[stevesbirds]

When Pontiac G8 went away, it had 18,000 units. It was the one bright mark coming out of Pontiac. A recession killed Pontiac off, and the gov't just pulled the cord on life support. Pissed us all off, royally! GM managers said it would surface as something else. Well that was a closeted project if there ever was one.

I need a service vehicle that gets 25 mpg and can be packed out with tool boxes and ladders. Guess what, every darn brand killed off their mini transit category panel or passenger van. So WHY? The suspension and unibody don't cater to 1000 lbs of battery.

The Ford E-transit has a paltry 130 mile range. That doesn't get me to the job let alone back. Yes its better on all performance aspects, until you hit 0 degrees F. THen it's 130 mile range drops around 1/3 to somewhere between 55 mile and 85 mile. If temp hit -20, just stay in. Not worth it being stuck along a shoulder with a transmission that doesn't roll in N.

A next gen kid admired my Volt this week. OK, odd. It's a great looking car, but it too lacks enough height for my normal stature, and could not handle my relatives at 6'2". The high rear blocks views, just like Camaro. At least it has rear camera. And space or not, at least I can get to jobs with a small wagon, so that 285,000 mile Subaru I just picked up cheap is my solution to the forced E migration.

Tesla and others are in the 2.0 second range on Plaid. Cannot see NASCAR keeping things alive in lower center of gravity race cars running electric equivalent physics numbers. But I do bet the electrics rule on road performance, just because of weight distribution, lowered center of graviy, 4 wheel motors, and handling already being a well tuned science. We can hope that keeps things lively when fuel hits $10 a gallon.