America... Watch Out!

That's the thing that I don't get Walt. There are things that are automatically associated with people that buy a car. Me? I drive a little gay guy's Civic (For those with sticks up their butts I'm not making fun of gays, shut up) and my wife drives a boat called a Ford Taurus. Of course you have those mad moms with minivans, and men with big trucks and little egos.

My point is all vehicles have some stigma attached to them. I drive a Civic because I'm a cheap guy, my wife drives a Taurus because its comfortable yet still affordable. A friend of mine has a crap load of money because he took a huge risk and started an insulation company, and what does he drive? A Hummer H2! Oh the horror!

We all make a choice in what we drive because we can. I'm tired of the people who rip on people who drive the Hummers because honestly, it looks more like a class envy than anything else. Think about it, how many people do you know that automatically say about a man with a big truck?

Quit ripping on people who made their own choice and mind your own business. If you can't do that, find the screwball who helped write the tax law that give a tax break to those who use H2's for "business" and fix the stupid law. That is the only arguement I have for them.

~Rob Willi

Multiply that $17 a month by millions of people that have s.u.v,s and thats a lot of gas.

We interrupt this program for the following public service announcement:

It's A-R-G-U-M-E-N-T.

Now back just in time for commercials...

-'Playa

Hey Gemini: You are right about mass transit in Cleveland. The last time i rode RTA, I felt I like i was stuck in a communicable disease ward. The Buses never link-up well and the AC never works.

I'm looking for an SUV. I've got a family and make frequent trips to Home Depot. Because of the family thing, It's got to seat five, so a pick up is out. I buy tons of lumber from H Depot, removable/foldable seats are good.
And now, used SUV's are going real cheap.

Qwit bing sew ridickulous, 'Playa ;)

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HeyIsntThatRob? said:
Quit ripping on people who made their own choice and mind your own business.

~Rob Willi

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Bull. When it affects me, it becomes my business.

Your neighbor that drives his Hummer uses more than twice the amount of gas my lowly 2001 Corolla does (38 Hwy, 31 city).

Burning more fuel = higher vehicle emissions, which is kicked into the air my future children and I breathe. Living in Los Angeles, that's even more of a concern.

The increased use of fuel also spikes demand, which allows oil companies to raise their prices. Which, costs me more money at the pump, as well as more money for goods and services that depend on oil to deliver these goods. Once the oil runs out, it's gone. That may be 100 years away, when I'll be long gone. But future generations will have to deal with it.

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Jeff said:
See, the problem with your argument is that Americans tend to feel entitled to do whatever the hell they want in the name of freedom without looking past their own nose to decide whether or not they should...
...If people really cared about the United States and future generations of Americans, people would get their heads out of their asses and take a careful look at the world you're potentially leaving them. Sadly, this is not what people are doing.

And what floors me is that the big oil companies are all spending a ton of money researching other energy sources, because they know it's a finite resource, and their futures depend on the next big thing. American consumers just bury their heads in the sand.

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Couldn't have said it better myself.

^Also, in many ways the main problem lies with the automakers more than consumers. What's a family with 4 kids supposed to do? Detroit sure doesn't give them many options for fuel efficient vehicles that can carry the whole family.

Danimales: I believe (with no evidence) that that's because consumers don't want to pay for it. Getting better mileage on a larger vehicle comes in one of two ways: make the vehicle lighter, or pour more R&D into your engines.

Lighter vehicles are made out of expensive materials. R&D has to be paid for, too. Translation: there's a reason that the Prius is expensive for what you get; someone has to pay the R&D costs, and the early adoptors pay for more of it, because there may not be any late adoptors.

If there were a market for more fuel-efficient vehicles, Detroit would move to supply it. Last I heard, only one of the Big Three actually made money on each car they sold. In other words, they're not making it up in volume, despite all you hear about big sales numbers thanks to employee pricing.

If Motown could figure out how to market a profitable car (read: one with higher margins thanks to more expensive materials or signifcant repayment of R&D) they would. Even Toyota and Honda are marketing their hybrids as niche vehicles, not mainstream ones.

