philosophyonwheels.com

Toyota Prius

Years ago the Toyota Prius was the car to have if you were a celebrity concerned with having the public know you were environmentally aware.  But now the Prius is almost an ordinary car in suburban America.  And even SUVs are built with hybrid energy drives.  (I still think this is a contradiction in engineering.)

Car manufacturers have collectively been building up the awareness and cachet of hybrid technology.  They did this mostly by highlighting the “green” and virtuous ability of going further with less gas.  And along the way a lot of people gained a general understanding of how these hybrid energy systems work.  Sounds like a winning combination: having a warm-fuzzy that you’re not hurting the Earth as much as before, and a satisfaction of understanding how your car works…generally.

Here’s my theory: all things being equal I think transportation is environmentally a zero-sum game.  It’s true your Prius will pump less harmful particles into your town’s air than your old car with it’s conventional engine.  But there’s a small city in a remote part of Russia that most likely smelted the nickel that resides in the Prius’s battery.  This town is notorious among environmentalists for being one of the worst in the world and can be blamed directly for a shockingly sizable percentage of global emission of certain hazardous materials.  (Trees barely grow in this town.)  Of course it’s impossible to decide how much is to be blamed on the Prius, and Toyota can endlessly spin the numbers and discredit unfavorable reports.  But put simply, buying the Prius has taken the pollution out of your town and placed it somewhere else.  Then there’s the geographically various assembly points and the energy required to ferry the parts.  Parts of a Prius are most likely better travelled than their owners.  

So how is pollution reduced for real?  Consolidation.  The amount of energy needed to move 20 people and one bus is significantly less than moving 20 people and 20 cars the same distance.  The Prius weighs nearly the same as conventional cars.  Sure the individual owner may recognize fuel savings due to the hybrid energy drive but the Earth might not be able to tell the difference in the larger picture.

By nature us Americans are terribly decadent.  We will never willingly relinquish our own personal space during our daily commute to share it with 20 strangers on a bus and incur the added inconvenience of public transportation.

Now I appeal to today’s celebrity genuinely concerned with your environmental public image.  Go and buy a Honda Fit and be seen driving it.  It’s conventionally powered, it’s smaller and weighs much less than an average car.  Simple as that.  Less car is more savings…globally.

Yikes.  Things are bad.  There’s no mistake.  Millions of jobs are being lost and a lot of those are in the automotive industry.  But life goes on and people still need cars.  

New Cars

Credit is moving slowly.  Bankers are greedy and the entire global economy now apparently runs off of credit.  It sucks but that’s reality.  You don’t just walk onto a showroom floor and pay cash in full for a new F-150.  It has to be financed.  Getting this financing is now much more difficult than it was last year.  And because of this lack of financing brand new cars are piling up at dealerships across the nation.  

The good news?  Any decent businessman running a car dealership knows that too much inventory is expensive.  And to move that inventory off their lot the dealership will offer incentives in the form of large rebates and discounts.  It’s actually a really good time to be buying a new car right now (provided you weren’t pink-slipped).  

And how about those huge SUVs?  They’re discounted even further.  After last summer’s spike in oil price, the consensus is that the price of gas will eventually be headed back up again.  Buying one of these 11 mpg beasts is a form of energy speculation.  For all we know, gas could get cheaper.  No one knows for sure.

Used Cars

So new cars are not moving off the dealer lots.  But a sort of musical chairs with cars still has to take place so people can get around.  During difficult times like these used cars will tend to stay out of the scrap yards just a bit longer.  This places a premium on used cars and pushes up demand.  Across the nation the average price for a used car is slowly climbing up.  It isn’t huge, and is definitely not a good reason to buy that 20 year old jalopy/Jetta as an investment vehicle.

Conclusion

Count your blessings and appreciate what you do have.  We’ll be counting pennies for a while.  If your ride works and is safe and reliable, drive it for the next 6 months.  If your job is secure and you’re looking to upgrade, there are definitely deals to be had.  Normally I’m a “life is competitive & deal with it” type of person, but the American automakers are in some tough times.  So I appeal to your sense of patriotism to at least consider the homegrown alternatives.

Hi.  My name is Matt Kindzerske and welcome to my blog.  Let me get straight to the point of what this blog is going to be about: cars.

I know it’s a big subject.  But we live in an automotive age and there’s lots to talk about (I hope).  And it’s not as simple as cars getting us from point A to B.  More often than not cars are an expression of ourselves and an outlet for creativity.  And in the near future the car is certain to change due to finite natural resources.  It won’t simply be powered by the combustion engine, but exotic sounding and complicated power plants that are still being designed.  And the big car companies will wage war against your perceptions with massive advertising campaigns to move these cars into your garage.  I want to talk about every aspect of owning/buying a car and cut out all the bull.  

Now who am I to be taking on such a subject?  For one, I have owned many cars.  Every day I observe countless advertisements for new cars.  But I may not be considered a gear-head in the strictest sense (though I have changed out my brake rotors).  I love talking about cars and how they work (I can explain to you the difference between a supercharger and a turbocharger, but maybe in another post).  My brother and I grew up talking about cars but were raised to think we had to eventually get sensible & boring jobs.

And oh yeah, I’m a New Englander.  There is sure to be talk of Subarus and snow.

Lastly, I am a geek.  I work as a mathematician/scientist for the United States Navy.

So let’s start the discussion and I will add my own colorful commentary and frank opinions.  I’m sure the blog will evolve over time as you post your comments.