As the leaves turned in the Catskills, greenery and green cars were hard to find

On a visit to Monticello, N.Y., an open top, manual transmission, deserted two-lane roads and a gorgeous fall day are an unbeatable combination.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

MONTICELLO, N.Y. -- Quiet has returned to the two-lane roads that wind past clusters of homes framed by fall colors.

This week saw the annual invasion of the International Motor Press Association, whose members were unleashed at the wheels of performance and super cars with incredibly loud mufflers.

IMPA, the country's oldest organization of automotive journalists and public relations professionals, set up camp at the Monticello Motor Club, a 4.1-mile race circuit and playground for the wealthy nestled in the Catskill Mountains.

Many sponsors

Sponsors of the so-called Test Days included Detroit and foreign automakers, manufacturers of tires and automobile sound equipment, PR Newswire and the private club where the event was held.

Previous Test Days took place at Pocono Raceway and Lime Rock Park.

On Wednesday, writers and publicists had access to a parking lot filled with some of the fastest cars in the world, many of which could be driven on the track.

Others were meant to be driven only on quiet public roads in Monticello and nearby villages, set amidst lakes and wooded hills. 

On Tuesday, the first day of the event, all driving was restricted to public roads except for IMPA members who signed up for drives or rides with instructors on the challenging race circuit.

I did hot laps in a Fiat 500 Abarth and a Lexus GS sedan with 467 horsepower, but actually enjoyed driving several other cars over nearly deserted public roads that were a breath of fresh air compared to the congestion of northern New Jersey.

Among them were the FIAT 124 Spider, Infiniti Q60, Jaguar F-Type, a luxury sports car with loud snap, crackle and pop exhausts; and Volvo S90 AWD Inscription, a comfortable sedan that is the biggest Volvo I have ever seen.

Being confined to public roads didn't lessen the excitement for some IMPA members.

For example, a writer for the Chicago Tribune syndicate who gave me a ride in a McLaren GT shouted, "That's 90 [mph]," as he paddle shifted up through the gears on Route 42 toward Montcello's economically depressed downtown.

One of the few green cars at the event was the highly anticipated Acura NSX, an all-wheel-drive supercar bristling with 573 horsepower from a twin-turbo V-6 and three electric motors, above and below.

A pro racecar driver at the wheel of the Acura NSX took me on the fastest lap I have ever experienced at the Monticello Motor Club.

Green cars

Sadly, there were no purely electric cars at the event.

Chevy didn't bring the Bolt, the first $40,000 EV with more than 200 miles of range, even though the four-door hatchback is expected to go on sale at the end of the year.

And as usual, Nissan had IMPA members lining up to drive the fearsome GT-R, but disappointed me and others by not supplying an updated all-electric Leaf with a longer range. 

Typically, most of the writers and publicists who attend Test Days are gear heads, speed freaks and lead foots who are wined and dined by the automakers, and loaned new models for a weekend or a week.

They willingly engage in a conspiracy of silence about climate change, the 53,000 deaths every year from auto emissions, and the environmental benefits of hybrids and EVs.

I heard one IMPA member boast of driving a Fiat 500 Abarth at 107 mph on a Nevada highway, complaining he was the only one of 10 writers in a caravan of speeding Fiats pulled over by the police. 

Toyota Mirai, Prius

Toyota brought the Mirai, powered by electricity from a hydrogen fuel cell; as well as the Prius Prime, a plug-in gas-electric hybrid that has an EV range of 25 miles.

I got behind the wheel of both, and found the Mirai far quieter and more refined than the pre-production model I drove in Manhattan last April at the New York Auto Show.

The Prius Prime only went a few all-electric miles before the gasoline engine kicked in, because its handlers from Event Solutions International (ESI) forgot to plug it in overnight.

Both the Mirai and Prius Prime approached the quiet of a Tesla Model S.
   

Two more photos of the mid-engine Acura NSX, above and below. 

Toyota's Prius Prime, a gas-electric hybrid, wasn't plugged in overnight, and yielded only a few miles in all-electric mode on Wednesday, above and below.

Toyota Mirai is a car in search of hydrogen fueling stations, above and below.

Hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen in the air and produces electricity to power the vehicle.

This McLaren GT, which cost more than $200,000, didn't match the excitement of the Acura NSX.

The Alfa-Romeo 4C Spider with paddle shifters was a hoot to drive on the racetrack.

A Ford Fusion gas-electric hybrid.

A driver returning to the pits at Monticello Motor Club.

Tuesday's lunch at the Monticello Motor Club included veggie burgers, coleslaw, and potato salad. I didn't attend that night's banquet at Honor's Haven Resort & Spa in Ellenville, N.Y., but was told no fish was available for IMPA members who don't eat meat.

Eggplant Rollatini, Potato-Crusted Cod and Caesar Salad were on Wednesday's lunch menu at MMC.

I had dinner on Tuesday night at Crust Italian Eatery in Rock Hill, N.Y., a restaurant next to my hotel. Steamed Clams were $10. A glass of red wine was $6.

I also had a Caprese Salad with Fig Balsamic Glaze ($12), but the only off note were the roasted tomatoes, which had been refrigerated and were much too cold.

Crust Italian Eatery bakes 24-inch pizzas. Bottles of wine are $20.

On the way home, I stopped to charge my Tesla Model S 60 on Route 300 in Newburgh, N.Y., where six free Superchargers were available in the parking lot of a strip mall, above and below.

Customers were dining outdoors at Cosimo's on Union Ristorante & Bar, which serves wood-fired pizzas. I had a yogurt next door at Hoopla Frozen Yogurt (51 cents per ounce).

Environment isn't getting much of a break in a city where the good times still roll

The oil industry dominates New Orleans, where a few concessions to the environment include small solar panels atop parking meters, above, and a growing network of electric streetcars, including this one on Canal Street, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

NEW ORLEANS -- On a six-day visit to the Big Easy, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

Downtown streets were filled with an unusually large number of big SUVs and pickup trucks, and only a small number of gas-electric hybrids.

I rode plenty of electric streetcars, but saw not a single all-electric car from Tesla, Nissan, BMW or other manufacturer.

And solar panels seemed more common on parking meters than on buildings and homes.

In the city's Garden District, I saw a rare Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid in a neighborhood filled with SUVs.

Oil, music and fish

A visitor soon learns how important the petroleum industry is to New Orleans and Louisiana, despite the Deepwater Horizon spill six years ago that nearly destroyed the fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil companies are the major sponsors of two major music and food festivals in April -- the French Quarter Festival and New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which began Friday.

Louisiana is the primary source of the nation's crude oil, and the second-largest refiner of petroleum for gasoline and plastic, according to the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corp.

Meanwhile, the Louisiana fishing industry has bounced back, "accounting for 26 percent of all seafood landed in the country, and 40 percent of all seafood consumed by Americans each year," the city's marketing group says. 

Tesla New Orleans

Tesla Motors has promised a service center in New Orleans beginning in 2014, but Model S owners are still waiting.

A friend who lives in the city says he has seen a few Teslas.

The company Web site lists a New Orleans service center as "coming soon."

Tesla has installed free Superchargers and destination chargers across Louisiana for Tesla owners.

In wake of VW diesel scandal, engine makers are trying to pull another fast one

Allen Schaeffer, executive director of an industry group called the Diesel Technology Forum, spoke at a gathering of automobile writers on Tuesday, claiming the Volkswagen cheating scandal represents only a "speed bump" in the future of the diesel engine. Below, one of the VW models involved in the continuing controversy. 

In February, U.S. sales of vehicles with diesel engines were less than a third of what they were a year earlier, Schaeffer told members of the International Motor Press Association at a lunch in Manhattan.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Diesel rhymes with evil.

Think climate change, global warming, polluted air, disease, death and premeditated deception.

That's deception of both regulators and customers, as in the massive Volkswagen cheating scandal involving 11 million VWs and Audis with diesel engines.

Deception as in Mercedes-Benz USA, which was named in a federal lawsuit alleging that its so-called clean diesel engine reduces pollution far less than the company said in its marketing materials -- in an echo of the Volkswagen scandal.

Mercedes' "clean diesel" emits pollution at levels more than 65 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency permits, the lawsuit charges.

