Do You Know Someone With An E85 Vehicle?

[Busyman]

It's funnny when there's the really bad snow falls and you see people with 4x4 SUVs driving with 2 wheel drive (you can tell ).

What is considered a really bad snowfall? I drive all the time in the snow in 2wd despite the fact that my truck has 4x4. why waste the gas when I don't need all four wheels driving (actually two wheels due to open differentials, but that is another story)? I have rairly seen a condition in my 18 years here in montana that would require a good driver to engage 4x4 on pavement. The times I have seen usually involve leaving the paved surface involentarly (no, having 4x4 engaged would not have helped), and 4x4 might get you on the road without a towtruck. however, if all four tires (or even one front tire and one back tire due to open diffs) are on the same surface that 2wd couldn't get you off of, 4x4 won't help. Learn to drive in snow before you decide that you need a 4x4 crutch. Remember, usually, the 2wd version of a truck will be lighter, get better gas milage, have better acceleration, better stopping, better handling, and be cheaper to work on. if your tires don't touch dirt, go with the 2wd and throw some sand in the back in the winter (same for a 4x4).

Well around here we rarely get snow like you do so using the 4WD crutch (or as you say 2 wheels, 1 front, 1 back) is smarter than not using it.

If you drove in snow everyday it does make sense to save on the gas.

My coworker that got stuck would have benefited greatly from 4x4 (and numerous others I know). I know of course it means shit on ice.

Also 4WD looks like only couple grand more.

What do you use your truck for, btw?

...and do you know anything about ethanol fuel?

[Tempestv]

mostly it is my transportation from school to home once a month, when my friends and I throw a lan party. about 250 miles, but 90 of it is on a two lane road in an area that regularly gets five feet of snow (or more), and is not maintained (plowed) thankfully the wind takes the snow off the road surface. if you go off the road, your sol of course, five feet of powder at least, no cell phones and a good chance that the next house is five miles away with the next vehical eight hours away.
my truck is a '90 mazda b2600i that I bought for $700. I use the bed to haul my tools as I often need them at home, plus all my computer shit, and still have room for some unexpected stuff. (my car's trunk was tapped out with just the tools) plus, I haven't gotten the chance being so busy with school, but a little 4x4en can be pretty fun on some two track.

funny you should ask about ethanol, I wrote some long message with storys that I have seen of the inportance of 4x4 here in montana, plus a ton on ethanol in the quick reply, and forgot that I was not logged in, and when I went to post, lost everything. here gos again

For hauling lumber or audio equipment, get a truck. specificly, get a 3/4 ton crew cab pickup with a diesel and a six speed stick. plenty of space for people and stuff, goes down the road burning a gallon for every 20+ miles, plenty of power and you can burn biodiesel if it is avalable. If a pickup is not what you are looking for, Ford sells cargo vans and the excursion (suv on a 3/4 ton truck frame) with a diesel engine.
as for ethanol, most of the time, there is a mileage drop, with high levels of ethanol making low gas milage figures. however I have read reports of tests of cirtian kinds of e10 treatments that cause the milage to go up. I would assume that the same would be true if e85 was treated the same way. when it comes to gas prices however, more important than MPG is Miles Per dollar, and because ethanol is so much cheaper than gasoline, that is where ethanol wins out. the higher the percentage of ethanol, the cheaper per gallon the gas is, and overall, with a higher percentage of ethanol, you are going to pay less to go the same distance. of course, you will have to fill your tank more often, or install a larger tank, but I think I could live with that. another consideration is that in colder weather, an ethanol fueled vehical will have a harder time starting. some people up against this problem have got a dual feed system- start the car on a little gasoline and then switch over to ethanol when the car warms up some. Remember that you should only convert to e85 if there is an e85 filling station near you. you can run up to b30 in unmodified cars. on older vehicals, high amounts of ethyl alcohol could potentially eat the hoses, newer vehicals have changed materials so that this is not a concern. as for high performace, a bottle of everclear has an octane rating of 123, you do the math. all the stuff I said here applies equally to biodiesel as well, exept that biodiesel has higher gas milage, will run in an unmodified engine, and currently costs more per gallon (some argue that other factors make biodiesel cheaper, plus biodiesel is expected to drop in price, mineral diesel is not, Willie Nelson intends to sell his Willie Diesel for $1.79 a gallon). Both alternitive fuels are generally regarged as easier on the engine, buring cleaner, and as a result, less time between oil changes, less clogged injecters, ect, basiclly overall less damage to the engine (as long as you got the new hoses and such that don't get eaten by the fuel), plus, cleaner burning means less emmisions. does that answer your questions?

as for the intresting storys, I have seen Honda Accords go where Jeeps got stuck because the guy driving the Jeep was from california and didn't know shit about driving on snow. the look on his face was priceless as we were hooking up chains to pull him out and this little car goes right by us with out a concern in the world, while his jeep is stuck in his own driveway.

