KEEP THESE GUYS AWAY FROM MY RX-8: An RX-7 limo conversion.

A BIG MAZDA RX-8 RECALL: Mine’s given me no problems, but it sounds as if Mazda is handling this the right way. More here.

AUTOBLOG reports that the first street-legal hydrogen powered Mazda RX-8s have been delivered in Japan. I’d like to test drive one when they get to America.

IT’S LIKE A BIG RX-8: The Ford Iosis Concept Car. (Via Autoblog). Hey, Ford could do worse — and has!

RX-8 UPDATE: Reader Tony von Krag emails:

IIRC you got your RX 8 just about a year ago. So any thing you like or hate to a tremendous degree? BTW AutoWeek just did their year long test wrapup this week too.

I like the car to a tremendous degree. There’s nothing I hate. The Autoweek testers experienced much worse fuel economy and oil consumption than I’m experiencing. Perhaps that’s because I was meticulous about the break-in period, or perhaps it’s because their car was just different. My mileage isn’t great — about 18-20 mpg in mixed driving, and I think I got 21 or 22 on the highway once, but it’s substantially better than theirs. And my oil consumption is much, much lower. I don’t think it’s that they drove it a lot harder, because I generally keep the revs pretty high. It’s a lot more fun to drive that way, after all.

I had a battery problem (covered under a recall), but that’s the only problem I’ve had with it. The car is fast — and, more importantly, it feels fast, something that other cars with similar numbers don’t always deliver. It’s loads of fun to drive, the seats are shockingly comfortable, even on fairly lengthy trips, and the back seat is actually functional. I’ve actually had it since August of ’03, and I like it at least as much as when it was new.

I haven’t tricked mine out with lots of Japanese Domestic Market gewgaws or anything, and it’s kind of sad that you can’t get one of these for the RX-8, as you could for the RX-7, but I’m very happy. I had an elderly (1980) first-gen RX-7 in my youth, and this car captures the pleasures of that car without any of the downsides, and with far more refinement.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

Thought I’d give you my impression of the RX-8. I’ve had one since June 2004. My gas mileage is about the same as AutoWeek’s (I actually stopped keeping track after about 6 months, but I haven’t seen any noticeable improvement in miles per tank). The only time I went over 20 mpg was on a long trip from CA to AZ. I usually get 15-17 mpg. (And yes, I drive it pretty hard, what’s the point of getting a car that revs to 9300 if you don’t get it at least 2/3rds of the way there).

My oil consumption is almost the same as AutoWeek’s. I had my oil changed 3000 miles ago and have added 1.5 quarts.

The other most common complaint of the RX-8 is the snow performance of the tires. I’ve never driven in the snow (we don’t get much over here), and I don’t plan to.

I am VERY satisfied with the car. My wife, on the other hand, is not so happy with it. We have a 3 year old daughter and there is not much room in the back seat for her. Therefore, when all 3 of us are in the car, my wife doesn’t have much room in the passenger seat because we have to move it up just to fit our daughter. Plus, it’s kind of awkward to get our daughter in and out of the back seat.

The back seats work (and my daughter fits behind me OK without me moving the seat up, but she’s old enough not to need a carseat), but their chief virtue is that they exist. You can put a small-to-medium adult in them for short distances, but you wouldn’t want to go far.

Meanwhile, reader Steven Headley emails:

Regarding your posted comments about your RX-8 … I am glad that you really like your vehicle, and definitely have been looking at the car as the wife’s “next car”, but have to take issue with your characterization of the RX-8 as “fast”.

As an owner of an American musclecar (2000 Pontiac WS-6 Trans Am) there is nothing like the experience of 400+ horses from the GM Gen III LS1 engine (“slightly modified”) coupled through a 6-speed tranny to the rear wheels.

0 to 60MPH in a little over 4 seconds, now THAT is “fast” … !

No, that’s “absurdly fast.” And reader Paul Music thinks I should get this car, but he seriously overestimates my tipjar proceeds . . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Charles Austin emails:

I’ve had mine for about 4 months now and I love it. My daughters (8 and 15) fit comfortably in the back seats tooling around town. I get 16-20 MPG depending on how I’m driving and added 1 quart for the first 4,000 miles.

