Yeah. Some years ago Caltrans figured the freeways would not have
compression [too many vehicles] traffic jams ever if the average passengers
per car went from 1.1 or 1.2 to 2.2. Probably still true.

Sigh.

Mike

On 7/20/07 6:46 AM, "Karl Ploessl" <karl.ploessl@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> On 7/20/07, Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@comcast.net> wrote:
>> What I don't understand is why VW didn't bring their Lupo (RIP) over to the
>> US?  If the Smart Car has a market then surely the Lupo would have as well.
>> It was a three cylinder TDI that got around 78 mpg!  Take that "not so Smart
>> are we now Car"!  To me much of the debate over fuel economy could be handled
>> effectively and easily by a really old technology, diesel.  Hybrids aren't as
>> frugal.  Maybe plug in hybrids are more frugal but they are ten years away
>> (battery costs).  Electric cars (battery), E85 (gets less mpg in most flex
>> fuel cars), etc.  Diesel has been around since day one.  The modern TDI
>> engine is clean, efficient, reliable and can be serviceable for over 300k
>> miles.  Oh did I mention quiet and powerful (added bonuses for the Direct
>> Injection technology).  My parent bought a 2006 Jetta with the TDI engine.
>> It seats four comfortably, it has all of the bells and whistles that you
>> would expect on a modern car and gets between 40-50 mpg.  So you get your
>> fuel economy, and
>>  an actual car that is fun to drive to boot!  I would much rather drive a
>> Jetta than a Smart Car any day.  And as we have noted several times there is
>> a false economy of driving a two person car over driving a four place or
>> larger car.  You need to factor in not just mpg but also how many folks you
>> are transporting at that mpg.  If a Smart Car is only moving two people
>> around town and getting 60 mpg and a Jetta is moving 4 and getting 45 mpg,
>> the Jetta is actually more efficient and is getting almost double the mpg of
>> the Smart Car!
>>
>
>
> but...I look around and I notice that instead of two or four
> passengers there is mostly one person in the car......
>
> --
> Karl
> '81 Westy "Jenny"
> Wilmington, DE