Posted on 02/18/2006 9:04:04 AM PST by LouAvul
The star at last week's Philadelphia Auto Show wasn't a sports car or an economy car. It was a sports-economy car — one that combines performance and practicality under one hood.
But as CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman reports in this week's Assignment America, the car that buyers have been waiting decades comes from a source no one ever dreamed of — and runs on soybean bio-diesel fuel to boot.
A car that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds and get more than 50 miles to the gallon would be enough to pique any driver's interest. So who do we have to thank for it. Ford? GM? Toyota? No — just Victor, David, Cheeseborough, Bruce, and Kosi, five kids from the auto shop program at West Philadelphia High School
The five kids, along with a handful of schoolmates, built the soybean-fueled car as an after-school project. It took them more than a year — rummaging for parts, configuring wires and learning as they went. As teacher Simon Hauger notes, these kids weren't exactly the cream of the academic crop.
snip
"We made this work," says Hauger. "We're not geniuses. So why aren't they doing it?"
Kosi thinks he knows why. The answer, he says, is the big oil companies.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Darn crazy kids. See what happens when you don't drug them?
ping for later
"The answer, he says, is the big oil companies."
Yup, they own and run the world.
Boy, they'll do anything to sell that crap crop.
"Kosi thinks he knows why. The answer, he says, is the big oil companies.
"They're making billions upon billions of dollars," he says. "And when this car sells, that'll go down — to low billions upon billions."
LOL! This kid is OK, he keeps things in perspective.
When I drive my 25 mpg Mercedes with 3 other passengers, I am getting the same net fuel economy as this thing (btw fuel economy should be measured in person miles per gallon, not vehicle miles per gallon). Its a two seater and I bet it wouldn't pass smog or safety checks. Interesting idea, but as usual - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
I just bought a Scion - the new Toyota product - the single worst buying experience of my entire life. Buying a car from these kids has to be better.
"Boy, they'll do anything to sell that crap crop."
AMD has done, is doing and will do anything to sell soy beans.
The funniest ad on tv is the new Lexus ad which shows many of the previous hair brained vehicles on a road with the new Lexus combo powered SUV passing all of them.
I was raised eating soybean products. Per pound those things give me more gas than anything. Its no surprise they might power a car....... LOL
Biodiesel works great on a small scale. Kids and people out in the country with a little time on their hands. The same as that story posted here about recycling the grease from french frying at local fast food outlets.
I think that's great. But I'm not at all sure about the practicalities of biodiesel on a large scale, with factory farms producing the soybeans for fuel and what not, and tanker trucks driving it all over the place.
Next thing you know, the government will start pouring in subsidies, the factory farmers will get rich on tax dollars, and as likely as not they will put more energy into the process than they get out.
This process is just ITCHING for big, fat, inefficient subsidies, and congress will soon be jumping into it with both feet. If it works, let it develop through entrepreneurial activities like this.
Yup... no need to worry about emissions tests, or crash testing. No worries about selling in all 50 states, or having to put warning stickers all over it telling people that it has airbags.
Guess what? They've got a car that will do 50 mpg and 0-60 in almost nothing!
I'm pretty sure that the auto makers could come up with cars that would have simular stats if they didn't have to worry about emissions.
Another non-story by See B/S.
0 to 60 in 4 seconds. Just like my Walker Coon Hound after I stick a M-80 in her butt and light the fuse.
No doubt this thing will do 500,000 miles before you need to check the oil.
I'm just kidding, about the Walker Coon Hound, Mom.
LOL!
Yeah, and I don't do so bad in my F250 (16 mpg) with 4 other passengers and a load of gravel.
Now where's that picture of the pickup truck with 'undocumented workers' hanging over the sides?
"...the single worst buying experience of my entire life."
Ohmigosh, then why did you go through with the purchase?
Hubby and I bought a new car (truck, actually) last year. I was having a nervous breakdown due to the heavy handed sales tactics, especially from the FORD dealers. Get a better idea Ford, because you've lost this buyer for life.
We finally found a normal person selling cars, at Fairway Dodge in Ridgewood, NJ. I'm happy to give them a plug here. The guy just showed us the cars, let us drive the cars, didn't mind showing us several cars or telling us about several cars; didn't act like he was doing us a big favor; didn't make us feel that he was going to mentally manipulate us into buying a car. He was just normal and we got a great deal on our new truck, which we love!
If I ever hit lotto the first thing I'm doing is going back there to buy another car. The hard sell does not work with me, and there is no need for it, if you've got a decent product. And yes, my first car was a Saturn, but hubby don't fit in them.
I know that everything soy has been touted to be to the public has turned out to be false.
I also know that, if not processed properly, consumption of soy can be fatal.
I do know that it is the cheapest crop they can grow anywhere and they want to profit from that. And lying to the public about it is acceptable.
Check your Freep mail in a minute or so.
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