Posted on 06/22/2007 5:38:46 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Washington - Rolling over intense opposition from car manufacturers, the Senate on Thursday approved the first substantial increase in mileage requirements for passenger cars in more than two decades.
The measure was part of a larger energy bill passed late Thursday by a vote of 65-27. The bill is expected to be taken up by the House next week.
The mileage measure was a major defeat for Detroit's Big Three automakers. If it becomes law, the provision would increase the combined average mileage of new cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, up from about 25 mpg today.
The move to boost fuel economy standards is being watched warily in Janesville, home to a General Motors plant that turns out full-size, low-miles-per-gallon SUVs.
"It's kind of scary because you just don't know where it's really going to end up," said GM employee Rick Banach, 46, who took a job in Janesville after working more than 25 years at the Delphi Corp. plant in Oak Creek, which is expected to close as a result of Delphi's bankruptcy.
"I know right now there's a lot of emphasis on green . . . but I don't know if tagging the domestic automakers with this type of legislation is the answer to it," Banach said.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
The VW’s will make more than 35MPG — 45MPG on the open road is what VW TDI owners see today.
You’re right they won’t make the current EPA regs, but VW is coming out with a 50-state diesel in 2008/2009 that will meet EPA standards.
It allows the government to adjust the fuel economy target based on cost-benefit analysis.
It does mean that the White House is going to need to be controlled by reasonable people, though.
I think that everybody who wants to can drive around in turbo or otherwise small cars, I choose to drive bigger heavier more crash worthy cars. On the way home tonight a car jumped the median right in front of me, and ran headon into another unsuspecting driver. You just never know, the more mass you have, the better the design, the safer you are in the event of an accident.
I have nothing against small cars, but I do have a lot to say about not being given a choice, at a reasonable price.
My car gets 20 MPG in the city 28 on the highway and weighs about 4,000 pounds with no passengers. I just filled it’s near empty 20 gallon tank today for $50 dollars.
Small diesels are very popular in Europe, about 60% I think drive high mileage diesels because the taxes on fuel are so high. The US is different from Europe on many counts. We drive further, and many tend to carry a load when going to work. Why not small diesels here, simple, the emissions laws won’t permit them, although some manufacturers are saying they will have the small CRD diesels available soon.
Around my neck of the woods construction is the big job creator and pickups rule the roost. I do some rebuilding myself and have a 20 year old 1 Ton Diesel Ford F350 for hauling, and I do mean hauling. I throw everything in the back from 3,000 pounds of landscape rock, beams, plywood, refrigerators everything that fits. It is tow rated for 11,000 pounds with a GVW of 10,000. Pulling trees out of the yard is also one of the many uses the wife has found for it. When I need it to work, it works hard. My truck works like a farmer’s horse.
The government wants to control your freedom, your access to transportation and movement whenever and wherever you want to go. That is the real motive for passing an energy bill with no provisions for new exploration, drilling or more refining capacity. It’s what Liberals do, control people with their whacky schemes which always seem to blow up in their faces. Bird Cuisinarts instead of nuclear power plants, how much sense does that make.
> Even those VW diesels wont make 35mpg combined
> on the new EPA test.
Which means the EPA test has flipped from optimistic
incorrect to pessimistic incorrect.
Our “45mpg” TDI actually gets 38 in all-around driving,
which includes a lot of 70mph running.
But hey, there’s a solution for the Dems there:
just instruct the EPA to refine what MPG means.
Imaginary solutions to metaphorical problems.
No solutions for real problems .. indeed the
Dems excel at exacerbating real problems.
Will it tow a 6000# trailer without falling apart?
And...in companion legislation, the Senate has just approved a redefinition of the mile. In 2020 the standard US mile will be reduced by 30% to 3700 feet.
Bingo. And evidently none of these senators has ever lived in a state where you actually get winter, where during a storm you need all the weight and traction (read: 4WD) you can get. This vote is going to kill human beings. Bet on it.
They were off quite a bit on hybrids, though, significantly overestimating their fuel economy, and slightly underestimated diesels.
Now, they're way off on just about everything.
Now let’s pass a law that Pi = 3, and another that prohibits more than 2 significant digits after the decimal point. Who needs any more than that, after all?
Get 50 mpg — in your own car
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/Get50MpgInYourOwnCar.aspx?page=1
Sorry, Rick. I know exactly where this is going to end up.
Almost all of these things have already been introduced in various state legislatures
Where it WON'T wind up is drilling more holes in the ground to discover and exploit our God-given natural resources.
There is no way they are going to make full sized pickups that will get 35mpg.
President Bush should veto this stupidity.
I still maintain this will work out with lots of unintended consequences, if only due to the myriad of safety features inherent to a modern car. If it were simply a matter of getting to point B from point A, say a few miles everyday, then a golf cart would be fairly perfect. Except, after the mandated lights, flashers, signals, bumpers, mirrors (Objects are closer in mirror than they appear) speedometer, exotic batteries made of unobtanium, etc. etc.. Locally we had some public service radio announcements noting that a new Honda of some kind was not street-legal and could not be registered, apparently that has become an issue somewhere.
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