Car That Can Park Itself Put on Sale by Toyota

And why NOT if your uber-clean car has a fraction of the negative impact of that SUV?

Don't forget that the purchase of a HUMMER H2 will also result in the same subsizing.

A small business is allowed to claim a very, very, very large credit because the vehicle apparently "needed" for that business is over

10,000 pounds. The tiny deduction a person gets for the purchase of a Prius pales in comparison.

JOHN

By the same token, if it were shown that SUVs had a significantly superior accident survivability rate, then Congress / IRS in order to promote vehicle safety should either put a safety surcharge on small cars or extend preferential tax treatment to SUV buyers. See ... it's about distorting the market with the tax code to promote an activity that might not otherwise occur. I am not in favor of most of those efforts.

Last time I checked I was paying something more than $0.39 per gallon in fuel taxes. In southern states most of the road damage is caused by heavy trucks. The drivers of cars and light trucks are paying to build and maintain the roads and the heavy trucks are destroying them. Smaller transfer trucks are all you need to move goods from the train station to the stores. Cite me one study that shows heavy truck are paying anything more than a low percentage of the funds needed to build and maintain the roads they use, and I'll get off you case. The truth is, the trucking industry is one of the most heavily subsidized industries in the country.

Regards,

But the government building roads so heavy trucks can put railroads out of buisness is a good idea?

Ed

I just could not resist. Some computer parts are quite expensive and quite small. More than $799 for a top end CPU, bulk packaged... I can see $1,000,000 in a single car load.

I think, though, that tilde phil under-estimates the trucking industry and union's lobbying power as a factor in allowing trucks to be as dirty and smelly as some of them are. The complaint that it would cost a lot to clean up an average truck is valid. That does not mean that it can't or shouldn't be done.

While the commercial trucks contribute mightily to every modern economy, they also contribute mightily to the politicians.

Daniel

(snip)

Well, a Prius is actually cheaper than the average new car. And with the $2k tax benefit, that effectively cuts the price further, and the fuel savings cuts expenses. So it's hardly a car for "rich people." All the hybrid owners I know are regular middle-class folks.

You are correct that there are other ways to save $$$. One way would be to buy a used, fuel-efficient car.

BTW, Consumer Reports did a comparison test of several fuel-efficient cars a few years ago (Honda Insight, VW Golf diesel, Toyota Prius and Echo, I think) that you might find interesting.

If somebody must drive, it does make sense to drive a car that's fuel efficient and pollutes less.

In my brief experience with hybrids, the most obvious difference was that they could be really quiet inside, because the gas engines only needed to run when the car was in motion.

"Small transfer trucks" is NOT all you need by a LONG shot. I drove line haul for 12 yrs and can tell you have expressed only a superficial appreciation of trucking industry finances and modalities..

What does your reply have to do with the clip (credited to me) you provided?

Clearly you don't don't understand intermodal transporation.

The two years I drove for an owner/operator taught me more about the financial workings of the trucking business than you have any appreciation of. Part of what you say is true but the side that gets the lion's share of political contributions would surprise you.

A million dollars worth of computer chips delivered by passenger car would be thoroughly foolish. Brinks truck? Semi trucks deliver such high value loads routinely tens of thousands times a day nationwide.

The exhaust emissions matter is another area you are woefully ignorant about, so I would invite you to become more knowledgeable.

"Philip®" painstakingly pecked in news:4jN8b.2425$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net:

Philip, C.E. White is correct. Even with your fuel taxes and license taxes, high as they are, trucks are not even close to paying what they cost to run on the road.

Railroads are no longer subsidized to the degree they were, and are not now subsidized to the degree that roads currently are. Ever look at industrial buildings up to about 1965 or so? Ever notice how their truck bays only seem to accommodate 20' straight trucks and you have to either block the road or turn the cab sideways if you have a trailer? Ever notice how railroad spur lines have mostly been torn up or lie idle, choked with weeds?

When railroads were the Big Thing, tax money was funnelled their way. Now that roads are the Big Thing, *that's* where the tax money goes. And thus the trucks.

Next I'm in the Sunshine State, you bet. Meantime I'll be helping to make our air cleaner and our gasoline cheaper than they would otherwise be.

Are you implying that you are a citizen yet pay no taxes?

