Doug Ross @ Journal

Gas: 33% Off

Two nights ago, my brother-in-law calls me, breathless, "Get over to the BP station on the corner. Gas is $2.09!" Yeah right, I retort. After all, Katrina has bumped the price of gas in our area to a uniform $3.09 a gallon. Why would a station be selling gas for 33% off?

Just get over there, he insists. I take the short drive from our neighborhood and my daughter drives her car over as well. The illuminated sign on the corner reads, "Unleaded: $3.09". I pull next to a pump. The LCD on the pump displays the price for each grade. Premium is $3.39. Plus is $3.19. Unleaded is $2.09. What the... ?

I whip out an Amex and fill both cars. Drive back to the house and get my wife's car. And fill that up. While her car refuels, I walk into the small station/convenience store. I ask the lady behind the counter: what's up with the $2.09 gas? She reponds that she had received a call to change Unleaded to $2.09. Uncertain, she said she'd called back to another office to make sure. Yup, they had said, it's $2.09.

Hmmm. The next day, I drive by the same station. Unleaded is now $2.99. Looks like someone from corporate had gotten their wires crossed, albeit for only a few hours or so.

The whole frenzy about fuel prices and the nature of our automobiles got me thinking about Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. It is outrageous, on a variety of levels, that the government hasn't gotten more aggressive with CAFE standards. These regulations, which were designed to regulate and -- over time -- improve fuel efficiency for vehicles have not substantially changed in decades.

Hybrid and biodiesel vehicles demonstrate that alternatives to traditional fossil fuel-burners are emerging. And it's literally disgusting that huge tax incentives exist for business owners to buy giant SUVs such as Hummers.

Furthermore, the domestic auto industry would have been far better off being pushed to compete on fuel economy. Instead of lobbying for standards that have essentially remained static, they could have used those funds and resources to greatly improve efficiency in order to compete at a higher level. Today, Toyota and Honda dominate the hybrid landscape. And the domestic manufacturers have only themselves to blame.

No matter. The market will mandate its own fuel-efficiency standards. It's just a shame the Government didn't work with the domestic industry to gain more efficiencies over the past twenty years. Competing on fuel-efficiency would have been a net benefit for GM, Ford, and Chrysler.

***
In honor of such an automobile-focused topic, the following reprises a December, 2003 entry that describes a very personal automotive history: the cars I've owned since my first auto purchase.

1982 Honda Prelude - It was my senior year in college when I first spotted the gen-I Honda Prelude. I was smitten. Sports-car? I don't know, but I loved the lines, the sun/moon-roof (this, when the only way to get such a roof in a GM car was to use a blowtorch), the five-speed. When my '77 Nova was finally paid off, I went to Joy Stillpass at the old Stillpass Honda and bought a stripped, burgundy Prelude.	1985 Saab 900 Turbo - My Dad introduced me to Saabs: they were certainly very rare in the Midwest. He had a gorgeous company car: a blue 900S four door. When I was close to paying off the Prelude, I decided to switch. I bought a black 900 Turbo 16-Valve (woo-hoo, 16 valves!) with the factory whale-tail spoiler. I also had a company car, so I could leave my baby in the garage for long stretches. At the time, these cars were so uncommon that I pulled into a McDonald's drivethrough once, only to have the guy at the window ask me, "is that a masserrattee?".	1991 Mazda Miata - With a young child, my wife sent me to get a sedan in October of '91. I came back with a Miata. An Indian Summer test drive left me captivated with ragtop driving. Rear-wheel drive, manual transmission, with no limited-slip - in snowy Boston - truly teaches you how to drive. My first attempted fast-lane pass in the snow resulted in me doing 360's on Route 128. Over the years, I spun the Miata out three times. Each time, the car touched nothing. Yes, I was lucky - not good.
1994 Cadillac Eldorado - My brother-in-law Marc introduced me to the comfort of Cadillacs, taking me to a dealership for some test drives. After about a six-hour negotiating session - after which both Marc and the salesman ("G") were near tears, I drove away in the Eldo. The seats were the most comfortable I'd ever felt. The 275 horsepower Northstar engine was a delight: torquey, responsive and turbine-like. The downsides? Handling (non-existent) and the 'sploded fuel-pump that left me stranded partway to Indianapolis. After a few years of spotty reliability, I'd had enough.	1999 Volvo S70 T5 - My Dad had a T5 five-speed, which I thought was very cool ("it looks like a Nazi staff car"). I'd never thought of springing for one until Tommy (again, from Stillpass) called with a deal I couldn't refuse. They would take the Eldo in trade (strangely enough, no other dealership seemed to want to take Cadillacs!) and cut me an end-of-the-month deal on a T5 that had been on the lot awhile. Powerful and luxurious, without any ostentatiousness, the T5 did have some downsides: it was plagued with a variety of electrical problems including starting, burned out bulbs and the dreaded "check-engine light".	2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe - What can you say about the G35C that hasn't been said by the automotive press? I compare it to a Porsche 911 Coupe for a fraction of the cost. 280 HP, tremendous handling and grip, back seats that are actually usable - at least by my kids - and the most 'looks' per mile I've ever experienced while driving. A black coupe with 18" rims is simply a moving piece of art. I'm going to be an Infiniti driver from this point forward. At least until a fuel pump 'splodes.