Showing posts with label Automobiles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Automobiles. Show all posts

Saturday, January 05, 2008

You can have any kind of engine you want, as long as it is obsolete...

I watched Who Killed the Electric Car? over a year ago, and still to this day every time I get into my car I think of this movie. Every time I turn the ignition I think that the US Automakers deserve every bit of financial hardship they have experienced these past few years. There, I said it and I mean it!

I am becoming more of an environmentalist every day. Not the crazy types that would send human advancement back to the Middle Ages if it would mean saving a specific race of mosquitoes. No, to be quite honest with you & myself, I am becoming more of an environmentalist every day because of the impact it has on my pocketbook.

I will say in my defense, however, that I am driving 30 miles out of my way on a periodic basis now to recycle glass with no financial reward motivating me. I find it very sad that my community of 20,000 doesn't have one place for its citizens to recycle a basic material like glass.

Getting back to cars. I have made a vow to myself that I will drive each car I buy for at least a decade. Therefore, I have 2 more years of driving my 1999 Ford Taurus before I will allow myself to buy a newer car. So, I am already looking into what would be a good car to buy in 2010, economically, qualitatively, & environmentally.

Saturn has stated that their VUE SUV will have an electric model in 2010. If that will be the case, I will be an early adopter & give it a try.

From the article I read in Fast Company, I may need to go the diesel route or just buy a "cheaper" car and spend some extra dough on a really, really good mechanic to transform the car into what Detroit could easily do itself.

I will gladly give my loyalty to a car company that is not afraid to pursue a new way of making & selling cars. Show me a stylish car that can get a 50-100 miles per gallon & I can plug it in at night, and I'll show you my checkbook! Until then, I will be sadly polluting Southern Illinois' air with my V6 Taurus.