ORIGINAL: RoswellGrey
ORIGINAL: WhiteHeat
If they only make 20,000 of these things for the '09 model year, most of us will still be waiting for ours this time next year. It'll be like trying to get your hands on a Wii!
The only trouble with that argument is: The cost of operating a Wii isn't going up and up and up...
I agree with you on that, but it's all relative. Here's my logic...
I am lucky enough to have a work-from-home job now, but before I was commuting a pretty long way. I averaged almost 20K miles per year. At today's gas prices ($3.40/gal +/-) I'd be spending $270 a month on gas for my Challenger R/T. That's a lot. But if I had a Prius gas wouldn't be free. I'd still be paying maybe $135. And who wants a Prius?
Put another way, let's say I don't want the cost of ownership of a V8 Challenger. I want to be frugal for gasoline's sake. The May issue of C&D has a gas-miser comparison test of 8 cars subtitled "looking for the 35 MPG car," referring to the CAFE laboratory MPG numbers. Only two of the cars tested (Ford Focus and Toyota Carolla) actually got the 35 MPG in the real world tests, and that was highway only. The "winner" (VW Rabbit) got 22 city and 29 highway. Compare that to Challenger R/T's 16/23 and you can get an extra 6 MPG, which in my above example saves me $60 per month. That's great, but I'd have to drive a VW Rabbit!
The bottom line is everybody who enjoys driving and drives what they enjoy pays for the privilege. Some people pay $60 a month more in insurance to drive a sports car than they would if they drove a Rabbit, but they do it anyway because they don't want to drive a Rabbit. Yes, high gas prices are another nail in the coffin of our disposable income. But we all spend more than we have to on things we enjoy. The higher gas prices go the more people will no longer be able to afford to do that - no matter what their particular money pit is. Even games for our Wiis*!
(*Wii used as example only. PS3 owner)