my most hated automotive trend (2009, Germany, hybrid, lane)

[Charles22]

Those damn beepers that let the neighbors know that you're opening your car doors, again. Beep Beep!! Turn that cr@p off.

[Jesco White]

Please don't let these imbeciles get you down. No one wants to hear the truth, and people honestly believe that gas at 3 dollars a gallon is way too expensive. The truth is, America has been living a lie for the last 60 years in terms of subsidized oil prices. Look at all german car manufacturers. They sell small 4 CYL diesel versions of their top luxary cars all over Europe for a reason. In america, the smallest 6 Cyl you can get of a mercedes is generally .4 liters bigger than the most common sold 4 CYL version of the same car in the EU. The reason is...... they pay like 8-10 bucks a gallon and understand scarcity. Americans, who frequently live 20-40 miles from their occupation (as do I....for now), have no understanding of scarcity. It was interesting to watch the subburban real estate market completely tank beginning with 5 dollar a gallon gas. My guess is you're correct, and that this trend will continue. People may call you a bad american, but you're one of the few people who understands the future of the world (not only our country). Ignore the haters, they get their automotive advice from city-data for christ sakes.

And anyone who blames liberals for a scarcity of a fossil fuel must be spending too much time watching Glenn Beck. Remember Foxers, teabags don't power Hummers!

Originally Posted by Easterntiger

Your opinions are good enough for you, however, others might prefer to stick with the facts instead.



Oil Has Two Potential Futures, Shell Strategist Says : NPR
Shell strategist Jeremy Bentham says demand will go up, while oil supplies will be harder to find.




http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/do.../chapter10.pdf
..a growing share of crude oil production came from younger, smaller and offshore fields, which have inherently HIGHER DECLINE rates. Smaller and offshore fields typically exhibit higher observed decline rates, because of more limited potential.......


** Of course, you'd have no need for this information on future oil supplies, that is, UNTIL you have to spend a larger proportion of your income on fuel. Of course, then, it would be about 15 years too late to do anything about it, except to complain why someone else didn't do something to take care of you.***

georgia.gov - SUV Rollover Accident and Death Statistics
In 2006 SUVs had the highest occupant fatality rate of any vehicle type in rollover crashes


frontline: rollover: interviews: keith bradsher | PBS
Even though they are about half a percent or so of all crashes, they are a huge part of traffic deaths. About 41,000 Americans a year are killed on the nation's roads. Eleven thousand of those deaths take place in rollovers; and about 1,900 of those 11,000 are in sport utility vehicles. That's about double the number of deaths you would expect, given the proportion of vehicles on the road that are sport utility vehicles.


suv death rate rollover car accident lawyers motorcycle and truck crash attorneys nationwide
"The thing that I don't understand is people, when they choose to buy a vehicle, they might go sit in it and say, 'Gee, I feel safe,' " said Dr. Runge, who was an emergency-room physician for 20 years before taking over the top NHTSA job in 2001. "Well, sorry, but you know gut instinct is great for a lot of stuff, but it's not very good for buying a safe automobile."


***It's perfectly ok to PRETEND that SUV's are safer, just because they're larger, or just because, as any 3rd grader could figure out, an accident between an SUV and a small car will impact the small car more significantly. Meanwhile, that smaller car that hits the guard rail can slow safely to a controlled stop, while the SUV hits and ROLLS OVER the guard rail and down an embankment trapping everyone inside, or possibly, ejects people on the way down, or, one that goes across the center median/wall and OVER to the other side (one flipped over a wall here, overturned on the other side, FACING oncoming traffic and was met headon by oncoming traffic - dead driver), or,one that blows a tire at high speed, swerves 4 times left and right as the driver desperately tries to gain control, then, flips multiple times, because of the extra weight that is positioned HIGH and BEHIND the normal center of gravity of most other vehicles takes control, or, any of a number of scenarios that you could PRETEND won't happen, that happen every day. Your ignorance is your bliss***

