The Future and Potential Death of the Car Hobby.

[Mitch]

CAFE standards only apply to the average of the whole fleet. So the typical 100:1 (guessing, but it's probably even better than that) ratio of A-to-B cars to enthusiast cars means the economy penalty suffered by catering to a small minority is insignificant to manufacturers. Additional comfort comes from the fact that CAFE fuel economy is calculated on two driving cycles (city and highway) while the economy you see on stickers is actually calculated off of something like five scenarios. Because of this, sticker economy is lower than how it would be reported for CAFE calculations. And even if a manufacturer can't hit the standard, they can pay a penalty and roll that into the cost of the car. So don't worry about it. Thirsty sports cars for those of us in the minority aren't going anywhere. They might cost more in the future, but they'll still be there.

And of course there's always the used market. The best cars ever produced so far have been produced so far. They only get rarer with time, but there are plenty of speed bargains out there.

[Floggin Tires]

Food for thought below.

It will start wars.
Legitimate cracking of water.


Stanley Allen Meyer
Smokey Yunick's adiabatic engine

[Jason952]

CAFE is just another example of overreach by the EPA to regulate our lives and the markets we can purchase goods in. The standards also discriminate more heavily on American companies with the trucks and suv's we tend to like. The is plenty of demand in the market for higher mpg that the govt should get out....just like BHO!

[Draco-REX]

The important part is the A in CAFE. It stands for Average. So manufacturers can have all the high-horsepower cars they want, as long as they can balance them out with super efficient cars to sell to the rest of the people out there.

OR

They can buy efficiency credits from manufacturers that don't have gas guzzlers and have average mpg points to spare.

Then you can count the discounts and adjustments mentioned above, and they'll be able to hit a 54.5 CAFE while still selling cars like the Mustang GT500 and Escalade EXT.

[TOMIMOTO]

Vote for Romney.

He wants car companies to build what people want, not what should be government mandated.

[S2kphile]

Wait how are we gonna get great EPA if Americans want bigger & heavier cars? I don't see many FIAT type cars being driven. And Americans are getting fatter every year so they wouldn't be even comfortable in those said vehicles.

On top of that I don't think Oil companies would allow such a shift. Big business needs to get paid so they'll put their own puppets in government.

/rant

Looks like I'd have to fly jets/helicopters or get a fast bike to get the same enjoyment I would outta of car. And, yes I am being cynical.

[rice_classic]

Originally Posted by TOMIMOTO

Vote for Romney.

He wants car companies to build what people want, not what should be government mandated.

I wanted exactly what the results of the CAFE laws have produced.

[DEnd]

Originally Posted by S2kphile

Looks like I'd have to fly jets/helicopters or get a fast bike to get the same enjoyment I would outta of car. And, yes I am being cynical.

Nah...

There are massive inefficiencies in the internal combustion process. There are several technologies out today that are relatively mature which will actually add power to the engines they are connected to as well as increase the gas mileage. One of these is a blow-down turbine, which is already being used by several large truck engine manufacturers, resulting in 10-20% power improvements and 5-10% fuel efficency improvements. BMW has/is investigating using an organic rankin cycle using a refridgerant to capture waste heat from the exhaust gasses which IIRC captures 60% of the waste energy from the exhaust.

There are also a ton of aerodynamic tricks that are not being employed in large scale today which will improve fuel efficiency.

[denkigrve]

This will hopefully lead to innovations on the alternative fuel front, and hopefully find someone as bold as Tesla to come out with a sports car variation of the alternative fuel vehicle. Electricity as it stands is NOT the answer. The mileage to get from A to B isn't good enough for long road-trips, the time to recharge takes too long, and the there isn't enough infrastructure built yet to support that.

In terms of finding ways to prolong the life of the planet, I'm all down for that. As much as I love my FR-S and I love automotive sports, it's really not helping any. However, the Prius isn't a solution, regardless of what like 33% of Californians that drive one would have you think. We need something safer for the environment, that isn't built with a large carbon footprint, and then find someone to take that to the next level.

Or just make flying cars like in all the movies that lied to me about being an adult and I'll be happy... I'm an adult now... Y U NO FLY FR-S?