Sdashiki
Sep 8, 12:51 PM
It was the french.
hate the french.
hate the french.
elctropro
Jan 1, 01:26 AM
My understanding is that AT&T is pretty far along in its upgrade from HPSA (3G) network to HPSA+ (faster 3G). They're doing this to maximize their existing investment in their infrastructure, and they should be able to employ LTE a little faster than Verizon has been, since LTE is a more streamlined upgrade from HPSA+. They claim that this is best for customers long-term, because when LTE (4G) coverage gives out, users can fall back on widespread HPSA+ coverage with similar performance. Whereas with Verizon, when you move out of an area with 4G coverage, you notice a HUGE drop in speed going to their ancient EV-DO technology.
iliketomac
Nov 23, 05:41 PM
Has this preliminary list been published somewhere, or is this secret inside information?
I have it... just posted it above... there will be "red" signs everywhere in the retail stores tomorrow and specialists will be wearing red shirts...
btw, MBP's are not on sale since it's not on the list... just MB's (from $1099 down to $998, etc.... up to $1499 which goes down to $1398)
iMac's are on sale too.... see the posting above... I'm wondering about the Mini since it's not on that "Joy to the Wallet" sale list.
I have it... just posted it above... there will be "red" signs everywhere in the retail stores tomorrow and specialists will be wearing red shirts...
btw, MBP's are not on sale since it's not on the list... just MB's (from $1099 down to $998, etc.... up to $1499 which goes down to $1398)
iMac's are on sale too.... see the posting above... I'm wondering about the Mini since it's not on that "Joy to the Wallet" sale list.
wrxguy
Sep 8, 09:20 AM
kanye west can kiss my ass.....hes a whinny little bitch....
Hastings101
Apr 10, 12:17 AM
Your point? Do you deny General Lee surrendered on this date in 1865?
This was an important victory for the US.
Actually it looks like you are being sarcastic. LOL
Technically the Confederacy wasn't defeated until a month later, and even then forces still fought because of how slow news traveled :p, but yea, Lee's surrender was basically the end.
This was an important victory for the US.
Actually it looks like you are being sarcastic. LOL
Technically the Confederacy wasn't defeated until a month later, and even then forces still fought because of how slow news traveled :p, but yea, Lee's surrender was basically the end.
kentkomine
Apr 25, 03:03 PM
This sounds pretty sweet! Hopefully its not "just a white iPhone 4". I could really use an iPhone 4S.
Hovey
Jul 21, 03:12 PM
Apple should simply focus on resolving their own issues. It's not their job to be the "tattle tell" police pointing out problems or potential problems with their competitors. The press and/or markets will uncover issues with Apple competitors.
They weren't doing it for that purpose. It was to show people that it's a common problem with physics no matter who makes the phone. People were thinking that only Apple's iPhone has the problem and they were simply saying, no, it's not because it's apple product, it's because it's a cell phone.
They weren't doing it for that purpose. It was to show people that it's a common problem with physics no matter who makes the phone. People were thinking that only Apple's iPhone has the problem and they were simply saying, no, it's not because it's apple product, it's because it's a cell phone.
skinned66
Apr 16, 02:56 AM
And by that what do you mean. iPhones had little impact on phones like the BB Curve
Let us not compare Apples to turds.
Let us not compare Apples to turds.
jholzner
Oct 10, 08:44 PM
I'm not sure where you got those criteria... but those aren't the criteria for which story make the first page.
Readers aren't asked to blindly believe page 1 rumors... Whether Page 1 or Page 2, rumors are presented in their context.... with historical context of the sites involved. Engadget generally has pretty low standards regarding rumors - in that they will post whatever they want on their site if they find it remotely interesting -- that being said, I've not seen them post Apple Rumor items using their own sources with any degree of certainty before. As a result, they get this front page spot. If "joerumorblogIveneverheardof.com" posts a rumor from "reliable" sources, it won't even get a mention on Page 2.
arn
I just checked joerumorblogIveneverheardof.com and the site isn't even real! Jeez, how about some fact checking 'round here.:p
Anyway, I want this to be true sooo bad. This device could be so awesome.
