The truth about the economy (Ok, maybe borderline soapbox)
-
I like spreadsheets. I constantly make spreadsheets for every aspect of my life because I love seeing how the numbers really affect life. I also enjoy pouncing real numbers on the clueless as many here have seen from the expected consultant rates I publish ( I really should put that on my blog). So today, while reading Google News I noticed yet again the constant babble about U.S. consumer confidence and articles about are we in a recession, yadda, yadda. So I says to myself, is it true? Economists are like politicians many times and reporters are all about ratings so what is true? Here are my findings: I used numerical averages for the United States for most values including average home price, and average income, as well as for credit card debt. Some assumptions assume CC debt is paid off in 5 years, and all mortgages are traditional 30 year fixed. Based on the national average household income of $48,000 the average american is left with -$935. This does not include luxuries such as vacation but does include niceties like cable and air conditioning. Also, my calculation uses extremely small numbers for Food and Clothing expenditure. ($550 a month for food and $100 a month on clothing) These are probably not as accurate because families consume exponentially more than a single man can guess and most women I know have a shoe budget exceeding that. My conclusion is that most Americans must, on average, spend a thousand dollars per year more than they make for a typical American lifestyle. With the decreasing value of the dollar, increasing price of food and oil, and increasing unemployment the U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way. Anecdotal evidence suggest some level of accuracy to my numbers since the average household credit card debt is $9500 and general consumer confidence indexes have plummeted. (I have too much free time)
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway -
I like spreadsheets. I constantly make spreadsheets for every aspect of my life because I love seeing how the numbers really affect life. I also enjoy pouncing real numbers on the clueless as many here have seen from the expected consultant rates I publish ( I really should put that on my blog). So today, while reading Google News I noticed yet again the constant babble about U.S. consumer confidence and articles about are we in a recession, yadda, yadda. So I says to myself, is it true? Economists are like politicians many times and reporters are all about ratings so what is true? Here are my findings: I used numerical averages for the United States for most values including average home price, and average income, as well as for credit card debt. Some assumptions assume CC debt is paid off in 5 years, and all mortgages are traditional 30 year fixed. Based on the national average household income of $48,000 the average american is left with -$935. This does not include luxuries such as vacation but does include niceties like cable and air conditioning. Also, my calculation uses extremely small numbers for Food and Clothing expenditure. ($550 a month for food and $100 a month on clothing) These are probably not as accurate because families consume exponentially more than a single man can guess and most women I know have a shoe budget exceeding that. My conclusion is that most Americans must, on average, spend a thousand dollars per year more than they make for a typical American lifestyle. With the decreasing value of the dollar, increasing price of food and oil, and increasing unemployment the U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way. Anecdotal evidence suggest some level of accuracy to my numbers since the average household credit card debt is $9500 and general consumer confidence indexes have plummeted. (I have too much free time)
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest HemingwayI must agree with your conclusion, you do have too much free time. One question, what are your assumptions/calculations for tax?
I'm largely language agnostic
After a while they all bug me :doh:
-
I like spreadsheets. I constantly make spreadsheets for every aspect of my life because I love seeing how the numbers really affect life. I also enjoy pouncing real numbers on the clueless as many here have seen from the expected consultant rates I publish ( I really should put that on my blog). So today, while reading Google News I noticed yet again the constant babble about U.S. consumer confidence and articles about are we in a recession, yadda, yadda. So I says to myself, is it true? Economists are like politicians many times and reporters are all about ratings so what is true? Here are my findings: I used numerical averages for the United States for most values including average home price, and average income, as well as for credit card debt. Some assumptions assume CC debt is paid off in 5 years, and all mortgages are traditional 30 year fixed. Based on the national average household income of $48,000 the average american is left with -$935. This does not include luxuries such as vacation but does include niceties like cable and air conditioning. Also, my calculation uses extremely small numbers for Food and Clothing expenditure. ($550 a month for food and $100 a month on clothing) These are probably not as accurate because families consume exponentially more than a single man can guess and most women I know have a shoe budget exceeding that. My conclusion is that most Americans must, on average, spend a thousand dollars per year more than they make for a typical American lifestyle. With the decreasing value of the dollar, increasing price of food and oil, and increasing unemployment the U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way. Anecdotal evidence suggest some level of accuracy to my numbers since the average household credit card debt is $9500 and general consumer confidence indexes have plummeted. (I have too much free time)
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest HemingwayEnnis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
the average household credit card debt is $9500
Depending on the source, I've seen numbers even higher. People that do that are insane. :omg: I use credit cards all the time but I ALWAYS pay the full balance each month and therefore never pay a penny in interest.
