I'd still take diesel... and a bio-diesel reactor, and make my diesel for $0.80 per gallon. Before anyone jumps on me about it, yes I know there are risks involved with that approach, but if you do your chemistry properly, and dose it with a good additive package, it's plenty safe. The hike in diesel really kills me. It costs less to make, it's easier to produce, and especially since all gas is 10% alcohol, diesel is now way easier to transport. Yet they crank the price up. This is literally highway robbery. And since our infrastructure is built on diesel (trucking, agriculture, rail transportation, shipping, etc.) it's going to really hit us all hard in the pocketbook, whether or not your truck burns it.

 

Argo, what are you doing!!??? you are telling everyone!

Bio-reactors are real, and the potential to REPLACE petrodiesel is also real, the ideal has been around since the early 70s. Whats even better, is that the production of biodiesel by reactor also scrubs CO2 and oxides of nitrogen from the atmosphere.

You are also right about the transport of bio fuels, SVO will run a diesel engine, and yet its not even a considered a flamible material.

Oh, and yes, it can be made super cheap.

The problem right now, is the use of food crops like canola and soy, they will never be cost effective as a fuel, and the cost of food will go up.

 

Well, yeah, price was never brought up, just bragging how good the 300 is. Of course the 300 will be cheaper...it hasn't been produced for, what, 12 years?

And you can buy a 5.4 for a LOT less than 20k. I sold my '99 5.4 for 6k.

 

Yes it is robbery, and everyone here pays for it because almost anything you buy is shipped by a diesel truck. I remember the late 70s and early 80s diesel boom, everyone was making a diesel because it was about 30 % cheaper then gas and returned much better fuel economy. These days everyone is so greedy, its sad.

 

Think about this... what other commodity would be allowed by the government to increase in price 300%-400% in less than 5 years? If milk prices went up so drastically people would be lynching dairy farmers and concerned moms would be marching on Washington. If the chicken prices were raised that much in that short of a time, there would be chaos in the streets. If the price of produce went up that much in such a short time, politicians would appear on the nightly news decrying the situation as “grave” and as being “unconscionable” and Congress would pass resolutions and laws to forbid it. The Government would step in immediately and put in “price caps” on these things. The Anti-Trust Administration would thoroughly investigate these companies and see if they were conspiring to “fix” prices and create a monopoly. But big oil is different. When you have politicians being bought and paid for by oil companies… heck, even entire governments, well, it’s easy to see why they can get away with it, here in the United States. Maybe in a few years (since 99 year leases of Government assets to contractors is all the rage) Congress will lease itself out to the oil companies… since they unofficially do so already. Perhaps then we will see an ad on the evening news such as “The United States Congress is brought to you in part by: Sunoco Ultra, with the highest detergency of any gasoline. Texaco reminds you to refuel your car under the Texaco Star. BP. Making your day a little better. Luk oil. We love cars. Mobil. Drive clean.”

 

so toyleta and chevy raise the bar about 70hp and ford decides to change the cai or catback and milk another 25hp out of it... typical ford... and they're wondering why sales don't pick up?

heh, agreed... I love all the guys who rag on this stuff that's not even out yet, or anything newer than whatever they like... how they'll never buy a new truck... what are they doing in the 2009 forum then? :P

no matter how much you people loved em, the 300, dolorean, and model T will not be made again. end of story

 

Just read on another thread that the 09 f-150 will be pushed back 4-6 months as they are breaking drivelines and it seems to be an engineering problem that needs to be re-engineered, at least they caught it before launch??

 

I'm not going to discuss it here aymore, since it's not the correct forum, and I don't want to hijack the thread, but let me just respond really quick here and say that part of it can come from food crops without an increase in food prices... waste fryer oil is a great source for bio-diesel, and since it is considered a "hazardous waste" and restaraunts have to pay to get rid of it, a case could be made for it actually reducing the costs to restaraunts if people will take it for free, and it will encourage them to use non-hydroginated oils, which is better for everybody.

 

So Ford is not going to offer a new engine on the 09's other than a slightly redesigned 5.4?

They are still going to be well behind Chevy and Toyota if that's the case. I drove all three trucks in the last week and the Ford was lacking in power big time.
At least they are revamping the interior. Those seats were as uncomfortable as they could ever be.

I was hoping they were going to offer better performance and economy for 09.
I guess we'll have to wait until the Auto show in Jan. since nobody knows for sure and the people who do are keeping it to themselves.

 

I read 7 weeks, not 4-6 months.

 

I will be preordering a 1/2 ton Diesel when it is available.

 

They will get some pretty impressive mileage. We will see what a stock one with the emissions stuff on it gets. But hack that stuff off and I think we will see some pretty high 20 MPGs on the highway I would believe.

 

I would not believe everything I hear, I highly doubt that anyone on this forum knows for sure what ford is doing and if they do, they are not going to tell cause that would be risking their job.

 

high 30s... if you can get low 20s with a 3/4 or 1 ton i would expect a smaller diesel in a lighter truck with better aerodynamics to get at least 30

 

i dunno we will see!