Posted on 07/27/2008 3:01:44 PM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network
Have just spent the afternoon, browsing the manufacturers websites of every major US automaker, looking for a basic flex-fuel pickup truck.
GM. Ford. Chrysler.
Found some flex-fuel trucks (mostly on the GM site), but only top of the line, with large engines.
Will US automakers drop THIS ball also?
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Dear US Automakers:
I own an American car, which I purchased new, from an American dealer.
I now want to replace it, with an economical flex-fuel pickup.
Please wake up, and get with the program!
What does it take, to make Detroit listen??
If you’re going to be giving up 30% of the horsepower by going to E85, you’re going to want that big engine.
Why do you want Flex-fuel capability?
Not at $4/gallon, I don’t!
Chevy has a 3.9 E-85 capable engine as an option in one of the minivans.
So. Put it in the Colorado!
And where, in the world, is Ford?
Why isn’t the F-150 available flex-fuel? There’s only about 50 million of them, in the corn belt.
Ready to be replaced...
I don’t. I run flex-fuel vehicles for work, but I can’t buy the fuel anywhere near where I work or travel. The badges are pretty, but 9 out of 10 vehicles have been run on straight gasoline since Day 1.
If an American manufacturer made a small truck with a 80 hp engine, I would buy it, and laugh all the way to the bank (which would take some time...) But I think I am the only one who would.
“Why do you want Flex-fuel capability?”
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Because I’m sick and tired, of sending ever more of my money, directly to terrorists, and communists like Hugo Chavez.
That’s why.
I’d rather make some American farmers rich, and have the option should the SHTF and gasoline becomes an even bigger problem than it already is.
You’re not the only one.
They’d sell a MILLION of them!!
But nobody in Detroit is smart enough to do that. Every year, bigger, heavier, more expensive boats.
Is there even one brain, anywhere at the big-3?
So you are willing to buy a gallon and a quarter of gas from the mideast, so you can get a gallon of E85 from an American?
Because in order to produce that gallon of E85, the American has to use 1.25 gallons of mideast fuel.
Oh?
Why can’t tractors run on alcohol?
Think outside the box please.
We’re America. We can do anything we set our minds to.
Unfortunately, we seem to have forgotten that.
Because the energgy density is so low, and cost per unit work so high, a farmer would have to be an idiot to do it.
So would the driver of an F-150.
Speak for yourself.
I’ll buy one, if they make one.
What I won’t buy, is even one more vehicle which gives me no choice but gasoline.
I’ve purchased by last gas-only vehicle already.
If they want my business now, they’ll need to do better.
Or I’ll wait for a plug-in hybrid.
Up to them.
Umm, the reason is farm tractors can’t run on ethanol is the same reason they can’t run on gasoline.
Umm, the reason is farm tractors can’t run on ethanol is the same reason they can’t run on gasoline.
You forgot to mention the horrible gas mileage they get as well. For a good comparison see http://www.edmunds.com/advice/alternativefuels/articles/120863/article.html
When I am cruising down the Parkway at 70 mph, I look around at all the cars. Every one of them, including my own, is using about a fifth of the available power. The only ones who come close to using even half the power they have on tap are the ones driven by jerks.
Why carry around all that engine every day if you are never, ever going to us it?
Not enough low-end torque?
http://www.e85fuel.com/
you'll find a list of all domestically available vehicles which are e85 compatible. I drive a 2007 Silverado 1500 4wd work truck which runs perfectly well on e85; maybe about a 15-20% mileage drop-off from 87 octane, but most Indiana stations price their e85 at a sufficient discount to make it pay.
Farm tractors are all diesel.
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