Jeep Patriot

And for those of us who refuse to add the Macromedia Flash security hole to our systems, try this link instead:

I always figured that with a 4WD car, you should be able to select which axle(s) are being powered at any time -- front, rear, or both... In certain

It looks like a cross between an 07 Wrangler and a Cherokee. It won't replace either with a FWD 4-banger, IRS, no tow equipment, optional off-road equipment. Cute mall runner though. This is the first Jeep offering that includes "9 speaker premium sound" as off-road equipment, something I found to be mildly humorous.

Let's face reality. The Feds are tightening down on mileage specs for utility vehicles; the public wants/will want more fuel efficient vehicles without downsizing, Jeep lovers want vehicles that look like Jeeps, and DC wants to stay in business. This is where design teams must go to meet these mandates.

My .02. These things come in cycles, and it will probably be 12-15 years before it swings back this way again. Soooo, if anyone wants a big, heavy Jeep with solid axles and guts under the bonnet, now is the time to buy.

Your probably right. Unless something really ugly happens that seriously cuts the oil supply (the Saudi or Iranian oil fields getting nuked for example), oil prices are not sustainable as high as they are and we are headed for an oil price crash (I can't wait!).

When that happens of course gas prices will come back down and people will be able to buy the cars and Jeeps they really want again... unless the government screws everything up!

Jeff DeWitt

JD Adams wrote:

Jeff, with all my heart I hope that your prediction is correct. Me and my little 14-15 mpg TJ would be very happy to pay a little less at the pump

Kate

Well Kate think about it, OK part of the reason prices are high is tension over Iran and problems in Nigeria. Once those problems are sorted out (however it happens), that will take a lot of pressure. Plus with prices as high as they are there is a lot of new exploration going on and wells that weren't worth running with oil at $20 a barrel are being uncapped and brought back online. In addition with oil about $40 a barrel oil sands and oil shale become economically feasible to tap.

In a few years all this stuff is going to be coming online and we are going to have another oil glut.

Jeff DeWitt

Kate wrote:

If you want to help problems in Nigeria, then answer some of those emails you have been getting. ;^)

The only flaw in your reasoning, that I can see, is that petroleum is not a renewable resource, except on a time scale of millions of years, at least not yet. Until some genius figures out how to make the stuff out of CO2 and sunlight, we are burning dwindling stocks of the stuff. I look for prices to go up, down, up again, and so forth, but with the trend always up.

Earle

Read the reports carefully - it's not so much the price of the crude driving prices as the refining capacity and the delays enforced by the regs on additives driving gasoline prices. Not a whole lot of excess refining capacity to work with in this country right now or in the foreseeable future.

No, it's not a renewable resources, but there is LOTS of it out there, some tied up for political reasons (such as ANWAR), and some not commercially viable, such as oil shale. However if prices stay above 40 a barrel for an extended period of time these sources will profitable to exploit.

Jeff DeWitt

Earle Hort> If you want to help problems in Nigeria, then answer some of those emails

Oh I know, one of the biggest parts of this problem is the idiots in Washington that are more interested in playing politics then dealing with our problems... that is doing their jobs.

However other countries have leadership that isn't quite as stupid, the Canadians are building a big refinery, as are the Mexicans.

Now if a few Congresscritters would go for a ride with Teddy Kennedy...

Jeff DeWitt

Will H>

And that would be a bad thing how?

If our political types were actually interested in solving our energy problem they would encourage domestic production while discouraging imports and at the same time push the development of advanced nuclear reactors and finding a liquid fuel made from renewable resources that could economically replace oil.

It could be done, but we need a few more statesmen and a few less politicians.

Jeff DeWitt

L.W.(Bill) Hughes III wrote:

You smart guys just impress the hell out of me. I will remember this, and in a few years if it comes true, I will remind you of it.

If not, I will remind you of it over and over and over and over again..... heh heh

Kate

All these soon-to-be-closed military bases would be perfect sites for nuclear power. We need to make electricity so cheap it's almost free.

President Kennedy promised us that atomic power plants would produce electricity too cheaply to bother to meter.

Something we agree on, and you still insult me? No wonder you have friends that follow you around Usenet... :-)

That was before the guv-mint got involved with regulating it.

Like I've said before, build a lot of new plants and put the Navy in charge of them.