Bowser Beaters

Thanks.

I had to look up what bowser meant (fuel pump).

 

Interesting article, for the three vehicles we can get the city, highway and combined mileage:


The one part that has me confused is "5.3 L/100km" for the Prius which runs about 44 MPG. At this speed range, we're seeing closer 50 MPG (4.7 L/100km):


So this one data point seems a little 'off' but their protocol seems OK.

Bob Wilson

ps. So the bowser is the truck in the background?

 

I can beat that Boo ... I had to look up fuel pump

My mind immediatly went to the car's fuel pump rather than the gasoline station's gas pump.

 

LOL.

 

At airports the truck that brings the fuel is called a "bowser".

I know of -some- vehicles that need a truck to bring fuel, but I'm pretty sure Prius is not one of them.

 

"Bowser" comes from the name of its inventor. From Wikipedia:

"The first gasoline pump was invented and sold by Sylvanus F. Bowser in Fort Wayne, Indiana on [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_5"]September 5[/ame], [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1885"]1885[/ame].[2] This pump was not used for [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile"]automobiles[/ame], as they had not been invented yet. It was instead used for some kerosene lamps and stoves. He later improved upon the pump by adding safety measures, and also by adding a hose to directly dispense fuel into automobiles. For a while, the term bowser was used to refer to a vertical gasoline pump. Although the term is not used anymore in the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States"]United States[/ame], it still is used sometimes in [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia"]Australia[/ame], [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand"]New Zealand[/ame] and [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada"]Canada[/ame]."

:focus:

 

My initial thought was the Bowser boss from Mario games.

What's interesting is that Prius used 6% more fuel on the highway (5.0l vs. 5.3l) than the Audi A3. That's pretty good considering:

1) Diesel fuel has about 15% more energy.
2) A3 is a smaller car with less frontal area.

 

Isn't the A3 lighter, too? Maybe it just turns on trim levels but it seems like they're at least close.

 

It is heavier in US spec and it has wider tires as well. I am not sure how it is in AU.

 

Thanks! That makes a lot of sense. Our route to Nashville from Huntsville has a somewhat similar profile. We have to climb out of the Tennessee River Valley up the Piedmont Plateau and then run up and down a series of hills, 100-150 m.

Bob Wilson

 

Eric,
Thank you for finding another Aussie colloquialism to baffle these septic tanks.

 

When i saw Bowser, I thought of [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Bauman]Jon Bauman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] who may have been named for the gas pump.