An Illinois woman who owns a Mercedes ML 350 filed the suit last month, and asked for class-action status to represent others in a similar fix.

'Speed bump'

So, automobile writers who gathered for a free lunch paid for by an industry group -- including engine makers and their suppliers -- might have been surprised to hear the VW scandal called a "speed bump," a "detour" and a "short-term issue" in the future of the diesel engine.

Allen Schaeffer of the Diesel Technology Forum seemed to contradict himself when he said only 6,500 vehicles with diesel engines were sold nationwide in February, compared to 22,000 a year earlier.

Schaeffer, the forum's executive director, also raised eyebrows when he claimed some "clean diesel" engines are just as clean as a Toyota Prius hybrid.

And he actually dismissed all-electric vehicles, including those with gasoline-fueled range extenders, in just a few words.

No sale at IMPA

Even though lunch was free, members of the International Motor Press Association turned out in the fewest numbers I've seen.

Still, the media have been complicit in the past success of diesel, as you can see from a rave review of the 2016 Range Rover with a 6-cylinder turbo-diesel motor in The New York Times.

Tesla Motors' all-electric Model X, called the safest SUV in the world, is ample demonstration that Land Rover is still producing some of the world's most environmentally irresponsible vehicles on earth.

See: An elegant way to say F.U. to the environment

Also: 'First name in clouds of poison gas'

Not good enough

Of course, a diesel engine that is just as clean as a gas-electric hybrid isn't good enough.

If diesel engines were banned outright, that might spur the development of alternatives far faster than now, when the profit motive seems to rule.

Diesel engines, which are less complicated and cheaper to produce than gasoline engines, fatten automakers' bottom line while helping them meet increasingly stringent fuel-economy standards.

But that has come at a terrible price to the environment.

Top-rated, relatively rare Tesla Model S attracts smiles, thumbs ups -- and envy

At the supermarket, above, or at a free Tesla Supercharger Station on the New Jersey Turnpike, below, the gorgeous, relatively rare Model S turns heads.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Oh, there goes another Mercedes (Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Cadillac etc. etc).

When you drive a Tesla Model S, other drivers really notice, and you don't see yourself coming and going.

In its third year of production, the luxury 4-door hatchback still is relatively rare.

I've gotten thumbs ups from a passing motorcyclist on the interstate, a pedestrian and others.

The reaction of other drivers is mixed.

Some are aggressive, like the moron in a Volvo wagon who tried to pass me on Thursday after both of us got on Route 80 west in Englewood, N.J.

My Model S 60 is a couple of seconds slower to 60 mph than the P85D that just broke the Consumer Reports ratings system, earning a perfect road test score of 100.

But the zero to 30 mph and 40 mph times are dazzling when I've been challenged to a stoplight grand prix start.

I've yet to lose one.

E-ZPass discounts

Tesla's Model S uses an external E-ZPass that is mounted over the bottom of the license plate, but you'll have to jump through hoops to get the "green" one that entitles you to off-peak discounts as the owner of a zero-emission vehicle.

The off-peak discounts are available on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and at the Hudson River crossings.

First, you have to register your car, then send in a copy of your registration showing the make and model, and if you're lucky, in four to six weeks the so-called Green Pass will come in the mail.

My first attempt, using snail mail, failed. The second time, I faxed in my request and got the exterior E-ZPass, but it was black like the one on my Model S.

I called, and was told exterior passes come only in black, but that my pass is programmed to give me the green discounts.

The E-ZPasses we use to get off-peak discounts in my two Toyota Priuses are green, not white.

Our 2007 Prius with 64,000 miles on it is for sale. If you want to get 40 mpg to 50 mpg and help the environment, send an email to the address at the top of this blog.

LOADED: Navigation system, Bluetooth, six-disc CD player in dash.

Carpool discounts

All drivers are entitled to a carpool discount at the Hudson River crossings -- 24/7 -- but you have to call your E-ZPass provider and register for the discount.

Then, you have to stop in a staffed cash/E-ZPass lane so a toll taker can see you have three or more people in the car.

