30 MPG is the so called “magic number” because so few cars for sale in the US actually attain that kind of gas mileage. Let’s be honest here. GM states that the have over 30 models that acheive 30 MPG or more. The reality can not be farther from the truth.

Let us take the ’09 Chevy Malibu for example. GM’s stated MPG is 22 city, 33 Highway with the 2.4L I-4 with a 6 speed auto transmission. That gives a combined average of 27.5 MPG. EPA.

Now lets have some “real world driving”. I rented an ’09 Malibu I-4, 6-speed auto, for vacation recently and kept track of the mileage for the week. And guess what? I got 21.4 MPG COMBINED.

I am by no means a lead foot or an aggresive driver. Hell on my ’03 3.8L V-6 4-speed auto Mustang I consistently get 22.3 MPG combined.

GM is all about smoke and mirrors. Marketing. Nothing more and nothing less. The BAS system was and is a joke. It was nothoing more than window dressing so they coould slap a Hybird monkier on the car and say “me too” in riding the Green wave.

GM needs for be Honest about their real world numbers. I always hear from companies that the meet or exceed the goverment standards. GM needs to do better. They have no choice.

And if I hear one more person say “Governement Motors” one more time I’ll have a stoke. GM did this to themselves. And it was GM that went hat in hand to the government. Not the other way around.

If you want the government to bail you out then you have to follow their rules… Pure and simple.

GM and Chrysler have not been running in some Market vaccume. Ford, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai are all doing just fine working in this same enviornment.

BAS+ could be successful but it won’t offer enough of a mileage boost to garner an outsized Hybrid premium. It will have to office good value on it’s own.

Unfortunately the 1999-2002 VW’s turned a lot of people off from the brand forever. I roam tdiclub regularly but I’m not intimately familiar with VW diesels. I know the letters “01M” raise some ire, though! My family has an 03 Jetta wagon (gas, not diesel) with a stick, and it has treated us well so far. And the current generation maintains average reliability, which is a marked improvement. I am in the same place you are regarding E-REV or similar technology making a TDI obsolete, though! I’m some years away from being able to buy my dream car, so it will be interesting to see what the automotive landscape will be at that point.

OTOH, if BAS+ is going to be cheap enough to pay for itself in a couple of years, all of this goes out the window. The same people who pay extra for a better SEER rating on their heat pump would be buying the hybrid then.

I work for a large institution, and real change is a slow and difficult process — regardless of what the institution’s purpose happens to be. I really hope they can pull it off, but it’s still hard to imagine.

I think it’s worth noting that while you may not think 30 mpg is that green (neither do I), automakers seem to think that the general public does. It is clearly the “magic number” that they’re all trying to beat in their TV ads and such.

I think they’re misjudging this. I guess they have more data then I do — but, even so, it really looks to me like the green-car enthusiasts (like me) are going to go for a “real” hybrid with the best numbers, and the general public (except for the “up yours hippie” market) is going to decide about a hybrid based purely on medium-term economics. The BAS hybrids didn’t seem to meet the needs of either crowd.

I really did love my 2001 VW Jetta GLS TDI. It was a beautiful car, and a real pleasure to drive through the mountains of Southwest Virginia! But, after replacing 5 transmissions over 20k miles and only one year of ownership, I don’t think I’m going to own any VW product unless it’s under the full factory warranty. To be fair, I did buy an automatic, even after reading Oilhammer’s rant about the 01M 4-speed automatic transmission on tdiclub.com. I should have bought the manual (which my preferred transmission in a non-hybrid), but I’m not the only person who drives “my” car these days.

Alas, we sold the Jetta and kept the Prius when we moved into our new house. The Prius matches our needs to a T. And after 100k miles, it’s still on its original transmission. Also, since we don’t take as many road-trips as we used to, and since and mostly drive under 30mph within the town limits, the Prius (with its hatchback) is a much better Midwestern grocery cart. I’d love to own another TDI, but I’m also hoping that the ER-EV will make all of these cars obsolete before my current vehicle wears out. Bummer!