[Busyman]

mostly it is my transportation from school to home once a month, when my friends and I throw a lan party. about 250 miles, but 90 of it is on a two lane road in an area that regularly gets five feet of snow (or more), and is not maintained (plowed) thankfully the wind takes the snow off the road surface. if you go off the road, your sol of course, five feet of powder at least, no cell phones and a good chance that the next house is five miles away with the next vehical eight hours away.
my truck is a '90 mazda b2600i that I bought for $700. I use the bed to haul my tools as I often need them at home, plus all my computer shit, and still have room for some unexpected stuff. (my car's trunk was tapped out with just the tools) plus, I haven't gotten the chance being so busy with school, but a little 4x4en can be pretty fun on some two track.

funny you should ask about ethanol, I wrote some long message with storys that I have seen of the inportance of 4x4 here in montana, plus a ton on ethanol in the quick reply, and forgot that I was not logged in, and when I went to post, lost everything. here gos again

For hauling lumber or audio equipment, get a truck. specificly, get a 3/4 ton crew cab pickup with a diesel and a six speed stick. plenty of space for people and stuff, goes down the road burning a gallon for every 20+ miles, plenty of power and you can burn biodiesel if it is avalable. If a pickup is not what you are looking for, Ford sells cargo vans and the excursion (suv on a 3/4 ton truck frame) with a diesel engine.
as for ethanol, most of the time, there is a mileage drop, with high levels of ethanol making low gas milage figures. however I have read reports of tests of cirtian kinds of e10 treatments that cause the milage to go up. I would assume that the same would be true if e85 was treated the same way. when it comes to gas prices however, more important than MPG is Miles Per dollar, and because ethanol is so much cheaper than gasoline, that is where ethanol wins out. the higher the percentage of ethanol, the cheaper per gallon the gas is, and overall, with a higher percentage of ethanol, you are going to pay less to go the same distance. of course, you will have to fill your tank more often, or install a larger tank, but I think I could live with that. another consideration is that in colder weather, an ethanol fueled vehical will have a harder time starting. some people up against this problem have got a dual feed system- start the car on a little gasoline and then switch over to ethanol when the car warms up some. Remember that you should only convert to e85 if there is an e85 filling station near you. you can run up to b30 in unmodified cars. on older vehicals, high amounts of ethyl alcohol could potentially eat the hoses, newer vehicals have changed materials so that this is not a concern. as for high performace, a bottle of everclear has an octane rating of 123, you do the math. all the stuff I said here applies equally to biodiesel as well, exept that biodiesel has higher gas milage, will run in an unmodified engine, and currently costs more per gallon (some argue that other factors make biodiesel cheaper, plus biodiesel is expected to drop in price, mineral diesel is not, Willie Nelson intends to sell his Willie Diesel for $1.79 a gallon). Both alternitive fuels are generally regarged as easier on the engine, buring cleaner, and as a result, less time between oil changes, less clogged injecters, ect, basiclly overall less damage to the engine (as long as you got the new hoses and such that don't get eaten by the fuel), plus, cleaner burning means less emmisions. does that answer your questions?

as for the intresting storys, I have seen Honda Accords go where Jeeps got stuck because the guy driving the Jeep was from california and didn't know shit about driving on snow. the look on his face was priceless as we were hooking up chains to pull him out and this little car goes right by us with out a concern in the world, while his jeep is stuck in his own driveway.

Hell yes that answers my questions!!

Another concern will be the cost difference between an E85 (GM calls it Flex-Fuel) truck and a regular gasoline truck.
Also I have been reading about a number of E85 stations coming to my area.

I saw you mentioned the Ford Excursion. I thought that truck was discontinued. I know it also got 10 mpg.

I had considered getting a small pickup with 4x4 but now I want something all inclusive. At one point I considered a 4-door pickup.

Many folks in my area get an SUV just to be in big truck but don't use it for shit. I never considered certain SUVs (or pick-up) before because of their fuel economy. Since I moved into a bigger house in 2004 in "farmland" it's been a pain having constantly borrow my uncle's pickup for stuff or have friends help out.

I also plan on buying a boat 2nd half of 2008 to 2009. I'll probably be on a long strike in August of '08 and would have to concentrate on paying my mortgage.

If these fucking trucks were more fuel efficient, I'd have had one in '04 (maybe sooner).

It's amazing that now SUVs are made like cars. They have no room, can't haul for shit, and cost a shitload of money.

