7th Mar 2007, 10:12
9:12, I guess you left out all the people who drive INEFFICIENT vehicles a long distance to work, that being the MAJORITY of the population. So I AM AT FAULT for driving a more fuel efficient vehicle than you do? THAT is your logic? No wonder we're all in trouble.
7th Mar 2007, 13:44
Why is it that whenever you guys mention an "econobox", that the driver must have a long drive to work, and anyone with a Hemi automatically has a short drive to work? What about the guys with the Hemi's that drive 60 miles to work, and the guy with the Camry that drives 1 mile to work? Is that how you justify driving a gas hog?
You guys are just saying, "Well, why stop there? Nobody should drive, let's all live in ranch houses, and carpool"... Don't be so sarcastic. We don't have to get that radical. If we all sacrificed A LITTLE, it would be enough. That do-nothing attitude is why we're in hot water now, literally.
9th Mar 2007, 12:57
What are you guys worried about? "Big Oil" will take care of us all sooner or later!
9th Mar 2007, 17:07
I am using less gasoline than you. Driving a more fuel efficient car is only one thing, and it's an easy thing. If you really cared, you would move closer to work AND drive the fuel efficient car. Yes, you are causing more environmental degradation than I am. If you bought a McMansion 60 miles from work, you are not offsetting that environmental impact by driving a hybrid. I bought an existing house 10 miles from work, with the EXPRESS PURPOSE of saving gasoline over the coming years. Who's guilty now?
9th Mar 2007, 17:23
Some of what you say is correct, some is at best speculation. Not every tornado or hurricane is evidence of global warming. While it is nearly undeniable that human activity has led to an increase in average global temperature of 1-2 degrees in the last 100+ years, there are global cycles that we are just beginning to understand. The El Nino/La Nina cycles have been occurring for thousands of years, and were recorded and best recognized by the ancient Maya and Inca. Although global warming may be related to an increase in intensity of certain weather events, there is little evidence to indicate that it is responsible for an increase in the number of storms.
The bottom line is that I am using less gasoline by driving a fuel inefficient car a shorter distance to work. Moreover, by driving a used car, I am not fueling the demand for consumption of additional resources. You preserve natural resources by driving a car the longest time possible, maintaining it and maximizing its life because the resources in that car have already been extracted and processed.
To save some gasoline with a hybrid, more mines had to be started, more rainforest clearcut, and more factories built to provide the raw materials for that car. Is the few gallons of saved gasoline really enough to offset the required environmental degradation? What is the carbon output of the factories that assembled your fuel efficient car? What is the carbon output of the mining equipment, and the factories that made the mining equipment that were needed to mine the ores to build your fuel efficient car?
You are right in that there is a larger picture than simply saving a few bucks, but there is an even larger picture than simply saving a few gallons of gasoline. I not only save more gasoline by choosing to live closer to work, but I save the consumption of additional natural resources by not joining the consumer economy. Similarly, by buying an existing house, no more trees were cut down, and no farmland was paved over forever. So, it IS correct that doing what I am doing has a lower impact.
10th Mar 2007, 11:27
Sorry, but every time you start up your gas guzzling SUV or pickup you put FOUR times the emissions into the air than an economy car, and since the emissions stuff really doesn't kick in until the car is warmed up, your "short trips" are causing a heck of a lot of pollution.
And if you took the time to read the SUV boards here you would see lots of owners bragging about their 100k+ mile vehicles and how they put 30K a year on their SUVs.
SIXTY PERCENT of the car buying public buys SUVs, and you cannot possible tell me that ALL those people drive 10 miles roundtrip to work.
23rd Mar 2007, 18:46
Camrys and Tundras are built in America. Therefore they aren't "imports", they are domestics.
Seems like a lot of domestic fanboys have swamped this review to comment on how wonderful their GMs and Pontiacs are.
Japanese built cars are much better in terms of quality and ingenuity than American made cars.
Japanese engineered, American built cars don't live up to the standard.
Ford Fusion is a Japanese engineered car. It is built on the Mazda6 platform.
Many of GMs most promising cars are being imported or engineered in Europe or Australia.
24th Mar 2007, 10:06
Try to twist it any way you like. Now you are complaining about how reliable American vehicles are because people put 30,000 miles per year on them? The longer they drive those vehicles, the more resources they are conserving in the long run. You totally neglect the total industrial pollution attributed to each car over its life. Obviously you don't really know what you're talking about, with phrases like "heck of a lot of pollution" and "emissions stuff."
But let's even use your own numbers of 4X the pollution. If I drive 20 miles/day round trip, your economy car is still polluting more driving 100 miles/day, based on the average one-way 50 mile commute. Plus, I'm still using half the gasoline while conserving new raw materials. Too bad you care more about bashing SUV's than about saving the planet, but I guess you are locked into your own mindset.
24th Mar 2007, 20:09
17:23 You actually ADMIT to driving a gas hog, and then say that you are doing the right thing? I can't believe what I just read. You HAVE to be kidding. It's so ridiculous I'm at a loss for words to explain...
25th Mar 2007, 06:29
I would wait til 2008 and buy a 2008 Tahoe, Envoy or even a Silverado with the new upcoming Hybrid models and have a fully usable SUV or new Truck. If you are so environmentally conscious and that is so important... sell your car now. Take a bus, public transportation, ride a bicycle or walk to work. Or car pool in a larger SUV hybrid and fill it with co workers during the week. But again buy the new Hybrids.
7th Mar 2007, 10:09
To 9:12, I never said I was blameless, I never said that driving an economy car would COMPLETELY solve the problem, and I never said that people who DON'T drive them are the whole problem. Your point that it's not money-wise for you to drive one now is incorrect. The problems that we're going to have in the near future; environmental ones, will be more expensive for you and everyone else than the cost of an economy car.
Why do think that every country in the world is breaking records for high temps, low temps, # of tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, flooding, rain storms? If we could all cut the amount of oil consumption and emissions in HALF, it would make a HUGE difference. I enjoy driving too, but a car is just transportation; that's all. No one needs 300 horsepower in their daily driver.