The regular off-peak E-ZPass toll at the Hudson River crossings is $9.75, the Green Pass off-peak toll is $6.25 and the carpool toll is $5.75.

The peak E-ZPass toll is $11.75, and the cash toll is $14.

The Model S on vacation at the Basin Harbor Club on Lake Champlain in Vermont, where we also recharged our own batteries.

This soon-to-be Tesla owner wouldn't be caught dead in a luxury car from Germany

An all-electric Tesla Model S on display at the Time Warner Center in Manhattan.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Does any American really need a 155-mph luxury car?

More than 15 years after the introduction of gas-electric hybrids to the U.S., German car makers offer only a handful of green cars.

Their luxury car lines still are filled with gas-guzzling sedans and SUVs that merely aggravate air pollution and hasten climate change. 

Some, like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, score low on reliability surveys.

Mindless media 

The automotive media are responsible for portraying German cars with hundreds of horsepower from dirty internal combustion engines as viable alternatives to Tesla Motors' revolutionary Model S and other all-electric vehicles.

For example, Car and Driver's blog interviewed Diamler Chairman Dieter Zetsche, who sports a walrus mustache (Diamler A.G. is the parent company of Mercedes-Benz).

One of the loaded questions was posed this way:

"And electric vehicles? Buyers seem unconvinced."

No one said you had to have brains to get a job at a car magazine or a blog like Gas2, which ran the interview recently.

Of course, "buyers" of electric vehicles must have been convinced or why would they have spent $30,000 to $70,000 and more for an all-electric car? 

Tesla Motors is selling about 50,000 Model S luxury hatchbacks annually from a single factory in California.

No ad revenue

The media's hostility toward Tesla might have something to do with the company's no-advertising policy. 

No ads mean no advertising revenue for struggling print and electronic media.

Elon Musk, the genius behind Tesla, didn't even bother showing his new model this week at the New York International Auto Show in Manhattan.

Model S 70D

This week, Tesla announced a new base model, the 70D, which costs $75,000 and has all-wheel drive and slightly more range, 240 miles v. 208 miles for the discontinued Model S 60.

The Associated Press story I saw in my morning paper reported the electric car maker "is going after mainstream luxury car buyers" with the new model.

The story didn't explain why the $70,000 Model S 60 -- which has a 380-horsepower electric motor and can go from zero to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds -- didn't compete against "mainstream" luxury cars.

The new 70D trims only .7 seconds off that 0-60 time, even though it has a motor with 124 more horsepower.

My Model S

I am scheduled to pick up my new Model S 60 next week.

I am sure it will be the best car I have ever owned, and with free updates from Tesla will remain fresh and more advanced than just about anything else on the road.

The only cars we've had for more than a decade are Toyota Prius hybrids, and we have more than 60 solar panels on the roof of our home.

The Model S 60 will be a perfect fit, especially in view of the limited driving I do as a senior.

German cars

In the last few years, I've worked part time for fleet-management companies in New Jersey that supply new cars to the media and VIPs.

I've driven just about every Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Porsche, occasionally as a chauffeur during Fashion Week or other special event.

Some of them have switches and controls that are so hopelessly complicated I had to consult the owner's manual to figure them out.

I couldn't wait to jump back into my 2010 Prius.

World's automakers unveil their latest ideas for hastening climate change

Instead of showing a production model of the next-generation Prius hybrid, Toyota unveiled the Mirai fuel-cell sedan at the New York International Auto Show press preview today. Only 3,000 will be available in the U.S. from the last quarter of this year through 2017, a spokeswoman said.

The interior and exterior of the Mirai are underwhelming -- too reminiscent of the Camry. The electric-drive sedan will have a range of 300 miles on a fill-up of hydrogen.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Only a small fraction of the hundreds of vehicles on display at the New York International Auto Show in Manhattan can be considered environmentally friendly.

At today's press preview in the Javits Center, I saw a handful of purely electric cars, maybe a dozen gas-electric hybrids and Toyota's hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, which is going on sale later this year in very limited numbers.

After all, the show is produced by the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, not the Environmental Protection Agency.

At the opening press breakfast this morning, dealer association President Mark Schienberg emphasized that performance is the leading factor driving new-car sales -- followed by technology and fuel efficiency.