What’s not to love about this car? It is fast, though clearly not the fastest, but I do enjoy the off ramps where I zoom zoom by the Mustangs, BMWs and 350Zs that pass me on the straightaways.

Yes, it’s good on the “twisty bits.”

RX-8 REPORT: I turned my grades in this morning, and set out for a picture-taking drive through the boonies. It was nice, and along the way the RX-8 turned over 5000 miles. Since people occasionally email to ask what my longer-term impressions are, I thought I’d record a few here.

Overall, I feel about like I did when it was new. It’s phenomenally balanced — so much so that you sometimes forget just how fast it is. The gearshift is smooth, and the engine is very responsive. The steering is taut, and has good feedback. The brakes are fabulous.

I’ve found that I actually like the interior and the driver’s seat more than I did when I bought it. The seat is more comfortable, even on fairly long trips, than the seat in my Passat, which is saying something.

Fuel economy doesn’t suck, especially given the horsepower, but it’s nothing to write home about. I get in the low 20s on the highway, the upper teens in town. (Extended high-rev trips in the mountains push it lower, though; the Passat’s better, but then it has less than 2/3 the horsepower). Oil consumption — something that rotaries have issues with — hasn’t been bad. I added one quart between buying the car and doing the 5000-mile oil change last week. However, you are supposed to check the oil regularly. I do, and the dipstick location, to put it mildly, sucks. (The oil-volume sensor will sometimes falsely tell you that you’re low on oil; it seems sensitive to a combination of slope and jiggle that a couple of roads I’ve encountered possess, giving a false low reading that goes away after a minute. Be sure to check before you add more oil!)

A guy in a big pickup dinged me with his trailer hitch in the parking lot a couple of months back. I kept honking, but he just couldn’t see me. This made a hole about the size of, well, a trailer hitch in the plastic panel surrounding the right-side exhaust. To my pleasant surprise, replacing the part cost only $36.

Bottom line: I can drive the car all day, have a blast, and get out less tired than when I got in. So I’m happy. If you want more technical stuff, here’s a long-term review from Auto Week. And here’s an interesting article on the hand-assembly process used on the engine. (Thanks to reader Jim Herd for both links.)

A HYDROGEN-POWERED RX-8? That’s kind of cool, though I’m not overwhelmed with the environmental appeal of hydrogen cars — unless, you know, you’re getting the electricity to make the hydrogen from orbiting solar farms or some other clean source.

RX-8 UPDATE: Reader Fraser Cutten sends this link to a review of the RX-8 from TopGear. (WMV video stream).

RX-8 UPDATE: Several readers — including one who says he’s a product analyst at Mazda — have emailed recently to ask for a longer-term evaluation of the RX-8. So here it is.

The short answer is that I continue to love the car, and in fact appreciate it more as time goes on. It has a wonderfully balanced feel. It’s a car that you wear as much as drive. It’s not the fastest car I’ve ever driven, though it’s quite fast, but it’s definitely the most fun to drive. Pushing down on the accelerator going into a curve causes it to plant itself even more solidly on the road and just zip through. (The only problem is that you can wind up going a lot faster than you realize; fine as long as you stay on the road, but as Tim Blair noted, if you get in trouble at that speed, you’re really in trouble. . . ). The feeling is extremely secure and taut.

The gearshift is a joy: smooth and positive. Unlike the shift in the 350Z or the Infiniti G35 coupe, it’s very slick and not at all notchy. As with the steering, you think it, you don’t think about it. Braking is just terrific, and although the ride is fairly taut, it’s not uncomfortable. The seats are very comfortable — to my surprise, they’re some of the most comfortable seats I’ve ridden in, even over some distance. Trunk space, while nothing to write home about, isn’t bad for a car this small (though the trunk opening is narrow), and you honestly can put grownups in the back seats. You wouldn’t want to ride back there for a cross-country trip, but for normal-sized adults it’s fine for a cross-town ride. There are plenty of cupholders (4) and storage compartments in the cabin, and the sound system is great.

