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EPA Administrator Issues Proposed Ruling on Global Warming

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Environmental Defense announced that just today “EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson issued a proposed ruling that global warming pollution “endangers” Americans’ health and well-being.” This ruling is the beginning of a chain of events where the Clean Air Act can be used to establish national emission standards for large polluters to include new motor vehicles and coal-fired plants.

Another effort begins next week when “the House Energy and Commerce Committee will begin hearing on comprehensive energy and climate legislation.” Chairman Henry Waxman plans on moving the “American Clean Energy and Security Act” out of committee by Memorial Day.

Finally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intends to bring the bill to the House floor this year.

It couldn’t come at a more appropriate time since next Wednesday, April 22, is EARTH DAY!

Posted in Alternative Energy, Automobile, CO2 Emissions, Coalburners, EPA, Environmental Defense, Environmental Legislation, Environmentalism, Global Warming, Global Warming Policy, Industry, Pollution | No Comments »

One Million Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles on the Road by 2015

Friday, March 20th, 2009

According to a current article on ENS, Environmental News Service, “President Barack Obama Thursday announced $2.4 billion in economic stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” that is meant to meet his goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015. The DOE, Dept. of Energy, is also offering $1.5 billion in grants for U.S. manufacturers to produce the batteries for the plug-ins, $500 million in grants for U.S. manufacturers to produce the electric motors and other components, along with a kicker $400 million to “demonstrate and evaluate plug-in hybrids and other electric infrastructure concepts” like charging stations, and the people who will work on these new cars. The DOE plans to further support projects that help develop this market further.

So it looks like plug-ins are on their way. The bonus is that consumers get a piece of the pie too. Purchasing a plug-in hybrid will get us a tax credit of up to $7,500. But, we’re going to need a new electric infrastructure all right. Our power grids are 50 years old.

This is good news for me. A lot of what I hear is good news for me like giving me $5000 to get my gas hog off the road, then turning around and giving me the $7,500 tax credit for going with a plug-in. There is no need to twist my arm because I think the Chevy Volt is sweet, but I’ll take any and all offers to get me moving toward buying a green car in the very near future.

But of course, as of right now, the $5000 for a trade-in isn’t solid, this new stimulus to create plug-in cars has just been announced, and GM, the creator of the sweet little Volt I would like, is still struggling in this economy. Meanwhile my gas-guzzler is really getting old. I don’t feel guilty for driving it because it only leaves the driveway twice a week, three times tops. I consolidate everything to minimalize running around. But I’m beginning to notice a time lag from when I turn the key and the ignition actually strikes. This tells me my time with my old car is limited and I probably won’t make it to the era of the plug-in without buying another car first. It figures.

Read more: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2009/2009-03-20-094.asp

Posted in Alternative Energy, Automobile, Energy Infrastructure, Environmental Capital, Environmentalism, Federal Government, Funding for Green Business, Industry, U.S. Automakers, U.S. Dept. of Energy | No Comments »

Chevy Volt Wins “Green Car Vision Award”

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

 

 

The auto magazine “Green Car Journal” picked the Chevy Volt as its yet-to-exist car of the future, very near future. According to an article on the Sundance website, “Over 200 engineers and 50 designers are working on the Volt and another 400 are working on related subsystems and electric components” to get this car mass produced next year.

 

The Volt had a lot of competition but the editor of “Green Car Journal” liked the Volt’s “bold and far-reaching approach,” along with exceptional fuel efficiency and at a reasonable cost. According to the magazine the Volt gives consumers what they want, a car that runs on a battery for pennies while running errands or up to 40 miles. And for longer trips, it has an engine that drives a generator. The engine is capable of getting 100 mpg plus.

 

Carol Browner, special asst. to President Obama for energy and climate change got up close and personal with the Volt and found it to be very comfortable and was excited by the fact that a person can tool around for 40 miles on a single charge. She knows the average worker commutes 40 miles or less to work every day, and that would amount to 80% less emissions from those commuters.

 

She’s posted this on the White House website and also blogged, “This kind of innovation and shift in design is key to the renewed success of the American auto industry.” She also commented about the Ford Fusion and funding for battery investments in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. She called it forward thinking and used the words that are music to my ears, ENCOURAGING, SUPPORTING, and NURTURING, new innovation.

 

Finally, our government will reward alternative energy innovation and help green energy technology move forward instead of throwing out roadblocks to alternatives on behalf of big oil, of which the biggest roadblock has been denial about global warming.

