Neil, the LAT's auto writer, is the only automotive journalist to win a Pulitzer. He's the guy who pissed off GM so much that it pulled all corporate and dealer advertising from the Times for a few months last year. He seriously gets 'em in a wad over the new GL:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/highway1/la-hy-neil15mar15,1,1497252.story?coll=la-news-highway_1

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81 300SD
08 MDX Tech
93 525i

05 F650GS

So he doesn't really talk about the GL, just spits out the same crap everybody else is saying. I don't disagree with him, but I don't see anything original either. Oh well, I'm going to continue burning Top Gear DVD's.

from the article...

Why, in the midst of a slow-rolling energy crisis, an unpopular war in a region of the world made strategic only by its oil, and the globe's climbing mercury, should precisely the wrong kinds of vehicles remain so popular?

One reason is surely the tax breaks associated with 3-ton SUVs: business owners get a $25,000 tax break on the purchase of full-size SUVs (scaled back from $100,000 in 2004) and five-year depreciation schedule. For people taking advantage of this cozy corner of Section 179, the GL — with a base price anticipated to be about $60,000 — will be virtually free. That makes your $4,000 hybrid tax break look pretty punk, doesn't it?

The tax code is the most obvious point of inflection between vehicle choice and public policy. Another knee-point is CAFE — that's Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, in case you forgot, and who could blame you?

Last year, the Bush administration proposed raising the light-truck standard — long frozen at about 20 mpg — to 24 mpg by 2011, an incrementalism that is marvelously measured, to say the least. Meanwhile, the administration plans to scrap the current CAFE structure in favor of a size-based regime co-written by the automakers, with larger vehicles required to achieve lower mileage.

Incidentally, some SUVs are so large that they transcend fuel-economy standards altogether. Vehicles with a gross-vehicle-weight rating over 10,000 pounds — such as the Hummer H2 and the heavy-duty version of the Suburban — are not counted among fleet ratings that automakers need to hit.


Owners follow the lead offered by Congress.... and are encouraged to waste money on vehicles. Is the fault consumerism or government encouragement and in$entive$?

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Dan Neil is a Prince who towers over the pool of automotive journalist plebs.

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1989 300CE - 269,000 km
1994 SL600 - 59,000 km

I never knew such outrageous tax breaks were offered for the purchase of these land yachts.

I have a good deal of respect for Mr. Neil after reading that.

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Ralph

1985 300D Turbo, CA model
248,650 miles and counting...

I think the Swatch Car, is made or was it designed by Daimler-Benz?
Can't buy it here in the USA, but you can in Canada. Not relevant to the GL article, but they exist.

He blasts it, then ends up praising it. His commentary isn't about the GL, but the illogical tax incentives this goverment supports. I happen to think the GL is a beautiful vehicle, probably the best looking SUV out there. So if you're gonna be an uber-consumer, you might as well do it up right!

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma