Why bother?

I'm not sure what you are trying to get at but I'll take a crack.

The hybrid Silverado is or was rated at about a 2mpg increase over a regular Silverado. If you look at gas milage as a non-linear function then a 2mpg difference at 15 to 17mpg is like a 7+mpg difference from 45mpg to 52mpg. That is not exact but I did it once before and the idea is right anyway. So don't expect huge MPG number gains on these gas guzzlers but it does translate to large gains at the fuel pump.

When using E85 you use more fuel than you would with gasoline but the emissions are lessened overall so the net effect in those simple terms is that E85 is better. There are all kinds of arguments against e85 though, many of which I agree with.

The other very obvious reason for producing these vehicles is the FFV credits GM gets towards CAFE standards. It is a way to cheat the system and continue to create and sell stupid fuel inefficient vehicles. lol

On a side note, if one were to put a turbo on this truck then running straight E85 would be pretty sweet since it is rated at 105 octane. Muahaha

 

Interesting. I thought the Hybrid Silvy was the FFV. Hmm

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Apr 15 2007, 11:05 AM) [snapback]423665[/snapback]</div>

Weird. I guess the guys on the racing forum were using Hybrid and FFV interchangably and unknowingly. My GMC is a 2001 and was modded to all hell so I didn't pay too much attention to the FFV ones much. lol

 

Yeah the Silverado Hybrid was a total sham.. and pretty embarassing IMO. There was nothing wrong with it as a vehicle, but it SHOULD NOT have been called a hybrid, thats about as dumb as saying the Celica is a Corvette competitor.

But like everyone else has said, it was pretty much a truck that could power stuff, and shut off at stoplights. Furthermore, I think they only offered in them in select areas in very small quantities, and I dont ever remember seeing an advertisment for one, or one driving on the street.

Stuff like this really hurts the credibility of GM...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonathan Rohr @ Apr 17 2007, 08:18 AM) [snapback]424629[/snapback]</div>

How do you go any lower than zero? A company that has no credibility doesn't really have to worry about hurting its credibility.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 17 2007, 03:18 PM) [snapback]424790[/snapback]</div>

Dude.. whats your deal? Did GM kill your parents or something? Im probably crazy for saying this on THIS forum, but you seem to have a deep felt hatred for GM and everything related to it. Alot of good people work for GM. Ok, so maybe they werent the first to bring out a Hybrid, but I dont hear you ragging on Nissan's crummy attempt.. or the complete lack of ANY attempt on the part of BMW, Daimler-Chyrsler, and the VW group.

Im not one of those crazys who throws a fit every time someone buys a car from a foreign company, but seriously, why would you root AGAINST the home team? That just dosen't make any sense...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonathan Rohr @ Apr 17 2007, 02:06 PM) [snapback]424877[/snapback]</div>

Nope. But GM did kill the electric car. And when I was a kid, GM killed public transportation in this country. Killed it dead! There was a time when you didn't NEED a car to live in an American city. That time is gone. And it was GM that took it away. Yes, I'm angry. I'd like to be able to drive a REAL electric car, rather than having to settle for the little Xebra with its 35 mph and no air bags. GM killed that. I'd like to be able to take electric trolly cars that run every few minutes, instead of diesel busses that run every hour or two. GM killed that. I'm sure there are plenty of great people at GM. But they're not in management.

This isn't about who builds hybrids. This is about giving America the shaft in the name of corporate profit.

You want me to root for American companies? Tell American companies to match Japanese quality. I switched to Japanese because my first car (American-made) was a piece of CRAP. They've improved since then. Now there are a few American-made cars that are mediocre, rather than crap. Well, whoop-de-doo. GM could make cars as good as the Japanese if they wanted to. They choose not to, because they think it's more profitable to produce mediocrity.

 

The profit and mediocrity statement reminds me of the newspaper business sham that has been killing off journalism in this country over the last several years. The basic line I remember from a PBS show was that the newspaper industry's executives thought "if you can cut costs 70% and only reduce quality and income 90%, then you effectively just made something like 20% more profit". And so they killed quality newspapers in favor of crappy and mediocre newspapers, but heck their bottom line profit margin inched up from 17% to 23%. I am sure that America's auto industry has a similar philosophy because their products sort of bear that out. I root for them though, I want America to have a strong auto export industry, but there is nothing I can do but buy the best car I can afford to show them that my dollars don't follow blind ideology.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MarkMN @ Apr 17 2007, 06:24 PM) [snapback]424931[/snapback]</div>

Thats all im saying.. To use an analogy: its like the NCAA Basketball Tournament.. you should put your money on the teams that are gonna win, but you should still root for YOUR team.

I love analogies

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ACD @ Apr 15 2007, 05:37 PM) [snapback]423740[/snapback]</div>

We are considering this as our next vehicle. Going to trade in our 2005 Volvo XC90, and we want to get another SUV. This seems to be a perfect solution.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonathan Rohr @ Apr 17 2007, 02:06 PM) [snapback]424877[/snapback]</div>

Daniel pretty much summed up my thoughts. I was a total GM fan (TransAm, Corvette amd 2 trucks) and still own a GMC truck that I race. But having learned of all the shady stuff GM and their lobbyists have been involved with has really change my opinions. I will be working at my buddies GM performance shop all summer while he builds turbo systems and installs heads/cam packages on GM cars but I don't have to like it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 17 2007, 06:11 PM) [snapback]424924[/snapback]</div>

Since I'm on a roll here anyways, I'm gonna jump on your bandwagon, because yes, I am an angry consumer, and I have it in for the big 3 domestic automakers, too!

Honestly, I think that GM is about as American as Wal-Mart is these days. The big corporations have been pumping money into foreign interests, so why root for them? Citibank just shafted some 17,000 workers here in the U.S - just to set up 9,000 jobs in another country. I imagine GM is going the same way. Why are we going to root for a company that's forcing us to rely on petroleum in the first place? I have no want, wish, or desire to support a company that's screwed us over in the first place. Even their economical models don't deliver. I tried a Colorado once; they told me I'd average 20mpg combined; I was lucky to manage 13mpg combined!

When the big 3 quit using the unions and focus on delivering a quality product over raking in money, then I think that we can support them. When they focus on alternative energy solutions instead of stupid 400HP cars that burn rubber, gasoline, and do nothing else, then I'll support them. When they quit whining about increasing fuel economy in their lineup and do something revolutionary, THEN I'll support them. An American Revolution? More like an American Involution.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonathan Rohr @ Apr 17 2007, 10:18 AM) [snapback]424629[/snapback]</div>

I work with a guy that traded in his new Corvette and bought one of these. He was all smiling and asking me questions about my Prius. I told him a hybrid in not a Toyota Hybrid. After he understood the differences between his truck and my car he felt like he was scammed.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonathan Rohr @ Apr 17 2007, 05:06 PM) [snapback]424877[/snapback]</div>

That's typical, uninspired thinking from the American auto companies: if the customer is upset then it's the customer who has a problem. You never stop and give a serious thought to what you could be doing, or not doing, to make the customer unhappy. The American car companies don't believe that the customer is always right; they believe that they are always right and the customer needs to change his thinking. It's that attitude of the American car companies that keeps a lot of us from buying your cars. Customers don't need to justify themselves to you. We don't have to prove anything. You've got it backwards.