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On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams ([personal profile] dewline) wrote2010-01-03 12:42 pm
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Cars? Me?

Blame/praise [livejournal.com profile] fajrdrako for this: she succumbed to the LJ Writers Block meme, after all.

So...if I were inclined to finally go get my driver's license, what kind of car would I prefer to drive above all others?

Probably a Smart ForTwo or a Prius if I could possibly afford such a beast. Unless something closer to ecologically sound with similar or better performance levels were to hit the market by the time I was able to decide upon the subject.

Shoe leather and buses and the occasional train still manage to meet most of my travel support needs, though.
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[identity profile] hawkward.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
You may wanna look into the Honda Insight if you want good gas mileage but not the Prius pricetag.

[identity profile] duncanmac.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
I also suspect that the Honda Insight is marginally more efficient; it is a series-hybrid rather than a parallel-hybrid as the Prius is.

See the following Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_electric_vehicle) for more details.

Re: Go for the Gusto!

[identity profile] dewline.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
Errrr...no thanks. Not unless I'm playing Batman in a TV version of The Cult (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_The_Cult). Then, we're really going to need one of those babies for an urban-combat Batmobile.

Re: Go for the Gusto!

[identity profile] radargrrl.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
 Maybe one of these then?



For the price of it, I just cannot see you in a SmartForTwo. It's too inflexible a car, designed to fit two people and some groceries and not much else. You seem far more practical than that.

Travel Needs

[identity profile] dewline.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
The Smart ForTwo pretty much fits most of my expected travel needs.

Re: Travel Needs

[identity profile] radargrrl.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
Feh!  Not much point in owning a car then.

It did say your dream car, after all.

 Maybe one of these?

Re: Travel Needs

[identity profile] dewline.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
What is that?

*blinks* Looks like something that would've been on the roads of the 1950's and '60's...?

Re: Travel Needs

[identity profile] radargrrl.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
Try again...

Re: Travel Needs

[identity profile] duncanmac.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Wow ... now there's a blast from the past.

IIRC, I last saw a vehicle like that when I went down with a "friend" to a convention at Pittsburgh in 1990. Hint: it was designed to seat more than your average large family. :-)

Re: Travel Needs

[identity profile] duncanmac.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
Another hint: the trailer hitch was **not** part of the original equipment.

Re: Travel Needs

[identity profile] radargrrl.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
It's actually a converted bus, more specifically an intercity coach made by a firm called 'Flxible' spelled just like that, in 1946.

I think they would have been quite ahead of their time in terms of aerodynamics, and far more interesting to look at than those ghastly GM 'New Look' fishbowl buses that were so ubiquitous at OC Transpo.

Doesn't this beat a Smart Car?

Re: Travel Needs

[identity profile] duncanmac.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
Ah. I thought it was something like that. Flxible kept making buses till the 70s, and I remember seeing a bus like that. [The Pittsburgh convention was one about vintage buses. :-)]

Wikipedia also has a page about Flxible buses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flxible).

Re: Go for the Gusto!

[identity profile] duncanmac.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
Not unless it's made by Mazda. See the Wikipedia article on the Mazda RX-8 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_RX-8) for more on that.

Re: Go for the Gusto!

[identity profile] radargrrl.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
RX-8 might as well be a beat up Protege compared with this Bugatti Veyron. It's made by VW, too, so the quality is there.

Hell, I'd take a 'Stang over any Mazda.

Re: Go for the Gusto!

[identity profile] duncanmac.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
But it wouldn't have a Wankel engine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankel_engine), would it? :-)

Re: Go for the Gusto!

[identity profile] radargrrl.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
Not even close...it's got an 8L W-16 engine with quad turbos, producing a max of 987 bhp.

If I wanted a 'rotary' style engine, I'd bypass that damn Wankel and head straight into turbine territory.

[identity profile] duncanmac.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
I do have a driver's licence, and I still would rather not drive. See my response (http://duncanmac.livejournal.com/43875.html) for more.
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