The Right Thing To Do, But No Fun To Drive

^^ actually, if demand dropped by 40%, prices would sink much much further. The last jump in fuel prices in the US of some 30% happened when supply dropped by about 2%.

 

agreed; it is more fun driving a slow car fast than a fast car slow. if that even means anything these days.

the thing i find interesting reading these newbie posts is the types of cars people are giving up to come to a prius. German Luxury to American Econobox. And for the most part it seems to be largely about fuel economy.

Which posits the observation (at least it did before the advent of the PiP, Volt, Leaf, iMiev, etc...) $20-$25K will give you plenty of choices in the auto marketplace but it would be hard to spend much more than that a get a whole lot better fuel economy.

 

Let's be clear and not try to salve our egos. They don't hate our 'way of life'. They hate us. For reasons no worse than most any other hate.

 

This would be a good time to mention there are great possibilities of home-country production that is prevented by the raving loony hippies wearing big woolly jumpers and drinking yaks milk.

Or would that be more signs of jealousy from other people's feelings of inadequacy? Little car=jealousy? Me? Big truck, absolutely no inadequacy. Must be just another urban myth.

 

I do not quarrel with your patriotism. However, it has nothing to do with the environmentalism-in-the-heart thing.

 

Always amusing to hear gas guzzler owners chime in on patriotism, or rant that environmentalism is anti-american.

 

Pardon? I did neither. I think it's more a fear and loathing of testosterone.

 

Perhaps they have been tought to hate us and our way of life because they are in such a desperate situation that they are easily exploited by extremists. There are two major ways to lead a group of ignorant peoples, rally them with hopes and action them with fear. Seem familiar.

Enjoy the benefits of using less gasoline, fewer stops at the gas station.

 

In your fantasy, demonstrating against windmills and solar no doubt. 100s of millions of them.

How do you come up with this right wing trash ?

 

No.

They fight against American imperialism and economic exploitation. You may not have noticed, but the Islamic backlash against the US is just the latest of the same the world over for the past 100+ years.

 

Let's just tell the real truth here. The blood of our soldiers is on the hands of the enviro-weenies. Their prevention of oil and coal production in this country and the pushing of marginal replacement modes forces us to go to places for oil that kills Americans. Plain and simple. You can wrap it up any way you like it, but the stinking fish is still in the center.

You can cry and whine about fat Americans and their gas guzzlers all you want. I don't mind that. Conservation is good business. Less waste is good business. But don't attempt the guilt trip thing any more for the "sake of our soldiers." It ain't workin'.

 

take a look at Easter Island. Aside from the left wing right wing blame game ..... our species will use up every single resource until we kill ourself without regulations. Take a look at worldwide oil pool discoveries. They Peaked back in the sixties ... prior to what most people think of as excess regulations - so do the math. Whoever feeds you the fantasy of, "well hey - we can simply drill our way out of this shortage" is doing so out of complete dishonesty. Peak oil is not a theory it's our reality and we have to deal with it.

SGH-I717R ? 2

 

Get a loaded Camry Hybrid XLE with all the toys, fills your social concerns and not a bad car to drive but it's no Break My Wallet.

 

And, so, what difference does it make what we do? In the end, it will be the end. I would only think that for most of the truly dedicated earth lovers, the quicker it comes the better, so mother earth can get on about her business.

Tomorrow's problems are for tomorrow's thinkers to solve. As it has always been. We can't know what will be the issue-du-jour in 100 years. Or what will be solved tomorrow and what won't be solved until next century. And what will humanity look like at the height of the next ice age? Will we conquer the ice and live where we want or will it push us all into halft the space? Will we survive the wars, pestilence, and diseases?

There's enough to do to plan out to my last day without planning out the next two centuries or beyond.

 

the difference isn't that, "oh well we're all gonna die anyways so let's just just not worry about it". Worldwide oil production peak in 2006 ... and geologists no longer find mega pools of oil like we did in the Middle East some 75 - 80 years ago. Even though there are no silver bullets to replace cheap and easy oil, the longer we stretch what we have, the longer the supply will last. The virtually free energy culture we live in now came about in only 5 decades 1920 - 1970. As the cheep energy that made it possible spirals ever downward, our kids & grand kids will benefit if we don't simply waste the remainder. They'll need some of the cheep remaining crude just to exist while they (and we) work on alternatives. I suppose some don't give a rats .... either out of selfishness or what ever. Call me wacky but I like to think none of us here on PC are in that camp ... regardless of one's political party beliefs.

SGH-I717R ? 2

 

It is certainly true that if we do not know the question yet, we can't find an answer. Petroleum shortages have been Headline News since 1973, which is not some future date, but 40 years in the past. Time and enough to have devised answers if we did not have a "What, me worry?" attitude.

 

And so what do we have to make any changes, needed or perceived? A committee of 350 million, in which we all get one vote (assuming all is done legally) at regular intervals.

Wearing a hair shirt in public, or T-shirts with the latest glib saying, or driving a Prius, or standing in front of a bulldozer, or standing in line at a gas station, or someone buying more car that YOU think is appropriate, or agreeing with Madonna or Babs Streisand...who cares? We all do what we think is right for us, in this moment, for all the other moments we have, and for the moments our children and grandchildren etc. will have, and we make our choice in the car lot or the voting booth. It is all that we can do. To my way of thinking, placing more importance on your way of thinking than another's way of thinking is pretty arrogant and pompous.

We all play our part. And nobody's part is any more important than any other's part. There's an awful lot of people that think entirely too much of themselves.

 

When I first bought my 2012 Prius III back in June, I had a similar reaction including buyer's remorse. I think this car just takes some getting used to because it's quite different. I love it now. I actually think it drives as smooth as any car I've driven (even more expensive preformance cars). It's not as powerful; it doesn't handle as well but like I said it's a nice smooth ride with more than adequate power. And the power button option more than compensates if needed. And I don't think the steering is nearly as numb as people say. I test drive a Camry hybrid and that steering felt 3 times as numb. I also like the 'lightness' of the car. Feels so easy and effortless to drive. And of course between the gas mileage and low, low maintenance and reliability, it will be so incredibly inexpensive to drive for years to come. Happy to be a Prius owner.

 

I must say that adding the 17" wheels/low profile tires make a "huge" difference in how the car feels/drives (and looks). It is much more of a sports car and well worth the investment.