Fuel type for new car

[red750]

Bloody fuel companies. Jumped 29c again in Melbourne. ULP91 - $1.57c/l

 

 

[red750]

I've been reading about the problems with the Powershift automatic transmissions in Ford Focus, Fiesta and Ecosport, but cannot find out for sure which models are affected. Some reports say the petrol model is affected but the diesel is OK, other reports say the opposite.

 

Since my 1999 Festiva was written off by the insurer, and my 2000 Falcon could give up the ghost any day, I've been looking at adverts on the interwebby. There's a very nice looking 2010 Focus LX automatic tradein at a local Holden dealer, which, although 8 years old, looks more like 8 months old. I don't think anyone has sat in the back seat. I don't want to go back to the dealer and look too keen, and I didn't read about the transmission problem till after I had seen the car, so I wondered if anyone could advise whether this particular model is involved in the above problem.

 

PS. Just looked it up on another website (same car) and it says it is a 4 speed sports auto. 102,000 on the clock, just under $9,000 drive away.

 

[ATTACH]49311._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]49310._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

[spacesailor]

A $1.69 out west, Dubbo way still much cheaper than Avgas

 

By the way My Delica 2.8 lter is cheap as chips, over-all as we can sleep in it & save $150 a night on accommodation.

 

So fill the tnk at say $100, & each night gain $50, by not using motels, I might yet throw the passenger seats out of the Pajero, & turn IT into a camper.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[facthunter]

Too much dollars Red. Overpriced. Worth about $4,000 at best. You can get NEW cars for $15,000 drive away on low interest with good warrantee's and a lot better car than that one. Once out of warrantee some are not worth having . Some car warrantees are not worth much either depends on the brand, (and the dealer)..Nev

 

 

[spacesailor]

Maybe I shouldn't have, driver, plus Six passengers & luggage, It might get better economy?.

 

And the roof-rack with side-awning.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[red750]

Further to my post above on Apr 20 last year, my Falcon did die shartly after, and has sat in my driveway, unregistered for more than 6 months, collecting dirt, leaves, moss and mould. A guy came by yesterday, knocked on my door and offered to take it off my hands (drive) for $200. There were so many things wrong with ith thats about the best I could expect, and it would have cost me to have it towed to a wrecker. He came back with his truck and four $50 notes and got rid of it for me.

[facthunter]

I get a bit attached to things that have served me well. You have to keep the BAD mechanics away from them or they become rubbish..  I mostly do my own servicing/repairs but it's getting harder. Nev

[spacesailor]

My son-in-law's Ford Ranger , has Died !.

the cost of his extra bits , to get it to what he desired , makes a mockery of buying a standard vehicle.  ( the extra's cost the price of a small car ).

This time , smoke & steam come up from under the hood, doesn't look good . but a $ 100,000 ute. should have been bullet proof .

spacesailor

 

[onetrack]

The Ford Rangers have a nasty habit of blowing their EGR valve cooler apart. The EGR valve on them is water-cooled (engine coolant) and the coolant pipe attachment inside the cooler is faulty, and they split, and the exhaust gas gets pumped into the cooling system.

 

When this happens, the coolant is blown out of the overflow (very quickly) and by the time the driver realises what is happening, the engine is toast, running without coolant.

The best you can expect is a buggered head gasket - the worst outcome is the engine is cooked, and an engine rebuild is required.

 

Just one of the reasons why I no longer buy Fords, I got sick of all the components that are "slimmed down" by beancounters, until they only just last outside warranty, and never last the life of the engine.

 

 

 

[facthunter]

It's usually a fairly high mileage thing,  so just replace it before it fails. Any of these high output engines will destroy themselves if deprived of coolant for even a brief time if they are running at high power. NO Ranger costs $100,000 that I know of.  You have to wait about a year to get one currently  Nev

Edited January 5, 2023 by facthunter

[onetrack]

You could've fooled me on the last statement, Nev. Never seen so many new Rangers on the road, and in dealers yards, as at present, Ford must have wound the factory up into overdrive.

 

The new Rangers are starting to outsell Hiluxes, something that has only happened about 2 months out of the last 10 years.

 

https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/vfacts-november-2022-ranger-outsells-hilux-on-4x4-charts

[spacesailor]

$ 65,000

PLUS

long-rang fuel tank -beefed up suspension-heavy duty canopy -fitted drawers -water tank plus hot water heater n- snorkel -inverter -large powerbank battery system. mounted solar panels-UHF+HF radios.

Over $60,000 of extras ,

That's what their New Land Cruiser cost Without Anything added .

But it was to last throughout their retirement .  Fat chance when Ford uses faulty parts . I hadn't heard of the WATER Cooled E G R. 

Mitsubishi informs their 4m40 motor uses to blank the E G R , as it's BAD for the engine .

BUT maybe it's tells the Japanese this, not Australians.

spacesailor

 

[nomadpete]

Nissan Navara have a similar weakspot. They bring coolant across the front of the engine, to cool the EGR gas, via a thinwall, jacketed stainless steel tube which cracks and does a similar catastrophy to the engine. It must have been the flavor of the year for a bunch of inexperienced undergrad design engineers.

Just in case that isn't enough to stop owners from keeping cars too long, Nissan also, in their wisdom, run the heater coolant through the firewall via a plastic one piece double tube which tends to crack between the in and out, causing a slightly slower but no less costly end to an engine.

 

These days engine rebuilds are seldom done. Just discard the vehicle.

Edited January 5, 2023 by nomadpete

[facthunter]

Engine reconditioning is a thing of the past. It's cheaper to buy a genuine totally new one from the right source. Most people give them NO attention till they stop. Toyota has included its BASE Hilux in the tally and IF you drove one you would NOT buy it.. Believe Me.   Nev

[onetrack]

You mean the Unbreakable Hilux?? Ahhh, I dunno, I've still got a rough and ready 2004 Hilux Workmate traytop, they may be pretty basic, but they just keep on going!

