Doug Kanter wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
"Exactly. That's why the government needs to increase CAFE mileage
standards and other measures, such increasing the gasoline tax. But
they
lack the political cojones to do so.

Without intervention, we'll blissfully keep driving our ridiculous
SUV's. Using the marketplace for public policy ain't gonna work. "

Yeah, great idea. Increase taxes and give the govt more of our hard
earned money to waste. Remember Jimmy Carter pouring billions into
recovering oil from shale? How much was ever produced? Not one
drop! The free market is working perfectly fine. Sales of SUV's are
already way down.

What we should be doing is exploring for more oil in any reasonable
place. And that includes ANWR, which should have been done a long
time ago, if it were not for the environmental whackos.


Assume I'm right about the first paragraph below, for the sake of
arguement, and because I really *am* right about it:

The vast majority of SUV owners have absolutely no need for the
mechanical design features of those cars. No towing, no off-road, and
as any cop, tow truck driver or keen observer of drivers in the snow
belt will tell you, 4WD is of no advantage to most drivers, and may
actually be a hindrance. The only possible advantage to SUVs (and I
won't touch this debate) is that they may be safer in collisions.

With me so far?

Nope, the main reason they buy SUVs is because they FEEL safer.

The reality is that they are actually LESS safe.

Now, here's a way for the government to get involved only slightly,
and the car makers to make MORE money on SUVs. The government should find an
incentive (bludgeoning, in other words) to get the car makers to offer the
same SUVs, but with power trains which more closely approach "normal". "Not
like a truck", in other words. The power
train design is the PRIMARY reason these vehicles get such bad mileage.

Wrong. The real reason is the lousy power to weight ratio.

Give customers the same physical, boxy shape they want, same choice of motors,
but with front wheel drive.

You dont get the effect you are claiming with conventional
cars, with front wheel drive being a lot more fuel efficient
than with the conventional drive train systems.

The car makers can reduce the price a little, but probably make more, since
most customers have no real idea how much cheaper it is to make a 2wd vehicle.

Retail prices for cars has very little to do with the cost of manufacture.

And, offer 4wd versions for people who explicitly ask for them. I don't think
many will.

Sure, but you wont get any real improvement in fuel efficiency your way.

The only thing that will do anything much about the consumers
choose fuel efficient cars is to let the price of fuel increase until the
cost of the fuel has a real impact on consumer's car buying decisions.

That will also help with the other aspect of fuel use, how many
miles you choose to travel in a particular car per year etc.