WRS'ers and their ride...

Laurence5905 · Mar 22, 2006

evolution8
Ford Focus td di zetec 2001
1.8 diesel, 90bhp, nice and frugal to suit my student status

I wish they'd sell Diesel cars here in America... No American car companies sell Diesel cars -- they're only interested in selling trucks with Diesel engines... Benz only recently re-introduced a Diesel car to the American market, and it's well over $55,000! Way out of my budget... I also think Audi still offers a Diesel car here in the States as well, but again, it's a luxury German car, so its very expensive. VW has the Jetta TDI -- much closer to my price range -- but it's still a good $5,000 more than a gasoline-powered Jetta... They don't sell terribly well because of that large price difference... It takes a LONG time to burn an extra $5,000-worth of gasoline...

My daily driver (like I mentioned in an earlier post) is a 1980 Benz 240D. A whopping 67 BHP, and a 4-speed automatic transmission.

It's pretty slow, no doubt, but gets fantastic mileage around town... And its incredibly reliable and very safe, despite the fact that it's over 25-years old. And, despite its slowness, is geared well enough that you can pull out into 40 MPH traffic without worrying too much... Just takes FOREVER to get from 40MPH to 65MPH, so merging onto the freeway can be a major exercise in sphincter-control.

With all the improvements in Diesel technology that've happened in the last 15 years or so, I'm sure they could build a Diesel car that would be much smoother, quieter, and more powerful than my venerable 240D... But, alas, I'm "stuck" driving over-20-year-old Diesel technology if I want to drive an inexpensive Diesel car... Too many years of $1-per-gallon gasoline, and rediculous emissions restrictions in larger metropolitan areas (which would be the largest market for high-mileage around-town vehicles) have pretty much killed off the Diesel car market here.

Thirdeye · Mar 22, 2006

VW offers some diesel cars here as well...
*edit* oops, didn't read close enough

Tedehur · Mar 22, 2006

That's the other way around in France. More than 70% of brand new cars sold are diesel powered.
I bought for my wife and kids a Renault Kangoo 1.5 dCi (82hp), see pic on one of the first posts in this thread, and my company provides me with a Ford Focus 1.8 tdci (90hp I think, so the same as evolution8's)
My previous company cars were a Volvo 740 2.5 td, a Volvo 440 1.9 td, a Volvo 460 1.9 td and a Ford Focus 1.8 tddi.
Last car I had that wasn't using a diesel engine was probably my Austin Mini 1.0, already 15 years ago.

Laurence5905 · Mar 22, 2006

Flat-out
That's the other way around in France. More than 70% of brand new cars sold are diesel powered.

But I'll bet that fuel (both gasoline and Diesel) is a heck of a lot more per gallon over there than it is over here... (Well, y'all sell it by the liter, right? So that's, what, 3.79 liters per gallon... So take your price per liter, and multiply it by 3.79 and you'll have the approximate cost per gallon of gasoline in your country... I'd be interested to know what that is... Oh, and the exchange rate between Euros and Dollars is one Euro equals $1.21, as of today...)

The cheapest price I saw for gasoline today near my home was $2.37 per gallon, and Diesel fuel was $2.59 at the cheapest place. And that's actually pretty high -- it's gone WAY up in the last year... One year ago, gasoline was selling for about $1.75 per gallon, with Diesel fuel being about the same price. And for MANY years prior to that, they were below $1.50 per gallon. So with fuel being so cheap, people don't care about that extra 30% efficiency you get from running a Diesel engine -- it's not worth it to them to spend the extra money on the Diesel engine, because the cost/benefit ratio just isn't there... (Heck, even with fuel prices being so "high" in this country right now, it's still a bargain compared to bottled water, which costs around $3 per gallon! A gallon of milk is nearly $4! Gasoline, and Diesel fuel, are a bargain by comparison.)

When the cost of fuel is relatively high (as I'm betting it is in your country) people will definitely start to care about the extra 30% efficiency that you'd get from a Diesel engine... So they'll spend the extra money on a Diesel engine... At $4 per gallon (or more) the extra cost of the more-expensive Diesel engine is offset by the extra fuel-mileage...

KLR142 · Mar 23, 2006

Laurence5905
A gallon of milk is nearly $4!

