Way OT and please forgive me. Yrs back I attempted the math of what a 2 smoke cost for it's life, if the life span was 7K miles. Worked out to .5 cents a mile @ an average speed of 16 MPH. (Consistently my norm 2 or 4 stroke) But I had failed to include the cost of oil. Yrs later, I have not had a 4 stroke die and do not know how to do the math.
The math would make an awesome thread and I would love to see it. Not from vendors (No offense but 2 smokes do not get 150 MPG and 4 smokes do not get 180 and please stop insulting the community)
But from the troops in the trenches! (Ya know, silly folk like us)
First of all, I must make a correction. I dug up my notes and discovered something important: SMALLER automobiles do, by a few ounces, use less oil when travelling the same distance as a two-stroke MB, but the pollution factors in when you realize that they burn way more fossil fuel (gas) by comparison. I thought the oil use was the other way around. But as you will see, it's a close call.
Well, Dan, as was mentioned up above there, I also averaged 125 MPG with my 2-stroke (so I didn't use the magical 150 mpg figure because that would be too much optimism). There are 128 ounces in a US gallon. If you use Opti-2, you use 1.28 ounces of oil for each 125 miles that you travel (because at 125 miles you will have used a gallon of fuel).
Now, at 125 mpg, you will need exactly 24 gallons to travel 3000 miles. And you will have burned/used 30.72 ounces of oil along with the fuel you used.
Now then, after talking to the fine men at Jiffy Lube and at Valvoline Instant Oil Change, I tend to find that most 4-cylinder vehicles with more than 5 years of age AND/OR more than 75,000 miles to their credit tend to burn/use on average about 3/4 a quart of oil per oil change. (Some people add a bit more oil before they go in to have it changed though. I am not able to factor that in). That translates to 24 ounces of oil for every 3000 miles a car travels between oil changes. (Most people wait longer than that, I was not able to factor that in either.) BUT, at about 30 MPG (which is good for a 5-year-old car) you'd need to burn at least 100 gallons of fuel to go 3000 miles.
I can no longer find the results I put together on an SUV to MB comparison, using a 40:1 oil/fuel mix with the 2-stroke. But here's the breakdown for the car/MB comparison:
- Motorbikes, 49 cc 2-stroke @ 125 MPG, with Opti-2 @ 100:1 mix-
For 3000 miles you will need about 24 gallons of fuel to burn.
You will also need about 30.72 ounces of oil to burn.
- Average 4-cylinder, 5-year-old Car @ 30 MPG -
For 3000 miles you will need about 100 gallons of fuel to burn.
You will also use, if you are lucky, about 24 ounces of oil.
If you combine the oil used and the fuel burned, the car is the bigger polluter. But it is a close call. Disclaimer: the way most people drive, they are probably not getting a full 30 MPG. To hear some mechanics talk, the way most take care of their cars on average, many 5-year-old cars are likely burning more oil than above. The deck was technically stacked against the Motorbike, but there's only so many ways you can do the figures and come up with anything close to a "right" answer. Make of this what you will. I just did this for fun.
