Diesel isn't dead !!!

[HJ2]

I hunted for an old V8 for a long time, but nothing available within budget.
The diesel S with its 275 BHP and 600 NM is not exactly punishment and just as fast as my elan (on the straights)

[Bern]

Wonder where petrol engines would be now if Lean Burn Technology had been fully developed. Ford's CVH engine of the 80's was running air/fuel ratio around 18:1 and there was talk of achieving 22:1 with significant improvements in mpg & hence reduced emissions. Ford argued that catalytic converters don't run hot enough in the UK for most of the year or for short journeys to do the job they are there for... but the 'Cat lobby' won the day.

IIRC Toyota had also developed a lean burn engine (and used it in UK built Carina's and possibly others), but the Cat lobby won because it was easier for everyone else that hadn't developed lean burn engines! And I think Cats needed a slightly richer mixture than what was then standard at the time, so fuel economy dropped slightly to make the exhaust cleaner.

[HJ2]

Wonder where petrol engines would be now if Lean Burn Technology had been fully developed. Ford's CVH engine of the 80's was running air/fuel ratio around 18:1 and there was talk of achieving 22:1 with significant improvements in mpg & hence reduced emissions. Ford argued that catalytic converters don't run hot enough in the UK for most of the year or for short journeys to do the job they are there for... but the 'Cat lobby' won the day.

IIRC Toyota had also developed a lean burn engine (and used it in UK built Carina's and possibly others), but the Cat lobby won because it was easier for everyone else that hadn't developed lean burn engines! And I think Cats needed a slightly richer mixture than what was then standard at the time, so fuel economy dropped slightly to make the exhaust cleaner.

The SE should be more fuel economic than the S2 then

[lotusflasherman]

IIRC Toyota had also developed a lean burn engine (and used it in UK built Carina's and possibly others), but the Cat lobby won because it was easier for everyone else that hadn't developed lean burn engines! And I think Cats needed a slightly richer mixture than what was then standard at the time, so fuel economy dropped slightly to make the exhaust cleaner.

According to this Fiat's CHT was another Lean Burn and Toyota was "Partial Lean Burn" ... mixing the fuel was critical ... technology/lean-burn-engines

My son's 2005 Ford Mondeo Titanium (ST220 with gizmo's like TV screens in the headrests etc) has just had MOT. For 78k miles the Emissions Test looked quite good.
CO Fast Idle = 0.02% (Max Limit 0.20%), Natural Idle =0.01% (Max 0.30%)
HC 8 ppm (Max 200 ppm) Lambda 1.004 (Min 0.970, Max 1.030)

What a clean machine... compared to my SE, which is usually much closer to the limits

[GeoffSmith]

1200 miles to Spain at 60mpg is cheaper than Easyjet and can carry more baggage.

There is the additional bonus that when you finally manage to get passed a bunch of lycra-louts who have ridden 2 / 3 abreast or strung out for half a mile with 99% of a car length between them all for mile after mile, you can put your foot down.

[Giniw]

Some say you can even carry an extra silencer! (but usually not table legs unfortunately)

[lotusflasherman]

1200 miles to Spain at 60mpg is cheaper than Easyjet and can carry more baggage.

Geoff, I picked up flights Stanstead - Beziers/Cap d'Agde by Ryanair return for £30.97 in September. Shuttle Bus to Agde is 1.7€ and bus from Agde to Cap d'agde 0.8€ so a real cheap trip.

Péage tolls between Calais & Cap d'Agde (one way) are 49.4€ before any fuel costs so taking a car seems expensive but Ryanair only fly end of March to early October and those bargain flights are few and far between.

Was very strange not having a car to drive for a few weeks... felt cold turkey coming on..

[GeoffSmith]

This trip was just under £250…
'Taxi' to Bristol airport : 2 × £50 (vs £250 airport parking)
Flights out : 2 × £16.99
Hire car (42 days) : €22.46 + €25 refuelling (vs 4 × €26 for the bus)
Flights back : 2 × £30.99

[Rambo]

The return flights for 4000 miles were cheaper than for a 100 mile return trip by taxi

That's about 2.4p per mile for air travel vs 100p per mile by road

FFS, the world's gone mad

[Giniw]

(23€ to rent a car for 42 days?!)