All these Lexus trucks, the H2 and H3, FX35/45, BMW trucks....they have no fucking room. Yet people pay all this money 'cause of a name with little function.

I guess SUVs have received "sexy" status like cars now but why get a TRUCK when the fact that it is a truck adds to it's price?

[Tempestv]

on the excursion, it was discontinued due to safety, improved, and reintroduced. it gets shitty gas milage with the 6.8L V10 gas triton, but what can you expect. far as I know, it is the same frame, tranny, drivetrain and such as the F-250, just with a permenent hard top. 10mpg is all you can expect out of one of those big trucks anyways with the 6.8 v10 anyways. it is the diesel that makes it so efficent. I have no problem with a truck if you are going to use it. it is all the fucktards that have big trucks just because it makes them powerful or something. expecally the ones that lift their truck way above what they need to for the tires they are running (ever heard of center of gravity?) or do everything in crome on a lifted truck (with all that crome, arn't you worried about scratches off road? oh yea, no off road in your lifted 4x4) If you ask me, the H2 is the most rediculess thing in the world. the H1 was desined for a purpose, and I like it, but the H2 was desined for the express purpose of looking cool and no other reason. the whole idea is nuts. (besides they look like shit, and the fact the modified ones that you see are all jacked up on crome or rubbing rockers kinda lowers any trail cred it had) I have seen them that do look good, but they are extensivly modifyed, on a new frame, new suspention, ect. one was an SUT, that had the back end extended out to a full bed, and all the decritive stuff like the plastic airlift shackels and radiator vent on the hood were modified to be functional. hopefully when school gets out I am going to get my dream truck, a '68 Kaiser Jeep M715 5/4 ton pickup, put in a 360 fueled by propane, replace the bed and front fenders to mount bigger tires without a lift. all those "bling" accessorys don't intrest me, my current truck does not even have a radio, and there is a match book and a chunk of fuel hose stuffed in between dash panels to keep them from rattling.

[Busyman]

on the excursion, it was discontinued due to safety, improved, and reintroduced. it gets shitty gas milage with the 6.8L V10 gas triton, but what can you expect. far as I know, it is the same frame, tranny, drivetrain and such as the F-250, just with a permenent hard top. 10mpg is all you can expect out of one of those big trucks anyways with the 6.8 v10 anyways. it is the diesel that makes it so efficent. I have no problem with a truck if you are going to use it. it is all the fucktards that have big trucks just because it makes them powerful or something. expecally the ones that lift their truck way above what they need to for the tires they are running (ever heard of center of gravity?) or do everything in crome on a lifted truck (with all that crome, arn't you worried about scratches off road? oh yea, no off road in your lifted 4x4) If you ask me, the H2 is the most rediculess thing in the world. the H1 was desined for a purpose, and I like it, but the H2 was desined for the express purpose of looking cool and no other reason. the whole idea is nuts. (besides they look like shit, and the fact the modified ones that you see are all jacked up on crome or rubbing rockers kinda lowers any trail cred it had) I have seen them that do look good, but they are extensivly modifyed, on a new frame, new suspention, ect. one was an SUT, that had the back end extended out to a full bed, and all the decritive stuff like the plastic airlift shackels and radiator vent on the hood were modified to be functional. hopefully when school gets out I am going to get my dream truck, a '68 Kaiser Jeep M715 5/4 ton pickup, put in a 360 fueled by propane, replace the bed and front fenders to mount bigger tires without a lift. all those "bling" accessorys don't intrest me, my current truck does not even have a radio, and there is a match book and a chunk of fuel hose stuffed in between dash panels to keep them from rattling.

I liked the Cadillac Escalade ESV partly for the bling factor.

I know I'd never buy one though...it's not practical and it costs like 80 grand.

Isn't the Excursion bigger than the Suburban?

Btw, I've been in an H2. It isn't even roomy inside and doesn't the sense of head room other SUVs have. All the shortcomings at 60+ grand.

[Tempestv]

I liked the Cadillac Escalade ESV partly for the bling factor.



I know I'd never buy one though...it's not practical and it costs like 80 grand.

I hate "Bling" Krylon paint and tube rocksliders for me

Isn't the Excursion bigger than the Suburban?

Yes, Excursion is the biggest SUV currently for sale. I think the Suburban is based on a 1/2 ton chassis

Btw, I've been in an H2. It isn't even roomy inside and doesn't the sense of head room other SUVs have. All the shortcomings at 60+ grand.

yea, it shocks me how they managed to take a massive external shell and give it so little interior room. where did it all go? it's not like an h1 where the the passengers share interior space with the engine, tranny and transfer case, so where did all that space go?