Readers aren't asked to blindly believe page 1 rumors... Whether Page 1 or Page 2, rumors are presented in their context.... with historical context of the sites involved. Engadget generally has pretty low standards regarding rumors - in that they will post whatever they want on their site if they find it remotely interesting -- that being said, I've not seen them post Apple Rumor items using their own sources with any degree of certainty before. As a result, they get this front page spot. If "joerumorblogIveneverheardof.com" posts a rumor from "reliable" sources, it won't even get a mention on Page 2.
arn
I just checked joerumorblogIveneverheardof.com and the site isn't even real! Jeez, how about some fact checking 'round here.:p
Anyway, I want this to be true sooo bad. This device could be so awesome.
berkleeboy210
Sep 12, 09:23 AM
OK, Now i'm really ticked off.... - Had about $300 in unauthorized charges to my debit, this morning. so now I have no Debit card to buy anything Apple Related today with :mad:
Which Means, they WILL release the True Video iPod, and the iPhone.
Damn Scammers ruin our lives.
Which Means, they WILL release the True Video iPod, and the iPhone.
Damn Scammers ruin our lives.
Flowbee
Nov 16, 01:09 PM
please no page 1 vs page 2 comments... :)
OK... This should be on page 3. :p
[Damn you, longofest!]
OK... This should be on page 3. :p
[Damn you, longofest!]
iliketomac
Nov 23, 07:16 PM
I hear Apple retail stores open as early as 7am!!
QCassidy352
Sep 28, 01:05 PM
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)
Now hopefully these pretty town bureaucrats approve this in short order and then get back to their usual important functions, like telling people what colors they can paint their mailboxes.
It that an iPhone autospell or are they really good looking. :D
The former :o
Now hopefully these pretty town bureaucrats approve this in short order and then get back to their usual important functions, like telling people what colors they can paint their mailboxes.
It that an iPhone autospell or are they really good looking. :D
The former :o
Aperture
Jan 15, 10:06 PM
My Thoughts:
A nice iPhone update, I wasn't expecting a new iPhone.. yet I wasn't surprised considering the entire firmware was leaked
The $20 on the Touch doesn't really matter to me because it seems like you are getting quite a bit of functionality out of it. Apple did a similar thing with the upgrade to wireless N on some notebooks, right?
iTunes movie rentals, Apple TV, & Time Capsule sound like a good idea but none of them truly appeal to me
Macbook Air: I'm really not sure I'd ever recommend this.. I know I am not the targeted audience but I'd much rather go for a MB and save a bunch of money or spend a few more hundred and get a MBP. I know it is an ultra portable and it therefore has limited ports, but they are just too limited for me. I don't think I could justify spending that much for so little. Edit: I've thought about it and I understand this is a niche market, it is meant to compete against the comparable IBM & Sony. In that regard, it is quite good.
I'm also not a fan of the black keyboard, it doesn't look right to me. The curvature of the design is excellent, though.
Either way, Macworld 08 was alright.. a little underwhelming compared to last year but I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking. One thing that did annoy me is that the entire keynote was almost laid out for us prior to Steve Jobs taking the stage.. No surprises. Apple needs to do a better job keeping rumors low and leaks to a minimum.
A nice iPhone update, I wasn't expecting a new iPhone.. yet I wasn't surprised considering the entire firmware was leaked
The $20 on the Touch doesn't really matter to me because it seems like you are getting quite a bit of functionality out of it. Apple did a similar thing with the upgrade to wireless N on some notebooks, right?
iTunes movie rentals, Apple TV, & Time Capsule sound like a good idea but none of them truly appeal to me
Macbook Air: I'm really not sure I'd ever recommend this.. I know I am not the targeted audience but I'd much rather go for a MB and save a bunch of money or spend a few more hundred and get a MBP. I know it is an ultra portable and it therefore has limited ports, but they are just too limited for me. I don't think I could justify spending that much for so little. Edit: I've thought about it and I understand this is a niche market, it is meant to compete against the comparable IBM & Sony. In that regard, it is quite good.
