Life Really Is A Highway

Welcome to Life Really Is A Highway. Over the past couple months a lot of my recent posts on my other blog were about automobiles. With little end in sight, I figured I could dedicate a whole blog to my newfound hobby.

When I was a little kid, I wanted to grow up to be a race car driver. When I became a teenager and could finally drive, my interest had wained to the point of I didn't care what I drove as long as it had four wheels and ran. My ideal car at the time seemed like a min-van, the epitome of the un-cool in most automotive circles.

I basically "fell" into every car I owned, without giving any serious thought to what it was as long as it had four wheels and ran. My current car, a 1998 Saturn SL1, was essentially a hand-me-down from my dad. The cost to me was the cost of replacing the engine when it burned out due to an oil leak (both my fault... I didn't know much about cars back then). In fact, part of me felt like that was one area I was not a stereotypical guy about.

Then one day, with rising gas prices and my wife and I considering an alternative vehicle than her truck, one that could carry kids safely since we are hoping to have a baby soon, I started looking into fuel efficient vehicles to haul the family in. Then I rediscovered my inner race car driver child.

I wanted performance out of our family car. Not like a Porsche or Ferrari, performance, but insane fuel economy performance. I looked at micro cars, electric cars, hybrid cars, velomobiles (pedal powered cars). We test drove a Smart Car and a Ford Aspire. We look for people selling Geo Metros. I read about electric converted cars and aeromods to existing cars. I dreamed of owning a GM EV1 even though GM destroyed them. I turned into a hypermiler.

I realized one day that I actually had a passion for this stuff. To me, it's not about "going green" as much as saving money and/or pushing engineering limits. Going eco-friendly is just a pleasant side-effect.

So welcome to my blog where I discuss all things auto with a heavy lean towards fuel economy and alternatives to gasoline. Life really is a highway and most cars get better mileage on the freeway than in the city.