Consumer Reports Poll: Americans want higher fuel standards, hybrid cars

Give me a clipboard and a nationwide poll idea and I will prove it to have a majority.

 

There you have it, ladies and gents: Merkins support fuel economy if they can personally profit.

Who wudda thunk ???

 

If Americans truly did support better fuel economy why are there so many &^%%$$SUV's on the road?
The only way to get Americans to really cut down on fuel use is to tax it, there is no free lunch folks, either the government is going to get the money and some of it will be used to fix roads or the oil companies are going to get it and buy bigger "business" jets, your choice and as usual these days you will make the wrong one.
and that's my rant for the month.:rockon:

 

Me: Have a got a deal for you! Get this vehicle, the savings in fuel economy pays for the higher price. So for free, a third to a half of your old fuel money stops going to OPEC and stays in the country, and your kids get to breathe fresh air.

Merkin: Uhh yeah, whatever. Does it look like a truck, and have 400 horses ? because for 25k I can get me a vehucle, not a dweeb-mobile. Know what I mean ?

 

I have this image of a Hemi with a pubic wig that I just can't flush out of my mind.

Not so different from TruckNutz, I suppose.

 

Ugh, these people want gub'ment leadership. No thanks. Keep the government out of as much as possible, all they do is screw up everything they touch.

I love how these polls ask questions in a leading way as to make the general populace seem more green than they actually are. How about, "Is your next vehicle going to be a hybrid/electric/natural gas powered model?" The overwhelming majority would just stutter, then cave and say "maybe".

 

Yep. It's insane how many monstrosity class (full-sized) SUVs I see running around near where I live, almost always driven solo or w/minimal cargo and passengers.

These surveys are are always quite funny because they'll say they'll "consider" it but when it comes to action, unfortunately, hybrids are still a niche. From October Advanced-Drive Sales Still Slow - AutoObserver (which I posted in another thread):

In contrast, per Auto Sales - Markets Data Center - WSJ.com, 539K "light trucks" were sold in the US that month. 424K of them were either considered "crossovers" or SUVs.

I find the comment "Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) would consider buying some type of hybrid or electric car if they become more widely available over the next 15 years" to be quite funny. Widely available? There aren't many EV choices but are PLENTY of hybrids choices available, in different classes, all the way to luxury and monstrosity SUV class (http://www.hybridcars.com/news/october-2011-dashboard-hybrids-have-best-sales-march-31926.html).

Well, to be fair, CAFE has helped a lot. Per http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cert/mpg/fetrends/420s10002.pdf from Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 Through 2010 | OTAQ | US EPA, average fuel economy (these aren't the dumb inflated CAFE numbers) in 1975, when CAFE standards was a dismal 13.1 mpg. For MY2010, it was 22.5 mpg.

But, it also had some unintended consequences.

Heh, about the leading questions. No need for the government to step in and raise standards. People can easily make choices to buy far more efficient vehicles and those more commensurate w/actual needs. But, no, it seems like only high gas prices, other forms of taxation or some crisis will make most people change. Then after a few months, it's back to business as usual.

 

Almost 50% of the cost of a litre of fuel in Australia is tax. We also have a plague of SUVs.:frown::frown:

 

The ones who want to drag race from one stop light to another likely don't want hybrids. Those drivers are soooo annoying. I accelerate with the flow, you see them back there, eyes rolling, flip on the blinker, changes lanes and speed ahead like they're late to the airport.

Saw a dude yesterday in a Nissan Titan, blazes past only to jab the brakes into the next stoplight. Idiot wasting gas and brakes!

I happen to think gas is far too cheap for some people to give one iota about using less of it. @holes.

 

It should be understood that when these survey responders say 'yes' to higher MPG, the unstated assumption is that they stay in the same kind of vehicle, and continue driving the same way.

If fuel economy was *actually* a high priority, they would buy different cars and slow down.

 

When I see polls like this, I think of the polls that rate your driving skill vs the other guy's driving skill, where 90% of us think we are exceptionally good drivers and that 90% of us think the other drivers are exceptionally bad drivers.

The poll should ask people if they think other drivers should buy more fuel efficient (+10 mpg) cars (99% respond yes). Then follow up with should you buy a more fuel efficient car (+10 mpg), the result would be less than stellar.

 

What has it done for me lately. For MY1990 it was around 22 as well. Twenty years of basically no improvement.

 

1,008 respondents


all from priuschat

 

Good.

About time our side starts taking PR seriously.

Maybe it will help change the current attitude of entitled hostility among gashog jockeys toward Prii to one of respectful, slinking embarassment.