I'm also not a fan of the black keyboard, it doesn't look right to me. The curvature of the design is excellent, though.
Either way, Macworld 08 was alright.. a little underwhelming compared to last year but I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking. One thing that did annoy me is that the entire keynote was almost laid out for us prior to Steve Jobs taking the stage.. No surprises. Apple needs to do a better job keeping rumors low and leaks to a minimum.
dalvin200
Sep 12, 07:37 AM
Wow!
This is like Independence Day, you know, everybody reporting in from everywhere that spaceships are sighted.
HAHA.. how very very true
This is like Independence Day, you know, everybody reporting in from everywhere that spaceships are sighted.
HAHA.. how very very true
darkplanets
Apr 13, 10:43 AM
I would prefer the cheaper and more effective way; profiling.
Also, you can't say security has been working well-- look at the number of incidences of things going through security accidentally via negligence (knives, guns, etc)-- while there's no official numbers, the anecdotal evidence is quite moving.
Also, you can't say security has been working well-- look at the number of incidences of things going through security accidentally via negligence (knives, guns, etc)-- while there's no official numbers, the anecdotal evidence is quite moving.
drsmithy
Oct 5, 02:08 AM
The Mini is pretty powerful. Sorry to discount your argument, but I think that it's more than enough for people out there that aren't power users/computer nerds. Heck, my dad runs engineering software all day long on his Pentium 3 733mhz, 256MB RAM computer and doesn't feel the need to upgrade.
It being in a small case is even better for the common user. Maybe to us, a small case seems like a bad computer, but the specs are similar to MacBook specs, which seems like enough for almost all users out there.
Minis suck for gaming (and iMacs aren't much better). Much as people like to play this issue down, I think it's relatively significant problem for machines that are being primarily marketed at home users.
Certainly, the single biggest reason I haven't replaced my Desktop PC with a Mac - despite *really* wanting to (even though it would run Windows as much as OS X) - is because a Mac that can play current games well is frighteningly expensive.
It being in a small case is even better for the common user. Maybe to us, a small case seems like a bad computer, but the specs are similar to MacBook specs, which seems like enough for almost all users out there.
Minis suck for gaming (and iMacs aren't much better). Much as people like to play this issue down, I think it's relatively significant problem for machines that are being primarily marketed at home users.
Certainly, the single biggest reason I haven't replaced my Desktop PC with a Mac - despite *really* wanting to (even though it would run Windows as much as OS X) - is because a Mac that can play current games well is frighteningly expensive.
lazyrighteye
Oct 6, 04:03 PM
I have used every major U.S. carrier except Sprint. I have used every iteration of iPhone since the original's launch date - which also represented my 1st experience with AT&T.
Until the 1st iPhone 3G, I had no issues with AT&T and their Edge network - namely because it's speed (or lack there of) was all we iPhone users knew at the time. Often calling AT&T my favorite service provider to date. And at the time, that was true. But once the 1st iPhone 3G hit, it started to become apparent that AT&T's network was not up to task. And as the popularity of the device grew, so too did my frustration with AT&T's network.
Living in Denver, CO, my (and several other users I know) 3G experience has been so poor, my dropped call frequency so high, that I had (yes, past tense - I'm getting there) disabled 3G most of the time. Of the two places I spend 80% of my life - work & home - neither offered a scenario that allowed me to use my iPhone for sending/receiving phone calls (let alone data). Zero bars of 3G and maybe a nub of Edge. At best. And that's having a giant AT&T logo'd tower in line-of-sight of my house and STILL can't send/receive phone calls form home. And mine and my wife's iPhones our only phones, this has been a really big problem for us. and what's been almost more frustrating than dropping all of my calls has been that all along I have upheld my end of the bargain. Every month, in full & on time, I pay our 2-iPhone Family Plan. But AT&T has not upheld their end of the bargain. A major aspect of the device, 3G, is virtually unusable to users in Denver (and other major markets). Dozens of fairly cordial calls (yes, I've been told by an AT&T rep that I'm "always polite" and that "yes, we do denote callers' behavior") to AT&T yielded the same, "we're sorry" replies. One even crediting my account for a full month of service. Nice, but that doesn't make my phone work any better. Another call to AT&T, that dropped, saw the rep called back to leave me a 4-minute message about how sorry she was about my horrible experience. Saying, on record, that their network "sucked," that they receive "a lot of calls about this from their iPhone customers." Even offering me the option to walk from my contract sans penalty. And that's when it hit me... wow - if one of AT&T's contingency plans is to bad mouth their own network and then allow iPhone customers to break their contracts, then this was a much larger issue than I realized.