-
I must agree with your conclusion, you do have too much free time. One question, what are your assumptions/calculations for tax?
I'm largely language agnostic
After a while they all bug me :doh:
7.5% Fica, 18% effective, Standard deduction. A little high, but then that helps to include state income tax too.
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway -
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
the average household credit card debt is $9500
Depending on the source, I've seen numbers even higher. People that do that are insane. :omg: I use credit cards all the time but I ALWAYS pay the full balance each month and therefore never pay a penny in interest.
-
I like spreadsheets. I constantly make spreadsheets for every aspect of my life because I love seeing how the numbers really affect life. I also enjoy pouncing real numbers on the clueless as many here have seen from the expected consultant rates I publish ( I really should put that on my blog). So today, while reading Google News I noticed yet again the constant babble about U.S. consumer confidence and articles about are we in a recession, yadda, yadda. So I says to myself, is it true? Economists are like politicians many times and reporters are all about ratings so what is true? Here are my findings: I used numerical averages for the United States for most values including average home price, and average income, as well as for credit card debt. Some assumptions assume CC debt is paid off in 5 years, and all mortgages are traditional 30 year fixed. Based on the national average household income of $48,000 the average american is left with -$935. This does not include luxuries such as vacation but does include niceties like cable and air conditioning. Also, my calculation uses extremely small numbers for Food and Clothing expenditure. ($550 a month for food and $100 a month on clothing) These are probably not as accurate because families consume exponentially more than a single man can guess and most women I know have a shoe budget exceeding that. My conclusion is that most Americans must, on average, spend a thousand dollars per year more than they make for a typical American lifestyle. With the decreasing value of the dollar, increasing price of food and oil, and increasing unemployment the U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way. Anecdotal evidence suggest some level of accuracy to my numbers since the average household credit card debt is $9500 and general consumer confidence indexes have plummeted. (I have too much free time)
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest HemingwayEnnis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way
Oddly enough I was thinking exactly the same thing this afternoon. I happened across a blog post on the Vertigo website about how chuffed someone was about his decreased fuel consumption[^]. I tried to post a snide comment about how European and Japanese cars are much better but what-da-ya-know the site crashed. So because I couldn't get it off my shoulders then I'll do it here :rolleyes: He said on his blog post that by driving at 55mph he managed to average as nears as makes no difference 30mpg. To put this in context I'll give you three cars I've had experience with. We've got an '03 reg Suzuki Swift (old style) which the only time we've actually measured the fuel consumption was when I drove it hard[^] (as in averaging 65+mph for the whole journey) across a road called the Heads of the Valleys which goes from England into Wales, this consisted of a big chunk of motorway, mountain dual carridge-ways, single track roads, A-road and country lanes. The car (a 1l 3-cylinder petrol) averaged 48.5mpg. Our second vehicle is a '93 reg LWB Mitsubishi Shogun[^] and I drove that down from Scotland, filling up in Crieff and with the cruise set went down the motorway at 70-75mph then drove it hard through the night down through the mountain roads through Mid-Wales. It is worth noting tha
-
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way
Oddly enough I was thinking exactly the same thing this afternoon. I happened across a blog post on the Vertigo website about how chuffed someone was about his decreased fuel consumption[^]. I tried to post a snide comment about how European and Japanese cars are much better but what-da-ya-know the site crashed. So because I couldn't get it off my shoulders then I'll do it here :rolleyes: He said on his blog post that by driving at 55mph he managed to average as nears as makes no difference 30mpg. To put this in context I'll give you three cars I've had experience with. We've got an '03 reg Suzuki Swift (old style) which the only time we've actually measured the fuel consumption was when I drove it hard[^] (as in averaging 65+mph for the whole journey) across a road called the Heads of the Valleys which goes from England into Wales, this consisted of a big chunk of motorway, mountain dual carridge-ways, single track roads, A-road and country lanes. The car (a 1l 3-cylinder petrol) averaged 48.5mpg. Our second vehicle is a '93 reg LWB Mitsubishi Shogun[^] and I drove that down from Scotland, filling up in Crieff and with the cruise set went down the motorway at 70-75mph then drove it hard through the night down through the mountain roads through Mid-Wales. It is worth noting tha
