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Detroit, 5:24 AM
Sat Nov 28
4 posts in the last 24 hours
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06/15/09
06/15/09
06/15/09
Given a choice between $4 gas with low gas taxes and most of that $4 being split between Big Oil and those people in the ME who hate us, and $4 gas with higher gas taxes that go toward something from which ordinary Americans might actually benefit (like public transit, or racetrack-smooth highways like they have in Germany), I would easily choose the latter.
I would also accept as given that the third alternative, lower gas prices with the current low gas taxes, is probably not possible. At best, we'll get the fourth alternative, wildly fluctuating gas prices that characterize the current status quo.
Helpful hint - we just contacted the heating oil people asking for a top-off, thinking that the price will go higher. Considering that last year, we bought a pellet stove in anticipation of $5/gal. heating oil, you might consider going the other way. Or you might consider the possibility that we've learned from experience and follow us. Either way, you save money, or not.
06/15/09
But with gas prices, I don't complain too much. Can't really. Because, while on delivery I spend well over $100 a week in gas (on weekends, 30 bucks a night), the joy I have in this truck, and the experience is worth it. Sure, it's pretty excessive, all things considered. Near 3/4 ton drive train with a long bed.
But it's pure awesome in a rusty orange shell. It's not economically right, as far as fuel costs. But, this is the US, we BUILT our automotive reputation on wretched excess. Go see the big block chevrolet...
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What premium is that? I can buy a new Toyota Prius for $24,000. "Oho, but you can buy a Hyundai Elantra for $14,000! So you'd save $10,000, stupid!" Yes, that's true. But if it's not sensible to buy a Prius for $10,000 more than a minimal basic-transportation car, then it is Baker Act crazy-loco to buy, let's say, a Lotus Elise at $48,000. And an Elise is not only three and a half times costlier than a damn Elantra, but it is also laughably impractical. No back seat, repairs cost a fortune, half the parts are made out of solid unobtainium, not enough room for a passenger and four bags of groceries, plus it would get high-bottomed by the speed bumps in the grocery store parking lot anyway.
But I don't ever see people harping monomaniacally about what total loser fools Elise owners are, when they could get from Point A to Point B ever so much more practically for a third the cost. And I wouldn't expect to either, because everybody reading this website knows why a driver with a decent income would want a car like that. They know it's because he's a car nut, and car nuts make totally non-economic choices when they pursue their four-wheeled passion.
The same thing goes for Prius owners. They are willing to give up a bit of economic efficiency to own a car that in its speciality, is simply the undisputed best and most high-tech on the market. What I think when I squeal my Miata around street corners at 0.7 lateral Gs is quite similar to what they think from watching the dashboard mileage meter go to 999 MPG while they regen-brake, and that is: "Wow, my car fucking rocks!" When a 911 GT3 owner contemplates his composite brakes and titanium piston rods, and when a Prius owner contemplates his exotic three-way transmission and unique super-efficient Atkinson-cycle engine, they feel a comparable pride in owning something special and high-tech.
"OK, but you know as well as I do that nine out of ten Prius owners don't have the vaguest idea what's under the hood!" You are absolutely right about that. And similarly, nine out of ten Porsche 911 owners only bought a show-off status symbol which they will never drive at a fifth of its potential. So what? Those people are not Jalopniks, never will they be Jalopniks, period. However, Prius-owning Jalopniks have got a lot more in common with the 370Z-owning Jalopnik, and the '66 Toronado-owning Jalopnik, and the DS21-owning Jalopnik, and the nitrous-boosted Mustang Jalopnik, than you give them credit for. They are our kind of car nuts. They are us.
06/15/09
Upon re-reading what I just wrote, it comes off a little strangely. I'm just trying to say that what you wrote above is amazing and will hopefully earn you many more heart-clicks!
P.S. Miatas rock!
06/15/09
A while back you did an interview with NPR (or similar) about fuel efficient cars. At the end, they asked you what you drive and you told them that you drive a Jeep and then they called you a hypocrit.
What did they expect? They contacted Jalopnik not RainbowCloudMagicCar.com (real site)
BLS
06/15/09
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06/15/09
With the gas tax, I would assume they would lower, or get rid of the gas guzzler tax, and therefore it would be spread more evenly to everyone. This, to me, is a better solution than simply trying to get rid of the vehicle class that we both just extolled the virtues of. Part of the reason a universal gas tax has not been levied, in my opinion, is because people like to find advantages over other people. In this case, it is the enviros being able to look down upon those with larger vehicles.
06/15/09
06/15/09
I'm obviously a little biased, being the oldest of 4 kids.
06/15/09
Unfortunately, your plan puts the decision of "what's next" in the hands of the wrong people. We need this period of multiple technologies competing in parallel.
It forces market-based natural selection, allowing the best techs to succeed in whatever niches they can find. Maybe cars will be electric and over-the-road trucks will be biodiesel. Dunno, but I'd rather not just pick semi-arbitrarily ahead of time.
Re: taxes, most of us are advocating taxes in lieu of things like the gas guzzler tax and CAFE, which limits vehicle choice and adds certification costs to everything. In a lot of ways, it sucks for you, and no rational person would be in favor of increasing their cost of living.
On the other hand, if gas prices come up enough, that would at least justify the purchase of a 2nd/3rd vehicle for the times when you're not hauling all the kids at once.
06/15/09
06/15/09
On the flip side, unless you're doing >20k miles/year, it's almost always cheaper to keep whatever you've got. Gas is usually cheaper than a new (bigger) car payment.
Raising gas taxes (as opposed to CAFE) gradually gives people the opportunity to anticipate rising prices and factor that into their next vehicle purchase.
In the absence of that, I predict we'll get into seasonal car sales: Hyrbids in July/August/September and trucks in Jan/Feb/March.
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06/15/09
One..
Which Jeep? Ya'd have to go back 15-20yrs for anything GOOD.
Two.
67' Ford.. WHAT?
And three..
THE WRX.. with or without the hatch? And are ya counting the SAAb version?
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You want Fiesta.
06/15/09
Do you know how many women claim they drive an SUV because they feel safer, or because they like that they have an elevated perch from which they can view "everything?"
People feel more secure in these large cars, and it will take a bit more than high fuel prices to get people out of these vehicles.
06/15/09
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06/15/09
Dude...
I have gone down that road of insanity.. for years.
The whole debate on the womans side.. is completely flawed.
Their view sucks.. because there are hundreds of little rat bastards who think just like her.
Not to mention.. she couldnt operate the thing in snow if she needed to.
Then there is the whole snow tire debate.
And then there is the debate of a woman driving that vehicle properly in the first place.
This is a rant.. Im very fimilar with, just doesnt end.
06/15/09
And, I'm arguing that people only reluctantly purchase these appliances. They still prefer the larger cars.
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06/15/09
Absurd, why would the federal gov't be in charge of administering to local infrastructure? If a town needs money for roads, the town will raise taxes. The feds get enough f-ing money, and waste it quite impressively. If we want to see improvements in infrastructure it will come from the state/county levels.
06/15/09
This is not about making fossil fuels so expensive that we won't use them, it's about making green energy so cheap that everyone will want to use them.
And whats wrong with Automotive Freedom of Choice?
All you who wannt to tax others to force them into doing what they don't WANT do to are idiots, and should move to Canada.
Its not my place to tell you not to spend your money on something you want but I think is overpriced or wasteful, its not your place to do the same to me.
06/16/09
"Whaaaaa Whaaaa! I don't wanna!! You can't make me!!!"
06/16/09