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On Sun, April 2, 2006 10:25 pm, Brian wrote: > please explain to me where these cars are going to make us less dependent > on foreign supplies, they are not cost effective enough to sway the local > yokals to abandon less $ more HP rigs... they will just cause more > environmental issues than fossil fuel every will. I honestly don't mean to start a flame war here, I'm just trying to answer this question, and I hope my answer will be taking in that spirit. Brian, the alternative is to sit back and do nothing. People can say no one will ever buy these things in significant enough numbers to make any kind of realistic difference, and it could be true. But the point is, by buying one of these, you are doing your part. Apparently, the "local yokals" understand this as well, because hybrids are at least selling well enough that companies are starting to produce them across more model lines. Most people who "do the math" realize that the amount of money they're paying extra for these hybrids will, in most cases, never offset the lower amount of gasoline they will use over the lifetime of the car. But still they buy. Why? They want to do SOMETHING to help. I pay a "surcharge" on my electric bill every month so that my local electric company buys "green tickets" that fund renewable energy. Accordingly, the electricity my family consumes is 100% generated by wind energy -- or at least I spend a certain amount of money to make sure that a certain amount of wind energy makes its way onto the grid, the equivalent of what my household uses. Does that make a difference? Probably not. The point is, I am trying to do SOMETHING to reduce my footprint in the world and clean up after myself, just like my parents taught me to do. I have two "terra-passes" for my automobiles that ensures that whatever amount of CO2 my car generates over the course of a year is offset by buying MORE green tickets for electricity, meaning less CO2 will be generated by power plants. Is it enough to cancel the "OZONE ALERT" in NYC for the day? Nope. Not nearly. The point is, I'm doing just one or two small things. If everyone did that, you'd see a hell of a difference in the way the world is today. And yes, we would be a helluva lot less dependent on "foreign supplies." Why would you possibly criticize anyone for trying to do what small little things they can do to help the environment or help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil? I just don't get it... I think it's the whole "you can either light a candle or curse the darkness" thing... Just my $.02 Aaron ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~