I'm All For Hybrid Cars, But. . .

I saw an article that said 6 in 10 people would purchase a hybrid or "green" car. I would consider myself as one of the 6 who would be willing to purchase one, however, before I could ever actually purchase one, two things must be true. First, the sale price must be competitive. Right now, the hybrids that are available are too expensive, so purchasing one is currently out of the question for my family. The second thing (and it is the deal killer) is that the vehicle MUST be able to carry all members of my family and our accompanying junk. We are a family of six. As of right now, we own two vehicles that can (uncomfortably) carry all six of us, but not all of our things. Going to my mother-in-law's for the weekend is a dreadful task because we either have to stuff everything in every nook and cranny of the car and travel for 3 1/2 hours even more uncomfortably, or we have to stuff everything in an overhead carrier which takes more effort than it is worth. I miss my Suburban!!!! If the government is going to require all cars to eventually be "green" then the car manufacturers need to come up with cars that can actually serve the owners; not the other way around. It wouldn't make any sense for us to purchase a Prius or anything like that because we would need three of them just to take a weekend trip. That is pretty foolish if you ask me. So, come on American car companies, use your ingenuity and come up with a great, economical, environmentally responsible family vehicle! Do the right thing for a change!

$2.99 Gasoline for Three Years-Cheers to Chrysler!

I have been interested in this marketing idea that Chrysler/Dodge has come up with. In this period of unheard of fuel prices, this might be the thing that helps boost Chrysler out of their dismal sales record. It seems to me that Chrysler has always been the ugly step-sister when it comes to car manufacturer. They seem to always get a bad rap, and there is a perception that Chrysler products are inferior. My parents have owned Dodge Grand Caravans for at least the last ten years; probably even longer than that. They always lease for three years and then trade in for the newest model, and for the most part, I think they have been satisfied with the features and performance of their various vehicles. My sister bought a Jeep Liberty when they first came out and my brother-in-law bought an Aspen when that model first came out. They have also found their cars to be both reliable and affordable. I was puzzled why there were so many negative blogs and nay-sayers when this $2.99 per gallon gimmick first circulated. I really don't think the idea is all that bad. It may be a gamble for folks who decide to purchase and lock into the gasoline price, but then again, do you really think we are going to see $1.00 per gallon gas prices ever again? I am an optimist and I think that the idea is a good one and I hope it gives the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge company the help it needs to get out of their slump. People just like to be negative, I think, and afterall what are the other car companies doing to help us out. True, the hybrid vehicles are a great idea, but they are so expensive that they don't really pay off. There are also very few family sized hybrid vehicles, so I say, "Way to go Chrysler!" Maybe this and their new crossover Dodge Journey will really take off and people will start thinking more highly of the company just in time for them to roll out their new line of affordable (I hope) hybrids.

Converting Car to Water Powered Hybrid

I have been researching and studying this idea quite a bit. I have visited several websites that offer books that tell you how to convert your gasoline engine into a hydrogen hybrid. I blogged about this idea before and got some interesting feedback that said that actually, water for fuel can work, but it is not widely talked about. In my research, I found a few sites that offer their books for sale for between $100 and $300. After receiving postive feedback about the viability of such a conversion and reviewing the websites, I came back to the first "water for fuel" website I found www.water4gas.com and found that right now the price of the book is $97 and the fellow who wrote the book and came up with the system gives you permission to replicate his system. That means that once you have experience converting your own car, you can turn around and do it for other people, and perhaps make a little profit from it. I was discussing this idea with my husband last night, and as crazy and (perhaps) risky as it sounds, I think we might purchase the book and try to convert our old 1997 Ford Taurus station wagon to see if indeed the water for gas idea can work. I am excited to try, and with gas prices only going up, we really don't have that much to lose. I will keep you posted on our results.