Do you guys have Winco over there? I can get some milk for $2 from there! It's AWESOME! But yeah, I really can't afford gas... Sure it's "cheaper" over here than there, but we generally tend to drive more. I drive anywhere from 40-70 miles a day during the week! Sometimes more... Man oh man, and 20mpg isn't cutting it. I really want to get a motorcycle, but I really can't even afford that right now unless I want to take out another loan. Which I'm considering... *sigh*

Casio · Mar 23, 2006

You guys need to get real gas, if you're worried about fuel prices. I heard that most of the rest of the world doesn't have L.P.G (liquid petroleum gas) in every petrol station.

For a comparion, petrol down here costs about 110c a litre. (79c USD a litre, or 2.99USD a gallon. I think my math is correct). L.P.G costs about 45c a litre (32c USD a litre or 1.21USD a gallon).

Anyway, apparently you save about 40% on your fuel bill.

Tedehur · Mar 23, 2006

Laurence5905
But I'll bet that fuel (both gasoline and Diesel) is a heck of a lot more per gallon over there than it is over here... (Well, y'all sell it by the liter, right? So that's, what, 3.79 liters per gallon... So take your price per liter, and multiply it by 3.79 and you'll have the approximate cost per gallon of gasoline in your country... I'd be interested to know what that is... Oh, and the exchange rate between Euros and Dollars is one Euro equals $1.21, as of today...)

The cheapest price I saw for gasoline today near my home was $2.37 per gallon, and Diesel fuel was $2.59 at the cheapest place.

Gas = 1.30 /liter
Diesel = 1.10 /liter

1 = $ 1.2057

Gas = $ 1.57 /liter
Diesel = $ 1.33 /liter

1 US gallon = 3.785 liters

Gas = $ 5.93 /gallon
Diesel = $ 5.02 /gallon

:grumpy:

fasj6418 · Mar 23, 2006

my salary = 770
gas = 2.60 liter

x 3.7

gas = 9.62 gallon :grumpy:

my spendings on gas every month: 200, with +/- 700km

so its 200 out of a total salary of 770 :grumpy:

don´t complain about fuel prices in europe and USA, things can get real dirty down here:tdown: our fuel prices are just:censored:

Small_Fryz · Mar 23, 2006

Australia's Price is $1.20 ish atm.

Worse than america, but better than europe and fasj.

Laurence5905 · Mar 23, 2006

fasj6418
my salary = 770
gas = 2.60 liter

x 3.7

gas = 9.62 gallon

my spendings on gas every month: 200, with +/- 700km

Is that in US Dollars? What currency is used in Brazil? Either way, that's pretty expensive...

Laurence5905 · Mar 23, 2006

Flat-out
Gas = 1.30 /liter
Diesel = 1.10 /liter

1 = $ 1.2057

Gas = $ 1.57 /liter
Diesel = $ 1.33 /liter

1 US gallon = 3.785 liters

Gas = $ 5.93 /gallon
Diesel = $ 5.02 /gallon

Wow!! That's over double the price for Gasoline, and nearly double the price for Diesel fuel! There'd be rioting in the streets if fuel became that expensive over here... No joke... It would cost me nearly $150.00 to fill up the 25-gallon tank on my Galaxie (which only gets about 16 MPG around town and 22 or so on the highway...) That would be a cost of $0.375 per mile just in fuel alone... People over here really need to wake up and realize how good we've got it...

The newspapers keep going on and on about "record high" gas prices... They're all idiots... First of all, they're not adjusting for inflation -- back in the early '80s, it was the equivalent of $3.08 per gallon in today's dollars. After hurricane Katrina took out a bunch of our refineries, the price shot up to a national average of about $3.15 per gallon (so that really was a "record high"), but that only lasted about 3 weeks or so -- and people were REALLY complaining. The media kept going on and on about "greedy" oil companies "gouging" the American consumer...

I guess none of them have ever bothered to check fuel prices in Europe or Brazil or anywhere else! Their ignorance just amazes me...

Laurence5905 · Mar 23, 2006

Casio
You guys need to get real gas, if you're worried about fuel prices. I heard that most of the rest of the world doesn't have L.P.G (liquid petroleum gas) in every petrol station.

For a comparion, petrol down here costs about 110c a litre. (79c USD a litre, or 2.99USD a gallon. I think my math is correct). L.P.G costs about 45c a litre (32c USD a litre or 1.21USD a gallon).

Anyway, apparently you save about 40% on your fuel bill.

