Could this be a glimpse at Government Motors?

[Tarheel]

I ran across this car review of the Honda Insight after reading a post on Twitter; the only thing that came to my mind was that this car (along with the Toyonda Pius) could be glimpse of what Government Motors has in store for us; apart from that I thought that it was a very funny review by Jeremy Clarkson (of BBCA's "Top Gear" programme).  Needless to say it only got one star (the car, not the article).

Sorry to post this in the political forum but with The ONE and his green, socialist, anthropogenic global warming allies taking over Detroit I thought that I'd make this a political issue since this is probably what we'll get out of Detroit with the new standards Mr. Obama is imposing.

This is an excerpt (mostly) from the Times Online, all emphasis is my own:

May 17, 2009
Honda Insight 1.3 IMA SE Hybrid

Jeremy Clarkson

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re easy on the throttle and how it is the dawn of all things. The beginning of days.

So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place.

So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.

The biggest problem, and it’s taken me a while to work this out, because all the other problems are so vast and so cancerous, is the gearbox. For reasons known only to itself, Honda has fitted the Insight with something called constantly variable transmission (CVT).

It doesn’t work. Put your foot down in a normal car and the revs climb in tandem with the speed. In a CVT car, the revs spool up quickly and then the speed rises to match them. It feels like the clutch is slipping. It feels horrid.

And the sound is worse. The Honda’s petrol engine is a much-shaved, built-for-economy, low-friction 1.3 that, at full chat, makes a noise worse than someone else’s crying baby on an airliner. It’s worse than the sound of your parachute failing to open. Really, to get an idea of how awful it is, you’d have to sit a dog on a ham slicer.

So you’re sitting there with the engine screaming its head off, and your ears bleeding, and you’re doing only 23mph because that’s about the top speed, and you’re thinking things can’t get any worse, and then they do because you run over a small piece of grit.

Because the Honda has two motors, one that runs on petrol and one that runs on batteries, it is more expensive to make than a car that has one. But since the whole point of this car is that it could be sold for less than Toyota’s Smugmobile, the engineers have plainly peeled the suspension components to the bone. The result is a ride that beggars belief.

There’s more. Normally, Hondas feel as though they have been screwed together by eye surgeons. This one, however, feels as if it’s been made from steel so thin, you could read through it. And the seats, finished in pleblon, are designed specifically, it seems, to ruin your skeleton. This is hairy-shirted eco-ism at its very worst.

However, as a result of all this, prices start at £15,490 — that’s £3,000 or so less than the cost of the Prius. But at least with the Toyota there is no indication that you’re driving a car with two motors. In the Insight you are constantly reminded, not only by the idiotic dashboard, which shows leaves growing on a tree when you ease off the throttle (pass the sick bucket), but by the noise and the ride and the seats. And also by the hybrid system Honda has fitted.

In a Prius the electric motor can, though almost never does, power the car on its own. In the Honda the electric motor is designed to “assist” the petrol engine, providing more get-up-and-go when the need arises. The net result is this: in a Prius the transformation from electricity to petrol is subtle. In the Honda there are all sorts of jerks and clunks.

And for what? For sure, you could get 60 or more mpg if you were careful. And that’s not bad for a spacious five-door hatchback. But for the same money you could have a Golf diesel, which will be even more economical. And hasn’t been built out of rice paper to keep costs down.

Of course, I am well aware that there are a great many people in the world who believe that the burning of fossil fuels will one day kill all the Dutch and that something must be done.
...
At this point you will probably dismiss what I’m saying as the rantings of a petrolhead, and think that I have my head in the sand.

That’s not true. While I have yet to be convinced that man’s 3% contribution to the planet’s greenhouse gases affects the climate, I do recognise that oil is a finite resource and that as it becomes more scarce, the political ramifications could well be dire. I therefore absolutely accept the urgent need for alternative fuels.

But let me be clear that hybrid cars are designed solely to milk the guilt genes of the smug and the foolish. And that pure electric cars, such as the G-Wiz and the Tesla, don’t work at all because they are just too inconvenient.

...

I would have hoped, therefore, that Honda had diverted every penny it had into making hydrogen work rather than stopping off on the way to make a half-arsed halfway house for fools and madmen.

The only hope I have is that there are enough fools and madmen out there who will buy an Insight to look sanctimonious outside the school gates. And that the cash this generates can be used to develop something a bit more constructive.

For those wanting to read the whole article it's worth it:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article6294116.ece

[AUTiger1]

It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.

 

I read a figure yesterday that said it would cost somewhere around $46Billion to revamp the product line for the changes "Neo" is asking for......The Guinness commercials come to mind "BRILLIANT".

They are going bankrupt already, and now he is asking them to spend money they don't have....wait, that is what he asked us to do with the Porkulus package.  I am beginning to see a pattern.  Spend what you don't have and ask the taxpayer to pay for it, yeah that's the ticket!

[Tarheel]

 

I read a figure yesterday that said it would cost somewhere around $46Billion to revamp the product line for the changes "Neo" is asking for......The Guinness commercials come to mind "BRILLIANT".

They are going bankrupt already, and now he is asking them to spend money they don't have....wait, that is what he asked us to do with the Porkulus package.  I am beginning to see a pattern.  Spend what you don't have and ask the taxpayer to pay for it, yeah that's the ticket!

Well, that IS how Keynesian economics (supposedly) works!

Anyway, it's all Bush/Cheney/Halliburton's fault!

[AUTiger1]

Well, that IS how Keynesian economics (supposedly) works!

