The Cleveland Auto Show was pretty much a waste for us. We are doing some early looking to try and find an affordable car with exceptional gasoline mileage. So we trudged around the show (it cost $10 a head after $2 discount coupon) and looked at cars and their window stickers. There seemed to be an absence of progress in fuel economy across the board, domestic and off-shore brands alike. Conventional engines seem to max out at between 24 and 33 miles per gallon for a practical small car. The hybrid Toyota Prius and the hybrid Ford Escape SUV delivered the best mileage we saw in their respective classes but at about $30,000 each (much more for the Escape) the term "sticker shock" regained its original meaning. Of course they're not going to display their base models at a glitzy auto show, but it's really off-putting to see a $30,000 price tag on the few non-luxury cars in which you have interest. In general American car makers seem to think 24 MPG is great. Well, both our 1997 and 2002 Honda Civics routinely deliver 30+ MPG so we are totally unimpressed. Honda should be ashamed as well because we have seen little to no improvement in conventional engine fuel economy since '97. Not much innovation, either, unless you count optional instrumentation that includes build-in music players and GPS. Ho-hum – that's stuff you can get at Best Buy these days and carry around in your pocket. We're holding out hope for Honda's re-introduction of the redesigned Insight this spring –targeted to be the lowest-priced hybrid on the market– but were surprised to find it conspicuously absent from Cleveland's auto show. We left the show discouraged on several levels. Lunch at Taco Bell was pretty good.
The day was damp in the morning and cloudy, if warm, all day. The first Observatory Open Night of the year was scheduled for tonight but the clouds have hung on along with a promise of possibly heavy rain. I canceled it and rescheduled for next weekend. I hope there's something entertaining on TV tonight — time to coccoon.
A little more wine, please! {Monkey Business merlot}
PhotonStopper 