something's not right

I lived through the 70's- we're all going to be forced underground as the polar ice caps move over the continent.

80's- half the planet is going to die form AIDS, acid rain is going to ruin the farmlands and we will all starve

90's- More AIDS nonsense, start of global warming hype

00's- bird flu will wipe out mankind, coastal cities will be underwater in 20 years

70's 80's 90's 00's- The Earth can't support 4 Billion...5 billion...six billion...7 billion.

Well, here we are, fatter than ever with no rain making holes in our umbrellas, drugs preventing people from dying from HIV, almost 7 billion people, getting struck by lightning while playing Frisbee with your dog on Thursday afternoons west of the Mississippi after eating fish tacos has killed more people than bird flu, and beach houses are doing just as well or not so well as they always have.

You can't be serious about big oil not wanting to build new refineries??? There has not been a new refinery built on US soil in over 33 years. Now who do you think was behind that really? It probably takes over 10 years just to go through governmental nonsense and bureaucrats not fit to work at a 7-11 on the night shift to get the permits and studies alone done. Congress should remove all taxes and regulations from big oil right now in exchange for that money to be dedicated to a number of refineries within a specified time frame. No problem here, but I can just hear people screaming when you talk about such things. You want energy independence, that's what you need to do, not telling people to ride their bikes or fill up their tires.

I would love to see three nuclear power plants come on line every year for the next 100 years. That's at LEAST what it would take to keep pace with demand and retire others. But nooooooo...can't have Yucca Valley can we? Who do you think is stopping that? Big Nuclear?

I really don't care how we do it, but it needs to be done, most likely from a combination of all sorts of these things combined. I've got the stomach for it, you do, but obviously many do not and truly think we can live pre-industrial revolution lifestyles. Somehow, someway, they have gained traction with government, or are government themselves as people inclined with that type of mindset tend to go that direction. They must be stopped or we will all end up living like the Unibomber.

 

1) Yes
2) Where do you get that? I gas when I need to go faster or go at all and brake when needed.
3) According to many here yes. Comparitively speaking for what I see on the road, hardly.
4) Guilty as charged.
5) I use Fastrak and pay for it. "They" haven't been out of them for awhile, "they" want to drain every cent out of productive citizens for their failed government programs, "they" stopped issuing them once too many people started to use the program "they" encouraged. Typical.

You want to buy it?

 

Fraser,

Thanks so much for that. Watch out however in here or you might be accused of ignorance for not memorizing the owner's manual and worse for scratching your hemorrhoids while driving!

That's a long way to go on a trip in that car in my opinion, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

You've got to be kidding if you think an oil company could just buy some land and build a refinery without years of litigation, permits, fees, and studies.

The old (very old) refineries are closing because they are no longer worth keeping open given their age even with the increased cost of petroleum. Moreover, every attempt at building new ones for the last thirty years has run into insane hurdles leading to our dependence overseas where they have no such issues and are now reaping the rewards. How many refineries are there in the US? 50? 75? 100? I don't know, but they were all built prior to 1975 and most likely after WWII. If the number is 50, that's over one per year. If it's 100, that's over three per year. And now we put ourselves in a position where we haven't built one in 33 years...and it's no coincidence that this time frame falls into the same space as when crazy extreme environmental claptrap became commonplace and part of the government lexicon. Fine, I'm for having a new clean eco-friendly one built every year? You?

You're making my point however...less capacity equals higher prices. If you really want to get cynical...as we get better and better at conservation, prices have done nothing but skyrocket. I'm of the opinion that if every car got only 15 miles per gallon, there would be tons of gas at cheap prices because there would have to be. There's enough oil on US soil alone and in our coastal waters to supply us at current rates for centuries.

Yucca Valley is the proposed storage area for nuclear waste. Forget real nuclear power plants, even the storage facilities are being debated for decades. It's insane. The EPA is a terrorist organization as far as I'm concerned. It does far more damage every day to the future and stability of this nation under the premise of environmental concerns than Al-Qaeda has brought to this nation.

This argument that it takes so long to build these things as an excuse not to build them period is one of the reasons there aren't any new ones and that's why we're in such deep you know what. We cannot conserve our way out of this. It's going to be a combination of more energy production and innovation that solves the issue.

The answer is not slowing down, driving less, etc. We might as well shut down all industries since that too will lessen demand. Geesh, this is the USA, not some 3rd world hellhole.

 

Hasta luego. See you on the 15.

 

4000 posts about a Prius and you think there's something trollish or stupid about me? Try again.

 

Hi James,

Thanks for that. Seems that I have ticked some people off here. Yeah, I enjoy some fun debate about serious subjects, but I really did come here trying to get some advice on the car. I will go soon once I have the answers I need much to everyone's joy I'm sure. A sensitive bunch it seems.

Anyway, the car came with Goodyear tires on it. Back in the day, Toyotas usually came with Toyo tires. I don't know what size they are yet (damn, there I go again with my complete lack of forethought and due diligence with my impulse buying and not fully studying the tread-ware patterns and carving out the rubber where needed to get an extra mile per tankful), but it's probably not worth changing them yet even though they're probably not very expensive.

I'll give it some more time and see how it goes. It's a pleasant enough car, and an interesting piece of engineering, but I'm not going to go bonkers over every single moment I'm driving it, lose sleep over it, or like you, sweat inside when it's 85+ outside with an AC at my disposal at the touch of a button for Pete's sake. There are lots of great cars out there, this is one of them, maybe just not the right one for me, that's all.

Thanks for your help!

 

I was honestly thanking you for the tips and trying to inject a bit of humor. Sorry if I failed on both counts.