My folks have been traveling here in Germany for the last six months, and have collected quite a few souvenirs and gifts to take home to the U.S. with them. Well, let’s say a hell of a lot of stuff. My father built a crate to ship it all home in, and it wound up being a tad over four feet long by three feet high by two feet wide. It weighs a mere 325 pounds.
Yesterday, we took this monster of a box down to the cargo center at the Frankfurt airport to be shipped. “How,” you ask? Quite easily. Furd and father Furd grunt and groan and manhandle this monster out of the workshop, and out to where the car is parked. We then heft one end and have mother Furd back the Furdmobile under. We then drop the box on the Furdmobile’s ass, and use lots of muscle to shove it inside. The whole process greatly resembled an anal virgin’s first experience with sex through the back door, except the Furdmobile had to get through the experience without the benefit of lubricants.
For those who haven’t heard of the Furdmobile before, I should perhaps explain. The Furdmobile is a Volkswagen Golf TDI station wagon with the 1.9 liter engine. This car (together with the patented Furd “Take it easy” driving style) gets phenomenal mileage. The Furdmobile and I have averaged over 55mpg since it was new (currently about 15,000 miles.)
So, fully loaded with said monster box, and two adults, the Furdmobile made the round trip from Meisenheim to Frankfurt and used a piddly 2.16 gallons of diesel fuel for the 131 mile round trip. That is 60 mpg, in a full size car with a heavy load at highway speeds. Granted, not typical German highway speed of “full speed ahead and damn the environment.” I tend to drive between 55 and 60 MPH and stay in the right lane with the big trucks that don’t go any faster.
All this just to say:
Who needs a hybrid car that gets 65mpg but can barely carry home enough groceries for lunch when I can get 60 mpg and haul monster loads or take Furd, Mrs. Furd, Furdette and Microfurd shopping for a weeks groceries in air conditioned comfort?
Yeah, but have you ever driven behind a TDI when it floored the accelerator? These things just vomit out black clouds of pure diesel soot. Fact is, while the TDI was class leading for a while, it’s getting long in the teeth. The fact that Volkswagen are trying to get more BHP out of it every year (there’s a 150 BHP one now!) doesn’t help either. Drive behind a Peugeot HDI or an Alfa JTD, and see how clean a diesel can be even if you floor it.
Of course, all diesels produce more soot than gasoline cars. Then again, you’re right: they do get better mileage, resulting in less strain on the environment than the average gasoline car. However, your 60 MPG is a hell of a lot dirtier than the 60 MPG of a hybrid car.
Ah well, nothing wrong with a Golf, though. Reliable, comfortable, and just a tad boring.
But who even needs that when they can get 60 MPG on aSuzuki GS500. OK, you can’t haul monster loads or even ride six months out of the year. But dollars to donuts it’s a heck of a lot more fun than any diesel VW.
That’s what I thought you were going to say to hybrid car drivers.
Hmmmm. The crusching acceleration I get when I tromp the gas pedal must be causing me to black out. I have never seen clouds of black soot gushing from the Furdmobile.
Hey! I own a Golf TDI. I don’t think it’s all that smelly. Of course, I’m not driving behind myself.
I am about to hit 1,000 miles on it. I’m driving an automatic, so my mileage is not as good. But I’m hoping that as I “break it in”, the mileage will improve and I’ll hit 40 mpg.
I’m thinking about referring to my car as “The Golf Ball”.
Driving at Autobahn speeds (say, 140 km/h), a modern diesel can easily reach 45 MPG. If you’re a laid back driver like Furd, 55 MPG on average is achievable, as you can see. Not out of the ordinary, although the same car with me as a driver would probably not exceed 50 MPG.
Max, have you ever heard of the Lupo Three Liter? Regularly available in Europe, it needs 3 liters per 100 kilometers (hence the name), or some 99 MPG. Unreal. Mind you, the thing has NO power, and has been stripped of all luxury. But it does it, if you keep it at a steady 100 km/h or so.
Mort Furd, wouldn’t it have been easier for your parents to mail the gifts to the recipients? I guess it might have been more expensive, but they’re going to have to deal with the crate again when they land in the U.S.
