Not-So-Earth-Friendly Tech (5)

I take issue with the statement that people only drive station wagons because they are sensible. I have loved wagons my whole life and there are plenty of others out there like me. I own three and I don't even have any kids. While two of them are fifty years old and one is twenty five, they still get better gas mileage than the Audi. And they have more style. That is pretty shameful for a new car to get gas mileage that bad. My daily driver is twenty nine years old and gets 25 mpg on the highway and it has over 300 horsepower.

With typical arrogance you have created another misinformation page. It should be labeled an editorial comment, or politically correct bovine excrement. When you have the forum to do some good why do you continue to put out this pap

Let me get this straight....it's ok for a Lamborghini to have poor fuel efficiency becuase of it's status.....how elitest can you get?

The supercilious comment by Phil actually shows what's wrong with him and other so-called automobile experts. My Ford Focus station wagon, which gets 30+ m/g is also fun to drive.

Don't get me wrong, I am German. But I ask myself, what exactly, if anything, have the Germans innovated since the blimp? Their cars have the highest carbon monoxide output of all cars, the Porche double that of others. Their automotive design is still in the cave age - look at Honda's Civic's double tier dashboard, or Toyota's Prius. Their quality is down, as the latest statistics show. And now you say the Audi has a 15/mpg fuel efficiency. I am deeply embarrassed. --- Actually this reminds me of the type of managers I met in Germany in the seventies, clueless if it comes to design, despite the University of Ulm's achievements. Oh well, I guess we have to look to Japan for progress.

That is all well and good , but where did our beloved HUMMER fall in the area of fuel efficiency? Seems to me to have been overlooked as the worlds worst mass distributed street car.

DOESN'T ANYONE REALIZE THAT EVEN IF THESE WERE RUINGING THE EARTH. MOST OF YOU ARE UNEDUCATED IN GEOLOGY, AND HAVE NO CLUE...THE OTHER HALF OF YOU ARE JUST SELFISH AND DO NOT CARE ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE 50 YRS FROM NOW HAVE TO LIVE LIKE!

That vehicle should be taken off the market with 15 mpg...that's bullpoo!

Your article gives new things to think abouot to be true. HOWEVER you have fogotten a few small area that need attention. You point out the waste of products that are discarded due to inovation. I did not see in the article the prooducts discarded because they often now are built so crappily that it is cheeper to replace them than it is to repair them, Motorola, Sony, Honda, Maytag, Sears, you know who you are. Remebering that these products athat used to be made here in the US to last 25 years or better. Now are made where factory workers make 25 cents an hour. what kind of longevity would you put into your work for 25 cents an hour. Go ahead throw it away they will make more. And walmart will exploit the piece work labor around the world draining our planet one frivolous sale and fresh piece of trash at a time

THE OZONE LAYER, LOCATED IN THE STRATOSPHERE, IS ACTUALLY BEING DESTROYED BY CHLOROFLOUROCARBON'S OR CFC'S.........INDUSTRIES AND CARS ARE PUTTING OUT CARBON DIOXIDE...NOT MONOXIDE....BUT STILL I FEEL YOUR PAIN, BVG....

CARBON DIOXIDE IS BLAMED FOR GLOBAL WARMING

I'm wondering why the Toyota Prius isn't included here. Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate 'green car' is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.

You gotta check out this article and you'll be amazed:

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/print_item.asp?NewsID=188

One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.

We take what we hear and assume it to be true because it sounds right. Don't ever judge until you have thought past the original idea!

Jamie made an awesome point. It starts at the source - but we can only blame so much on them when it is the greedy American who has been brainwashed and allowed to become such a CONSUMER. At any cost to our future.
We (society) are harming our kids first and foremost by teaching them to be such great consumers, and lousy producers.
Anyone who knows a teenager knows what I mean! An all powerful sense of entitlement and no clue how or why to give or produce anything at all!!
A good economy? But at what expense?
All because we grow more each day at not wanting to hear or say the word "no". Like a spoiled toddler.
There will be plenty of 'green' jobs created by this for todays youth. I just hope they 1) don't hate us for allowing and ignoring the downfall, and 2) have a clue how to work HARD like our forefathers to create a livable, prosperous world.
We can start slowly and painlessly to turn our economy in the right direction for the future, or keep arguing and allow it to crash on our childrens heads.
EVERYTHING has a tipping point. The earth and this greedy economy is no exception, like it or not.

Good call. No excuse for such low gas mileage.
Buy a Subaru Outback instead with the standard engine and get 29MPG hiway mileage, and its a better car than the Audi too, for less money

Thanks. I needed to know what you anti-industrial, man-hating eco-liberals at aol thought about cars so I know what to buy.

"After all, station wagons meant to be sensible. In fact, that's the only reason people subject themselves to driving them"

Don't feel bad. The above quote from Crandall shows that he doesn't get it either. Crandall probably drives station (cross over) wagon too.
Station wagons are sensible. Fuel efficiency is another story. What do you think a "cross over" vehicle or a "small SUV" is? Hello.....They are station wagons. Car makers figured out a way to make the suckers buy station wagons, they renamed the station wagon a cross over and a small SUV. They are station wagons plain and simple, no matter what you call them. I think it's funny that people who would not be caught in dead in a station wagon, are driving a cross over vehicles and small SUV's thinking that they have something special, something innovative. The latest and the greatest! :) Guess what folks..... Here's the inconvenient truth.....You're driving a station wagon. You don't have to admit it, or agree. However, you still own and drive a station wagon. The car makers only changed the mold and the name, to hook you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, wagons are a cool way to carry all your stuff. But they should do better then 9 mpg. That means that fuel alone costs more than $.30 per mile.

I think THAT is the point of the article, not whether wagons are practical or... sexy. Talk about missing the forest for the trees.

The person who wrote this is clueless to single out the S4 Avant. It's not just about mileage. It's also about performance: the ability to merge quickly and safely. The ability to avoid potential accidents because the car handles well. The abiltity to stop faster because the vehicle is equipped with superior brakes. The Avant is practical for a small family, because of the performance facts and the practicality of a small wagon.

If you want to single out useless impractical cars how about some of the gigantic Mercedes AMG models? The GL RL and ML sre perfect examples of this.

I bet the guy who wrote this nonsense probably merges onto the parkway and immediatley cuts across three lanes then parks himself in the left lane driving at,or just under, the speed limit while everyone behind him has to negotiate a way around him.

I have a 2006 Audi A4 (as opposed to the S4)and routinely get 32 mpg which is better than some hybrids...the S4 is a specialty wagon, very few made and you almost never see them on the highway. I don't see Audi getting any credit for that...it's a great car!