And CoastaPlaya continues to be:

I-R-R-E-L-E-V-A-N-T

A victim, of his own TON who is now a freaking out over an extra 'E' in a post.

Besides, E is the most commonly used letter in the alphabet, what's one moree? ;)

Thanks for playing!

~Rob Willi

Freaking out? Since when? I'm having a good time here.

Besides, irrelevant is anybody trying to swim upstream in a Bush economy. I feel sorry for just about everyone else...but ya know, when you sit down at the table of life and specifically order the Deluxe Pu Pu Platter, there's no point in complaining about the incredible stench when you get it served up.

-'Playa

[Dad]Don't make me separate you two![/Dad]

<Whine>But he called me irrelevant! On a message board about rolly coasters! You know, the epicenter of all human relevance...I guess.

Cough.

-CO

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Gemini said:

A few years from now when it's time to buy another vehicle, I'll jump at the chance to buy a hybrid - if it's the best option for me. Who knows? Maybe at the time my best option will be a mini-van ... or something else.

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There gettting there, Toyota Just released a Hybrid version of its Highlander, and Ford just released the Escape in a hybrid version. Both with 4x4 and hold 5-8 passengers. The Ford has the clenest emisions, but the Highlander has more horses and more MPG.

But dad! He started it, he looked out my window and erased an E that I wrote on it!

But boy oh boy, this awful economy. I mean, my wife and I are in dire straights here with a roof over our heads and all those camping and coaster trips we did this summer.

Just. Plain. Awful. This economy.

Just having fun! :)

~Rob "No personal grudge honest!" Willi

I'll have to test drive one of those. Take it to H-Depot and load it up w/wood and see what they do.

Colin: be careful. If you are buying a hybrid for fuel economy, you may not be getting what you are looking for. It turns out that automakers are also using hybrid engines not to improve fuel economy but to improve power.

http://www.rightnation.us/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t82805.html

(That has an excerpt of a NYTimes article, which is no longer freely available via www.nytimes.com.)

^ Yeah, I knew that, the Highlander has incredible power, most people expect puny (<--Sp?) power from a hybrid. But wow, they surprise you. But thats why you accelerate slowly, you all get there the same time usually. You should see my mother when shes driving "You big gas hogs, yall ram the gas pedal but we all get to the next light at the same time!" Its pretty funny.

*** Edited 8/30/2005 7:40:58 PM UTC by Colin Fisher***

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Are you serious?

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We’ve got guys quoting fictional movies as reliable sources, we’ve got irrational hatred for supposed Hummer-owning-gas-price complaining jackasses (does anybody on here even know a person that owns a Hummer?), we’ve got “Satin’s plan to ruin the world"…

I would never so much as slip a smirk with such thoughtful commentary from so many informed coaster message board fanboys. Although, I must begrudgingly admit that every now and then I let my wife sneak a peak for her amusement only…

A place where “jackass” and “Satin’s Plan” go unchallenged while guys like Gemini have to apologetically post for the evilness of owning an SUV embodies everything that is serious and nothing that could remotely be seen as kooky or funny by the average citizen!

And some would think the joke is at my expense...

*** Edited 8/30/2005 7:44:18 PM UTC by Jeffrey R Smith***

First of all, Hitchhiker's Guide was one of a series of books for a zillion years, then a radio series, then a television series, finally a film.

Second, why does everyone wanna dodge the REALITY it was compared to? Dubya's presidential Duhhhhhhhbates vs. Cheney's obvious grip on the reins? Hello?

HITR: The 'swimming' starts when you pop out the youngun, pay for diapers, daycare, a room full of Little Tykes gear and a neighborhood with good schools. Get back to me then, skippy! Anyway...

Who says minivans are any better on gas than SUVs? Sure wasn't me! But it seems people always wanna prefer to beat up on the guy with four-wheel drive. Why is that?

-'Playa

*** Edited 8/30/2005 7:52:18 PM UTC by CoastaPlaya***

Pretty interesting discussion, except the title of this thread suggests that Benjamin was making a threat, which I am not sure was his intention, but which I think is kind of BS if he was.

"America... Heads Up!" is more like it...