lost_within wrote:at one point diesel was much cheaper than everything but it also burns clearner and it gets way better gas mileage as long as your not driving say...an 18 wheeler.
Diesel does not burn cleaner - it can in some cases, but definitely not in a stop and go vehicle like a car. The problem is diesel is compressed instead of ignited, when you accelerate the compression isn't exact and might not burn off all the diesel in the piston. Thus the thick black smoke that spews out of diesel engines when you accelerate from a stop.
Diesel costs more then gasoline - for 2 reasons. Gasoline is made prior to Diesel, Gasoline comes out when crude oil is boiled at a much lower temperature then when you get Diesel. Meaning it takes more energy to get the diesel. Also diesel has to be "cleaned" before it is sold for pollution reasons. It basically combines some other chemicals with it so that upon compression their is a more likely chance it is all burned off.
Diesel gets way better fuel mileage in constant moving traffic, period, - Even in 18 wheelers. Just because an 18-wheeler gets 4 to 8 mpg depending on how loaded it is, doesn't mean gas gets better fuel mileage because a car gets 34 mpg. A semi is hauling upwards to 40 tons of steel down the interstate. If you compared this too gasoline 18-wheelers (which do exist) you get roughly 2 to 6 mpg depending the weight. And the amount of torque from the gasoline engine is much lower. Meaning you accelerate slower. BUT, in city driving (remember what I said in the first comment) gasoline 18-wheelers can perform better in theory because the burn of the gasoline is more efficient with no fuel burn off like what can happen in a diesel engine.
Though I have to say, despite the stuff they do to diesel, it still doesn't make sense it's a dollar more then premium gasoline. Gasoline still has cleaning and other chemicals added to it to up its octane level. And it is boiled for a much longer period of time to get the gasoline due to the low boiling temperature it takes longer. BUT, that isn't why it is more expensive, they just say that is why. Really the issue with it is the fact that diesel is the most consumed 'fuel' made from crude oil. Though there are more people that use gasoline, the average American only uses about 10 gallons a week. The average diesel engine user utilizes 100+ gallons a day. Imagine this a 18-wheeler driving from Miami to Los Angeles fully loaded at 80,000 lbs will require roughly 600 - 700 gallons of fuel just to get there in the 3 days that it takes (with two 8 hour sleeping breaks). Then probably another 200 gallons in pick up and delivery traffic in both cities. tack on the other 600 gallons to get back and a good truck driver who can do this trip in 8 days. You've got 1400+ gallons of fuel in just over a week. The equivalent of 140+ average American citizens with gasoline. All large scale machinery uses diesel, including ships, cranes, trains, trucks, on sight mobil generators, etc.
The commercial demand of diesel is the reason it costs so much. They can charge it.
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My only issue is the necessity for these high horse power vehicles. Why in Gods name does an average person need 200+ hp? You don't need it, you can still drive upwards to 90 mph in a 120 hp engine. And your average person drives 45 mph most of the time in traffic. In LA I would get really annoyed seeing these sports cars and SUVs sitting in traffic next to me with their 10 to 12 mpg consumption rates just idling away... WHY!? The driver of this vehicle has no need for this vehicle... not for natures sake, but for their own fucking sake. Why do they really need this much power? It's like buying the buffet and only eating a salad. What was the point?
If power hungry dousche bags would get off their asses and just think about it for a second. If you don't haul stuff for work or something, you don't need a pick-up, if you drive alone to work every day, you don't need a van or SUV, if you live in the fucking city where the average speed is 15 to 35 mph, you don't need a car that goes 210mph. Shit, I can't think of ANYWHERE you need a car that goes 210mph. Why have it!?
And the next time I'm in a parking area and the idiot in the Expedition in front of me slows down to 2 mph to go over the little speed bump, I'm gonna speed at 60 over the speed bump around them, cut them off, get out of my car and yank them from theirs and run over their head with their own SUV at 60 mph.
It's a SPORT UTILITY VEHICLE, built for off roading and large capacity passengers and load. I think it can handle a 6 inch raise in the ground with your 100lb body and 6 lb chihuaha in the passenger seat. Leave the SUVs for the soccer moms who need to lug 10 kids and football equipment around town. The rest of you go get a fucking subaru or toyota and quit being dousche bags.
-This message is from an anti-hippie asshole who eats vegans for breakfast. Fuck your self ego fulfilling dousche baggery and just use some fucking common sense.
[EDIT]
Oh and to you assholes from other countries. I've always wondered why you think we are so fat. I'm not fat, the town I live in is full of fit normal sized people. Then I got to LA, HOLY SHIT, they are FAT there. Sorry Europe, but it isn't Americans who are fat... it's Los Angeles... you know, Hollywood. Fuck you and fuck the fact that TV has influenced you just as bad as it infects us. Go eat it.
/end super angry rant from Dylan. I feel much better now. I'm back home and no longer have to put up with LA.