TeGGer, CE is not wholly correct. That you agree with him puts you in his camp. ;-)

I'd be happy to review your information source.

Have I ever looked at pre 1965 industrial buildings? HUH? I've made many deliveries to such 'old' facilites in old parts of many cities. For this reason, I hated east coast deliveries. There are states and towns where 53' trailers are prohibited. In some cases, only "pups" or straight trucks are allowed into a city due to the streets being orginally sized for horse drawn carts! Yuck.

But in relatively new cities, you'll find distribution centers with up to 300 dock doors and NO ... repeat NO.... rail service. They also are not built facing trafficed surface streets the way they used to be 40+ yrs ago. These super distribution centers are becoming the norm as truck service is far more flexible than rail. Bulk commodities go better by rail... coal, grain, liquids, motor vehicles,etc Where consignees were a short distance from a rail head, we'd put containers on a train, provided the delivery was not time sensitive. But a truck still had to pickup the container and take it to the final destination.

~~Philip

"Never let school interfere with your education - Mark Twain"

The gasoline engine will also start when it's necessary to up the temperature of the exhaust system. The Prius will run it's engine for about a minute when the car is first turned on regardless if the engine is cold or not, or even if it was shut off and immediately turned back on. I believe I've only seen the Prius not start the engine on initial start up just once. I wish I knew what I did different :) The Prius shuts down it's engine sometimes when the car is put in reverse although the engine LCD shows the temp to be still cool. To improve mileage even more I won't shut mine down for a short milk and bread pickup, and someone else is in the car. I count about ten stops during the day, or about ten minutes I avoided the engine starting by following the above. So, we're talking over an hour's worth of not running the engine for a span of a week. The tank is only < 12 gallons, so saving an extra gallon could mean the difference of either realizing 55 mpg or 68 mpg.

87 octane burns hotter than hi-test therefore less fuel is necessary for the pollution aspect of the exhaust system. On wet days the engine will cycle on and off more frequently because water splashing the exhaust cools it off. Noise, or lack of noise in the cabin... When the Prius decelerates for coming to a stop there is a slight whine sound. When hard accelerating up a hill the engine is not quiet. It's probably not any louder than any other little car but the break in silence can be unnerving. OK 'nuff said. I'll go back to lurking :)

I'll take you up on the offer...but the downside would be...

I'd want one!!

My '92 Corolla wagon has another 200,000 in it...so wait awhile before you give me a ride

Scott in Florida

None of your business.

See folks.... this is another example of pompous self righteousness that attracts people to hybrids at this time. "Look at me, I'm setting the example you should emulate."

When the price of gasoline goes down, people start driving more.

When the price of gasoline goes up, people start driving less.

Gasoline without taxes costs pretty much the same (in US $) throughout the industrialized world. It is the TAXES on gasoline that account for the wide variance in ultimate pump prices.

If you really want to cut down on air pollution and gasoline consumption fast, just jack up the retail price of gasoline 50% or more. At that point, nobody will give a rats behind about air pollution, only MPG. Economics always wins over "greenisms." Suddenly ... 100 mpg scooters would look real attractive.

"Philip®" painstakingly pecked in news:6BR8b.2683$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net:

You're not gonna call me a lefty again, are you? :^(

An excerpt from the above URL: "The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that light trucks pay 150 per cent of their road costs while tractor-trailer combinations over

100,000 lbs pay only 40 per cent of their road costs," said Mr. Rowat.

In a recent paper for the Canadian Trucking Alliance, Fred Nix offered a different perspective. He said: "A truck in Ontario -- and it is assumed this is true in other parts of Canada -- already pays far more in fuel taxes than the costs it imposes on the pavement of a main highway."

Nix estimated that the pavement cost for a heavy truck travelling 1,000 kilometres on Highway 401 in Ontario is only $2.41 compared to fuel tax payments of $75. The U.S. DOT estimates that the pavement cost for such a move on a U.S. main highway is $40 to $181, depending on type of truck., and "hard" road costs -- not just pavement, but also bridges, shoulders, signals, etc. -- is $204. That doesn?t include the costs of congestion and pollution.

"Does pavement really cost 5,000 per cent more in the U.S. than Ontario? Likely not," said Mr. Rowat.

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Looks like it depends how you gather the numbers.