25 mpg has been easy to achieve and many American vehicles achieve that with great ease. However, your Swift, I doubt meats safety standards so would be more akin to a motorcycle class over here, which we commonly see at over 75mpg just no one wants to drive them. My current vehicle is a 2004 Pontiac GTO (Holden) 6 speed with 28 mpg and a lot of HP. I think efficiency of American cars is not really that big of an issue more the choice of American consumers to pick cars and trucks which are not as efficient because of other goals. Btw, my F-250, 4 door Diesel was a 5-ton behemoth and could achieve 24mpg on a good day (18 on average) and when called to duty could tow nearly 20 thousand pounds. (And was a 4x4)
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway -
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way
Oddly enough I was thinking exactly the same thing this afternoon. I happened across a blog post on the Vertigo website about how chuffed someone was about his decreased fuel consumption[^]. I tried to post a snide comment about how European and Japanese cars are much better but what-da-ya-know the site crashed. So because I couldn't get it off my shoulders then I'll do it here :rolleyes: He said on his blog post that by driving at 55mph he managed to average as nears as makes no difference 30mpg. To put this in context I'll give you three cars I've had experience with. We've got an '03 reg Suzuki Swift (old style) which the only time we've actually measured the fuel consumption was when I drove it hard[^] (as in averaging 65+mph for the whole journey) across a road called the Heads of the Valleys which goes from England into Wales, this consisted of a big chunk of motorway, mountain dual carridge-ways, single track roads, A-road and country lanes. The car (a 1l 3-cylinder petrol) averaged 48.5mpg. Our second vehicle is a '93 reg LWB Mitsubishi Shogun[^] and I drove that down from Scotland, filling up in Crieff and with the cruise set went down the motorway at 70-75mph then drove it hard through the night down through the mountain roads through Mid-Wales. It is worth noting tha
While American cars DEFINITELY need to do better than they do currently, my understanding is that European cars (particularly diesels) have lesser emissions standards and that adds significantly to the equation. VW & Honda have developed cleaner diesels that will be introduced in the US very soon.
-
25 mpg has been easy to achieve and many American vehicles achieve that with great ease. However, your Swift, I doubt meats safety standards so would be more akin to a motorcycle class over here, which we commonly see at over 75mpg just no one wants to drive them. My current vehicle is a 2004 Pontiac GTO (Holden) 6 speed with 28 mpg and a lot of HP. I think efficiency of American cars is not really that big of an issue more the choice of American consumers to pick cars and trucks which are not as efficient because of other goals. Btw, my F-250, 4 door Diesel was a 5-ton behemoth and could achieve 24mpg on a good day (18 on average) and when called to duty could tow nearly 20 thousand pounds. (And was a 4x4)
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest HemingwayEnnis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
I doubt meats safety standards
From what I remember it's got a 3 star NCAP rating so that makes that statement irrelevant. True but those car's I gave the example of are not what you'd call typical. There are a lot of Beemers and Audis around as well as VWs etc which are now achieving a minimum of 40mpg and that's what makes the difference. Think of it this way, comparing your Pontiac to something like an Audi A4 and there's a big difference. Even if you go up to an RS4 the figures aren't that far off and (I'm probably biased here) but performance wise the RS4 would probably win. Going to 4x4s a comparable one to the F-250 would be the Land Rover Discovery 3 which will easily tow 20,000lbs (considering my old Series III from 1983 which weighs in at 1.5 tonnes can pull 10,000 with it's winch alone :rolleyes:). However I do agree the technology is there, it's just people don't use it and it's just worse in the states than over here was all I was getting at. There are still some cars which would whoop an american's for fuel consumption (although the Hummer is pretty hard to beat). If you go for the V8 petrol sport then you could easily average <10mpg in that, an Evo VIII holds the record for Top Gear's highest fuel consumption beating a Lambourghini which had 4mpg and achieving 3.2mpg.
