Dr Neil Clayton

You can have any kind of engine you want, as long as it is obsolete…

I watched Who Killed the Electric Car? over a year ago, and still to this day every time I get into my car I think of this movie.  Every time I turn the ignition I think that the US Automakers deserve every bit of financial hardship they have experienced these past few years.  There, I said it and I mean it!

I am becoming more of an environmentalist every day.  Not the crazy types that would send human advancement back to the Middle Ages if it would mean saving a specific race of mosquitoes.  No, to be quite honest with you & myself, I am becoming more of an environmentalist every day because of the impact it has on my pocketbook. 

I will say in my defense, however, that I am driving 30 miles out of my way on a periodic basis now to recycle glass with no financial reward motivating me.  I find it very sad that my community of 20,000 doesn’t have one place for its citizens to recycle a basic material like glass.  

Getting back to cars.  I have made a vow to myself that I will drive each car I buy for at least a decade. Therefore, I have 2 more years of driving my 1999 Ford Taurus before I will allow myself to buy a newer car.  So, I am already looking into what would be a good car to buy in 2010, economically, qualitatively, & environmentally.

Saturn has stated that their VUE SUV will have an electric model in 2010.  If that will be the case, I will be an early adopter & give it a try.

From the article I read in Fast Company, I may need to go the diesel route or just buy a “cheaper” car and spend some extra dough on a really, really good mechanic to transform the car into what Detroit could easily do itself.

I will gladly give my loyalty to a car company that is not afraid to pursue a new way of making & selling cars.  Show me a stylish car that can get a 50-100 miles per gallon & I can plug it in at night, and I’ll show you my checkbook!  Until then, I will be sadly polluting Southern Illinois’ air with my V6 Taurus.