Poor man's prius!

Exploderpilot said:
Jetta TDI is teh way to go... With a chip they easily get 55mpg or more and are fun to drive as well. Nothing like black clouds of fury when you suprise the hell out of a civic with a fart can. The good thing about the jetta is you still feel like you can survive an impact with something larger than a house cat and survive and have power to go over a mountain at highway speed.
Click to expand...

I think that a VW TDI powered CJ7 would be cool.

It can't be any more underpowered than my CJ with a an AMC 150.
 
Compare the weight of your "poor man's Prius" the the weight of a real one. Now compare the safety features your little tin can has to the air bags and curtains, crumple zones and other Government mandated weight adding stuff on the Prius.

A quick Google got me this:

1965 Mini Cooper curb weight = 1360#
2007 Mini Cooper curb weight = 2678

1988 Chevy Sprint curb weight = 1565#
2008 Toyota Prius = 2932#

In 1988 the average weight of a White Male age 20-29 was 168#
In 2007 the average weight of a White Male age 40-49 was 189#...and some of you ain't seen 189#'s in a long time :)
 
so you get taht heavy 4500lb Jetta and roll on laughing at priuses as you blow by them on the highway gettin better mileage, ,to increase this effect you downshift and stomp the accelerator to watch a black puff cover the prius' bumper.
 
lomodyj said:
Compare the weight of your "poor man's Prius" the the weight of a real one. Now compare the safety features your little tin can has to the air bags and curtains, crumple zones and other Government mandated weight adding stuff on the Prius.

A quick Google got me this:

1965 Mini Cooper curb weight = 1360#
2007 Mini Cooper curb weight = 2678

1988 Chevy Sprint curb weight = 1565#
2008 Toyota Prius = 2932#

In 1988 the average weight of a White Male age 20-29 was 168#
In 2007 the average weight of a White Male age 40-49 was 189#...and some of you ain't seen 189#'s in a long time :)
Click to expand...

The only safety features any of my other vehicles have is size and weight. Other than my wifes jeep, I only own one vehicle that is less than 20 years old and it is quickly approaching the two decade mark (1991 W250). How much safer are my CJ's?
 
Most of my vehicles have 3 key safety features.

1) Green pedal on the right
2) Red pedal on the left
3) Round thing that steers

I wish more drivers knew how to use them! :driver:

But seriously, I feel better with my wife and baby-on-the-way riding in her 2005 Jetta TDI wagon with all the airbags, stability control, etc. I myself don't mind driving a tin can like my Samurai, as long as I have life insurance to cover the family if something happened to me.
 
lomodyj said:
Compare the weight of your "poor man's Prius" the the weight of a real one. Now compare the safety features your little tin can has to the air bags and curtains, crumple zones and other Government mandated weight adding stuff on the Prius.

A quick Google got me this:

1965 Mini Cooper curb weight = 1360#
2007 Mini Cooper curb weight = 2678

1988 Chevy Sprint curb weight = 1565#
2008 Toyota Prius = 2932#

In 1988 the average weight of a White Male age 20-29 was 168#
In 2007 the average weight of a White Male age 40-49 was 189#...and some of you ain't seen 189#'s in a long time :)
Click to expand...


I make up for the lack of weight/airbags/crumple zones etc by being my own "fat bag"
Nothing like 100lbs of cushion when bouncing off of semi's.

Or something.
That being said, I'll stick with my theory of "being green" by just living close to work. I figured I may only get 15 mpg, but I only drive 15 miles a day.
I have former coworkers that drove from Fayetville to RTP each day, and bitched at me. (actually just this side of Fayetteville, but still) They drove "moderate" cars. Let's go for something less stuipd though and assume Fuquay to RTP. About 25 miles each way. So they drive 50 miles each day. So unless they were getting 50 mpg, I'm doing more for the environment than they are driving my lifted Jeep. :flipoff2:

See I'm saving the world. Or something.
 
I couldn't wait for a full tank to check the mileage, so I filled up after 110miles and it took 2.759 gallons.

So about 39.9 MPG.

I know that is not completely accurate, but I am sure that it is far better than the 12-15 that I normally get driving my jeeps etc.
 
I am looking for a VW TD to put in my 1995 Geo Tracker. it is 2wd and a 5sp. Some of the guys who have done it are getting 38-45 MPG with a 1.6 TD
Now I just need to fine the engine :shaking:
 
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