David Sanger - Who Actually Runs The Show in the U.S.?

I do like how David Sanger's new book sounds; "The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power"

In a few words: Obama has inherited a disaster in the making.

The world's currently in a mess because too many impressionable minds gave Bush more credit than he was due, and so allowed the Bush & Cheney regime to operate far too long with impunity.

Under their rule, just as with other dictators in many parts of the developing world, the military has become a multiple-interest business. The American Military Industrial Complex has become more than bloated, it has become a contagious disease infecting the minds of otherwise intelligent people, including members of Congress who are happy to report they have landed needless, but outrageously expensive, military contracts for their constituents back home.

Along the path of this particular job growth however, the goal to increased militarization only fosters new, and unpredictable paranoia to the American culture as a whole, including a new McCarthyism in which voicing an alternate opinion has been perverted by the Republican-right's media influence as being unpatriotic.

The reverse is actually true, since it is freedom of speech which is being attacked, and is unpatriotic to the original American Constitution.

What is the Actual MPG of these Cars in this Advertisement?

This is one of the common car ads they run in our local newspaper, and I was again struck as I've always been, by the patent misinformation our federal government department 'Transport Canada' allows car manufacturers to get away with.

Of course, the problem doesn't just lay with 'Transport Canada', nor is it just GM at fault here as most other car makers play the same game including in the U.S. marketplace.

I'm sorry, but does anyone really buy this? Look at the gas mileage these cars achieve! 46 mpg for the Vibe, and 52 mpg for the G5! Are these cars hybrids? I ask this because,these vehicles are approaching the real world driving mileage of the Toyota Prius hybrid for example!

(I've spoken with a couple of Prius owners about their mileage - roughly 50 -55mpg depending on driving conditions). I also checked a Consumer Reports Best Cars Buying Guide on the Vibe's fuel mileage. In essence the Pontiac Vibe is of course a Toyota Matrix - same engine, same transmission, same everything  except different body configuration. Consumer Reports lists the Matrix at getting no better than 29 mpg! They also state  the cars they rate are test driven by their staff so they can have an honest opinion of what they're rating.

Okay, so  let's give GM and Transport Canada the benefit of doubt for a moment in which they may get better mileage for these cars in their testing if they follow these important methodology criteria:

If there's absolutely no wind;
if the tires are perfectly inflated, balanced, and brand-spanking new , and of a much more expensive design then they sell their cars with;
if the asphalt on the road is of the type that allows the least amount of resistance to roll on;
if temperatures, relative humidity, and atmospheric pressure is just right;
and if the road surface is actually not perfectly horizontal, but preferably on a slight, but optically invisible downhill grade in the direction the test cars will be going in...
and lastly...if real-world driving is also included in the rating of the vehicle, not just testing cars on  a sterile, and s stationary  laboratory' dynamometer.

I happen to own a 2007 Honda Fit. I'm confident to report it gets a real world driving mileage of 34 mpg at the most. It has a tiny 1.5 liter sized engine. Compare this with the engine sizes and mpg with the cars in the ad.

My only question is this: When will the car manufacturers and our federal governments be forced to own up to the actual mpg of the products they manufacture, and/or rate?

At the Canadian Federal government level there should be a private member's bill introduced to set in place open and honest auto industry reforms.

The public mood is more than ready for some actual progress in the fuel capability in modern cars. I've remarked in an earlier post, how I happen to own a 1966 Volvo with a 1.8 liter engine that achieves 26mpg.  Better mileage than many new, vehicles today!

The car and its technology which is extremely simple to work on is 43 years old! Hopefully, small upstart companies such as the Zenn Electric Motor car company and others will provide some much needed competition.

In the U.S. write your member of congress to end false advertising in the auto industry as well as how the fed tests cars.

* A quick follow up since making this post ; Yesterday, I spoke with a local GM Vibe owner here in the village, and he scoffed at the idea his car could get 46 mpg. Instead he agrees his Vibe achieves at best 28 - 30 mpg.