new GM vehicles
C&K*s Mommie wrote: I was reading up on the new vehicles GM is putting out in '07, with the E85 ethanol. Which is great from what I have read, it will put less of a burden on the environment.  Then I read where the nearest station to us is 45min to an hour away and it is only for private use, no public access.  Even if we were serious about getting one of those vehicles in '07, there is no way I am driving that far for a special type of fuel. I hate to stop to put gas in my car now, as it is.  Only if they had a E85 station nearer to us, would I consider it seriously.
Would you buy one, if you were in the market for a new vehicle in the next few years??
moped replied: Not if it wasn't convenient ya know....we just bought an 05 GM so we wont' be on the market for another 25 years - LOL
mckayleesmom replied: Not if I couldn't buy gas everywhere I went....what would be the point of having a vehicle you couldn't always get gas for???
crazymum replied: i myself cant drive but my boyfriend can and he has been talking about getting it too but it's not convenient so im putting my foot down on this one and saying no
C&K*s Mommie replied: GM plans to support opening more stations, in the coming years. Here in Florida there are only two, both of which are private. Only a couple of states do not have any at all. But in other states there are more than two. Like in NE they have 20. All open to the public. Sorry about giving that a bad name by saying that we have no options for fuel. 
J-rod replied: have you also read it takes GASOLINE to make E85..... so hows that saving anything?
im sorry i dont buy into all this stuff.
i used to sell cars and the new hybrid thing made a big fuss...but if you look into it more its not that great. its 50+ mpg rating is only for stop/go in town driving. once you hit the highway or similar...its all gas powered and back to normal 20 range mpg. plus a battery for one of those cars is ~8k 
so far im not impressed with any of these new vehicle economical savers.
mckayleesmom replied: Ya...I think its a scam too.
Sarah&Mackenzie replied: We have a station the has that gasoline and it is only 20 minutes from where I live. Not sure about buying the vehicle specific for that gasoline unless a lot more stations offered that type of gas.
PrairieMom replied: Almost all of the stations here offer E85 (I'm in the heart land ya know  ) But, most other places don't offer it yet so I would hold off too. I don't want to own a car that would confine me to just my city. Hopefully it will be offered other places soon.
J-rod replied:
plus what happens when the fad runs out? your stuck with a car that has almost no resale value.
C&K*s Mommie replied: I just started to read about this, it was one sided on the GM part. So I had not looked much into that. I would imagine that since it is admittedly 15% gasoline, that the emissions of greenhouse gases are significantly lower in these FlexFuel vehicles compared to full gasoline run engines. It is still young and in the early phases. When alot more information is presented so people can make the best informed choice, I think they will decide then. I prefer to have information from both sides before we would make a (financial) jump like that. But I just began to read on it.
My DH sells cars too, and he told me in short that the hybrids are all just a money making scheme too. That in the end no money will be saved between the increase of buying a small car for alot more money, and what a big car would spend in gasoline. So once I saw the prices of hybrids, compared to all other options, and the 'tax deduction' given for buying a hybrid I knew that was all bologna.
coasterqueen replied: Until there are extensive studies on how the E85 gasoline affects the engines of these cars I will not buy one. There's no way I'm spending that much money on a vehicle til there is good proof that type of fuel won't do any long term damage to an engine.
coasterqueen replied:
Well actually I don't think E85 was designed to save money on gas. It was designed because it's a safer type of gas, if I recall correctly, AND so we don't rely on foreign oil.
C&K*s Mommie replied: In reality, J-rod, you and I both know that all cars are like this in some way or another. Certain makes of cars have no resale value at all. I choose to stay away from them. Certain makes may have higher resale values, but because they are produced in large quanties it may not be as high as one that is rare. Plus you never know where this "fad" may lead. I also choose to stay away from known "fads", because of the history of "fads" falling by the wayside only to be looked at and laughed at in a number of years.