[MPx]

The return flights for 4000 miles were cheaper than for a 100 mile return trip by taxi

That's about 2.4p per mile for air travel vs 100p per mile by road

FFS, the world's gone mad

Yeah but global warming is down to cars, nothing to do with all the planes in the sky on a continuous basis on subsidised (sorry I mean no duty) fuel. Air travel is a good thing....car travel is a bad thing.

[GeoffSmith]

The return flights for 4000 miles were cheaper than for a 100 mile return trip by taxi

That's what happens when you ask your daughter to give you a lift and you let slip how much the car park was going to be.

(23€ to rent a car for 42 days?!)

Gutted I was. I could have got it for €5 if I'd booked it a week earlier. As well as providing a cheap garaging service to the rental companies out of season (who have more cars than parking spaces) they aim to sell their collision waiver damage insurance by threatening to block €2000 on your credit card, but I've got £40 of annual CWD insurance which does pay out when the rental company claim you've damaged a lock and owe them €120.

[Rambo]

The return flights for 4000 miles were cheaper than for a 100 mile return trip by taxi

That's what happens when you ask your daughter to give you a lift and you let slip how much the car park was going to be.

It's called enterprise Geoff

PS they don't call Karyn the Kittyfiddler's daughter for nothing

[epipete]

Yeah but global warming is down to cars, nothing to do with all the planes in the sky on a continuous basis on subsidised (sorry I mean no duty) fuel. Air travel is a good thing....car travel is a bad thing.

We'll, again I'm no expert, but I'd refute that, whilst I recognise the critical part motor vehicles play in the scheme of things Id suggest that Electricity Generation and Deforestation are worse offenders.

And as for car travel being bad, that, with respect, a nonsense, car travel has liberated 3 generations to live & work with much less constraint then ever before, this cannot be a bad thing.

To continue being contentious, I one had a colleague who alway drove automatics, when I challenged on this once he suggested that 'had the auto been invented before the manual gear box, we would all be driving autos' - a sobering thought!

[lotusflasherman]

Yeah but global warming is down to cars, nothing to do with all the planes in the sky on a continuous basis on subsidised (sorry I mean no duty) fuel. Air travel is a good thing....car travel is a bad thing.

We'll, again I'm no expert, but I'd refute that, whilst I recognise the critical part motor vehicles play in the scheme of things Id suggest that Electricity Generation and Deforestation are worse offenders.

And as for car travel being bad, that, with respect, a nonsense, car travel has liberated 3 generations to live & work with much less constraint then ever before, this cannot be a bad thing.

To continue being contentious, I one had a colleague who alway drove automatics, when I challenged on this once he suggested that 'had the auto been invented before the manual gear box, we would all be driving autos' - a sobering thought!

Think you missed the irony from MPX ... pollution in the upper atmosphere by planes is a problem the politicians refuse to address... as for you being contentious ..
As a professional Electrical Power Engineer generation & distribution is what I know... so ..

"We'll, again I'm no expert," "but I'd refute that, whilst I recognise the critical part motor vehicles play in the scheme of things Id suggest that Electricity Generation" (no expert indeed ) "and Deforestation are worse offenders."

No point in anybody going to electric cars if you think Electricity Generation one of the worse offenders, but Wind, Wave, Solar, Hydro & Nuclear all generate electricity without producing greenhouse gases. (Nuclear has 'other byproduct'. Fast breeder reactors would have reduced the radioactive waste quantities but maybe Elon Musk has the solution. If he can send a Telsa into space in SpaceX he could take some waste each time and throw it at the biggest nuclear reactor in our Solar system. )

The mix of fossil fuel dependent generation varies greatly from country to country. France has a lot of Hydro in the French Alps, which at the moment generates 12% , and a lot of nuclear, at the moment 72% so that's 84% with no greenhouse gas - that's pretty clean.
If you want to see what it's doing now look here ... gridwatch - france

Privatisation of UK Generation was a setback for nuclear generation so the UK is still heavily dependent on Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT) which burn natural gas from the North Sea - which is a lot cleaner than coal. UK Generation mix is shown here ...
gridwatch - uk and if you want to know the CO2 emissions it's here ...gridwatch - uk co2 emissions

Burning natural gas in large quantities at central points allows cost effective means of reducing emissions with CO2 capture from CCGT flue gas - unlike the tens of millions of small domestic gas boilers that research indicates produce much more CO2 in total ...

