Date:         Wed, 4 May 2005 22:48:17 -0500
Reply-To:     Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: gas mileage
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=response

> different engine).  I love my beast but I get ridiculed by friends
> who
> drive really horrible cars (eg, Pontiac firebirds and Cadillac
> eldorado's,
> really ugly and old cars that I look at as environmental disasters)
> but get
> better gas mileages than I do.  I have taken to mumbling when people
> ask me
> about the gas mileage, so that 16 MPG sounds something like 26 MPG.
> I
> carry a heavy burden in this matter because I parade myself (in some
> circles) as an "environmentalist" and people who know what I drive
> ain't
> buying it.  My wife told me that if I gave a sh** about the
> environment I
> would be driving a Prius.  I carry this burden as best I can but it
> is hell
> to love a vehicle that gets such poor mileage.
> Should I auction it off on Ebay or say to hell with the critics???

to hell with the critics!!

and explain to your wife that a camper IS a RV, and as such should be
compared to other RVs, not to cars or even suvs.
and if you bother to look at the rv fuel economy, it sucks. big time.
like 10mpg is REALLY good for some of them.
the BEST i've ever seen was a Safari Trek back in the 90's, built on
an isuzu truck frame, with 4-cylinder turbo diesel engine.
got a whopping 14mpg on the highway. but that was very excellent for a
28-foot shoebox on wheels (no, really, it was that square).
and that was twice the mpg of other rvs, bigger and smaller, at the
time. oh, they've gone up a bit, but so has the price.
go look at a sportsmobile and see what mpg they get. and then look at
the price.
with rvs, if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it.
or the gas it takes to run it. :)

and you ARE an environmentalist ... YOUR rv will fit in any parking
space. it damages the roads very very little, no more than those
firebirds or eldorados. it's a clean burning engine, for its time. and
not too shabby nowadays. better than a lot of those diesel rvs
(particulates, you know). ;) doesn't burn oil, easy on the roads, easy
on the tires, easy on the household economy cause you can fix it
yourself (you do, don't you?) ... can't fix these modern ones: too
complicated and too many specialized tools and such.

so is your wife driving a Prius? if not, why not?? :)  and how long is
it gonna take to pay off one of those things? has anybody checked to
find out what the costs of replacing the battery pack is? that might
surprise you a bit ... also might surprise you to find out just how
long you've got before you have to replace the batteries in those
hybrids. for the same costs every 6 to 7 years, you could put a new
engine AND transmission into your camper. oh, but those batteries in
the landfill are super environmentally safe. :)

that's my story and i'm sticking widgit. :)

unca joel