I cant believe I just read all of that.

I feel stupider.

....or is it dumberer..... I have no idea anymore.

 

Not to worry. Have been called a lot worse things in my life.

HAFPINT

 

OK, my experience with cruise control is that is always increases gas mileage. The smooth, steady speed is much better at not wasting gas that the average foot on the accelerator. There could, I suppose, be someone who could concentrate hard and modulate their foot precisely enough such that their mileage would be better than with cruise.....anything is, at least, remotely possible.

The vast majority, 99+%, will see an improvement using cruise.

Anyone tried the magic "gas mileage pill" that supposely increases mileage up to 25%. Had someone try to sell me a multi-level-marketing distributorship for these babies for only $599.

 

What is so funny about this all is the free enterprise system doesn't support it.

If such devices truely worked, do you not think that every major car maker would jump on the bandwagon to get better EPA gas mileages??? DUH

Here is ONE example of how desperate car companies are to get better gas mileage eeking out anything the can get ...

On my new RAV4:

1. The alternater does NOT charge the battery under acceleration. Rather, only under deceleration or cruising.
2. The A/C has no clutch (i.e., it does not turn on/of) but rather operators smoothly between 0 - 100% efficiency
3. The car uses 0 - 20W oil (in the 4 bangers) simply because 0 weight oil gets better mileage

If these 100 mpg carbuerators really worked, EVERY major car company would be in a rush to use them.

Instead, you only see the SCAMs on eBay which have replaced the Carnival barkers of old ...

I'm actually sad to see that PT Barnum was right in this day and age.

 

I wouldnt say that.

Besides, even if someone had invented an internal combustion motor with 100% effeciency, an oil company would buy up all the patents and have them destoyed before they let it out on the market.


The same thing happened to an electric car in the lat 70's. Somone had built an electric car that had a range of well over 300 miles on a charge, but it never made it to the market because one of the big oil companies bought the small company out and got rid of everything!

 

^^ hey, you feel more stupid"er" but you still come back.

is it like kids smelling something stinky and they keep smelling it over and over?
you can't contain yourself.

 

Shhhh maybe he'll educate us.

 

that you can't destroy the ideas. If patented, they are recorded and public domain after a bunch of years... Anyone could just use the ideas...

There are lots of reasons that things make it to market and succeed, while others don't and they don't all have to do with conspiricies....

Matt

 

Today's internal combustion engines operate at 99% efficency, 100% would only mean .25 mpg more on a car that gets 25 mpg. Just keeping the tires inflated correctly or driving a little slower could beat the socks off that improvement.

 

You mean Elvis is alive???

Absolutely ... bought up by oil companies a bit of paranoid are we?

Especially with the Internet, ever bit of info is backed up forever. If this crap worked the inventor would be worth more than Bill Gates.

That like I "heard" 30 years ago that tire companies COULD make tires that lasted "forever" but refused to do so because it would put themselves out of business.

Thank Goodness the Internet also has places like Snopes to snoop out all the lame Urban Legends ... Funny, ppl still fall the Nigerian SCAM so I guess ppl will always fall for SCAMs and PT Barnum was right.

You can take it to the bank that companies like Toyota and Honda would scoop these devices up and crank up their EPA numbers if they worked.

For kicks ... just pretend an asteroid was going to hit the Earth. 15 years ago I bet they could keep that quiet for a couple of weeks. Today, anybody who saw it would have it on the net within seconds and once out, you can never get the info back. Same with anything in the public domain.

 

And the MINI is shipped with DRL off. They are a no cost 'option' so they can be off for the EPA fuel economy test.

 

I did the same thing, however it has made me think about marketing the old classics like Pig magnets and water injection!

 

not to forget pfunk's little flaps he was selling for the MINI's... you get
downforce!!!

 

Oh sure, Matt. Be skeptical.
However I must let you know that my uncle (or a friend of his, I can't remember which) worked for an oil company and he PERSONALLY led the team that bought up all the patents* for the 100mpg carburetor AND the 300 mile electric car, in addition to those for the regenerative light bulb, which fed electricity back into the grid during daylight. And sometimes at night if the moon was full. Oh, and the ever lasting tire (a close relative to the everlasting gobstopper - don't see those on the market either, do you? Quid era demostrata.)


