...being a millionaire ain't what it used to be!
Quite true, you probably meet one or two every day but you just don’t know it, they don’t wear silk hats and spats anymore. Being a millionaire just isn’t that big a deal anymore.
I was a kid when a new car could easily be had for under $3000. Today, that won’t even buy you a new 250cc motorcycle. By the time today’s kids become grandparents, I suspect “millionaire” will be the new poverty line.
Yeah, read the book “The Millionaire Next Door”. They’re the ones driving the five year old Buick. The sad part is its the kids that will get the money and as the old law goes will spend it freely. Then the next generation will scrimp and save again to get it back. I’m pretty sure my neighbor though is a multi though but would never know it except the house next to him came up for sale and he just bought because he said the money wasn’t doing anything in the bank. Same guy that went to buy a new truck and bought three new cars because he got such a good deal.
@Same,well the former "greenie weenies"are what changed my mind,not the smug Prius drivers(of course not all Prius drivers are like that) what are you referring too as next gen,little polluting,-“zero point” energy? Fossil fuels,will never be truly benign.
I had to throw the towel in on wind energy(even though I would live in the base of one of the structures if I had to.
One of my neighbors is a real greenie . . . or so he says
His front lawn always looked really bad, because he never watered enough. Yellow grass, and weeds everywhere. Everybody else’s always looked at least presentable
He has 3 cars in his driveway. 2 are dead, with flat tires, and haven’t moved in years. Only 1 is running, and his wife drives that to get to work
They both apparently regularly use their bicycles to get exercise
Lately, many people in the neighborhood have been replacing their front lawns with plants which require far less water, and replacing the actual grass with mulch, decomposed granite, etc. A big part of it is rebates from the utility companies. but he didn’t do that. He just left his front lawn unchanged, and it looks like hell
Anyways, this guy recently said that since he wasn’t watering his front lawn regularly, he was water conscious, and was the first wave. I suppose he meant that he actually started something, as opposed to being a mere follower
He also said he was saving the environment, because he’s only driving 1 of his 3 cars, and riding the bicycle to do local chores
Mind you, this guy’s house looks like an eyesore. On top of his 2 dead cars on flat tires, he has a bunch of ragged looking cats . . . which probably don’t get fed regularly . . . he’s got dogs in the backyard, which he never ever lets out, but who bark all the time, his house desperately needs new paint and a roof
The way he talks, he reminds me of those old pot-head cheech and chong movies.
In other words, his house is an eyesore in every possible way, he’s a hypocrite, full of BS, and I’d be glad to hear that somebody laid him out
The only good thing, is that 1 of the 2 dead cars is a first generation Mustang hardtop. At least it’s more interesting to look, versus a 15 year old Taurus that isn’t running, for example
I agree Kevin, fossil fuels will continue to be a major part of the energy infrastructure for generations, possibly forever. I remain puzzled as to why the south has not done more to promote conservation via home insulation. I don’t have data to back me, but I suspect energy use could be reduced 20% at least by doing so. Wind power is safe, but ugly. And highly dependent upon regional terrain differences. There are also experiments ongoing in the areas of tidal generation, biofuels, and other areas. Electric cars are unlikely to drive these technologies, but perhaps they’ll help. Note that I’m definitely not a greenie, but I believe that we’ll need a better infrastructure for EVs to become ubiquitous, and I believe that we’re currently doing an amazingly horrible job of making more power readily available. The only one doing anything at all is Elon Musk, and he’s not really addressing the areas of conservation or generation, only of distribution.
Db, as you already realize, your neighbor is just cheap. And lazy. That does not mean he’s not a good human being, but having a mess for a property is not necessary to be an environmentalist.
mountainbike
I’m in the southwest, and only very recently has anything been done to promote insulation and decent windows
The mindset . . . until very recently . . . has been that it doesn’t get very cold here, and power is cheap. Therefore, just crank up the ac in the hot months and be done with it
And historically . . . in this area . . . the incentives to add insulation haven’t been that great. Meaning a long time to recoup the cost to retrofit
I agree that my neighbor is just cheap. He is a good human being. I don’t actively hate him, but I don’t like him, either. He’s the kind of guy that tends to annoy you when he opens his mouth and starts ranting.
Sorry to go off again but that reminded me of a story. My BIL’s dad lives in a small town. He was having problems with his neighbor similar to that above except throw in drugs. Finally after trying everything else, he just went over and asked the guy how much he had to have to buy his house so he’d move. I think it was $10 or 20K at the time in the small town. It worked and he left and they burned the house down for volunteer fire department practice-problem solved.
I really like that story . . . I presume the BIL’s dad watched when the house got torched . . . ?!
:naughty:
After reading pages and pages of this debate, I decided to chime in. The way I see it, cars and trucks and transportation are just getting more and more job specific. If you live in a place where there’s lots of traffic and everything is fairly close by, then an electric car can be the right choice. If you live where you drive more than 50 - 60 miles every time you have a set of chores to do, then maybe you need something different. If you are a tradesman or have a hobby that requires moving big stuff, then a pickup or van could be the best. And if you travel long distances 6 - 8 times a year, by car, maybe you should investigate renting a car for those journeys. There is no single vehicle that answers every need, and rather than endlessly searching for that magic carpet ride, leave your mind open to alternate solutions.
When I lived in snow country in New England I had a winter ride and a summer ride. Sure, a 4wd SUV might do both, but a tight handling summer car was more fun. In the winter, a roomy “winter crasher” was better, and less worry about messing up your pretty SUV. Two vehicles cost twice as much as one, but they last twice as long.
There’s no simple answer, but experimenting with new technology has gotten us some spectacular cars and trucks. Bring it on.
Unfortunately there’s more to electric car buying and life style.
My wife has a perfect commute for a Tesla-S.But the major obstacle is cost. Electric rates here in NH are high. The price of a electric car will have to come down drastically. Already have…but needs to come down more.
The main reason we didn’t buy a Camry hybrid instead of our 07 Lexus ES-350 was trunk space. With Lithium batteries being so much smaller…that is no longer an issue. Hybrid maybe our next vehicle in 4-5 years.
I don’t see EV vehicles replacing longhaul trucking . . . or even large local deliveries by truck
Even when a 7-Eleven gets their soft drinks and booze restocked, a semi with a trailer shows up
EV technology will have to become several times more efficient, before you can think of replacing vocational vehicles, for that matter
I think we’re headed in the right direction, though, as far as non-EV improvements go
The FWD Ford Transit connect, for example, does a fine job of replacing small pickups and body on frame vans for many local deliveries. Small deliveries, that is
The engines and transmissions are becoming lighter and more efficient
Unibody has started to replace body on frame. You can look to the full-size Ford Transit for an example, because it replaced the body on frame Econoline, as far as I know
I believe @wentwest makes a good point in that vehicles are becoming more job specific. When I was growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, the first thing that happened when we got a different car was that a trailer hitch was immediately installed. We didn’t have a pickup truck, but had a utility trailer. I would like to have a more fuel efficient vehicle but my wife’s job as a,university administrator demanded that she be at work even though the institution may be shut down because of the weather. Hence, we bought a 4Runner. I need to transport people and musical instruments, so we have a Sienna. We are now both retired, but the 4Runner is in such good shape that we aren’t about to trade it. I still have my musical interests. Furthermore, I am more comfortable sitting up and find most cars uncomfortable. I’ve served my sentence in Ramblers, Mavericks and Ford Tempos. I did my part for my carbon footprint. Now it’s your turn.
I think the most benefit combined with reasonable cost and flexibility right now, and for the near future, is with regular hybrids (not the plug in variety). I get 38 mpg in city driving with a car that comfortably seats four, about double what I got with the prior car. 50 mpg city is pretty easy from a Prius (and 55 mpg to come from the 2016 Prius). But if I drove mostly highway it wouldn’t be worth it at all, easy to get 30 mpg highway now with room for 4. Anything bigger than a mid-size, and hybrid batteries get too expensive. Small diesels for pickups look good (see Ram).
Speaking of small pick ups, did you see the Ford Ranger is coming back? Made in Michigan though and not St. Paul since the historical Ford Plant has been demolished and everyone sent home.
When did this happen?
Is this a body-on-frame Ranger, or something else?
I assume it’s either a totally new design, or an existing design, which was not previously available in the US
Maybe Ford figured it should reenter the market, since Chevy came out with an almost full-size Colorado
Perhaps italian Mopar will introduce a made-in-Italy unibody Dodge Dakota
Saw it on CNN or someplace-internet version. It looked like the same one they have been making in Australia or wherever they were making the redesigned ones. Here’s an article. Looks like they are made in Argentina and other points now. Kind of a kick in the pants for St. Paul when they told the workers they weren’t going to continue the Ranger. Now they are hot to add it.
Ford never stopped selling Rangers elsewhere, just here. It will be as similar to the world-wide Ranger as it can be.
I read the article a couple days ago also. Ford hasn’t yet decided…but it looks good that they are.
Personally I didn’t think the small truck market was big enough for another player. There are only 400,000 small pickups sold each year. That’s a very small market.
The decision has not been made yet on the Ranger. It will depend on the UAW contract. The intended plant has no product planned as yet. It is a bargaining chip.
Small trucks cost almost as much to build as the big ones but people won’t option them up to $50,000 like people will the full size ones. Harder to make money on them in the US.
I don’t think that Ford and GM would have re-entered the small truck market if Toyota and Nissan had updated their small trucks more often.