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 ...
LOL! Love your tagline, too. See mine. :)
Good article. I do pretty well for a non-hybrid driver. I use very little gas because I work 10 minutes from home, as well as work at home the other two days of the week. I do all errands on ONE day a week. If we don’t have it on hand, we live without it ‘til the next Errand Day. No silly side-trips to The Mall for anything. I keep my oil and filters clean and my tire pressure where it should be.
I have a four-door Nissan Maxima that’s 13 years old now. used when I bought it. It was a Doctor’s “middle of the night emergency car” and only had 14K on it then. She still gets between 30-35 MPG depending on where I’m driving; most of my driving is country roads, but mileage goes up when we hit the Interstate. ;)
I tank up twice a month and that’s it.
Do I do it to ‘save the planet’ or make the EnviroWackos happy? Nope. I do it because I’m CHEAP, LOL!
“Where it WON’T wind up is drilling more holes in the ground to discover and exploit our God-given natural resources.”
I lived through the Energy Crisis in the mid-70’s, thanks to Carter.
Excellent points, but you forgot to add the most important advice of all time from any President, Living or Dead, “Turn down your thermostat and put on a sweater.” *ROLLEYES*
GM and Ford now sell hybrid models, however, neither company makes a one that meets the forthcoming standard.
“I do all errands on ONE day a week. If we dont have it on hand, we live without it til the next Errand Day.”
You are a smart cookie.
I started looking at my driving patterns and realized that I could EASILY cut my mileage by 30-45%.
All it takes is a little planning.
The days of going whenever the notion strikes us are coming to an end.
The EPA changed the test for 2008. They have not retested old models but will estimate the reduction using an undisclosed formula. The 2004 Jetta TDI auto wagon was 32/43. Under the new test they estimate 28/39 for an average of 32.
If Mr Rick Branch has any fears, he should realize he has no one to blame but himself.
He should realize that the Democrats could never have taken power in Congress and passed this bill, if his union had not devoted unrelenting time and money.
> Ever had to pay for a turbo repair?
Nope. On the van ...
The rings wore out before the turbo did,
and I put in a whole new factory rebuilt
engine at around 160k miles. Still going
at 250K, and no turbo trouble.
Chrysler may have discontinued the turbo
because people were burning them up towing.
They weren’t rated for high duty cycles.
The VW seems to be stouter in that regard.
Put those sheeples in little bitty cars, while we drive our limos!
My old Silverado has 197,000 miles and a newly installed engine. I wont be saying goodbye for a while.
I assume that because they screwed up the last cafe by excluding small trucks,they learned their lesson this time and included them.
Its going to be tough seeing horse trailers hitched to Mini-Coopers. Fishing boats with 250 hp engines being pulled by cars with 15 hp Briggs and Stratton engines.Look for a lot of motorcycle sidecars being sold. The new cars will be no safer than motorcycles after they finish up with them.
Ah, OK. Sorry, I haven’t kept up with the busybodies, I see.
The stupid thing about this is that if one goes to the EPA site (fueleconomy.gov) and noodles around, one sees that the MPG figures submitted by vehicle owners are most often higher than what the EPA is quoting, esp. on diesel vehicles.
Proving that government employees are morons, because the average joe on the street, whom the EPA claims to be simulating, is getting higher mileage than the old system and the new system, ergo, bureaucrats are dumber than the average citizen.
But we already knew that.
The consideration of air conditioning in the MPG figures will likely lead to new AC technologies. It does take a fair bit of energy to run the AC compressor. This could be done away with by using a Seeback/Peltier thermo-electric cooling setup, and scavenging exhaust heat to power it. Wha-la, no more compressor, only a fan.
I think you can still get the 300 CID I-6 as an industrial engine.
IMO, it was one of the best engines Ford ever made. As long as a guy treated it right, it would run foooooreveer.
I’ve seen a bunch of them powering irrigation pumps, converted to propane. Ford used to put them in the F-250/350 back when they built pickups for work instead of soccer moms.
Precisely. One of the many opt-outs on this new standard is full exemption from CAFE for makes w/ under 60,000 annual unit sales. Hell, Lincoln sold only 61,000 cars last year!
Man... And, I was only joking! As to the rest of your fine post... Are you suggesting that we are being manipulated, or otherwise, "jacked around" by our own government? We have a government of the people, by the people and for the people! LOL
(Yes, LOL. Because you either have to laugh or cry, and I'm all out of tears.)
Ah...Mrs. NHD would agree with your tagline! As for mine, I turned it into a bumber sticker for earth day.
“The days of going whenever the notion strikes us are coming to an end.”
I’m torn on this. I mean this IS America and we FREE and LEGAL Citizen Taxpayers should be able to roam at will if we have the means to do so; however, since I’ve lived a frugal life, I DO get a chuckle out of the Libtards that feel the need to control the movements of all of us (unless you’re an Illegal sneaking INTO America, then anything goes) through umpteen levels of retarded legislation.
But what REALLY irks me is that we “’Conserve’-atives” continually roll over and play dead when confronted with the implementation of each progressive level of their agenda!
We are frogs in a pot being slowly boiled alive. Grrrr!
I'd like a 'Tucker' myself, but there were only 51 of those produced, so that's not going to happen, LOL!
They DO seem to get everything @ss-backwards, don’t they? ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.