LPG? Isn't that Liquid Propane Gas? At least, that's what LPG stands for here... Don't you have to have a specially modified car to run on LPG? I don't know if either of my cars would run on that stuff... It has to be stored under really high pressure to keep it liquid -- assuming we're talking about the same thing here... Perhaps LPG in Austrailia means something different than LPG in the US. And, no, it's definitely not available at any petrol stations. (Well, some petrol stations do sell liquid propane in small 1-gallon cannisters that you can attach to your barbecue grille, if you want to have a cookout and don't want to use charcoal to cook with...)

Tedehur · Mar 23, 2006

To be exhaustive, I must add that in France taxes and taxes on the taxes represent 74% of the cost of gas.

Casio · Mar 23, 2006

Laurence5905
LPG? Isn't that Liquid Propane Gas? At least, that's what LPG stands for here... Don't you have to have a specially modified car to run on LPG? I don't know if either of my cars would run on that stuff... It has to be stored under really high pressure to keep it liquid -- assuming we're talking about the same thing here... Perhaps LPG in Austrailia means something different than LPG in the US. And, no, it's definitely not available at any petrol stations. (Well, some petrol stations do sell liquid propane in small 1-gallon cannisters that you can attach to your barbecue grille, if you want to have a cookout and don't want to use charcoal to cook with...)

I believe it's exactly the same stuff you run your BBQ with. You do need to get your car fitted with the LPG tank and lines and various things, but it's really not that expensive. You can keep your old petrol tank too, for 'duel fuel'.

I don't think I've ever been to one petrol station down here that doesn't have a couple of LPG filliers.

Laurence5905
It has to be stored under really high pressure to keep it liquid...

The pressure at which LPG becomes liquid, called its vapor pressure, likewise varies depending on composition and temperature; for example, it is approximately 220 kilopascals (2.2 bar) for pure butane at 20 °C, and approximately 2.2 megapascals (22 bar) for pure propane at 55 °C.

For those playing at home.

Small_Fryz · Mar 23, 2006

however with LPG prices going up, and the fact that your car uses more fuel per KM or mile, and then you have the couple grand outlay, means its only worth the conversion if you drive enough in your car. If you dont then its not worth it.

Laurence5905 · Mar 24, 2006

Casio
The pressure at which LPG becomes liquid, called its vapor pressure, likewise varies depending on composition and temperature; for example, it is approximately 220 kilopascals (2.2 bar) for pure butane at 20 °C, and approximately 2.2 megapascals (22 bar) for pure propane at 55 °C.

OK... So that's not quite as high a pressure as I'd thought... But still, you'd need a pressurized system of some sort in your car, and that can't be cheap...

With fuel-injection, I can see how you could switch between fuels reliatively reliably (as long as the computer knew which fuel it was using, which wouldn't be that hard to set up...) Don't see how it'd work with a carburetor though... The LPG would vaporize far too early, it seems...

Jake · Mar 24, 2006

Today I finally got my Z on the road from it's winter sleep. I did some work on it over the winter: fixed the ebrake, changed the gearbox due to a blown bearing, and edited the exhaust system for more power! Great to do some real-life GT4...

Nice, cool day, to make power and some great twisty roads here in the Berkshires... 👍

KLR142 · Apr 14, 2006

I finally gave my car a car wash... And tried on some new wheels at the same time. I have to roll the rear fenders before I use them though, but they look SWEEET if you ask me. :sly:

👍

This camera had some major issues though. I didn't have one with me, so my friend ran off to his house real quick and grabbed one. And because of how excited I was, I didn't take the time to figure out what was going on. It kept telling me that the picture was blurry, and then asking if I'd like to keep it. I always said no, and only kept the ones that it didn't say were blurry, this is the outcome... Rather dissappointing, but, some pictures are better than NO pictures! Right?

Launching:

Yeah. I even tried setting the camera down on some wheels and holding it as steady as I could, and even THOSE pictures didn't come out, except for ALMOST the last one where I have the wheel turning...

Going to the drag strip on the 28th... Not expecting anything fast, but I am expecting something fast for an NA Auto Volvo 240... Which isn't saying much to the rest of the world! Lol. Peace guys!

Ps. I really wish I could get some more negative camber... Grrr, stupid big ole struts. I have to go to coil-overs and camber plates to get more than MAYBE 1 degree. These pics were taken with somewhere around .5/.6 degrees. WEAK! The car's going to be raised a tad bit in a couple weekends, and I'll go in for another alignment, hopefully I can manage more than what I currently have.

