The American Spectator

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Expensive Thirst

6.13.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 6)

Cheerleading for Gramps! You and your philosophy have been a disaster. It's over baby. Over.
-- Scott Simon

GUZZLERS
Re: Eric Peters's Hummer's Done:

At last. I'm not one of those folks who thinks that even the Prius uses too much energy, but the Hummer has always been an insult to the intelligence of anyone who thinks rationally about transportation. In its first iteration the Hummer was a vanity car and buying one for most people made as much sense as owning a Lamborghini and driving it 5 miles back and forth to work. (Remember too that the Hummer derived a great deal of its initial cache from its connection with then not-so-green Arnold Schwarzenegger.)The H2 and H3 (especially the latter) are just re-clad GM SUVs anyway. Their ilk only makes sense to people who can take advantage of overly complicated tax regulations that render these urban Ubermobiles "farm vehicles" because they weigh so damned much. (By design, they just tip the scales enough to qualify for the category.)

Good riddance. We'll hardly miss ya.
-- James E. Swinnen

It is a pretty important thing to note, and not something that is trumpeted much in the anti-corporate mass media, but Toyota has positioned itself quite nicely in a very different and much more important matter. It has produced a practical hydrogen fuel cell that works in freezing temperatures and has a range of 830km/500 miles. The general ignorance of the announcement is amazing, given the reality that it will revolutionize automobile transportation.

Of course who will benefit the most? Why Toyota, maybe Honda, perhaps Ford/Mazda. Because these manufacturers produced a gasoline-electric hybrid (fundamentally a weird idea that has a small gasoline engine driving a big electric motor hooked to a bank of batteries, driving a second big electric motor.) Except that if you remove the engine/generator from the equation, you suddenly have a functioning electric car drive train.

On June 6th - June 9th, Toyota announced that the gasoline engine is dead (they didn't say it, but I am). It is just a matter of infrastructure and time. Of course Toyota will have a wide range of functioning models that have merely had the old gas/electric plant replaced with a nice clean, refillable, hydrogen fuel cell.

When GM goes, I won't shed too much of a tear. Especially when, in less than 20 years, I can sit in my "smart mobile" that will quietly drive me to where I want to go, without me having to do so much as read the sports page, or watch a movie.

Isn't capitalism grand?
-- John Schneider
Bristow, Virginia

Eric Peters's recent article about the demise of GM, its SUV line of vehicles, and Detroit reminded me of my one foray into owning a gas friendly GM subcompact. In 1982 I purchased a Pontiac T-1000. It was Pontiac's version of the Chevette. If I remember correctly it cost around $4800 and got maybe 35mpg on the open highway. I suppose my driving habits were normal. Both city and highway; I took a few long road trips in it, but mainly used to it get to work and back. By 1985, the rear suspension was shot; I fought a losing battle to rust despite regular washings; I had the engine rebuilt due to a leaky oil pump � on my way home from work one day about all but one quart leaked out ruining the engine. By the time the idiot light came on the damage was done; I also had a complete brake job done at 25,000 miles. By the time the car was paid off in 1986 I gave the car to my sister as it wasn't worth $250. Needless to say I never bought another GM vehicle or another economical subcompact. I know 28 years is a long time, but the memory of that piece of sh%t haunted me all these years. I think Adam Sandler wrote "An Ode to My Car" with that particular model in mind. I vowed I would never again drive another vehicle with an engine the size of a Singer sewing machine. Give me a Ford Excursion or Plymouth Fury any day.
-- JP
Indiana

If Congress had an iota of common sense, they'd see the demise of GM and Ford for exactly what it is: a cautionary tale regarding the dangers of short-term thinking. That's precisely what has informed their incoherent energy policies for the last thirty years, and they still don't get it.

Ford and GM will be forced to deal directly with the consequences of their decisions: either adjust to reality or go out of business. Congress, unfortunately, can make our lives miserable indefinitely.
-- Arnold Ahlert
Boca Raton, Florida

In his column about GM's Hummer problem Eric Peters writes, "(Toyota)... is literally swimming in black ink." I seriously doubt that they drained the corporate swimming pool and re-filled it with ink of any color for a refreshing noontime dip at Toyota headquarters. There's "literally" and "figuratively" and it pays to know the difference.

As for the Hummer, I hereby make this offer to one and all: sign over the clear title of your clean, low mileage H3 and I will give you cash. The first one to respond with a vehicle to my liking will receive $500 cash and I'll come pick it up anywhere in the lower 48 states. Second response gets $400 and you bring it to me. I will only take two of these gas hogs so hurry and make your offer. Mr. Peters says that soon driving H3's will be like driving the "modern-day equivalents of chocolate brown metallic, landau-roofed '68 Sedan de Villes circa 1975: ungainly relics of a time still within living memory but fading fast." You do NOT want that! Act now!

Hey, that reminds me, the same offer above applies to your fully-loaded Yukon Denali. But it must have fewer than 20,000 miles on the odometer. Literally.
-- Terry Sautter
Lake Wylie, South Carolina

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