 

 http://www.sundancechannel.com/blogs/ecommunity_news/390443055

 

 

Posted in Alternative Energy, Automobile, Conservation, Environment and Jobs, Ford, GM, Michigan Environmental News, Michigan/Great Lakes, Pollution, Sundance, U.S. Automakers | 2 Comments »

Michigan As Hybrid Battery Epicenter?

Monday, December 29th, 2008

 

According to WXYZ News today, Governor Granholm signed a bill for $335 million in tax incentives beginning in 2011 thru 2016 that is “designed to make Michigan the center of U.S. efforts to develop high-tech batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles.”

 

It was approved 31-3 in the Senate and 94-0 in the House. Finally a green business move that our senate didn’t nix, although I don’t think it was the idea of going green that motivated Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop. It was more about helping the Detroit auto industry. The bill is designed with GM in mind relative to its plug-in hybrid “Volt.” It will ensure that all Volt related activities remain in Michigan.

 

At present there is no large-scale lithium-ion battery manufacturing in the U.S. This just shows how far behind we are on many green fronts. Japan, South Korea, INDIA and CHINA do all the manufacturing. The fact that India and China are ahead of us should be a warning to “catch up” fast.

 

And that’s what Governor Granholm hopes to do now that she has a little cooperation from what looked to be for a long time ”anti-environmental” senate. She hopes Michigan will “become a battery epicenter and draw a piece of an estimated $1 billion investment from the federal government.”

 

Read more: http://www.wxyz.com/news/story/Big-Battery-Tax-Credits-Approved/a5JpqyAFz0CjPXBjZnYh1A.cspx.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Environmental Capital, Funding for Green Business, GM, Green Products, Industry, Legislators, Michigan Environmental News, Michigan/Great Lakes, U.S. Automakers | No Comments »

In Oil We Trusted; Environment Used Against American Auto Companies

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

I wrote this as a diary on other blogsites and found people weren’t as down on our car companies as thought. Since this blog does involve the environment I thought I would post it here also. Replies I’ve received from the west coast that buy foreign were a little surprised. One wanted to know about the new Ford Fusion hybrid. And many people including a congressman that I read about also find it curious that all three automakers ignored foreign competition. Here’s the blog:

We all had a hand in the recent demise of the American auto industry. Consumers ate up big gas guzzling SUV’s, trucks, and 300 hp engines in cars like my 9 year old Cadillac. Like most consumers, I figured if the Big 3 produces them, they are all right to buy; after all, the car companies have the inside track, and an eye up on the competition. We trusted their judgment and we were willing to buy.

American automakers sold us big gas guzzling cars, yet at the end of the Clinton administration, the Big 3 produced prototypes of energy efficient and hybrid vehicles for the future. When Bush/Cheney was elected all was abandoned. The Big Three were obviously assured by an overtly oil connected administration that the crude would keep flowing. The Big 3 trusted Bush/Cheney.

It is the trickle down of trust. Even though the source of this trust lies in an administration that is Wall St. friendly, (obviously), and anti-union, (prefers dictatorial management), even though the rest of the industrialized free nations are highly unionized and benefit from national health care systems. Hmm? Meanwhile, the Big 3 blindly and stupidly followed the lead of this anti-environmental administration, and totally ignored the competition that continued making hybrids. Odd. The assurances must have been great enough to go against basic business sense.

And what about the environment? The Bush administration appointed Michael Leavitt as EPA administrator in 2000. As new reports about global warming began to surface, they were either squelched or altered by the EPA. ENS reported: “The White House reversed course and rejected actions to control global warming pollution.” It is one of the worst deceptions the Bush/Cheney regime perpetrated on the American public, to cause doubt about global warming for the sake of the billionaire oil industry relishing the use of gas eating American cars by a trusting America and its auto industry.

As for Michael Leavitt, he left the EPA to head up Health and Human Services. Health and Human Services under his rule turned around and issued an e-mail to some 67,000 govt. employees urging them to buy hybrid cars, when U.S. automakers had none to offer. Of course the e-mail was a mistake, so sorry. What? As in a trial, the jury heard the stricken comment. Buy hybrid, buy foreign.
Within a span of a few years Michael Leavitt at the Bush/Cheney bidding was both anti-environmental, then suddenly green conscious. Bush/Cheney was purchasing more and more foreign oil. The beginning of 2007, before the economy took a dive, the Big 3 raced to Washington when oil prices rose to record highs. The Big 3 recognized the trouble ahead. They were snubbed by the same administration that obviously assured them early on. The oil was flowing but at outrageous prices, and now Bush/Cheney washed their hands of the auto industry. Not their problem. The Big 3 knew they had been duped. The environment was skillfully used as a means to an end.

