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#11
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
Calif Bill wrote:
What the government should do is to set the price of fuel higher for the vehicles that have higher fuel consumption. In some ways they are doing this, with the tax credits for hybrids, but they should extend it to all vehicles with MPG ratings of 40 or higher, and make it a recurring tax credit, not a one time thing. Screw the people who need a bigger vehicle for business, or a larger family or have to tow something. Buy a 40 mpg vehicle and you save on gas costs over a 20 mpg vehicle. That should be enough incentive. I have heard a number of comments from people that if you can afford the big gas guzzling luxury SUV you can afford the extra gas. Fine, then tax the hell out of them. If they can afford the big SUV and all the extra gas it consumes they can afford to pay a ****load of tax. Meanwhile, make parking spots smaller and levy fines against those who take up more an one space. Pay lots can charge double for larger vehicles. |
#12
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:10:21 -0600, James Robinson wrote:
The problem with the EPA highway estimate is that it is based on a speed profile that assumes the average speed is 48 mph, and doesn't go above 60 mph at any point. It is therefore completely useless when comparing vehicles at the speeds seen on interstates. That made sense back in the days of the 55 NSL. The tests are being revamped starting in 2008 and will include more high acceleration high speed testing. |
#13
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
On 2007-01-26, James Robinson wrote:
"SMS" wrote: A Toyota Corolla driven at 65 mpg gets better highway mpg than a Prius driven at the same speed, without all the environmental issues. The problem with the EPA highway estimate is that it is based on a speed profile that assumes the average speed is 48 mph, and doesn't go above 60 mph at any point. It is therefore completely useless when comparing vehicles at the speeds seen on interstates. The site http://www.greenhybrid.com hosts comparisons which claim to be real-life users entering their actual mileage. Obviously there's no way to substantiate any of the mileage claims, but I guess for the most part it's relatively accurate. I routinely drive at or near 60mph, and we're getting approximately 48mpg in our 2005 Prius after 18 months. I can't imagine we'd get anywhere near that kind of mileage in any comparably-sized automatic car currently available in the US. (Part of the problem in our situation is the EPA estimate of 60mpg city, which in San Francisco is all but a cruel joke.) --keith -- (try just my userid to email me) AOLSFAQ=http://www.therockgarden.ca/aolsfaq.txt see X- headers for PGP signature information |
#14
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
"Beavis and Butt-Head" wrote in message ups.com... http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...home-headlines In this story the entire trend is a story about what a couple of individuals are doing. Not exactly a predictor of anything. |
#15
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
"SMS" wrote in message ... Calif Bill wrote: Actually what needs to be done is to find ways to encourage people to leave the SUV or mini-van at home, and use a smaller vehicle for commuting, and use the larger vehicle only when necessary. For people where the cost of gas is significant, the vehicle use will be self correcting. For higher income people, the cost of gas is not significant. The last thing we need is a bunch of idiot legislators writing simple minded behavior rules for a complex society. |
#16
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
Calif Bill wrote:
Screw the people who need a bigger vehicle for business, or a larger family or have to tow something. Buy a 40 mpg vehicle and you save on gas costs over a 20 mpg vehicle. That should be enough incentive. Actually what needs to be done is to find ways to encourage people to leave the SUV or mini-van at home, and use a smaller vehicle for commuting, and use the larger vehicle only when necessary. Unfortunately, besides the initial cost of the vehicle, there are the recurring costs of the extra insurance, extra licensing, etc., so unless you have a really long commute it never makes sense to buy the commute car. If not for being able to use the carpool lane with a hybrid, few people would be buying them, as financially and environmentally they make no sense. |
#17
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
Bob Gardner wrote:
I was bemused by the mention of hybrids in the president's speech....when you cut off the tax benefit after only 60,000 cars have been sold, you're not doing too much to help. The tax benefit should be based on the actual mpg, not whether or not the vehicle has some batteries in the power train. A Toyota Corolla driven at 65 mpg gets better highway mpg than a Prius driven at the same speed, without all the environmental issues. |
#18
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
On Mon, 29 Jan 2007 07:14:42 -0800, Scott en Aztlán
wrote: SMS said in misc.transport.urban-transit: Actually what needs to be done is to find ways to encourage people to leave the SUV or mini-van at home, and use a smaller vehicle for commuting, and use the larger vehicle only when necessary. Or, better still, use public transit for commuting, and *rent* the SUV when you actually need one. The major rental companies will not let you take even a 4x4 SUV off paved roads. So if that's what you want an SUV to do, you have a problem |
#19
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
Jack May wrote:
"SMS" wrote in message ... Calif Bill wrote: Actually what needs to be done is to find ways to encourage people to leave the SUV or mini-van at home, and use a smaller vehicle for commuting, and use the larger vehicle only when necessary. For people where the cost of gas is significant, the vehicle use will be self correcting. For higher income people, the cost of gas is not significant. Good thing at least *some* people recognize that public policy shouldn't be overly concerned with the desires of "higher income people." If gasoline goes up to $6/gallon, you can be assured that people will suddenly be concerned about it unless they're "higher income" to the point of being independently wealthy. The last thing we need is a bunch of idiot legislators writing simple minded behavior rules for a complex society. They already did that. That's how we ended up with so many highways in the first place. |
#20
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LA Times: U.S. Love Affair With The Car Ending
"Scott en Aztlán" wrote in message ... SMS said in misc.transport.urban-transit: Actually what needs to be done is to find ways to encourage people to leave the SUV or mini-van at home, and use a smaller vehicle for commuting, and use the larger vehicle only when necessary. Or, better still, use public transit for commuting, and *rent* the SUV when you actually need one. You have to live somewhere that actually *has* public transit to use it. |
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