Time to ramp up production:
Even as car buyers stampede for vehicles with better fuel mileage, there are fewer hybrids, the gas-stingiest, to go around.
While sales of conventional small cars soared last month, sales of the most popular gas-electric hybrids were flat or down because dealers had fewer left. There was plenty of demand, but hybrid assembly plants are running as fast as they can, and some are short of components, particularly batteries.
When hybrids first came out, I wondered if they would ever really catch on, as the history of the American consumer love affair with the car has had one clear trend- every year the cars have more and more horsepower. There is just something visceral about the American love affair with the car, and you see it with the vehicles that the American car manufacturers put out year after year- new Mustangs, hemis, SUV’s, etc. The need for a giant vehicle penis is something I never really understood, and in fact I have lived for several years without a car in a place that has sub-optimal public transportation. To each his own, but cars are just not something that motivate me or interest me that much- when I think of a car, I think of an expensive pain in the ass. Others, to say the least, think otherwise.
At any rate, I always wondered if hybrids would take off with the masses- of course, I was aware there would be a tipping point with gas prices, but I wanted to know if people would feel “cool” in a hybrid like they do in current gas guzzlers. That question was answered the other day while on the bus riding to work, and I looked out and saw a kid with a mullet and a Steelers jersey, riding in a Toyota Prius with WV plates playing air guitar to his obviously loud stereo while sitting at a red light.
As gas prices continue to rise and then stabilize at a price that puts our casual use of gasoline financially out of reach for most Americans, I bet we will simply redefine what is considered “cool” when it comes to cars. I predict it will be gadgetry or the like in the interior, but in 20 years we will probably look back at the cars of the past few decades (60’s-present) in sort of a quizzical “WTF WERE WE THINKING?” kind of way.
Decided FenceSitter
What I find interesting and intriguing is the idea that a pure electric car will have plenty of torque (off the line go power) for driving; but not the horsepower. Which would do for 95% of my driving needs.
Ned Raggett
I can’t cosign this enough, this is exactly my situation. Willingly — and I live in Southern California! (Never owned a car, don’t have a desire to.)
Seeing the changes around here — slight ones only so far, very slight — as congestion and gas prices and more all start to converge has been interesting and satisfying. Dreggas can and will chime in here I’m sure re: the local transit authority in Orange County, who do a good job under the non-mass-transit-friendly circumstances. But it’s still not enough yet, and I’m wondering what the next steps will be. Friend of mine just got an advanced degree in urban planning and she’s going to be a wealth of info for me on this over the next few years, for sure.
Ned Raggett
FWIW, a recent blog bit from me on mass transit and living without a car around here.
Lee
I love this Onion piece.
Jimmy Carter
Not a perfect fit for this thread, but it works.
Jinxi
Sounds like my brother. Except for the Steelers shirt.
Also, we have no mass transit system in my area. I live in rural Bumfuck Ohio, and the folks here wouldn’t pass the tax needed for it. They do love their SUVs and pickups though. Those of us who don’t- well, the Amish buggy trade seems to be picking up.
Punchy
Cuz you’re single without kids. Once you have kids, you must have a car. Can’t rely on a taxi to get you to the hospital on time after Lil’ Cole swallows an entire bottle of Dad’s Viagra…
gbear
About a month ago I bought a 250cc scooter, which is fast enough to keep up on the highways but also gets about 65mpg. I picked it up just as a scooter frenzy started hitting the Twin Cities area. I believe the scooter I bought now is on back order and will cost much more when it arrives due to the declining dollar. I realize that I won’t be able to ride it for 3-4 months of the year, but it looks like I’m going to be able to get by with only one tank of gas in my Ranger until September. For me, the scooter is going to be a great alternative to a hybrid. It has the additional benefit of being one of the funnest things on the planet.
cleek
there have been reports that hybirds cause unacceptable levels of SMUG pollution.
there have also been reports that Parker & Stone are themselves the leading cause of SMUG pollution.
John Cole
True, but Lil’ Cole will still fit in the front seat of a Prius.
Grand Moff Texan
The free market is so fucking inefficient.
.
Brachiator
Hybrids are clearly becoming more popular, even though they are not necessarily more cost effective than a high-mileage gasoline automobile (Rethinking the cost of hybrid cars):
However, hybrid technology has proven itself, and I am a little surprised that neither presidential candidate nor Congress has seriously considered expanding tax credits for hybrid vehicle purchase, or come up with strong incentives for automakers to refine hybrid technology, seriously commit to improving gas mileage and fuel efficiency in autos and trucks and come up with other ways to deal with the likelihood that oil prices will continue to climb steeply.
We may redefine it, but it is likely that the American love affair with cars will continue for some time to come. Cars (and other types of vehicles) represent the dream of freedom. Think of how many songs there have been about cars since the rock era, for example this UR-song about cars and freedom from Chuck Berry:
Paul Weimer
$4.00 per gallon gas seems to have been the tipping point. Just as an ancedote, the express bus I ride into downtown MPLS has gotten a lot more crowded as the prices have gone up and up and up…
gravie
We just bought a Toyota Yaris — 34 mpg so far, in-town driving. It’s a great little car for getting to and from work. I’ve been wanting an energy-efficient car ever since we participated in a two-week test-drive the GM EV (the prototype electric car) back in the early 90s. The torque on the electric car is indeed incredible, the vehicle is incredibly quiet (no pistons, no engine noise) and I never once had to stop at the f$^%#ing gas station, since we recharged it at night in our driveway. It broke my heart when that project was killed and the cars all compacted into a mass grave.
John S.
And have the same moment of reflection that we should be having now looking back on the cars of the last few decades and the oil crisis of the 70s, seeing that the handwriting has been on the wall for 30 years and nobody did a fucking thing about it?
It’s all just a little bit of history repeating…
Alaskan Pete
The sad thing is, in the early 80s you could buy a Ford Escort that got 40mpg on the highway. And these days we are expected to be stoked with a Corolla that gets 35?
Almost 30 years of “progress” and we still can’t match the mpg of the early 80s cars? WTF?!
RSA
I predict that at some point, the notion of a car being cool or not will be something only a small number of people think about. Remember old ads you may have seen from the 1950s, selling housewives on brand spanking new appliances, from stoves to fridges to washers and dryers? Nowadays, except at the very high end of the market, we think, “WTF? It’s just an appliance.” Similarly, in the future, I expect a lot of people will think, “A car? It gets me from here to there–what else do you want it to be for? My dick is big enough already, thank you.”
Ned Raggett
Quite right — but can I suggest this one as more emblematic of where we all ended up:
The Other Steve
W00t! Another Minnesota scooter owner!
