but you're not entitled to your own facts. This comment of Thomas Sowell, I believe, ought to be provided to Senatrix Dianne Feinstein, who recently commented to the Senate:
" The fact of the matter is that Detroit has done nothing about mileage efficiency for the past 20 years and the time has come."
Let's test this hypothesis. In 1987, a Suburban was lucky to get about 15mpg on the highway. Today, that same vehicle gets 21mpg, and tows 40% more than its 1987 counterpart. Is a 40% improvement in fuel economy "nothing"? Apparently in the world of Dianne Feinstein, improving your results 40% in multiple areas counts for nothing. I'm guessing that the sun is green on her planet.
Feinstein also might want to remember why so many people--like herself--drive SUVs. A great part of the reason is that the station wagon was made impractical by federal regulation. So instead of a Roadmaster (26mpg in 1996), we're forced to buy a Suburban (21mpg in 2007) to haul our family and tow our boats.
And she blames Detroit for this?
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Is her reasoning something like this: big vehicles like SUV's are more prevalent and little cans like Chevettes are far scarcer than in 1987, therefore each automakers "fleet" gets less average mpg, therefore they've "done nothing?" It's the automakers' fault that their efforts to get us all to squeeze into uncomfortable deathtraps (that don't hold the child seats that they make us all buy) didn't succeed, therefore that equates to them having "done nothing" to improve efficiency? Imagine if they really had "done nothing" -- people would still want to drive the bigger vehicles, but they'd be getting 1980's gas mileage.
Rather than "less mpg" I should have said "no greater" mpg in the first sentence. Point is the same.
And thank GOD those econoboxes are gone--my Dad and I used to joke that the handholds on the inside would fold out in the case of an accident, and you could just use the vehicle as a coffin. 40mpg, yes, but 25mph up any significant sized hill? Yikes.
And yes, I think Pelosi is trying to blame Detroit for the fact that Americans won't buy a 1980s style Civic or Chevette anymore. Sadly, I think her absurd charge will stick.
I bought a Plymouth Horizon in 1988, but my husband (fiance at the time) insisted we had to get the most powerful subcompact we could find -- he was very concerned about power for safety reasons. The Horizon/Omni's engine was significantly larger than anything else in its class.
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