Reliability so far has been fine — no problems at all. The only complaint I have is that the oil dipstick is hard to reach — buried down deep amid hoses and pipes. It looks as if they could have made the dipstick longer; I don’t know why they didn’t. That’s a pretty minor flaw, though. Except for the fact that the passenger door can’t be opened with a key from the drivers’ side (you have to use the wireless clicker, or hit the unlock button inside the car) that’s my only real complaint. The “night” setting on the control panel could be a bit brighter, as it washes out a bit even on maximum brightness if you have the headlights on during the day, but you can override that by selecting the “day” setting easily enough.

I’ve enjoyed the car very much, and I’d certainly buy it again. Here’s my earlier post.

RX-8 UPDATE: Just got the same letter mentioned below, offering to repurchase the car, or to give me $500 plus free scheduled maintenance for 48 months/50,000 miles, in satisfaction for overstating the horsepower.

That’s a very handsome offer. I’m quite happy with the car, so I don’t think I’ll go for the repurchase.

LOOKS LIKE EARLIER REPORTS ARE TRUE:

The RX-8 officially went on sale in early July and customers who already have taken delivery or who ordered the car prior to August 26 will be offered free scheduled maintenance for the new car’s entire warranty period – worth an estimated $US1,200 – and be given a $500 debit card, WardsAuto.com said. If owners still believe they’ve been irrevocably wronged, Mazda will buy back the car for the original purchase price, the report added.

Apparently, some people have already gotten letters.

RX-8 UPDATE: Mazda’s website is now reporting 238 horsepower for the 6-speed RX-8. That’s down from 250 in the early ads, and 247 in the specs in the manual with my car.

Reader Andy Sexton reports:

Now, supposedly dealers are starting to contact people. If the message boards are to be believed, they will be offering owners buy backs or $500 + free servicing for the life of the standard warranty.

I haven’t heard from the dealer on this. However, my 6-disc CD changer turned out to be a single-disc player (you can’t tell from the panel, which looks the same either way), and the dealer will be installing the right one next week. This has to be a bit of an embarrassment for Mazda.

Having gotten through the break-in period, I have noticed that the car — while very quick — isn’t as much quicker than similar cars as the weight vs. horsepower would suggest. (It seems, in fact, roughly comparable subjectively to the 190hp Eagle Talon I drove about ten years ago, which was very fast, but which had, well 190hp and probably weighed about the same or more. I just assumed that my standards had risen.) Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Reader Steve Ramsey emails:

Glenn, the actual HP rating is only partially relevant. That motor of yours produces prodigious HP and torque throughout its incredably wide power band, with the capability to turn RPM’s that would explode all but a formula one racing engine.

The light weight and small size of the wankel have a profound effect on the balance of the whole machine.

Feel is one thing, results another. The RX-8 would leave the eagle talon behind on any road course in the world.

Good reason for Mazda to come across with some lovin’ for its goof. No reason for any RX-8 owner to get into a blue funk.

All true. I’m not in a funk at all — the car is terrific, and I’m very happy with how it drives. I do wonder how a mistake like this is possible, though.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Mazda has had this problem before, with the Miata. That makes it even more puzzling that it would happen again.

HEY — I DO LIVE IN NERDISTAN! Paul Boutin test drives the RX-8 and calls it a sports car for nerds.

Coming from Paul, of course, that’s a compliment. But why has Kaus remained obstinately silent?

I BOUGHT THE RX-8 ON THURSDAY. It then rained every day. Today the weather was perfect, so after going in to the office and doing a couple of things that had to be done today, I took off and went to the mountains, driving on the Foothills Parkway, hiking up to the Look Rock fire tower, etc. It was great, and made me wonder why I don’t do that more often — I’m close enough to do it on a long lunch. (The RX-8 is great. Full report later.)

When I got home, the blow-off gods had punished me, as the DSL was out. So I’m working at Borders, which now has wireless Internet. [So how does this count as being “punished?” — Ed. My cappucino is a bit too frothy. . . .]

More later.

WHILE MICKEY KAUS CONTINUES TO MAINTAIN STUBBORN SILENCE on the vital RX-8 question, I have been tirelessly looking into the matter.

I was passing by the Knoxville Mazda dealership today and stopped in to drive one. The first thing I noticed was the low-pressure salesmanship. In sharp contrast to my unfortunate experience with the Nissan 350Z a while back, they were happy to let me drive a car, and exerted no pressure to buy one on the spot, as so many dealers do.