[Easterntiger]

Originally Posted by sailordave

Here's my most hated automotive trend. Enviromentalist trying to tell other people what vehicles they should drive. Mr. Enviromentalist, please tell me what vehicle my relatives should drive in their work installing carpet and flooring or replacing windshields? What vehicle should they drive to pull the family camper to go on vacation? Four of the relatives who drive such vehicles were taught how to drive by their dad who use to drive race cars before he became an automechanic. My brother-in-law drives a Trail Blazer. His time driving large Army vehicles makes better at handling this ride than some others on the road. Mr. Enviromentalist, at one time there were cars that could tow a camper/boat. Not any more. You need a truck or SUV to tow such weight.

I do think way too many people drive such vehicles instead of cars but that's not an envirmental point of view. It's just that we know some people just don't know how to drive such vehicles. Going from a car to an SUV is harder than the other way around. I choose to drive a car. It's what I like. Many in my family choose to drive a truck or SUV. It's what they like.

Why have I got to be 'Mr Environmentalist' just because I can see that not everybody that CAN pull a horse trailer ISN'T?

60% of the people in line with me picking up elementary school kids at 3:00 are driving full-size pickups or SUV's that have grown like they're on steroids just in the past 10 years! I passed an accident scene where FOUR mega-sized SUV's, all with blacked out windows, had each run together (in the far left lane, of course, since the drivers can/do/should limit movement, yet, WILL block other traffic). Three idiots driving out of the range of their mental capacity - the person in front gets the benefit of the doubt. Poor skills, voluntarily impaired visibility, too many hazards in one place = accident. Thousands of hi-speed morning commuters affected.

Boats? Windshields? Carpeting? Towing? Camping?

All these questions have already been answered, as in, other parts of the world, and they're going to be answered here too, just not in a way that people who don't like the idea of change will like.

Don't they do all these things in other parts of the world that don't have Surburbans, Escalades, Tundras, Silverados, Aspens, Tahoes, Expeditions, Yukons, Hummers, QX56's, Navigators, LX470's, LX570's, Sequoia's?

Like it or not, these monsters of the category are all on the chopping block. Double digit sales decreases will kill them all during the next product cycle. Gasoline powered V-8 engines? Dinosaurs. In addition to increasing the power of remaining engines, watch how fast adaptation to vehicles of more reasonable size happens. Complaints about power, speed, etc. are going to be cast aside faster than you can say 'For Sale'. (It's so hilarious to watch the signs pop up when gas prices rise, only to come back down when prices fall - DUH! Who's going to buy it from you then? Cash for Clunkers, please come back soon.)

There always have been vans/trucks and there always be, so I'm not knocking everything on truck platforms, but, saying goodbye to the 'trend' of 20' long/7' high/ restricted vision/blacked out windows on my left and right as I come back to my car in the grocery store parking lot is a time to anticipate with great enthusiasm.

Just think of how much better off the U. S. auto industry would be if they hadn't spent so much of the past 20 years coming up with 35 varieties of truck based vehicles, instead of broadening their product lines enough to keep some of us out of foreign showrooms.

I have a 280-hp, 4-door sedan that seats 5 comfortably on a 112-inch wheelbase and doesn't require premium fuel. Where would I find that from a domestic brand? If they had found time to work on that question 10 years ago, like their foreign competition was, maybe they would be begging Congress for money.

[GTOlover]

LOL I think we pissed off the tree huggers

[Easterntiger]

maybe they WOULDN'T be begging Congress for money.[/quote]

[sailordave]

European automakers do sell SUVs in Europe.

[12GO]

Originally Posted by Easterntiger

Why have I got to be 'Mr Environmentalist' just because I can see that not everybody that CAN pull a horse trailer ISN'T?

