Hi-tech, fuel efficient and ugly as sin

Why?

I saw something on the news about an awesomely fuel efficient car and decided to investigate.  This car looked like a plane with it’s wings chopped off.  Another good analogy might be a flying insect that had it’s wings pulled off.

Can someone design a fuel efficient car that actually looks normal? No I don’t mean the cars that are already out there from Honda, Nissan, etc.  Most of them look normal, except that Prius, ugh.  These cars are just hybrids with no real benefit in my opinion.  They use “less” but we end up paying more to get it.  I guess as long as the planet is ok, it’s ok to be broke?

No, to be truly groundbreaking we need cars that get 80+ mpg.  Hybrids are a start in the right direction but it’s not the long term answer.  Near long term are the 80/100/120+ MPGers.  Very long term is something different altogether.  I do have a news flash though: oil will be used until the demise of human civilization.

So, I applaud the makers of the non-flying-bug-machine that gets 230mpg but put that thrifty engine into a normal looking vehicle.  Do that and I’ll make that my next automobile purchase.

Here is the video:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2008/06/05/washburn.230.mpg.car.kfmb 

Thinking ahead

5 Years ago I would have been weary of a hybrid automobile.  10 years ago no one really knew what one was.  Today though it’s a popular buzzword.  I’ve finally come around on these contraptions because I’m very interested in what will energize our world in the next 5-10-25 years.

Today, it’s oil.  People love gasoline and burning it.  All pyromaniac jokes aside I’m not against burning gasoline.  If you have the means to afford a Hummer and afford to fill it up every two days, more power to you.  Some people actually do have more money than they know what to do with.  I don’t and even if I did, I’d much much rather put it away for my children’s college, bigger retirement, you get the idea.  Plus the damn things hog the road! Ok enough about that, we’re talking about hybrids.

This blog is about fitness; money, mind and body.  I read there is a car that can get 150mpg and Saturn has a concept vehicle that gets 400+ miles on 1 tank of gas.  To a money concsious consumer this is huge!

Remember when gas was about 1 dollar per gallon?  Yeah, hard to believe right?  Lets say you got 25mpg at 1 dollar per gallon.  Well now you’re spending 3 dollars and getting the same lousy 25mpg!  What if you’re auto got 75mpg?  Guess what?  Now you’re spending the equivalent of 1 dollar per gallon again!

Bad news is that gas will continue to get higher, possibly.  Good news though!  Fuel efficient hybrid technology will only get better.  Oil will run out one day, perhaps not in our lifetimes or our childrens’.  But one day it will.  The human race needs to prepare and research and master new ways of creating energy.

My main objective of buying a hybrid (at some point)? It’s my subtle way of telling OPEC to jump up my butt.

L