Posted on 08/12/2002 8:16:08 AM PDT by dubyagee
No gas hogs in LaLa Land
ROWLAND NETHAWAY Senior editor
Californians are strutting about congratulating themselves for their new state law requiring higher automobile fuel efficiency.
They believe that California's new state law will force car manufacturers to stop producing gas-guzzling vehicles responsible for global warming.
The logic behind the new law requiring greater fuel efficiency from car manufacturers is a faith-based belief that the automobile industry is involved in a giant conspiracy to deny the public fuel-efficient cars.
Ford, General Motors and the other car manufacturers, according to these anti-big business addicts, have the secret to 300-miles-per-gallon internal combustion engines locked away in a safe somewhere. The car industries make immoral profits by keeping this information from the public.
These urban-myth conspiracy theories have been around since the invention of automobiles.
Since I was a boy I've heard stories about the invention of new spark plugs, carburetors or fuel additives that could allow cars to run for hundreds of miles on a gallon of gas.
Generally, the stories included specific details about how the inventors of these miracles had been paid off and threatened to keep their mouths shut, if not simply murdered. Their supposed inventions were guarded more closely than the Coca-Cola recipe.
Same conspiracies, different era
Fifty years ago, these fanciful tales were voiced by run-of-the-mill drug store and pool hall conspiracy buffs.
In recent years, it has been the greenies, environmental groups, anti-globalists and Californians who think that government laws can force General Motors et al to finally release these secret fuel-efficient technologies.
It was cockamamie nonsense in 1952 and it remains just as harebrained today.
Car manufacturers wouldn't have to offer zero percent interest rates to sell cars if they could build cars with the size and power that buyers want and also get hundreds of miles per gallon.
Every car, SUV and truck owner in the nation would line up to buy such a vehicle.
The oil industry might not be pleased with 300-miles-per-gallon cars and trucks, but, hey, that's the breaks. There will always be uses for oil.
Since no knowledgeable person expects revolutionary efficiency breakthroughs on the venerable internal combustion engine, about the only way to increase fuel efficiency is to decrease safety by making cars and trucks smaller and lighter.
Anti-SUV acolytes may want to see everyone in scooter cars and public buses, but that's a hard sell to motorists who don't feel better about themselves driving around in lightweight, cramped, underpowered vehicles.
The last I heard, the car manufacturers said they would contest the new California fuel-efficiency law.
I suggest that the automobile industry simply ignore the California law.
Californians think their state law will force the car industry worldwide to build cars to California's standards.
Instead, car manufacturers should notify all the car dealers in California that they will be out of business on the day the state's new fuel efficiency standards go into effect.
If Californians want to own a new car, they will have to move to another state.
After a while, California would look like Havana, Cuba, where the cars are caught in a 1950s time warp.
Californians want the rest of the nation to pay to subsidize their lifestyles, which includes a gluttonous appetite for oil, electricity and water taken from other states.
There will be a lot less self-righteous strutting in LaLa Land if the auto industry simply ignores California's new fuel-efficiency law.
Rowland Nethaway's columns appear on Wednesdays and Fridays. E-mail: RNethaway@wacotrib.com
Force is commonly measured in foot-pounds per second; 60 MPH is about 88FPS and 9000 turns into 19,360 just for the brick.
Had the author used 40 MPH (roughly 60 FPS) his math table would be logical but the rest of the article and the rest of the math, especially that which compared speeds based on mass would still be wrong.
Some people can't be trusted with a spreadsheet; GIGO.
Let's hope it requires 50mpg and goes into effect immediately.
Dag-nabbit! Are they on the endangered list now, too...I so like a few thrown into my spotted owl soup! 8 * )
Thanks for checking; I didn't. I assumed that the higher mass of the vehicle would result in a greater force-on-impact for an equivalent speed compared to a lighter vehicle (it should, of course), so I took it for granted that the author had done the math correctly. I'm not going to do the analysis myself, but it would be interesting to see accurate numbers on this.
A little "communal" living would be good for us eh?
Not everyone is as fortunate as you are and able to own four cars; one for each requirement.
Why? It should be good sport to pass them on the winding roads with your Z!
The 1100s too much for you huh? I get 14 miles to the gallon (not an SUV) and I like it. Matter of fact, I'm one of those sick gearheads that likes the smell of gas as well. I don't sniff gas on purpose, but the smell of gas fumes at the track is one of a kind
Really? The numbers I've seen shows the Neon R/T does 0-60 in 7.6 seconds, and the quarter mile in 15.8!! I might could bicycle it faster than that. Whatever anyone does, for God's sake, don't pull out in front of anybody in one of these things. And it's a 150 HP. I had to look to make sure this wasn't one of those three cylinder washing machine engines Ford stuck in their ever popular Festivas a decade ago
Haven't read many of Medved's posts, have you.
The ordinary Neon with 130 - 132 horses is quicker than most vehicles on the road and they're geared tall for high-speed cruising rather than for quarter mile times. That's what makes for the good gas mileage at highway speeds. If you want more power they make one with 215 horses for under $20K.
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