Governors Parking SUVS As Gas Prices Soar

[NVMojo]

WASHINGTON - When gas prices soared after Hurricane Katrina, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson looked at the Lincoln Navigator that ferries him around his home state and thought about the message he was sending.

The large sport utility vehicle doesn't get the best gas mileage — about 15 miles per gallon. So the former U.S. energy secretary decided to switch to a Ford Escape hybrid, which combines gasoline and electric power for twice that mileage.

"You need to practice what you preach," Richardson said.

Rugged SUVs have been a popular choice for governors on the move, providing plenty of security, extra legroom and space for staff members. But with gas prices hovering near $3 a gallon, some governors are trading in their gas-guzzlers and asking state employees to cut back on unnecessary travel.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051010/ap_on_re_us/governors_hello_hybrids

[Demobrat]

1. So does this mean the Gropenator

will be trading in his Humvee?

[NVMojo]

2. Lord, I hope so!

[Historic NY]

4. I read he now has a hybrid Hummer.......

supposed to be testing it out.

http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/governator.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. And it gets how many mpg?

10?

[Massacure]

15. No, actually it is hydrogen.

[xxqqqzme]

7. he'll have to keep trading

he has EIGHT! Plus he helicopters back 'n forth between Sacramento & Santa Monica. Dick-head!

[Say_What]

12. Make that Humvees--he's got a fleet of 'em...n/t

[stanwyck]

19. You mean all

8 of them?
Gluttony...taking more than you need...is one of the lowest rungs in Dante's Inferno.
And the Republicans embody gluttony.

[LeftyMom]

22. The state drives him around in a Lincoln Navigator

Davis used a Lincoln sedan, a Town Car I think (Lincoln gives gov't officials a sweet deal, so that's why they don't use a smaller car) but der Gropenfurhrer wanted a larger vehicle to transport the stick figure and kids with him. Also, he commutes up and down state via helicopter as he can't be bothered to find a permanent place here in Sacto.

[NinetySix]

3. WHAAAAAT!??!??!??!?

"...the Lincoln Navigator ... doesn't get the best gas mileage — about 15 miles per gallon. So the former U.S. energy secretary decided to switch to a Ford Escape hybrid, which combines gasoline and electric power for twice that mileage."

WHAAAAAT!??!??!??!?

So the Ford Escape hybrid gets around 30 mpg? A HYBRID?? What the hell kind of crappy hybrid technology is that? The Honda Civic hybrid gets 88mpg highway, almost three times as much. I drive a 2002 Honda Civic DX sedan, and even I get 51mpg highway/38mpg city. Can the Governor not imagine himself in anything other than an SUV?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. My 1990 Geo Prizm gets better mileage than that!

31-32 mpg in the mountains, 40mpg on the interstate, and this car has over 236K miles-and isn't a hybrid.

[skids]

8. The Escape is an SUV.

What do you expect -- hybrid technology can only do so much when what it has to work on is the lipsticked woody-wagons preferred by most Americans.

(And on edit, there's nothing wrong with the Escape's hybrid technology. It isn't crap. It's from the same lineage as Toyota's. FWIW. Now the Silverado -- that's crap. All it is is regenerative breaking to provide electricity to the living room. No true hybrid there.)

[Zhade]

9. That was my thought, too!

It's pretty sad when doubling to 30 MPG is considered an IMPROVEMENT.

If CAFE standards hadn't been messed with, wouldn't the average (not high-end, average) MPG be significantly more than 30?

[politicat]

10. The Escape seats 5. The Civic... 3.

That's an issue when you must hold meetings en route. (I know the civic seats 4 technically, but only if two of those 4 are really small and have no briefcases.) All governors have limited time to do many things, so meetings in the car are necessary and it can't be done via teleconferencing as yet.

It's not bad tech, it's the nature of a larger vehicle. When we consider that it doubles the fuel economy of the class... (i.e. a standard Civic gets about 45 MPG, while a hybrid gets about 90; a Prius gets about 60 to an Avalon's 28, so it's not unreasonable that an SUV hybrid would get about 30 to a standard SUV's 11-17.)

[NinetySix]

14. My Civic is a sedan that seats 5.

At 51mpg highway, they could afford to take TWO.

[Dave Reynolds]

23. Yep, bad buy on the Escape,

for the hybrid package you get about 4 mpg more than the regular one.

[McKenzie]

11. I drive a Polo turbo diesel

100 bhp, 170 ft/lbs of torque (at 1,900 rpm), cruises at 80 mph with ease and returns 55 mpg if I drive carefully (60 mph). Diesel is an oil, and stores for much longer than petrol which is a volatile spirit, if you want to store fuel.

I've had only one petrol car since 1991; a mental 16 valve Golf GTI that went like shit off a stick but drank petrol like water. But one of my bikes is only 600 cc and it does less than 35 mpg (the 2 litre Golf returned around 25 mpg on average) if I yank the throttle open...I do....meeeeooowwww. The bikes are about to be sold...low mileage and both have had two owners, one of whom has a blatant disregard for speed limits. Going cheap...

