I, personally, am very devoted to the theory of hydrogen power. This is one of the greenest and most efficient systems, and is actually successful within places that have fueling stations (I could feasibly have a hydrogen powered car; there are fueling stations within an hour of me in several directions). Also, these tend to be safer, and do more than just give you the feel-good that other "green" options do (hydrogen's only off-gas is water; no carbon footprint!). However, Hydrogen isn't the government blessed alternative fuel source, so it struggles to become widespread.

I've read about hydrogen power and like what I've read. I'm not a greenie at all, but it makes feasible sense that if it's cost effective and generally speaking doesn't smog things up and it runs as effectively as gas, run with it. The problem with so much of today's green cars (and power generation in general) is that they tend to be based on what are essentially backup power systems (solar, batteries, etc.). To top that off these tend to be pricey systems, hence the elevated costs of owning one.

Personally I think we ought to go back several years and revisit the old Turbine-powered car, which doesn't need gas to run but could operate on almost any combustible liquid (vegetable oil, kerosene, and in one report tequila). The drawback is it sounds like a Hoover vacuum when it's going full bore.

Here's video of one running. Sign me up!

1. Do you drive? Do you like it?
Yes, most of the time I love to drive. But I dislike traffic, road works, stupid drivers and the dangers they can cause. I'm not too keen on driving long distances (like anything over 2 hours). I love driving through the rolling hills at fast (but legal) speed limits.

2. What's your favorite method of transportation?
Car.

3. What kind of car do you drive? What's your favorite car you've ever driven? What's the worst car you've ever driven?
A 1991 Toyota CSI. I hope to get a much better second-hand car soon enough (saving up for one). I haven't really driven anything all that exciting or worse than my car, other than the car I drove to get my driver's license. But I can't remember the make and model.

4. American cars vs. Imports. (This should be interesting if any non-American people want to comment in this thread. )
American cars have the beefy looks but many chew up petrol like nobody's business and car juice is hugely expensive in Australia. I believe quite a few imports are better made than American cars (yes, I said it!) Japanese cars are especially well made, as are some European ones (not English cars though). I advise you all to avoid buying a South African car. They're not good quality!

5. Gas vs. Electric vs. Other
Obviously Electric is best for the environment but I can't see anyone doing a decent car chase (in a movie or TV show) in one of those. For that reason I choose Petrol.

6. Got any good car stories? First car, first crash, etc.
Not really. My first time driving on my own to my friend's engagement party: The area was hugely unfamiliar to me and I struggled to properly understand my street directory. To cut a long story short - I got so lost, my 75min journey took 3.5 hours of nearly-constant driving. Not good!

Oh! Random car story...

My mom used to have a Chevy Nova. We discovered while we had it, that apparently they couldn't sell Nova's in spanish speaking countries. Because No Va in spanish is "No go."

Not entirely sure how true that is, but that's the story we heard.

I've read about hydrogen power and like what I've read. I'm not a greenie at all, but it makes feasible sense that if it's cost effective and generally speaking doesn't smog things up and it runs as effectively as gas, run with it. The problem with so much of today's green cars (and power generation in general) is that they tend to be based on what are essentially backup power systems (solar, batteries, etc.). To top that off these tend to be pricey systems, hence the elevated costs of owning one.

I definitely wouldn't label myself as greenie, either, but hydrogen just makes so much sense and is so much better, all around, than other systems. Like you mentioned, a lot of our "alternate" systems are really back up systems; we couldn't really sustain an entire society based on those forms of fuel. Plus, quite often they rely on fossil fuels to generate the electricity/batteries/etc. That's why most alternative fuels just give you "feel-good" cars; they make you feel good about yourself, but you don't really accomplish anything. Plus, as you pointed out, they are generally incredibly expensive. One would think that, after all the government has invested in electric cars, they would have gone down significantly in price. They haven't.

Ah, well. However tired I may be of paying $4+ per gallon, I don't see any decent amount of money descending upon me to make my dreams of a new (hydrogen) car come true.

Ever heard of the Hindenburg? I wouldn't want to be driving a car that has the potential to be hugely explosive (moreso than they are already).
Also, $4 a gallon? Here in Australia, we're lucky if we can get 4 litres (just over a gallon) for $6.50!

I'm not too keen on driving long distances (like anything over 2 hours).

Okay, I have to say I laughed when I read that. I'm so used to moving and spending 6 to 8 hours in the van each day for several days, that 2 to 3 hours is not long at all. As a matter a fact, we are moving next week and the trip there will only be one day, about 7 and 1/2 hours. It seems very short!

