Rush Limbaugh Knows Nothing About Cars, Has Opinion Anyway

If there’s one thing that drives me mad it’s when people who know nothing about a topic try to form an opinion on it anyway and then try to convince others that their opinion is right. This accurately describes Rush Limbaugh’s entire life.

If you don’t know who Limbaugh is, consider yourself lucky. If you are curious, well, let’s just say that he is an extreme right winged so-called political pundit who, for some reason, has his own radio show. As you can see by his picture, it’s obvious why no one wants to give him a  TV show.

Oh, and he’s also severely addicted to various pills. Nice.

On his radio show Limbaugh likes to talk about current events, of which he clearly does not follow or understand. Racist Rush, as I like to call him, decided to have a go at another topic that he is clearly ignorant about: Cars.

Specifically, Limbaugh decided to lay into the upcoming Chevrolet Volt. Limbaugh claimed that the Volt is stupid because it costs too much. I will admit, the $41,000 US starting price is about five grand more than anticipated, but since Rush’s hates the environment and will find any excuse in the book to slam efficient technology, he almost purposely failed to mention that the Volt can also be leased for a very reasonable $350/month.

He then declares that since there are government incentives on cars like the Volt of up to $7,500 off ($10,000 off in Ontario), there clearly must be no demand for cars like these.  Because it’s not like America was hit hard by the recession thanks to fools like your beloved George W. Bush and people need stimulus in order to buy new cars again, right Rush? Besides, as Autoblog pointed out, there were tax write -offs for Hummers and other huge gas guzzling SUV’s just a few years ago. How come you didn’t speak up against that then, eh Rush?

And to top it all off, and to showcase just how ignorant he is, Rush then decided to misinform all his listeners by proclaiming that the Volt is only capable of 40 miles (65 kms) then it runs out of juice. A little research goes a long way and if Limbaugh had the inclination or the wit to do so, he would’ve found out that the Volt can go an additional 300 miles on a regular gas engine when the electric motor runs out of power.

Now, I’ve been a bit critical of the Volt myself in the past, but I know cars. They are one of my few topics of expertise. And with that said, despite my minor criticisms, I still like the Volt. And I want it to succeed. I’m very eager to try one out for myself, mostly because I understand how it works and it’s intriguing. I would never claim to hate something without first understanding it. But that’s how Rush rolls and he is exactly what is wrong with society today.

You don’t like the Volt, Rush? Just pop a few more of those pills and the Volt won’t seem so bad, will it?

[Detroit Free Press]

Chevrolet Volt Uses… Premium Gas?

GM, GM, GM. What were you thinking?

Why would you go and develop a car that is supposedly going to be your saviour as well as an industry game changer for fuel efficiency and the environment and then go and make it require premium gas?

That’s like encouraging people to practice safe sex, yet charging them a premium to use condoms.

And the things is, I don’t even understand why the Volt would require premium gas. Why would a tiny 80 horsepower engine need a high octane output? I will concede, however, that’s it might be possible to get added efficiency by using higher octane for the Volt’s generator. And if it is, and it’s also the reason why premium gas is required, then you need to explain that to the public, GM. Because right now it looks kind of foolish offering no explanation for people to spend more money for your supposed halo car.

However, it’s not like you’ll be going through loads and loads of premium since GM claims you can go up to 65 kilometres on the electric motor alone before using a single drop of premium. It’s still a bit of a disappointment nonetheless.

[The Truth About Cars]

Chevrolet Volt MPV5 Revealed in Beijing

Toyota reportedly has plans to make a minivan version of the Pruis, so naturally, Chevrolet wants to try something similar with the Volt. When the Prius first debuted, it pretty much had the hybrid segment all to itself for a long time, so Chevy wants to make sure Toyota doesn’t have that advantage again.

The only problem is the Volt MPV isn’t likely to be built because apparently Voltec technology isn’t suitable for any vehicle that is bigger or even smaller than the Volt.

Alan Taub, Vice President of research and development explains “with battery technology as it currently stands, extended-range vehicles that are larger than the Volt – luxury saloons, trucks and SUVs – aren’t really possible; they would simply be too heavy to be efficient. For those types of cars, fuel cells and biofuels are the future“.

This doesn`t necessarily perclude the idea of a Volt minivan, SUV or even a pickup truck becoming a reality some day though, we would just need to wait a while before they come to fruition. GM would have to develop new technology that would be able to handle bigger and smaller vehicles.

Check out more pics of the Volt MPV5 after the jump.

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The Chevy Volt’s Real World Efficiency Will Be…

About eight months ago, GM claimed they had a huge announcement. They were pretty secretive about what it would be. The only hint they gave us was the number 230.

It turned out that 230 meant the Volt’s mileage rating, i.e the Volt supposedly gets 230 mpg. Got an eyebrow raised due to scepticism? Don’t blame ya. 230 mpg is a marketing ploy that didn’t work. While GM technically isn’t lying about 230 mpg, it’s not based on real world driving. It’s just “expected to achieve city fuel economy of at least 230 miles per gallon, based on development testing using a draft EPA federal fuel economy methodology for labeling for plug-in electric vehicles.”

Right.

Well, now the next logical thing to do is give information that is actually relevant to consumers, GM. After a long time of making us wait with lots of speculation, GM announced that the Volt’s real world efficiency will be 50 mpg (4.7 L/100 kms).

Obviously this rating is for the gas engine only when those 60 kms that the electric motor will give you run out.

Not too bad, but we honestly expected a bit better considering the hype surrounding this car. In any event, can’t wait to experience the Volt for ourselves!

If You Don’t Really Understand How the Chevy Volt Works…

Check out the video above. It’s probably the most anticipated vehicle of the year with supposed revolutionary fuel efficient technology, and you’ll definitely be hearing more about it, so might as well brush up now.