[Esel Mann]

Interesting note here, if you've ever been to the Porsche museum, one of the displays is an electric motor which is integrated into the wheel. The jaw dropping part of it was that it was Mr. Porsche daddy himself who actually designed a wheel which integrated the electric motor (~ 100 years ago or so). I often wonder if there were no distractions like TV and the internet, what would people be developing right now? Why we'd be in space! Yeah you could go blind, but you can go blind rubbin one out. It's all ok, just stop when you need glasses.

As far as a diesel in the city, it too gets damn good mileage, seeing as all it is doing is idling. I 've driven in Orlando city (lots naturally), but a couple of times I also drove around in DC (visiting friends for a week) . Granted it's not as good as something which can either run all electric or stop/start the motor but nonetheless not bad!

The big-3 are in Europe and they do have diesel offerings over there. It's sad that they don't do something over here to give the driver some choices as we're limited to either VW/Audi, Mercedes, and BMW (though they seem to offer then take away only to offer again). Not that those are bad, it would just be nice to have some choices.

The true hybrid will be when they replace the gas engine with a diesel engine! But by the time they get around to it, fuel cells will be here.....

As far as Toyota and their Prius, I am going to venture a guess that Honda's hybrid is better. Nevertheless, I have to applaud Toyota for making the commitment and moving the hybrid concept forward. We can expect things to evolve and I am sure Toyota will be there.

I know that some diss the Prius's shape and shall we say overallness. However I also have to say, there's something when you see it that says, that's gotta be a Japanese designed car (a good thing) and I like that about it! I am always saddened when I see either Japanese or Korean cars try to mimic or fit the bill of some other line of cars from other continents. They need to do their own thing. It's what makes cars so unique. They've had some pretty cool cars over the years which to me seem like a substantial amount of original thought.

Well with all this talk about other cars, my 2 Porsche babies are clucking in the garage thinking I'm going to add another car to the harem. MAybe I should. Time to grab some Hennesey XO and go calm the garage harem down. Yes I have a Jetta TDI, but they haven't accepted it into the harem so it hangs outside.