I had a Vespa in high school in the mid 1980’s…are they still made of metal or did they sell out and go plastic?
I made the decision to go from a V8 to a Prius last year (no carpool lane sticker for me) and it cut my fuel bill in half. We still have a smaller SUV (Explorer) and will likely keep it to tow stuff (we’d love to buy an electric boat like a duffy), but my wife now wants her own Prius. I smashed it up last week (damn iPod!) and have had a rental car this week. It SUCKS! I miss not only my fuel economy, but the feature like keyless entry and keyless ignition. In the last year, I’ve gotten so used to just walking up to my car and grabbing the door handle and entering the car, pushing the “start” button and zipping off that I sort of forgot that not all cars are like that. Spoiled me rotten, and I bought mine when there were a glut of Prius’ on the dealer’s lots and gas was $2.50 per gallon, meaning I negotiated $3K off MSRP. Today, dealers are padding those cars by $3k and getting it!
I look at it from the perspective that gas was averaging $2.95 per gallon in the US in Feb 08, and Europeans were paying on average (all European Union countries averaged) $5.49 per gallon (1.22 Euro per liter). We still have it pretty good, but I like it when it’s less expensive.