[epipete]

Yeah but global warming is down to cars, nothing to do with all the planes in the sky on a continuous basis on subsidised (sorry I mean no duty) fuel. Air travel is a good thing....car travel is a bad thing.

We'll, again I'm no expert, but I'd refute that, whilst I recognise the critical part motor vehicles play in the scheme of things Id suggest that Electricity Generation and Deforestation are worse offenders.

And as for car travel being bad, that, with respect, a nonsense, car travel has liberated 3 generations to live & work with much less constraint then ever before, this cannot be a bad thing.

To continue being contentious, I one had a colleague who alway drove automatics, when I challenged on this once he suggested that 'had the auto been invented before the manual gear box, we would all be driving autos' - a sobering thought!

Think you missed the irony from MPX ... pollution in the upper atmosphere by planes is a problem the politicians refuse to address... as for you being contentious ..
As a professional Electrical Power Engineer generation & distribution is what I know... so ..

"We'll, again I'm no expert," "but I'd refute that, whilst I recognise the critical part motor vehicles play in the scheme of things Id suggest that Electricity Generation" (no expert indeed ) "and Deforestation are worse offenders."

No point in anybody going to electric cars if you think Electricity Generation one of the worse offenders, but Wind, Wave, Solar, Hydro & Nuclear all generate electricity without producing greenhouse gases. (Nuclear has 'other byproduct'. Fast breeder reactors would have reduced the radioactive waste quantities but maybe Elon Musk has the solution. If he can send a Telsa into space in SpaceX he could take some waste each time and throw it at the biggest nuclear reactor in our Solar system. )

The mix of fossil fuel dependent generation varies greatly from country to country. France has a lot of Hydro in the French Alps, which at the moment generates 12% , and a lot of nuclear, at the moment 72% so that's 84% with no greenhouse gas - that's pretty clean.
If you want to see what it's doing now look here ... gridwatch - france

Privatisation of UK Generation was a setback for nuclear generation so the UK is still heavily dependent on Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT) which burn natural gas from the North Sea - which is a lot cleaner than coal. UK Generation mix is shown here ...
gridwatch - uk and if you want to know the CO2 emissions it's here ...gridwatch - uk co2 emissions

Burning natural gas in large quantities at central points allows cost effective means of reducing emissions with CO2 capture from CCGT flue gas - unlike the tens of millions of small domestic gas boilers that research indicates produce much more CO2 in total ...

What an arrogant Bastard you are!

[lotusflasherman]

What an arrogant Bastard you are!

Ha ha... an informed arrogant bastard though. I thought I did well to not just say you were talking bullshite, but there you go... When we are talking about 'saving the planet' it's important to separate the fact from the fiction... or we''ll all be like Trump.

Did you look at those links?

[clemo]

It can be

German scientist extracts diesel fuel from dead cats

A german inventor named dr. christian koch has invented a process whereby old tires, weeds, and animal cadavers (in this case, dead cats) are used to create high-quality bio-diesel. the process produces roughly 2.5 liters (under two-thirds of a gallon) of diesel per cat. dr. koch has driven 105,000 miles so far in his own vehicle on the fuel without any problems.

https://www.geek.com/news/german-scient ... ts-564518/

[GeoffSmith]

The return flights for 4000 miles were cheaper than for a 100 mile return trip by taxi

That's what happens when you ask your daughter to give you a lift and you let slip how much the car park was going to be.

It's called enterprise Geoff

PS they don't call Karyn the Kittyfiddler's daughter for nothing

Of course I hadn't factored in all the half-decent €2 bottles of wine / Cava that fit in the car/top box on the return journey. That's a saving of more than £3 a bottle.

[Simon_P]

. When we are talking about 'saving the planet' it's important to separate the fact from the fiction... or we''ll all be like Trump.

When we're talking about saving the planet it is important to know the source of the facts. Then it would be clear that vehicle emissions as a percentage of greenhouse gasses represent 2/10 of cock all.

Regards president Trump he doesn't go along with all the bullsxxt unlike the political classes who regurgitate it with deep knowledge. History will judge him kindly - he is already doing well.