Toyo-duh! for Show-offs and Fools

Oil prices are going up and up. Yet, some people remain hung-up on big-engine fuel guzzling SUVs, like the Toyota Landcruiser V8.

Why? Oh! Why? They're either show-offs or fools.

"Hey, I can afford it. No matter how high the fuel prices go, I'm rich. See my Toyota V8 and go green with envy!"

Yeah! You wish. All I see is a fool who doesn't know how better to use his money.

Even if you're a millionaire, and especially if you want to remain a millionaire, you're going to have to think more on how best to make your money work harder. This is why it is estimated that 80% of the world's millionaires own and drive second hand cars.

Visit http://www.bloomberg.com/energy and you'll see first hand the oil prices' slow but steady march up to and beyond the USD100 per barrel mark.

And if you're really a smart millionaire, not someone who inherited his daddy's riches or became rich overnight because of sheer luck, you'll know to put money in a car with an engine that's been downsized like any of VW's TSI cars that come with small engines and turbo chargers. Alternatively, you'll invest in a hybrid car and, if you're really rich, an electric car.

What you don't do is squander your wealth on a Toyo-duh! V8 that even Americans who are hung up on SUVs with big engines are no longer into much.

Speaking of which, I came across an idiot who recently bought one. The big ugly thing wasn't just fugly, it was also damn slow for a V8 (perhaps because of its inferior power-to-weight ratio).

Yet, the dick behind the wheel must have thought that he had the divine right to hog the fast lane and the middle lane at the same time. So, I flashed him with my high-beam.

He got mad and got into a pissing competition with me. Not surprisingly, his V8 lost to my naturally aspirated 2.0L Kia Forte SX simply because of my Forte's superior power-to-weight ratio.

That makes buying the Toyo-duh! V8 doubly stupid. Not only does it guzzle fuel, it's not very quick on the roads.

Move aside, slow-coach...