| It seems today's CAFE standard changes are going to have lasting impact on the cars we drive now and limit our future choices. The Z enjoys a continuous stream of development and provides economic activity with it's rich assortment of aftermarket parts. The aftermarket is supported by the lack of regulations that would otherwise hinder development of the Z32 if it was OBD2. Since OBD2 the list of available upgrades and the amount of enthusiast fun a person can have modifying their car is very limited. I have two other OBD2 cars and other than a cat back and an air filter there are no aftermarket performance parts for them. By contrast the Z an my other 3L turbo, a 1983 Mercedes 300SD have many power adders and upgrade to entertain the enthusiast like myself. The gov't and the corpocracy have come too far. Case in point, I have a neighbor with a Cobalt SS. I suggested we take our cars to the track and have some fun, he replied "Sure...but can you help me disable the OnStar so they can't see what I'm doing, I think the antenna is under the rear deck." What if the government taxes pre-OBD2 cars and labels them dangerous polluters and limits their use? How will current car companies continue to make large and safe cars? In Europe cars are small and safe because for the most part, they don't allow large tucks and buses on the same high speed roads as cars. This is not the case here in the USA. I've driven in a SMART car, it's not so smart, it's noisy, harsh riding, cramped and seems like a death trap to me in an accident. The owner, Franco, said it got 40MPG reliably. That's just 1mpg more that the new standard for passenger cars of 39MPG proposed today. If this is the future of motoring in America, I'll be driving my Z and the 300SD for as long as they're legal.
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14:27:15 05/20/09
