Text 4638, 204 rader
Skriven 2012-10-30 06:58:36 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
     Kommentar till en text av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
Ärende: We told you so, didn't we?
==================================
Roy Witt wrote to Robert Bashe on Sunday October 28 2012 at 10:33:

RB>> The streets you refer to above do exist in Germany, but mostly in
RB>> really small towns. If you're interested, look up the "Ploeck" (with
RB>> an Umlaut "o") in Heidelberg sometime - it's supposed to be the
RB>> narrowest street in Germany. No parking and you really have to be
RB>> careful - and have a narrow car - to get through it.

RW> By the same token, look up Lombard St...here's a good photo example of
RW> it:

RW> http://tinyurl.com/8awx2vq

Hell on wheels - but the Ploeck is still narrower, with 2-3 story buildings on
both sides. I drove it just once, then avoided it like the plague. I'd probably
do the same on Lombard Street.

RW>>> When I see car chases on Euro streets, it reminds me of driving on
RW>>> Lombard street in San Francisco...narrow, winding and at certains
RW>>> places, one lane only.

RB>> Never seen anything like that (either one lane or winding) except on
RB>> streets under construction. Oh, yes, and the "Ploeck" (but it's
RB>> straight, not winding).

Luckily, nothing like Lombard Street here.

RB>>>> The Mazda was originally classed as a mid-range car.

RW>>> Somebody was pulling the wool over your eyes?! 8^)

RB>> Matter of attitude. When you're used to a VW Beetle, anything is
RB>> larger ;-)

RW> I saw an example of why not to have one of those in a busy town like
RW> San Diego, c1967. It was hit by an American boat-sized car on the
RW> freeway and was opened up like a sardine can...no one in the VW
RW> survived.

The size differences are smaller here, but if you get hit by a truck, no car is
going to come through unscathed. The main thing is not to get hit ;-)

RW>>> Todays cars are designed to run on 10% and then there are the cars
RW>>> that run on 85% alcohol, 15% gasoline. That's the cheapest grade of
RW>>> fuel around, but its not for everyone.

RB>> We don't have the latter here, but otherwise you're right.

RW> Where do they grow corn in Europe in the quantities that it is grown
RW> here?

Why grow when you can import? But recently, ethanol has become rather "out"
here in Germany because it's often made from food crops and the big spreads in
the papers about increasing food prices in the Third World have made using food
crops to produce fuel for us "rich guys" pretty unpopular. That's in Germany -
I don't know what the attitude is in the States.

RW> Besides that, E85 makes for lousy fuel mileage because it takes more
RW> of it to make the same power...course, anybody who uses alcohol based
RW> fuel doesn't need a lot of power anyway.

Why? Not sure what you mean here.

RB>> The Agila (built 2005) was OK for 10% ethanol, and the Hyundai (2012)
RB>> is too. But we (Germans) still don't like buying hard liquor instead
RB>> of gasoline (but being taxed to death as if everything were
RB>> gasoline). As a result, the sales of such mixtures remains depressed.

RW> Yeah, but getting ripped off at $4.50/gal for the real thing, you get
RW> ripped off for the same fuel, less the alcohol.

$4.50/gal would be around EUR 0.92/L and dirt cheap here. We presently pay
around EUR 1.70/L for super (as mentioned, you can't buy regular anymore).
Around EUR 1.00 of that is tax.

RB>> ...diesel fuel is not taxed as highly as gasoline here.

RW> It sure as hell is here. It usually runs 20 to 30 cents a gallon more
RW> here than 87 octane regular.

Surprising. I wonder why? Can't be the tax, not in the States.

RB>> The reason being that the government taxes diesel trucks extremely
RB>> highly anyway (road tax higher than the neighboring countries), and
RB>> didn't want to kill off the German transportation industry completely
RB>> (or drive it to places like Belgium, where the taxes are lower). But
RB>> just to make sure private persons with diesel cars don't profit too
RB>> much, the goverment also increased the road tax (which you have to
RB>> pay every year if you own a car) for diesel cars.

RW> LOL! That's why the feds and states charge seperate taxes on fuel
RW> here. Depending on the state, taxes are different everywhere you go.

Must be a horrible problem when you move from state to state. The taxes here
are all federal, and stay the same regardless of where you are in Germany.

RB>> [Sigh] All of this ideology and "big-brotherhood". You figure it out
RB>> - I have to live with it.

