[ba] My trusty old '91 200Q

[Buchholz, Steven]

Staci told me that one of her primary motivations for the TDI was that she didn't want to have to deal with smog inspections.  We left work about the same time one day and I ended up behind her leaving the parking lot.  I was amazed to see that even with a cold engine the diesel smell was very minimal.  I don't remember if I reported it here before, but last year I was cruising through commute traffic on the ramp from I-280S to US-101S, when I came across a car with Audi rings but no other badging ... and Michigan Manufacturer Plates (saw my first RS-6 this way on I-280 too, but I digress).  Being the Audi fan I am, I wanted to know what it was I was seeing ... so I hung with it for a minute.  I never saw any badges, but I noticed a small bumper sticker that read something like "powered by clean burning diesel fuel" ... On that car I detected absolutely no diesel exhaust smell ... 

Tesla ... there's no way I can imagine getting one of the Lotus-based cars ... Tesla's goal is to use the first model to make their name visible, but the end goal will be to produce a more "reasonably" priced mass production vehicle.  From what I see it looks like they're doing a pretty good job of waving their flag with that first model.  

E-85 ... IMO there's no way this "fad" is going away ... even hear Dubyah talking it up.  We've already got Ethanol instead of MTBE, and you can bet the Corn Belt's going to lobby long and hard until it is reality everywhere in the US ... it seems to be a good thing, but I'm a bit concerned about the food vs. fuel tradeoff ... 

... all in all though ... I was hoping to start up a discussion on convincing Arun to convert his car to electric!  :-)

Steve B
San José, CA (USA)