12 Step Program.

Since the President has told us that we are addicted to oil (foreign or otherwise,) lets take a quick look at how we are using that oil. Sound like we are going the wrong direction? Wondering what is the cause? One word. Horsepower.

At the latest auto show there were 18 models with over 500 horsepower. These machines not only suck up gas, but are deeply antisocial. This kind of power is useful only for street racing.

But it is not the proliferation of supercars that are the issue. Check this out - in 1975, before the first oil crisis, new cars in the US averaged 136 horsepower. In 1982 this number had dropped to 99 as car makers worked to raise fuel economy. By 2004 the average had jumped to 210 HP.

While environmentalists focus on SUVs, the real problem is that midsized cars now routinely have 250 HP or more. My 1973 BMW 2002 was the progenitor of modern sports sedans, and it made a respectable 130 HP. My 1980 BMW 320i made perhaps 150 HP and was the archetypical reasonable performance sedan of its day. Both of these cars got well over 30 MPG on the highway. Now we see cars like the Mazda 6 has 215 HP and gets mileage in the low 20s and the Nissan Altima has 250 HP and gets even worse mileage.

We could save a lot of fuel by just dialing back these silly levels of horsepower.