Saturday, December 6, 2008

General Motors, Part 2

This is for Anonymous and anyone else who thinks you have to be in an SUV to be safe.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Moral of the story...slow down...drive more defensively...and take advantage of the current low gasoline prices and buy yourself a nice big SUV!
Cheers!

traderdean said...

I think the SMART car is a nice concept. But just seeing one on the freeway (at 60+mph freeway speeds) makes me wonder what the current wind gusts are and what one would look like in a multicar pile-up w/big heavy semi trucks incl'ed. Either way, and per the video, I'd hate to be inside the car. Nothing like being dead but still in one piece and the passenger side door still opens. (a selling point?)

traderdean said...

We have a few cars. typical family in these parts. but I drive to work in a 1989 Pontiac Sunbird GT. It's a 5 speed with a turbocharger (2.0 liter engine). Great little car. It gets plenty of power boost and still maintains to this day 30 mpg. We traveled from Texas to Florida a few years back. the highways were like Cannonball Run races through Louisiana, Miss and Ala. 90mph and above. The turbo give us flawless power and the gas mileage gets better (35-37mpg) at higher speeds because of the turbo. I say ... "Make more turbocharged vehicles." BMW, Mercedes and others do it. I've checked their average MPG and it seems (oddly) less than what it could be. With the right turbo (size) and boost, I'd bet they could easily get 30-40 mpg.

I could drive a "better car" to work, but this turbo'd sunbird gets excellent efficiency (I travel 40 miles RTrip to work & back). And it's fun to drive with the top down.

"Why not make more of those types, GM?"

Just my 2cents.

C.L.J. said...

Yes, Dean, that was a great car they made - nineteen years ago.

They quit making them fourteen years ago.