(Hey there list...long time lurker, first time poster) quote-
> The key here is that people love > their suv's and don't care about the mpg's or the $ > they spend. That is why the little jap and Korean > cars are getting heftier and have worse mileage than > they did when they entered the American market. > It's > us the consumer, they are just providing the buying > public with what it is they want. I totally agree with Steve here...All they're doing is pandering to the childish and wanton desires of the car buying public, whatever they may be at the time...(It wasn't that long ago that we were all totin' around in Toyota Corollas and Ford Taruses that could barely make it up a hill, but they got really nice fuel economy though...Oh yes, the Go Go 90s...Now a Toyota Corolla is a quick little car, with a fully loaded V6 it will run on high-octane Premium Gas only...just go to the Oy Toyota website...lol!) I just love generic car rants like this one, by the way...:D And ya know I've observed something, too...There seems to be a pattern in the tastes' of the American car buying public over the decades, one that waxes and wanes...It seems roughly every 20 years the desire seems to shift from smaller, sleeker and more efficient to bigger, better and more powerful...The 1920s for instance was probably America's first true "muscle car" war...Longer, studier chasises and wheelbases and more MPH and horsepower were certainly all the rage back then, especially in the sales literature (some of the Lincolns and Deusenbergs of the era boasted wheelbase lengths of some 140 - 160 inches, I believe)... 20 years later was The War, so obviously bigger and more powerful wasn't quite as popular at the time (our steel and other supplies were taxed, and the auto makes weren't even in production then)...It seemed as if for a time the "bigger, better more powerful" fetish had died, giving way to a new kind of communal support for our soldiers...People didn't do a whole lot of driving in their cars in those days, and those that did often drove old used ones... Then another 20 years later was the 60s...Gas was cheap and the size, curb weights and hp ratings were at their highest...Again, 20 years later cars were smaller, sleeker and more aerodynamic (Carter and Reagan) and the last thing most Americans wanted or could afford then was a 2 1/2 ton assault tank with 8 cylinders (alla 81 Yawnda Civic or diesel V-lkswagon Rabbit)... Now 20 years later at the turn of this new century, Americans tastes' have once again shifted to bigger, better and more power (the Cadillac EscaPade, for instance weighs roughly 5000 pounds and makes a whopping 375 hp...Whopping by 90s standards)...It appears as if there is something of a reneissance happening in the American car industry today...Given, those road turtles and sailboats you see today aren't nearly as beautiful or well engineered as our chrome plated steel bodied coupes sedans and wagons, but their performance is definately competitive as well as their dimensions (not just the truck/van/SUV fad, even passenger cars are getting quicker and bulkier, too as Steve pointed out)...I don't like the cars and trucks of today...Their stodginess and sameism does not appeal to me, though I will say this: We've come a long way from the econoboxes of the 80s and 90s... So I guess it's just a pattern...a cycle...sortof like the presidential assasination attempts, the so-called "Killing Of The King" phenomenon that also seems to strike every 20-30 years... I guess when Americans finally decide to grow up and make up their minds and choose if they want to drive a Panzer or a shopping cart, perhaps then the avg. auto will squeeze 100-200 miles out of a gallon of gas...but for now and for the last 80 years of car history, that doesn't look like something that will EVER happen...People are simply too fickle... =Yochanan 84 Olds Custom Cruiser 311 68 Chrysl3r Town & Country 440 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Low, Low, Low Rates! Check out Yahoo! Messenger's cheap PC-to-Phone call rates (http://voice.yahoo.com)