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
-
While American cars DEFINITELY need to do better than they do currently, my understanding is that European cars (particularly diesels) have lesser emissions standards and that adds significantly to the equation. VW & Honda have developed cleaner diesels that will be introduced in the US very soon.
Mike Mullikin wrote:
have lesser emissions standards and that adds significantly to the equation.
That I think is the case as well. Don't the American's also have slightly different fuel to what we have over hear. I remember Clarkson mentioning something that if you run a Koenignseggyywhatsit on European fuel you'll get another 60bhp compared to what the American's can. Of course wait until everyone cottons onto bioethanol[^] then things will get more interesting. I love that Nemesis will out accelerate Aston Martins (so goodbye to almost all American muscle cars) and is exempt various charges because it's ecofriendly, yet still averages about 10mpg :cool: Can't wait to see how that stacks up in the Dakar, apparently Bowler have been the most consistent competitor in the Dakar and this is shaping up to annihilate the competition from what "experts" are saying. Which isn't bad for two British brothers up against multi-national organisations.
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
-
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
I doubt meats safety standards
From what I remember it's got a 3 star NCAP rating so that makes that statement irrelevant. True but those car's I gave the example of are not what you'd call typical. There are a lot of Beemers and Audis around as well as VWs etc which are now achieving a minimum of 40mpg and that's what makes the difference. Think of it this way, comparing your Pontiac to something like an Audi A4 and there's a big difference. Even if you go up to an RS4 the figures aren't that far off and (I'm probably biased here) but performance wise the RS4 would probably win. Going to 4x4s a comparable one to the F-250 would be the Land Rover Discovery 3 which will easily tow 20,000lbs (considering my old Series III from 1983 which weighs in at 1.5 tonnes can pull 10,000 with it's winch alone :rolleyes:). However I do agree the technology is there, it's just people don't use it and it's just worse in the states than over here was all I was getting at. There are still some cars which would whoop an american's for fuel consumption (although the Hummer is pretty hard to beat). If you go for the V8 petrol sport then you could easily average <10mpg in that, an Evo VIII holds the record for Top Gear's highest fuel consumption beating a Lambourghini which had 4mpg and achieving 3.2mpg.
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
Don't forget to factor in the cost of these vehicles. The R4 with the biggest engine which is 100hp shy of my GTO is $37,500 and the RS4 starts at $66k. (From the Audi website) Dollar for dollar an American made car is a much better deal at least state-side. (Ok, and Toyota and Honda).
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway -
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
the average household credit card debt is $9500
Depending on the source, I've seen numbers even higher. People that do that are insane. :omg: I use credit cards all the time but I ALWAYS pay the full balance each month and therefore never pay a penny in interest.
I have had a lot more than that but for a long time (till I bought a house) I had about the same amount in stock. My credit cards were all 2.9% or less ( I still have $15K @ 2.9%) and I was making 3 to 4 times that a year on my stocks so no reason to pay the credit cards off..