I ride a blue Yamaha Majesty now. I had a 150cc Aprilia, but my new commute, I wanted to be able to take crosstown, so I upgraded to a 400cc. I get 50-60 mpg.
Check out the Rattle My Bones rally in August. I probably won’t go on the rides, but I’m going to the pig roast on saturday afternoon.
But rain sucks for riding, I’m in the cage today.
b. hussein canuckistani
If it’s too much of an emergency for a taxi, you call an ambulance and the hospital care gets to you faster than you get to the hospital. I’ve got 2 kids, no car, no problems yet.
BombIranForChrist
I think that car technology is causing a generational shift away from hot rod cars.
There was a time when any idiot could rebuild an engine because engines were so simple. These days, even cheaper cars have mind-boggling arrays of computer chips and other engineering black boxes that makes it a pain in the ass to tinker with your car as a hobby. I think this has helped encourage younger generations to seek other opportunities for penile enhancement, like … actual penile enhancements, Enzyte, or collecting Johnny “Reb” Horton albums.
This is not to say that there is still not a significant part of the population that loves big penis cars, but I think this love has now become localized in pockets rather than existing across the entire cultural fabric of our country.
I think a lot of people in our culture also see the Giant Penis Car as just being completely ridiculous, and our ranks are growing. There will always be a need for auto-enhanced penis compensation out in the sticks, where opportunities for enhancement are limited, but we sophisticated types have other ways to over-compensate for our diminution, like buying hedge funds or the latest iPod.
dougie smooth
The love affair will continue. Electric motors have full torque at low RPM, unlike internal combustion engines, which means even the consumer EVs will be able to tickle your ballhairs when the light turns green.
Paul Weimer
If I didn’t live in an apt, building (and only have one space) I might seriously consider a scooter up here, myself.
Napoleon
I knew my ’02 Toyota Echo would become cool eventually.
I took a quick look at those once and as far as I could tell it was pretty much the same car as my Echo (engine is the same, with I imagine some chip differences and the body and interior is roughly the same design except some smaller dimensions and less weight and updated athetics). I regularly get 35 MPG on a day-to-day basis (some highway in that, a lot of stop and go) and a recent trip to Chicago was 45 MPG. And its not like I am trying to milk it for mileage. It is a fantastic car. I was thinking of buying a new Yaris to replace it.
TheFountainHead
This thread has reminded me why I’m voting Republican this year!
David Hunt
Mr. Cole,
I realize that this will make me sound like an idiot, but I’m going to ask it anyway. How do you shop for groceries? As someone who has always used a car, I don’t know how I’d manage that.
Dreggas
Ned,
I actually like the OCTA and haven’t had many problems with them, granted I wish the 71 ran more often since it would basically mean door-step to door-step service for me getting from home to work. But even with a daily walk of 1 mile it’s not bad and good exercise besides.
It does take a bit more time to get to work, I live 8 miles from work, usually with traffic a 15 minute drive, but taking the bus it becomes 40-45 minutes. Something I am happy to endure since I get where I need to go when I need to go there locally for only 45 dollars a month.
OCTA has improved its service dramatically from 8 years ago which helps. It also helps I live close to a super market so I can walk to do my grocery shopping, though there is a superior warehouse nearby that offers shuttle service from the store back to your house free of charge if I wanted to shop a bit further away.
The big thing here in So-Cal is going to be scooters, hybrids are popular as is but you can get a freeway approved scooter for under $5000, granted there is no trunk or whatnot but to get to work, or even go see a show or something it’s an efficient mode of travel and good on gas.
I watch the gas prices go up here and I just have to shake my head and laugh at the schmucks with the H3’s. Obviously nothing was learned from the fuel crisis of the 70’s.
Granted it’s a bit more of a challenge to go to L.A. though the train works, I can usually get a lift from friends so it’s a wash.
Gus
In the late ’70s and early ’80s it was common to see commercials in which car manufacturers touted their mileage. In the ’90s it was all about biggest, fastest, most powerful. It’s nice to see commercials again touting mileage, though as Alaskan Pete points out, it’s fucking irritating that our definition of fuel efficient has actually changed for the worse in the ensuing 30 years.
TenguPhule
The freedom to fail and drag us all down with them until they ask for a bailout must never be denied.
Michael D.
I refuse to buy a Prius. It’s battery is extremely carbon intensive – at least according to Wired Magazine.
Hybrids are nothing more than “feel-good” cars and are doing nothing more than stretching out our dependence on oil.
I’ll wait for the Volt, or some other electric. Till then, I’ll use my Saab for recreation, and take transit to work.
Napoleon
Actually the advance in automotive technology has been fantastic during that time period, but the metric you use hides the advances. My impression, and I am a car guy, but hardly an engineer, is that the auto industry has used all of the technological improvements they have made over that period to increase performance instead of increasing efficency. 30 years ago streetcars were pretty much all carburetors with set engine timing (due to the fact it relied entirely on set “hard” parts). You cannot believe how primitive that system really is. A carburetor is barely more technologically advanced then, say, a compound bow or something like that. Now every car sold in the US has injection and many engines have variable timing. All of them are run by computer chips. I am willing to bet fairly quickly (maybe mid 09 model year) you see engines making noticeable jump in MPG as manufactures re program the engine chips and when they regear the transmission (again maybe mid 09 or 10) another jump. That is just a guess, but I will be surprised if I am wrong. What I would suspect you will see models of most cars offered bearing “economy” labels with engines totally stripped of performance to goose the MPG ratings.
Cris
I definitely like hybrids more than the common alternative, but I confess to being pretty disappointed with the ones available. When they were first on the market, I was hearing numbers like 60-70mpg or more. But now I have the impression they’re in the high 30’s or low 40’s. My gasoline-powered ’91 Geo Metro got better than that (before its third cylinder went all weak).
Or the back seat, I assume. The think I liked about the Prius over the Insight was that the Honda model was only a two-seater.
AkaDad
This selling point would work for most products.
Napoleon
PS, I think this is implicit in my last post but pretty much there is a direct trade off between performance and efficency. De-tune the cars and you are almost bound to pick up efficency.
Ned Raggett
Heya Dreggas!
David — Dreggas notes something that is key when it comes to groceries: location. A little planning and you’re golden but obviously it all depends on the situation, and not everyone is as fortunate. Here’s how it works for me in a suburban Orange County situation:
* Right across from work is a Trader Joe’s. Therefore snagging basics for home as needed = piece of cake. Bus ride to work and back home is like Dreggas’s, about 30 minutes or so with one connection either way.
* One block up from where I live — a Mitsuwa supermarket (nice for a lot of things at reasonable prices when I’m vaguely trying to cook Japanese and Chinese dishes), plus two (?!) separate 7-11s for straight up basics.
