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High School Thesis

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newk5driver

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Hey guys! In my highschool english class I have to come up with a thesis topic and I was wondering if any one knew any good arguments I could make about trucks or automotive in general. Thanks to all of you for the help.:woot:
 
How about the cost of buying a new vehicle to save on fuel vs. keeping an older one with low gas mileage?

New vehicle has more expensive tags, more expensive insurance, more expensive repairs, etc. but better mileage. Old vehicle is often less expensive for everything but fuel. Older vehicles are easier to work on and just require basic tools. Anything less than 15-20 years old will require at least some electronic diagnostic equipment. The newer it is the worse it is. My uncle owns an auto shop, so I hear about some of the jobs from him.
 
newk5driver said:
thanks thats a great idea, I think ill use your idea. again thanks.:thumb:
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I'm glad I could help.

I daily drive my 79 c20 pickup. It has a built 406 sbc and get 10 mpg on the highway and 8-9 in town.

My grandparents have a ford with the 6.0 diesel. The 6.0's need updates to fix fords screw ups. If you don't have the extended warranty, the updates would cost 3-5 thousand dollars, from what I have heard. I can have my whole engine rebuilt for that price...........actually I just did and I did a bunch of upgrades while at it.

The early duramax diesels have crappy injectors. I have heard people say that a set of injectors costs $1500+.

Newer gas engines seem to be less expensive, but then again, if I was to get a newer pickup it would need to be a diesel for the weight that I tow. A newer gas truck would be capable of towing a 9k pound trailer and gear in the truck, but my engine is estimated at 525 tq and it would still be a load for a newer truck. A smaller diesel than the current dmax or cummings would probably tow a trailer like mine without a lot of trouble and would get better mileage when empty than the big diesels or gas engines. The baby dmax was supposed to come out. I think dodge has a smaller diesel coming out. You could maybe incorporate some of the different engine types into your paper.............old gas or diesel vehicle vs new gas or diesel for price, maintenance, power, fuel mileage, etc.

There is always the gas vs. diesel, vs electric debate as well. The prius cars must be breeding. I see more and more of them around here all of the time. I think they are ugly and I am not a toyota fan. I will drive a Ford before I drive a toyota :D
 
Or how hybrids are mostly media hype and do no more to stop emissions than any other car. They simply shift the emissions from the end user to the manufacturing process.
 
blazinzuk said:
Or how hybrids are mostly media hype and do no more to stop emissions than any other car. They simply shift the emissions from the end user to the manufacturing process.
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i wrote a paper about this last semester for college. Got some funny looks when i presented it to the class :haha:
 
wage92 said:
i wrote a paper about this last semester for college. Got some funny looks when i presented it to the class :haha:
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Really shows the everyone says its good so it must be attitude in the modern world.

Sad no one really thinks anymore. Well present company excepted
 
I wrote a similar paper in college about 7 years a go and the girl that proof read my paper marked it all up say in all my facts were wrong. I ended up using her as an example of how people believe what ever the media tells them. Got an A in the class first time ever for me in an English class.

It realy is that no one thinks any more
 
I did the same thing a few years back. Had the guys here read it actually.


Don't make the last sentence of your paper, "So you can suck on my tail pipes, I have two".... The teachers don't like that :whistle:
 
Or how about how most solar panels will never makes the amount of energy it took to make them. Logic seems like a lost cause. It's all about big corporations getting the lobbyist to promote a product to the government so they can make a buck.
 
How alternative energy will and has failed on a large corporate scale. But can be very successful in a homeowner situation. This is somewhat contingent on company's shifting their focus away from large scale energy production. Which is doubtful because it is so highly subsedized.
 
blazinzuk said:
Or how hybrids are mostly media hype and do no more to stop emissions than any other car. They simply shift the emissions from the end user to the manufacturing process.
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Well said and I'd also like to see FACTUAL arguments on this subject. Start with batteries, manufacturing and also final disposal once it's reached it's life cycle. Also consider there's probably some full battery refresh (as well as disposal again), within that lifespan, too.
 
You guys are forgetting one thing - a Prius owner isn't going to keep his Prius long enough for battery replacement to come into play. When his lease is up or his car is broke down and needs expensive repairs that his extended warranty doesn't cover, he's going to simply get financed for another hybrid dork mobile. The car will get scrapped and the batteries will be recycled and no one will ever track any of that.
 
If you want to stay with automotive, I would be curious to know how the diesel emission standards passed back around 2007 are supposed to make cleaner air when the diesel now burn more fuel per mile.
 
andyblack said:
You guys are forgetting one thing - a Prius owner isn't going to keep his Prius long enough for battery replacement to come into play. When his lease is up or his car is broke down and needs expensive repairs that his extended warranty doesn't cover, he's going to simply get financed for another hybrid dork mobile. The car will get scrapped and the batteries will be recycled and no one will ever track any of that.
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I will say, we have a Lexus hybrid now and drive it constantly. It does save us money short term in gas, which helps pay for the suburban and blazer gas, but the technology is pretty new, too. We're at 115k without hardly any repairs....however, time will tell as these hybrid vehicles are not tested long term. I am VERY concerned about how long the batteries last and at what expense it will cost to repair. Also, what other high priced items are going to fail?!? That CVT transmission certainly isn't going to be cheap!

That's why we were looking at diesel touaregs. Decent gas mileage but back to a more standard "gas" vehicle.

However, the argument needs to really stick with the vehicle itself from manufacturing to the junkyard/crusher. Not really one or two specific owners during it's lifetime.

And obviously, I also like to see a factual comparison of a gas, diesel and hybrid in the same vehicle. Including scheduled maintenance (diesel oil changes and initial purchase up-charge price come to mind).....For the life of the car.
 
I'm sure a well researched paper like that would get an A+, but being able to gather the info would be tough. Like was mentioned above, the technology hasn't been around long enough yet.
 
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