SnowAngel

I wouldn't want to be driving a car that has the potential to be hugely explosive (moreso than they are already).
Also, $4 a gallon? Here in Australia, we're lucky if we can get 4 litres (just over a gallon) for $6.50!

And gasoline isn't flammable?

$6:50?! oi... I'll tell that one to my dad next time I hear him complain about the prices.

Ever heard of the Hindenburg? I wouldn't want to be driving a car that has the potential to be hugely explosive (moreso than they are already).

Ooooh, someone finally mentioned it! Yes, the Hindenburg myth, which the proponents of electric vehicles love to recite. Actually, the explosion was caused by the lining on the vessel, which was a semi-liquid and highly explosive material. When the airship caught and dragged, the friction ignited the lining, which burned quickly and ignited the hydrogen. It was the equivalence of coating a can of hairspray with, say, gasoline, and then lighting the gasoline (incidentally, NEVER EVER EVER EVER do this *coughnarnianerdcough*). If you light off the higher concentrate, fast burning fuel on the outside, it is going to burn through the container and light off the fuel on the inside. Incidentally, I'm forgetting the name of the first-burning stuff from the lining, but I believe that it is illegal to use it in the US now for precisely this reason.

Speaking of the safety of fuels, what about gasoline? A lot of people seem to think that gasoline is this nicey-nice thing that wouldn't be easy to explode, but the fact is, warm gasoline can explode merely from the friction of someone running their hand through their hair close by. I don't know what sorts of pumps there are outside of the states, but the ones here have all sorts of air locks and anti-static mechanisms to make sure that the gasoline is not exposed to oxygen and an ignition agent at the same time. Hydrogen is as safe as gasoline (IMHO, it is safer), and gas prices are on a slow but steady climb higher.

Also, $4 a gallon? Here in Australia, we're lucky if we can get 4 litres (just over a gallon) for $6.50!

I'm not going to argue with that or agree with you, for a couple reasons; a)I don't know how USD and ASD convert, so I have no idea what the equivalency in cost is. b)U.S. costs pg vary greatly, depending on which state one is in, so since I'm not working from a national average, my argument would be moot anyway, so I don't see the point in making it.

I'm so used to moving and spending 6 to 8 hours in the van each day for several days, that 2 to 3 hours is not long at all.

I agree/understand completely, SnowAngel. I'm quite used to driving up and down and around my state, that when my East Coast family complains that something is "too far to drive!" I usually laugh at them. To them, if it is more than a 3 hour drive, it is a reason to fly. To me, it isn't worth flying unless it is at least more than 8 hours away.

In the UK, we're typically paying £1.50 per litre, which works out as just over $9 USD per US gallon. Incidentally, a British (= "Imperial") gallon is about 20% bigger than a US gallon.

Fair enough about the Hindenburg (but I did mention that it was more explosive than petrol, not that petrol was non-explosive).

As for travelling big distances by car, I don't like it. I did it all the time as a kid. Most of our relatives live 10+ hours away (you have to drive great distances to get anywhere in Australia). Also, there are huge gaps between cities and towns and some of the scenery is really not there (dull as ditch-water). Australia is a beautiful country but some parts are so dull. The Nullabor Plain is particularly boring. I've been on a plane twice and that was for a mission trip to Japan, via Kuala Lumpur (neither anywhere near Australia, nor accessible by car). I wouldn't consider flying unless a trip was 8 or so hours long. As a family we've done 40 hour car trips (just one way!). I now live 4 hours from home, so I semi-regularly travel there and back. I'm very much used to driving for longer than 2 hours, it's just a personal preference of mine.

Snow Angel, it can't be all that practical to move around so often. Or are you Romany?

No, Warrior, I’m just the daughter of U.S. Army chaplain (also known as an Army Brat). That why we move often. I for one would rather move than have my Dad deploy. Our longest move was Fort Wainwright, AK to Fort Jackson, SC. We did stop to see family in Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri, so that broke the trip a little bit. But it was still a long way to travel and it was a really cool experience. (side note: we haven't flow since we moved to AK in early 2001)

I guess the Army and moving are in my blood, I do bleed black and gold!

SnowAngel

Oh, that's cool. I'm glad for you that your dad doesn't have to deploy. Good on you!

I suppose it's time I answer my own questions huh?

1. Do you drive? Do you like it?
I LOVE driving. I've been driving since I was 14 years old and never looked back. Driving is something that I used to do to relax, but unfortunately with gas prices much higher now than they were 10 years ago, I can't really go joyriding anymore.

