Mine is paid off, fully depreciated, and not on a loan. The measely amount they'd give me towards a new car would not offset the huge increase in costs I would incur by buying a more fuel efficient vehicle because so few of them exceed the fuel economy of my Saturn SL1. What's more, I don't want to own any of those cars. I don't like Japanese automobiles, and I certainly don't want to pay the amount necessary to buy one of those, even with the incentives from Obama.
If I had my way, I'd have GM simply rebuild me the car I already have with the engine it currently contains and do that in lieu of buying a hybrid. A friend of my father owns a hybrid and lucked out on escaping some costs. The console, the batteries, the periodic maintenance, all of those cost astronomical amounts to fix. What's more, you can't really work on some of that stuff yourself or you void warranty etc. I looked at the engine of a friend's parents' hybrid and I don't even know where to start in fixing it. Plus, you've got extra crap in there because a hybrid has a regular engine, albeit smaller, plus the electrical components.
I find it highly ironic that those kinds of cars barely beat me in mileage. They often have smaller engines, which in and of itself could account for that differential. Remember the Geo Metro and Chevy Aspire. Without the electric engine, would those cars even beat a Saturn? Even more embarassing, my mom's Chevy Malibu gets 36mpg highway and it has a 6 cylinder engine. I don't know about you, but I'll trade 10% economy for that kind of power and comfort.
No comments:
Post a Comment