Here is my turn to rant on about something that really pisses me off. In today’s economy, we are searching for replacement fuels to take the place of the crude oil driven vehicles that we all own, and now may car and truck manufactures are coming out with what is known as flex-fuel vehicles that came run on both gasoline and E85 ethanol and any mixture of the two. Sure this sounds like a good alternative, we turn extra corn into fuel for our vehicles and use the waste to feed cattle but how often have you seen a gas station with an E85 Ethanol pump? Never, or maybe once maybe, my point exactly. I have one of these vehicles myself, a 2006 Ford F-150 with the 5.4L FFV motor (FFV: flex fuel vehicle), and I have never seen an E85 Ethanol station. Sure I would probably use E85 if it was cheaper the regular gasoline but I cannot use it if it isn’t available anywhere in the state of Florida. So the question is why are they even selling them to people who live in a state where the fuel is unavailable? It might be because it makes people think that they are helping out the environment by having a vehicle that can run on E85. Personally I cannot wait until the new 2008 VW Jetta TDIs come out in the fall and I will be tripling my gas mileage. At least with the diesel engine I can use an alternative fuel that I can make myself, WVO or waste vegetable oil, is the leftover cooking oil from restaurants like McDonalds can be filtered and used in any diesel engine. Diesels are much more efficient than gasoline vehicles even though you may be paying more per gallon on diesel fuel. If you calculate the amount per mile you drive the results show that you actually save money with a diesel than a less efficient gas vehicle. (Words 327)
*And if anyone is curious about the gas mileage here is the statics of my truck vs. a TDI
***F-150 12-15 city/ 18-20 hwy mpgs at 70 mph. (I have gotten as high as 22 on the hwy drafting behind a big rig and doing an avg. speed of 65mph.) Also my fuel tank is 27 gallons.
*Miles per Dollar = mpg /price per gallon= 13 mpg avg city/$2.86/gall. @ TA truck stop in I-4. After calculations we get a total of 4.5 miles/dollar. Now compare to the others.
Comparison of Gas vs. Diesel
***2008 Jetta TDI 44-50 city/48-60* hwy mpgs. With a 14.5 gallon fuel tank. Horse power ratings for this vehicles are 177hp and 240lb/ft of torque.
*Miles per Dollar = mpg /price per gallon= 45 mpg avg city/ $3.23/gall. @ TA truck stop on I-4. After doing this you come up with a total of 14 miles/dollar. Now compare to the gas version.
(*estimated mpg by VW)
***2008 Jetta 2.5L gasser 21 city/ 29 hwy mpgs. Also with a 14.5 gallon fuel tank. Horse power ratings for this vehicle are 170hp @ 5700rpm and 177lb/ft @ 4250rpm
*Miles per Dollar= mpg/price per gallon= 21 mpg avg city/ $2.86/gall. @TA truck stop on I-4. After dividing we get a total of 7.34 miles/dollar. Now which one would you rather have????
(all VW Jetta Statics are from the VW of America website)
(Total words: 545)