Current Trend: Hybrid cars give owners a charge

registerguard.com ^ | 6 December 2003 | by Scott Maben

[bicycle thug]

This is a city where SUV burning was first made a fad by ELFers and some people simply will not talk to SUV owners unless it is to scream or throw things at them.

It works like this; got to the conservative Bethel district or North Eugene, and SUVs exist in abundance. Go the the free wheeling Whiteaker district or South Eugene where Clinton won both his POTUS elections by around five votes to one, and these l'il critters abound.

Sometimes buying an SUV here breaks up friendships and alienates neighbors. Sometimes these hybrids are bought merely to keep social standing in the large liberal and green community.

If any of these companies offered a tye dye color sceme for the interior and designer Grateful Dead stickers for the exterior, it would show up here.

Tye dye is Eugene's official urban not so camoflage.

[bourbon]

Sometimes buying an SUV here breaks up friendships and alienates neighbors.

Is this true where you live too?

[volchef]

My problem with these people is that there is only 1 SUV in the top 10 best selling cars and trucks in America.....the Ford Explorer which is #7. The top three selling vehicles in America are the Ford F150, the Chevy Silverado pickup and the Dodge Ram pickup in that order.

If these people really wanted to attack low gas mileage vehicles they'd go after the pick up owners but no, they attack SUV lovers because they know they are mostly driven by women who are sensitive to this global warming garbage. It's all a lie perpetuated to tug on the heart strings of SUV driving women. Well, I hate to tell them, but I just bought a new extended Chevy Trailblazer and my mother just bought a Hummer. Eat your heart out environazis.

[doug from upland]

This is great technology. I have driven many of the alternative fuel vehicles, and my brother, editor and publisher of GREEN CAR JOURNAL, has probably driven almost all of them.

My brother predicted several years ago that plug in electric cars would not make it. We would go the hybrids and eventually to hydrogen fuel cells.

[Petronski]

Rhetorical question:

What is the environmental impact of the manufacture, operation and disposal of the batteries used in these cars?

[demlosers]

My next vehicle will be a nice and big SUV.

Go suck an egg you wackos!

[volchef]

May I recommend the Hummer?? I absolutely love my moms and if I had 60 grand to spare there is no doubt that's what I'd have bought. It drives like a dream (which was totally unexpected). It's easy to park and you hardly even feel potholes and at 11.9 mpg you can tick off any liberal within a 3 mile radius. What fun!!!

[expatpat]

It's also unclear how.....hydrogen fuel-cell cars.. will affect the growing market for hybrids.

Not much, IMO -- the infrastructure for H2 cars involves a huge investment, there is little energy savings, and there are still problems with fuel-cell catalysts.

[demlosers]

I drove the military version in Saudi in mid-nineties. I'll keep it in mind. I like that part of pissing the Libs off! Hehehee... :-)

[billhilly]

Oh, the gas guzzlers that I have owned in my lifetime. It makes me proud to be an American, just because I could do it. After all, the sheiks in the middle east, the dictators in central america, hollywood moguls and hypocrits, ( What else do their five and six bay garages have in them) like Arrianna Huffington, all have their Mercedes' and Jags.

Just give me an old fashioned Hemi, and them a giant sized set of hemmoroids. Then let them kiss my gas.

[joyce11111]

More stupid stuff from Eugene, where it is still the 1960's.

These whackos seem to sall congreagte in Oregon, don't they.

Home of E.L.F. and other sundries anarchrists.

[LibKill]

Sometimes buying an SUV here breaks up friendships and alienates neighbors.

Is this true where you live too?

In Texas we just wonder why they didn't buy a pickup truck.

[Phyto Chems]

Thw big question to be asked is How much will your new batties cost in a few years... That will make up for a lot of gas savings

[Phyto Chems]

Sorry about the spelling.... The big question to be asked is How much will your new batteries cost in a few years... That will make up for a lot of gas savings

[Clinging Bitterly]

Wendy Ray is an idiot.

[Pukin Dog]

I own a Red Hummer H2. I regularly hunt hybrids to run over, but I have yet to find one. 99% percent of the time, I am the only one in it, burning gasoline at a very fast rate and loving it. I'm about to have a video screen put in the back for DVD's that no one will watch, along with some fancy rims that I wont be able to see from the outside.

I'm doing my part for the economy, and Liberals can kiss my ass.

[stands2reason]

I believe it's somewhere in the neighborhood of $3-4000.

[B Knotts]

Hybrids are OK...but hybrid or not, we need more diesel engines in vehicles. We could be saving a lot of fuel if there were more diesels, as there are in Europe.

I'd like to see that new 6.0 liter Ford Power Stroke in a sedan (325 hp/560 lb. ft.).

Audi has a nice 4 liter TDI V-8, too.

[CobaltBlue]

My Disco (Land Rover Discovery) only gets 14 mpg, and costs a fortune to get repaired. I've discovered that it will drink mid-range gas -I've actually heard it will drink regular but am afraid to try it. And I've found non-dealer mechanics. The company rips off the dealers so bad, that the dealers feel obliged to pass it own.

That said, I love it. I love the way it looks, I love being high up off the ground, I love all the windows, I love the leather seats, I love the moon roof, I love the sound system. I love knowing that if I hit a deer, I've got a fighting chance. Yes, I am female. To a male, these are probably dumb things to love about a car.

I don't really want to piss off environmentalists, but I am really glad I don't live in Eugene. An old high school buddy, who is now an environmental lawyer, does live in Eugene. He has three vehicles - a Porsche, a pickup truck, and a van. But it's ok because, you see, they aren't SUVs. I only have one vehicle, so actually am *more* eco-friendly, but hey, who cares?

[dixiechick2000]

"Is this true where you live too?"

LOL! I must live in the most unPC part of Oregon, where every garage contains a gargantuan SUV, or a Hummer.
You would think it was the law, or something.

I'm series...;o)

I've driven a Prius, and I must say it wasn't too shabby. At times, it's like driving a souped-up golf cart. It's very quiet, and has pretty good pick up. I think top speed is 105 MPH, and who really needs to go that fast anywhere but on a track.
I don't think they look very cool, though, and that's most important. lol