Ready to Change?

Byline: Dutch Mandel

We may be getting closer to that point in our national vehicle fleet where we have to reconsider What We Want versus What We Can Afford.

What we can afford is now measured not so much in big-block, high-performance smiles per mile as in increasing miles-per-gallon fuel economy.

Yeah, you can credit-or blame-the rising price of gasoline for edging utes, V12s and other gas chuggers toward the cliff edge. To a lesser extent, also thank a growing consciousness among environmentalists. You know them. They are the smug ones in high-occupancy-vehicle lanes leading that consumerist charge; they wear hybrids as if they were Nehru jackets and caftans and cast disapproving glares at everyone else. Never mind that they're humping along at 80 mph.

Perhaps this so-called greenness and the acceptance of fuel-economy ratings as the performance spec du jour show passion measured in another way. I suppose.

So hybrid-gasoline-electric, electric and, with the most recent announcement by Honda, hydrogen-powered cars will hit showrooms in ever-increasing numbers and will do so in the near future. But are they really what we want to drive?

Those responsible for bringing the ...