* A few blocks up on the busline — another Trader Joe’s, for weekend runs.
And as Dreggas notes, LA means friends and/or train. Now if only they could put in one midnight line back from Union Station on the Metrolink…
mark
Maybe it’s because I live in the Midwest, but I’ve never met a “smug hybrid owner”. I tell anyone who asks that my Prius is a great car, because it is, but I understand that it’s not The Answer. It’s transitional technology, and I’m pleased to be a part of a step in the right direction, but that’s as much as I pat myself on the back for it.
David Hunt
Is it practical to simply store the car inside the apartment by your door or outside on the “porch?” Oops. Just re-read your comment and realized that you’re probably not talking about an Apt complex, but some sort of (highrise?) building. If you’ve got a small car, could you work out a way to fit them both in the parking space, then?
Cris
You might be surprised how much you can fit in a quality pair of canvas bike panniers (saddle bags). And if that’s not enough, there are very nice trailers available.
Oh, and let’s not forget the huge benefits of living withing walking distance of the grocery store. If only our urban-sprawled communities had been designed so every neighborhood had their own shopping district.
Bubblegum Tate
It’s all Clinton’s fault. Somehow.
mark
Our Prius does high 30’s in mixed driving in the coldest days of winter and high 40’s in mixed driving in summer. On our recent trip East we did about 51 mpg in highway driving doing 65-70 mph most of the time.
Unlike conventional cars, it loooves to go slow, so after I fill up I try to take back streets on the trip home to see if I can goose the mpg up to 60. I ofter succeed.
b. hussein canuckistani
Being a big city dweller, I have the option of doing most of our grocery shopping at local markets on a daily basis. This cuts down the number of big shopping expeditions, which can then be dealt with by taxi, for a lot less than the cost of paying for parking, much less all the other expenses. So yeah, sometimes you need a car. But you don’t need to own one, or drive it for most errands.
Ned Raggett
I forgot to mention farmers markets and the like as well, which do thrive around here — among other things I also belong to a local agriculture program, and the pickup spot for their produce is located on a slightly longer but still perfectly situated busride back from work for me.
A lot of this really is down to luck, I have to emphasize — this pickup spot just happened to be located in a perfectly convenient location, for instance. But the trick is encouraging a switch over from luck to a proper standard.
Shinobi
I’m still waiting for someone to make a hybrid that I fit in. Ford has a couple that might work, but their mileage is not significantly different from the non hybrid model. (Escape I am looking at you.)
The nice thing about a lot of older model cars, and indeed the big gas guzzlers is that you don’t have to be a delicate flower to drive them.
I must say though, how something like the H2 ever caught on before Hybrids did…. well.. it hurts my soul.
Genine
I’ve never driven a car. I don’t even have my drivers’ license- yet. I’m going to get one because, well… I’m in my 30’s and I just want to have one- also my learners’ permit expires this fall. There’s another motivation. I’m lucky I grew up in a large city with very good public transportation, then moved to Portland where they also had a good system. The system in Denver is OK. But since I live close to downtown, its perfect for me.
I think the obsession with cars depends on the region. Back in Philly, there were people that lived their whole lives without a driver’s license and buses run 24 hours a day. Usually the people who drive come from the suburbs or inconvenient to living places.
Portland is very big on the environmental protection and so they have a very good system in the live in the city and some of the burbs. There is also a company called FlexCar where they share cars and there are other car sharing programs.
Here in Denver, cars, especially SUV’s, Trucks and high-end cars are a big deal. Definite penis obsession here. But that’s changing a a lot. Scooters are all the rage here and its sunny most of the time. (Blegh!) So most scooters can be driven most of the year,
Liz
And the winning phrase for today is “giant vehicle penis.” *titter*
Seriously, though… my husband and I wanted to hold out for a diesel or electric model, but our old car was fading fast.
Blue Raven
That may be. Here in the SFBA, bumper stickers and license plate frames on some of the Priuses in the area get downright preachy. Examples: “56 MPG, and yours?” and “Don’t trust anyone under 30 MPG”
Cris
I think this gets at the real key. Most of the time, the personal impact of the price of a commodity comes from volume, which comes from frequency of use. $4/gallon gas affects everybody, but it affects the person who drives four miles to the grocery store once a week far less than the person who drives 17 miles to work every weekday.
Contrapositively, a more fuel-efficient car really won’t show that much value to somebody like me who doesn’t drive every day. I typically drive less than 3,000 miles a year. I could double my fuel efficiency and save about $300 a year. While that will certainly buy a lot of ramen noodles, it’s not going to make or break my overall budget.
Decided FenceSitter
*Chuckle* I’m part of the NoVA sprawl. In any given week I put somewhere around 380 just going back and forth to work and class; plus anywhere from 100 to 300+ miles during the weekend. Admittedly there are weekend when I make the several mile drive to the (decent) grocery store.
And yes, transit is non-existent; I’m a good 20-25 miles from the nearest metro station and bus service, except for commuter bus service is a joke. Which I need to look at it; though admittedly it means my 30-40 minute commute will more than double. Joy. More time not at home.
Not much else to whine about except that I want my electric car that can go to 75 MPH, damn it.
mark
I call bullshit. The article compares apples and oranges. Read some of the comments. The wingnuts have been saying “hybrids are bad for the environment, haw-haw” for quite some time. Most of these “analyses” are based on absurd assumptions such and the nickel not being recycled. And again: it’s transitional technology — a step in the right direction. It’ll get better.
Some progress is better than no progress. If you don’t want one, fine.
ImJohnGalt
I’m smug. We live in the middle of an urban centre, which we bought purposely due to its proximity to shops, entertainment and our places of employment. We shop at a local farmer’s market (to which we walk) twice a week for organic, locally grown produce *and* organically-farmed, local meat.
We ride a 1981 200cc two-stroke Vespa that easily gets us 40 km/l with a top speed of about 110 km/h, and as alluded to above is INSANELY fun to drive.
We’re renovating our place to LEED standard right now.
What pisses me off is people who say that these things cost more, so we shouldn’t do them. I say the exact opposite. If we can afford it, it’s irresponsible *NOT* to do it. Our governments have been subsidizing our own bad behavior for decades by not including externalities in the price of many commodities. The Chinese are where the west was 50 years ago – they’re not going to pay attention to this shit.
RSA
Checking online, I find that the bottom-of-the-line early ’80s Ford Escort had a 68 hp engine, while the newest bottom-of-the-line Corolla has an engine with almost exactly twice that power, at 132 hp. So one way to look at progress is that manufacturers can now build cars that are almost twice as powerful as they used to be and yet use about the same amount of gas. Of course, that’s not really helpful in the way of conservation…
mark
I’m surprised. I find the front seat of the Prius very comfortable, but I’m average height. I’ve encouraged one “I need an SUV because I’m tall” friend to at least give it a try.
fordpowers
Now mullets and air guitar are for the cool kids?? wowski.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Sod the wingnuts, and for the purpose of this discussion, sod the environment, too.
What happens when you’ve had your Prius for ten years and you need to replace the battery pack at $10K or so? Ditch it and go buy another one?
I’m gonna drive my 10 year old Chrysler ’til it totally gives up the ghost, because you can buy a shitload of gasoline (even at 4bucks a gallon) for the cost of a car payment.
Jon H
Brachiator quoted: “A lot of people get sticker shock when they look at the price of a new hybrid.”
Nobody ever writes these stories about the asshats who buy $50,000 luxury SUVs or sports cars.
What’s the payoff time on a Tahoe? How about never, does never work for you?
Jon H
” Ditch it and go buy another one?”
Sure, but in 10 years the battery pack will probably be smaller, cheaper, and more ‘green’.
crw
You can get amazing mileage in a hybrid, but you have to change your driving habits. You need to slow down, avoid jack-ass-rabbit starts, and learn to anticipate traffic lights so instead of racing to the light, then slamming the breaks you coast in nice and smooth if you know you aren’t going to make it. Actually, adjusting your driving will improve your mileage in any car, not just hybrids. Then there are the sick hypermilers who do things like turn off the engine and coast. They’ve been able to push the Prius to over 100mpg.
Jon H
Cris wrote: ” I typically drive less than 3,000 miles a year. I could double my fuel efficiency and save about $300 a year. While that will certainly buy a lot of ramen noodles, it’s not going to make or break my overall budget.”
On the other hand, shit happens, and you may find that this arrangement is no longer feasible, and that you’re forced into a frequent long commute for some period of time.
Napoleon
. . . or if they applied the same technology in a differant way engines just as powerful using half the gas. If the government had all along been increasing the CAFE standards as the technology improved things would be vastly differant today. The auto industry has been full of shit all along that the technology does not exist to make the improvements.
D. Mason
I am a big guy myself and for that reason I have a hard time finding a comfortable and fuel efficient vehicle. I know most truly fuel efficient cars are made in Asian countries where people are typically smaller but I am surprised no manufacturer is trying to tap the fat American market. Big and Tall people hate being pumped at the pump too you know.
empty
I’ve been driving a Prius for three years or so. I get about 53 mpg in the summer and around 44 mpg in the winter – both with mixed driving. You get the lowest mpg if you are driving short distances in the cold. There is some overhead for starting so your first 5 minute mpg is always lower. The mpg also changes depending on who is driving. When we bought the car we shopped around for one in which our high school age children could sit comfortably in the back. Among those the Prius was not anywhere close to being on the high end in terms of price. Maybe, its because in the midwest there was no premium charged for the Prius as was the case on the coasts. For the rest, what mark said.
Chris Andersen
The wife and I have recently gotten into watching old Starsky & Hutch episodes. The third star of that show was a Ford Gran Torino, which was considered a small car for the time (compared to the landboats that were common) but which today would be considered large.
The “WTF WERE WE THINKING” already occurs when you watch these shows from the 60s and 70s.
Jon H
Michael D wrote: “I’ll wait for the Volt, or some other electric.”
The Volt?
I wouldn’t bother waiting for American car companies to get on the stick. They couldn’t even handle seatbelts and airbags, and you want them to engineer electric cars that people will want to buy?
In the meantime, they’re piddling around with hybrid luxury SUVs, as if the remaining market for those gives a crap.
zzyzx
Battery packs have a ten year warranty. That says (to me) that Toyota expects them to last for 15-20, or they’d be replacing a lot of them. I have a late second generation Prius. By the time I need to replace my battery, I expect economies of scale will make it cheaper.
At least there are a bunch of parts I’ll never have to replace in the meantime (belts, alternators) because the Prius doesn’t have them.
mark
The battery is guaranteed for 8 years / 100 kilomiles. I’ve seen the replacement cost quoted at $3K, but I presume if I keep the car that long the battery technology will be radically improved. The friggin’ brakes are likewise guaranteed for 100k due to regenerative braking.
BTW, my Prius replaced a Honda Civic I’d had for 11 years and > 100k. It get better mileage.
I’m not asking you to do otherwise.
Jon H
Cris wrote:
Hybrids since the Insight and Prius haven’t necessarily targeted full-on balls-out max-MPG. There have been several models which compromised on the MPG. The Lexus hybrid, for example, isn’t going to bother shaving much weight off the car for the sake of efficiency.
There’s a Malibu hybrid, which gets a whopping 2 mpg more than the regular model.
Dreggas
I don’t know about elsewhere, but here I can also shop online for groceries through Albertsons and have pretty much anything in the store delivered. I was a bit skeptical of things like shopping for meat online at first but they pick the best cuts and it’s still the same price. There’s an 8 dollar fee (I think, haven’t done it in a while) but it still beats driving to the store. You can even arrange for evening delivery if you won’t be home in the day time.
There’s also the delivery services like Schwann’s which we even had in the rural area where I grew up, they came by every two weeks and though their prices were a bit up there you could pre-order and such.
Sarcastro
I took a quick look at those once and as far as I could tell it was pretty much the same car as my Echo
Try driving one. The Echo, no offense, had some of the worst dynamics of any car I’ve ever driven while the Yaris is downright nimble (for what it is). Almost CRX-like (speaking of 80s cars that could get 50 MPG) even before I dumped mine two inches on coil-overs, stiffened the chassis up and put some decent wheels/tires on it (engines aren’t the only thing you can tune BombIran).
It’s not going to replace my Miata as a weekend mountain-road bomber or autocross racer any time soon, but it’s plenty enough fun for a daily driver, and gets much better gas mileage even though it weighs exactly the same and is only 25 or so ponies short of the Mazda’s mill (the Miata has much steeper gearing).
cleek
the Volt won’t be out for at least another 2 years.
plus, right now it’s only got a 40m range on batteries alone. to go farther, it kicks in a gas-powered generator. so, it’s a hybrid, too.
zzyzx
Oh and in Seattle I get about 47-48 in the winter and 52-55 in the summer. This winter in summer thing hasn’t been helping my cause much.
cleek
40m = 40mi.
a 40 meter range would be pretty weak, even by Detroit standards.
Jon H
“I realize that this will make me sound like an idiot, but I’m going to ask it anyway. How do you shop for groceries? As someone who has always used a car, I don’t know how I’d manage that.”