RW> We have it too. How the feds figure that they can increase your
RW> Medicare premiums at 6% to 8% and your cost of living allowance at
RW> less than 2% (1.7% next year) is a mystery to me...

So they do that kind of stuff in the States, too... ;-/

I've seen calculations that the wages and pensions here have lost something
like 12% in buying power (adjusted for inflation) since around 2002, and I can
certainly believe it.

RB>>>> ;-) Our new Hyundai i20 will, too. And unfortunately requires
RB>>>> premium, but is at least fairly fuel efficient.

RW>>> Will it produce 305hp at the drive wheels and still get 26mpg? The
RW>>> Camaro can.

RB>> Jeez, Roy, who NEEDS 305 HP???

RW> Who needs 30mpg? If everyone drove a pos sub-compact and was satisfied
RW> with it, there wouldn't be any spice in your life.

;-) My personal attitude is that a car is there to get from point A to point B
with a reasonable amoung of comfort. But I once knew a guy who bought a Ferrari
just for the fun of it. It takes all kinds.

RW> Such a car is only good for transportation from point A to point B,
RW> but there's no fun in getting there...which is why they make Porches'
RW> and other high performance cars.

I know. Tastes vary.

RW> When I was a worker, the most enjoyable part of my day was driving a
RW> high powered car to and from work.

No traffic, no speed limits? I have trouble understanding that statement.
Sitting in a traffic jam is no fun whether you're in a Beetle or a Ferrari. But
it might be more frustrating in a Ferrari.

RB>>>> ;-( My problem at the moment is that the heat exchanger of the
RB>>>> heater in the passenger compartment appears to have a small leak
RB>>>> and on cold mornings tends to put condensate on the _inside_ of the
RB>>>> windshield.

RW>>> I had that problem with my 95 Camaro...it was a 1.5 hour R&R, done
RW>>> in my driveway...the heater core cost less than $50, shipped to my
RW>>> door, as I recall.

You can do such work, I can't. And in this case, you not only have to locate
and buy the core of a 20-year-old Mazda (which is not easy because of the age),
but must also remove the entire dashboard/instrument panel to get access to the
thing to replace it. It's not an easy job from what I've read in the Internet.

But it's also not a problem you generally encounter. I've never had anything
similar in my 55 years or so of driving.

RB>> That's a disadvantage with Mazda - spare parts come from Japan and
RB>> you pay the earth for them. Supposedly the Hyundai is better in that
RB>> respect - I certainly hope so.

RW> Spares for both can come from the USA for less...

If you're local. But have them shipped to Germany, what with shipping cost,
duty and VAT added, and you might as well buy them here. The stuff for the
Mazda, as mentioned, presumably comes from Japan, and the Hyundai parts come
from their factories in Turkey and the Czech Republic, which reduces shipping
and in the latter case also duty and tax.

RW>>> When all else fails, there's a liquid that you can use to seal most
RW>>> any leak like that. We call it 'water glass' but it has another name
RW>>> that I don't recall at the moment.

RB>> Waterglass is just fine - sodium silicate for a chemist. I don't know
RB>> what the guy at my favorite garage put in, but it seems to work at
RB>> least fairly well. Hope things stay that way.

RW> It's probably a mix of 'sodium silicate' and copper and aluminum
RW> chips...

I'd tend to doubt any metal components for the reason that they would tend to
block the radiator. Radiators, I was told when the one on the Mazda blocked
quite a number of years ago, have smaller channels than they used to, and can
be blocked even by a small amount of corrosion. My mistake was that I hadn't
used the car much and simply kept it in the garage most of the time - BUT
didn't have the coolant replaced every year. The coolant contains a corrosion
inhibitor and that fals with time, regardless of whether you drive the car or
not. After that experience, I have had the coolant replaced every year, just to
be safe.

RW> When we owned a 1979 Oldsmobile diesel, fuel actually cost less than
RW> regular gasoline (c1980) at 99cents/gal. I should have taken my dad's
RW> word for it and gotten rid of it sooner than I did, since in his
RW> opinion. a diesel engine is meant to do work and not suited for
RW> transporting humans around town. I eventually traded it for a gasoline
RW> powered Olds.

Mercedes diesels have an enviable reputation for long life here, and are still
often used as taxis. And diesal cars are still the most economical to own if
you drive long distances each year, because the fuel is less highly taxed. But
my appetite for a diesel car died the day the engine on my VW Golf diesel blew
on the Autobahn.

Cheers, Bob

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