The Big 3 scrambled back to Detroit to produce environmentally friendly cars. Ford is unveiling a hybrid Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan that goes up to 47 mph on electric power before switching to gas. The Prius tops out at 30-35 mph. Quite an achievement for Ford in a short time. GM is in the middle of producing a plug-in car. And Chrysler helped produce hydrogen-powered buses for Iceland in 2003. So they have the know how.

But there are new problems out of the auto industry’s control. The beloved Wall St. darlings of the Bush/Cheney era fumbled badly. Instead of just breaking unions, at least two of the Big 3 are on the precipice of extinction now. The final sword is bailing out Wall St. with $700 billion, and corps. like AIG twice, but stalling on the car companies for $25 billion citing that it will just be a cup of water on the fire.

If GM sold all 8 of its jets @ $35 million each, the total $280 million would by the same rationale be a thimble on the fire. If 20 execs conceded $5 million each in any perks or salary increases the resulting $100 million would be half a thimble on the fire. But there is no real fire. The auto industries have advanced greatly toward producing hybrid cars of the future in a very short time after realizing it was sheer stupidity trusting an administration that lead us into a war with Iraq. We’ve been mislead by the Bush/Cheney administration many times over and the one source that has profited greatly is Big Oil.

I believe Big Oil should return the favor to the Big 3 and float them the money to stay on the final stretch of track toward cars that won’t need oil in the future. If Obama can appoint his adversaries, then the oil industry can boost the car companies to a greener future without them. The auto companies deserve a bailout. The oil industry can easily afford it. They were bedfellows before. It’s time for some alimony.

Over four hundred blogs and all of the research, I’ve learned that all things lead back to politics through policy, legislation, and regulation. The past 8 years saw the demise of many things we’ve only just begun to notice. To blame unions and U.S. autoworkers for any of the problems the auto industry is currently experiencing continues to play into the hands of the Bush/Cheney mindset that would like to render our entire country an “at will” entity where no U.S. citizen will have the job security most of our major competitors in the free world enjoy. Understand that unions are the last powerful voice any average citizen has against the likes of a Wall St., that will most certainly make sure nothing, absolutely nothing trickles down. In light of what has happened, we’d be fools to think otherwise.

Japanese unions: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5D8163EF933A15754C0A964958260.
Germany’s unions: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3755519,00.html
Britain’s unions: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/apr2000/rov-a
06.shtml

Posted in CO2 Emissions, Chrysler, EPA, Environmental Spin, Environmentalism, Ford, GM, Global Warming, Global Warming Policy, Global Warming Reports, Industry, Oil Industry, Politics, Science, U.S. Automakers | No Comments »

Global Warming and the Environment on PBS

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

 

 

Previewing October 14th on PBS is a presentation called “Climate Change; Then and Now.” Watch it as it will be replayed on either WGTE or PBS Detroit again. If you want to hear what has happened since the words “global warming” first graced our ears some ten years ago, you might be surprised. The results are in and we definitely have an impact on what’s up with the weather. Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/story/2008/10/heat.html.

 

 

I watched another presentation on WGTE’s Frontline last night relative to the oil industry and the environment that’s part of a larger series entitled “Heat.” I swear that it was a compilation of many of the blogs I’ve done over the course of two years from the net wealth of the oil industry down to Detroit automakers. It’s nice to know I’m not totally daft. 

 

The program began by showing Exxon Mobil’s baby “Hibernia” the largest (by weight) oilrig platform in the world. It’s 16 stories high and 200 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in God forsaken nowhere. Every 5-6 days a tanker leaves with a load worth 500 million dollars. This rig cost Exxon 4 billion dollars!

 

The storyline then settled in with the statement that no one has resisted change like big oil. The reporter harped about, the ratio of net income for every major U.S. oil company compared to what they invest in alternative technologies. There were quite a few times oil company spokespeople were flustered and could not answer the interviewer. I mean how do you say “we’re greedy?” The coverage then shifted to the Rockefellers, (not so greedy stockholders) demanding in public court that Exxon invest in more alternative energy. Let’s face it, the oil companies are not going to let their bread and butter go without a fight, and do they have the money to fight.

