I am a Nitromethane junkie. I love drag racing, horsepower, burning rubber, thunderous exhaust pipes and fire. I prefer sports cars and trucks over the diminutive hybrid. With that said, I confess that my ego has no defense against the truth of math. Here's the "rest" of the story.
My wife and I went car shopping last night. I despise car shopping. No, I LOATHE it entirely! I'd rather jam a screwdriver up my nose than to endure the sales pitch of a car dealer. My love for my wife superseded my opinion so I went along for the ride. We had already narrowed our search down to a hatchback with good fuel economy. I prefer Toyota's or Honda's. I've had good experience with them. So, the list narrowed quickly down to the Toyota Matrix or Toyota Prius. I immediately ruled out the Prius. I can't be seen driving one of those things. The automotive designers in Japan did marvelous things with the technology and fuel economy but they failed to add any Testosterone to the design at all. Even the paint schemes are lacking. Powder blue, Lunar Mist, Gold, Beige? Really? Come on, throw me a bone here. I'm barely able to sit in a mini-van much less a powder blue Prius. I "need" my 1964 Chevy with the Buick 455 that makes 400hp and 510ft/lbs of torque breathing through 3" exhaust and shredding tires for a city block.
After our test drive of a Matrix, my wife saw a Prius. "May Day, May Day...We're going down...We're going down!!!". I tried to tactfully express to her the fact that there was no way in Hades that she was getting me in THAT car! The salesman found my banter quite entertaining. I was like a cat getting pushed into a bucket of water..... Well, after a couple of miles into the test drive, my darling wife looks at me with a smile and says "You need to drive it honey". My expression was that of Archie Bunker looking at Edith with arms crossed. The voice of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham's dummy "Walter" was ringing through my head. I remembered the dearest love I have for this woman and acquiesced. I became a kid in a candy store. Push button ignition, joystick shifter, touch screen with fuel consumption data, regenerative braking, touch screen audio, touch screen climate control. It accelerated as fast as the Matrix, road smoother than the Matrix and has as much room as the Matrix. It, I must admit, performed everything as well or better. All while getting 20+MPG better. The engine turning itself on and off is strange though. So is the constant velocity gearing. However, the technology packed into this thing is really cool! Being the gizmo geek that I am, it grew on me quickly. Just as long as I stay inside the car and not pay attention to the other people on the road looking at me, I think I'll be OK.
The math was staggering. I put a lot of miles on a vehicle. Between my daily commute and weekends back home, I log anywhere from 2,500 to 2,800 miles per month. At today's gas rates of $3.50 per gallon, I will save around $175 per month in gas cost over the Matrix. If, as some experts say, gas hits $5 this summer, the savings will be over $275 per month. Hmmmmm....my ego has no defense for this. If all of America were to gravitate towards a car that gets 45mpg, then the 200 million passenger cars on the road would pocket a gas savings of $180BILLION per year!
I am a political, religious and social conservative. However, I veer away from my constituency in my environmental conservationism. I'm not going to go out to UC Berkley and hug trees, start wearing Birkenstock sandals or protest the use of deodorant. However, I do believe, as I interpret bible scripture, that we should be good stewards with the blessings God gives us. Having dominion over the earth does not mean we have the right to environmentally rape it. A soccer mom in a Chevy Suburban driving to school to drop off their one child and then driving to a PTA meeting is a poor example of good environmental stewardship. The purpose of a Suburban is to transport a bunch of stuff and a handful of people. Not a 6yr old with a lunch box. If we want the government not to mandate regulations forcing us into this, we had better all take a better look at how wasteful we are and do something about it out of good principle. Oil is not like solar energy, its not going to be around forever despite what conspiracy theorists believe. The free market of this country will gravitate naturally towards the demand. If we buy more fuel efficient vehicles, car-makers will cease production of gas-guzzlers. If we plug our cars into the grid at night, the electrical companies will expand the grid due to demand. Clean nuclear power will be back on the table for discussion instead of coal, oil, gas or hydroelectric if demand increases. This would not require an act of Congress or the state of California to demand it. The only reason the rail system in the United States is a century behind Europe is that we turned a blind eye and demand our [invisible] independence. If more people demanded it, I could be taking a train between work and home instead of sitting on I-65 during rush hour.
So, do you want to just save that money or would you rather the government institute a "consumption tax" that takes it out of your pocket and into the abyss of the system in the name of saving the environment? For example; owning a V8 engine in Germany will cost you over $1,500 per year just in consumption tax over and above the other annual taxes you pay. Want to reverset the trend toward socialism? Take the steps ourselves and eliminate the [middle-man] government. We don't need a talking head like Michael Moore to flame our system. We just need to use it correctly. Let's all reduce/reuse/recycle, drive more efficient cars and be better stewards of what God has given us. Even if we have to modify our ego, swallow it down and take deep breath first.