John
-
I like spreadsheets. I constantly make spreadsheets for every aspect of my life because I love seeing how the numbers really affect life. I also enjoy pouncing real numbers on the clueless as many here have seen from the expected consultant rates I publish ( I really should put that on my blog). So today, while reading Google News I noticed yet again the constant babble about U.S. consumer confidence and articles about are we in a recession, yadda, yadda. So I says to myself, is it true? Economists are like politicians many times and reporters are all about ratings so what is true? Here are my findings: I used numerical averages for the United States for most values including average home price, and average income, as well as for credit card debt. Some assumptions assume CC debt is paid off in 5 years, and all mortgages are traditional 30 year fixed. Based on the national average household income of $48,000 the average american is left with -$935. This does not include luxuries such as vacation but does include niceties like cable and air conditioning. Also, my calculation uses extremely small numbers for Food and Clothing expenditure. ($550 a month for food and $100 a month on clothing) These are probably not as accurate because families consume exponentially more than a single man can guess and most women I know have a shoe budget exceeding that. My conclusion is that most Americans must, on average, spend a thousand dollars per year more than they make for a typical American lifestyle. With the decreasing value of the dollar, increasing price of food and oil, and increasing unemployment the U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way. Anecdotal evidence suggest some level of accuracy to my numbers since the average household credit card debt is $9500 and general consumer confidence indexes have plummeted. (I have too much free time)
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest HemingwayI have taken some pot-shots at Americans because of this...not out of maliciousness, but frankly, I'm seriously worried about them, and about us all in the western world...I don't want to hear about another Repuplican or Democrat in Washington...I want to hear about a Red Blooded American in the White House and not some cult crony of the Democrats or some Old Boys Club crony of the Republicans...both parties would be condemned for treason in the eyes of the Founding Fathers of the United States, the way I see it. I really hope that the United States of America pulls itself together in the Eleventh Hour and continues to earn the right to call themselves 'Leaders of the Free World' Amen
-
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way
Oddly enough I was thinking exactly the same thing this afternoon. I happened across a blog post on the Vertigo website about how chuffed someone was about his decreased fuel consumption[^]. I tried to post a snide comment about how European and Japanese cars are much better but what-da-ya-know the site crashed. So because I couldn't get it off my shoulders then I'll do it here :rolleyes: He said on his blog post that by driving at 55mph he managed to average as nears as makes no difference 30mpg. To put this in context I'll give you three cars I've had experience with. We've got an '03 reg Suzuki Swift (old style) which the only time we've actually measured the fuel consumption was when I drove it hard[^] (as in averaging 65+mph for the whole journey) across a road called the Heads of the Valleys which goes from England into Wales, this consisted of a big chunk of motorway, mountain dual carridge-ways, single track roads, A-road and country lanes. The car (a 1l 3-cylinder petrol) averaged 48.5mpg. Our second vehicle is a '93 reg LWB Mitsubishi Shogun[^] and I drove that down from Scotland, filling up in Crieff and with the cruise set went down the motorway at 70-75mph then drove it hard through the night down through the mountain roads through Mid-Wales. It is worth noting tha
My 04 Corolla was built in California and gets around 35mpg average and well over 40mpg on long road trips. Nothing stellar, but a pretty well balanced car considering I paid ~13K for it and it is roomier that a comparable civic. I still own a 95 4Runner with 223K miles on it that I take out of the garage when I need to haul heavy loads and go camping which turns once or twice a month.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
-
I like spreadsheets. I constantly make spreadsheets for every aspect of my life because I love seeing how the numbers really affect life. I also enjoy pouncing real numbers on the clueless as many here have seen from the expected consultant rates I publish ( I really should put that on my blog). So today, while reading Google News I noticed yet again the constant babble about U.S. consumer confidence and articles about are we in a recession, yadda, yadda. So I says to myself, is it true? Economists are like politicians many times and reporters are all about ratings so what is true? Here are my findings: I used numerical averages for the United States for most values including average home price, and average income, as well as for credit card debt. Some assumptions assume CC debt is paid off in 5 years, and all mortgages are traditional 30 year fixed. Based on the national average household income of $48,000 the average american is left with -$935. This does not include luxuries such as vacation but does include niceties like cable and air conditioning. Also, my calculation uses extremely small numbers for Food and Clothing expenditure. ($550 a month for food and $100 a month on clothing) These are probably not as accurate because families consume exponentially more than a single man can guess and most women I know have a shoe budget exceeding that. My conclusion is that most Americans must, on average, spend a thousand dollars per year more than they make for a typical American lifestyle. With the decreasing value of the dollar, increasing price of food and oil, and increasing unemployment the U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way. Anecdotal evidence suggest some level of accuracy to my numbers since the average household credit card debt is $9500 and general consumer confidence indexes have plummeted. (I have too much free time)
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway -
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
I doubt meats safety standards
From what I remember it's got a 3 star NCAP rating so that makes that statement irrelevant. True but those car's I gave the example of are not what you'd call typical. There are a lot of Beemers and Audis around as well as VWs etc which are now achieving a minimum of 40mpg and that's what makes the difference. Think of it this way, comparing your Pontiac to something like an Audi A4 and there's a big difference. Even if you go up to an RS4 the figures aren't that far off and (I'm probably biased here) but performance wise the RS4 would probably win. Going to 4x4s a comparable one to the F-250 would be the Land Rover Discovery 3 which will easily tow 20,000lbs (considering my old Series III from 1983 which weighs in at 1.5 tonnes can pull 10,000 with it's winch alone :rolleyes:). However I do agree the technology is there, it's just people don't use it and it's just worse in the states than over here was all I was getting at. There are still some cars which would whoop an american's for fuel consumption (although the Hummer is pretty hard to beat). If you go for the V8 petrol sport then you could easily average <10mpg in that, an Evo VIII holds the record for Top Gear's highest fuel consumption beating a Lambourghini which had 4mpg and achieving 3.2mpg.