*I DO love the one about buying the patents, which only last 17 years and must be published publicly.

 

You all make fun of these conspiracy theories .... sure

But I will have you know its a fact that is commonly known that those "atomic" cars you saw in Popular Mechanics that actually flew (very handy for those commuting several hundred miles to their jobs) actually EXISTED!

While conceived on the winds of unlimited atomic energy in the late 50s, they were designed and perfected in the late 60s, just before the Oil Embargo. Once they were perfected enough to be marketed to the public, the CEOs of the BIG FOUR (yes, there were FOUR back then and foreign vehicles had little inroads in the US market) AND the airlines bought out the start-up companies.

You may ask why the Big 4 and the Airlines?

Simple ... it has nothing to do with oil. Oil conspiracy theories are lame as they are too obvious. THAT is what makes this so devious ... you would never think of it and that is the mind of a master CEO.

As to the Big 4, the Average American bought a new car every three years with new ... updated styling. After all, you got to have the newest set of tail fins to match the neighbors. If you have an unlimited energy source, parts don't wear out. No oil changes, no wear on tires, no suspensions failing ... no need to buy a new car ... very devious. There was that one small pesky detail about to do with the waste but they found a nice place in NY called the Love Canal.

As to the airlines, this is pretty obvious ... People now didn't need to have to live no more than an hour away to commute. They could easily live several hundred miles away and zip along quickly into work ... no need for commercial air service

Now, of course, this would have a serious repercussion on the real estate market and all the industries that support that since commuters could now build their house in the boondocks. The Real Estate Market would never be the same.

Alas, this never came about simply to maintain the status quo

As to patents, public domain issues ... That was not an issue. Since the original work was done by the government, there is no patents ... its not as if the government is going to file a patent on how to use atomic energy. As to the public domain ... think Jimmy Hoffa.

 

What? Is this the Mini forum I must be lost.

 

i wonder wat would happen if we put the tornado on the exhaust?
would it spin? get more lower-end torque? turn red?

 

Isn't that what the aero exhaust is supposed to do?

 

Water injection is fine for a horsepower boost, but won't do anything to increase gas mileage.

 

HU?

What are you smoking, cause I want some too.

The internal combustion engine is only about 35% effeceint.

 

the effect of DRLs on mileage is so far to the insignificant side of the decimal place that it's, uh, insignificant. Remember, the DRLs are lower wattage operation.

I think it has more to with the fact that they aren't mandated here, nor are they common. When done by GM in the past, they used a very bright setting, and gave the whole deal a real bad rap here. Most don't like the "look" and aren't aware of or convinced by the data on crash reduction.

Actually, I don't know if any optional equipement at all needs to be used during the EPA tests....

Matt

 

The EPA test specifies that all optional equipment is OFF. This means no radio, AC, heat etc. GM wanted to have DRL as standard and lobbied to get the law changed so that they could use high beams at low output. Also, when the DRLs are on, no other running lights need be on. Both of these help reduce the drag on the alternator and the fuel used. Also, a lot of the push to LED tail lights is for the enegy saving. Yes, although the effect of DRLs on mileage may be 'insignificant', all the insignificant bits add up to maybe 0.1 MPG. If it keeps you out of gas guzzler, it helps.

A pair of high beams at low intensity would draw about 50W or .07 HP. Halogen low beams would draw closer to 100W. A car requires 15-20 hp to overcome drag at highway speeds. This means about .1 MPG is the car is getting 30MPG.

 

ok, i want someone to run a DRL comparison test with DRL on and off
conditions if you can get a measureable difference in mpg.

if you can, perhaps the tornado is working!

 

You wouldn't be able to measure it on the road, only in a dyno. Just about as much as carrying a spare tire

 

but dyno is not true real world results! i want real world results ie: butt dyno.