Malorn, if you want to see whats in the nutshell.... read the article jst left. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyo...-home-headlines
All they'd need to do for that is make a hybrid that gets upwards of 60mpg and they'd be off to a great start. BUT, it would need to be reliable and couldn't just be an econobox. That's one thing I was afraid a hybrid would be and was quite pleased that it wasn't. They should design a car specifically for it's fuel efficiency.
I remember... I still laugh when you mentioned that about the merging traffic! Its mean... but funny!.... if you couldn't be mean to be funny.. the Three stooges would have never made it! But I'm just being mean to be funny...not trying to be mean to be mean! And I know your not either!
When I went looking for a new car, my criteria was: Good Gas Mileage Reliability Safety True Cost to own/drive As hard as I tried, I could not find one American car I wanted to buy. The closest thing was Focus & Ion, but price and relatively poor mileage for a cmpact did them in. Not to totally trash Detoit, I looked at a Suzuki Aerio(sp?). What's the deal with that compact 24/29 mpg. My 5 choices were narrowed to Civic, Civic Hybrid, Prius, Corolla and Scion xb. As gas prices rose, it harkened me back to the mid 70's, with Detroit pushing their full sized cars with the powerful engines. All the while, the Japanese cars were poppng up all over & eroding market share. WWII era men who thought they would 'never' buy a Japanese car, were won over. The arrogance of Detroit! The last US car I bought was a 94 Saturn. It was a good car, at the time with some nice inovations, a (for US) radical philospophy for a car company/division... until the radical child made GM feel uncomfortable and they folded it back into the stifling GM structure....,Then, GM decided that they did need to invest anything else in the brand & it quickly let the Saturn slide into a relic of 90s technology & design. I have a deposit on an 06 Prius, but the price increases (MSRP & Pkg) has maybe put it beyond my financial viability, but I would only go to the next car on the list, none of which is a US car.... sad to say.
Why not take delivery on an 05 Prius after the first? Get the tax deduction, plus stick with the lower cost.
Good article. The key phrases in that article: "clean slate" and "...their plants are modern." I do industrial process control, and have had many opportunities to contrast the investment in plant here in North America compared to the EU and Asian countries. Overall, we appear to attach a sentimental value to old fashioned crap. A good example is a petroleum refinery - no need to name names to avoid costly lawsuits - in Texas. The ethylene unit had some valving way older than I am, and the control room had air powered equipment. That's right, 5-15 psi "steam gauges" not even the old fashioned 4-20mA analog equipment. They even had an original Bailey INFI 90 on INFInet. A fine system for its day, same as Honeywell TDC 3000, but that "day" was over 15 years ago. You just can't compare an old 4-20mA DCS to a modern FieldBus plant. Despite recent record profits for oil companies, they seem loathe to invest in modern FieldBus technologies that will dramatically improve safety, reliability, and efficiency. This summer, the worlds largest Foundation FieldBus installation was completed by Emerson Process near Shanghai, China, for Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Company. This is a VERY large complex with the world's largest ethylene cracker. I'm sure we've heard all the stories from Hurricane Rita and Katrina about how the petroleum refineries took weeks or longer to reach in-spec from a cold start. Get this: SECCO went from cold start to in-spec in 10 hours and 45 minutes. Ten HOURS compared to WEEKS for an ancient refinery cracking plant. http://www.emersonprocess.com/home/news/pr/507_secco.html Similar gains are held by Asian companies like Toyota and Honda because they invested in robotics and new plant. No sentimental attachment to ancient process streams with huge variations in control limit. When GM enjoyed huge profits in the 90's from sales of SUV's and pickups, was that invested into plant? Or was it disbursed elsewhere? As long as the Asians keep rolling their profits into new production techniques and new plant equipment, there is no way in hell we in North America can hope to compete. Not with ancient process and production crap.
No I am not trying to be mean. Besides Malorn as stubborn he might be and backwards in his thinking, doesn't get offended by jokes like that. Well, he keeps coming back... Would he feel the same if he wasn't a Chevy dealer???
Exactly my position.... I gave toyota a chance by test driving a prius.... they overwhemled me far beyond my wildest expectations! We need a spirit of excellence!..... not one that just does what it has to in order to get by.. thats a spirit of laziness!..... When Ford hires a CEO, they need to not ask his prior place of employ for his track record, but rather call his mother and find out if he ever learned how to clean his room and do his chores because it was the right thing to do.... not because he "had to"!!.... Then they might have someone that can lead a company into a spirit of excellence! :lol:
I'm with you on the price!.... honestly.. I have never spent so much on a car....my max before was 20K.. now I"m looking at almost 30K "actually 29457.00" with package #8. One part of me realizes if a crisis came up and I had to come up with 10K.... I would find a way.... we really buy what we want based on what we think is valuable to us! If you look at it from a techno standpoint....... you are getting a bargain!!... the technological qualities of the prius surpasses anything out there!.... its really a bargain!... Yet if you look on the practicle side of it ... of just wanting a vehicle that goes from point A to point B in a reliable comfortable manner without being too expensive... then yes there are some other options! But if you can take advantage of the 3100.00 tax credit.... I may have to disagree even about that point!..... My last Casio watch finally got so scratched up after 15 years of use.. I was almost hoping it would break to give me an excuse for another.... I could buy another just like it for 40 bucks.. it had an altimeter etc etc etc... nice gadjet tough watch...... Instead I bought a 450.00 watch that I got for about 240.00 in Cozumel "because of no taxes" and it is a Citizen econodrive.....runs entirely off of light.. the back never has to be broken open, therefore its waterproofness stays pure. This sucker keeps almost pure accurate time.... it only drifts from a setting from my computer sattelite readings, maybe 5 seconds every 6 months!... beautiful and cutting edge technology that I like! True, on a practicle level I could get the same thing accomplished with a 40.00 watch... but my enjoyment factor and intrigue with the more expensive watch was worth my purchase. But if I couldn't have afforded the more expensive "like when I was younger".. I wouldn't have gotten it. So I guess its a matter of what is valuable to you?... I try to tell people .. if you really really really, really really like the prius... figure out a way to get it!!!! You can knock off a chunk by not getting the fancy packages and updating later with third party installers if you still want the fancy NAV and all that... but if it doesn't turn your wheels that much... then there are other nice cars out there too! But the prius is not just a car!... Its a whole leap into another era!... GM is just a car! Myself, I will be endrenched learning about the prius for a long time... but I love gadjets and cutting edge toys! The fact that the car is a technological marvel, only raises the enjoyment factor for me...... you may be much more practicle.
I must admit he has grit... but thats what it takes to finally learn when your stubborn!... take it from one who knows! I've had to learn so many things the hard way.... But I'm sure he's coming around... I'm confident he's trying to figure out right now how to apply for his Toyota dealership credentials! Maybe I'll buy my next Toyota from him!!!!
Now you got me thinkin... I might get some cudos back by using the card!... Humm... Ill just have to pay it off before the first payment.
Thats ok Malorn.. it will take you that long to get set up anyway... and the height of the car shopping season!..... What part of the country you in?
