Why on earth make a 3.5 or larger engine do 35 to the gallon, when some of the very best models are already available and do double that now.

You could apply the magnificent German engineering and use it instead of making a new design and wasting billions.

Getting from A to B is what we are all doing, the speed limit is never adheared to, why make an engine produce 200 plus bhp when a 1000cc engine with at least 65 would do the trick and give you more than double 35.

You make me LOL

Why on earth make a 3.5 or larger engine do 35 to the gallon, when some of the very best models are already available and do double that now.

You could apply the magnificent German engineering and use it instead of making a new design and wasting billions.

Getting from A to B is what we are all doing, the speed limit is never adheared to, why make an engine produce 200 plus bhp when a 1000cc engine with at least 65 would do the trick and give you more than double 35.

You make me LOL

Also, how do you “earn” the privilege to drive a big car?

This isn’t going to increase fuel efficiency because the technology improves, but because cars will get smaller. Again, I refer to Europe, because while they do have some big cars, a majority of the population that does drive gets around in econo-boxes.

The union babble that jobs would be lost is also non-sense. What’s lost is the right to large pensions and $45/hr rates. Somebody will buy the assets, hire the people at a more reasonable rate, and off we go. That’s how it works. How is an auto worker divinely entitled to more than the average US worker?

Again, there is no economical or physical immediacy whatsoever between increased mileage standards and smaller cars. Yield, or efficiency, breaks that imperative.

Some of the biggest cars in the world come from those countries you refer to (Italy, France, Germany), and they are made for people with money. Sat in a Porsche Cayenne lately, or a Maserati? Yes, people who don’t have money don’t get to drive really big cars. There is no inherent right to drive big expensive cars, it is an earned privilege.

Finally, as the efficiency curve continues to go up, and you will get to drive your Hummer at only a fraction of its energy consumption. However, it will be made by a chinese company, because they pay attention to things like that.

The union babble that jobs would be lost is also non-sense. What’s lost is the right to large pensions and $45/hr rates. Somebody will buy the assets, hire the people at a more reasonable rate, and off we go. That’s how it works. How is an auto worker divinely entitled to more than the average US worker?

Again, there is no economical or physical immediacy whatsoever between increased mileage standards and smaller cars. Yield, or efficiency, breaks that imperative.

Some of the biggest cars in the world come from those countries you refer to (Italy, France, Germany), and they are made for people with money. Sat in a Porsche Cayenne lately, or a Maserati? Yes, people who don’t have money don’t get to drive really big cars. There is no inherent right to drive big expensive cars, it is an earned privilege.

Finally, as the efficiency curve continues to go up, and you will get to drive your Hummer at only a fraction of its energy consumption. However, it will be made by a chinese company, because they pay attention to things like that.

Instead of getting hybrids and alt-fuel cars, we are gonna end up driving tiny like Fiats and the like that are all the rage in Europe…not because that’s what people necessarily want to drive, but because of artificially inflated gas prices.

GM and Chrysler have made plenty of mistakes, but I don’t see how this is going to do any good for two automakers who employ hundreds of thousands of people.

CAFE standards say that you only get 2,738 BTUs to move a car one mile instead of the 4,600 BTUs (25 mpg) – so that’s about 80% of one kilowatthour. This is an engineering challenge, not a restriction of personal choices.

The pressure is to satisfy demand for cars – whatever size they may be – while making a giant dent into the $600 billion we send to the Saudi’s every year. This is a classic case of productivity increase, the very engine of wealth creation.

BTW, the idea of your car as an expression of freedom is just some juvenile hallucination in your head. The fact is that your gas consumption fuels terrorism 6000 miles away that just may come back to kill you. I’m not even going to consider the environmental stuff.

How this requires more government funding is beyond me, the technology for this already exists. And no, they’re not tinny little cars, Mr. Imagination. It’s the old fossil fuel companies that will not like this – they’ll start screaming about costs in shifting the infrastructure. They would be the very one’s that want us to keep fighting the wars over this crap.

How does this limit the choice in Autos? I just don’t see the connection. Of course, if you listen to GM it’s just impossible. Then of course, they do it three years later.

CAFE standards say that you only get 2,738 BTUs to move a car one mile instead of the 4,600 BTUs (25 mpg) – so that’s about 80% of one kilowatthour. This is an engineering challenge, not a restriction of personal choices.

The pressure is to satisfy demand for cars – whatever size they may be – while making a giant dent into the $600 billion we send to the Saudi’s every year. This is a classic case of productivity increase, the very engine of wealth creation.

BTW, the idea of your car as an expression of freedom is just some juvenile hallucination in your head. The fact is that your gas consumption fuels terrorism 6000 miles away that just may come back to kill you. I’m not even going to consider the environmental stuff.

How this requires more government funding is beyond me, the technology for this already exists. And no, they’re not tinny little cars, Mr. Imagination. It’s the old fossil fuel companies that will not like this – they’ll start screaming about costs in shifting the infrastructure. They would be the very one’s that want us to keep fighting the wars over this crap.

How does this limit the choice in Autos? I just don’t see the connection. Of course, if you listen to GM it’s just impossible. Then of course, they do it three years later.