The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I was just reading the post about Toyota and the Hybrid  and it got me thinking! With the current worries about global warming and our dependence on oil. Why hasn't our advanced technology developed better and more fuel efficient cars?  I currently drive a 1993 Mitsubishi Expo LRV,(It's a mini mini van if the car we drive reflects who we our I don't know what the f*** this makes me ). My M.P.G is 25-28 city and 35-40 highway!This car is over 17 years old and the average car these days gets about the same! My mits has just rolled 216000 miles! Now, the technology that allows me to get this M.P.G. 4 valves per cylinder(cars used to have just 2 per) twin overhead cams (used to be one under) fuel injection ( remember carburetors?) and aluminum heads, block ( used to be steel)AMAZING STUFF!
 Here's the Kicker I also have in my garage a 1974 Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider Veloce. You would think this is a dinosaur! To my amazement it has 4 valves per cylinder,twin overhead cams, fuel injection,and aluminum heads and block???? Just in case you missed my point we had the ability to build fuel efficient cars 36 years a go.I THINK SOMEONE HAS BEEN BLOWING SMOKE UP OUR ASS FOR YEARS!!!!
 

Duh.  Welcome to reality!! :o :o :o

Sorry Fred, I don't buy your logic...1993 Mitsubishi Expo LRV had 1.8L 113 HP motor...getting that MPG,Where a car like 2010 Chevy Malibu has 169 HP out of a 2.4L engine Getting close to the same MPG...

Yeah they could be a lot better but gas was cheap and we wanted our Big SUV's that suck 8 MPG,so that kind of killed the market of more fuel economy...

edited to fix HP, I mistyped,and made his car have the HP of my lawnmower :D

But don't you agree that there has been a bit of a conspiracy to make vehicles that use more fuel? Maybe  conspiracy is not the right word.......more like a conscious decision to look the other way while companies like GM, Ford and Chrysler made fuel pigs? No doubt the Goverment let all this go on as long as everyone was profiting. Its when it all blew up in their faces that they started caring.

I have absolutely no evidence for this, but I remember hearing a long time ago that any "game changing" patents for mainstream electric cars were purchased and sat on by big oil.  Does anyone know if this is in fact true?

Sounds like an urban myth to me. I've been hearing those claims for as long as I can remember and, let's face it, if there actually were some super stuff invented, those patents would have expired by now. Remember, the whole idea of patents is that the invention is open for all to see. As such, buying up patents would get you up to 20 years of protection, but everyone would know about it from pretty much day one, so come that patent expiry, EVERYONE would be ready with a product.

Since no miraculous product has surfaced, it seems only logical that the whole thing is a bunch of BS.

Add to that the number of countries where patents aren't respected, where patents for these particular inventions weren't filed (or granted), countries where patents have to be exploited to actually be enforceable, compulsory licensing etc, and it's pretty clear that SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE would have developed a product using the patent.

Again, the whole thing about patents is that the invention is PUBLIC. Free (more or less) for all to see.

I have heard that as well as patents on more efficient carburetors when they were used. I also heard tire companies purchased something that made tires last longer. Who knows if any of it was true.

Much of it is consumer demand. 

If more people put MPG as first priority than more cars would have a higher MPG.  But for many folks the number of CD the cd changer can hold and the number of cup holders matters more. 

I think that the biggest thing here is the old cliche "necessity is the mother of invention".

Because gas was cheap, we didn't care about low MPG.  Now that the cost of fuel has skyrocketed, and to a lesser effect, people are more knowledgeable about the political implications of attachments to foreign oil, it has become more of a priority.

It's also worth noting that gas, while cheap in the US, has been very expensive for a long, long time in Europe. And it's not like the European car manufacturers have been churning out high-mpg cars... Sure, they got more mileage than most US cars (as Dave said, necessity is the mother of invention), but the difference wasn't huge. VW actually tried to go all out nuts a while back, developing the Lupo 3L, designed to use just 3 liters of fuel to go 100km (78 mpg), but it didn't sell well and they eventually gave up on that model. Not only was the car small, it was also very expensive due to the use of advanced alloys, electronics etc. (It also looked like crap, IMHO... more like some Eastern European junk heap from before the Iron Curtain fell than a German car -- boring as they may tend to be).

**** Hijack derail- This topic was dead anyways.......
I'm less frustrated by lack of MPG cars get today,and more frustrated that it's 2010,and we're not living on other planets,we don't have Flying cars, Where the fuck is my robot maid damn it.. :D I don't even have a hovercraft,let alone anything that flies......OK, thank you*** end hijack***

Edited for a typo,that will frustrate the English majors,hell all my posts frustrate them...

Thanks, B...I needed that laugh today! I was really hoping for flying cars by now as well.

;D