Engine improvements in efficiency going to produce high powered SUVs

 From todays cnn
http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/carreviews/03/29/performance_everything/index.html

"That is because technological gains in fuel efficiency, instead of
being used for better mileage -- something that American car buyers seem
to actually care little about -- were used for increased size and speed."

How sad when we should be buying time by reducing oil use so that we
might be able to find some alternative to gas and oil for energy. Since
global warming does seem to be happening mankind should be cutting down
on CO2 (and other pollutants) production not increasing it! Our cottage
is 100 miles east of Toronto and for the first time, last summer we
started to get pollution alerts for people with lung problems and I
could feel my asthma worse on those days. Something seems insane, why
does anyone need a high powered Hummer? Sure a hummer or a unimog would
have been much better than the jeep we had in Africa years ago but how
many people get stuck on the main roads between cities of America north
of the RioGrande, with all four wheels throwing mud. In Toronto?

Our 86 Volvo is on its last months of life and we bought a new Toyoto
this week. It has more power and significantly better mileage. The
salesman kept pushing me to try the 6 cyl version but the four is more
than adequate. One despairs of seeing change even with gas in the
dollar a litre range. Maybe if governments doubled the price by
increasing tax, people would start to get the message.

Dave Wallace
Received on Sun Apr 2 12:22:19 2006