Hummer Owner Gets Angry Message

[Casper]

Hummer Owner Gets Angry Message

Vandals Batter D.C. Man's SUV, Slash Its Tires and Scratch In an Eco Note

By Allison Klein

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, July 18, 2007; Page B01

On a narrow, leafy street in Northwest Washington, where Prius hybrid cars and Volvos are the norm, one man bought a flashy gray Hummer that was too massive to fit in his garage.

So he parked the seven-foot-tall behemoth on the street in front of his house and smiled politely when his eco-friendly neighbors looked on in disapproval at his "dream car."

It lasted five days on the street before two masked men took a bat to every window, a knife to each 38-inch tire and scratched into the body: "FOR THE ENVIRON."

"The thought of somebody vandalizing it never crossed my mind," said Gareth Groves, 32, who lives with his mother in a three-story home in the 3400 block of Brandywine Street NW in American University Park. "I've kind of been in shock."

Now, as Groves ponders what to do with the remains of his $38,000 SUV, he has been the target of a number of people who have driven by the crime scene in his upscale neighborhood and glared at him in smug satisfaction.

"I'd say one in five people who come by have that 'you-got-what-you-deserve' look," said his friend Andy Sexton, 27, who is visiting from Arkansas and has been helping Groves deal with fallout from the crime.

Neighbor Lucille Liem, 37, who owns a Prius hybrid, said that a common sentiment in the neighborhood is that large vehicles are impractical and a strain on the Earth -- and Hummers in particular are a symbol of consumer excess.

"The neighborhood in general is very concerned with the environment," said Liem, whose Prius gets about 48 miles a gallon compared with the Hummer's 14 miles a gallon. "It's more liberal leaning. It's ridiculous to be driving a Hummer."

Liem added quickly that she does not condone violence.

Another neighbor, Lani Fremaux, 58, said she bought a T-shirt months ago with a picture of a Hummer and above it the word "Bummer." She wore the shirt proudly but said she is so upset with recent events on her street that she might retire it.

"They've got everything at their disposal in this city to make a statement in a legal way," Fremaux said of the bat-wielding men who struck out at the Hummer. "I consider this a hate crime."

Police said they see small acts of vandalism in the area from time to time, but they have not seen anything so severe, or with such a clear political message, in recent years.

"This seems to be an isolated event," Cmdr. Andy Solberg said.

Investigators said they are searching for the vandals but don't have many leads. Witnesses saw two men about six feet tall with bandanas or masks over their faces smash up the car about 3:30 a.m. Monday and then run off.

Groves's mother, Phyllis Groves, 70, said she is sad for her son because he has wanted a Hummer for a while. But even she did not exactly approve of the purchase.

"I teased him because of the gas mileage," she said. "But he wanted a Hummer. He didn't have other gas guzzlers in mind."

He bought the used 2005 vehicle a month ago from a dentist in Fairfax County and left it in a shop for several weeks so it could be outfitted to his specifications -- new, bigger tires and a "lift kit," meaning it would be higher off the ground.

Groves, who grew up in the District and works in marketing for a local radio station, said he wanted the car in part because he is starting a company, Washington Sports Marketing, that is "image-based."

He said he wants to get it towed and repaired but fears extremists might not be done making an example of him.

"I'm worried about what I do now," he said. "If I get it fixed, do I put it back in the same spot three weeks from now?"

[XB12Ss]

I think I am going to move back in with my mom so I can afford a $38k vehicle... Neighbors are morons, but this guy's mom is the real treat. What a loser.

[Pedro]

I think I am going to move back in with my mom so I can afford a $38k vehicle... Neighbors are morons, but this guy's mom is the real treat. What a loser.

Haha, that is what I was thinking. He deserved to have that happen if he buys a car like that while still living at home.

[Cleaner]

Its all fun and games until he shoots one of those bastards. I hate extremists of all kinds. I also hate people who fuck with other people's stuff.

[Chrome]

i think that is funny to an extreme. funny that he still lives at home, funny that his neighbors are tree huggin hippies, and funny that his car got the shit beat out of it. but, we are not going to be around to see the earths depleation. you can only do so much to try to help. his neighbors should just laugh at him because of how much he has to pay for gas now. make fun of him because he still lives at home. but damn i think that they took it too far.

just my .02

[Benyen Soljax]

i think that is funny to an extreme. funny that he still lives at home, funny that his neighbors are tree huggin hippies, and funny that his car got the shit beat out of it. but, we are not going to be around to see the earths depleation. you can only do so much to try to help. his neighbors should just laugh at him because of how much he has to pay for gas now. make fun of him because he still lives at home. but damn i think that they took it too far.

just my .02

you forgot laughing at him for the trashy haircut and chinstrap.

[v65rider]

Humm the article says his mother is 70 years old so maybe he moved back in with her to help take care of her....just a thought.

What if the same hippies decided that sportbikes were a threat to their area because as we all know all sportbikes go 160 on the streets and stunt in traffic.

So would it still be funny if bikes were vandalized?

[Benyen Soljax]

Humm the article says his mother is 70 years old so maybe he moved back in with her to help take care of her....just a thought.

What if the same hippies decided that sportbikes were a threat to their area because as we all know all sportbikes go 160 on the streets and stunt in traffic.

