Legal Bill

Just yesterday I read that the world-wide consumption of oil reached record highs. If it is true that the US is reducing consumption (and I'm not really sure it is) then someone else is stepping up consumption.

A 2

1. You are very welcome. I did correct some typos, but did not edit any more as I did not want to alter the wonderful tone the article set.

2. Im a little skeptic about plug-ins, especially their limited range. It would appear that I could never use such a car for say, my monthly jaunt to Acton, MA and back. Even having highway rest areas with charging stations will be a (tax-payer) expense in these cash-strapped times and I fear no Government will step up with such an initiative just yet.

It is my hope that further improvements will be found in enhancing gasoline & diesel engines. We need hybrids to mimic real cars and real driving situations. I for one, would not like to be held up in line behind a slow moving Prius that is doing 30 in a 35 zone. If we are going to have more of such cars then it is not the future that I'd really want. That said, the CR-Z offers a ray of hope to me. 0-60 times seem to be on par with the 2001 Accord LX, but with vastly superior handling, it should make up for the power deficit.

ralper

I am hoping that the generation of engineers recently graduated and/or now in school will be able to come up with designs and technology that we haven't even thought of. I'm not convinced that this will happen in the five year time frame that Bill calls for but I am absolutely convinced that it will happen in the not too distant future.

I do think that there is a trend towards smaller and lighter cars and I am very happy about that. I've always thought that our cars have gotten to be far too big, far too heavy and far too luxurious. I've been an advocate of smaller, lighter cars for a long, long time.

It seems to me that we (the manufacturers, designers and car buying public) are going to go through a period of rethinking about what we want in our cars. Will we continue to want cars that have become as "grand" as they are or perhaps will we be willing to sacrifice some of the luxury, size and features for good, sound, efficient vehicles? As a matter of fact, I think this reassessment is where the change to the car of the future begins.

silvershadow

I hate to state the obvious, but I will. There are cars that exist TODAY that give great gas mileage, amazing performance, handling, etc. They are diesels. My BMW 335D does 0-60 in 6 seconds, and matches the 335i (not exactly a dog) in pretty much every other acceleration test. Yet at 85 mph it still gives 34 mpg. At 70 mph, I have gotten mileage figures as high as 42 mpg. It is not a particularly light car either (at 3800 pounds). My next door neighbor's son drives a Jetta diesel and gets 45 mpg routinely on the highway.

We don't have to accept that driving will change radically. We may have to accept that fuel will change though. We don't have to put up with 0-60 times from 30 years ago or more, nor do we have to drive cars that cause utter boredom. We don't have to worry about taking hours to recharge the batteries. I can refuel my car in the same amount of time it takes to fill with gasoline. Sometimes, I have to hunt for a station carrying diesel, but I have never had to drive around for even 20 minutes looking for a station carrying diesel. As a matter of fact, I see more and more stations carrying diesel all the time now.

We don't need to worry about paying automaker premiums for hybrids. Doesn't it seem nonsensical to you to want a car with high gas mileage, but have to pay premiums of several thousand dollars to get it? It just didn't make financial sense to me when I was looking two months ago. Plus the hybrids I have driven were flat boring cars to drive. They seem to be tuned to people that view cars as simply a means to get from point A to point B.

So the point is, throw your misconceptions of diesels out the window. You CAN have your cake and eat it too. You can have a car that gives sports car like handling, acceleration and luxuriousness and still get over 30 mpg (easily).

Except for the diesel on the fuel gage and the fuel door (which you don't have to open too often) you would never know that the car is a diesel except for the mpg display.

silvershadow

The number of new cars being purchased in China is phenomenal. When I was working in China a few years ago, I was told that Beijing alone is adding almost 1 million new cars a year.

I was doing some work with Sinopec, one of the Chinese national oil companies. We had to make a presentation to some engineers. The presnentation was made in a complex that housed two buildings holding a total of 2000 engineers. The sales manager (Chinese) was late for the meeting. His excuse, the last time he had been there was 5 years previous, and he was able to find a parking spot in the 600 space garage under the building. Now almost all the engineers there have cars and he had to park about 15 minutes walk away from the building.

paS2K

to Legal Bill

FLA-Vyk

I plan to keep all my cars. With the exception, currently looking to purchase a DeLorean. Hope to have it within the next year.

MsPerky

^ I always liked that car. The guy was interesting, too.

tof

[QUOTE=dlq04,Apr 17 2010, 09:10 PM] China will be the dominant market for most automobile manufacturers for decades to come.

paS2K

Vyk, you must have one h*ll of a garage

Any pics to share?