 

The fight consisted of spin regarding the state of our environment. This spin has made the plight of the environment political rather than scientific, inciting even more divisiveness. The program showed that big oil had a connection to many denial machines like “The Heartland Group, Competitive Enterprises,” and I have to add “Friends of Science,” Senator Inhofe’s favorite. Inhofe was included in last night’s foray of who and what helped stifle the movement toward alternative energy.

 

Not to be left out, there was a segment on American auto companies. I could not believe my ears when a scientist being interviewed reiterated my words about our auto industry: “Where was the foresight?” It continued to show that Clinton funded the American auto industry to develop hybrid cars in 98. The prototypes were shown. The auto companies rolled them out and bingo, Bush got into office. That all stopped. The American car companies made bigger and bigger gas-guzzlers like SUV’s, Hummers, etc.  But Japan kept up with the hybrid idea since that time. Now Japan is 10 years ahead of us.  Japan’s factories are also aiming to cut emissions drastically more than they already have. If only we could work on the dolphin/whale thing…

 

It was quite a night for me to see the same content of some my past blogs come to life in a presentation. We live chaotic lives at times and so our news becomes disjointed and senseless. We only get bits and pieces. Heat is a long series to catch in its entirety. There are 9 chapters. But you can view them online. It’s nice to see it all strung together and for that effort we can always thank Public TV.

 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/heat/view/6.html

 

 

Posted in Alternative Energy, Automobile, Environmental Spin, Global Warming, Legislators, Oil Industry, Oil Lobby, PBS, Politics, Science, The Denial Machine, U.S. Automakers | 3 Comments »

Detroit Area Coca-Cola Trucks To Be Hybrid Electric

Monday, October 20th, 2008

 

WXYZ news announced this morning that Detroit area Coca Cola trucks would soon be running on hybrid electric motors. The trucks were purchased earlier this year from Eaton Corp.

 

Eaton is an impressive corporation as far as transportation and the environment. There website states: “We create innovations in hybrid power and low emission vehicles as a leading provider of diesel-electric hybrid power systems for truck and bus applications on three continents. Eaton is also developing hydraulic hybrid power systems technologies for use in refuse trucks, delivery vehicles, buses and other applications. Eaton has a hybrid truck drivetrain center outside of Kalamazoo and is a Cleveland-based Corp.

http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/Markets/Truck/index.htm.

 

Coca-Cola ordered 120 of the hybrid trucks, the largest North American commercial order from Eaton’s hybrid systems according to WWJ. Coke previewed these trucks when they purchased 20 of them last year. They evidently liked their performance.

The article below said that Coca-Cola did extensive tests and found that “Eaton’s hybrid-electric drivetrain equipped trucks decreased emissions by 32 percent and fuel consumption by up to 37 percent.” This kind of fuel savings could start a trend.

 

http://www.wwj.com/Coke-to-Buy-Hybrid-Delivery-Trucks-From-

Eaton/1729913

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Alternative Energy Sources, Biodiesel, CO2 Emissions, Conservation, Diesel Fuel Pollution, Environmentalism, Fuel Economy, Green Products, Michigan Environmental News, Michigan Pollution, U.S. Automakers | 2 Comments »

Iran, Brazil, China, and Israel Lead the Charge for Alternatives to Gasoline

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

 

Unbelievable isn’t it? The Washington Post ran the article about Iran’s mandate to its “domestic automakers to make ‘dual-fuel’ cars that can run on both gasoline and natural gas, a crash program to convert used vehicles to run on natural gas, and a program to convert Iranian gas stations to serve both kinds of fuel. According to the International Association of Natural Gas Vehicles, more than 100 conversion centers have been built throughout the country: Iranians can drive in with their gasoline-only cars, pay a subsidized fee equivalent to $50 and collect their newly dual-fuelled cars several hours later.”

 

What a novel idea to switch the cars over AND create the filling stations, AND conversion centers at the SAME TIME.

 

Then there is Brazil who was no better off than we are now, importing 80 percent of its oil supply in the 70’s. Since then, Brazil has switched to its own oil, which is used to “insulate” the country’s economy from the pain of spiking oil prices. Even so, this year more sugar-based ethanol will be sold in the country than gasoline, which is the goal, to get off of gasoline altogether.

