After seeing this on more than one occasion, truck manufacturers have made it on the blog.
Ford or GM or Toyota or Mazda or whoever is touting that their truck is the “most fuel efficient V8 in its class.”
Maybe I’m alone on this, but I never associated V8 engines with fuel efficiency. What I have associated them with is their owners.
The “never use the bed to haul anything, pavement loving, dirt hating, global consumption skyrocketing” truck owners who care more about their convenience than anyone else around them. Before you turn away in disgust, I think trucks serve a purpose…IF. If you are a contractor, own your own company, or use the back of your truck to haul something business related, 5 days a week, you should have a truck. You use it for what it was intended for.
If however, you own one of these monstrous wastes of money, natural resources and parking only to be able to put a semi-transparent, American flag/eagle mural on your back window, the federal government should fine you. A) Because you’re not using the vehicle as it was intended. B) Because you and your buddies are contributing to the highest gas prices ever and C) Because the only thing tackier than those American flag/eagle murals are the magnetic ribbons that adorn your tailgate.
(Tucks soapbox away)
My original point being…V8’s are not fuel efficient.
Coming to an ad campaign near you…HUMMER H3 – The most fuel efficient vehicle in it’s class.
This Life Journey 
I don’t get why the people out there who are buying new cars aren’t buying hybrids. Obviously, mroe and more people are, but the vast majority of new car buyers are not buying hybrids. I don’t get that.
Danny, here is my comment as I told you the otherday, no hard feelings…———————————-I could not agree more with you that trucks and other V8 vehicles consume more fuel than other vehicles with smaller engines, as well as the proper intent for trucks (to haul cargo on/off road). However I have some disagreement with you attributing V8’s to the prime cause of higher fuel consumption and prices, use of intention for vehicles, and the right to choose what you want to drive. It is true that any vehicle with a V8 engine is going to consume more fuel than a vehicle with fewer cylinders under the hood, but what it really comes down to is the driver and their habits. For instance, a V8 vehicle traveling at 55mph running at 1500rpm is not going to consume much more fuel than an Inline4 traveling at 65mph running at 2400rpm. The obvious reason for this is that V8’s have more power and torque than Inline4 or V6’s. The technical reason for it is Inline4 and V6’s have slightly larger cylinders allowing for more fuel and air to enter each. Because the smaller motor does not have the amount of power a V8 does, it run’s at a slightly higher rpm. So back to the driver’s responsibility, if the driver of the V8 truck is driving 55, and he gets passed by a car with a four cylinder like he is standing still, who is burning more fuel at that point? While were on the subject of fuel consumption, the industry standard where all vehicles are optimized for fuel efficiency is 55mph. People who drive in large metropolitan areas who are constantly stopping and starting at stop lights, and taking off like a race car drive up fuel consumption regardless of the vehicle. If were that worried about it then why don’t more people use mass transit?The general intent of any vehicle is to get the occupant(s) from point A to point B safely. When you have these super charged small car’s that have been modified with performance parts to make it go faster, this takes away from the car’s original intent along with encouraging higher speeds and faster startup times, thus using more fuel. Should these people be fined by the government for modifying their cars from the original intent?Lastly there is just the simple right to choose. If someone wants to drive a Honda Civic, then let them buy a Civic. If someone wants to drive a Hummer H3, then it’s their right as an American to purchase a Hummer H3. Saying that the government should fine all truck owners would not be constitutional. Saying that the government needs to fine all drivers who drive V8’s is practical and is happening. Whenever you buy a brand new vehicle with a V8, you are assessed with a Gas Guzzler Tax which usually comes to about 3-5% of the vehicles MSRP price. The buyer is choosing to pay that tax, they are choosing to pay more for that vehicle. If someone is speeding in any vehicle they are choosing to fill up their tank more often. If someone puts some magnet, bumper sticker, gigantic idol, mural, or whatever, it is their right to put that on their vehicle. Granted I agree that this was not the original intent of the car and that it looks tacky, but it is still their right as an American to choose to do so.Yes larger engine vehicles are a problem but the bigger problem is how people are driving them. I know that the author of the blog will be the first to say that I drove somewhat irresponsibly but things change.