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
Ed.Poore wrote:
an Evo VIII holds the record for Top Gear's highest fuel consumption
You don't even need to go to the Evolution Series, the Mitsubishi Lancer (the base car for the Evo) was my previous car. Man that think stank when it came to gas consumption. I don't have accurate figures but I remember borrowing my mum's car at the time (a '96 E200 Elegance Auto-transmission car with the works which has a 2.0 L engine) and it beat the socks off of for fuel consumption in comparison with the Lancer (a 1.6 L engine auto-transmission as well). I'm sure there was something wrong with the car and I took it to the dealer as well as several other certified mechanic's, but it was such a bad experience that now I frown at any and every Mitsubishi Except the Pajero/Shogun
"Every time Lotus Notes starts up, somewhere a puppy, a kitten, a lamb, and a baby seal are killed. Lotus Notes is a conspiracy by the forces of Satan to drive us over the brink into madness. The CRC-32 for each file in the installation includes the numbers 666." Gary Wheeler "You're an idiot." John Simmons, THE Outlaw programmer "I realised that all of my best anecdotes started with "So there we were, pissed". Pete O'Hanlon
-
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way
Oddly enough I was thinking exactly the same thing this afternoon. I happened across a blog post on the Vertigo website about how chuffed someone was about his decreased fuel consumption[^]. I tried to post a snide comment about how European and Japanese cars are much better but what-da-ya-know the site crashed. So because I couldn't get it off my shoulders then I'll do it here :rolleyes: He said on his blog post that by driving at 55mph he managed to average as nears as makes no difference 30mpg. To put this in context I'll give you three cars I've had experience with. We've got an '03 reg Suzuki Swift (old style) which the only time we've actually measured the fuel consumption was when I drove it hard[^] (as in averaging 65+mph for the whole journey) across a road called the Heads of the Valleys which goes from England into Wales, this consisted of a big chunk of motorway, mountain dual carridge-ways, single track roads, A-road and country lanes. The car (a 1l 3-cylinder petrol) averaged 48.5mpg. Our second vehicle is a '93 reg LWB Mitsubishi Shogun[^] and I drove that down from Scotland, filling up in Crieff and with the cruise set went down the motorway at 70-75mph then drove it hard through the night down through the mountain roads through Mid-Wales. It is worth noting tha
We have a bit of an advantage over here, though. Most of our cars are not automatics...
-
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
the average household credit card debt is $9500
Depending on the source, I've seen numbers even higher. People that do that are insane. :omg: I use credit cards all the time but I ALWAYS pay the full balance each month and therefore never pay a penny in interest.
Mike Mullikin wrote:
People that do that are insane.
That is precisely the case. My wife has a borderline case of bipolar disorder, which really started manifesting itself five years ago. In a little under two years, she had maxed out our credit cards to the tune of around $34,000. We also had a leased car repossessed that I ended up owing $9500 on. I just finished paying those off, with the help of a non-profit credit counseling company. Given a choice, I will never, ever, ever have another credit card :suss:.
