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Automotive News & Views Will Green Cars Be Exciting To Drive And Enjoyable To Own?
312 messages, Last post on Nov 23, 2009 at 1:15 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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I don't know about you, but I'm apprehensive about the cars that Washington will require automakers to produce in the future. I'm concerned that mileage and emissions regulations may result in cars that are expensive to buy and, despite having great fuel economy, are expensive to own. For the auto industry, this could mean producing cars without the "gotta have it" factor that's critical for strong demand. Hopefully, my concerns are misplaced, and the showrooms will be filled with very appealing cars cars, with outstanding fuel economy, that people are eager to buy. Do you share my concerns, or do you have a "don't worry, be happy, everything will be all right" view of the automotive future? |
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Jan 29, 2009 12:43 pm) Enjoyable to Own - If you enjoy low fuel costs and the feeling that you are reducing your own carbon footprint, then yes. The era of moving away from a fleet of primarily fossil-fuel burning autos was inevitable. It has begun. Sooner the better if'n ya axe me. |
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Jan 29, 2009 12:43 pm) I think I'm going to convert my fintail to coal power to even things out a little 
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Replying to: fintail (Jan 29, 2009 1:06 pm)
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| We have been, and are being, moved towards point A to point B transportation. Cars like the Prius are touted as the future and the government and media supports that contention. You simply can't get any more vanilla than a Prius, Civic Hybrid, Camry Hybrid. The very image looks vanilla if you just close your eyes. But that being said, it looks like that is where we are going and I don't think it is very high on societies worry list. People are more concerned with where they are or where they want to be than how they get there. It isn't going to get any better. | |
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Replying to: fezo (Jan 29, 2009 1:56 pm) The future will likely bring us vehicles for the masses like Nanos, Wildfires, G-Wiz, etc, all with electric or other alternative power, all limited to an emasculated nanny-imposed speed, all tracked 24/7 by a massive group of public sector observers to make sure nobody is doing anything wrong. A Prius will seem like an S-class in comparison, and a Camry Hybrid will be like a Rolls. Globalization, oh yeah!
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"You simply can't get any more vanilla than a Prius, Civic Hybrid, Camry Hybrid. The very image looks vanilla if you just close your eyes. But that being said, it looks like that is where we are going and I don't think it is very high on societies worry list." Maybe, but shouldn't the auto industry worry about this? People don't trade their refrigerators or furnaces for new ones until they break, but most people trade their cars more frequently than the life expectancy of the vehicles. This despite the fact that cars are less of a status symbol for most people than in the '50s and '60s. If people come to regard cars purely as transportation appliances, sales will slump even more than recently, and remain on a permanently lower plateau. Auto enthusiasts also have reason to be concerned with cars becoming appliance-like. |
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Jan 29, 2009 5:22 pm) Off topic but look at the American view of the future depicted in movies. There is no science to this but we see a future where everything is automated and the same or every thing is broken but the same. We in this forum are a percentage of a percentage point when it comes to caring about what we drive and why. In the 70s to early 80s one of the most popular vehicles on the road was the Mini-van. In the mid 80s to the late 90s the SUV ruled the road. There was a time when 50 percent of all new vehicles sold in the US were either SUVs or Pickup trucks. The ford F-series was the best selling vehicle in the world and it was just about exclusively sold in the US. They sold more F- series trucks than Toyota and Honda combined sold Camrys and Accords. None of them were drivers cars and yet that is what people bought. People movers sell because people are less concerned with how they get somewhere than they are about getting there. Otherwise how would anyone explain a ugly car like the Prius even selling in the US? Knowing this is what the public thinks about how they get places why should the auto manufacturers worry? To some it is depressing but it is more than likely a view of the future. Think with your head and not your heart and you will see the answer to the question in this forum. will enthusiasts be dissapointed? Sure but the public will never notice and the manufacturers are already impacted by the economy far more than all the enthusiasts in world could ever effect them. For a several billion dollar bailout they will make just what the government wants them to. Our new vehicles will be designed by committee and we will not be asked for our opinion.
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Replying to: fintail (Jan 29, 2009 1:06 pm) I'm thinking a coal fired steam car would be good to drive through the eco terrorist neighborhoods. Or maybe an old diesel Frito Lay box van painted with all kinds of epitaphs denouncing the brave new World CA is trying to force on the citizens.
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Replying to: boaz47 (Jan 29, 2009 6:46 pm) |
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