everything the government does nowadays seemingly defeats its own purpose...andyea i know ^^^ in the above reply i am exaggerating, but if we keep letting the govt. progress further with this MPG thing then that's what will happen.

BY THE WAY IF ANY OF YOU DIDNT WATCH THE NEW EPISODE OF SOUTH PARK LAST NIGHT ABOUT PEOPLE BUYING HYBRIDS TO SAVE THE ECOSYSTEM, THEN YOU NEED TO. compare yourselves with the "ecosystem savers" on that episode and you will see how ridiculous you guys are.

(im not using logic, i know, but logic ISNT life)

 

Well there are lots of reasons for high gas prises. Hurricane damage is one of them. We have some of our oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico that will not be producing any oil till sometime next year. These platform look like they were hit by a bomb. Also a reason is the lack of refineries. There has not been a new one build in over 40 years. Lots of them have been upgraded or added on too. there is so much Goverment red tape, no one can get the permits. Another one is the some state do not want us drilling for oil off of their coast. But they sure want the cheap gas. you can't have it both ways. It usually cost us about 10 million dollars to drill a single oil well. Just in the feild that I worked in last year we drilled 5 that were dry holes.(as in no oil or gas) Also I promise you it cost way more to produce oil now than it did 2 years ago. Well I guess I've gone on long enough. LOL

 

I have been reading a lot about what DC is doing with diesel engines and bio-diesel technology. I predict you'll see a lot more diesel engines make their way into cars as opposed to gassers to push the MPG rates up. It may also be true for light duty trucks as well.

Mike

 

My next vehicle will either be a performance car with 30mpg or a diesel powered car....or possibly another truck with a Cummins or Mercedes motor in it....

 

I think DCX will definitely push Deisel engines a bit more, as they have already shown a tendency to do, compared to the other car manufacturers who have jumped on the Hybrid bandwagon. I think we might see a new MB or Cummins deisel with a smaller displacement.

I think we might see 6-speed auto-trans that focuses on keeping the RPM range lower during a normal acceleration. Punch the Tow/Haul button, and the performance characteristics change as appropriate.

I think the use of MDS can be furthered to offer even better fuel economy. Right now it's implementation is intended to be unnoticable. Perhaps MDS can be implemented with more of a user-defined control, or a new position on the shifter that runs in 4-cylinder mode all or most of the time with lower output.

I think it's important that needless complication not be brought into the design so that reliability and cost won't be drastically affected, but I don't see this issue being nearly as imposing a task as most apparently do. I don't see the 5.7L Hemi going away or taking any kind of real performance hit.

 

When I purchased my 2005 Power Wagon the sticker didn't show average MPG, when I asked the sales person said on trucks with a GVW over 8,000 pounds were not rated cause of that weight. I think thats why a Big Rig doesn't have standards for MPG only for emissions. Could you Imagine an 80,000 pound rig required to get 10 MPG!

 

Whats funny is they are worried about gas supply but for the last three consecutive quarters all major fuel companies had record profits with Mobil Exxon and Chevron boasting over 10 billion in one quarter. The highest profit for a company, ever. 10 Billion in one quarter, we are just getting shafted is all. Thats why I am getting a promotion at work, to afford the gas!

 

Does this apply to cars, SUV's and 1/2 ton trucks or all like the 3/4 - 1 ton trucks? (The 3/4-1 tons already get that but I was just curious if it still applies).

 

Did you ever stop to check and see how big ExxonMobil is? Also check the profit margin of other companies. Banks and medical company are getting much larger returns.

 

Yea, what is considered "light truck"? Semi's will never get 21 mpg, so do they mean Colorado/Dakota/Ranger types or what?