Meanwhile, China is moving toward methanol, which is made from wood grain alcohol. There are many methanol plants currently under construction. And China is set to produce flex fuel cars for that methanol. The nice thing about methanol as the article stated is that: “it can be made from natural gas, coal, industrial garbage and even recycled carbon dioxide captured from power stations’ smokestacks — an elegant way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

It looks like China whose smoggy environment is a source of concern for the Olympics has got plans to use up all that filth and fuel their cars with it. That’s really one up on us, and pretty much everyone else.

Finally, Israel is going to electric cars with “hundreds of thousands of recharging points planned to be erected throughout the country. Israeli motorists, the government hopes, will be able to swap their batteries in a matter of minutes at dedicated stations or recharge them at home or at work.” Hmm, stop at a station and swap out a battery—never thought of that.

The Washington Post went on to say that: “Policies such as ‘drill more’ and ‘drive smaller cars’ all keep us running on petroleum. At best, they buy us a few more years of complacency, while ensuring a much worse dependence down the road when America’s conventional oil reserves are even more depleted — whether or not we drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”

Looks like Al Gore’s challenge to change within a decade isn’t ridiculous. We’ve just been fed another fat lie by political forces working with the oil industry about what we can and cannot do, and we fell for it again. We need a big dose of street smarts in this country, or a kick in the pants.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/03/AR2008070303250.html


 

 

 

 

  

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Posted in Alternative Energy Sources, Automobile, CO2 Emissions, China, Conservation, Environmentalism, Green Products, Olympics, Pollution | No Comments »

Ford Considers Metro Transportation of the Future

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

 

Ford Motor Company is really reinventing itself. Ford is not just concentrating on delivering cars with greater mpg and lower emissions, but transportation in general for growing population centers.

 

Ford, in partnership with U of M, has been studying congested cities worldwide, tracking growing populations, and the migrations of these populations in order to offer solutions for metropolitan traffic. Their answer is a network of hubs within big metro cities that suffer the most traffic congestion. According to an article on world-wire:

  • By 2015, about two-thirds of the world will be living in urban areas, which will exacerbate traffic congestion and present major challenges to basic transportation and personal mobility.
  • “Ford Urban Mobility Networks” is a pilot program that is exploring how to coordinate a variety of transportation options and provide vital real-time information to individuals living in densely populated urban centers.
  • The program is the result of Ford’s ongoing collaborations with University of Michigan’s Sustainable Mobility and Accessibility Research and Transformation (SMART) initiative.

Ford’s Urban Mobility Network considers all types of transportation, buses, trains, taxis, car-share fleets, mopeds and bicycles. All or some of these modes of transportation transfer at the hubs. The hub idea looks to me like a way to converge and disperse smaller packs of people all over simultaneously, rather than allowing everyone to herd along in one big jam pile of traffic until individuals peel themselves out of the pack as they near his/her destination.

 

Well good luck with this one if our populations grow out of control that badly. The article said some 35 cities worldwide would have populations of over 10 million. In honor of George Carlin’s death, and his wonderful truths, I think he would say something like “wouldn’t a better solution be a little abstinence so we don’t have population explosions? I mean if we have to really gear up for all these people that are going to be born, wouldn’t it be a lot easier to forgo that big growth and just maintain for awhile. Afterall, population is something we can control.

 

And I would add,  if we can’t control our garbage, can’t sustain ourselves comfortably, can’t help ourselves let alone someone else, why are we still procreating like it’s 2,000 years ago?

 

Before I digress farther, the article is a good read to get a idea of what our transportation future might be: http://world-wire.com/news/0806110002.html.

 

Posted in CO2 Emissions, Conservation, Environmentalism, Ford, U.S. Automakers, Urban Sprawl, World-wire.com | No Comments »

Monroe Offers the Easiest Route for Car Shopping

Friday, May 30th, 2008

 

I went car shopping today. I’m not going to give a report on all the makes and models because I was looking for kinda sporty cars and sedans that get 30 mpg or more. I’m not and never have been an aficionado of SUV’s. If I wanted a truck, I’d buy a truck. I have a problem with the idea of exiting from an SUV all dressed up in heels. Not going to happen, even if that sucker cost over $50,000. Besides that, I hate getting behind them where I’m at the mercy of their brake lights only. And the women that drive them…Omagawd. They’ve come right over in my lane more than once because they just can’t see, and are always, always on that cell phone. And I don’t have a small car. I have a tank of a Cadillac STS.

 

I shopped in Monroe just to see and drive the cars. It’s a great place to look since just about all the dealerships are either on Monroe St. or Telegraph Rd. But it still took me 4 hours to browse through 4 dealerships. I went to the Toyota, Mazda, and VW dealership on the south end of town first. Check out the Eos VW. It looks like a little hardtop but with the flick of a switch, it’s a convertible. You have to watch this magic. It reminds me of a Lady Bug flicking its wings to take off when it transforms itself.  Ah the Germans are ingenious. As a hardtop it also sports a moon roof. When I drove this car, I swear I was in my old BMW. It hugs curves, zips around, is almost silent, and with the top down there isn’t a really big draft so you can actually hear the radio, and talk to one another. I made the comment that my old Beemer was manual, and guess what, with the flick of a switch on the automatic gearshift, it becomes a clutch free manual drive. One button puts the top up and down into the trunk, and one button makes all the windows go up and down at once if you like. What a great little car, RED of course.

 

Next stop was the Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge dealership. I’ve been seeing an awful lot of Avengers and Chargers around that look downright sporty. They look so much alike that I went with the Avenger since it gets a little better gas mileage. It was black with the sports package. What a comfortable ride. The seats were the best on my back anyway. It had good pickup, and what I couldn’t cram in that huge trunk, especially when both back seats pull forward. It would be good for trips to Lowe’s or packing up for camping, fishing, sporting trips. And what a deal. You can pretty much get one of these with little to nothing down, and for only $200/mo. for a 3-year lease. No wonder I’m seeing so many of these. I think I’d take the red one.

 

Groulx GMC, Pontiac, and Olds has more than a few choices also. The G8 has the look of a luxury sedan and sports car. There are two black ones sitting out front that I was immediately drawn to. What I ended up taking for a ride was another convertible, a white G6 Pontiac. It does pretty much what that little VW Eos did. With the flick of a switch the metamorphosis takes place from a hard top to a convertible. This car rode like my Cadillac and was fast. I took every car out on the expressway, and this one just floated. I’d have to say this was definitely a luxury convertible. Oh, and the one I test drove was discounted—a lot, as it was previously owned with only 1500 miles on it. If you’ve been holding back to get a convertible like this, better get down there for a great deal on this car.

 

I continued on to Victory Honda where I planned on looking at an Accord Coupe but could not get past the 4-door sedan. They’ve redone these cars to look like they belong in the Mercedes class of cars. What a mighty fine looking luxury sedan in the mid-$20,000 range. The leather seats and appointments are beautiful, and the back seat could fit two 6 ft. tall people no problem.

 

I had my 85-year-old mother in tow for this shopping spree. She was with me for the last 3 cars I bought sans my husband. Mind you this car only has 4 cylinders, (memories of my Beemer), but is really quick on the E-way. This car isn’t my Cadillac but it’s mighty close. The sales girl was showing me all the gizmos and a car has to go a long way to match what my 9 year-old STS has but this was close for half of what I paid for that Cad back in 99. And the safety features are phenomenal. There is a covering under the hood held in place by plastic tabs. If for some reason the engine starts on fire, the tabs melt, the covering comes down on the engine and smothers the fire. There is a breakaway engine mount so that if the car is hit head-on the engine drops and doesn’t end up in your lap. The front panels by the lights are super reinforced, and there are more airbags than I’ve ever seen on a car. Even the bumpers are 5 mph proof. If someone taps you, the bumpers crunch in but pop back out. Needless to say as we were driving along my mom looked over and said: “This is the car.”

 

And this probably will be the car, but that is me. There are fine Chevy cars too, especially the new Malibu, which I looked at before. I’ve also perused the Ford stock of cars like Ford’s Fusion, and Ford’s Escape that gets absolutely great mileage for a great price on a fine looking SUV if that is your preference. I have two friends that bought the Ford Focus that absolutely love their cars too.

 

If you’re tired of paying high gas prices, get out there and look around. The pickings are really, really great, and the deals are galore. The more cars I drove, the harder it was to make a choice. They all offered something I was looking for, and pretty much came with great stereo systems, MP3 and Bluetooth capabilities, nice interior appointments, sport’s packages with great looking wheels and trim, etc. The wheels and color can really make a car in my opinion. What a day. I’m bushed. 

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Posted in Chrysler, Conservation, Ford, Fuel Economy, GM, Monroe, Michigan, U.S. Automakers | 2 Comments »

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