What kind of car do you drive?

[Stuart]

Ok finally got a couple of good pics of the car. This isn't actually my one, but its exactly the same. Same color, spec, etc. I don't know how much people really know about this car, but its pretty much at the top of Asian motorsport. I've really enjoyed it over the last several years and hope to keep it forever.

[Kellfire]

Skyline's are very, very nice. The noise they make is criminal.

[Stuart]

Yeah that's true. What's truly criminal though is me beating mine up on these island roads. But I always wanted one, and I don't think I'm going to be living anywhere else for a while. So far so good.

[Ben]

Ok finally got a couple of good pics of the car. This isn't actually my one, but its exactly the same. Same color, spec, etc. I don't know how much people really know about this car, but its pretty much at the top of Asian motorsport. I've really enjoyed it over the last several years and hope to keep it forever.

I've lived in Japan and also used to do business with the group that imported the cars to The States, MotoRex. (Don't think they're still around though? Found a website...

http://www.motorex.net ?) I used to be into the import scene here too. So I've got a bit of experience with the cars. Those were some good days. Come'on, I wanna see yours too!

[Ben]

A very modest and boring VW Golf.

Golfs are cool! High on my list of cars I want. And it's a long list!

[Twan013]

Ford GT, maybach, hayabusa... yeah, i'm living it up..... OH! good morning everybody! great dream i was having.....

seriously though, why does everyone have the nice cars? I've got a 97 maxima SE.. 5-speed, gotta love it!

[lamebums]

I'm getting an '01 Echo to replace my '91 Buick next Monday. It's a five speed, nothing else really special about it though. Can't ever argue with 40+ mpg's though, especially with gas prices these days.

[Jeepthrills]

I'm getting an '01 Echo to replace my '91 Buick next Monday. It's a five speed, nothing else really special about it though. Can't ever argue with 40+ mpg's though, especially with gas prices these days.

I hear you on the gas prices. When I signed the lease on my Ram it was at about $2.00-2.25/ gallon. It was replacing a Grand Cherokee so going from 16 to 14 mpg was no big deal. I had also considered downsizing to a Nitro or Caliber at the time, but the Nitro payments were actually more than the Ram. Even the Caliber was not a whole lot less. Hell, I would kill for 30+ on the Caliber now that gas is at $3+. Great war. Invade a country that produces oil and watch our gas prices go through the roof. Nice.

[lamebums]

I hear you on the gas prices. When I signed the lease on my Ram it was at about $2.00-2.25/ gallon. It was replacing a Grand Cherokee so going from 16 to 14 mpg was no big deal. I had also considered downsizing to a Nitro or Caliber at the time, but the Nitro payments were actually more than the Ram. Even the Caliber was not a whole lot less. Hell, I would kill for 30+ on the Caliber now that gas is at $3+. Great war. Invade a country that produces oil and watch our gas prices go through the roof. Nice.

You wouldn't want to hear my foreign policy then.

"The first step toward achieving any sort of peace and stability in the Middle East involves deploying a nuclear weapon over Tehran..." But I hear you on the gas prices. It's what pushed me to make the move. My old Buick got about 18, 20 on the road. The new one gets at least double that, and it's a five speed, so it's that much better on gas as well.

[Jeepthrills]

You wouldn't want to hear my foreign policy then.

The Aspen that we just got my wife has the FlexFuel engine that can run on ethanol E85. It's a nice alternative, but it does no good right now. We filled it up to see how it did. It ran fine and cost about $.30 less per gallon. The problem is, we saved 10% at the pump, but only got 11 mpg on the ethanol and that was mostly highway. That's a reduction of about 30% in mileage from the 15-16 it gets on regular grade gas. Hopefully they start to come up with ethanol that gets better mileage or they drop the price to account for the difference. I know that the primary reason for ethanol is so we become less dependent on foreign oil and it is better for the environment, but right now I have to worry about my own personal economy.

[Kellfire]

You Americans make me laugh when you complain about petrol prices.

We pay significantly more than you at the pumps yet you complain!

If you dropped those stupidly big engines...

