old man neri

I was thinking about this the other day. What if all the money/resources that went into to the war had instead been spend on R&D of alternative fuels aka hydrogen fuel cells. Where would we be now?

I do as much as I can for the environment. I try not to print stuff. I am always shutting off stuff that is not in use. I drink out of beer bottle because those get reused when I take them back. I hope it all helps.....

Mommy drives a nissan versa, same lines as a fit. She loves it, the CVT saves on fuel big time.

Chris M.

The Fit is not a bio fuel car but rather just a small efficient gasoline-powered one. It sits lower out of the factory than either of the 911s I've had, has a great little shifter, handles really well, and has more space than you'd think for such a small car. The oil filter is the 2nd easiest to access after a 911 and costs $7 at the dealer. It's my wife's car so I don't drive it all that often but when I do I enjoy it. Best of all it was $16K out the door brand new.

LaughaC

I'm trying to get some of these www.electrocharger.com.

911vet

I test drove 2 Honda Fits. One automatic and the manual. The manual is definitely a little "peppier" and more fun to drive, but they both seemed to have very poor low-end torque. I haven't seen the numbers on hp and torque, but I felt it was pretty doggy.

I have a 91 Honda Civic hatchback w/170K miles that is just as slow and doggy and gets better gas mileage than the Fit. (My 91 gets 37 mpg).

The Fit has a lot going for it. But it would never keep me happy as my only car. I'd need a 911 or something with some fun factor for playtime and the Fit for rest of the time.

I've had a lot of Hondas. I usually get about 200K miles on them before they rust away or get sold. Awesome cars and I can't imagine ever being without a Honda or Toyota as my daily driver.

911vet

Sacrilege you anti-patriotic, treehugging dove you!!

I'd agree... the money we spend pretending to make the world safe from terrorists could be spent on making us truly safe. By taking away their power over us. And by finding a way to put us back in balance with nature (oh, wow man, like that's a hippie kind of thing)

I've lived by the creedo: "Live simply so others may simply live." I try to conserve and reduce my consumption best I can.

Weird, we knew in the 60s and 70s you couldn't over-consume resources and overpopulate the planet without endangering our very existence. But it seems that was all forgotten in the 80s and 90s. It was "un-American" or some such nonsense.

As far as the Porsche 911, I will still say it's the height of hippocracy and I can't defend the fact that my "hobbie" is driving a sports car that burns up gasoline. But... then again, it gets 24mpg and that's better than most of the daily drivers out there!

I guess I sleep at night because my daily drivers have all been old Hondas with 200K miles on them getting over 30mpg. Now I have a used Toyota Matrix getting 29-30mpg.

I won't be giving up my evil 911 anytime soon

Peter Zimmermann

[QUOTE=old man neri;4981310] What if all the money/resources that went into to the war had instead been spend on R&D of alternative fuels aka hydrogen fuel cells. Where would we be now?

My heart is with you, but my mind's eye can't erase the pictures of those jets flying into our buildings. The terrorists blew up some of our embassies in '98, then they killed 17 of our sailors on the USS Cole in '00, then the unthinkable happened. We had intelligence (so did Putin, Blair and others) that said that Saddam had WMDs (everyone was either wrong, or Saddam had time to move the nasty stuff to Syria - we'll probably never know). But we had to do something to weaken the terrorists ability to reach us on our home soil, and it's obvious that whatever we have done has worked. I fear, today, that if we had not gone into Iraq, things today might be bad enough (in the U.S., I don't know about Canada) that a terrorist stranglehold on the west would be far greater than any of us would dare to imagine. In the midst of all the bad stuff going on following 9/11, President Bush recognized the need for alternate fuel research, and must have received some very good advice because sometime around '03/04 (I think) he introduced legislation (a fed-funded initiative), for funding for hydrogen research. The Dept of Energy stepped up their game shortly thereafter, and a number of universities were able to develop programs geared toward finding the many answers needed for storage, containment, transportation, efficiency, etc., of hydrogen. That research is on-going today, and car manufacturers have teamed with universities, and each other, to find those answers, so it's not like we're not doing anything. If, and when, they succeed it will be nothing but good for all of us. Then we'll have to figure out how to generate funding to build the needed support structure!

dsmith

Like Pete says, people are working on solutions, but until the product can be sold at a reasonable price for cost/profit to make sense and until the distribution channels can be put in place and energy companies' assured that their business model won't collapse, nothing will happen.

Hydrogen and battery powered cars have been around for a LONG time. Most were betting against hydrogen, but with Honda coming on board in recent years, it's gaining steam again, just like diesels will, when Honda brings them here next year in the Accord and Odyssey. BMW has been the biggest hydrogen proponent.

BTW, my gas powered EClass MB averaged 29mpg on a 3k mile trip (loaded with family and holiday garb) last month. I paid $15k for it with 45k miles, and over 3 years, I expect it to cost $2k per year total. It will be hard to sell me on new anything, with so many good used cars on the market.

theiceman

The end results of that could prove interesting .. There is no doubt our global economy is based on oil and our dependance on it, It drives our politics, our wars, and of course our cars.

What would the landscape look without dependance on oil ? .. hmm.. I better start stocking up on drinking water... God know we are poluting the great lakes fast enough . The largest expanse of fresh water on the planet. Maybe we wil be the next Saudi .... but for water ..

old man neri

Ya, it was just an off-thought. Not saying what should have been.

My winter beater is an 98 civic. That thing gets really good gas mileage and just refuses to break down. No matter what I do to it. Very safe too.

Oshin11

[QUOTE=Peter Zimmermann;4982424]It wasn't Bush's initiative that got this underway, this research has been going on for a long, long time. Possibly his father or early Clinton administration. W. was sucking up all the resources for the war and after much pleading finally gave some money to support this research, but he didn't start it thats for sure. As far as WMDs and Iraq, well you know my opinion, we know of many countries that possibly have WMDs but you dont see us bum-rushing them. The only reason Bush was able to jump into Iraq with the American people's support was simply because we are so ignorant that we cant tell the difference between one middle eastern country and another. And don't tell me most Americans know the difference, you all know thats hogwash. Bush knew this, his administration knew this, and most American's believed that Saddam had something to do with 911. Did Saddam have WMDs? Maybe,...Does that give us the right to just starting bombing the **** out of him? I don't think so...there are rules of engagement, and we bent the hell out of them for this war.

EDIT: I also love the fact that when a woman says something about the war, everyone smiles...but when the outspoken Armenian guy says something 20 people jump down his throat and tell him to go back to where he came from Most things I can take, but when BMWDrew told me to get out the country that was over the line....I have lived here all my life and I am a citizen and patriot through and through...I just express my patriotism by trying to look at the things we can fix, not boast about the things we are already good at.

Oshin11

Either way I am glad we are taking steps toward alternative energy....however I dont think hydrogen will work too well. I am really excited about solid state storage.

911vet

I learned a long time ago when dealing with friends, there are 3 topics that should be avoided:
1) politics
2) religion
3) why Cabriolets are better than Coupes.

Oshin: Dude, you've got my vote. But I'm getting out of this thread now before we start another war.

See you on the other threads, my friend. And I'll see you at the hydrogen-fuel-cell pump one day soon.

Oshin11

Yea I don't want to start another thread like that, it just makes people mad at me, I never discuss religion or politics with people anymore. I hate the propaganda machine, because it works so well with most people.

old man neri

Well duh! Every knows targas are the best.................

911vet

I stand corrected.