And all of that set up was meant to paint a picture. One that many of you are all too familiar with. Same story, different city. So, with as much AT&T bashing as I have done over the past couple of years, I think it only fair/I'm happy to report that it appears AT&T has fixed their 3G issue in Denver. Monday morning, I woke to 5 glorious bars of 3G at home. I even shut down my iPhone & rebooted to make sure it was really there. Sure enough, glory! And from work I was able to make several phone calls with no issue. Confused by a functional AT&T network, I called AT&T and asked why everything was working. With a chuckle, the rep sad it appeared the network was upgraded in my area (seemed a canned line, but hey - I'll take it.). So here I am - day 2 of full 3G service at home, at work, all over town. Sounds silly, but it's really nice when your network... works. Considering my only gripe with my iPhone experience has been the service provider (yeah, a big gripe), it now appears the Denver's coverage is finally working as advertised. While the rep wasn't able to uncover exactly what "your network was updated" meant, I wonder if it's the new spectrum upgrade we've been hearing/reading about? Any other Denver (or other troubled markets) users notice the improved, read: functinoal, AT&T network? Pretty nice, eh?
So when I saw the Verizon "Coverage Maps" commercial Monday eve, it was oddly refrehing to find I wasn't yelling "YEAH! STUPID AT&T!" while waving my fist at the tv and instead able to turn off said tv and call my recently widowed mother who lives 2,000 miles from Denver - something I hadn't been able to do, from home, in 2 years. Ahh the simple pleasures...
Here's hope others' coverage improves as well.
Until the 1st iPhone 3G, I had no issues with AT&T and their Edge network - namely because it's speed (or lack there of) was all we iPhone users knew at the time. Often calling AT&T my favorite service provider to date. And at the time, that was true. But once the 1st iPhone 3G hit, it started to become apparent that AT&T's network was not up to task. And as the popularity of the device grew, so too did my frustration with AT&T's network.
Living in Denver, CO, my (and several other users I know) 3G experience has been so poor, my dropped call frequency so high, that I had (yes, past tense - I'm getting there) disabled 3G most of the time. Of the two places I spend 80% of my life - work & home - neither offered a scenario that allowed me to use my iPhone for sending/receiving phone calls (let alone data). Zero bars of 3G and maybe a nub of Edge. At best. And that's having a giant AT&T logo'd tower in line-of-sight of my house and STILL can't send/receive phone calls form home. And mine and my wife's iPhones our only phones, this has been a really big problem for us. and what's been almost more frustrating than dropping all of my calls has been that all along I have upheld my end of the bargain. Every month, in full & on time, I pay our 2-iPhone Family Plan. But AT&T has not upheld their end of the bargain. A major aspect of the device, 3G, is virtually unusable to users in Denver (and other major markets). Dozens of fairly cordial calls (yes, I've been told by an AT&T rep that I'm "always polite" and that "yes, we do denote callers' behavior") to AT&T yielded the same, "we're sorry" replies. One even crediting my account for a full month of service. Nice, but that doesn't make my phone work any better. Another call to AT&T, that dropped, saw the rep called back to leave me a 4-minute message about how sorry she was about my horrible experience. Saying, on record, that their network "sucked," that they receive "a lot of calls about this from their iPhone customers." Even offering me the option to walk from my contract sans penalty. And that's when it hit me... wow - if one of AT&T's contingency plans is to bad mouth their own network and then allow iPhone customers to break their contracts, then this was a much larger issue than I realized.