Smaller shopping lists, more frequent shopping trips? For a single guy, it’s definitely possible.
david
My Honda Accord Hybrid turns out to be something of a coward’s hybrid: too much performance to provide fuel economy; too much of the latter to provide much of the former. Still, when I’m stopped at a light and not idling, I enjoy the dirty looks I get from the folks in the Hummers and Expeditions.
And have you ever noticed how car advertisements associate driving with patriotism?
a href=”http://trueancestor.typepad.com/true_ancestor/2008/06/the-revolution-will-not-be-turbo-charged.html”.text here””
John Cole
Bus to work, ride the monorail to the Evansdale campus, shop at Kroger about a quarter mile from the monorail, and depending on the amount of groceries, pick up the bus on the way home or spend 4 bucks on a cab for the 3 mile ride, which costs about 5 bucks. Plus, I am single, so I don’t have to shop that often. I can pick up produce at the local stores downtown.
It is easy. If I need to go somewhere, I can rent a car, although I screwed up and forgot to renew my driver’s license because I never drive, so now I need to go through that hassle. That is on my to-do list this summer, and I predict it will be an ordeal.
Not having to deal with the DMV is a side benefit of not driving.
gbear
“I am surprised no manufacturer is trying to tap the fat American market.”
Daniel Pinkwater is a very large guy who was checking in with the Car Talk guys when he was looking for some new wheels. He discovered that the new VW Beetles are a fat guy’s dream car. It’s not a hybrid, but it’s not a gas guzzling big car either.
Mary
I briefly had a driver’s license years ago, but I was always a timid driver and procrastinated successfully when it came up for renewal. Here in Ontario, there’s a new graduated licensing program that means getting fully licensed again will be an incredible pain in the ass, but like Genine, I think I’m going to go for it anyway. I don’t expect to buy a car any time soon (although I would love to get a Prius after having a chance to drive one a few years back), but it seems to be one of those useful skills.
I’ve lived without a car for years now, and I do pretty well with a combination of walking, mass transit and cycling. Cycling has made me both much more aware and more confident on the street. I don’t think I’ll ever be a timid driver again. A friend of mine gets huge loads on his bike using panniers and a trailer, as Cris mentioned above, but I admit that may not be for everyone.
The only time I need a car for shopping is when I have to pick up the economy sized boxes of cat litter, so I make a taxi run to the local shopping warehouse 3 times a year to stock up on bulky stuff like that. But I am tempted to strap the old milk crate onto my bike and see if I can pedal home with 18 kg of litter. (If I can’t, this damn cat is looking at getting toilet trained.)
srv
I’d say from 1973 or so on. And I don’t know what y’all were thinking when you thought disco and bell bottoms were hot. Or Reagan. Or Rap. Or Lost…
Twenty years from now, something that looks like a Shelby Mustang or Camaro SS will still be cool. But they’ll be powered by ultracapacitors. And there will still be more culture in Pragues asscrack than SoCal.
Ned Raggett
Also:
“Auto insurance? What’s that?”
Tsulagi
Hey, everyone knows HP=penis length. Size matters.
After spending over $80 Sunday to fill my CAR (not a God damned Cadillac Escalade), I told the wife I’m going to be riding my motorcycle a whole lot more. Thank God the serious adults did Iraq assuring us it would lower gas prices. Can’t get enough byproducts of success.
More people should ride motorcycles especially if they’re just single occupants in a car. Bikes generally get better mileage than hybrids.
cleek
i would, except that i don’t trust the rest of the people on the road.
Brachiator
Unless you are waiting for a vehicle that runs on Unleaded Pixie Dust, there will always be some kind of environmental trade-off with respect to cars. Hybrids are less polluting than gasoline vehicles, even with battery issues taken into consideration.
The energy that would charge a plug-in car is not necessarily clean or cleaner than gasoline. And the batteries that are used in electric vehicles have the same problems as batteries used in hybrids.
And people who don’t know social history don’t realize that gas automobiles originally promised to be clean transportation, as they were alternatives to the stench of manure and dead carcasses that arose from the use of horses.
I grew up in Southern California. I never knew anyone who did not know how to drive and who did not get their license as soon as they reached 16, until I went to college back East. In high school, we had Driver Training classes in which we would actually take a fleet car on the road.
And it’s not just about an obsession with cars. In Texas, where my family originally lived, it is not uncommon for boys and girls to operate tractors and drive trucks on ranches and farms before they can legally drive a vehicle on public streets. And for some (with the notable exception of George Bush), driving a car is an extension of being able to ride a horse.
And again, back in Southern California, a car is often just another transportation accessory, which includes boats, jet skis, dune buggies, skateboards, etc. It’s all about freedom in motion, not penis substitutes.
Fern
“I realize that this will make me sound like an idiot, but I’m going to ask it anyway. How do you shop for groceries? As someone who has always used a car, I don’t know how I’d manage that.”
I don’t know what it would be like doing this for a family, but just for myself – grocery shopping is not a problem.
O shop more than once a week. Mostly I walk – 10-15 minutes to a grocery store and schlep it all home in a backpack. I’m considering one of those rollie-pull thingies that we used to call baba-buggies back when they were ugly and made of wire.
If I want to do a major shop, I take a cab home. I often stop off at a gercery store that is on my bus route home. Milk and juice I get at the corner store because its heavy. Other kinds of shopping – for bulky stuff a lot of places will deliver – a $20 delivery charge is a lot cheeper than owning a car. For 10 bucks, the pet store will deliver enough kibble and litter for four cats for a month or so.
El Cruzado
If you’re doing mostly highway get a diesel. My 2005 TDI averages 44mpg in the outer NOVA sprawl (Eastern Loudoun county) and can be pushed up to 50 on the open road by sticking to speed limits. Also drives like an actual car (can’t stand the Prius there, not to mention driving position in that one ain’t that grand at my 6’6″).
Pity the current price diferential with gas, but things will go back to normal sooner rather than later. Hopefully right between I order a new Jetta wagon and when I get it.
Fruitbat
And yes, the free market will also take care of those people concerned with losing that “Giant Penis Vehicle” feeling.
Genine
Yeah, for heavy items a car is nice. I don’t have a cat, but I buy those three gallon thingies of water. I have friends that drive me in that case.
Otherwise, I have two supermarkets within a block of me and Whole Foods is five blocks away. So there is really no reason for me to drive, unless I want to go to the Mountains, which isn’t often and I go with friends that drive.
So, its all good.
Fern
Here is something I’ve wondered – what are the energy costs of replacing a perfectly functional, but non-fuel-efficient car, with something else. I’m thinking about the energy it takes to manufacture a new vehicle. At what point does it balance out?
