Hey Guys. I was thinking before when i was reading the fuel saver thing. With all the crap going on in the middle east, and the risen fuel prices, do you think this could be the next smackdown of the currect[developing] muscle car era. Will the V8 be stopped again? If the USA foresee this conflict being a lengthy one, in my view it is very possible. I am very interested to hear everyones opinions on this as I'm no expert and I think this could be a very good topic. What are your thoughts???????????
the v8 is back with a vengeance. v8s are being put into everything from C class mercs to trucks. mercedes has made them so advanced it's just ubelieveable. even toyota is using v8s nowadays!
plus, with all this investment going into V8s i don't think they'll pull the plug on them just like that. i hope Ford has learnt its lesson with the fuel crisis of the 80s. they pulled the plug on the 8 and holden laid a sound platform for success, and look at them now! i attribute ford's current situation to that single event!
I dont think so. Holden very nearly went bust at the end of the 80s, and they only survived because of a HEFTY injection of funds from Big Brother GM. Holden haven't won because of the V8 engine, theyve become king of the hill because of a sound package. The fact that everyone else uses V8s doesnt mean to say they'll be here tomorrow. If these middle-east trends continue, then I should think that V8s will come with a heavy pricetag in the future. Next in line will most probably be petrol-driven six cylinder motors.
Personally, I attribute Ford's current position to both the EA Falcon and the AU Falcon. Ford sold just as many XF Falcons as they did XD Falcons, which were available with the 351C. the EA was The Falcon We Had To Have, being the VN Commie was Holden's new weapon, Ford knee-jerked into releasing an unready car. With the AU Falcon being released in the VT Commy days, I should have thought that Ford would be taking the pulse of the nation - instead they missed the mark with the 'edge' styling. I think its wierd how many people will go for the nicer looking product, instead of the one that will do the job better. Falcon is better on paper, and by all accounts the one in the flesh is. Fact of the matter, nowadays the Holden looks better in the eyes of the public, so they'll buy one to have on their driveway. I dont think that the availability of a V8 engine would have changed many minds, less than 10% of the total large car market is fitted with a V8.. and by the looks of things 157kW of power is enough to match an oldschool V8
I personally dont think Fords current position has specifically got to do with the EA or AU. Its got to do with how there was not even a basic production performance Falcon (V8 or even 6) from 1979 to 1992, and even today there still isnt a range that compares to Holden. Basically theres a hole generation of people who grew up with seeing faster Holdens and slower and boring Fords.
Plus add to the fact that Ford doesnt have the Fleet sales like they use to in the good old days.
Speak to most young people these days and ask what they prefer and it'll be either Holden or a Jap company.
Oh and fuel is set to drop slightly over the next couple of weeks as they are increasing production since the terrorist attacks.
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Originally posted by discokin6 I dont think so. Holden very nearly went bust at the end of the 80s, and they only survived because of a HEFTY injection of funds from Big Brother GM.
You mention GM's relationship to Holden as if it were Isuzu or Suzuki. GM has owned all of Holden for many decades. Holden is just a division of GM, just as Chevrolet, Cadillac, Opel, Saab, and Vauxhall are.
Adviliax:
Mercedes-Benz doesn't put its V8 engines in the C-Class. The 3.2L V6 is the largest engine offered in that car.
If petrol prices skyrocket like they did during the Gulf War it might cause a knee jerk reaction from the public, the flow on effect from that of course is if there is no demand for V8 cars the manufacturers won't produce them. When the Gulf War was happening you could barely give away a V8 and little 4 cyl sh*tboxes that were barely worth a few hundred dollars were selling for thousands.
I believe that in Pommieland petrol is around the $3 a litre mark (correct me if I'm wrong here), I wonder how many V8s per head of population there are there. I think HSV have just started exporting to there as well.
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You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen. It said, 'Parking Fine.'So that was nice.
Originally posted by Elvis Petrol prices are diving hard.
Not likely.
The world OIL price suffered its biggest drop since the 1970s the other day, however I have seen nothing at the pump and the service station owners and oil companies have said other costs will wipe this price drop out (scumbags).
I am so pissed about this it isn't funny.
If the price had skyrocketed the pump price would have gone up overnight. To make me feel better I always fill up 2 cents over so they have to round down - just my 2 cents worth (pun intended!)
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FYI, there is a website which is updated every morning that grabs prices off service stations Australia wide. You can select what state and area your in to get a run down on what servo has what price that day.
Also go to the statistics section, as it's a laugh how at the end of every week the prices fluctate by 5c a litre.
Btw, while some small servo's are doing it tough, I have a mate whose family owns a few big uns and believe me the larger ones make a very tidy profit. It's easy for owners to throw the blame back at fuel prices and the gov as a excuse for not reducing pricing when they can and should.
He also told me that it costs no more to create Premium Unleaded fuel than normal unleaded. And also that the price difference between the to is not supposed to ever exceed 5c. as set by the government. I not to sure about that first one, but I've heard from quite a few people that the second one is true. :fmad:
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