Driving naked saves weight

Oil prices have once again topped $80.00 per barrel, so if history is a good indicator, we’ll soon be paying $3.00 per gallon at the pump. Despite what the tiny ads in the back of Popular Mechanics claim, you can’t double your fuel mileage by magnetizing your fuel line. You can’t ‘grow your manhood’ by taking pills, either, but that’s a topic for a different blog.

Money’s tight for all of us these days, and you can only cut back on your driving by so much. Want to keep a little bit more green in your pocket? Follow the advice below, after the jump, and you’ll see a noticeable reduction in your weekly fuel bill.

Honda is planning on giving the Toyota Prius a challenge…..again. Although the consumers have spoken and proved that they prefer the Prius rather than the Honda Insight, Honda is not willing to wave the white flag.

These numbers do not lie……

2009 Honda Insight Sales: 20,572

2009 Toyota Prius Sales: 139,682

Honda Insight MPG City/Highway: 40/43

Toyota Prius MPG City/Highway: 51/48

Can you blame drivers for choosing the Prius over the Insight? Let’s just say the average American drives 12,000 miles a year, and the average gallon of gas costs $2.75. We could save ourselves a decent chunk of change with the Prius. Even though the Prius is slightly more expensive, with the amount of complaints we have seen about the Insight, it makes the price worth it. Honda needs to step their game up. They have already worked up a new advertisement campaign for the Insight, and they are also looking farther into the future in hopes of eclipsing the famed Prius. Honda CEO Takanobu Ito alledgedly has told his researchers to develop a hybrid that has a better miles per gallon rating than the world’s most beloved hybrid(Prius). If the the next hybrid is going to be an improvement to the already establish Insight or a brand new design is unknown right now but its going to have to be something quite impressive to knock off the reigning champ.

GM’s announcement that they’re closing the Pontiac (the city, not the defunct brand, in Michigan) truck plant after 37 years puts a big fat “!” at the end of news that truck sales have fallen off to their lowest point since Reagan was in office. High margin pickup trucks were the bread-n-butter of Detroit’s strategy since car buyers defected to the Japanese in the ’80s and ’90s, making up 15% of all light passenger vehicles being sold. That percentage has now dropped to 10% of the market, and unless something drastic happens those numbers are expected to slide further.

The continuing saga of the Cash for Clunkers plan has gotten more interesting as new reports emerge that suggest that the program has actually increased the average gas mileage of all new cars sold during that period to a record 23 MPG. That’s an 8% increase from 21.2 MPG in August 2008 and the best numbers recorded since gas hit $4/gallon back in the dark days of 2007. So should we celebrate or sagely shake our heads? More after the jump.

Kicking It Truly Old School: BMW 2002

Like it or not, after a long absence, BMW may bring four-cylinder engines back to the U.S. to help it meet stricter fuel economy standards. According to Bloomberg, rather than make an even stronger case for clean diesel engines, (which Americans just can’t seem to embrace), BMW is seriously contemplating a return to smaller engines.

Mercedes Benz SLS AMG

Even though the Mercedes SLS has only unofficially been sighted in various places Sasquatch-style, it is not surprising that the German automaker is also planning an all-electric version of the upcoming supercar. Not surprising because it has been a mere two months since Mercedes plucked up a 10 percent stake in American electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors.

Suzuki Splash: One Byproduct of Suzuki/GM Coupling

Reading like a reenactment of German and Japanese diplomacy during WWII, Volkswagen continues to consolidate its status as the world’s most dominant automaker with discussions of acquiring a stake in Suzuki while the Japanese automaker relaxes ties with former affiliate GM.

2009 Honda Insight

According to the Wall Street Journal, based on the rate at which it is currently selling, Honda is happily bracing themselves and shareholders for huge sales figures of their Insight Hybrid in the coming year. In the U.S. alone, this may amount to between 50,000 and 60,000 new Insights sold this year alone.

Ford hasn’t always been the bold leader of sound automotive judgement that it is today. Though in fairness, most of the god-awful Mustangs listed below were the result of fuel shortages and government regulations, and actually many were sales successes initially. Taking a more zen-like approach let’s remember that without evil or ugliness in the world, true beauty and goodness may not exist either. Nevertheless, to quote Sealab’s Dr. Quinn, “Mistakes were made.” Mistakes indeed. As promised, in Part 2 of a look back at some of the best and worst Mustangs, here are five versions of the ‘Stag that we wish never existed. And actually when WAS the last time you saw a Mustang II on the road?

Audi Implementing New Technologies

Audi is the latest automaker to announce its adoption of technology that could improve fuel efficiency of as much as 20%.  Like Mazda, Audi is addressing one of the most wasteful areas of gas consumption in cars; idling.