Oh, and just noticed the umpteen typos in my last comment. I am not nearly as stupid as that comment makes me look.
Andrew
Michael, you’ve been suckered by right wing propaganda, again.
mark is absolutely right, that article is complete bullshit and was refuted within minutes of its posting. It doesn’t even quote the references correctly. In fact, the original source article concludes: “Continuing to drive an older car with poor fuel economy is less environmentally friendly than getting a new car that gets drastically better fuel economy.”
The whole battery issue was debunked as winger scare tactics over a year ago. Why do you fall for this crap?
And this…
… is just stupid as shit.
I’m pretty sure that the hybrid owners are indeed feeling pretty good about spending a half or a quarter as much on fuel as other drivers.
And if you can’t see how conventional hybrids are the critical transition mechanism to electric vehicles, then you’re obviously not congnizant of the basic engineering and economic factors involved.
jenniebee
ZOMG, did liberals say for years that something was a good idea, and then eventually everybody does it and it turns out to be a fantastic idea that nobody can figure out why we didn’t try it sooner? When did that ever happen before? I mean, aside from Social Security. And legalizing birth control. And civil rights for black people. Oh yeah, and giving women the vote. And giving black people the vote. Actually, having elections at all in the first place. Supporting the foundations of modern biology (full props to Darwin and Mendel). Freeing the serfs. Listening to Galileo. etc.
Don’t listen to those crazy hippies about reducing carbon emissions and nationalizing health care, though. They’re always full of crazy hippie ideas that, unlike pure laissez-faire capitalism, benevolent hegemonies, abstinence-only sex-ed and trickle-down economics, never work in the “real world.”
John Cole
Those are luxuries. If you want me to feel bad about people having to pay 4.50 a gallon to fill their suv to haul their jetskis to cavort around in the ocean burning more fuel and releasing more shit in the ocean, it just ain’t happening.
Additionally, while Tim tries not to be smug, I do resent people who drive big cars. Oil is a fungible commodity- if people were not wasting so much of it in inefficient cars they do not need, the price of gas would be cheaper for everyone. Period.
So, sorry. I feel bad for folks who have to commute, and I feel bad for truck drivers, and I feel bad for people who have to drive out of necessity. Jet-skiing and boating, not so much. Get a fucking surfboard or a canoe.
Stevan
I replaced my Subaru Impreza Outback with a Civic Hybrid over five years ago, upping my average (calculated at the pump) gas mileage from 26-28 mpg to 43-50 mpg, meaning I’ve been getting somewhere around an additional 200 miles out of each tank of gas for the last five years. That has translated into a lot of money – not only from the gas savings, but from the WV state tax credits ($1000 each year for three years back in 2003-2005) and the federal tax deduction ($3000 back in 2003). So it has been monetarily worth it for a $20,000 car. As for the battery? Those that have had it replaced talk of a figure around $3000 – almost the same as the cost to fix the automatic transmission in the Subaru at AAMCO shortly after it turned over 100,000 miles. My 2003 Civic Hybrid now has over 140,000 miles, with no battery problems. Back in the day, you could buy it with a manual transmission (which is not available in today’s Civic Hybrid), so no CVT repair to worry about either. With a little planning, I will be able to replace the battery much more cheaply than it would cost to buy a new or even a used car (and with a much lower carbon footprint than the manufacture of an entirely new car).
Jon H
Fern wrote: “Here is something I’ve wondered – what are the energy costs of replacing a perfectly functional, but non-fuel-efficient car, with something else. I’m thinking about the energy it takes to manufacture a new vehicle. At what point does it balance out?”
If that’s a concern, and the old car isn’t *too* inefficient, you could sell it cheap or give it away to someone who might otherwise drive a car that would be even more inefficient.
ie, if you replace a Volvo with a Prius, give the Volvo to someone driving an old Suburban, and the Suburban gets scrapped, that should be a net improvement, environmentally.
Alistair
I’m considering buying a Smart Fortwo. I could actually fit it in my garage with my motorcycle and all of our stuff. It’s relatively cheap to buy (although, for a pure value for money proposition, it’s hard to beat a Yaris or a Fit). I almost never have passengers and my girlfriend has a proper car, so it’s reasonably practical. The gas mileage is 31/41 by EPA 2008 standards, but 40/45 by the 2007 standards. The EPA changed the way they calculate mileage, but I have no trouble beating the old numbers on my Focus, so I think I should be able to get close to 40mpg out of the Smart. Also, as guys buy large or powerful cars to compensate for certain shortcomings, I need to drive the smallest possible car…
As for the Prius and mileage, I can get 50mpg+ out of my girlfriend’s one without trying too hard. That’s actually better than the 45mpg I get out of my Triumph Speed Four, which is remarkable when you consider the Prius weighs a ton and a half more. It won’t do wheelies, though. It’s actually fun to try to maximize the efficiency, which is good as otherwise the driving experience is marginal. It doesn’t handle particularly well and gets squirrelly in crosswinds at highway speeds. It’s a transportation appliance and nothing more. I bet the Honda Insight is a much better driver’s car, especially with the manual, but I’ve never had a change to drive one. If I could find a relatively low mileage example, I’d buy one, but they are hard to come by.
Jon H
Brachiator writes: “The energy that would charge a plug-in car is not necessarily clean or cleaner than gasoline.”
No, but there are more options for clean power generation if you plug in and store the energy in batteries.
There’s no need to wait for someone to event a car-sized powerplant based on fission, geothermal, wind, or hydro.
If the optimal efficiency for a given generation method happens to require a 300,000 square foot facility, that isn’t a problem.
jenniebee
If this site had Intellisense, most of its readership would have this statement in the snippets file.
Jon H
By the way, a good way to improve your current vehicle’s efficiency would be to have a trip computer installed, if you don’t have one.
I don’t know if they are available as aftermarket, or if they are something you’d have to get from the dealer.
Having that display of instant/average MPG makes obvious how your driving style can improve or reduce efficiency. And if you’ve decided to modify your driving style to save gas, the instant feedback really helps.
bago
Heh, one of my primary considerations for my next car is how hackable the car computer is. But then again, I’m a geek.
Andrew
Actually, it is almost always necessarily cleaner. Even a dirty coal plant source has only slightly greater emissions per mile than a conventional hybrid. However, because most plug-in hybrid charging will take place overnight, when coal plants are over-producing power (since their output can’t be completely throttled on a hourly scale), the hybrids are taking power that would otherwise go to waste.
Dreggas
Why not they make similar things for pets
Jon H
Dems and environmentally-concerned others should turn the old Republican anti-gay rhetoric against the GOP, by deriding people for their ‘lifestyle choices’ that lead them to buy things like gas-guzzling boats, big SUVs to tow them with, etc.