And all of that set up was meant to paint a picture. One that many of you are all too familiar with. Same story, different city. So, with as much AT&T bashing as I have done over the past couple of years, I think it only fair/I'm happy to report that it appears AT&T has fixed their 3G issue in Denver. Monday morning, I woke to 5 glorious bars of 3G at home. I even shut down my iPhone & rebooted to make sure it was really there. Sure enough, glory! And from work I was able to make several phone calls with no issue. Confused by a functional AT&T network, I called AT&T and asked why everything was working. With a chuckle, the rep sad it appeared the network was upgraded in my area (seemed a canned line, but hey - I'll take it.). So here I am - day 2 of full 3G service at home, at work, all over town. Sounds silly, but it's really nice when your network... works. Considering my only gripe with my iPhone experience has been the service provider (yeah, a big gripe), it now appears the Denver's coverage is finally working as advertised. While the rep wasn't able to uncover exactly what "your network was updated" meant, I wonder if it's the new spectrum upgrade we've been hearing/reading about? Any other Denver (or other troubled markets) users notice the improved, read: functinoal, AT&T network? Pretty nice, eh?
So when I saw the Verizon "Coverage Maps" commercial Monday eve, it was oddly refrehing to find I wasn't yelling "YEAH! STUPID AT&T!" while waving my fist at the tv and instead able to turn off said tv and call my recently widowed mother who lives 2,000 miles from Denver - something I hadn't been able to do, from home, in 2 years. Ahh the simple pleasures...
Here's hope others' coverage improves as well.
Anthony T
Apr 16, 09:54 AM
My only question is if the new iPhone will just come in one color/look. I like how there is a choice of white or black with the 3GS, but if they go aluminum, I can't see them making more than one color/look.
Bonte
Jan 6, 02:25 AM
Yeah, it is kind of wierd, considering this is MacRumours, where mostly everyone comes to find out about Apple stuff before it is actually announced :rolleyes:
Yeah but hearing the full specs the day before spoils the whole thing, as of today i'm not visiting Mac news sites. Now just hope i don't get an e-mail with all the new stuff. :rolleyes:
Yeah but hearing the full specs the day before spoils the whole thing, as of today i'm not visiting Mac news sites. Now just hope i don't get an e-mail with all the new stuff. :rolleyes:
amac4me
Sep 12, 08:42 AM
please read the thread....
Same thing is happening to the following sites:
Same thing is happening to the following sites:
ct2k7
Apr 16, 11:12 AM
Which leads me to believe Apple may be going for a design like this:
http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2010/03/30/iphone-4g-aka-hd-mock-up-design-and-details-photo/
After the iPad, I agree. but it's an iPhone.
http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2010/03/30/iphone-4g-aka-hd-mock-up-design-and-details-photo/
After the iPad, I agree. but it's an iPhone.
Gloor
Jan 15, 04:52 PM
Can somebody tell me why there was no update or price drop on ACD? Why is the PRO market left to the most critical point and then updated? Mac Pro is the best example. Its a brilliant machine now but 2 weeks ago? Some of the parts were 2 years old and they still charged the same amount of money for it. Dell, HP etc. are releasing new and updated displays whilst Apple ...........sleeps?
Lord Blackadder
Aug 3, 11:20 AM
While that part is true that we would burn more fuel at power planets one advantage you are forgetting about is the power planets are by far much more efficient at producing power than the internal combustion engine on your car. On top of that it is much easier to capture and clean the pollution the power planet produces over what the cars produce. On top of that we can easily most our power over to other renewable choices.
I agree with you that series hybrids gain efficiency by running the internal combustion engine at a narrow RPM range representing the engine's most efficient speed. It's been done for over a hundred years that way in generators and a series hybrid drivetrain is set up exactly the same way as a generator.
Power plants are usually more efficent per unit of energy than autos, but right now they do not have the capacity to support a big switch to electrics. Also, the notion that power plants are cleaner than cars is debatable - many are, but many are not all that clean.
The critical point is, our power grid needs to become FAR more robust (more, bigger power plants) before we can make a large-scale switch to electrics - and it will only be worthwhile if the power grid becomes significantly more efficient. It can be done, but it will take a long, long time - and probably have to involve a significant new construction program of nuclear power plants.
I heard it that the reason why BMW stopped selling diesel cars in the US was that the engines failed, due to the very poor quality. In Europe, you can get quality fuel, but in the US, diesel is still the fuel of trucks, primarily.
Just one statistics: in continental Europe (not in the UK), new diesel cars have been outselling petrol ones for almost a decade, despite the premium.
The US began transitioning to ultra-low sulphur diesel in and by now the transition is nearly complete. The new fuel standard brings us in line with European diesel. Before the credit crunch recession hit, many car manufacturers were planning to bring Eurpoean-market diesel cars over here in slightly modified form, but those plans were scuppered in the recession. Subaru, for example, has delayed the introduction of their diesel by a year or two.
But I think diesels will start arriving here in the next couple years, and people will buy them in increasing numbers. The USA is 40 years behind in the adoption of diesel passenger cars.
You shouldn't have any impression about Subarus. They really have the traction of a train (AWD ones, of course - why would you buy anything else?!), but everything else is just midrange quality at best.
I've had a 1998 Impreza estate several years ago and it was OK. Recently, I've had a 2007 Legacy Outback from work. Nice glass on the top and good traction, but I have no intention of trading a BMW or Mercedes for it the next time. The interior is low quality and Subaru has no understanding of fuel efficiency, it seems. OK, it's a 2.5L engine, automatic and AWD, but still... 25 imperial mpg?!
It's not really fair to compare a Subaru to a BMW or Merc though, is it? Those German luxury cars are much more expensive and the AWD variants are even more expensive still. A 5-series with AWD will cost 70%-80% more than a roughly equivalent Legacy. They are very different carsm with totally different customers in mind.
I have a 2000 Forester currently. Mechanically they are well-made cars, they have a strong AWD system and I like the ride quality over rough roads, which they handle much better than the Audis I've driven.
Their biggest weaknesses are only average fuel economy (by US standards; I get about 28 mpg combined), and average interior quality, especially in the Impreza and Foresters, though I have seen the latest models and they are much better. The 2.5L four is really a great engine in a lot of ways, but it's just not quite fuel efficient enough, and in my car that problem is exacerbated by the short-ratio gearbox, which is crying for a 6th gear.
Hybrids actually have an equal to worse carbon footprint than regular gasoline engine cars due to the production and disposal process of the batteries. As such, they are not green at all. They are just another one of these ****** feel good deals for hippies with no brains an engineering knowledge.
I disagree. Real hippies don't work and thus can't afford fancy hybrids.
Of the commercially available cars, a well designed diesel, able to operate on biodiesel from waste oil for example has by far the best carbon footprint or an ethanol burner that can work on ethanol fermented from plant waste via cellulose digesting bacteria.
I would prefer if we could get to the point where we either have cars running on ethanol generated from cellulose or keratin digestion or natural gas buring engines.
Unfortunately fuel cells are not that great either because of the palladium used in the batteries that is pretty toxic in production as well.
Cheers,
Ahmed
The problem with biodiesel is that it's far too scarce to adopt widely. Sure, it's great that Joe Hippie can run his 1979 Mercedes 300D wagon on fast food grease, but once everyone starts looking into biodiesel Joe Hippie won't be getting free oil handouts anymore.
Also, biodiesel demand has already started competing with food production and I can tell you right away I'd rather eat than drive.
You're right about fuel cell carbon footprints - but that's the least of their worries now because they still cost a fortune to make and have short useful lives, making them totally unpractical to sell.
So far the biggest problem is not getting internal combustion engines to burn alternative fuels (we've found many alternative fuels) but to produce enough alternative fuel and distribute it widely enough to replace petroleum - without interrupting things like food production or power generation.
I agree with you that series hybrids gain efficiency by running the internal combustion engine at a narrow RPM range representing the engine's most efficient speed. It's been done for over a hundred years that way in generators and a series hybrid drivetrain is set up exactly the same way as a generator.
