Dads and cars

My Dad knows a lot about cars.  He loves tinkering and he's mighty good at it.  One of his high school gigs was working at Bethurm's Auto Repair in Corona, CA.  He's always my first call when my car makes a funny noise, or, worse, stops running.  (well, I must admit, I don't have a car anymore since I don't need one in Norway.  And, I'm quite enjoying using public transport.  Old people speak to me in Norwegian all the time.  It's really cute.  I digress)  I remember as a girl I had seen a commercial for an 'Aspire' car and mentioned it to my Dad.  Dad didn't believe said model existed until we saw one not too long after in a parking lot.  I felt victorious.  I knew something about cars Dad didn't.  Ha!

Since then, I concede to his auto prowess and I'm very thankful for his skills.  He's the man.

But, I recently had another little 'Aspire' moment with my a, b, c's blog from a few posts back.  Dad found it hard to believe the Skoda Greenline could get 60+ miles to the gallon.  I pleaded my case noting our Danish friends had said they get 25 kilometers to the liter.  Being a good American living in Europe, I'm doing my best to learn the conversions (we couldn't all possibly work with the same measurement system could we?  oh and cooking has been a real treat too having to get used to milliliters and grams).  So it's approximately 4 liters to a gallon and approximately .62 miles to 1 kilometer.  Here we go with a little math....

25 kilometers/liter x 4 liters/gallon = 100 km/gallon
100km/gallon x .62miles/km = 62 miles to the gallon

And, of course, I double checked myself with a quick internet search on the Skoda before I posted.  I want to make sure this blog is accurate!

In true Dad fashion, he did some of his own research with a few added bonus nuggets about gas vs. diesel I wanted to share.  I believe he broke things down to nice and simple and I hope this is useful to you:

"Good morning Lisa,  

Dad did a little R&D on the Skoda Greenline and it does have some impressive numbers.  First, it is a Diesel and diesel fuel does have more energy content per gallon than does gasoline.  By this alone, it will get better mileage and that is why big trucks here in the US are Diesel.  Europeans drive many more diesel cars than we do here in the US.  Why?  Better fuel economy plus diesel is cheaper than gasoline – in Europe. 

Not so in the US.  Diesel here is more than gas so the attraction of diesel powered cars is less than Europe.  Why is gas cheaper here than in Europe?  Multiple reasons but primarily for two reasons: 

US refineries were designed and built to convert more of the crude oil into gas since this is what American drivers want (diesels in the old days were noisy and smelly and ones garage smelled terrible)

Diesels were heavy and had low performance (acceleration)

Diesels are more expensive to make

These differences have changed today: diesels are quiet now, they don’t emit “smoke” like they used to, and the car does not smell like a truck.  Plus, in Europe they’re “acceptable”.  Anyway, the Skoda (which is owned by VW) is impressive.  The Larsen's car probably has the 1.2 liter 3 cylinder turbo diesel.  With good aerodynamics and a few other tweaks, it’s mileage of 60 mpg+ is the real deal.

Can Americans learn to love such vehicles?

Love The Girl,

Dad, PhD (you can see I just love this stuff)"

Yes, I can see you love this stuff and I love that about you, Dad. And, here's the old car nut professor back in the day. Isn't he cute?!

I suppose this means I should post about my Mom on Father's Day? Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Now I am off for my last very serious week of studying for finals. It's been an intense few weeks but I continue to learn and find everything very interesting. There's sooooo much to learn!

hugs from the land of the midnight sun,

lisa liv