J-rod replied:
correct.
sorry if im coming off like a A-hole...cars and contracting are my hobbies. so maybe im being a little defensive and a jerk.
ill never buy a car like this. im old-school. i drive horsepower! LOL
J-rod replied:
i agree. all cars have that risk, some more than others.... let me just say id never even consider buying one of these in the first few yrs. id let things play out.
however id never buy one anyways. lol
C&K*s Mommie replied:
I am with you there, J-rod. I can think of one car company that still barely has the bugs worked out of their cars. Nevermind that when you buy their cars, you are tanked and upside down for the rest of your life!
With the price of vehicles continually going up, I am doubtful that we will ever own a "new" one. We may drive a bucket for the rest of our lives. 
Thanks for the information about the FlexFuel. I like to hear all facts/opinions so that I can find a place in the middle when I have more information. Not just to keep it one sided in my mind.
Cece00 replied: While I think its good that people want to find a way to stop our dependency on oil from the middle east, I dont buy into all of this E85 & hybrid stuff.
Instead, they should look into the oil sands in Canada. Anyone heard about this? I cant remember where it is in Canada, but there is stuff called "oil sands" which is this sand that is super concentrated with oil. They are saying it contains more oil deposits than Saudi Arabia ORIGINALLY had (not what they had left, what they had to begin with). They are coming up with ways to refine it and filter it, and for a reasonable cost (too expensive right now). I think the US should put their energy into that, because we are already friendly with Canada, and we would not have to rely on middle eastern counties for fuel.
salmndr007 replied: I love new technology...only one problem...we don't have the resources to support it just yet. They were also talking about going completly hydrogen fueled vehicles. Here is the catch...no hydrogen fueling stations anywhere around. The costs were going to be about the same as gas but much better for the environment. Oh well, I guess we will just have to wait until we get more stations near us.
C&K*s Mommie replied: With that thought I think of the docu-film Farenheit 9/11. When it got past much of the biased opinions in the beginning. It went on to show that there are very close buddy-buddy ties to the billionaires of the Middle East. How much of it was true. Not sure.
I had never heard of oil sands, Crystal. That would be interesting to learn about. Thanks for the info! 
Boys r us replied: We actually have one. This wasn't something we really had given much thought to or knew about until one day Rick was reading online about the new Chevy Tahoe's being capeable of ethenol and then he read that beginning in 2002 they made some models that were and it told you how to find out if yours is, basically if your VIN began with a certain letter then it was, Rick went outside to check and what do ya know...our Tahoe is ethenol capeable! He confirmed this with the dealership.
Ours is a 2004, so this is something that GM has been working on for awhile!
But the only bummer is, the only ethenol gas stations in VA are up around Quantico in Northern VA..so we don't have any within 3 hours.
**ETA I think that most of the vehicles that are being made are just ETHENOL CAPABLE..Meaning you can run ethenol OR regular gas, not a specific one way or another type commitment.
jacobsmama replied: Our local gas stations carry this but the price is the same as regular gas I thought it was suppose to be cheaper?? Why buy this certain kind of vehicle and look for gas if the price is the same??? Better helathrisks I gues..  IDK
C&K*s Mommie replied: That was neat that you just came across it one day! SURPRISE honey, we have a flexfuel automobile!!  
PrairieMom replied: Okay, so what do you guys think of Gas with Ethanol? here we have gas with 10% ethanol added and it is cheaper for us to buy, and works in all cars.
C&K*s Mommie replied: not sure of the benefits & cons- so my opinion is obselete. If the price is significantly less than regular I am gung-ho! It would have to be at least $.30 cheaper/gallon. Often our gas fluctuates, and $.30 is outside that usual margin of fluctuation.
J-rod replied:
cool. many auto makers (the big 3) have been making a select few of these cars. i have seen one ford explorer i worked on at work. it was a flex fuel and the guy never even knew it eithe..just like you.
if it ends up being cheaper id look into it a little more. i pay about $60 a week for gas to and from work.
gr33n3y3z replied:
Hubby and I feel the same way also and the new Tahoes not such a great deal with the new transmission either.
Everyone is like thats great when you look a little deeper into it not really.
So i guess we will hang on to our Tahoe for a few more years unless I got back down to a car which I do not want to do.
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