I liked the car very much. The styling is somewhat Batmobile-like, but that’s a good thing, I think. The interior is surprisingly roomy — I even fit in the coupe’s backseat, which is accessed via “suicide” reverse-opening half doors that make getting in and out easy. I wouldn’t want to sit there for a long trip, but you could easily put two full-sized adults in there when going out for lunch, and there’s plenty of room for one or two kids. The stereo was excellent — the only car stereo I’ve heard at any price that matches the quality of the one in my Passat wagon, which for some reason is exceptionally good.

The model that I drove was the top-of-the-line “Grand Touring” model with 18-inch wheels, DVD navigation, etc. Adjusting the seat position, etc., was easy and intuitive (then again, I’ve owned two Mazdas in the past, a 1980 RX-7 and a 1993 MX-6). I didn’t use the DVD navigation system (I don’t think I’d ever buy one of those, anyway) but the climate and radio controls were easy and featured big, tactile knobs. The seats, in Mazda tradition, were very comfortable.

Shifting was delightful — short throws, very precise, very positive. The engine was powerful, though not as powerful as, say, the Infiniti G35 coupe. But the Mazda felt better. Steering was extremely taut and responsive, and the weight distribution is just about perfectly 50-50. It shows in the handling. The rotary engine had a very pleasant sound, though it lacked the mild almost-backfiring on deceleration that earlier rotaries had. Overall, the feel was quite similar to my 1980 RX-7 at some subliminal level, even though the new version is much more refined and powerful. I liked it a lot.

Weirdly, a spare tire is optional — the car doesn’t come with one, just with a repair kit. In a way this makes sense. I haven’t had to change a tire in well over a decade, even though I’ve had major nail punctures. Today’s tires seal that sort of thing pretty well. But still. . . .

I was pretty impressed. So is reader John Brothers who emails:

I have had the good luck and foresight to own one of the very first RX-8s in Atlanta. It is an incredibly fun car – although the manual is somewhat cramped for people over 5’10 – Luckily I have an automatic (I’m 6’1). It is nimble and sleek, gets lots of double takes and is hands down the best car I’ve ever driven.

Plus, it looks like a 944, which was my dream car when I was a kid.

I didn’t find the interior cramped (I drove a manual), and I’m six-three. But what does Mickey think?

UPDATE: Reader Jon Foster emails these thoughts on successful car-sales techniques:

When we went to look at the Protege 5 for the wife, we were driving around in it before the salesman actually asked us for our names. Several months later when we wanted to buy, he got the sale. I am looking at a Mazda 6 for myself, and believe me, he will get the sale again.

Wish all dealerships had such nice salesmen!

Yeah.

MAZDA’S LUXURY-BRAND AMBITIONS: Tested: 2021 Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo vs. Audi A4 45. I’ve liked the Mazdas I’ve owned — an MX-6 and an RX-7 and RX-8 — and they’ve managed to feel kinda luxurious for a non-luxury brand.

Bottom line: “As it stands now, the Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo offers a hell of a lot of car for the money, while the Audi A4 offers an appropriate amount of car for the money.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Teach Someone To Drive A Stick. I taught my daughter to drive a stick — on the Mazda RX-8, whose lack of low-end grunt made it a bit tricky — but I wonder if she’ll ever use it again.

DRIVING THE 2017 Mazda CX-3. I’ve liked all the Mazdas I’ve owned. I had a 1980 RX-7, a 1993 MX-6, and, of course, my 2004 RX-8. All were great cars.

SPEED: I took on the fastest man on the Dragon with a 458 Speciale. I used to drive that in my RX-8.

ANOTHER AUDI REVIEW: So, following up on my A8 review, a while back the Audi folks gave me an RS7 to play with for a week, and it’s taken me a long time to put together a review because I really couldn’t find much to say beyond “Awesome!” and “Fast!” But here goes.

First, it’s awesome and fast. The key is this turbocharged V8 engine, producing 560 horsepower, and 516 lb/ft of torque, delivered through an 8-speed tiptronic transmision.

A couple of years ago, I test drove an Audi A7. It was pretty awesome, and pretty fast. The next step up in awesomeness and fast-ness is the S7. The RS7 is the fastest and most awesome version that Audi makes. And it’s really awesome and really fast.

