Letters to the Editor
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Stnadards not tugh enough
Good greif. I gave up my gaz guzzling U.S made cars years ago. I have been driving Toyotas and Acuras since the 1980s, and getting better milage than teh new standards set by congress. In 1990. I took a trip 1/2 way accross the country, over the rockies in my 1986 Toyota Celica. Not ony did my car never loose power, as I passed all the American made cars going up steep grades,but I got 50 miles per galon on this road trip. I was laready getting mroe than 36 per gallon in the city.
Younger genration is polluting the planet for ther own children by driving them "everyhwere" in gas guzzling SUVs.
The Democrats are being gutless wonders on this issue. The Republicans could care less or are in denial about climate change, the US population is "unclear on the concept" of "sarafice". In my neigborhood, all the older people are buying Toyota Prius, younger fmailies have 3-4 cars and more than one SUV and all their nannies show up in SUVs
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Toyota profitable
The Us.S auto companies are in financial trouble. Toyota is profitable and creting jobs in the U.S.
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Is the Prius penance enough?
So why, exactly, is your Prius enough penance for the Tundra and the RX400 and the GS300 and the FJ Cruiser and the Sequoia?
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Or could it be...
... that American companies are just BADBADBAD, and foreign companies goodgoodgood?
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Speaking of FORDS
I find it rather amazing that FORD makes 2 of the most obnoxius gas guzzing vehicles (Expoler & Expediton for the U.S. market,
but makes fuel effeicnt cars for the Euopeon market.
If they can do it for Europeon market, they should be able to do it for the U.S. market.
Since Americans seem not to be able to sacrifice for the common good, we need to heavily tax gas guzzlers and use the money to
explore alternatives fuels and public transporttion.
Japan had the bullet train in 1969-France first got the TGv tains in 1984. The U.S. led the world in train transportation in 1800s, but tore up many tracks in the 1970s. Teh U.S. lags behind even thirdd wrkd countries in public transportation. We have no high speed rails? Something is very wrong.
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Sure I'll Get a Small Car
as soon as everybody else does.
I recently had to move out of NYC because I could not afford to pay $1,000 a square foot for a shoebox. I had to learn how to drive. Then I had to buy a car. As far as the learning-how--to-drive part goes, here's what I learned: I'm getting fucking blown off the road in this compact car the driving school uses. Literally. The tailwind of these humongous monster trucks, SUVs, Tundras, Range Rovers, Land Cruisers, Acadias, custom vans and commercial truck traffic was making it difficult for me to stay on the damn highway. And the utter contempt with which the owners of these towering hulks treated someone in a poky lil car was downright frightening.
There was no way I was going to purchase a tiny fuel efficient car and then sit way down there, only a few inches above the roadway, while people sitting four feet above my head were going to run my cute putt-putt off the road. I bought a crossover SUV with more airbags than any other car on the market at the time, because American drivers are pugnacious and have entitlement issues, two things which are extremely dangerous on the crowded expressways where I live. I wasn't going to be one of those people who has to be pried out of the bent tuna can of a car I see pretty much every morning in photos from my local newspapers. Nuh-uh. And for those of you who want to cite the rollover issue -- electronic stability control and electronic roll over mitigation have reduced rollovers; the fact is that a your chances of being killed by an SUV or light truck are much higher if you are in in a small car. Since most of the vehicles on the road where I live are either SUVs, light trucks, vans or minivans, that, coupled with the unbelievably aggressive driving here averaging about 80 mph, made my decision for me. Fuel efficiency is nice, but everyone is looking out for Number One on the roadways, and I'm no different. Saving gas to save the world and to save a few bucks is all well and good, but saving my life and my kid's life is my first priority. Selfish me.
I wish this wasn't so. I wish everyone drove responsibly and not under the influence of alcohol in a nice, fuel-efficient car, but that's not reality. You can argue until you're blue in the face. I'm a new driver, I'm over the age of 45 and I want to be on an equal footing with the bad guys. If that makes me a bad guy - so be it. At least I don't treat people in small cars as if they have a nerve to be on MY roadway, the way I see so many other people behaving.
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Ford problem
Bernbart, your premise is off. Ford does what Toyota (and Nissan, and Honda, and GM, and etc.) do -- they build and sell cars in the US market that sell in the US market. They build and sell in the Euro market vehicles that sell in the Euro market. As long as there is little incentive for Americans to buy small, fuel-efficient, less polluting cars, and plenty of incentive (read, cheap gas) to buy bigger, more powerful ones, they will.
Tax Gas. Tax Horsepower. Then you'll see a change, or enough revenue to create pub-trans alternatives.
PS -- Ford also sells small, fuel-efficient Japanese cars in the US, they're just branded Mazda.
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Fear-based decisions
I bought my Prius (which is HUGE compared to the Ford Aspire I'd had before it) because it was comfortable, drove well, and felt like the right thing to do. If I ever buy an SUV out of fear, I guess the terrorists really will have won.
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I'll tell you why I won't buy a Prius...
They're expensive in the short term (esp. as I plan to drive my current car as long as it lasts -- and one should factor in the energy it takes to build a new car into the equation) and it wouldn't save me a great deal of money in the long term.
I currently drive a 99 Saturn SL2. It gets about 38mi highway/30mi city. My commute to work is only 6mi each way. The $30 it takes to fill up my tank every two weeks isn't any more painful than the $15.00 it took two years ago.
I only drive maybe 7000 miles per year. At that rate, even if I was to buy a new car, it would take me years to make up the $10,000 price difference between a Prius and a Ford Focus (or something similar).
Just for fun, I've run the numbers through one of those hybrid savings calculators (http://www.mixedpower.com/modules.php?name=Gas_Savings)and even with gas at $10/gal, I'd only save $10,000 over 10 years. And that's if the battery lasted 10 years. And that's also assuming I wouldn't cut back on my driving at 10/gal, and I'm sure I would.
And that’s why I won’t buy a Prius.