So would it still be funny if bikes were vandalized?

my bike gets 60 mpg...i think theyd leave me alone.

[420gsxr1000]

I hate extremists of all kinds. I also hate people who fuck with other people's stuff.

+1 man

[shittygsxr]

kinda long article but he needs to bash all of the prius on the block / there are a lot of rebuttal articles stating that alot of things are overstated in this article but it kinda shows you that there is alot of things to consider

By Chris Demorro

Staff Writer

The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate ‘green car’ is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.

Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.

The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine found in most cars today and a battery- powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and a whooping 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute. Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive system, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed. As any physics major can tell you, it takes more energy to get an object moving than to keep it moving. The battery is recharged through the braking system, as well as when the gasoline engine takes over anywhere north of 30mph. It seems like a great energy efficient and environmentally sound car, right?

You would be right if you went by the old government EPA estimates, which netted the Prius an incredible 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 miles per gallon on the highway. Unfortunately for Toyota, the government realized how unrealistic their EPA tests were, which consisted of highway speeds limited to 55mph and acceleration of only 3.3 mph per second. The new tests which affect all 2008 models give a much more realistic rating with highway speeds of 80mph and acceleration of 8mph per second. This has dropped the Prius’s EPA down by 25 percent to an average of 45mpg. This now puts the Toyota within spitting distance of cars like the Chevy Aveo, which costs less then half what the Prius costs.

However, if that was the only issue with the Prius, I wouldn’t be writing this article. It gets much worse.

Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.

The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius’ battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist’s nightmare.

“The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside,” said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.

All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn’t end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce ‘nickel foam.’ From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?

Wait, I haven’t even got to the best part yet.

When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer - the Prius’s arch nemesis.

Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust to Dust,” the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.

So, if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage - buy a Chevy Aveo and fix that lead foot.

One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.

[XB12Ss]

Its all fun and games until he shoots one of those bastards. I hate extremists of all kinds. I also hate people who fuck with other people's stuff.

Thank you.

i think that is funny to an extreme. funny that he still lives at home, funny that his neighbors are tree huggin hippies, and funny that his car got the shit beat out of it. but, we are not going to be around to see the earths depleation. you can only do so much to try to help. his neighbors should just laugh at him because of how much he has to pay for gas now. make fun of him because he still lives at home. but damn i think that they took it too far.

just my .02

Totally agree.

you forgot laughing at him for the trashy haircut and chinstrap.

BWAHAHAHA!!! For real now... Dude you are in the 30's.... Not 20... douche.

Humm the article says his mother is 70 years old so maybe he moved back in with her to help take care of her....just a thought.

What if the same hippies decided that sportbikes were a threat to their area because as we all know all sportbikes go 160 on the streets and stunt in traffic.

So would it still be funny if bikes were vandalized?

Yeah it would be funny... a douche is a douche, regardless of what vehicle they own.

kinda long article but he needs to bash all of the prius on the block / there are a lot of rebuttal articles stating that alot of things are overstated in this article but it kinda shows you that there is alot of things to consider

By Chris Demorro

Oh PLEASE tell me you have a link for this... I want to print it out and stuff it under the wiper of every pretentious asshat that I see sporting one of these things with "save the environment" stickers all over...

[shittygsxr]

ill have to find the link but there several articles like it out there i think car and drive published one just like it. I always yeah "earth killer" at people in a prius

[Chrome]

XB can you define an "asshat" for me? lol

[XB12Ss]

XB can you define an "asshat" for me? lol

[Chrome]

I fully understand now. a picture is truly worth a thousand words. lolololol

[vectorvictor]

What ever happened to personal property and working hard to buy the things you want? IF the dumbass wants to buy a smaller more economical version of BIGFOOT then let him. I dont see all you liberal fucks out there who live in a 6 bedroom house w a four car garage and FIVE macs running all the time saying lets move to a smaller house to save the fucking planet. Noooooo. Its only the fact that his suv uses gasoline instead of electricity that you jump his shit. You dont think about how your house

takes more ENERGY to run than half a terminal at JFK airport. Maybe you could turn off the flood lights at night and stop watering and fertilizing your beautiful front lawn cause what would the neighbors say if it were brown for three days. I walk in to so many houses w a prius in the driveway and the house has cathedral fucking ceilings and a rug over carpet and TWO water heaters w four bathrooms and a kitchen with the largest appliances known to man with two rooms they use and ten they dont just so they can fill those rooms with furniture that was shipped from CHINA on a smog belching boat.

Where do you think all that shit gets its power and materials from. Your precious fucking earth that will watch us go just like the dinosaurs and the dodo bird because thats what the earth does, It will be here long after us and it will be beautiful again....We arent the keepers of the earth just temporary tennants that will be snuffed out when it decides to get rid of us. If you are not a tree huging, prius driving hippie then im sorry to have made you read this and hope you, like I do, like your big house and big vehicles and your right as an american to own them.

[renegadmonk]

Its all fun and games until he shoots one of those bastards. I hate extremists of all kinds. I also hate people who fuck with other people's stuff.

you ain lieing dude i would love to catch some asshole messing with my stuff i got a couple clips to empty into them.