Camaro Gas Mileage, CAFE and "The VOLT"...

[tonyko1]

A lot of threads seem to go round and round about our Camaro's gas mileage, be it the V6 or V8. A lot of this is causing concerns about Camaro powerplants going forward with the new CAFE standards to take effect in a few years.

BTW, seems a bit arrogant the government thinks they can just legislate a CAFE standard and it will happen. California tried to legislate zero emissions cars, was supposed to have been implemented about 10yrs ago. Doesn't seem to have worked out.

Anyways, now the Volt is trying to imprint itself upon the landscape. Guess you have to start somewhere, never understood why they didn't continue on with that other all-electric car, EV-1, but whatever. So the Volt will help with CAFE standards, but it sure is killing GM's bottom line and as a taxpayer, that aint good. Currently (no pun intended) said Volt has a $10k rebate and if the Fed is still giving a $7500 rebate (again, your tax dollars and interestingly avg wage of a Volt buyer is over $75k yr). Still, GM is losing about $10k a year on these cars. I do think that if any electric car could run all electric, charge < 2hrs and go 300 miles on a charge and be $20k, they would sell like the proverbial hotcakes. Only car getting anything near that is the Tesla for $190k, although they and Honda are working on a $50k vehicle, time will tell.

The ZL1's currently charge a fed mandated "gas guzzler" tax, but if you think about it, all of them "pay their fair share" in gas taxes, as they tax per gallon. With the advent of hybrids and electric cars, watch for GPS technology to track mileage to charge tax per mile, road travelled and time of day. I say it is less than 10yrs away.

I am glad I got my Camaro when I did.

[Captain Awesome]

Originally Posted by tonyko1

BTW, seems a bit arrogant the government thinks they can just legislate a CAFE standard and it will happen.

This is a common misconception. This is NOT "legislation". It is "Regulation". The difference is that regulations are churned out by nameless, faceless beaurocrats who are immune to the voters and therefore do whatever they want without fear of being removed from office.

Note: this is a fact and is not a political statement, and is therefore allowed under the rules of this forum.

When people complain about "too much regulation", they are not trying to get rid of all regulation, they just want to change the way regulations are made so that the people who make them are following the will of the people, not the latest cultural science scare tactic fad that gives the regulators job security and allows them to hire even more paper pushers.

We need to put an end to "Regulation without Representation".

[90503]

Eh, I used to "hate" the Volt but it may have a niche now and more in the future...I would rather "subsidize" a US made car (for now) than see only see only similar powered cars imported with no hope of US competition....If they help the cafe, which helps keep V-8 alive, then I say "more power to them"....(No pun intended)...lol

[brandonrr]

tonyko1 and captain awesome...

couldn't have said it better myself

[tonyko1]

Thanks Brandonrr for the kind words and clapping!

And thank you Capt Awesome, you are correct, it is regulations, I think I was using the word "legislate" for effect.

GM is such an American icon, I don't know a time without it in the American Landscape. As such, it is brutal to watch it go through its ups and mostly downs for the past years. I remember when I was with GM customer service, everyone was wearing a "29" button, to keep GM market share at 29% of the US auto market in 1999. They almost made it, but didnt and have never had a chance to since. To think that the Chevy division alone accounted for 50% of all US market share in 1960, the Chevy Division was bigger than all of Ford/Mercury/Lincoln combined.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[fielderLS3]

Originally Posted by tonyko1

I do think that if any electric car could run all electric, charge < 2hrs and go 300 miles on a charge and be $20k, they would sell like the proverbial hotcakes.

^Agree with everything else you said, but statements like the above usually make my eyes roll back into my head. Yes, such a car would sell like hotcakes, as would the Camaro ZL1 if they sold that for $20K or less. Doesn't mean either is ever going to happen.

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

This is a common misconception. This is NOT "legislation". It is "Regulation".

Always love your posts. Keep em coming.

[fielderLS3]

Originally Posted by tonyko1

it is regulations, I think I was using the word "legislate" for effect.

..and just to add (and hoping this isn't seen as too political), I believe those "regulations" were actually debated in some form as "legislation" and voted down.