Top speed is 174 miles per hour. Zero-to-60 time is 3.7 seconds. (Bear in mind that this is a four-door sedan). When you mash the throttle down, stuff in front of you gets closer really fast, and stuff in your rear view mirror gets much smaller, really fast. I’ve driven other really fast cars with rapid acceleration, but the combination of all this torque with the Quattro all-wheel drive and sticky rubber means that it’s a weird combination: At one level, it’s a snarling beast. At another, it’s super-smooth. Tootling around town, it’s a four-door luxury car. Stamp on the accelerator, and it’s . . . well, a snarling beast, but one with terrific grip and surefootedness. The engine note goes from barely-there to rip-roaring, and the sense of being shoved back into the driver’s seat is deeply physical. Also fun: Involuntary grins on driver and passenger are almost unavoidable.

But, of course, the seat you’re being pressed into is fine, quilted leather, heated and cooled, nicely bolstered, and ultra-comfy. Take it out on twisty roads and it handles like a sports car. Okay, a 4500-pound sports car with adaptive cruise control, a heads-up display, and power soft-door-closers, but on some known segments I was able to achieve speeds similar to what I could do on my much lighter RX-8. At some subliminal level, you can tell that the car is a lot heavier, but in terms of how it goes through the turns, it’s as fast. Steering feel through the electromechanical steering isn’t as good as the RX-8’s, but it’s not bad at all. The car feels totally surefooted, even when you’d think it would be working at the limit. (Interestingly, there’s also a mild backfire-sound on lifting off the accelerator that reminds me of the Mazda.)

When you’re not roaring through the turns, there’s a $5900 Bang & Olufsen sound system, which I liked but thought — as with the A8 I reviewed last year — that the upper frequency ranges were perhaps hyped a bit to compensate for aging Baby Boomer ears.

Unlike the A8, this is a car that you can drive like a sports car, but like the A8, you could also take it on a family road trip. The trunk is surprisingly large.

The backseat, on the other hand, suffers a bit from the swooping roof line that looks so cool and provides a .30 drag coefficient. I’d be comfortable riding there for a short distance — say going out to lunch — but not on a road trip. The A8’s cavernous back seat is a clear winner here, but the A8 won’t go zero to sixty in 3.7 seconds, or reach a top speed of 174 miles per hour.

One place where RS7 outdoes the A8 is price. As tested, the RS7 was stickered at $122,545, while the A8 squeaked in at just below a hundred grand. But did I mention it goes zero to sixty in 3.7 seconds, and has a top speed of 174? On the other hand, the A8 was a TDI model that could make it from Knoxville to Palm Beach, over 800 miles, on one tank of fuel. The RS7, meanwhile, slurped gas mightily when driven hard — but, then, those 560 horsepower have to come from somewhere. And if you can lay down $122,545 for a car, you can probably spring for the fillups.

Is it worth it? Well, that depends. An A7 gives you a lot of the bang for a lot less buck. But if you want a four-door sedan that outperforms the supercars of my youth — and has fancy features they never dreamed of — well, it’s not so expensive, really.

And it’s really awesome. And really fast. So much so that it actually gave me writer’s block for a bit — and nothing does that.

SO I’VE WRITTEN A LOT ABOUT HYBRIDS, and I like mine — a couple of years ago I passed the Toyota Highlander Hybrid on to the Insta-Daughter and upgraded to a Lexus RX-450h, which is basically the Lexus version of the car I had before. My hybrids get great mileage in town — high thirties/low forties if you really try hard, low-to-mid thirties if you don’t — and do okay on the highway, getting around 27 or 28 in FKMPG (“Fred Krause Miles Per Gallon,” a measurement invented by a college friend; it’s what the car gets while going 80 with the air conditioning on “Max”).

InstaPundit reader Brad Stertz, who does communications for Audi, thinks I should give more attention to diesel technology, so they set me up with an Audi A8L TDI to drive to Florida, where I was already set to attend a law professors’ convention. The gimmick: I could go all the way there (a bit over 806 miles, door-to-door) on one tank of gas.

Of course, it’s a big tank: 23.8 gallons. But still, it gets 36 mpg in a really big car, and that’s pretty cool. I was happy to accept, and they dropped the car off a couple of days before we left. The version I got was quite posh, coming in at a sticker price of over $99,000. For that, you get such things as massaging seats, radar-controlled adaptive cruise control, all-around cameras, and more.

The massaging seats are very nice. It’s not like a Brookstone massage recliner, but they’re well-designed to ease the strain in your back over long drives. We drove straight back — a roughly 13 hour drive — and I appreciated them. There’s even built-in wi-fi, allowing you to surf the web from the front or from the cavernous back seat (the L in A8L means it’s stretched).

The all-around cameras offer an excellent view in parking — it looks like you’re seeing things from above the car, but the cameras are actually hidden in the bumpers and side-mirror housings.

The interior is beautifully done, something Audis are known for. (When I tested the HondaJet a while back, the interior designer for that plane told me that he was inspired by Audi car interiors). The super-premium Bang & Olufsen sound system sounded really nice, though a touch too high-endy for me — I think it may have been calibrated for aging Boomer ears.

The car is long — it wouldn’t fit in the slot in my garage where I usually keep the RX-8, and where the Toyota Highlander Hybrid fits comfortably; with the workbench at the front there wasn’t room. And I noticed that length in driving; I found myself unconsciously using chauffeur-moves to smooth curves, etc. (Strangely, it doesn’t look that big when parked). But on the Interstate it’s smooth and very comfortable to drive. The Insta-Wife, who was less enthusiastic about this test-drive than I was, quickly changed her tune. “This car is amazing,” she commented, shortly after taking the wheel for the first time.

The turbo-diesel has plenty of power for accelerating up on-ramps and the like, but loafs along at 1500 rpm at 80. The car tracks very smoothly (though there’s a warning device that vibrates the steering wheel if you cross a highway line without your turn signal being activated) and the steering is comfortable and not as numb as in many modern luxury vehicles. The “side assist” feature means that yellow lights flash in your side mirrors if there’s a car in your blind spot (more on that in a bit). And one feature that I haven’t properly appreciated turned out to be nice: The radar adaptive cruise control locks on to the car in front of you and maintains separation whether they speed up (up to the speed you’ve set on cruise) or slow down all the way to nothing. Creeping along in stop-and-go traffic near (where else) Atlanta, it was like being connected to the car ahead with an invisible cord. It actually makes long-distance driving a lot less tiring.

Criticisms: First, the Navigation system uses an annoying rotate-and-click knob to enter information; this is the same interface that was on an Audi A4 that we rented in LA last year, and it’s vastly inferior to, say, Lexus’s point-and-click interface. Second, somewhere in south Georgia the dash emitted a chime, the control panel said “Audi Side Assist — System Fault,” and the yellow lights in the side mirrors stopped working. The friendly Audi dealer in West Palm Beach fixed it posthaste (a matter of resetting a code) but it did make me wonder how well all this electronic wizardry will hold up. You might want to spring for the extended warranty.

Did we make it all the way on one tank? More or less. We made it to the end of the Florida Turnpike segment when I — as InstaPundit readers know, I’m usually cautious about fillups — finally cracked and tanked up. But the range calculator on the car was at that point showing enough fuel left to get me all the way to Miami, so I’m sure I could have made it to our hotel on what was left. And I think the fact that it only took one fillup each way reduced our travel time by a bit, which was nice.

The Insta-Wife and Insta-Daughter were big fans (Helen was surprised to find the car so easy to drive, and the Insta-Daughter, who worries about parking, wants that camera setup on her next car; she also loved the huge back seat and wi-fi), and were visibly sad when the folks came to take it away yesterday. If you’ve got close to $100K to spend on a car — or, if you’re a frugal type and want to forgo some of the bells and whistles, a mere $82K or so — you could do a lot worse.

Bottom Line: If long-distance highway cruising is your thing, this is a great car to do it in. It’s also a good deal cheaper than the comparable Lexus or Mercedes. And yes, I admit that diesels are a good gas-saving alternative to a hybrid, especially on long drives. You can’t argue with 36 mpg.

And does this mean more auto reviews on InstaPundit? Who knows? They’ve been more than occasional features here since the very earliest days of the blog. And they’re fun.

