[ivanvernon]

Seriously? You need a pickup truck with 5.7 liter engine giving nearly 400 HP to haul around your cameras?
I fit more than I need in my Mazda 3, with a 2 liter engine. It goes as fast as I need it to and I get 38 mpg on each tank of gas typically. It got 46 mpg on my commute today.
That's my gas guzzler, used to have a Prius (10 years). Next car will likely be an electric, when a reasonably-priced one comes around. I'm looking at the Hyundai Ioniq 6 as a possibility, will be coming to market in months. I only drive more than 100 miles in one shot about 2x a year. Otherwise I would charge at home and skip the gas stations altogether.

I cannot say I really NEED the Ram 1500 V-8, especiallyy now that I have given up medium format in favor of the K-1 and Sony 99, but I sure enjoy it. It is good for pulling boat and equipment trailer, but sure does not get the gas mileage I am getting on my little Prius C. It has coil springs which makes for a nice ride on the highway and 4WD which should be useful this winter. My step son will probably put the most miles on this vehicle when he goes back and forth to his job as a pipeline welder.

[MarkJerling]

Seriously? You need a pickup truck with 5.7 liter engine giving nearly 400 HP to haul around your cameras?

Doesn't everyone?



This year marks the first year in the Jerling household with no V8. Sad, I know.

[Racer X 69]

Let’s see.

A 350 cubic inch V8 in the Camaro. Hey, gas mileage isn’t everything.

A 5.9 liter inline 6 Cummins turbo diesel in the Ram 3500. Best was 20 mpg, but averages around 15 to 16.

Eddie has a 351 Windsor V8. He gets around 13 to 15 mpg. He runs well, drives well, and being a 1995 model year, I don’t care if stupid people on the road and in parking lots bump into him. No disrespect Eddie, but you are my beater.

2.5 liter flat four in the Legacy Goon. Although it gets 30 mpg, I didn’t buy it for fuel economy.

2.4 liter inline 6 in the 72 240Z. It is capable of 20 mpg or so, but again, gas mileage isn’t everything.

2.8 liter inline 6 in the 71 240Z racecar. It can burn through 15 gallons of racing fuel in a 30 minute race. I think I calculated the mileage at around 2 mpg once. Again, gas mileage isn’t everything.

The 8N has a flathead 4, and is pretty good on fuel consumption, but it doesn’t have an odometer, so no way to calculate fuel economy.

The Kubota L260 has a 2 cylinder diesel, and, like the Ford, is miserly with fuel.

Same for the Kubota 3 cylinder diesel riding mower. Two mows on one fillup.

The 48 Adams motor grader has a large International 4 cylinder diesel engine that starts on gasoline then runs on diesel. Goes through about 5 to 8 gallons of fuel each time I grade the private road we live on.

[R.Miller]

It has coil springs which makes for a nice ride on the highway and 4WD which should be useful this winter.

I have 4WD on the RAM and really appreciate it in the Wisconsin winters. Pulled two small cars out of a ditch (different days) while going to the farm last year.

Electric trucks are just not ready for prime time yet. There was a YT video where a guy tested the 200 mile rated F150 and got only 64 miles until needing a charge when towing. Now add a cold winter to that (heater would be electric) and the F150 would be practically useless except for short runs to the grocery store or very light duty around town. They need to have a battery rating of 600 to 1000 miles before I would even consider one.

[bogwalker]

I cannot say I really NEED the Ram 1500 V-8, especiallyy now that I have given up medium format in favor of the K-1 and Sony 99, but I sure enjoy it. It is good for pulling boat and equipment trailer, but sure does not get the gas mileage I am getting on my little Prius C. It has coil springs which makes for a nice ride on the highway and 4WD which should be useful this winter. My step son will probably put the most miles on this vehicle when he goes back and forth to his job as a pipeline welder.

Ah okay, a boat. And traveling to pipelines. Now it makes more sense

[Just1MoreDave]

The Ford Lightning is actually more useful in powering your house than towing. One Tesla Powerwall 2 has 13 KWh* of storage. Two can power a house for a few days. The Lightning truck with the base battery has 100 KWh, the bigger battery is 131 KWh. In the winter, that alone could last me a week without trying too hard. With solar on the roof, I would never need grid power! Of course, I would need a second car to get groceries.

*All these battery systems have several power ratings under many circumstances because of fascinating technical details which they don't talk about.

[Racer X 69]

Battery powered cars.

Battery powered phones. After the first six months to a year you are a slave to the charging cord, always looking to top up the charge throughout the day, then you plug it in while you sleep.

After a year or so, you’re looking to replace it as the battery won’t get you through the day anymore, and the constant struggle to keep it charged enough to use becomes a burden.

Battery powered cars are going to prove out to be like the phones, only on a larger, more expensive scale.

Just think of the mountains of dead car batteries there will be.

What then?

[ivanvernon]

Ah okay, a boat. And traveling to pipelines. Now it makes more sense

We pretty much buy vehicles based on purpose or intended use.

--Prius C is great for mileage around town, 42 mpg up to an occasional 70 mpg for short runs, though it is comfortable enough (at least for me) to drive even on long trips. No repairs at 101,000 miles.

--two different Corollas for all-around use and economy, 30-35mpg and hardly any repairs ever with one of them already at 290,000 miles. Not having any repairs for 290,000 miles is enough to make Corolla owners into true believers.

--2009 Dodge Ram 4 WD 6.7 liter Cummins turbo diesel 3500 dually straight pipe delete with welding bed and Lincoln Electric SA 200 black face as pipeline welding truck. This rig weighs around 12,000 lbs and gives around 19-20 mpg fuel economy on the road between jobs. On the construction right-of-way, nobody is measuring fuel economy, and anyway the contractor furnishes the fuel. By my reckoning, around 60 percent of all pipeline welding rigs are Ram Cummins trucks, maybe 25 percent Fords, and the rest are GM/Chevrolet. No repairs on this truck at 145,000 miles.

