Diesel power

[Barry]

Diesels are usually known for their low down torque and pulling ability but these badass machines have some serious horsepower and acceleration.

 

[salmanahmed]

With sea level to rise by 6 feet by year 2100 due to greenhouse gases, i think it's time to act more responsibly. Our generation has already done enough damage to this planet and i think we should leave a good legacy for the next generation.

Having said that, love that engine revving. Its awesome, but it's time to change our ways.

[Barry]

Yes, I agree. We are killing the planet. But when you have a look around and see how unnecessary most of the vehicles here are, huge unnecessary 4x4s that never leave the Tarmac, big v8 passenger cars that never see a race track or get the chance to go over 120, you soon realise that it will take a lot to make people change their ways. I'd guess most people here could survive with a little 1.0 city car like a Polo or a Fiesta but hey, where's the fun in that?

[husain1]

many countries already implemented engine size cap and uae is already planning to do the standardization in early 2017 and start rating cars as per fuel efficiency. I assume the idea behind this act must be to say bye bye to nasty gas guzzlers in coming years.

[treks]

I agree with @Technician. However,I don't think we as drivers and car owners are  the real problem. The real problem is the gangs of marketing experts the car makers use to appeal to our vanity. 

In really competitive societies it does not take much to persuade a junior manager that he can feel as powerful and important as the CEO- all he has to do is buy a big truck with all the bells and whistles to give him that false sense of power,  and feeling of being superior to his juniors who cannot afford a big flashy truck.

I think one sure-fire way to reduce the number of unnecessarily large and powerful vehicles is for governments the world over to set limits to the amount of money car makers can spend on advertising vehicles that serve no useful purpose. For instance, car makers cannot advertise big trucks like Dodge Rams and Ford F150's for recreational purposes, and they can only be sold to legitimate business and contractors who tend to use trucks for the purposes they were designed for- to haul medium sized loads.

The same should go for powerful V8 cars. If you don't participate in motor sport, you can't buy one.

What do you guys thing of this idea? Crazy, or good for the planet?

[Gaurav]

I beg to differ guys here because I do drive V8 Mustang and still don't participate in Motorsport. All my life I have been 4x4 guy and changed plenty of suv and 4x4 that I was bored to death after 15 years. To change my league I turn to sports car and tried Mustang as I always use to love it's design since my school days. After owning one, for little over a year now I do enjoy it everyday and the best part of it is the zippiest acceleration to beat all the odds on the road daily. I don't over-speed, but yes I do accelerate fast that help me connect the herd of slow driver on daily basis.

Everyday I witness these herd of slow tailgating drivers - 50-60 cars driving slow as one car in front is not in mood to drive fast in fast lane and rest all are the lazy driver or ignorant driver to follow them at 80 on the road of 120 blindly. As soon as I cross one herd I see more than 500 meter - 1 km of empty road (I'm serious) and connect to another herd. In such scenario car with crazy fast acceleration helps a lot and it helps more than 10-20 times a day to move in and out yet SAFELY.

I don't find Mustang comfortable enough, but just due to it's crazy fast acceleration I'm still driving and enjoying daily on Dubai roads. So according to my experience @treks and @Technician I don't like your suggestion and governments or car companies should come up with better rational (no offence).

In my eyes, I think sticking to efficiency and emission control is better and more practical than resting on engine size or number of cylinders to be more fair to save the world resources and control pollution. My Mustang reading in last test in March 2016 was

• Petrol CO: 0.04%
• Petrol HC: 27 PPM VOL
• Mileage: 11-12 L/100 (When not pushed) and 14-15 L/100 (when pushed)

[salmanahmed]

It's really very nice to see that people are now talking about CO2 emission and there are people like @Gaurav and @treks that can throw good and solid stats and figures to convince others. 

@Technician i do agree that we governement needs to take quick and concrete step to help reduce CO2 emissions asap. 

[salmanahmed]

@husain1 I think we can start off by creating awareness in our social circles. Our best chances for convincing anyone is with someone we know. But that doesn't mean we can't use social media and forums  

[Danny]

I so agree that sports car is best to deal in dumb traffic situation, and not only autodrome circuit. I have driven once in autodrome and it's fun and thrilling but for quick short moment (that's it) buying sports car is not fully satisfying logic unless you are a professional racer and want to perfect your lap time on daily basis.

[treks]

@Gaurav makes an excellent point in that fast accelaration can be a safety feature, but you don't need a V8 to get good acceleration. There are many smaller cars with smaller engines that eat Mustangs alive, and they use less fuel doing so than the Mustang does by just trying to keep up.

I submit that smaller cars with smaller engines can be just as much fun to drive as any Mustang or Corvette, but for all that, we have to admit that the planet is in real trouble. One Mustang may not contribute to the problem in any meaningful way, but the problem is that there are millions of Mustangs and Corvettes that do play a major part in global warming, as in fact, all internal combustion engines do.

Developments in fuel efficiency and emission control can only go so far. In fact, some emission control devices like DPF filters on diesels wipe out most of the advantages of other emission control measures. The real solution to the problem of emissions requires the development of entirely new automotive technologies. One solution might be steam power, but a suitable heat source is a little problematic at this time.

Somebody once sugested that small nuclear reactors might work, but the idea of hundreds of millions of nuclear reactors on the roads seems more of a nightmare than all of the billions of internal combustion engines in operation today can ever be.

One day in the not-too-distant future the oil WILL run out, and with the poor performance and range of most electric cars, it seems that electricity is not a viable alternative.  Any ideas on alternative power plants for cars of the future?