Nonetheless automakers are taking substantial and prolonged hits, perhaps equaling damages sustained by the homebuilding industry.

And when you’re down, look out for antagonists ready to pounce.

Auto Industry is taking A Beating

Environmentalists, no-growth advocates and bicycle riders alike seem to be relishing the opportunity to kick a dying dog. Everyone who ever hated cars is chipping in.

Take, for example, excerpts from “50 Reasons Why Cars Suck” on Bike Reader.

Too many cars – The site says that the number of cars grew faster than the population. So? So did cell phones and personal computers.
Danger – With too many cars out there, accidents are bound to increase. Every day in America, an average of 121 people are killed in car accidents.
Danger Part II – With no cars there would be no drive-by shootings. We’re not making this up, Bike Reader actually published it.
Traffic – It is estimated that Americans spend 8 billion hours per year stuck in traffic.
Additional topics on the list include: global warming, oil addiction, waste, and plenty more.

The list must be taken with a grain of salt, as it was compiled by a website for bicycle enthusiasts.

Anyone can come up with a quick list of why bikes suck, such as: you have to physically make them move; bicycling in the rain or snow is no fun; those crotch-rash-causing little seats; and riding a bike also is dangerous regardless whether any cars are around.

Positives for Car Enthusiasts

It’s easy to criticize the automobile, but there are positives emerging. Emissions keep improving, and the popularity of hybrid engine-motored vehicles such as the Toyota Prius bodes well for the future.

Airbag placement and technology have improved greatly and airbags have actually become a marketing tool to sell new cars.

American car buyers have more choices than ever, with new models arriving from Europe, Japan and even South Korea. American automakers are borrowing ideas from overseas and delivering neat packages such as the Mini Cooper.

Then there is the social aspect.

A blog on Edmunds.com noted, “One of the great things about cars is that it can bring people with common (and not so common) interests together. And surprisingly often, those people don’t fit the stereotype of the typical car enthusiast. One such example is the Mini Skirts, a mostly girls Mini rally group based in Southern California.”

No Hope for a Compromise When Buying Cars Won’t Subside

Maybe there’s a middle ground. During the 2008 Olympics, China Car Times published an article about a Mini club promoting itself with a new invention.

A half-car, half-bike. Basically the vehicles are the back end of a Mini Cooper, welded to the front two-thirds of a bicycle so it’s motorized by a single bike pedal-pusher, with covered seating in back for two passengers.

Don’t hold your breath to see many of these things on American roads, but the concept is interesting.

The anti-car underground most likely will have none of it. With a proliferation of websites dedicated to their cause, including unabashedly one-sided missives such as Carectomy.com, there won’t be much reasoning in the debate.

Attacks on the car will never end, because Americans will always tap the automobile as the main mode of transportation. That’s because riding a bike to work sucks when you have to wipe off sweat, change clothes and fix your hair before clocking in.

Plus, it’s not reliable every single day, because the weather can scare even the most expert bicycle rider. Those days, you better have a car or a car-pool buddy lined up.

And let’s not even talk about getting to work in a metropolis like Los Angeles, where 40-mile commutes are the norm. Talk all you want about riding a bike to a train station, but that means a transfer of modes and time lost.

Americans demand convenience, and that fact is not going to change any time soon. Time is too valuable today.

Ultimately the car will always be around because Americans want everything as easy as possible. And who can blame them?

The post The Cars versus Bikes Battle Drags On appeared first on Cash for Cars Selling Tips.

Some people who drive flex-fuel cars know they are saving gas but they don’t always know that they are in a FFV.

Luckily, their production and use is slowly picking up in the United States.

What is A FFV?

The official name is flexible-fuel vehicles, or dual-fuel vehicles, for obvious reasons. They are alternative fuel cars using multi-fuel engines burning on gas and a second fuel source, most often ethanol.

In 2007, 17 models were listed as FFV, up from six the previous year, and only three in 2004-2005.

But American automakers are still far behind the world’s leader, Brazil, which today claims almost 72 vehicles produced there are flex-fuel.

According to Yahoo! Autos, some of today’s most popular flex-fuel 2008 models are Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Chevrolet’s Impala and Tahoe

There are 2 different kinds of flex-fuel systems

1. Single tanks which mixes different levels of bioethanol (or gasohol)
2. Independant tanks for each fuel system

Flex-Fuel Vehicles Have Been Around Awhile

It’s interesting to note that many automotive historians consider the first flex-fuel car to be a Ford Model T dating back to 1908, which had a carburetor that let the engine run adjustably on gasoline or ethanol.

Unfortunately widespread use has been slow in coming, not gaining much worldwide traction until the oil crisis of the 1970s, and in America the wait was even longer.

South American powerhouse Brazil has been pushing and selling ethanol as vehicle fuel since the gas-crisis ‘70s.

Automakers there quickly modified gas engines to allow use of ethanol by managing fuel injection and other technological advancements that help engines run better and longer.

By 2003, 4.8% of Brazilian-made cars were flex-fuel. The number has increased each year since, sometimes dramatically.

American automakers have gotten into the race. Ford claims to offer cars globally that use E85 – 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline.

Aside from the Model T long ago, Ford was one of the first domestic car producers to try flex-fuel. More recently, several Taurus sedans with 3.0-liter engines from 1995 to 1998 were FFVs.

In 2008, Chevrolet claimed to produce several flex-fuel cars in America, all with V6 or V8 engines, including versions of the Silverado, Tahoe, Suburban, Avalanche, Impala, and Uplander.

What Flex-Fuel May Mean for You

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates there are more than 6 million FFVs on U.S. roadways today.

They qualify as alternative fuel vehicles under the Energy Policy Act of 1992, and also qualify for AFV tax credits, not to mention they produce lower emissions for environmentally careful motorists.

The DOE claims flex-fuel cars are not dissimilar to vehicles that run on conventional gas alone.

Power, acceleration, cargo-carrying ability and more are comparable, whether motoring on ethanol or gasoline.

The only difference is lower fuel economy when flex-fuel cars run on ethanol alone.

The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition is promoting awareness for flex fuel vehicles. To determine if your car is E85 compatible you can use their eligibility feature.

There’s still a way to go. For example, the NEVC’s website lists locations who sell E85. The page for California has nine locations and in Southern California only one of them were located in Los Angeles

Here is there information:

Conserv Fuel
11688 San Vicente Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90049
310 571-0039

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