The new Toyota Landcruiser is out and I love it. Not just because it’s bigger and sports a much more powerful engine. But because driving it makes a statement. Specifically, it says to all the totalitarian global warming promoters “you can burn in hell”.
I don’t see why everybody thinks Japanese cars are so great. My uncle gave me his red Mazda and it breaks down all the time. All the time. I drove that Mazda up a hill. What happened? It broke down. I drove it out to the lake on a very important date. What happened? It broke down.
I entered it into a race against a Ford and a Mercedes. It completely overheated and caused me to lose all my street cred. Now I rarely leave my apartment because of the jeers my neighbors fling my way.
But every time I look at the Internet I see warnings of the Japanese automobile invasion. Why do so many great American automakers lack self-confidence? As my great-grandfather Ellison always told me on our fishing trips, “It’s how you carry yourself that’s important in the world, Barry - that’s the most important thing.”
In other words, if US car makers would only just have a little more self-confidence, maybe people would start snapping up their cars. What do you think?
The Liberals throughout America are pushing for higher gas taxes and more laws to force SUVs out of the market.
The pretext is that SUVs are killing the environment, and mankind, and we need to legislate them out of existence.
The reality is, many American families are 5 member or more. Try getting five, six or seven people into a Toyota Prius, and see then see if it will still move. It won’t.
If people want to save mankind, I suggest you start by banning abortion. American politics have always been a bit on the silly side, but the encroachment on individual rights is at an all time high. If you don’t like SUVs, then don’t buy one. If you don’t like gas, don’t drink it.
According to a survey, nine of the top ten most-stolen cars in New York State were made before 2000, and six of these top ten are Japanese cars. The other four were American. This is fantastic news for those of you driving BMWs and Porsches, but terrible news for Average Joe.
At the top of the list was the ever popular Toyota Camry, followed closely by two Honda models—the Accord and the Civic. I suppose that it only makes sense for thieves to latch onto those automobiles with parts that are in highest demand, those parts most commonly sold, resold, and resold again, but somewhat counterintuitive in that joy-riding in a 1990 Toyota Camry seems so much less cool than joy-riding in, say, a brand new Mercedes or Jaguar or…Toyota Camry. This really points to the backend business of car theft and makes one wonder who really is behind it all.
I don’t want to sound too paranoid, but I do know how expensive automobile insurance is. None of this sounds at all good to me. I suppose until I can afford a new car, I had better just stick with the train.
Although it may seem like something out of the Jetsons, it appears that electric cars are finally on the move. They are not at all a new idea. I remember seeing a charging station about ten years ago in downtown Paris. Unfortunately, they just don’t seem to be popular yet, which is why there seems to be such little information going around about them. In reality, there is already a variety of electric cars for sale in the US today.
The common thinking is that electric cars have no pep, and that their batteries die very quickly. In fact, new electric car manufacturers have been able to address these issues, and with surprising success. Regarding power, Tesla’s impressive roadster can get from 0 to 60 in a whopping four seconds! I’d say that that is a pretty good indicator of power. That same car can travel over 200 miles on a single charge. Charging at home takes about three and a half hours, and the company claims that it only costs about a penny a mile in fuel. Unfortunately, as of right now only the very wealthy can afford them as the sticker price is upwards of $90,000.
There are some more economical alternatives, though, that offer some interesting options, including an SUV from Phoenix Motorcars (whose batteries charge in only ten minutes!), and a three-wheeled car called the Xebra, which can utilize solar power for charging. Of course, once mass production begins, all solar powered cars will be significantly cheaper. Let’s just hope that interest remains high enough to get that mass production underway soon. Once these technologies from the various companies get combined, we will not only have cars with lower environmental impact, but better all around cars than we have today.
A friend of mine recently acquired a new Toyota Prius. It actually wasn’t her first choice; she had tried to buy a VW Jetta, but due to mechanical problems and the ensuing lawsuit, she ended up with this poster-child for hybrid automotive technology. In the end, she couldn’t have been happier.
Although the sticker price was less for the Jetta, the amount of money saved on fuel for a Prius over the life of the car will be substantially greater than the sticker value difference. There’s also that warm, fuzzy feeling you get knowing that you aren’t further thrusting the planet toward a complete environmental meltdown. Admittedly, it’s hard to quantify environmental benefit, especially since the current US administration has been miserable when it comes to environmental honesty, but the less we affect the atmosphere, the more stable our general fueling and maintenance costs and requirements will be.
Back to my friend. She really does get incredible gas mileage. Toyota reports that the average combined city and highway fuel economy is 55 miles per gallon, and she claims she does even better than that. As a terrible parallel parker, she also appreciates the backup camera and collision avoidance system. It also happens to be easier to navigate the city streets then her old car, and spacious enough for her entire family of four.