Bubblegum Tate
Man, every time these car threads come up, I end up envying the hybrid owners. I am quite far away from being able to afford a new car of any sort, but if I magically came up with thousands of dollars, I’d be plunking it down on a hybrid with the quickness.
Alistair
One of the cool things about plug-ins is that they are simply cheaper to run on electricity than gasoline. A gallon of gas has the equivalent of 36.6KWH of energy, but because a gasoline engine is much less efficient than an electric motor (28% vs. 90%), it only takes about 12KWH of electricity to go the equivalent distance. At 12 cents a KWH from the DWP, that’s about $1.44 vs. the $4.50 that a gallon of regular costs here in LA. At the national average of 9 cents, it’s $1.08. With solar generation, it’s even better.
What I’d really like to see is an electric car with removable internal combustion range extenders. It would be like a plug-in, except you don’t need to haul around the engine and gas tank when you don’t need them. The range extender should be designed to be an interchangeable standard item, so you could rent one if you need to go on vacation. It could be either a drop in item (so when you are not carrying it, you additional have cargo or battery space), or a small trailer (someone made one for a Toyota RAV4 EV).
Dreggas
I’ll be perfectly honest, I am smug, in fact I could bottle the shit and sell it I am so smug. At least when it comes to dumbasses driving SUV’s and even gigantic RV’s and pretty much any car that’s bigger than what they really need. They have it for looks and style but really at this point they look like fuckin’ morons every time they’re waiting at the gas pump watching the numbers go higher and higher.
Jon H
“It could be either a drop in item (so when you are not carrying it, you additional have cargo or battery space), or a small trailer (someone made one for a Toyota RAV4 EV).”
Maybe a roof rack with solar E-V cells on top, a turbine to take advantage of the air flow (if that doesn’t cancel itself out through increased drag) and a motor-driven generator to feed the car’s engines.
Should Know Better
No car, no driver’s license. I didn’t grow up in the US expecting to get my license at 16 and I kinda didn’t get around to it once here.
My family had a car when I was little but I don’t remember having one afterwards. The only emergency we ever had that would have been fixed/helped by access to a car happened when the person who would have been doing the driving was incapacitated anyway.
Drivers I’ve talked to sometimes make a big deal about the choices you make to live carless, like choosing neighborhoods that are walkable or near transit and buying groceries in small trips or using cabs/delivery/friends for big stuff.
Then they chose their residences based on the commute and parking availability and only drive to a handful of big stores where they can park in the garage and load up for the entire month. Shrug.
Maybe I’ll get a DL eventually so I can rent a car for trips and/or not feel like an asshole for not sharing driving duties. But I’m looking forward to improved transit and rail systems as more people relinquish the automobile culture.
gbear
Bubblegum Tate, If the places you need to go aren’t dozens of miles away, you can get a decent 125cc scooter for a little over $2000. Not exactly cheap, but if you can use the scooter half the time, you’ll get the money back in a couple years.
Andrew
Here you go…
b. hussein canuckistani
I’m a damned smug cyclist, and I hate SUV’s more than anything on the road for being wasteful, ostentatious and dangerous to the owners and everyone else on the road.
Billy K
I had one for a week. I loved that car. Broke my heart, too when they killed them.
Dreggas
I have a lot of friends who are in motor-cycle clubs, some of the oldest ones in the U.S. and they hate SUV’s just as much because the drivers can’t see them.
Jess
Will he still fit after a bottle of Viagra, though? Without a sun roof?
I’ve lived without a car for a lot of my adult life, usually in cities with good public transportation. Now I’m in one with lousy public transportation, but when my 89 Nisson completes its slow, agonizing death I’m going to try going without for awhile. I figure if I rent a car twice a month for errands and major shopping it’ll still be cheaper than my insurance. Luckily I live just a few blocks from work and the train into Boston.
IndyLib
I’m a military spouse who used to live in Navy base housing in California and every stinking drive-way had a honkin’ giant 4WD truck in it. I referred to them as “giant metal, polluting, penis-extenders”. My husband, who is a Navy Senior Chief was not amused.
Cassidy
I like my Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab. And one day I’ll find the 68 Camaro of my dreams and just run the engine because it sounds so damn cool.
gbear
Cassidy Says:
“I like my Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab. And one day I’ll find the 68 Camaro of my dreams and just run the engine because it sounds so damn cool.”
Sorry about your penis.
Brachiator
Wha-uhh, dude, you obviously don’t understand what it’s like to live in Southern California. (LOL)
And having a computer that you download songs onto is a luxury. Do you realize how much energy could be saved if you just hummed to yourself instead?
But more semi-seriously, I really dig that “pursuit of happiness thing.” We — well, most of us, anyway — are not Puritans. And life itself is a luxury, but since in the end it cannot be saved, you might as well live it up.
Well, no. A guy with an old, jacked up car with bad tires and an engine badly in need of a tune-up is wasting energy, but he is just not as conspicuous as somebody grandstanding with a big-ass car. A friend of mine once had to satisfy his need to buy a little Fiat, which really does stand for Fix It Again Tony. Small car, very inefficient, and he didn’t “need” it, but so frickin’ what?
With the exception of Republicans, I don’t judge people by their living habits or by the degree to which I might feel sorry for them.
This reminds me of when I recently moved. I had so much stuff that I had to hire movers, and one honestly and seriously asked me why I “needed” so many books.
There simply is not a “good” answer to such a question.
And I suppose that we could ration fuel on the basis of necessity. But the only problem with that is that the economy would grind to a halt.
Everybody doesn’t live at the beach. You gotta have a car to haul that board.
By the way, I regularly commute to work and live in a small So Cal city in which I can use public transportation to get around, but few things chap my hide more than people who come out here and think that the solution to a spread out Southern California is to pile people on top of each other in apartment buildings and who try to come up with idiotic schemes to “force” people out of their cars.
Cassidy
I don’t know why. I’m quite happy with it.
It’s hysterical that you all mistake a love for engines and automotives as some sort of “penis extender”. Besides being judgemental and condescending, it exposes your ignorance. Some people just like cars.
Cassidy
Move closer to work.
Get a new job.
Buy a bike.
ColoRambler
Current family stable (total of 5 of us):
1 1998 Toyota Sienna minivan (older = smaller. This gets almost 30 mpg on the highway.)
1 2004 Prius
1 2008 50cc scooter that is my wife’s new favorite commuter vehicle (at least when it’s warm and clear).
The Prius reliably gets just under 50 mpg unless it’s really hot (lots of A/C) or cold (rough on the engine generally).