Dr_Watson · Apr 16, 2006

well.... i guess i'll join in on this car posting business.
Yr 2000 Ford Focus Zx3 (couldn't find an affordable SVT :/ )

i've done nothing to it more extreme than an air filter, since I want to remain "stock" for SCCA auto-x (and desire to keep my 30+ mpg, since i commute 500 miles / week for school and work, + i'm broke

)

MisterWeary · Apr 17, 2006

Well I've added your car to the list Dr, I didn't know what year or specific model but in the words of that Chinese restaurant owner from Seinfeld..."You made the list!" :sly:

Dr_Watson · Apr 17, 2006

Oh, yeah... Tis a 2000 Focus Zx3

VEXD · Apr 23, 2006

For someone sooo quick round the 'ring DR, i expected a little more of a play toy than a focus....?

Whats with all those extra orange lights in the grille?

They dont have those on UK models.... is that to conceal the sub machine guns?

Oh no wait, we invented that concept, i shouldnt be so sarcastic..

excuse me...

I wish i could own something that had 2000 written in the registration document somewhere other than the "Best before" section....

:irked:

Laurence5905 · Apr 23, 2006

vexd
For someone sooo quick round the 'ring DR, i expected a little more of a play toy than a focus....?

The Focus ZX3 is a FUN little car! My ex-wife has one, and she bought it before we got divorced so I've actually driven it. LOTS of fun to drive and handles really well for a FWD car. I was extremely impressed with it's comfort, too -- for a small car, it's really not at all cramped on the inside, and not terribly noisy either... (For a small car, that is. You can't compare it to a Lincoln Town Car, for example...)

Whats with all those extra orange lights in the grille?

Turn-signals. Don't you have those in the UK? :sly:

Where do they hide the turn-signals in the UK models?

[EDIT]

I wish i could own something that had 2000 written in the registration document somewhere other than the "Best before" section....

Older cars have a nicer style, generally, in my opinion... Both of my cars are over 25 years old. Heck, one of them is nearly 40 years old!
[/EDIT]

Tedehur · Apr 23, 2006

Turn signals are located under the plexi panel, next to the lights on the european versions.
I have a Focus too, as a company car, with an 1.8 Tdci engine.

Laurence5905 · Apr 23, 2006

Flat-out
Turn signals are located under the plexi panel, next to the lights on the european versions.
I have a Focus too, as a company car, with an 1.8 Tdci engine.

Oh that looks SO COOL!! I like that! Why the heck don't they do that to the US models?! :grumpy:

And the Diesel engine -- I'm still jealous that you can't get that engine in the US... Sure, it's probably not anywhere near as fast as the gasoline engine in the ZX3 Focus, but the fuel mileage must be incredible by comparison. And it's probably still pretty sporty -- being turbo-charged and all... (My Diesel-powered 1980 Benz 240D is anything but sporty -- but it weighs a good 800 pounds more than a Focus, and it's not turbo-charged. So with a lighter car like the Focus, and a turbo, it's probably a heck of a lot of fun to drive.)

Super T · Apr 23, 2006

I've got a couple of Mini's, both need restoring, I'm halfway through one at the moment I'll get some pics up as soon as I work out how.

GT Pro · Apr 30, 2006

There's some nice rides out there:tup:

At the minute I own an original 1952 Morris Minor 'MM'

To me it's special because this was the 'luxury' version of the Minors and was one of the first cars in the world to make use of an internal heater:tup:
Although, the car needs much restoring to bring it back to it's once unbroken grounds.

Furthermore my father at the minute owns a 7.3l Ford F250 Crew-cab Turbo-diesel
Although, we plan to change that in 2010 by purchasing either a Jaguar X-type or a used Ferrari:tup:

Casio · Apr 30, 2006

GT Pro
Although, we plan to change that in 2010 by purchasing either a Jaguar X-type or a used Ferrari:tup:

Totally in the same price range there.....

I'm interested in what an X-Type does to appeal you? I hear they're pretty bloody ****.

KLR142 · Apr 30, 2006

Did some front end work from Thursday to Tuesday last week... Spent well over 50 hours on it, and it took much longer than expected. I'm very glad it's back together though! Feels much better, not to mention the looks!

Read about it here, and see a LOT more pictures:
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?p=779601

Congrats on the new ride Drew!

Laurence5905 · Apr 30, 2006

KLR142
Did some front end work from Thursday to Tuesday last week... Spent well over 50 hours on it, and it took much longer than expected. I'm very glad it's back together though! Feels much better, not to mention the looks!

Wow!! I wish the front-end on my car looked that good underneath! I chose chassis-black for everything under there... Looks pretty good -- but no where near as "flashy" as that red you've got. Very nice!

WRS'ers and their ride...

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