I think we are going to see natural gas cars spread across the U.S. like wildfire in the next few years. Just a few years ago, everyone was expecting peak oil to make driving very expensive. It has started to do that but we just recently found out that the U.S. has WAYYY more natural gas than previously believed thanks to new drilling techniques. All major auto makers already build natural gas cars for use in some countries but most of those were never offered here because there was little to. Now there is and it is just a logistics problem of getting enough stations built across the U.S. to make people think about buying natural gas cars.
One can also convert the gasoline vehicle they have now to a natural gas vehicle. Kits are sold to the public, but it sounds like something I’d let the pros handle.
We had some informed speculation about the moderate to longer term supplies of NG in this recent thread, just in terms of power generation. Neither of two of this board who might know best, Longhorn Dave and Una, would bank on what natural gas prices might do over a period of more than five years. I summarized their thoughts in this post:
Yes, right now, this year, this season, after a very mild winter, we have massive oversupply, so much so that they are potentially running out of storage space. Those who know best however are not so sure how long that circumstance will continue in a circumstance in which NG provides an increasing share of our power generation mix. Some would question the wisdom of building a new transnational NG vehicular refueling infrastructure with that much insecurity in supply-demand predictions.
Meanwhile that NG Civic costs over $8000 more than a similarly appointed Civic LX. And Honda not only advises against a home refueling station, they state use of one may void the warranty. (The maker of “Phill”, the residential NG fuel refiller once affiliated with the vehicle, went bankrupt in 2009.) If you want an option to use NG on a GM pick-up be prepared to fork over an extra $11,000. A conversion will cost you “anywhere from $6500 for a basic system to $12,000 for a top-of-the-line installation with a high-capacity, composite fuel tank.”
It is pretty clean though!
jtgain, how many miles do you think you will putting on this car over this year and a half?
My gf bought a new Versa a few years ago and has driven it over 40k miles since then. It still runs like new. It is solid and surprisingly powerful- you can get up to 65mph on the highway without even noticing. It is smooth and quiet and doesn’t break down. I think it is a great little car (and not so little- with the hatchback you can fit a lot of stuff in there).
:rolleyes: I’m saying that a 2 mpg improvement isn’t anything to write home about, especially considering the extra cost of a diesel engine (and the higher fuel prices.) not to mention that you’re stuck owning a VW which will fall apart around the engine in short order.
Diesels used to be significantly more economical than gas engines. that went away when we started expecting they be as performant and clean as gas engines.
that’s not how it works. The C520 is a new program, and it’s more correct to say the 2013 Escape and Kuga are being designed together as a global program.
Um, no it isn’t. Maybe the cars were “designed together” in the sense that Ford has been toying with the idea of replacing the Escape with it all along, but the 2013 Escape is going to be almost identical to the car that’s been sold in Europe since 2008. Other than the lack of goodies like diesel engines and manual transmissions. And as far as I know, the 2013 Kuga isn’t even getting so much as a facelift.
I’m on the product team. I know what the f I’m talking about. I was driving the f’n things 8 months ago. Here’s the current Kuga. And here’s the 2013 Kuga which is mostly the same as the 2013 Escape.
yes, stylistically it’s a smaller leap from the current Kuga vs. the current Escape, but as far as engineering goes the 2013 Escape/Kuga is a new model program, and they’re both practically brand new.
Well, if you say it’s different engineering-wise I suppose I’ll take your word. But stylistically, it looks pretty much identical to the car I rented in Europe two years ago.
that’s why I said it’s stylistically a smaller leap from the current Kuga. The “Kinetic” design language has been in place in Ford of Europe for a while now. that’s why the new C520 Escape/Kuga looks like a current Ford of Europe car. The 2013 C520 is built off of the Ford of Europe C-platform, but the vehicles themselves are mostly new, with new exterior styling, new powertrains, and new interiors.
They’re pretty nice.
Now, the C-Max, there’s a car which has been brought over from Europe.
My Sonic came in earlier than estimated, and I’ve been driving it for a little over two weeks. Loving it so far. Very fun to drive. Combined MPG is averaging in the high 30s (by both manual math and the dashboard computer). Got 41.2 mpg on the second-to-last tank, but 36-point-something on the most recent one. Most of our driving is highway miles. This model/engine is rated 26 city / 29 combined / 35 highway. I’m happy. 