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Sedans Luxury Lounge
21284 messages, Last post on Nov 10, 2009 at 11:17 AM
You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: anthonyp (Apr 11, 2008 5:09 pm) There was a column in C&D recently by Csaba Csere (April, 2008, page 9) in which he discussed that to extract more diesel fuel for increased demand in the US, the refineries would have to "re-tool" for hydrocracking, since only a fraction of petroleum can be distilled for diesel fuel using our current method of catalytic cracking. Such a switch would take 5 to 10 years! As Csere ends his column, "Despite the merits of modern diesels, anyone who expects them to solve our energy problems stands to be disappointed." So Tony, big oil has its excuse to keep on producing mostly gasoline and a very limited supply of diesel fuel. The more demand for these diesel vehicles from MB, BMW and others that are imported here, Tony, the higher the price that diesel fuel will go. Diesel vehicles have been successful in Europe because the refineries there are set up for maximum diesel fuel extraction using the hydrocracking method. Diesel fuel sells for about a buck cheaper per gallon in Europe. It doesn't hurt that the Europeans heavily tax gasoline to encourage folks to buy diesel vehicles. The only way diesel can work in NA is if the governments highly tax gasoline, making it significantly more expensive than diesel fuel. They must also provide meaningful incentives for new refineries to be built which are designed to extract maximum diesel fuel from petroleum. Since we know big oil rules the world, look for none of the above to happen.
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Replying to: hpowders (Apr 11, 2008 6:42 pm) Just don't tell her she could use the exercise  
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Replying to: hpowders (Apr 11, 2008 7:13 pm) Yeah I'm one of those others. My wife wants something more fuel efficient than the X3, so I was telling her about the GLK and Q5/3 diesels. Unfortunately by the time they get here, diesel in PA will probably cost $4.50 a gallon. 
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Replying to: lexusguy (Apr 11, 2008 7:14 pm) She can and I won't. LOL!! |
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Replying to: lexusguy (Apr 11, 2008 7:19 pm) Big oil in the USA is prepared with every excuse in the book to make sure we continue to use what they want us to use. Can help pass the time when sitting in the car patiently waiting for the wife to max out the credit card. I have developed a talent in parking lots for reading with the left eye only. The right eye is always peripherally focused on "dinger alert." You guessed it: I always park with the driver's side next to an island.
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Replying to: hpowders (Apr 11, 2008 7:26 pm) I was actually more surprised by how poor the fuel economy was overall in their comparison test of cheap hatches in the may issue. The best in test Corolla only managed 28mpg, the rest were in the low to mid 20s. Not good.
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Replying to: lexusguy (Apr 11, 2008 7:19 pm) Well, something's got to give-I don't see any ceiling on the price of gasoline, now with the summer driving season almost upon us, who knows how high it can go? I haven't heard anything significant from the 3 candidates about how to address this crucial issue. |
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Replying to: lexusguy (Apr 11, 2008 7:39 pm) Instead of going smaller, manufacturers for some insane reason continue to build bigger-the new, huge Accord EX V6 sedan can only achieve 21 mpg combined; this with "variable cylinder management" to maximize mileage.  |
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Replying to: lexusguy (Apr 11, 2008 1:03 pm) The only thing wrong with the RL is that it is priced about 10 grand too much. If it had an msrp starting in the low 40's they would sell 3 times as many. Now they have to heavily discount them anyway and that gives them a bad image.
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Replying to: anthonyp (Apr 11, 2008 1:21 pm) You are one of the lucky people on this forum that has a home in Florida to escape winter weather. I probably need to consult you when I need more info on the Miami area. I have visited Miami/Ft Lauderdale about three years ago and I liked it a lot. My client was in Weston ( about 20 min east of Ft Lauderdale), where so many beautiful properties existed, the only thing is that it is a bit too close to the Everglade swamp where those big reptiles with big teeth actually hang out at the sides of the roads on a sunny day I have also been to Tampa/Clear Water area where the area seems less diversified than Miami. My goal is to get a place within an hour drive of a major airport, on/near water front and major centers. I need to figure out what Floridian do to offset risks of Hurricane damages at reasonable costs (does location matter?). I've seen ads for brand new properties in the Ft Myers area for only around 200k which would be good for a cash purchase to avoid hassling with mortgage companies. Also, best of all, with a valid US address, I can buy high end cars at much more reasonable prices than what we Canadian currently have to put up with (go to the Import cars from the US thread to see what I mean). |
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