While hybrids are still breaking into the market, there is no question that their market share will start to dominate over the next few years. It’s not just going to be cost efficiency or energy security, either. A growing environmental awareness and concern will play a significant role. Change is definitely on the horizon.
Honda released a Civic in the late 1990s that ran completely off of compressed natural gas (CNG). It has been considered a Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) since 2000, leading to its being dubbed “the cleanest internal combustion vehicle” on the planet. It requires less maintenance than gasoline-powered cars and lasts longer. And, it eliminates American dependence on foreign oil. So, why isn’t it the most popular car in the country?
Probably the biggest problem Honda faced when marketing its CNG vehicle was the issue of refueling. While standard petrol stations are scattered every few miles in America, CNG stations are not. Often, one would have to visit the local or regional natural gas provider (for homes or businesses) to take care of this, and there is some training required for the pumping process. However, this has largely been addressed by a new appliance that would allow people to refuel their cars from home. The price for this fuel is substantially cheaper than petroleum-based gas, and it is now really convenient.
Until recently, the Civic GX has not been marketed heavily toward consumers, but rather been touted as the ideal fleet vehicle. I had some experience driving them seven years ago in New York City, while working for the government. The truth is it felt exactly like a gasoline-powered car, but with a quieter engine. One drawback was that it had less trunk space than a standard car because of the CNG tank. Cargo space does get compromised as a result of the clean engine.
I would love to see this technology take off. The environmental damage that could be stopped by moving away from petrol is enormous. Elimination of dependence on foreign oil is the answer to most of America’s current security problems. An increase in usage of domestically-produced natural gas would only help the economy. It just seems foolish for the government NOT to push this.
One of my lifelong dreams has been to travel across America. Reading about the pilgrimages described in works by Kerouac and Pirsig just fueled this desire. Unfortunately, hitchhiking is becoming less common and even less accepted, and I have no fondness for motorcycles. And even though I am a minimalist and huge fan of small cars, if I were to do it right I would do it by van.
It was recently made official that the quintessential van of the 50s, 60s, and 70s would be rereleased in the near future — perhaps even as early as this year. The VW Microbus is coming back! This time, though, it won’t really be a 100% VW project; it will be made by Chrysler. It won’t have that classic look either; it will be “modernized”. And it won’t be as common for younger people to drive as the price will be significantly more expensive.
All that said, though, I am a big supporter of bringing it back. It will still be completely different from the soccer-mom mini-van, and it will still give you that feeling of freedom on the road. You can still pull up at some truckstop in the middle of Nebraska for a snooze, have a meal in the back, and contemplate all of life’s seemingly insurmountable challenges. It’s just that now you’ll also be able to watch a couple of DVDs with surround sound while you do it.
I learned to drive on a 3-door 1987 Honda Accord. It was surprisingly sporty, and it had a forgiving clutch–good for someone trying to learn how to drive a stick. It was a bare-bones deal, though it did have a working radio. I think the fact that it was so sad may have led to a more generous scoring of my driving test.
The big problem that I ended up having with that car was a bit of a safety concern. Whenever I switched from high-beams to low, the headlights would suddenly cut out. While this is obviously dangerous enough on a city street, this can be lethal on windy two-lane mountain roads with deer running around everywhere. While just not using high beams might have seemed like a reasonable temporary solution, it would have been a hard one to apply, again due to the huge number of deer about. I would also have missed the screams of terror my friends let out each time it happened, as well as my own heart palpitations.
Instead, I had to take it in to the local garage. There was a wiring issue that was easy enough to fix, and it didn’t cost all that much, if memory serves me. Apparently, this was not by any means an uncommon problem with that model. When I did experience this problem while driving, flicking back to high beams usually brought the lights back on.
When I was a teenager, my mother drove a used, white, manual transmission Saab 900. No power locks. No power windows. No tape deck. No frills. The car was simple. Although I had wanted to drive something a bit more exciting, I eventually learned to appreciate everything about that old Swedish gem.
Along with the fact that there was never a mechanical problem with that car, what we all liked best about it was the position it put you in when driving it. You seemed to have a perfect view of the road and felt like you were perched a bit higher up than other drivers. I realized the importance of this when I bought my own first car, a Chevy Cavalier. The driver’s position in the car is completely different and the view, therefore, much more limited.
Looking back, though, what I really miss was the look of that car. The old style 900s were replaced in 1993 with a less original-looking model. While I am sure these more run-of-the-mill looking cars are still excellent to drive, I do miss their far more interesting ancestors. Between the Saabs and the old Volvos, the Swedes seemed to have a great eye for automobile design. Unfortunately, that originality is continuously being phased out and replaced with a far-less interesting industry standard.
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