Car horrorshow
With my geriatric car costing me more each year, I thought I’d check out the SF Auto Show on Black Friday. What the hell, right? Man, what a waste of time! Only the Toyota & Honda hybrids could match even the 35mpg my old import got (in its heyday, anyway). WTF?!? My car is like 12 years old – and most of the gasoline sedans made today get worse mileage?
The most disappointing thing is that there were even fewer alternative fuel teaser vehicles out there than the last time I went, several years ago. In the token ‘green room’ Calcar.org was demonstrating a plug-in conversion kit for the Prius (sorry fubar, too damn expensive for something that voids your warranty!), a conversion kit for a Scion to make it run on vegetable oil and a conversion kit for a Taurus to make it run on CNG.
The manufacturers had a few concept cars in their booths. For example, Mitsubishi had an electric vehicle, the MiEV on display. Mini had a graphic display of an electric Mini Cooper. ‘Concept’ is apparently a code word in the automotive industry that means ‘something we’ll never sell you,’ or more succinctly ‘inconceivable’ that you’ll ever be able to buy it here in the U.S.
VW was displaying a diesel station wagonette that had okay mileage, and if you are fortunate enough to live near a biodiesel station, you could kind of rationalize that purchase.
The North Hall, featuring mostly Japanese imports was buzzing with activity. The South Hall, mostly ‘Big Three’ U.S. manufacturers along with expensive Euro imports was mostly buzzing with flies. You could almost smell the stench of carrion in the mostly silent hall.
The only real fun I had was by the Ford booth. Ford had some dorky fake robot giving their car pitch. I translated for the folks standing near me “Warning! Warning! Unless you give us $75 billion in bailouts we will destroy Washington D.C.!”
What a frigging waste of time. I want my plug-in hybrid!!!! And I want it now!!!
Stumble it!
Tags: auto company bailout, electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid
