Even Sapir, Jerusalem
Monday, November 17th, 2003
https://adamkhan.net/rambles/for-love-of-economy
Yes, the engine is more powerful and I am now at least equal to any other car on the road in terms of stamina up the hills and overtaking power, but these seem trivial reasons to make the most fundamental aspect of driving, eating up the miles, a more expensive proposition [Update 2016 Apr 3: Well, my young man, not entirely trivial; sometimes you need that power if only just for safety reasons]. It disturbs me to be driving a car that I know gets fewer kilometers to the shekel than did my previous.
My last car was a Fiat Uno with a 1000cc engine; this one has a 1392cc engine. Before, I got about 320km for every NIS 100 worth of gasoline; now I get about 270km. That is a substantial difference, and for what? It marginally pains me, it really does. And even this is good fuel economy. People who drive 4×4s and heavy big cars—and there are lots of them here in Israel where both cars and gasoline are expensive—must downright chug the shekels. When driving along the highway alongside a much smaller car, I can understand people feeling superior because their car is sexier, but don’t people feel a tinge of idiocy that to cross that kilometer they are paying more for really no good reason? I mean, fine, I can accept paying more to initially purchase a nicer car, but thereafter paying more per kilometer once you’ve bought it?
I suppose one adjusts to the level of expense. If you’re riding a bicycle, you’re not paying anything in fuel at all, making the difference between a small and a big car trivial. But still, riding a bike is a totally different thing to driving a car, whereas driving a big car is almost identical to driving a small fuel-efficient one.
Also, I feel sort of idiotic driving alone in a car that has enough space and power to be carrying four more people. Seeing just one person driving in even a small car, let alone a big one, looks ridiculous to me.
