a WRX with no cats still makes less polution than an Escalade with all its emissions eq. intact.

 

Very true, but it still doesn't justify it in my opinion. People with bling Escalades and dubs and obnoxous stereos should be shot...

 

its not passanger cars that make the bulk of the polution. its the refineries, factories, and electric power plants. Unfortunately they also have very deep pockets that pay for political campaigns, so noone llikes going after them. they just go after all the little guys that can't fight them. if you removed every passanger car from the planet you would reduce total world polution by less than 1%. we're not the problem....we're just the easiest target. I know....its still breaking the law, and its wrong and I'd never tell anyone to do it. But if you're feeling guilty because you're destroying the enviromnent.....don't. that's just the propaganda machine of the ulta-left trying to make you feel bad for enjoying life.

1 volcanic eruption puts more about 1000X more junk into the air than every source on man-made polution combined.

believe me, the enviroment could care less about you. it'll be here longer than any of us. when we become too much of a burden, it'll just wipe us off and move on...and we'll have absolutely nothing to say about it....so in the mean time go out and ejoy your car

 

its the refineries, factories, and electric power plants.

1 volcanic eruption puts more about 1000X more junk into the air than every source on man-made polution combined.

believe me, the enviroment could care less about you. it'll be here longer than any of us.



As a geologist and now someone who works in the air quality field, I'm not sure how I feel about the first two comments and think the last one sucks.

There are maybe 1,000's of industrial plants in California alone (where I live), but there are 1,000,000's of cars, and they do make a difference.

But that's way off topic. I am also thinking about adding some more pep to my wagon, and have both green and reliability concerns. I want my car to kick *** for 500,000 miles and be as kind as it can to the air the whole way. All this buzz about accessport makes it seem like the easiest, most versatile, and for the purpose of this thread, possibly the most "green" power mod you can do. Is it really that cool?

 

I dunno Blarg. What are your sources/references. I've spent a little bit of time working on experimental hybrid vehicles while I was in college (http://www.futuretruck.org/) and all the research and reading I did to support the project pointed to vehicles as being a big part of the problem. It's definitely not the greatest source, but it's certainly not a piddly 1%. Just ask the people in LA and Calif. Central Valley.

Additionally, the increased fuel consumption by our driving habits means an increase in gasoline refineries and supporting infracture...and that infrastructure certainly does negative affect the environment.

Anyhow, I'm not totally sold on global warming, but I certainly don't think we should not think of cars a contributor to our current environmental woes--if you do believe those woes exist...don't want to really get that much more into an enivornment debate. At some point, the environment debate has almost become as touchy as the abortion debate...so I don't want to step on anybody's toes.

 

I'm not going to hijack this thread and turn it into a political/environmental debate.

I live in L.A. the problem is not the amount of polution being produced its the onshore flow of the wind. Since L.A. is in a basin, the wind coming off the ocean keeps everything from blowing out to sea, and the mountains on the other side keep it all from blowing the other way.

if yove worked on designing ANY kind of cars then you know that more power requires burning more gas. its already a efficient as technology allows because the US Government mandates that, so you porbably won't get any more out of the car that way. the only things that you can do in a wrx without increasing your fuel consumption is removing blockages in the exhaust/intake. and the intake is already pretty good.

here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33742

http://www.tornadofuelsaver.com/info/

http://www.hicloneqld.com/home.htm

http://www.himacresearch.com/books/hydro8.html

those are all eco-friendly devices and between all of them you're looking at somewhere around 100 HP increase making your WRX a near 330 HP eco friendly beast. Also I'm not sure but with all the fuel savings you might actually get to a point where you're actually sucking polution out of the air and GENERATING fuel.

if you're looking for eco-friendly transportation, buy a Prius. performance cars by definition use more gas and polute more than than is absolutely necessary.

my personal suggestion would be buy the roof-top bike rack, and take a bike with you. Then only drive 80% of the total distance you have to and bike the rest of the way...instant 20% polution savings.

[edit]

oops I almost forgot one

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6763

actually have that one myself. There's anoter "5-12 horsepower"

 

my point exactly. the car is as efficient as the govt. allows it to be. the only way to make it MORE efficient is to dump the government-mandated crap that's supposed to "help the enviromnent". In the case of our cars, its not really necessary since a well-tuned, well-maintained WRX will pass SMOG with no cats...although it WILL have somewhat more emissions.

 

Is this actually true and where could I find proof lol.....my g/f sometimes says i'm bad because i'm a polluter or whatever lol.....have this proof would be great! :banana:

 

again, i'm not going to hijack this thread....look at it this way

Escalade 5.7L V8 goverened by truck regulations that are far less stringent than car regulations

WRX 2.0L H4 with ULEV rating in a passanger car, a class of cars that's EXTREMELY over-regulated- 'nuff said


try this:

get your catless WRX to a smog station and have them do a sniff test. then look up the limits and average readings for an escalade (you can find these online...I'm not going to search for them right now, but it IS a matter of public record...you can probably find the info on all sorts of anti-SUV web sites as well)

I'm willing to bet you could get results for a catless WRX by asking for them on any of a number of WRX forums as well....I'm sure someone's done it already.

now lets get this thread back on course....eco-friendly mods.

how about:
1) design more aerodynamic front end
2) don't accelerate like....well like you're driving a WRX
3) turn off the A/C
4) put in an EXTRA cat
5) bio-diesel conversion
6) atatch a horse to it and have it pull your WRX around
7) Toyota hybrid gas-electric motor swap
8) Ram a Hummer or Escalade head-on (ok....this actuallyl mods the Hummer or Escalade to polute less....but its STILL a good idea)


...i wonder if there's a Prius mod/racing forum....how long before we see teenagers pulling up to Corvettes in a Prius with an aluminum spoiler, clear side markers, Altezza tail lights, and type-R stickers and challenge them at a red light. Come to think of it....is there a Prius Type-R in the works? ok....sorry I'm just getting silly now.

 

Blarg,

No one is disputing that SUVs and light pickups are held to less stringent regulations.

And no one is disputing that a prius/bike/horse buggy is more eco-friendly than a wrx. heck, i even say so in my original post that i already felt bad about getting a wrx instead of a prius. I don't know why you're getting all snippy and putting in comments like "attach a horse and have it pull your WRX". Life is a compromise and I compromised some of my eco-ideals when I got the WRX and for wanting to get some more power out of it. But I still want to be as eco-friendly AS POSSIBLE without giving up too much. I don't know why you have to be so condescending and patronizing.

In any event, I was just saying that your statement about automobiles contributing just 1% to all the air pollution is a BS statement with no proof.

 

Don't feel bad about buying a car. At least you're better than those solarpower freaks. 20% efficient Solar panels take 8 years to earn back the energy it took to make it


Basically, the reason why eco stuff, like abortion and stem cell research are such hot topics is because the vast majority of the population is "uneducated" by the erudite standards required to accumulate the data and think/process critically (a skill not taught in today's educational system) Not saying who's right or wrong, just interjecting a sidenote.




So back on topic, the accessport will probably be the best. IMO if you wanted a great sportscar that doesn't pollute you should get a Toyota MR-S or a Miata. Both will put endless smiles on your face and have more than adequate power for their sub 2500lb curb weights

 

My whole point was that you shouldn't feel guilty about the WRX. There are far worse enemies of the environment than you, and even by performance car standards a WRX does pretty well. ENJOY...SMILE...be happy with your purchase and drive the hell out of it. You already got it. now make the most of it. I just hate to see people with the automobile equivalent of bulemia.

I'm also a comedy writer so interjecting funny comments is just my way of being friendly...don't take it personally.

You have nothing to feel guilty about.