I know you like to see keywords and spike your blood pressure, but I said what I said. All materials have their properties that have to be considered in deciding what and how to use them. I was discussing the tradeoffs involved in promoting more composites, towards the goal of much lighter cars and much better mileage.
J.
Didn't the Corvette come with fiberglass panels for a year or two back in the 1960s?
But yes, fiberglass has long been used for structural purposes on boats, but not for cars. Has to do with the nature of shock, load, and vibration required I guess - even if it is still used on some high-zoot motorboats as well as low-shock sail.
And some high-end sports cars are built with modern composite frames.
But that still leaves me somewhat unclear and speculating about why it isn't used more on the big auto fleet cars, the Civics and Accords.
J.
as i've said, but obviously not communicated, it's because easily dented/damaged/marked vehicles create much more downstream revenue than resistant ones. it's EASY to dent/damage/mark a steel panel. you can do it with your thumb. composites just spring back into shape.
Heh! My car is a 1985 New Zealand assembled (I'm in NZ) Honda City (AA)
5-speed manual (called variously Jazz or City, depending on what part of the world it was in). I have a 1987 version too that has frontal damage that I'm hoping to get fixed before my current one expires (it will be rust that takes it out, mechanically she's fine).I'm an invalid, on welfare, with a chronic back injury. The City has a tall roof and the seats go completely upright, which is the only position that I can (relatively) comfortably drive in. Also, being a two-door, the driver's door opens nice and wide, meaning I don't have to contort my back much to get in and out.
I've removed the back seats to reduce weight as I don't have any friends anyway (can't afford them on what the government gives me). I change the oil & filter every six months (I've done 35,000kn in the five years I've had it) and I get very good mileage. I keep all of my fuel reciepts (have to, money's so tight...) and set the tripmeter each time I fill up. I use 6.4 litres per 100kms average on mixed driving (60:40 town/highway), Highway I can get it down to 5.2l/100km.
My first job out of school was working in a service station (I'm 50) and I've always been 'mechanically-minded'. There's no computer chips in this old girl so I can do most all of the maintenance myself, morphine/back allowing. (It does have 'electronic ignition' so I'm not constantly messing with breaker points.) The power-to-weight ratio is much better than every newer ~1.3l car that I've driven as a potential replacement. LOL, back when I was thinking of replacing it I'd be really relieved to get back into the City after a test-drive as it's so nippy.
The highway speed limit here is 100km/h and it'll do it all day. Once or twice I've been late and sat on 120km/h easilly, with more underfoot. I'm a 'driver', I used to like powerful cars but my situation put paid to that. However, that said, the City's still fun to drive. It gets off the line pretty quickly (nothing keeps up around town, between intersections) and feels very sure-footed. The once or twice that I've had to take radical evasive action due to road hazards the car has felt fine, I'm sure it's not going to let me down.
If I had more money (and a garage :-[ ) I'd buy the best example of this model that I could find and restore it at my own pace, paying for things I can't do like paint, so that I wouldn't have to worry about another type of car for the rest of my life. I like it *that* much. It's perfect for my needs, ultra-reliable, cheap to run, easy to park (although I have a 'mobility parking permit' anyway) and fun to drive.
Just thought I'd share. :-)
I'm curious: why do you "have to" keep receipts just because money is tight?
(Money is tight everywhere; I'm wondering if I'm missing something important by not keeping receipts...)
I started keeping them so that, every six months or so, I can calculate average fuel consumption as either an early indicator of something going awry with the engine or as a sign that the air filter[*] needs replacing, timing should be checked etc. Each receipt has a note on it as to what type of driving took place (i.e. 'All around town' - 'Two long trips' etc.) and the tripmeter reading (since last fill).
I can do that from my desk in minutes. As an invalid it seems like a reasonable way of keeping my eye on (one aspect of) the car's health.
Oh, and the "money's tight" thing; It's not only so that I can check that the car's running economically, also I am at the not-so-tender mercies of our welfare system and am often called upon to show where my money's going. As a lot of my travelling is medically related (pharmacists will only dispense 7 days worth of 'narcotic' meds at one time f'r'instance, specialists aren't usually local...) and I need to produce evidence of my medically related vehicle costs.
[*] Consumables and parts for this car are getting increasingly hard to find. Honda themselves stopped supporting the car in 2005. I have a small stock-pile of some parts that I've bought from on-line trading sites, usually where parts shops are quitting their stock that's not moving or no longer in their catalogues.Cheers,
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