http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/rising-gas-pric.html

There were predictions of the vehicle trend peaking in 2010 or so. Reality is over the course of a few months!

I don't have a link handy, but there are rumors of the HUMMER brand also suffering from high fuel prices and by being linked to this bastard of a situation we have in Iraq.

(can't really call it a war, clusterfuck tends to piss off some people, it's a bit more or maybe a bit less than an occupation, so it's just a situation now, I guess.)

I'm kind of hoping the trend toward fat ass cars goes with the SUV bit. The last few model years are just gross and ugly.

While on a car rant, who is the clown that is designing LED rear end lights that flicker instead of always on?

I've noted that shifting vision from one part of the road, to another leaves between 10 and 30 images, each sharp and clear, of those flickering LED lights! Always on ones tend to leave a line instead.

The difference seems to be how our brains process this stuff. The line fades quickly, and does not seem to obstruct the perception of other things.

The flickering images are seen as distinct things, and that makes for a bad scene when driving at night, in rain, etc...

Anyway, it's related. Many of the fat ass cars also have the annoying LED systems too.

Ugh.

"The last few model years are just gross and ugly."

Oh yeah.

re: Flicker

I understand that its an experiement being conducted by the automakers and some gov't agency.

My Durango is running strong! Filled it the other day for $88.50 and it's down to quarter tank in 4 days! 11MPG!!!!
Drove my 69' Mustang Sunday with the 427 Cobra Jet and got a whopping 6MPG!
Good thing I have my 2002 Honda Civic and Harley Soft Tail to bring my MPG's up to the rest of you tree huggin' hippies. LOL!
Keep buying that gas people! Your helping me pay for both my daughter's college.......

1969 Mustang!!!!!!!!!

427!!!!!!!!!!

Best year ever for the Mustang. I had a 1969 Sport Roof in High School. Only had the 302 in it but it was built! Borg Warner T-10 tranny and 3.90 Posi in the rear!

Hey Trixter, didn't they use the 428's in the 69? I thought they only used the 427 in the AC Cobra's.

Before addressing the subject of this post, I need to mention that this weekend, I heard a news story that the minivan is facing a similar demise.

I believe that what is happening in the auto market is driven (pardon the pun) mainly by customer psychology, rather than by customers doing any kind of rational cost analysis.

On the one hand, I remember that in the mid 1990s, when SUVs became trendy, prices skyrocketed, and manufacturers started adding comfort and luxury features to them. Before that, Broncos, Suburbans, and even Jimmys were more affordable vehicles that one would take camping or hunting because they could haul a lot of stuff and people, and they were designed to handle unpaved road surfaces better than vans or minivans could. Although these things do waste gas, I haven't seen somebody perform an analysis of fuel usage over the vehicle's lifetime, compared to its cost. I would be inclined to think that the contemporary SUV owner got ripped off when he bought the vehicle, before he started having to pay $3 and $4 for gas.

On the other hand are the people who buy hybrid cars, either because they think that the hybrid will save money or because they want to feel that they are helping preserve the environment. My brother (who spends a good deal of time reading about auto industry trends) and I once had an interesting discussion about this. I was told that if a cost analysis of the vehicle and fuel price for a hybrid car (like a Prius or Insight) were done versus a non-hybrid vehicle of comparable size (like a Civic or a Focus), the hybrid's fuel savings would not end up saving money in the long run. The hybrid shines as a low emissions vehicle when it is driven in city rush-hour environments, where it uses the electric motor to avoid idling the engine while stopped, but not on the highway. Anecdotally, my dad wanted to buy a hybrid, but my brother tried to talk him out of it, as the hybrid would end up being driven mainly for long stretches on country roads, where the fuel savings and pollution savings would not be very large.

Regarding the LED tail lights, it appears that they are dimming them by cutting the duty cycle, and this is partly responsible for the flickering. I think that the flickering does make them stand out a little bit more than if they burned steadily, but I am a bit concerned that this flickering might trigger a seizure in an epileptic person. About a year ago, I built some LED tail light inserts for my car, but I performed the dimming function with resistors and diodes. I figured that there was no point in going to the trouble of building a PWM circuit and introducing the risk of generating radio frequency interference.

I'd like to see a return of the large station wagon. Ironically, these vehicles faded because of increased fuel-efficiency and pollution standards needed on passenger cars. So, people moved to vans and SUVs, which weren't held to the same standard as cars, and in fact get even WORSE mileage than a station wagon. But with hybrid technology, and even regular more efficient, higher-powered gas engines, I bet they could make wagons powerful and efficient. They sit low to the ground so they would get better mileage than vans and SUVs with giant tires.

Forest Green with Fake Wood Panels. The Family Truckster complete with leash and collar attached to the back bumper.

with leash and collar attached to the back bumper.

Yeah. For the cat! (Please refer to the "What's in Your Chinese Food" thread!)

We bought our mini van new 12 years ago. It has 160,000 miles. Highway I'm probably getting 18mpg, city much less, not sure really.

It's been a good family van as our kids have gotten bigger. Nice van to haul my mobile DJ equipment and now my keyboard and amp to other gigs. Still rides really nice with those Les Schwab tires and brakes.

It's just now beginning to show it's age. We have put some extra money into in the past year. We started talking hybrid about 2 years ago long before gas prices were out of sight. My sister has owned two Prius's and I really liked how they felt when I got to drive them.

However we are looking at electric cars. (http://www.eco-motion.com/) Which I think is a far better value than hybrids because of virtually no maintenance. But we are waiting for the right one. Preferably one that can go highway speeds. The Zap Xebra PK is basically a glorified golf cart and very uncomfortable for a guy my size (6-2). But the 2008 Miles Zx40S-AD for under $20,000 is worth looking into. But we are being patient.

We know if we tried a trade in our van would get very little so we would probably donate it and get the tax write-off. But right now I don't want to sacrifice the space my van has only to upgrade to an electric car.

Use the van for gigs and long distance driving, the electric for all other driving.

"...poor little guy, probably kept up for a mile or two..."