.FLYINGHEAD GREEN TECH
.TITLE Gas misers just wanna have fun
.AUTHOR Jorge Sosa
.SUMMARY Contributor Jorge Sosa says that while he appreciates the Prius as a sensible transportation appliance, it has absolutely none of the traits that made him fall in love with cars as a wee Gen-X toddler. Fortunately, it’s not too late to de-emasculate himself — and there’s hope for the rest of us as well. This is a smart article that’s also funny as all heck.
.OTHER
The first casualty of $4-per-gallon gas (other than my paycheck) was my manhood.
I used to lust after vintage muscle cars. The earth-shaking rumble of a big-block V-8 sent a jolt to my hypothalamus (you know, the animal part of the brain) and put a great, big, stupid grin on my face.
Now, the sight of a Toyota Prius stirs a similar sense of yearning. How perverse is that? Thanks to the regular whipping I receive at the gas pump, my perception of what’s cool has been forcibly re-wired.
.CALLOUT The first casualty of $4-per-gallon gas (other than my paycheck) was my manhood.
I now look upon a snail-shaped lump — as it lopes to the quarter-mile in 17 seconds — and grunt in approval. What the heck happened to me? Somewhere back there with my distant memories of $20 tankfuls of gas, I forgot that cars should be fun.
While I appreciate the Prius as a sensible transportation appliance, it has absolutely none of the traits that made me fall in love with cars as a wee Gen-X toddler. Fortunately, it’s not too late to de-emasculate myself.
.TEASER Can Jorge save his car-guy soul? Read on and find out.
My hope lies with car designers who believe fun, frugality, and eco-friendliness can all coexist in a car that freakin’ rocks. What does it take to create such a blend of sportiness and sensibility? Nothing more than a design philosophy that breaks with the old rule that bigger is better.
.H1 Lean and mean
The fine folks at Lotus (cars, not groupware) have long embraced the practice of delivering knockout performance through light weight — not massive displacement.
Compare that to the good ol’ supersizing approach and you’ll see how Lotus’ philosophy lights the way for tomorrow’s eco-friendly performance cars. For instance, consider the Lotus Exige and the Dodge Viper. Both cars will do zero-to-60 mph in about four seconds. But, the Exige gets 24 mpg on the highway, to the Viper’s 13 mpg. The difference? The Exige weighs 1,300 pounds less than the Viper, so it only needs a supercharged four-banger to peel your face off.
Not surprisingly, Lotus has helped develop and assemble the Tesla Roadster, a zero-emissions screamer conceived by Silicon Valley brainiacs. The Tesla has a zero-to-60 time just shy of four seconds, will run for 220 miles on a single charge, and looks dead sexy.
Actually, the Tesla Roadster reminds me of the first car I learned to drive. It too, was electric powered, had zippy acceleration and turned on a dime. It was a radio-controlled truck, and if the sports car of the future is just as fun to drive, I could care less if it has pistons or not.
.H1 Two to Tango
Not to be outdone by their California rivals, a pack of Spokane brainacs have come up with their own high performance, electric two-seater. The Tango, however, is a narrow little wedge of a car.
It’s definitely an unconventional design, as if someone took the cockpit of a P-51 Mustang and put it on wheels. Or (if you prefer), as if someone squeezed a Scion xB down to a third of its normal width — and it miraculously still worked.
It sounds weird, but it’s cool enough for proud Tango owner George Clooney. The Tango’s manufacturer, Commuter Cars, claims it can do a quarter-mile in 12 seconds. So, people won’t laugh long after you leave ’em in the dust. Or if they do, at least you won’t be around to hear it.
.H1 Geeks show the way
I suspect these electric speed demons are just a hint of what’s to come. Apparently Ferrari [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7352118104883452737|was humbled by the sight of an electric car out-accelerating its 360]]. The Italian automaker has announced plans to market hot hybrids by 2015, cut its cars’ CO2 emissions by 40 percent between now an 2012, and develop electric cars.
Mercedes also plans to sell an electric car by 2010, which suggests the Europeans are tired of watching our West Coast geeks have all the fun.
All this is great news, of course, but for one quibble. The Tesla Roadster and Tango go for $100,000 each. Ferraris and Mercedes are not known for their affordability either, which leaves me wondering when the heck we’ll see a green road rocket that’s priced for "the rest of us."
History shows cool automotive technology tends to trickle down from expensive cars to more affordable ones — antilock brakes are the classic example. But, with my manhood at stake, I wish it would trickle down a little faster.
.BIO
