From the Driver’s Seat: I Love the Sound – February 28, 2008

I’d like to address the current hype about hybrid cars. In my opinion there is no way this technology will become widely accepted by consumers. The internal combustion engine has been around for more than a hundreds years for one reason and one reason only, people like it. I personally like it so much that I once bought a car in the darkness of night because of the way the car sounded. When I started it up and heard the engine roar, I said “I’ll take it” before I had time to think. There is a certain way that a piston engine sounds. I’d describe it as tough, powerful, and sexy.

I am certainly not in favor of paying three dollars or more for a gallon of gasoline but I want to hear pistons popping for a long time. I simply do not understand why the automobile companies are putting up with it. If they desire, the Big 3 have the power to switch to an alternative fuel tomorrow. You cannot tell me that ExxonMobil reported a record profit for an American company two years in a row and they are not gouging customers. Big auto has more power than big oil. It is time for GM, Ford and Chrysler to start acting like the Big 3 and to flex some of their muscle. GM CEO Rick Wagner should to tell the leaders of the oil companies that either gasoline prices come down immediately or GM vehicles will switch to an alternative fuel by the end of the week. The United States consumes twenty-five percent of the world’s oil and cars account to most of that consumption.

As for me, I could not care less what fuel my car burns, as long as it’s powered by a piston engine. The internal combustion engine is dependable, inexpensive, and convenient. The development effort should be spent on solving the fuel supply problem. Give us either cheap gas or a cheap alternative fuel, but let us keep our beloved engines. There you have it, that’s my view from the driver’s seat.