2. What's your favorite method of transportation?
I do prefer driving in cars. After that, airplanes.

3. What kind of car do you drive? What's your favorite car you've ever driven? What's the worst car you've ever driven?
Currently, I drive a Ford F150 Triton (truck). I like it, it's very useful for transporting things. Not sure about my favorite car that I've ever driven, but I do prefer smaller zippy cars. I drove a 1981 Ford Escort for years, and to compensate for its extreme ugliness, it could sure drive. And it rarely broke down! I found out later Ford made it to be a rally car, which explained a lot.
Worst car ever, anything by GM. I hate GM cars. They're uncomfortable, they break down all the time, they're cheap, and they hate me so I hate them back.

4. American cars vs. Imports.
Completely depends. I haven't had much experience driving Imported cars, though I do like Hyundai quite a bit. Ford is really the only American brand I feel is halfway decent, though prior to the economy crash, Ford cars were less-than-awesome too.

5. Gas vs. Electric vs. Other
I'm joining Lady Arwen on this one. I am a massive Hydrogen Power fan. As far as I'm aware it's only available in California here in the USA. I wish it would gather more support because it's definitely the way to go. I don't know how many people are fans of the BBC Top Gear (this is NOT the same as the Top Gear shown on the History Channel), they can become very crass and offensive in a hurry, but I still enjoy the show. A couple years ago, James May tested the Honda Clarity (a hydrogen powered car) in Los Angeles and if anyone is interested, here's the video.

(It's pretty clean for Top Gear, only one bad joke at about 1:47, and then some girls in bikinis playing volleyball.)
The downside to Hydrogen Powered cars is that it requires hydrogen filling stations across the country/world. And I can't go into that any further without getting all political....

6. Got any good car stories? First car, first crash, etc.
The only "crash" I've ever been in was on my best friend's 16th birthday. I was going to follow her in my car to the lake, so I was parked across the street waiting for her to back out. This was the first time she'd ever driven. The problem was, when she went to back out, she hit the gas instead of the break and plowed right into the side of my car.
And then I have a million "I survived driving through this storm when it was dropping hail and tornadoes" etcetc but I'll save those for some other time.

My mom used to have a Chevy Nova. We discovered while we had it, that apparently they couldn't sell Nova's in spanish speaking countries. Because No Va in spanish is "No go."

Not entirely sure how true that is, but that's the story we heard.

That is a true story and that's exactly why those cars are no longer made.

Obviously Electric is best for the environment....

I don't have the hard facts to back up what I'm about to say here, but I definitely believe this is a case of "not in my backyard..."
As far as I'm aware, there are two reasons to buy an electric car. So you don't have to buy gas, and to prevent emissions (aka, it's cleaner). But the problem is, you're trading off gas for electricity which is not free, and it's not clean energy (at least here in the States it's not), PLUS, if I understand this correctly, the amount of pollutants created in third world countries that make the batteries that go in electric cars, are far more toxic than the emissions out of a gas car.
And not only that, but the convenience you trade off is ridiculous. You can't drive nearly as far before needing to charge up. When you do charge up it takes hours instead of 10 minutes at the gas pump.
I'm definitely not a supporter of electric cars at this point in time, but I do admit that it's possible that they could improve in the future. We will see.
Hybrid cars could maybe be considered a little bit better, but it takes a long, long time to pay off the extra $10,000 you paid on the car with the money you saved on gas. Like, quite literally, 70-80 years and I don't know many cars that run that long.
So, I shall continue to be a fan of gasoline until hydrogen powered cars make it to the midwest... which might be never.

...though the worst car I've ever driven was probably my ex-fiancee's Yugo (cheap Eastern European hatchback). Would've gone faster if I'd pushed it.

Could be worse, it could be a Gee Whiz.

I completely forgot to ask the "Automatic vs Manual" question. Does anyone even drive manual transmission cars anymore?

Automatic vs. Manual...

Did you see the stick in my car when we went to the livestock show? I drive a manual. My neighbor's wife is from France. Apparently, manual cars are the standard over there unlike here where it's reversed.

My dad has had 2 manuals that I remember. The first went to 280,000 before he gave it up (he did rebuild the engine and transmission). The second went to 240,000 on the odometer before he handed it off to a couple of uncles for various reasons. One of which is still driving that car. The transmission did have to be rebuilt once. Manuals have a tendency to be easier to repair, cheaper to repair, and have better gas mileage than automatics.

I don't have my license i could of started to learn when I was 16 but i don't have enough time. I have full time school and I work. After all that I have little time to myself. I am planning to get my license once i finish school this year and through my gap year.