Anyway, it's all Bush/Cheney/Halliburton's fault!

Of course it is.  I expect to hear that mantra for the next 4 years. 

[Tiger Wench]

Ten bucks says there is already a six month waiting list... 

[AUTiger1]

Well, that IS how Keynesian economics (supposedly) works!

Anyway, it's all Bush/Cheney/Halliburton's fault!

You know, all I can think about with the spending this administration is doing, (and lets be real, you, several others and I know that we will be paying for the spending), is the video where Daniel Hannan tells Gordon Brown he is the devalued Prime Minister of a devalued government.  He made note of how Brown has socialized everything and that is exactly what is happening with the not only the banks, but the automobile industry as well.  The sad part is that you have those that voted for the guy that still think he is the most awesome POTUS ever and you have those that voted for him, see that he is fucking things up royally and still continue to "tote his water."  It bewilders me that people can't see through the "eloquent" speechs, if you choose to call them that and not realize that he and this congress is ushering in socialism as fast as they can and that they have apparently never read a history book, newspaper or what ever and seen that socialism doesn't work.  It never has and it never will. 

Margret Thatcher said it best when she said "“The problem with socialism is that you eventually, run out of other people's money.”

Tiger Wench: You would probably be surprised at the amount of people that will wind up buying one of the "green machines" that the automakers manufacture.  Too bad the offset in fuel mileage will not make up for the extra amount of money that the purchase price will be over the life of the vehicle.

Rant off....carry on! 

[Thrilla]

What is everyone's thoughts on the Hybrid Synergy Drive Engines put out on some of the GM (I think?) models?  They use E 95 Ethanol for fuel, but I'm not really sure how efficient it is.  I see a lot of them on the road here in the city...

[Tarheel]

What is everyone's thoughts on the Hybrid Synergy Drive Engines put out on some of the GM (I think?) models?  They use E 95 Ethanol for fuel, but I'm not really sure how efficient it is.  I see a lot of them on the road here in the city...

I'm not familiar with the Hybrid Synergy Drive (I'm more familiar with the 'Infinite Improbability Drive', BTW) but my GM has a Flex Fuel Engine that can run off of primarily 'corn squeezins' in the form of E 85 Ethanol; it seems to work very well when I can find a place that sells E 85; only a very few places sell it in teh ATL.

[Thrilla]

I'm not familiar with the Hybrid Synergy Drive (I'm more familiar with the 'Infinite Improbability Drive', BTW) but my GM has a Flex Fuel Engine that can run off of primarily 'corn squeezins' in the form of E 85 Ethanol; it seems to work very well when I can find a place that sells E 85; only a very few places sell it in teh ATL.

Do you improve your gas mileage with the Flex Fuel engine?  Come to think of it, I haven't seen anywhere around where I live that sells E 85 either.

[boartitz]

Do you improve your gas mileage with the Flex Fuel engine?  Come to think of it, I haven't seen anywhere around where I live that sells E 85 either.

Beware. The engine is made to burn E85, but some of the rubber and plastic parts in the fuel line will decompose with exposure to alcohol. Even the gas tanks on some models. Then your cylinders get force fed plastic and rubber. Not good.

[Tarheel]

Do you improve your gas mileage with the Flex Fuel engine?  Come to think of it, I haven't seen anywhere around where I live that sells E 85 either.

Performance-wise the Flex Fuel engine runs the same on Gasoline (with up to 10 percent ethanol) or E 85 (a fuel blend with up to 85 percent ethanol).  I have not noticed a difference in MPG performance either but the manufacturer suggests that the MPG performance would be lower due to less energy in a gallon of ethanol (pure) versus a gallon of 87 Octane gasoline (no blend).

There is only one station that I know of in Cobb County that sells E 85 but there are a few others around Atlanta.  They are hard to find.  I do travel through South Carolina a lot though and there are quite a few stations in that state that sell it unlike Georgia.

I have found that E 85 generally runs a up to 80 cents less per gallon than regular unleaded gas (or blends up to 10 percent).

Beware. The engine is made to burn E85, but some of the rubber and plastic parts in the fuel line will decompose with exposure to alcohol. Even the gas tanks on some models. Then your cylinders get force fed plastic and rubber. Not good.

I think that used to be the case, boartitz, but all of the late model GM Flex Fuel cars have been modified to mitigate the problems with running E 85 Ethanol although I'd be willing to bet that there might be some unadvertised, long-term effects.  Eh, it's GM, what do you expect?

[Saniflush]

I'm more familiar with the 'Infinite Improbability Drive

So long and thanks for all the fish.

[Tarheel]

So long and thanks for all the fish.

I knew that you would get that reference.

"Don't Panic."

[Saniflush]

I knew that you would get that reference.

"Don't Panic."

I've calculated your chance of survival, but I don't think you'll like it.

[Tarheel]

I've calculated your chance of survival, but I don't think you'll like it.

The Main Computer hates me.

[Saniflush]

The Main Computer hates me.

Incredible... it's even worse than I thought it would be.

[Tarheel]

Incredible... it's even worse than I thought it would be.

Never under any circumstances let a Vogon read poetry.

[Tarheel]

Incredible... it's even worse than I thought it would be.

I have a million ideas but they all point to certain death.

[Saniflush]

I have a million ideas but they all point to certain death.

Curiously the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias, as it fell, was, 'Oh no, not again.' Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly *why* the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.

[Tarheel]

Curiously the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias, as it fell, was, 'Oh no, not again.' Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly *why* the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.

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