I'll never buy another petrol combustion engine car...diesels rool!

[AX10]

13. A Town Car is "SAFE" and "ROOMY" and "LUXOURIOUS"...

and it gets better gas milage too. About 22 MPG. On the highways 25.

Those SUV's should have never been bought in the first place.

[LeftyMom]

24. Don't forget lasts almost forever

That same engine goes into cop cars and taxis for a reason, you can drive 'em forever on almost no maintainance.

I don't like that it's got leather and takes a lot of gas, but my Dad walked away from an accident that totaled his Town Car with a bit of a backache, bought another one the same day and finished his shift. In an SUV on a stiff truck frame (such as the Navigator) more of the force of impact would've been absorbed by his old and injury prone spine rather than the car and he likely would've seen the inside of a hospital.

[Hardrada]

26. I have a 1993 Town Car and it has lower mileage for its age .

It is a roomy car and will run forever. I use the trunk for my book biz. Everyone is always astounded at a car with a huge trunk like that. Before that I had a 1989 Town Car and its only serious problem was some weird thing with the high-beam lights. Built like a tank otherwise. Neither were major gas eaters like an SUV and are more attractive stylewise too for that matter.

[dbt]

16. Hmmm. So far, Ex-Fat-Boy-cum-Preacher Mike Huckabee REFUSES

to park his Chevrolet Gas-Guzzler SUV, even as he refuses TO APOLOGIZE TO ARKANSAS FOR HIS "BANANA REPUBLIC" remarks on the Imus Show.

CONFIDENTIAL TO THE REV/GOV: You SO need to kiss my Hillbilly Ass!

:evilgrin:
dbt

Remember New Orleans

[Kagemusha]

17. Richardson should've parked it long, long ago.

He got eviscerated over driving too fast in it for "security" reasons, right? (which may have been legitimate but it's still an SUV)

[CatholicEdHead]

18. MN's Gov Pawlenty is getting an E85 Surburban

http://www.startribune.com/stories/468/5638248.html

"ST. PAUL (AP) - Gov. Tim Pawlenty is parking his gas-guzzling Chevy Suburban in favor of a model that runs on 85 percent ethanol, a fuel blend known as E85.

Pawlenty said the state will take delivery on the new black Suburban sometime in November. The sport-utility vehicle being replaced has 117,000 miles on it. His office said the new vehicle will cost the state $35,250, well below the $48,760 retail price.

E85 tends to sell for less than other unleaded gasoline, which in Minnesota is required to have a 10 percent ethanol blend. The state's ethanol mix of choice is made from corn.

Pawlenty has been a heavy promoter of ethanol. Last session, he called for and received legislative approval for a 20 percent ethanol blend in all gas by 2013."

[ninkasi]

20. I've never had an SUV

I never wanted one, either. They would have been so impractical for my husband and me, looked hard to park, and seemed just...silly. Even if I were rich, which I'm most certainly not, I wouldn't want one, any more than I would want one of the new enormous status houses.

Some of us take conservation more seriously than others. When we lived in a rural area, and had our own well, some people never understood why we were careful with water use, since we didn't pay a bill. It was just force of habit, and we always feel guilty by consuming more of anything than we need.

[NVMojo]

21. State-By-State List of Official Cars

AP---The official cars used by the nation's governors
and the mayor of Washington, D.C., according to a
survey by The Associated Press.

State Car

Ala. Ford Expedition

Alaska Ford Explorer

Ariz. Ford Crown Victoria

Ark. Chevrolet Suburban

Calif. declined to answer



more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2005/oct/10/101005455.html

[LeftyMom]

25. Arnie's fleet car's a Navigator.

I can't find the article but I read about it in The Bee when he switched from the sedan the Davises preferred.

[TygrBright]

28. HA!! At least SEVEN smart, cost-conscious, unostentatious Goobs...

...out there, driving Crown Vics. The Crown Vic is the preferred car of a HUGE number of police and taxi fleet managers.

It's comfortable to drive and be a passenger in on long drives, plenty of pickup when needed but a reasonable gas mileage for a big car, and Ford has got the engineering on that model DOWN. Those puppies last forEVER. Breeze through the 250K mark on the odo without a blink. They hardly ever need more than routine maintenance, but if they do, the model is so common and has been around substantially unchanged for so long that it's very easy to find good mechanics for it.

Of course, it's sort of the ultimate anti-hip car, being exactly the vehicle you'd imagine yer grandfather driving, but hey, smart is better than hip any day.

stodgily,
Bright

(so unhip she has to keep grabbing her trousers to keep em' from falling down...)

[TygrBright]

27. Hey, cool!! That's my new....

Gooberguy. Seems like a good enough Joe, but I haveta admit, New Mexico politics in general already has my eyes popping. I've lived just across the Delaware Bay from New Jersey for eight years and even by my now-hardened standards, NM promises to be something special in the way of wild n' woolly political shenanigans.

But what the heck, I've always enjoyed a good floor show...

amusedly,
Bright