justme
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2000
- Location
- Hanover, NH
Here's mine. The subject was "Daughter's Headaches" -- that's the kind of thing I expect they will read:
Dear Tom and Ray,
I’ve listened to your show for years, in spite of the fact that my wife thinks you are misogynists, and my 8 year old daughter says Car Talk gives her an instant bad headache. Still, I listen when I can.
I used to have somewhat more reason to listen, as I had a gas powered car that was a bit of trouble. Now that all of our cars are relatively trouble free modern diesel VWs there is less reason. And when I heard you discuss these TDI VWs recently with absolutely no knowledge at all of what you spoke, I wondered why I listen at all.
I’ve heard you do knee-jerk diesel-bashing on the air for years, but when you recently told a woman not to get a new diesel Golf because it was pokey, stinky, and hard to find fuel for, I realized you don’t know what you are talking about at all.
Pokey? When we had a gas (2.0L) Passat and a TDI Passat at the same time, the TDI could scoot up hills that would have caused the gas car to bog down and need to downshift at least one gear. Our TDI Golf can slam your back into the seat very firmly in the bottom three gears, fourth gear is no slouch - and on the highway in fifth there is always plenty of power in either our Golf or Passat to pass or accelerate without downshifting.If you drove one at high RPMs in low gear it could feel slow, but if you drive it where the power is, it is as peppy as any car I've owned.
Stinky? Modern gas and diesel cars have a slight smell, which is mostly from sulfur in the fuel; both gasoline and diesel fuel have sulfur and emit various odorous sulfides in the exhaust. I actually prefer the smell of the diesel, which is very clean burning and has a catalytic converter. Overall the diesel does emit some more NOx than many gas cars, but other emissions - CO2, CO, other hydrocarbons - are certainly lower per mile traveled in a TDI VW than in most other cars on the highway. Go to Europe. Many many TDI diesels are on the road there, a significant percentage of the cars. Do European cities have air as bad as most of the US? No. Not in my experience. However the old stinky diesel trucks and buses in the US are indeed a problem in the cities. A different story.
Hard to find fuel for? Our Passat TDI can drive for about 900 miles on a tank of fuel. There is a lot of opportunity to find fuel in 900 miles. Since at least 30% of all stations carry diesel, I can wait until about 860 miles before I start looking really hard and worrying about running out. I bet you spend more time looking for gas stations than I do.
Maybe I’ll just hang out with my wife and daughter the next time Car Talk is on. I can see why she gets a headache. She’s a smart little kid.
Dear Tom and Ray,
I’ve listened to your show for years, in spite of the fact that my wife thinks you are misogynists, and my 8 year old daughter says Car Talk gives her an instant bad headache. Still, I listen when I can.
I used to have somewhat more reason to listen, as I had a gas powered car that was a bit of trouble. Now that all of our cars are relatively trouble free modern diesel VWs there is less reason. And when I heard you discuss these TDI VWs recently with absolutely no knowledge at all of what you spoke, I wondered why I listen at all.
I’ve heard you do knee-jerk diesel-bashing on the air for years, but when you recently told a woman not to get a new diesel Golf because it was pokey, stinky, and hard to find fuel for, I realized you don’t know what you are talking about at all.
Pokey? When we had a gas (2.0L) Passat and a TDI Passat at the same time, the TDI could scoot up hills that would have caused the gas car to bog down and need to downshift at least one gear. Our TDI Golf can slam your back into the seat very firmly in the bottom three gears, fourth gear is no slouch - and on the highway in fifth there is always plenty of power in either our Golf or Passat to pass or accelerate without downshifting.If you drove one at high RPMs in low gear it could feel slow, but if you drive it where the power is, it is as peppy as any car I've owned.
Stinky? Modern gas and diesel cars have a slight smell, which is mostly from sulfur in the fuel; both gasoline and diesel fuel have sulfur and emit various odorous sulfides in the exhaust. I actually prefer the smell of the diesel, which is very clean burning and has a catalytic converter. Overall the diesel does emit some more NOx than many gas cars, but other emissions - CO2, CO, other hydrocarbons - are certainly lower per mile traveled in a TDI VW than in most other cars on the highway. Go to Europe. Many many TDI diesels are on the road there, a significant percentage of the cars. Do European cities have air as bad as most of the US? No. Not in my experience. However the old stinky diesel trucks and buses in the US are indeed a problem in the cities. A different story.
Hard to find fuel for? Our Passat TDI can drive for about 900 miles on a tank of fuel. There is a lot of opportunity to find fuel in 900 miles. Since at least 30% of all stations carry diesel, I can wait until about 860 miles before I start looking really hard and worrying about running out. I bet you spend more time looking for gas stations than I do.
Maybe I’ll just hang out with my wife and daughter the next time Car Talk is on. I can see why she gets a headache. She’s a smart little kid.