Here is whats really funny. I own a car that at 65~70mph interstate driving I get somewhere in the neighborhood of 29mpg, in the city about 20 under city driving speeds. Your MPG’s may vary due to city layout, speeds, and of course, your habits. I just watched a commercial for one particular car that gets 24mpg it has a 3.5l V6 engine and runs on 87 octane pump gas. My car ? a 1990 Lexus with a 4.0l V8 that runs on albeit more expensive 93 octane gas. Now I don’t know what extra care is involved in making such fuel but I do know that if there was a distance “race” and how often either car would have to fuel up, It would be rather interesting on how much one would spend at the end of such travel. My point is this. fuel economy starts with the driver and the makers of the engine. Its one of those rare cases where smaller isn’t really all that more efficient. Its up to the engine makers and car makers to make their design more efficient. It’s up to the drivers to improve their habits when they drive.
Well first off I do drive a truck so I’m probably a little biased but second its not a v8 its a 4.9l inline six…slightly better mileage but not really…especialy not during the winter for what ever reason but anyway the point of my comment is this. Gas prices aren’t that bad if you compare them to the inflation on thousands of other products but its not truck drivers that are to blame its oil companies. Oil is not a rare resource as everyone thinks..due to knew methods of fossil oil recovery an oil field that would have only lasted 10 years in 1985 will now last 50+ years but oil companies mainly opec jack the prices since there is such a common belief that theres hardly any left and because more developing countries want it for construction. Next thing I am not a contractor nor am do I generally use my truck for business although it does happen sometimes..but I like most truck owners due actually use the bed and the hauling capability quite a bit..at least a few times a week. I also use the higher ride height and 4×4 to transverse the joke of a road system in the small towns around where I live..I don’t know where you live but during mud season and winter at least once a week I pull a freind with a car or smaller suv out of a ditch or snowbank etc. So I sorta understand your point but I think you are overly generalizing. Also suv drivers are much worse than truck drivers..they weigh more so worse mpg. and they rarely get used for sports or utility purposes. Just saying….oh one last thing those tacky fags and ribbons may be tacky to you but to a soldier they mean a lot thats why every vehicle i own has some form of one or the other on it. It seems like being patriotic now a days is a bad thing but i refuse to change that fact that I love AmericaTo seh…hybrids are more expensive usually less powerful and more ugly then normal cars..those things might not be important to you but if Im going to spend 30 grand + for a car its going to look good be powerful or a combination of both
hybrids are all together more expensive. . . my mom got a hybrid and she loves it, kudos for her, but i pride myself on being able to fix my own car, i have resurrected cars out of fields and have skated by on a budget that in no way was large enough to support owning an automobile, simply because i am able to fix them myself. The hybrid, while a step in the right direction for the auto-industry is NOT the solution. a muddled combination of antiquated 19th century and 20th century technology simply falls into McDonough’s quote, “less bad is no good.”hybrids are a lie and a hoax, they keep the automakers happy, because most mechanics do not have the tools or know-how to work on them, so you are forced to have repairs done at the dealership, and it keeps the fat cat oil companies with a smile on their face, because you still need gas to drive. So all the hybrid is doing is placating the desire for a solutions to our dependency on oil and production of greenhouse gases.I work in manufacturing in the midwest, and i wish to god the government would have let the detroit 3 fall, as debilitating as it would have been to our economy, as well as my own lively hood. The automakers in this country have been in bed with the oil industry for too long. There have been large advancements in the fuel efficiency of internal combustions engines, as well as proposals for other alternative power sources, but they have been repeatedly squashed and squirreled away through coersion.it saddens and scares me that due to this, no new means of mechanical propulsion have been invented since the jet engine. or maybe there has been, but the public never sees it, through our inability to see through second rate products and complete dependence on corporations and government to tell us what to do.
Its funny, the cost in carbon out put to produce a hybrid is so high that I could probably drive an old v8 for the rest of my life and still not produce the same amount of carbon output.
I have a 02 Nissian Xterra 3.3 v6.4×4 14mpg in town 18 freeway. 180 hp. Also a 02 Chev 1500 4×4 ex cab. 5.3 V8, 14 in town 18 Freeway. 285hp. The V8 is at least 35% more efficient.