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No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
Obama Kills Fun Cars, Unveils 35.5 MPG Fuel Economy Plan By 2016

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LuciferV8
05/21/09

In reply to Obama Kills Fun Cars, Unveils 35.5 MPG Fuel Economy Plan By 2016
All I really want is for much better batteries to be produced. That way we can get back to making muscle cars (with electric motors) and then tell the hardcore envirohippie crowd to STFU.
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P161911 probably shoudn't have
05/19/09

In reply to Obama Kills Fun Cars, Unveils 35.5 MPG Fuel Economy Plan By 2016
For the last 60 years or so a lot of Americans have wanted a big car with a V-8. Up until the 1990s that came in the form of a Caprice, Impala, Buick, Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, Vista Cruiser, or even Grand Fury. for the past 10-15 years the big car with a V-8 has come in the form of Tahoes, Expeditions, Explorers, Land Cruisers, Durangoes, 4-door F-150s and Silverados, and Suburbans. This switch to SUVs was partially driven by the fact that "trucks" weren't held to the as high a CAFE standard as cars. Everyone's favorite whipping boy of the mega-SUVs, the H2 didn't even have the gas mileage printed on the window sticker. Why? It had a GVW of over 8500lbs. I see vehicles breaking up into new and different classes: small little crap-boxes that get 45+mpg and would be totaled if you hit anything larger than a possum, high tech MAYBE fun cars that get 35mpg (under powered Camrys, Civic Si and the like), and big full size V-8 "trucks"/SUVs that have a GVW of 8500+. I see one of the unintended consequences of this being even BIGGER, LESS fuel efficient cars on the road. Discontinue the F-150, keep the Rangers all 4 cylinders and just make more and cheaper F-250s.

So how do we replace the hatch on the C7 ZR-1 with a bed and get the GVW up to 8500lbs?

All this assumes that "medium duty" 8500+lb GVW vehicles are exempt for this nonsense.

Also, in the future please don't cross-post this type of thing across Gawker, many of the comments are rather annoying.
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wkiernan
05/19/09

In reply to Obama Kills Fun Cars, Unveils 35.5 MPG Fuel Economy Plan By 2016
Hey, does this mean BMW is going to resuscitate the Z2?
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P161911 probably shoudn't have
05/19/09

@wkiernan: No, they'll just bring out the X9.
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petersterncan
05/19/09

In reply to No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
One thing to remember... when Euro 6 emissions get implemented (in 2015), any engine that passes Euro 6 effectively will pass California emissions.

So by the 2015 model year, don't be surprised if you see a big increase in diesel engine availability in cars.
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Six Flags Over Tomsk
05/20/09

@petersterncan: Assuming diesels don't die off in Europe as a result.
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thunder; now eta-powered
05/19/09

In reply to Obama Kills Fun Cars, Unveils 35.5 MPG Fuel Economy Plan By 2016
And while all y'all's at it, put a sweater on.

Jimmy Carter's looking pretty buff these days. Must be spending some serious time in the sun these days.
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danio3834
05/19/09

In reply to No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
On one hand they want to "help" the automakers, but with the other they stab them to death.
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Alex De Cordoba
05/19/09

In reply to No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
This is not a question of engineering. It is a question of what kind of world we want to live in and how we want to get there. Over the past 60+ years we've decided to let carmakers, oil companies & the highway lobby feed us the products and lifestyle that maximized their profit at our expense in terms of quality of life, environmental quality, and hours spent in traffic all in the name of "freedom." This freedom we speak of is actually a prison carefully crafted over many years and brainwashed into our minds. It will take time for the spell to wear off.
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beercheck
05/19/09

@Alex De Cordoba: Or not.
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MushyHeirloom
05/19/09

@Alex De Cordoba: This is Jalopnik. Did you take a wrong turn somewhere?
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Alex De Cordoba
05/19/09

@FstrPssycw: Anyone who lives in urban environments understands that status quo ain't gonna cut it. Traffic and pollution aren't inconveniences, they're deadly. I love cars as much as the next guy, but my passion for speed, performance and powerful cars cannot justify continuing down a path towards endless consumption of fossil fuels all for the sake of burnouts, donuts and general hoonery. At some point, we have to become responsible members of the world community. If a vehicle's purpose is to move us and our stuff from one place to another, lets figure out how to acheive those goals without the negatives of pollution, traffic, sprawl, highway expansion, etc... If the goal of a vehicle is to stir your passion, acknowledge that is a luxury, not a right.
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MushyHeirloom
05/19/09

@Alex De Cordoba and Akbar Biberkopf: You are right, both of you. Efficient commuter if you live far from work, gas-guzzling beast for weekends. Assuming you can afford both, of course.
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beercheck
05/20/09

@Alex De Cordoba: But, c'mon. Your first assertion was more conspiracy-theoretical than even Hillary or my right-wing acquaintances bother me with. I'm not even sure I'm exaggerating.
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Jim7
05/19/09

In reply to Obama Kills Fun Cars, Unveils 35.5 MPG Fuel Economy Plan By 2016
I have dibs on the color avocado. And 120 hp V8s.

Seriously, it's all gonna work out fine. We could save millions of gallons of gas just by outlawing drive-thrus. Hell, start/stop technology and displacement-on-demand will get you 85% there. My LS4 Buick got 31 mpg yesterday, cruise control set @ 65 and half the 8 cylinders loafing. We can do this. The sky is not falling.
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Six Flags Over Tomsk
05/19/09

@Jim7: You mean make people get out of their cars and walk into buildings where there are other people and conduct their affairs face to face?

Are you high?
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beercheck
05/19/09

In reply to No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
The Chinese will have the answer.
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sos10
05/19/09

In reply to Obama Kills Fun Cars, Unveils 35.5 MPG Fuel Economy Plan By 2016
At last the car might become what it should have been for the last few decades. The romantic times will be over soon, just like with all technology.

Dialing a phone number on a rotary dial in a phone box is so much more romantic than clicking a name on a cellphone.... but not more practical.
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KingStephenR
05/19/09

In reply to No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
Any way you guys could run this list again, but do so only with the European offerings of each of these companies?

Seems to me that they're probably already there, or damn close to it.
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Six Flags Over Tomsk
05/20/09

@KingStephenR: Even if that's the case, it still makes more sense to hold fast on our tougher emissions and crash safety regs and force these automakers to develop vehicles specifically for our market.

*slap* Sorry, where was I? And why do I suddenly feel like going on a "fact-finding" trip to Jamaica?
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sos10
05/19/09

In reply to No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
Just for fun, try to do the same calculations with European brands, using only the models they sell in Europe....
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Elhigh
05/19/09

In reply to No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
Subaru sells a truck?

Don't say Baja. And for Honda don't anybody freakin say Ridgeline. That isn't a truck. It's a tall car for poseurs.

Beating the 27mpg standard for light trucks should be no trouble. Anytime I can't squeeze at least 27 out of my truck, I wonder what's wrong.
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drewdrawsLA
05/19/09

In reply to No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
BMW does have a fantastic array of mild-hybrids and awesome diesels in Europe that for some reason they haven't yet brought the US. Obviously, that will be changing, and I'm pretty happy about it to be honest.

Hate CAFE all you want and I won't argue, but in my experience, engineers, designers, and bean counters respond best to unrealistic constraints, not unlimited freedom.
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MushyHeirloom
05/19/09

In reply to No Automakers Meet Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard
Mmhmm. Seems funny how trucks are so close, yet cars are so far.

I guess a Taurus is going to be a truck now, right? Because it's nearly as truckish as an HHR. Which, incidentally, is that new truck-based Cobalt.

Wait, no it isn't.
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