"ameijers" wrote in
:


"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
(snip)

Well, based on the fact that people are dumping SUVs left and right,
I'd
say
the manufacturers have done absolutely NO research into what people
want. Don't you think they could use a kick in the ass? Maybe not
legislation,
but
threats of same. And, brief tax breaks if they agree to get their
heads
out
of their asses.

Apologies for prolonging this greasy spot of a thread, but I just had
to jump in here. The reason the 'new' wanna-be SUVs are popular, and
the real SUVs are becoming less popular, aside from the obvious gas
mileage questions, are that the baby car-like SUVs are more like what
people really want, Station Wagons. If that damn CAFE law hadn't
basically outlawed traditional wagons (RWD, v8, capable of pulling at
least a small trailer, hold 6 plus luggage, at prices normal people
can afford),


IMO,CAFE did not "effectively outlaw" those vehicles,the domestic
automakers chose to not develop newmodels with better gas mileage.
They wanted to keep making the old lines they made since the '50's.
I note that foreign carmakers managed to do it.

I really think the body-on-frame SUVs never would have
become so popular. Wagons fit what people really do with cars, have a
bigger interior cube than all but full-size SUVs, handle better, get
better MPG, etc. Minvans, the supposed replacement for wagons, are a
poor substitute in the handling and towing categories,

which FEW ordinary people ever use.
A rental would suffice for the occasional towing tasks.Just like people
rent a U-Haul when they need one,they don't go out and buy a Big Truck
because they need one once a year.

and only work
as well as haulers if you yank out the seats, or are rich enough to
get one with those complicated folding seats.

Sometimes the best thing the government can do is just get the hell
out of the way. The law of unintended consequences applies to almost
everything they do, no matter how well intentioned. If free-market gas
is $2.50 a gallon, the free market will bring forth the high-efficency
engines, non-behemoth sizes, etc.

aem sends...



I see nothing wrong with government adjusting gas taxes and regulating the
amount of foreign oil imported into the US;that is one of their tasks
permitted in the Constitution(regulating foreign trade).
Then people make their own choices as to fuel-efficient vehicles.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net