Maverick--
I greatly appreciate your posts on this board. Your research is extensive and valuable. But honestly, your rant against SUVs and the people who drive them is getting tiresome. One of the great things about living in the USA is that you can drive what you want, and I can drive what I want, within limitations prescribed by law. If I feel happier or safer in a large car, I can buy and drive one if I want to spend the money to purchase and maintain it. While it certainly is more expensive for my wife to refuel her Suburban than it was a few months ago, the cost of gas is a minor part of the total cost of ownership of a car. According to a pamphlet that the AAA sent me, driving a Blazer 15,000 miles per year costs a total of 53.8 cents per mile, including fixed (insurance, depreciation, interest charges, etc.) and per mile costs, which is 11.6 cents per mile for gas, oil, maintenance, and tires. This is based on gas at $1.10/gal and will be higher today. Still, gas and oil represents less than one third the cost of ownership at today's gas prices. I don't spew pollutants any more than the law allows. Certainly the law should be changed to remove the light truck loophole, which will let me pay for the gas using profits from my OE ADRs, which will be on all GM light trucks as soon as the law changes. The world's resources, while not infinite, are enough to power a lot of SUVs for the foreseeable future until the next thing comes along, whether it's "fool cells" or mobile windmills or proton beam accelerators or whatever. The Washington bureaucrats would like us all to be in econoboxes, or Trabants, or Schwinns. I have faith in the free market to let you drive what you want, and I'll keep our Suburban and pay its cost of fuel and maintenance. |
