Hummer vs Prius (001:2011)
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| Hummer vs Prius Olympus E-P2 w/M.Zuiko 17mm 1/1600s, f/4, ISO 200 |
There's nothing more illustrative of our gross consumption than the American SUV, and no SUV stands out quite like the Hummer. This particular one is a "slimmed down" Hummer h3, the last model to be designed before General Motors discontinued the brand in 2010.
As I watch regular gas prices creep above $3/gallon here in Orlando, with reports that the price will hit $4 by mid-2011, I have to wonder if the rest of the Hummers (and many other equally consumptive SUVs) will be swept from the roads.
Additional link: A Road Less Traveled - Have we hit peak travel?
hasn't happened here yet. Until the cost of fuel is even half of the losses of value due to depreciation of a car or until we expect to actually keep cars for 15 years then noone will give two hoots about the cost of fuel.
ReplyDeleteWe had a "hand me down" Volvo 264 diesel in Finland. My wife's father bought it new (more or less) in the 80's. It was a 6 cylinder diesel, no turbo, no fancy things; it just worked and ran.
We'd get 6L / 100Km out of it on the highway and 7L / 100km around town. That's nearly 40MPG in US terms from an old car.
You know, you can jump up n down about emissions, but if you burn less fuel then you make less C02 emission.
That car has over 400,000Km on it and still runs fine (though god knows the interior could have been cared for better).
When I see the cost of cars going sky high, the complexity and sophistication going through the roof and the terrifying cost of repairs and maintainence, I have to ask myself if we're actually going forwards or backwards
but that's progress