Driving a gas guzzler? Should we or not?

**Helios** · July 28th, 2006 12:22 PM

"But here is the question - if doing so contributes to the dwindling of resources and essentially harmful to the environment is it right? Or is it a matter of freedom of choice?"

The question posted here is rather simplistic therefore it generates an equally simplistic response especially from guilty tsikoteers

It has become a matter of black or white which isn't in an industrialized and borderless world we live in. All existing data and analysis that has been studied and accumulated throughout these years, plus the individual comments by concerned fellow tsikoteers just make it difficult enough to stand on one side of the fence. We cannot even simplify a complex issue even if we're thinking globally because it becomes paradoxical. We must take into account the law of equal exchange and how far we have to go until we turn around.

"The Energy Tax Act of 1978 established a Gas Guzzler Tax on the sale of new model year vehicles whose fuel economy fails to meet certain statutory levels. The gas guzzler tax applies only to cars (not trucks) and is collected by the IRS...The purpose of the Gas Guzzler Tax is to discourage the production and purchase of fuel inefficient vehicles."

This is an example how to handle this issue when all accounts have been taken into consideration. It remains effective until further studies are made and a better model will replace it if required.
But for me personally, I sold my Audi to help the environment a little.

**empy** · July 28th, 2006 12:25 PM

i drive a gas guzzler because i feel so sorry for those poor saudi princes and sheikhs...if i don't use their products they won't be able to make the payments on those diamond studded benzes or finish that project to make a new island in the Gulf so they can land their helicopters....is that too much to ask?

when i think of those poor boys and girls needing to fly first class because they can't afford their private jet, or not being able to get their Bentleys in every factory color...it makes me want to :waah:

**midinite** · July 28th, 2006 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by M54 Powered

i drive a gas guzzler because i feel so sorry for those poor saudi princes and sheikhs...if i don't use their products they won't be able to make the payments on those diamond studded benzes or finish that project to make a new island in the Gulf so they can land their helicopters....is that too much to ask?

when i think of those poor boys and girls needing to fly first class because they can't afford their private jet, or not being able to get their Bentleys in every factory color...it makes me want to :waah:

Hey we have to contribute. The poor guys live in a desert. And have lived in it for a while...time they got their due?

**oldblue** · July 28th, 2006 06:11 PM

Originally Posted by M54 Powered

i drive a gas guzzler because i feel so sorry for those poor saudi princes and sheikhs...if i don't use their products they won't be able to make the payments on those diamond studded benzes or finish that project to make a new island in the Gulf so they can land their helicopters....is that too much to ask?

when i think of those poor boys and girls needing to fly first class because they can't afford their private jet, or not being able to get their Bentleys in every factory color...it makes me want to :waah:

I dont feel sorry for them. how come they get to ride in expensive gas guzzling luxury cars, jets and helicopters while we settle for fuel-efficient, back-breaking, mediocre riding comfort vehicles. it's so unfair. dapat ganun din tayo!

**squala** · July 28th, 2006 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by M54 Powered

mmm...interesting thread. i'll wait to see what ppl say on this matter.

i own two gas guzzlers. but one of them is made by Audi/VW so it must be ok because that company can do no wrong :D

Audi does no wrong? Then how come it's among the top in unreliable cars and not its class?

I also don't see the idea why SUVs don't get gas guzzler tax. If the tax wishes to discourage fuel-inefficient vehicles, then it should be imposed to all vehicles that guzzle gas. While production of supercars and ultra-powerful sedans is being deterred by this, automakers can freely build big 4x4s. It very much defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Back to topic, the real issue isn't the cars that drink gas, but rather the fact that fossil fuel is getting less and less without being replenished. If no action is taken, all our normal cars will go extinct since there's no more fuel. Even if we can pay for it, there's simply no more source. Whether we drive a gulping American gas SUV or a puny British diesel supermini, supply of fuel is on a continuous decline, so alternative methods, as in a completely different type of fuel (or at least a new, hopefully bottomless source) and not hybrids that still run on fossil fuel, must be found.

**midinite** · July 28th, 2006 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by squala

Back to topic, the real issue isn't the cars that drink gas, but rather the fact that fossil fuel is getting less and less without being replenished.

Yup it is a finite source. And you are right. It doesn't really matter if one is capable of paying for it once it is gone of what use is it if one had the moeny to pay for it...but the actual autombile that employs an internal combustion engine didn't come to being until fairly recent times (relative to the over-all history of human transport). So maybe a new format will be coming soon. Necessity is, after all, the mother of invention.

**GasJunkie** · July 28th, 2006 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by M54 Powered

i drive a gas guzzler because i feel so sorry for those poor saudi princes and sheikhs...if i don't use their products they won't be able to make the payments on those diamond studded benzes or finish that project to make a new island in the Gulf so they can land their helicopters....is that too much to ask?

when i think of those poor boys and girls needing to fly first class because they can't afford their private jet, or not being able to get their Bentleys in every factory color...it makes me want to :waah:

Somebody who understands.

**GasJunkie** · July 28th, 2006 06:59 PM

Oil sands = the new frontier.

**empy** · July 28th, 2006 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by squala

Audi does no wrong? Then how come it's among the top in unreliable cars and not its class?

I also don't see the idea why SUVs don't get gas guzzler tax. If the tax wishes to discourage fuel-inefficient vehicles, then it should be imposed to all vehicles that guzzle gas. While production of supercars and ultra-powerful sedans is being deterred by this, automakers can freely build big 4x4s. It very much defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

forget about the Audi/VW comment. it was an inside joke na hindi bumenta :down:

the gas guzzler tax loopholes do need work. trucks are exempted from the tax because the gov't didn't want to penalize business owners who needed these rigs to do productive things. now that very few suv's are actually used as work vehicles, they should be considered passenger vehicles that are subject to the same regulations

(actually come to think of it, there was some talk about abolishing that loophole here in the states. ma-check nga yung papeles nung suv ko to see if the tax was paid....)

**orly_andico** · July 29th, 2006 05:17 AM

according to this article i read, your typical 100cc 2-stroke motorcycle engine (a.k.a. tricycle) like all those 2-stroke wonders na namamasada put out 50X as much pollutants as a modern VTEC-equipped Honda Accord.

and that's why 2-stroke motorcycles are no longer allowed to be sold, but there's still a vast mosquito fleet of them out there.