Power plants are usually more efficent per unit of energy than autos, but right now they do not have the capacity to support a big switch to electrics. Also, the notion that power plants are cleaner than cars is debatable - many are, but many are not all that clean.
The critical point is, our power grid needs to become FAR more robust (more, bigger power plants) before we can make a large-scale switch to electrics - and it will only be worthwhile if the power grid becomes significantly more efficient. It can be done, but it will take a long, long time - and probably have to involve a significant new construction program of nuclear power plants.
I heard it that the reason why BMW stopped selling diesel cars in the US was that the engines failed, due to the very poor quality. In Europe, you can get quality fuel, but in the US, diesel is still the fuel of trucks, primarily.
Just one statistics: in continental Europe (not in the UK), new diesel cars have been outselling petrol ones for almost a decade, despite the premium.
The US began transitioning to ultra-low sulphur diesel in and by now the transition is nearly complete. The new fuel standard brings us in line with European diesel. Before the credit crunch recession hit, many car manufacturers were planning to bring Eurpoean-market diesel cars over here in slightly modified form, but those plans were scuppered in the recession. Subaru, for example, has delayed the introduction of their diesel by a year or two.
But I think diesels will start arriving here in the next couple years, and people will buy them in increasing numbers. The USA is 40 years behind in the adoption of diesel passenger cars.
You shouldn't have any impression about Subarus. They really have the traction of a train (AWD ones, of course - why would you buy anything else?!), but everything else is just midrange quality at best.
I've had a 1998 Impreza estate several years ago and it was OK. Recently, I've had a 2007 Legacy Outback from work. Nice glass on the top and good traction, but I have no intention of trading a BMW or Mercedes for it the next time. The interior is low quality and Subaru has no understanding of fuel efficiency, it seems. OK, it's a 2.5L engine, automatic and AWD, but still... 25 imperial mpg?!
It's not really fair to compare a Subaru to a BMW or Merc though, is it? Those German luxury cars are much more expensive and the AWD variants are even more expensive still. A 5-series with AWD will cost 70%-80% more than a roughly equivalent Legacy. They are very different carsm with totally different customers in mind.
I have a 2000 Forester currently. Mechanically they are well-made cars, they have a strong AWD system and I like the ride quality over rough roads, which they handle much better than the Audis I've driven.
Their biggest weaknesses are only average fuel economy (by US standards; I get about 28 mpg combined), and average interior quality, especially in the Impreza and Foresters, though I have seen the latest models and they are much better. The 2.5L four is really a great engine in a lot of ways, but it's just not quite fuel efficient enough, and in my car that problem is exacerbated by the short-ratio gearbox, which is crying for a 6th gear.
Hybrids actually have an equal to worse carbon footprint than regular gasoline engine cars due to the production and disposal process of the batteries. As such, they are not green at all. They are just another one of these ****** feel good deals for hippies with no brains an engineering knowledge.
I disagree. Real hippies don't work and thus can't afford fancy hybrids.
Of the commercially available cars, a well designed diesel, able to operate on biodiesel from waste oil for example has by far the best carbon footprint or an ethanol burner that can work on ethanol fermented from plant waste via cellulose digesting bacteria.
I would prefer if we could get to the point where we either have cars running on ethanol generated from cellulose or keratin digestion or natural gas buring engines.
Unfortunately fuel cells are not that great either because of the palladium used in the batteries that is pretty toxic in production as well.
Cheers,
Ahmed
The problem with biodiesel is that it's far too scarce to adopt widely. Sure, it's great that Joe Hippie can run his 1979 Mercedes 300D wagon on fast food grease, but once everyone starts looking into biodiesel Joe Hippie won't be getting free oil handouts anymore.
Also, biodiesel demand has already started competing with food production and I can tell you right away I'd rather eat than drive.
You're right about fuel cell carbon footprints - but that's the least of their worries now because they still cost a fortune to make and have short useful lives, making them totally unpractical to sell.
So far the biggest problem is not getting internal combustion engines to burn alternative fuels (we've found many alternative fuels) but to produce enough alternative fuel and distribute it widely enough to replace petroleum - without interrupting things like food production or power generation.