°F or colder.
You guys should not complain. Here in Brasil we’re paying 24$ a gallon of gas. I drive 40km a day to work, and I’m currently spending the equivalent of a month’s minimum wage in gas.
Many people in the US do not recognize that they have very cheap gas compared to what most of the rest of the world pays.
I, for one, am very thankful to only be paying around $3 a gallon currently.
But you have incredibly hot women so it equals out some.
Brazil is king of the corn fields for making fuel for cars. They kinda force all motorist to run flex fuel or full Methanol. Correct?
Yes we’ve been running ethanol on our cars since the 80s. Nowadays 99% of new cars are indeed FlexFuel. However we’re not forced to used it. Our ethanol comes from sugar cane, not corn like US’ E85. However it is almost as expensive as gas. At 19$ a gallon, it is not worth it since ethanol is less efficient than gas thus fuel economy is worse when running ethanol. About 20% less MPG.
Lol! I guess we got that going for us. Which is nice!
Are those $USDollars being quoted or Brazilian Real which I think uses the R$ symbol?
Prices were in R$, at least regarding to this: Brazil gasoline prices, 10-Apr-2023 | GlobalPetrolPrices.com
If that site is accurate, it’s around 50% of our price.
It would then be “in-line” with the minimum salary/gas consumption quote also of I’m correct. 
Depends on the state/neighborhood (where I live is around 6.20BRL/liter, with sketchy gas stations going as low as 5.99BRL), but seems pretty accurate.
That's about the average for gas in California (converted to USD.)
Naturally.
Highest I’ve ever seen a while ago was 8.77$/Gal.
Nope! You see, when talking about prices in this fashion you cannot convert like that. Yes that price I said is in BRL, however 24 BRL to me is exactly the same as 24 USD to you guys. It represent the same amount. Let’s say the minimum wage income in Brazil is around 1200 BRL. I’m pretty sure is pretty on par with what you guys in the US receive as well am I correct?
If that is correct then you can do the math. To fill up my car, I spend around 400 BRL. I use 3 full tanks of gas a month. That means I spend what someone working minimum wage would earn in a month.
If I was living in the US, earning the same amount of money, but in USD, I would spend, proportionately, a lot less than a whole months minimum wage salary.
Take a car for example. A Corolla costs around 20k in the US. Here in Brazil is 120k. Sure, if you convert is pretty much the same… 6 BRL = 1 USD.
BUT
Just for the sake of easy math, let’s say the minimum wage in the US is 1000 USD/month and in Brazil is 1000 BRL/month.
See where I’m going with this?
It would take 20 months of work in the US to buy a Corolla. Here you would have to work 120 months to buy the exact same car.
So yeah, a gallon of gas costs 24 “monies” to us. The same way that a Corolla is considered a luxury car here. Because it is a 120k$ car here. An iPhone cost 10k$. A macbook air costs 7k$. WELCOME TO BRAZIL MY GOOD FRIENDS
I’m one of those “weird” Americans that gets it. Fuel prices go up to what we call high (about US$5/gal) and people act like I’m stupid because I won’t wait in line for an hour or more to save US$0.13/gal.
My old Honda holds like 15 gal. That’s less than US$2 saved for a whole tank! If I wanted to be bored outta my mind for an hour, I could stay late at work and make more than $2!
I make crap money, by US standards, just 12.50 (+ 1.25 because I ruin my own life to work 12hr nights… It’s a hospital someone has to) But even after taxes that’s like 3gal/hr at the current price here of about US$3/gal! Or, about 5hr/full tank. It’s a non-issue, really.
I spend way more on food, but I’m not about to complain about that either! Farmers are the foundation of society, and they can too often barely make enough to just keep their farms running.
When it comes to the price of things, I only complain about how little my life is apparently worth. NOT what other people’s are. But realistically, I have it pretty darn good.