Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Now This--This is a Knife!

Yet another car commercial touting how it's so "eco-friendly" boasting of it's 35 mpg fuel efficiency floats across my television, bringing to an end the suspension of my disbelief in the sound-effectless Bionic Woman's less-than-bionic-centric show...

What's that feeling? Unimpressed, maybe? Perhaps a dash of let down seeping in?

You want to impress me? You want me to choose my next car as your brand of car over the many many others who are touting their next eco-wonder car?

Aim for 60--hell, make it 75 mpg! Then I'd be impressed.... But seriously, 35? are you kidding me? That's supposed to make me feel like I'm getting my money's worth?

Hey! GM, Ford, Chrysler: you want a way to start making money again? Produce vehicles that are above AND beyond what we want... As Red Forman from That 70s Show once said,

They promised us hovercrafts. Just another damn broken promise!
The car companies are showing us butter knives and expecting praise and brand loyalty...

Ugh...

4 comments:

DaBich said...

Jason, have you seen the price of gasoline? I know, dumb question. It's $3.09 here in Central PA. Hubby says it's going to $4.00/gallon by Christmas. Why? He says it's so we ARE FORCED to buy these GREEN, ECO-FRIENDLY cars. 35 mph?? Are they trying to kid us???

Pete Deichmann said...

35 is a joke. My 1985 VW got 32 on the highway. SO, now I'm driving an 02 Dodge Diesel. Can you say 20 mpg on Bio-Diesel? American fuel that doesn't pollute, that is something to be excited about

Jason Hughes said...

Dabich: Yeah, I just put $6.30 in my tank until payday... 2 whole gallons of gas...

I remember when all I needed was a $20, and got change, for a fill-up... I know, I sound like my grandfather... :D

Weird: Really? A 1985 VW got 32 mpg? I would say that's amazing, but I think we all know the technology has been around for quite some time to do better than that...

Okay, now I sound like Hyde from That 70s Show...

Hmm...

I'm going to have to read up more on this bio-diesel... What does it cost per gallon in the current market?

Pete Deichmann said...

Yup a GTI, 32 highway, my old '80 VW Scirocco got only a little less. Tiny gas engines; a 1.8 liter (102HP) and 1.6 liter (80 HP) respectively. The diff is that today you get the same size motor with 2x power and no big mpg improvement.

I bought a tank of B20 oday for $3.45/gal (ow), still 5 cents less than the regular stuff tho. B100 I've seen for less, but it is hard to find. The 5500lb 02 Dodge Ram Diesel gets 21 mpg highway at best. My 3500lb 91 BMW gets 24 at best on gas. Diesel is amazing.

I am really running Bio for two reasons; less of my money goes to the mid-east now, and it pollutes less than a Prius if I am running B100. No money savings tho with the higher price, but VW makes diesels that get 50 mpg on the highway (and has since the late 70's).

The new BMW diesels are on the way next year (drool).

www.nbb.org for details.