Software Zen:
delete this;
Fold With Us![^] -
Mike Mullikin wrote:
People that do that are insane.
That is precisely the case. My wife has a borderline case of bipolar disorder, which really started manifesting itself five years ago. In a little under two years, she had maxed out our credit cards to the tune of around $34,000. We also had a leased car repossessed that I ended up owing $9500 on. I just finished paying those off, with the help of a non-profit credit counseling company. Given a choice, I will never, ever, ever have another credit card :suss:.
Software Zen:
delete this;
Fold With Us![^]Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
Given a choice, I will never, ever, ever have another credit card
At the end of this month, I pay my last $1,2k on the second of two credit cards I have paid off over the last two years. I will never, ever, ever default on a credit card again.
Semicolons: The number one seller of ostomy bags world wide. - dan neely
-
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
U.S. is definitely behind the curve in a bad way
Oddly enough I was thinking exactly the same thing this afternoon. I happened across a blog post on the Vertigo website about how chuffed someone was about his decreased fuel consumption[^]. I tried to post a snide comment about how European and Japanese cars are much better but what-da-ya-know the site crashed. So because I couldn't get it off my shoulders then I'll do it here :rolleyes: He said on his blog post that by driving at 55mph he managed to average as nears as makes no difference 30mpg. To put this in context I'll give you three cars I've had experience with. We've got an '03 reg Suzuki Swift (old style) which the only time we've actually measured the fuel consumption was when I drove it hard[^] (as in averaging 65+mph for the whole journey) across a road called the Heads of the Valleys which goes from England into Wales, this consisted of a big chunk of motorway, mountain dual carridge-ways, single track roads, A-road and country lanes. The car (a 1l 3-cylinder petrol) averaged 48.5mpg. Our second vehicle is a '93 reg LWB Mitsubishi Shogun[^] and I drove that down from Scotland, filling up in Crieff and with the cruise set went down the motorway at 70-75mph then drove it hard through the night down through the mountain roads through Mid-Wales. It is worth noting tha
Disclaimer up front, I've bought a Toyota Prius and I'm getting about 60mpg (imperial). Whenever you have a discussion between US and UK drivers on fuel consumption, you have to remember we're not working with the same units. We (UK) quote fuel economy in miles per (imperial) gallon, they (US) quote it in miles per (US) gallon. One US gallon is 3.785 litres, one Imperial gallon is 4.546 litres, making the UK gallon 1.2 times larger, so you'd expect 20% more miles per UK gallon than US. My consumption compares favourably with that of a US driver getting 45mpg from his Prius (54mpg Imperial). The models are not, however, completely identical. You also have to remember that the quoted figures are based on a standard test procedure which is performed on a rolling road and is therefore not subject to wind resistance. This makes the quoted figures unachievable in practice. In addition the EU test is done in temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius, something that very rarely happens in the UK. (That said, on a nice day a few weeks back I did get a reported 65.1mpg for the day's commute, although drivers report that the Prius on-screen consumption display can be quite inaccurate.) The emissions standards are based on the different test procedures between the US and EU and are therefore not really comparable. Ultimately the undesirable emitted compounds come from incomplete combustion and non-hydrocarbons in the input. The ideal combustion formula reacts (burns) hydrocarbons with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water, but insufficient oxygen/too rich fuel produces carbon monoxide (CO) instead of CO2, while too much oxygen/too lean mix causes some nitrogen in the air to react with the excess oxygen to produce nitrogen oxides (NOx). The catalytic converter turns the undesirable NOx back into nitrogen gas (N2) and oxygen (O2), adds oxygen to CO to produce CO2, and burns off any unburnt hydrocarbons to produce CO2 and water (ideally). As a proportion, the EU standards appear to allow more NOx to CO than the US standard, but this may be an artifact of the different test cycle rather than an actual difference in output. California's LEV (Low Emission Vehicle) standard allows 3.4 grams per mile of CO (source[^]) while the EU permits only 1.0g/km (1.6 g/mile) (