My Golf gets about 60mpg on the motorways and about 45 around the city. That still isn't good enough for me. :P

[iacas]

You Americans make me laugh when you complain about petrol prices.

Supply and demand. Demand is high so prices can be lower.

The U.S. is miles (no pun intended) behind virtually every other country in fuel efficiency standards. The same VW Golf over here is only going to get about 25 MPG on the highway.

[atrapasuenos]

You Americans make me laugh when you complain about petrol prices.

Here we are worst! Because we have the petrol reserves and they sell gasoline to expensive. And last week our governmet aproved another increase in gasoline price.

Regards!

[Jeepthrills]

Supply and demand. Demand is high so prices can be lower.

No question. Every car that rolls off the line should be a hybrid. Chrysler already has a hybrid HEMI that still produces 300+ HP and gets over 20 mpg. I agree that we have chosen to drive cars that get bad mileage. I made a choice a year ago when our gas prices topped $2.00 per gallon to get a truck that got poor mileage and I don't blame anyone. What bothers me is that, although oil prices have gone up, they are not proportionate to the increased cost at the pump.

One big reason we are behind the curve is that oil companies are a huge lobby here. They are also heavily involved with the major auto makers. They don't want us to find alternative fuels or decrease our gas usage. The Big 3 auto companies have controlled Michigan for so long that we have no viable forms of mass transit. The only real option is a bus and with that you will be lucky to find connections to get you where you need to go in a few hours. I would love to be able to hop on a train and get to work. It's not an option. I live in a suburb about 30 minutes North of Detroit. Unlike many major cities, most business is not done in our downtown area. I just spent almost 3 hours in my truck running all over for work. I drove nearly 120 miles. To do everything I had to do with public transportation would be impossible.

[FFFFooLIN]

Missed the last 5 or so pages of discussion..

On topic, I drive a 1999 Dodge Avenger, got it when I was 18... 6 more months and its paid off... Which means I cant start putting more money into my bag.

[lamebums]

The Aspen that we just got my wife has the FlexFuel engine that can run on ethanol E85. It's a nice alternative, but it does no good right now. We filled it up to see how it did. It ran fine and cost about $.30 less per gallon. The problem is, we saved 10% at the pump, but only got 11 mpg on the ethanol and that was mostly highway. That's a reduction of about 30% in mileage from the 15-16 it gets on regular grade gas. Hopefully they start to come up with ethanol that gets better mileage or they drop the price to account for the difference. I know that the primary reason for ethanol is so we become less dependent on foreign oil and it is better for the environment, but right now I have to worry about my own personal economy.

There's other problems with ethanol - the giant combine that harvests the corn guzzles gas, the process of converting it into ethanol burns more fuels, and so on. In the end, ethanol probably burns as much fuel - or more - as if you just put it directly into your car.

The Big 3 auto companies have controlled Michigan for so long that we have no viable forms of mass transit. The only real option is a bus and with that you will be lucky to find connections to get you where you need to go in a few hours. I would love to be able to hop on a train and get to work. It's not an option.

I live near Cincinnati, and there's no mass transit to speak of. Unless you count the bus, which does me almost no good. Take for example the campus where I take classes. It's 15 minutes away when I drive, about 12 miles, give or take. If I were to take the bus I would have to drive to the nearest stop (burning gas anyway) or walk 30+ minutes to get there. Then, I would have to take a bus to the transit center in Cincinnati, and get on an outbound bus. The university is the last stop on that line. Total time taken, well over two hours. There and back, every day. Time is money.

My Golf gets about 60mpg on the motorways and about 45 around the city. That still isn't good enough for me. :P

Where did you buy it? I'd shell out the money for one of those in a heartbeat.

[Kellfire]

Where did you buy it? I'd shell out the money for one of those in a heartbeat.

It's a very common car over here in the UK. Now, it's a diesel engine and I don't know how popular diesels are over there and it only has 90bhp (plenty for our roads that actually have corners ) so it won't do 0-60 in a millisecond.

[Behindthedish36]

I will try to stay on topic and not get sucked into the politics of petro..

anyway I drive an 08 Scion Xb

(not sure how to post a pic on here yet)