60% of the people in line with me picking up elementary school kids at 3:00 are driving full-size pickups or SUV's that have grown like they're on steroids just in the past 10 years! I passed an accident scene where FOUR mega-sized SUV's, all with blacked out windows, had each run together (in the far left lane, of course, since the drivers can/do/should limit movement, yet, WILL block other traffic). Three idiots driving out of the range of their mental capacity - the person in front gets the benefit of the doubt. Poor skills, voluntarily impaired visibility, too many hazards in one place = accident. Thousands of hi-speed morning commuters affected.

Boats? Windshields? Carpeting? Towing? Camping?

All these questions have already been answered, as in, other parts of the world, and they're going to be answered here too, just not in a way that people who don't like the idea of change will like.

Don't they do all these things in other parts of the world that don't have Surburbans, Escalades, Tundras, Silverados, Aspens, Tahoes, Expeditions, Yukons, Hummers, QX56's, Navigators, LX470's, LX570's, Sequoia's?

Like it or not, these monsters of the category are all on the chopping block. Double digit sales decreases will kill them all during the next product cycle. Gasoline powered V-8 engines? Dinosaurs. In addition to increasing the power of remaining engines, watch how fast adaptation to vehicles of more reasonable size happens. Complaints about power, speed, etc. are going to be cast aside faster than you can say 'For Sale'. (It's so hilarious to watch the signs pop up when gas prices rise, only to come back down when prices fall - DUH! Who's going to buy it from you then? Cash for Clunkers, please come back soon.)

There always have been vans/trucks and there always be, so I'm not knocking everything on truck platforms, but, saying goodbye to the 'trend' of 20' long/7' high/ restricted vision/blacked out windows on my left and right as I come back to my car in the grocery store parking lot is a time to anticipate with great enthusiasm.

Just think of how much better off the U. S. auto industry would be if they hadn't spent so much of the past 20 years coming up with 35 varieties of truck based vehicles, instead of broadening their product lines enough to keep some of us out of foreign showrooms.

I have a 280-hp, 4-door sedan that seats 5 comfortably on a 112-inch wheelbase and doesn't require premium fuel. Where would I find that from a domestic brand? If they had found time to work on that question 10 years ago, like their foreign competition was, maybe they would be begging Congress for money.

New Chevy Impala, 303hp for your answer of what do the domestics have. 10 years ago, you had the SSEI Bonnevilles. Still some of the nicest cars on the road. You also have the SHO Taurus from Ford. over 300hp.
Thats where if you didn't think of these cars, you didn't want to pay attention to American car companies. See, they had the cars and do have these types of cars, but import car company buyers wouldn't even admit it. If you want more from the past 10 years, you had the Olds LSS Delta 98's, Buicks (pick any size Buick besides the 90's up skylark ruination of that great name).
btw, On all those trucks you complain about at school, maybe just maybe it's like me when I raised my Nephew and Niece. I unhooked from the trailer(s) before going to school to pick them up.

[12GO]

Originally Posted by GTOlover

LOL I think we pissed off the tree huggers

That's a good thing They really are a pitiful dirtbag bunch. They say they want to be one with the earth, but get all upset when you offer to make them part of the earth.

[12GO]

Originally Posted by Charles22

Those damn beepers that let the neighbors know that you're opening your car doors, again. Beep Beep!! Turn that cr@p off.

I despise those things too ! Any beeper, dinger on a vehicle should be removed and the one who came up with the idea beaten.

[sailordave]

12GO, the only enviromentalist I respect is Ed Begley Jr. and that's because he's not a hypocrite. He lives just as he preaches. He's still a nut but he's an honest nut. I try to save gas but not to save the enviroment. I do it to save money. The next car I buy will be a compact car. What's sad is thanks to safety regulations, a compact car now weighs about as much as my then midsize 2003 Malibu. My wife now has the highway cruiser car so I can go down in size and up on mpg. My personal choice. Not a fast driver and I don't tow stuff. I just don't like people trying to ram their enviromental beliefs down other people's throats. He's probably from Seattle, San Francisco, Berkeley, or some other like minded area.