Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:43:09 -0400
Reply-To: Howard.Allen@FAIRCHILDSEMI.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Howard Allen <Howard.Allen@FAIRCHILDSEMI.COM>
Subject: Re: yet another engine choice - VW "twincharger" HOLD IT!!
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I share many of your sentiments Tom. Trouble is, all those SUV owners
don't. There is no logic here, people just like the visibility and power
they get in an SUV. So for every gallon of gas we save driving a
reasonable car that is one more for those gas guzzling monstrosities.
I have driven 4 cylinder manual transmission MOPAR vehicles since 1985 and
have never seen the need for a 6 cylinder in a normal passenger car,
unless you are driving an automatic. I normally get between 30 and 36MPG.
My '96 Stratus, with the 2.0L engine, 5 speed tranny, and 16 gallon tank
would easily go 520 miles on the interstate at 70MPH, runnning the AC on
cruise control...
For those with the need for speed and power, consider this. MOPAR built a
large number of neat turbocharged cars, mainly 4 cylinders. They started
at 146HP in 1985 and ended up with over 250HP by 1993, all with the same
little 2.2L 4 banger. I have seen many of them with over 240,000 miles
on the original blocks with never a thing done to them. And oh by the
way, they all get pretty much the same gas mileage, 28-32MPG. One of the
fastest cars on the road is a 1986 Reliant 4 door wagon with a
turbocharged 4 banger. It achieves a 10.8 second 1/4 mile and regularly
beats everything it runs against. I know of another MOPAR, an '89 Minivan
that is almost as fast.
So the way I look at it, I have saved enough gas driving my little 4
bangers around that I deserve to run my gas Vanagon at "only" 20MPG the
2000 miles or so a year I drive it in the summer...and certainly not
enough of a reason to convert to diesel.
Best Regards
Howard Allen
S. Portland, Maine
"Don't tread on me."
Tom Miller <tmiller@VCMAILS.COM>
Sent by: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
09/28/2005 01:44 PM
Please respond to Tom Miller
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
cc:
Subject: yet another engine choice - VW "twincharger" HOLD IT!!
When are we going to learn to get off the HP drug habit? Here we are at
$3/gal. (and increasing) gasoline in the US and yet we eat up V8 engines
in
'06 Chevy Impala's and 170HP Twin-Charger diesel VW's! I have a 2005.5
Jetta with the 1.9L PD engine that gets 47 MPG overall during the past
3800
miles, at 100 HP in a sedan that holds 5 people. There are all sorts of
people on this list that have gone through the pain and agony of
installing
TDI engines with and without the electronic controls in their Vanagon's to
get better than 17 MPG from the stock motors. I thought the race for HP
went away during the first oil embargo in the 70's? Supply & demand are
at
our heals now and those with large engines that get under 32 MPG are
costing
all of us more to fill up our vehicles with gas or diesel. Am I off base
by
suggesting we wake up and start thinking globally and act locally?
>
