| Issue #30, October 20, 2006 |
Classic Cars With Bob Gelber
The funny thing about gas consumption is that in the fifties and sixties when gasoline cost twenty to thirty cents a gallon, there weren’t many gas hogs in production. During World War II, even the military vehicles were pretty frugal. The mainstay of the Army was the little four-cylinder Jeep. Even the Germans used a little Volkswagen-derived four-cylinder Jeep called a Kubelwagon. The military was so concerned about fuel consumption that motorcycles were commonly used in many fields of battle by both sides.
Today, gasoline is excessively priced and there are gas hogs in production throughout the world. Some military fighters burn so much fuel that if they flew with their afterburners on, they would have only a mission profile time of less than twenty minutes. No one talks about it, but among the pilots, fuel consumption is a very big concern. Its disconcerting to be piloting a military jet that costs twenty-million dollars, loaded with things that go bang in the night, when it runs out of gas. The military Hummer, which has replaced the John Wayne-era Jeep is lucky to get ten miles per gallon, whereas the old jeep got about twenty-five mpg. Frankly, the new Hummer model cant do much more than the old-timer model, and it costs about $100,000 compared to the originals price of what must have been less than a thousand dollars each. The Abrams tank, the most formidable tank ever built, has as its main support vehicle, a gas truck.
The Navy has it made in the shade. They have equipment that is big enough on which to install nuclear reactors. For obvious reasons, with atomic power, they get very good fuel mileage on their ships. I’m not allowed to tell you their ships fuel mileage, because if I do Jack Bauer would certainly pay me a visit, but, trust me, its eye-opening. Unfortunately, atomic-powered cars are not in our future.
This month, Road and Track magazine road-tested six new high-performance SUVs: the BMW X5 4.8, Chevrolet Trailblazer SS, Infiniti FX 45, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT 8, Porsche Cayenne Turbo, and Range Rover Sport Supercharged. Besides having eye-opening performances for SUVs, they all have mind-numbing gas consumption numbers. The $95,000 Porsche Cayenne, $45,000 Jeep Cherokee, and $76,000 Supercharged Rover all achieved, and I use that expression loosely, between 10 and 13 miles per gallon. The other cars in the group were slightly better. Who the hell buys and drives these cars? Does any rational person really need an SUV that goes from zero to sixty in 4.6 seconds and can do 160 miles per hour? If that type of performance turns you on, go out and buy a hot sports car that at least handles and get sane gas economy.
Road and Track, perhaps America’s most respected car enthusiast’s magazine, should be embarrassed for even doing this comparison road test. These vehicles are so wrong for the times that they are an insult to intelligent Americans. All of the companies involved in building these vehicles, especially Porsche, should be ashamed to have any one of these in their lineup. I especially point out Porsche because, spiritually, all their products are derived from one of the world’s great automotive designers, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, who pioneered one of the world’s first great economy cars, the Volkswagen Beetle. Volkswagen literally means “peoples car”. Their new Cheyenne Turbo is simply a selfish gas hog that is being marketed, because of corporate greed, to tap into the market of well-heeled, stupid American plutocrats. Today, any car that gets such abysmal fuel mileage is certainly not a “people car,”but a vehicle whose very existence endangers people. Strong words I know, but it is not only Porsche that should be taken to task, but every car manufacturer that builds a gas hungry vehicle.
Last week, a Council on Foreign Relations report concluded that U.S. dependence on imported energy actually undercut our national security. America imports 60 percent of the oil we use. Two-thirds of our oil is used for transportation and 60 percent of that is used in cars, SUVs and trucks. The current administration has virtually done nothing to raise the fuel economy standards of American car manufacturers. They actually rescinded the standards set by the previous administration. To state the obvious, this is a country run by oil men, past and present.
The government has actually imposed corporate fuel economy standards that make manufacturers achieve a corporate average fuel economy of 24 mpg by 2011. These standards are a sellout to Detroit, and a joke. The National Academy of Sciences even recommended that gas consumption should be raised to 33 mpg over the next ten years. Is anybody out there listening? I know a lot of you guys love your gas hogs, but please, when thinking of buying a new car, think about paring down. Better fuel economy is not only good for your wallet and your image, but good for America. It’s getting to a point where being seen driving a large gas hog actually makes you look stupid.
Bob Gelber, an automotive journalist living in the Hamptons, appears regularly on television as an automotive expert. You can email him at bobgelber@aol.com
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