Have anyone seen the HGTV special on the new 2006 cars (and near future)?

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/spcl_prsntn...716159,00.html

Some pretty cool muscle cars and some major gas guzzlers... It's almost as if GM and Ford know that the era of happy-go-lucky gas guzzling is coming to an end and they need to do their last mid-life crisis gasp...

Is it only me that sees the sunset coming?

 

I guess gas must go to $5/gallon for Americans to finally wake up and stop driving gas guzzlers.

 

It's already started. Just look at the new from Ford this past week.

 

I saw the special. There were definitely a number of gas guzzlers. There always will be, especially at an auto show. A 500 hp Corvette is going to attract a lot more attention than a Chevy Aveo. But there was also a fair share of hybrids and alternative fuel cars shown. Honda even had a prototype of a home hydrogen fuel conversion plant for filling your hydrogen powered car and powering your home.

As far as when people will stop driving their gas guzzlers it's not as simple as how expensive gas is. Other questions that go into the equation are 1) how far are you driving, 2) how old is the car, 3) how reliable is the car, 4) how badly has the rise in prices hit you, 4) how much will you pay to improve the environment.

I purchased a Camry hybrid a month and a half ago, trading in a Ford Ranger that got low 20s. However, we still have our V8 Explorer. When we replace that we'll get something a lot more fuel efficient. And although it has 155,000 miles it's been extremely reliable (only wear and tear items replaced, all else maintenance) is paid off and is only driven about 10-15 miles per day now that we have our new car. So yes I could help the environment and use a lot less gas if I replaced it. I will do that in the future but today I'm not willing to get rid of a reliable car that's paid off and take on a large car payment in order to save some gas right now.

 

I car pool with 3 other guys, about a 36 mile (each way) trip into Chicago's Northern Suburbs, and quite often the topic of conversation is the price of gas and the 'look' of cars. They believe that hybrids will not hit main stream for a while, and I disagree with them, because of the 'power' feel of a non-hybrid as well as the fact they think hybrids don't offer enough of an incentive over regular cars. The one thing we do agree on is the driving a Hybrid has the physcological effect that endears driving slower - something that the average driver would rather pay $7 a gallon than do.