In other words, don't look for a great many new products later this year and in 2016 that are aimed at slowing climate change.

The show opens to the public on Friday.

The Toyota Mirai's electric motor (rated at 153 horsepower), fuel cells and hydrogen tank, front to rear. The midsize, four-passenger Mirai will have an MSRP of $57,500.

The Ford Focus Electric.

Volkswagen's all-electric e-Golf.

Mitsubishi's all-electric, hard-to-pronounce i-MiEV.

The low-slung BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car has an MSRP of $137,450, but that doesn't include treatments from a chiropractor.

The new Ford GT, reminiscent of the race car that won Le Mans from 1966 to 1969, is going on sale next year.

Mazda's new MX-5 Miata.

Lincoln unveiled a limousine-like Continental Concept, which is expected to be produced for the 2017 model year. The announcer said the car will have soft-closing doors, which reminded be of the Toto toilet seat.

Automobile writers packed one of the first press conferences of the day, for the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu, which is being billed as finally competitive with the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord in the scrappy midsize-sedan segment. A gas-electric hybrid version also will be available.

Platters of fruit and cheese were typical of the fare offered to members of the automotive media at the 115th edition of the New York International Auto Show. Subaru gave out box lunches with vegetable or turkey wraps. Espresso bars were common, but Porsche restricted its lounge to invitees holding a black card. In general, the automakers seem to be cutting back on food service compared to last year's press preview.

Taxis in Holland, incentives in China, future models and other green-car trivia

A Tesla Model S demonstrator at the electric automaker's new Showroom-Service Center on Route 17 north in Paramus.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I don't envy all of those full-time auto writers and bloggers who have to scramble for green-car news.

Many of them write for sponsored sites, and range far and wide, even years into the future, in search of stories.

Look at all of the copy about the Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, which isn't scheduled to come out until late in 2015.

But with a first-year production of only 2,100, it's unclear how many will be available in the United States.

What is clear is that Toyota dealers are sure to squeeze anyone who wants to buy one of the few available for a lot of added profit over the $57,500 base price, if past practice is any guide.

Junket to Japan

One of the blogs that wrote about the Mirai acknowledged Toyota provided airfare to Japan, lodging and meals to enable the writer "to bring you this first-person report."

Another blog, Gas2, even compared the Mirai to Tesla's Model S, which has been sold since 2012.

The writer did note there are only a "couple of dozen" public hydrogen fueling stations in the U.S.

China and Holland

I just read about air pollution in China, and how one city plans to limit registrations of new cars while the government weighs adding incentives for the purchase of plug-in hybrids and EVs.

In Holland, there is a fleet of Tesla Model S taxis at the airport serving Amsterdam, according to Gas2.

None of that is of any interest to me.

I've read that incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles are far higher in Europe than in the U.S., but I haven't seen anything on whether the new Congress will attempt to get rid of the $7,500 federal tax credit for the purchase of a green car.

From hybrid to electric

I live in northern New Jersey and have driven Toyota Prius hybrids since 2004.

Now, I plan to make the transition to an all-electric car, and I want to know all I can about my choices.

The Tesla Model S has twice the range of any other all-electric vehicle sold in New Jersey.

But I just read real breaking news in Automobile magazine, quoted in Green Car Reports, which says Audi, BMW and Porsche plan to attack Tesla with new green-car models due in 2018 to 2021.

Is Automobile magazine suggesting I wait?

Best Cars of 2014 

The Tesla Model S just finished first in Consumer Reports' Best Cars of 2014.

The only other green car on the list, the Mercedes-Benz E250 diesel, finished fifth.

More news I can't use

The annoying Gas 2 blog, which claims to report on "Green Cars that Don't Suck," carries a ton of news that is of little use to anyone planning to buy an all-electric car:

The latest is 15 Electric Cars Hitting the Market in 2015

Only one of the 15 is all-electric -- Tesla's Model X crossover with gull-wing doors -- unless you want to count a Croatian super-car concept with an MSRP of $1 million. 

The rest are plug-in hybrids from BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Audi and Chevy, but the BYD Tang will be sold only in China.