[BwanaNdege]

Unless they add an outright ban on older vehicles, expect US highways to look like Cuba; most people driving antique vehicles! We won't want give up our useful vehicles. (full disclosure: I drive a Honda CR-V and a Subaru Outback. Fairly economical, but only 24-27 mpg. We MUST have AWD.)

35 mpg CAFE will require lighter weight, less frontal area and/or slower speeds. Into this mix put increasingly tighter crash standards and traditional expectations of passenger room and baggage space.

BMW is working on an add-on steam engine to use waste heat energy going out the exhaust. Since more energy goes out the exhaust than into the transmission, this will be a great help, but will cost $$$.

‘Taint no free lunch, especially in physics!

[kylaka]

Democrats have the ability to defy the physical laws of the universe. All they have to do is snap their fingers. Ask one to show you sometime. Teddy Kennedy has been doing it his entire life (except for that gravity thing over the bridge in Chappaquiddick... his fingers got wet.)

[niteowl77]

(full disclosure: I drive a Honda CR-V and a Subaru Outback. Fairly economical, but only 24-27 mpg. We MUST have AWD.)

We have a similar situation, both of our AWD vehicles getting MAYBE 30 mpg on a flat, straight stretch of highway. We have gotten to the point where we prefer smaller cars, and if there was an AWD Yaris or Fit, we'd probably invest in one (my "wish" car would be an AWD Mini with a diesel engine.. that's how geeky I am).

But not everyone wants a Corolla-or-smaller vehicle, and I am repelled by the over-arching arrogance displayed by this gaggle of socialists who would collectively be hard pressed to change a set of spark plugs, let alone chart a revolution in automobile engineering.

Mr. niteowl77