We’re pretty fortunate in that I telecommute and we can walk to the grocery store, the video store, and at least one pizza place :-)
I do not understand “horsepower creep” in small- to medium-sized cars at all. The minivan has an engine with more horsepower than many a mid-1960s Mustang, for Chrissake. Even the Prius has a higher horsepower rating than the first 3 cars I owned, as well as my parents’ first two family cars when I was a kid.
gbear
“Some people like cars.”
Some people like food.
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Manuel Uribe, who once weighed a half ton but has slimmed down to about 700 pounds, celebrates his 43rd birthday on Wednesday with a simple wish for the coming year: to be able to stand on his own two feet to get married.
Interviewed at his home in northern Mexico, where he can still do little more than sit up on a bed, Uribe said more than two years of steady dieting have helped him drop about 550 pounds from his Guinness record weight of 1,235 pounds.
Cris
Man, I wish I could find that clip of Peter Griffin driving his huge, phallic mid-life crisis car.
FupDuck
I love my Prius. 41/47 mpg, and try carrying 10 foot moldings inside a Yaris; I’ve done it in a Prius.
Last time I checked, battery replacement (which is probably a decade or more down the line) is about $3200.
Plus, the looks at the gas pumps are priceless.
Tsulagi
Retro American can be good, but there is nothing quite like fine German engineering. My 400 HP M5 is not only a pleasure to listen to, but driving it is even much better. Difference between it and a 60s muscle car is sort of like the difference between a Steyr HS50 and a M1 Garand.
Penis extenders! America, Fuck Yeah!
Cassidy
I don’t hate on the Germans, but I’ll take some old school Detroit muscle any day.
Ned R.
I can’t say I’ve ever noticed this; then again I don’t suppose I’m the target audience.
grumpy realist
Heh. Lived until 43 before getting my driver’s license, can be extremely explicit (and profane) about the difficulties of trying to live car-less in the US versus other more public-transportation-friendly locations such as Europe or Japan.
Am even toying with the idea of getting rid of present car–most of my life now uses public transportation. Only useful for long road trips at present. Have an old Nissan Altima which gets in the mid 20s, am waiting until someone comes out with a diesel hybrid Smartfortwo.
For those who like tinkering and want an electric car, I suggest getting your hands on a Geo Metro and then looking up a company called Solectria. Founder, James Worden, who started the MIT Solar Car Team…..There’s the technology out there if you want it.
And the lithium-ion batteries are getting better and better–at some point they’ll outdo the batteries from Ovionics and we’ll really go to town.
Anyone notice that Ford’s stock price is now less than $7? US car manufacturers are lumbering dinosaurs that will soon be extinct, and good riddance–I have no sympathy for them. No Plan B, totally shocked, SHOCKED by the health care/pension funds they had to pay each year (hoocoodanode). And that’s even before the run-up in gas prices.
YellowJournalism
I was skimming my way through the comments and had to go back and read that one carefully because my eyes didn’t scan the part that said “but our old car was fading fast.” Otherwise, that would be a really, uh, interesting post.
Cain
Us Portlanders now have two eco car dealerships that sell electric cars and used hybrids. I’d consider one of these but it’s still not there yet. Next year the Japanese showing once again true visionary are going to be selling a crapload of choices including electric cars. The ones they are selling at this place is okay, but I need a longer range than 30 miles.
But I’ve already seen some of the three wheelers around town now. So, I suspect they are doing good business. The car for me is probably good enough for me. I live walking distance to just about everything except beer.
But I’m definitely going to start looking at replacing my old civic with two electric car and leave my other 6 cylinder vehicle in the garage for long trips. The electric will be great for rainy and cold days and I can take the cycle for the rest… being that work is only 4 miles away!
cain
Morat20
Just an FYI: Tall people looking for smaller, more fuel efficient cars they can fit into:
Volkswagon New Beetle.
I kid you not. Mind you, don’t plan on having anyone over the age of three sit behind you (a carseat will fit, however) but I’m over six feet and I don’t even move the seat all the way back. Decent mileage too.
Conservatively Liberal
Americans like power, plain and simple. That is why the auto manufacturers have traditionally focused on power, with efficiency being secondary to that. Even the foreign manufacturers have figured that out. Hell, the hybrids and electrics we have over here even have more powerful electric motors than the overseas equivalent!
Even ethanol is ‘abused’ by hot rodders who are building E85 high performance engines. I have seen some E85 engines put out 700-900 horsepower. All I can think of is ‘every time they race it, they burn three acres of corn’! Racers like it because it is a higher octane fuel, but you need to burn much more of it to achieve the same power you would from an equivalent amount of gasoline. Also, it is great for supercharged or turbocharged engines as the high volume of alcohol the engine demands helps to cool the intake charge, which helps to generate more power. Now you can buy racing carburetors that are specially modified to flow tons of ethanol to feed your monster under the hood. Wasteful, and I say that as a hot rodder.
The fear in auto manufacturing land, in regards to the American market, has been ‘whoever has the look down, and the power up, is going to sell’. If it looks hot and moves like it looks, Americans will buy it. Be it a mini-monster truck or SUV, or a Dodge with a Hemi in it.
I am a hot rod nut, and we have a Mustang that has been all tricked out and I even stuffed an oversize engine in it. But I built it because I like the car, and I can give a crap what anyone else thinks. Heck, even some Mustang purists don’t like my car because just about nothing is original…lol! We drive it when my wife and I go on cruises, and special occasions. Other than that, we use the Olds (34-36 MPG) and the motorcycle (44-46 MPG) for the rest of our needs. There is no local transit, so you are on your own when it comes to getting around here.
If the auto makers turned their attention to fuel efficiency, you would see huge gains pretty fast. Unfortunately, a chip change is far from what is needed to do the job with our current engines. The change to focus on efficiency would mean smaller displacement engines, a redesign of the intake and exhaust systems to accommodate the smaller displacement (thinner intake runners, head ports, altered valve sizes and geometry, redesigned camshaft valve lift, overlap, duration and installation angle), a tuned exhaust system, and fuel/ignition management systems.
It can be done, but the auto makers have to know that people will buy them. I think they are starting to say they are interested, but it is going to take time for the manufacturers to get up to speed. Sure, you can argue that we need to look at some other source of fuel than gas, but in the meantime we better start making the most of what we have left. That will help to buy some time to make the transitions to whatever is down the road.
Ned Raggett
Meantime, a little late here but this is worth reading and boggling at:
‘Recent evidence that automobile use is declining in America and that some Americans are making significant — and in some cases not readily reversible — changes in their lives because of escalating gas prices should be worrisome signs for those who love liberty.’
It gets ever so much better from there.