MORE ON INVERTERS: Reader Richard Gardner writes:

Folks considering inverters should first check their automobile’s alternator capacity to figure out how much they can power long-term from an inverter without discharging the battery. Making rough calculations, your Mazda RX-8 probably came stock with a 100 Amp alternator (at 13.8V) = ~1400 Watts, so anything much more than that is overkill (not to include peak rating). You can get aftermarket high output alternators, usually in the 160-200A range; my older Toyota only has a 60A alternator. But some of that power is needed to run the car (20-40 Amps), so for a 100A alternator the best case is 1100W available for the inverter. These output ratings are at normal driving engine RPMs and at idle you are lucky to get 75% of the rating (and as low as 50%) so we’re now down to 800W (max, probably lower), which will provide you with ~7A @120V AC, enough to run the refrigerator (130-200W) and more. You’ll need at least a 750W inverter (“peak” 1500W – inverters typically have a peak rating 2x the normal rating) to handle the starting surge current for starting the refrigerator (~1200W) with the extra energy coming from the battery regardless of how much power your alternator produces.

To run a 3000W inverter continuously without discharging the battery you need a 300A alternator, what you would typically find on a fire engine.

Here’s an article on using inverters for emergency power, and here’s some guidance on how much power various devices use. And in response to my earlier post on inverters, reader Mark Wallace writes:

Kathleen Wallace is my sister. She sent me a picture of her inverter and running fridge. I was a little jealous as I was in darkness in NYC. Here’s the Amazon link for the inverter.

Funny, I was looking at that one online. Another note: Some inverters, especially the cheap ones, put out pretty “dirty” power, which isn’t good for electronics. Laptops are probably fine, but other computers and sensitive devices may have problems.

Meanwhile, reader Judith Sears writes:

I read the posts on using inverters with interest. However, I live in a high rise, 6 floors up from the garage, so running an inverter off my car isn’t possible. Any alternatives or MacGuyvers that people know of?

Well, you can’t have a generator — even if you’ve got a balcony you could put it on, it probably wouldn’t be safe with regard to carbon monoxide — and you can’t have an inverter because your car is floors away. So what can you do? Well, you can buy a big uninterruptible power supply — I have several of these with the add-on external battery. One of these will run a cable modem and wifi hotspot for a long time, and charge your laptop and cellphone. And I have a couple in the studio so that if the power cuts out while I’m doing a PJTV show there’ll be plenty to finish it — they even run the lights, which are fluorescent and so don’t hog too much power.

And there’s always this solar-powered phone recharger, with extra solar panels. I don’t know how fast this would charge when it’s cloudy, but it holds enough power to charge a phone a couple of times anyway. Then I’d have a couple of lanterns for light, and possibly a small propane stove, though it’s not safe to use most of those indoors.

Any other ideas out there for apartment-dwellers?

UPDATE: Reader Dave Lemieux writes:

Alcohol stoves are the best alternative for indoor emergency use — no CO problems and the fuel is widely available. You can go cheap for about $30 (typical for a backpacking stove) or better for a couple hundred like you’d find on a boat..

Good point. Here’s one.

And reader Steve Barkmeier recommends this for apartment power backup, adding that it’ll also keep you warm. You’ll be hungrier, though. . . .

MORE: Reader Stephen Skubinna writes:

I live in rural America and have a 3kw Onan. One thing to bear in mind if your potable water comes from a well is that submersible electric pumps have a hefty startup load. Factor in 20 amps at 220v if you’re calculating the requirements for a generator or inverter. Once they’re running they don’t draw much.

Incidentally I worked in IT during the Y2K panic. When people would ask how bad it was going to be I’d say it wouldn’t be an issue, and they’d smile knowingly, figuring that I was simply trying to head off panic at the impending end of civilization. However if they’d ask how to prepare I’d tell them to have extra blankets, candles and maybe an oil lamp, lots of flashlights and extra batteries, potable water and stored food for about a week, and perhaps a hand cranked radio. They’d make notes and ask “So that’s for Y2K, huh?” and I’d respond “No, that’s for ALL THE TIME! You should always be ready for at least a week’s interruption of service.”

People, at least urban dwellers, won’t even countenance roughing it for a few days. So far as their universe runs, if the power or water or phones and internet go out a man in a truck shows up and fixes it within a day. They have no idea of how fragile their urban environment is.

Indeed.

