Re: no more turbos (No Audi Content)

[Ramana Lagemann <elmool@tiac.net>]

Here's my rant to add to the fray-
Okay okay, I know that mother earth is pretty darn close to making the
human race go the way of the dinosaur for what we have done to her. It's
also no doubt that internal combustion engines are the main propagaters
of that smelly, sooty, nasty sh*t we call air pollution. 

My qualm is this: Emissions wise, the seemingly most restricted of all
is the high-performance car market, maybe for good reason: a bunch of
yahoos lead-footing it around in their "tweeked" cars waste a whole load
of gas. 
But wait! Why are "sporting" cars so restricted while trucks have such
leniant restrictions? Why are flabby 5000lb SUVs with copiously large
and decrepit 6 litre V8 motors running around with what is, essentially,
a "license to pollute?"  

I say proper restriction for trucks and suvs is long overdue. I mean,
the numbers are crystal: Trucks/SUVs greatly outnumber cars in annual
new car sales. They also use the most gas and procure the most
pollution. How much sense does it make, then, that they have the least
emissions restrictions???

So what has the EPA's steller method of selective restriction yielded?
The loss and imminent loss of such notable sporting cars as the RX7,
300ZX, Supra, etc.
Also, some of the world's best performance cars are not allowed on our
shores mainly because they "pollute" too much for their compact and
subcompact size. Cars such as the Suburu Impreza Turbo and Mitsubushi
Lancer. Another example: the Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4: it's an awd twin
turbo wagon with close to 300hp, and we in the US don't get it because
of our emmissions standards on passenger cars! You gonna tell me that it
uses more fuel and pollutes more than my neighbor's Suburban?!? No
friggen' way!

Ahh yes, this is just the beginning of the demise of the "sportscar"... 
Pretty soon we're gonna have two choices:  overly expensive
diesel/electric hybrid cars that do 0-60 in two weeks and get 80 mpg,
or: trucks and suvs that will get 7mpg and do 0-60 faster than anything
else on the road... the worst of both worlds.
 
Contrary to what it "seems" I am saying, I really beleive that enough is
enough with the US and world pollution (we make 25% of the world's
pollution and we are only 300million out of 5.4billion!) 
It is unfortunate that our government's solution to pollution has been
to crack down on a small and insignificant niche market while
simultaneously turning it's collective back on the real culprits of
atmospheric contamination: the overbuilt, overweight sloths of the
automotive industry.

maybe I should write my congressmen, eh? 8*)
rant off, flame on!
-- 
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* Ramana Lagemann							
* Cohasset, MA												     
* 1990 CoupeQ20V                  
* http://www.20v.net		       
* mailto:elmool@tiac.net            
* mailto:elmool@20v.net       
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