[DeTomaso] My solution to the automaker problems

wkooiman at earthlink.net wkooiman at earthlink.net
Tue Dec 9 20:33:14 EST 2008


Not much snow in Houston, but we drive it to Colorado for skiing.

There was record snow this year (Feb).  They closed some of the ski resorts because there was too much snow to run the lifts.  They actually trucked the snow out in dump trucks (not Vail).

On the way from Denver to Vail, on I-70, a pickup truck passed us.  5 miles later, he was @ssbackwards in the snowbank on the side of the road.

If the snow is deep, you can feel it hit the bottom of the car, but I imagine that happens to most cars - just not trucks/SUV's.

Being a front-wheel drive, it works just fine on snow, though.

We stopped at 3 gas stations on the way from Houston to Vail (1200 miles).  Twice, we stopped to pee.  It feels strange to be stiff from driving for 6 hrs, and then parking in a parking space instead of at the gas pump.

What gets me is they could do the same car with a 4-cylinder turbo, a little more weight (sound deadener, comfort amenities), and it would still get 50+ mpg.  When I'm crusing at 70mph, it isn't using any of the hybrid technology.  It gets the mileage from great aerodynamics, low rolling resistance tires, and a small 1-liter engine.

Will.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Ed Pike <erpike at ymail.com>
>Sent: Dec 9, 2008 6:14 PM
>To: wkooiman at earthlink.net, Kerry Maguire <kmaguire at landrovermiramar.com>, detomaso at realbig.com
>Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] My solution to the automaker problems
>
>This might be a dumb question and a little off topic but how does that Insight do in about 8 inches of snow?
>
>Ed...
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>From: "wkooiman at earthlink.net" <wkooiman at earthlink.net>
>To: Kerry Maguire <kmaguire at landrovermiramar.com>; detomaso at realbig.com
>Sent: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 6:44:50 PM
>Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] My solution to the automaker problems
>
>My Honda Insight was $20K.
>
>The design is pretty simple.  It's basically a 3-cylinder with electric boost.
>
>I have a hard time believing they're not making money on this car.  It is cheap cheap cheap.  The dash looks nice.  The rest looks like major econo-box.  It's well built, don't get me wrong.  It's just that if it weren't a hybrid, it would be a $12K car.
>
>(still getting 70+mpg on the highway)
>
>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Kerry Maguire <kmaguire at landrovermiramar.com>
>>Sent: Dec 8, 2008 8:00 PM
>>To: detomaso at realbig.com
>>Subject: [DeTomaso]  My solution to the automaker problems
>>
>>I read that at a suggested MSRP of $40K, GM would still lose money on
>>the Volt. 
>>
>> 
>>
>>It has recently come to light from an ex Toyota executive that the
>>Japanese Government secretly paid several hundreds of millions of
>>dollars of development costs of the Prius.
>>
>> 
>>
>>Hybrid cars just do not pencil financially and I say this as a Prius
>>owner.
>>
>> 
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>> 
>>
>>Kerry M. Maguire
>>
>> 
>>
>> 
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>
>>Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>>
>>Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>>
>>DeTomaso mailing list
>>DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
>>http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
>Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>
>DeTomaso mailing list
>DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
>http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>_______________________________________________
>
>Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
>Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>
>DeTomaso mailing list
>DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
>http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso




More information about the DeTomaso mailing list