The ever evil SUV and the new hybrids.

[DarkPhenyx]

http://www.madison.com/toolbox/index.php?action=printme&ref=captimes&storyURL=/captimes/opinion/column/guest/72232.php

Margaret Krome: Terror at home: SUVs

The next time someone tells a smirking joke about irrational behavior of blondes, adolescents or mothers-in-law, walk them gently out into any parking lot. Point to the sport utility vehicle of your choice, and ask them whatever made them think that adult Americans are rational.

The United States consumes more oil than any other nation, two-thirds of which goes to transportation. For every gallon of gas we consume, we also thrust 24 pounds of greenhouse gas pollutants into the air, not to mention incurring smog, toxic emissions and other additional environmental costs of the drilling, refining and transporting of that fuel.

So the usual socially responsible argument is that in the interests of our nation and the environment, consumers should buy cars that don't consume too much gas. At the least, I would have thought that a serious pocketbook issue would affect people's car purchasing decisions.

Hybrids aren't just for Tim Robbins

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/v-pfriendly/story/183302p-159055c.html

Instead, Detroit devoted all its energy to lobbying Congress not to raise the miles-per-gallon requirements that have been in place since 1975. And chicken-hearted Congress complied. Oh, last year it finally got the guts to ask for a measly 1.5-mpg increase in fuel efficiency for sport-utility vehicles. Then it gave the carmakers three whole years to make it happen. Gullible Congress believed Detroit when it said American innovation just couldn't wrest any big gains from the gas tank.

Except that if you hit the Auto Show, continuing at the Javits Convention Center this week, you'll see a gleaming, gorgeous, mid-size SUV of an innovation: The Ford Escape. It gets 38 miles to a gallon.

That's right. And before the show opened last week, this gas-electric hybrid was test-driven around New York City for 37 hours straight until it ran out of gas: 576 miles on a 15-gallon tank. That makes it 75% more efficient than the conventional V-6 Ford Escape.

[Bamboo]

1. Wacky paint color easy to identify on your bumper.

The popularity of hybrids will force carmakers to consider fuel efficency in their broader product line.SUVs have supersized to fit the middle aged spread,young people drive small,cheap cars now but who notices this generation gap."Youth cars" are not purchased by young people either,rich guys buy mortorcycles to look marginalized like the kids they employ at minimum wage.Keeping up appearances in an SUV while young people fight wars to fuel them should make them mad.Maybe automakers should produce a protest car like the hybrid but less expensive and darnright frightening to the SUV gentry.Microcars made in Europe and Japan have been called "purple people eaters" and "clown cars" and it would take youthful disregard of mortality to drive one.But youth die in the name of the car in Iraq so why not just cut out the middleman and let gramps run you down,at least he will also bleed in court.

[evworldeditor]

2. Two Jurassic-age dinosaurs corner a nimble,warm-blooded...

marsupial just moments before the a two-mile wide meteor smashes into what will someday be called the Gulf of Mexico. Guess who survives?

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