|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Activities
Nor'easter News
Car Care
Membership
Other Cool Stuff
Sponsors & Advertisers
|
Porsche
Club of America
Four
Speeds & Drum Brakes
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
It seems that everyone is talking about the price of gasoline these days. The more things change the more they stay the same. As a country we have been down that road before, in fact many times before. People seem to have forgotten about the oil embargo of 1973-1974. That's when we saw the price of gas go from 35 - 40 cents to over a dollar. Gone were the days when a dollars worth of gas would get you home from anywhere. Three gallons in a VW that got 33 miles to the gallon would run the car back and forth to school all week. Even if times were tough and the gauge was on E you could always get enough change from under the floor mats to make it home. But not after 1973, for the there were lines at the gas station and suddenly everyone had a short chunk of green garden hose in their trunk "just in case". Back in those years I was in the car business and as luck would have we sold cars that got great gas mileage. Audi had two models, the 100LS and the Fox. Both were front wheel drive, four cylinder cars that could go 25 to 35 miles on a gallon of gas. Those numbers don't compare to the current crop of hybrids available but back when the average Chevy got ten miles per gallon it was pretty impressive. As we look back we could say that it was a terrific design but poorly executed. You don't see any examples of either model as they didn't age well at all. The Porsches of the period were the 911 at 20 mpg and the 914 at 33 mpg both on regular gas and at least one of those has aged very well.. The Northeast Porsche distributor took advantage of the situation and had stickers made for the 914 that said "Save Gas in Style" and had them affixed to the center of the rear window of every new car. We were rather hard on folks who came in with the sole purpose of improving their fuel mileage. After we had explained the efficiencies of front wheel drive and likened the ride to the Olds Toronado the only question they had was "what's my car worth?” In most cases we were looking at a Cadillac, Buick or Oldsmobile, most with low mileage and in great shape. To establish value, our first question was to ask how much gas was in the tank or if it was older, "what did it weigh ". As the shortages of gas got worse the wholesale dealers were dropping their numbers to the point that I can remember telling customers that we couldn't take their car in trade for any figure. In many cases a year’s savings in gas wouldn't have covered the first car payment on the new ride but we weren't there to do math problems for customers, we were there to sell cars. So we let people come to their own conclusions, there are worse reasons to buy a new car besides fuel consumption. Here we are 32 years later and while I haven't been in the car business for many years, I have followed the industry closely. Some great strides have been made in the design and manufacture of the modern day car. Front wheel drive is the norm not the exception and small engines in small cars perform better that the muscle cars of our youth. However some things have not changed, take for instance the recent rise in fuel prices. There is no question that manufactures build what people will buy. People wanted SUV's bigger and heavier that their neighbors, they build them. People wanted bigger gas tanks so they wouldn't have to stop so often at ten mpg, they put in 44 gal tanks. Just think about those numbers, 44 gal at $3.00 and up per gallon, that's what we used to call a car payment not a gas stop. People wanted hybrids that sipped gas like a motorcycle, they got it, but at what price? I'm told that the new Toyota Prius, the advanced new hybrid, will get 60 mpg highway and 40 mpg in the city while the old standby Corolla will show numbers of only 40/33. When you sit down and do the math you'll discover that if you live on the Mass Turnpike and do only highway driving it will be 180 thousand miles before you have recovered the premium you paid for the hybrid in gas savings. If you live in the city where the electric advantage isn't so great it will take 450,000 miles before you're even. I know that there are other advantages besides fuel costs savings but I'm just trying to do the math here. Do people really look at all the facts before they buy? They didn't years ago I guess that things really haven't changed in the car business at all. People are still seeing a 50% drop in value in the first three of ownership of a new car. The only question is what number do you want to start with, 30, 40, or 50 thousand. 50% of those numbers divided by three will give you the annual depreciation which will make the annual cost of gas look like lunch money. See, the price of gas isn't such a big deal after all. Just keep pumping it into the tank and stop complaining. Under the subject of things that never change (but should) let me relate a tale from the autocross circuit. Back when 914's were new it was quickly discovered that the hot setup was to use the stiffest shocks, heaviest springs and lowest ride height. That was long before we had R compound tires that were legal for street use. The tire manufactures had just introduced low profile tires (in a 70 series) and while some of use used Phoenix Stahlflex the big dogs were on Michelin XWX. For the last 25 years my white 914 has pretty much gone unchanged (some would say undeveloped) with the exception of raising the front an inch back in '87. The car had a thunk in the front end under hard cornering that I had never been able to find. It was like a wrench had been left in the front trunk and it was stuck in such a way to make a single thunk in each direction when the car was thrown side to side. I couldn't get the car to make a noise when driving on the street and no amount of searching turned up an errant tool. As tire technology changed upgrades had the car on 50 series Yoko's at a Zone One Autocross in 1987. One of the New York competitors remarked how low the car was in the front and I replied that all the New England autocrossers ran them that way. Besides we were looking at the class champ for many years running. He said that they had tried that setup but went back to a higher ride height because the front A arms were contacting the chassis causing a thunk in the front end and a loss of suspension travel and poor handling at the adhesion limit. My automatic reply was that it certainly wasn't a problem on my car but before the second day of competition I looked up under the front of the car to discover two shiny spots on the top of the A arms where it was contacting the chassis and causing the thunk and the loss of ... well you get the idea. A quick turn of the front adjusters in the parking lot and I had much better runs the second day. So much for ongoing car development. The last couple of years have been tough in the 914 as the other drivers have gotten faster and I haven't. I attribute that to the natural aging process, certainly not the car as it runs the same as it has all these years. At the last autocross of the season I was so far back in the pack that the runs were all just for fun so I told a competitor (that I was ahead of) that we should swap cars for the final run. He was running a 1.7 liter engine (compared to my 2 liter) with the same tires and was not that far behind me. I drove his and as expected found no power, very little brakes but boy did it stick to the pavement. He came back in from his run and said that he loved the power, the brakes were awesome but the car was all over the place. He couldn't seem to make it go straight and he was faster in his own car. I think his actual quote was "how can you drive this thing?" We compared cars to discover that he had no rear sway bar on his car while mine had a factory unit in place for the last 29 years. A quick check of the other competitors found no rear bars anywhere, and heavier torsion bars in front. Apparently it was discovered years ago that the newer sticky tires needed more roll on the rear to keep the oversteer under control and I just never got the word. Now I have something to look forward to this winter, changing the 914 suspension and maybe staying in the hunt next year. KTF |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright
1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
PCA/NER
Year 2000 Web Site Design by www.sitesofboston.com |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