STILL MORE: Kathleen Wallace, mentioned in the earlier inverter post, writes:

Wow, Glenn!! I, my brother AND my husband (who spent half a day online choosing the unit) are over the moon seeing ourselves on the Insta!

My brother sent you the link to the Power Bright 2300; we also purchased these cables:

And these fuses:

All were purchased through the Amazon Instalink, of course.

We had plenty of heavy-duty (critical) extension cords on hand.

We called Power Bright directly, they were fantastic and helped us choose. We originally wanted one that would power a space heater, thus the 2300.

But then, on the third day, we were getting cold. As the family electrician, I went down to the basement to figure things out. I removed the furnace 110 line from the closest junction box, cannibalized a heavy-duty three-prong plug from an air conditioner, and spliced it IN THE DARK with husband holding the flashlight. Plugged it into the inverter. The spark of the furnace pilot was the sweetest sound. The peak draw was surprising low. Cables never even got warm.

Yeah, most furnace fans don’t pull a lot of power. Cool! Er, I mean, warm.

MORE STILL: More advice for apartment-dwellers from reader Paul Clithero:

When we lost power for nearly a week due to an ice storm, I robbed a battery from one of our cars and would charge it using jumper cables from our other car. I realize that this is a bit of a trick for those with one car, or who might need all of their vehicles running, but it is always an alternative to sitting in the dark.

If one lives in a multi-story apartment building, it might be nice to have a dolly capable of hauling the battery up the stairs, unless you can carry the thing by hand. There are straps and battery grabs available at auto parts stores intended for the purpose of carrying car batteries around.

Another alternative would be to hit the Interstate Battery store, Wal-Mart automotive center, etc. and purchase a deep cycle RV battery if it looks like a Sandy/Katrina situation is in the works.

Good advice. And you can get those from Amazon, too. You could even keep it and charge it in your apartment when there’s power.

THINGS THAT DON’T SUCK: So I’ve got this Black & Decker jump-starter/compressor/power source and I’ve found it very handy for topping off tires. (The RX-8’s combination of low-profile tires and finicky tire-pressure sensors means that I get an alarm whenever the temp drops significantly). I haven’t used it to jump-start anything, but it looks like it ought to work well. On the other hand, this gadget from Duracell has less jump-start power (300 amps instead of 450) but puts out 110v AC, too.

Related: Power Preparedness.

UPDATE: Reader Brian King offers what he calls a “semi-review” of the Duracell 300:

I bought one of these recently – was looking for a compressor, but this one had the extras for not much more money.

So far, I’ve only used the compressor (which did the job … two tires from about 25psi to 35psi in just over 5 minutes each … the pressure gauge is pretty reliable even while pumping, which is nice) and the inverter (to charge a blackberry – I know, what a waste to take DC and convert it to AC only to have the charger turn it back into DC again, but it did the job, too).

When they add a few USB ports, I’ll buy another one!

Not a bad idea.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Bruce Webster writes:

I actually have two of the larger model (B&D Electromate 400):

This model has two 120 volt AC outlets, beside two 12 volt DC (car-style) outlets. I’ve been using them to power the Christmas lights on a live 8′ pine tree at the entrance to our driveway (about 160 yards from our house; it was that or 1/10th of a mile of extension cords). One unit will keep the Christmas lights going 6 to 7 hours; recharge time appears to be roughly 12 hours, but it may be less than that (I’ve been recharging them in the garage, so I don’t really see when they’re done).

Kinda wish I’d bought that one. Or maybe this one, with a USB charger port.

LAYING THE HATE ON HYBRIDS: I dunno, though — my Highlander Hybrid is pretty fun to drive, for an SUV. And I say that as a guy whose other car is an RX-8, so it’s not like I’m comparing it to a Yaris.

REMEMBERING the original Mazda RX-7. “Like the Datsun 240Z a decade before, the RX-7 revolutionized the sports car market. With performance easily on a par with the Porsche 924 and close to that of the contemporary Chevrolet Corvette, but at a vastly lower price, the RX-7 became a legend. It was an immediate smash sales success, became the first sports car for a generation of young drivers, and quickly established itself as a force on the race track.” I had one of those — a 1980 model — and it was a great car, though with some rough spots. What I like about the RX-8 is that it recaptures the feel of the original RX-7, but without the rough spots.