 

 

 

 

[facthunter]

Is that the sort of bloke that buys them? All the ads go into the price you pay. Definitely better than a Suzuki Mighty boy.  Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

But not necessarily than a Suzuki Sierra!

 

But, sad to report, even Hi-Luxes in those days, broke. I was going up Mitchells Track near Jamieson in my ol trusty, if thirsty, HJ55.. Steep inclinse, deep ruts and rock climbing, all in one. Half way through, hit a traffic jam of 2 hiluxes. 1 blew its front hubs out, the other a cracked diff (they were trying to hold it together with a couplke of U Bolts).

 

Offered them help and a ride into town (had no towing stuff.. that is how confident I was of the Ol' 55).. but they thought they could get it all going again.

 

[Old Koreelah]

Recently had to replace my wife’s Peugeot 407, the best car we’ve owned.

After weeks of searching, we found the one we wanted, identical to our daughter’s: a 2016 model Hyundai i30 1.6litre diesel.

Very popular, reliable car with lots of safety features. After a few weeks we measured the average fuel burn at 4.7litres per 100km- 59.9mpg in old money. Should last us till the infrastructure for electrics is well enough developed for them to be viable in rural areas.

[red750]

I heard this today from my daughter, who is a passionate supporter of electric cars. If only she could afford one.

 

In Victoria, if you don't notify VicRoads of you kilometrage (is that a word?) and pay the EV tax, your registration will be cancelled without notice. You have to send photos of your odometer. If you have a hybrid, this means you pay the EV tax on total kilometers, including those on the ICE, for which you have paid petrol tax. Double dipping.

 

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I don't know if it is true or not, but the Victorian goveernment's approach to registering and requiring EV charges is considered out of kilter with the rest of the world. The charges are here: https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/registration/registration-fees/zlev-road-user-charge

 

In the UK, the registration cost is 0 for EVs (in the UK, registration does not cover third party insurance; registered cars havee to have it, but it has to be purchased through accredited insurance companies).

 

However, as the number of EVs increasxes, it has dawned on the UK guvmint that they will be seeing less revenues from ICE cars and there is discussion about how to recoup this, as well as the lost fuel duties.  Roads to have to be maintained, an hundreds of millions has to be waster putting in these smart motorways that have led to increased road deaths, after all.

[facthunter]

Quite clearly as a higher % of vehicles becomes electric powered the road costs will have to be recovered in a different way and the amount you use the roads should be part of it and the vehicles mass,. Any legal aspect of the "supposed" ANDREWS hit would easily be settled in a court and I doubt it's authenticity especially if you read it in the Herald Sun,'.  Nev

[red750]

We don't get the Herald-Sun, and damned if I'm gonna pay a pay-wall to read three articles a year.

[old man emu]

If you have a look at the registration papers for your car, I'm sure that you will find, amongst all the other "trimmin's on the rosary", an amount related to the weight of the vehicle - a weight tax. The USA used a value called the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce Rating to determine the horsepower of an engine and hence its tax liability. This rating was not related to Physics meaning of horsepower, which is the speed at which work can be done. It simply got that association as an easy way to explain the rating. My 45 cu.in side valve Harley engine has an NACC Rating of 6.05 from two cylinders of 2.75 inch diameter. However, the "developed power" which is what turns the back wheel  is, on average, 25 hp at 4600 RPM. 

 

The formula used to determine the rating was http://what-when-how.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/tmp261_thumb_thumb.jpg where D = the cylinder bore in inches; N = number of cylinders and 2.5 is a constant, based on the average view of eminent engineers as to a fair, conservative rating for a four-cycle motor at one thousand feet per minute piston speed. The 1000'/min can be calculated by stroke in inches x RPM. Not exactly E = mc^2, but at least it is consistent across all vehicles with internal combustion engines. 

 

So now we come to EVs. No cylinders. Constant torque at all RPM. How do you calculate a taxable horsepower? Mathematically, horsepower equals torque multiplied by rpm. H = T x rpm/5252, where H is horsepower, T is pound-feet, rpm is how fast the engine is spinning, and 5252 is a constant that makes the units jibe. For the Francophiles, Power (kW) = Torque (N.m) x Speed (RPM) / 9.5488

 

[facthunter]

Don't bother . Weight is a good index of road damage times Kms .User Pays. Might get rid of the 2  tonne vehicle with one in it. War tanks for school kid ferrying. Short trips stuff car engines fast, Nev

[old man emu]

13 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Weight is a good index of road damage times Kms

True. Problem is in setting the tax. I have received my renewal notice for the coupe. When I get the pink slip, the mileage will be recorded. That can be compared to last check's figure, and that will determine how many ks I've travelled over the past year. However, the rego papers have already been printed and the fee set. (Ha! Ha! No fee 'cause I'm old.)

 

It would be possible to link the mileage noted on this year's pink slip to my registration records to calculate how far I had travelled and therefore how much "road tax" I had to pay. But as it is, before I go to get the pink slip I know how much the rego will cost me. If I get the pink slip and half an hour later arrive at the registry to pay the fee, how will I know, before I reach the cashier, how much I will have to pay? The Government isn't going to register the car and then send me a bill.

 

The idea also falls down if I trade in the car mid-term. How would the government know how much to charge me for the usage up to when I traded the car, and how much to charge when I renew the rego for the new car? Actuall, whilw writing this I did think of a simple way. When I trade the car in, I have to notify the Gov't of change of ownership. The useage could be reported then, but it still leaves teh Gov't to send me a bill.