--Dodge Ram 5.7 liter, 345 hp, 3500 hemi dually 2WD as farm and all-around utility truck. This old boy has hauled lots of mulch, gravel, and cow manure, and expected to continue doing so well into the future. Only two repairs (right front axle bearing and wiring harness) in 175,000 miles.

--and now the Ram 1500 4 WD, with its 5.7 liter hemi eTorque (mild hybrid), 395 hp, 410 lb ft torque, 18-22 mpg fuel consumption, great for towing and very comfortable for all-around travel. The 2022 Ram offers 410 lb ft of torque surprisingly compared to 550 lb ft of torque for the 2009 Cummins, and the 2022 only weighs around 6,400 lbs compared to 9,900 for the Cummins truck. If anyone can offer me better alternatives for the tasks at hand, I am all ears. One condition is that they must be long lived and low maintenance as I tend to keep vehicles well-maintained to last around 15-20 years. No repairs at 510 miles on the odometer.

---------- Post added 10-06-22 at 05:56 AM ----------

Battery powered cars.

Battery powered phones. After the first six months to a year you are a slave to the charging cord, always looking to top up the charge throughout the day, then you plug it in while you sleep.

After a year or so, you’re looking to replace it as the battery won’t get you through the day anymore, and the constant struggle to keep it charged enough to use becomes a burden.

Battery powered cars are going to prove out to be like the phones, only on a larger, more expensive scale.

Just think of the mountains of dead car batteries there will be.

What then?

I think the answer to your closing question is that politicians will find something else equally asinine to promote and subsidize in order to save mother earth because it is all about saving mother earth for all our future generations.

[cdd29]

We just replaced my daughter's Jeep Liberty with a Ford Escape. The Jeep was junk and she's hard n cars on top of that. The Escape seems to be cursed. Had to do a front brake job on it & replaced a caliper (it ate a rotor). The kid was complaining of weird noises so I drove it today. It's just an exhaust rattle but now the tire pressure light is coming on. Probably nothing but it's just one thing after another this week.

[trixtroll]

We pretty much buy vehicles based on purpose or intended use.

--Prius C is great for mileage around town, 42 mpg up to an occasional 70 mpg for short runs, though it is comfortable enough (at least for me) to drive even on long trips. No repairs at 101,000 miles.

--two different Corollas for all-around use and economy, 30-35mpg and hardly any repairs ever with one of them already at 290,000 miles. Not having any repairs for 290,000 miles is enough to make Corolla owners into true believers.

That's basically been our experience with our past 4 Toyotas, so I feel like a traitor because I took delivery of a Subaru on Monday......Hopefully the fact that Toyota now has a 20% stake in Subaru is an indication that Subaru is stepping up now.

Only thing I really dislike about the Subaru, after 4 days, are the terrible cup holders that seem to have been designed to exclusively hold Starbucks cups......

[Racer X 69]

. . . but now the tire pressure light is coming on.

TPMS is a pain. The sensors have a battery, and when one dies the sensor must be replaced. Of course the wheel must be removed, the tire dismounted, the sensor changed out, the tire remounted and the tire/wheel assembly rebalanced, then reinstalled on the car.

Then the car and the new TPMS unit have to be introduced, and the sensor calibrated.

Of course the other three sensors are the same age as the one that just died, so repeat the process for three more tire and wheel assemblies.

I’m so happy I drive older cars.

[Tipptoggy]

Love it , love it, gets miles per gallon, has a tow bar, pulls stuff, I live in a rural area where a trailer is a must, Turbo diesel 1.8, quick for a diesel. My last car was a gas guzzling Honda CRV, the Opel is a new world of motoring altogether. Big space in the back for band gear and long enough to sleep in if you have to. I'm getting 150Km and more on €20 of fuel, Camera always slung over the passenger seat, just in case...

What i don't like, the car tax, but no way i can change that.

[lesmore49]

Battery powered cars.

Battery powered phones. After the first six months to a year you are a slave to the charging cord, always looking to top up the charge throughout the day, then you plug it in while you sleep.

After a year or so, you’re looking to replace it as the battery won’t get you through the day anymore, and the constant struggle to keep it charged enough to use becomes a burden.

Battery powered cars are going to prove out to be like the phones, only on a larger, more expensive scale.

Just think of the mountains of dead car batteries there will be.

What then?

I agree.

Completely.

And then some.

[lesmore49]

Love it , love it, gets miles per gallon, has a tow bar, pulls stuff, I live in a rural area where a trailer is a must, Turbo diesel 1.8, quick for a diesel. My last car was a gas guzzling Honda CRV, the Opel is a new world of motoring altogether. Big space in the back for band gear and long enough to sleep in if you have to. I'm getting 150Km and more on €20 of fuel, Camera always slung over the passenger seat, just in case...

What i don't like, the car tax, but no way i can change that.

The only common small turbo diesel, that was commonly available in my part of Canada (west)...was the VW. I took a Jetta, 4 door sedan out with a TD engine for a test run. I was impressed with the torque produced by that small, but powerful mill.

It has always surprised me, that while turbo diesels from a number of manufacturers, have been common in Europe for a number of decades, they never seemed to market many of them over here in North America.

Dunno why.

[R.Miller]

Diesel cars got a bad rap from the US enviromental crowd years ago, not to mention the strict pollution controls required. Just did not make it practical for US car companies to push the sales in the US.