Whatever it was that once made America great seems to have faded away in the last couple of years and all that remains is an ever increasing tide of rampant silliness.

The latest crazy idea comes from the US Chamber of Commerce who have suggested that the federal government should now begin to tax hybrid and other fuel efficient cars.

At a time when the US and the world desperately need more cars like that an important body, that you would think contained some intelligent people, wants fuel efficient vehicles to be taxed.

What a great idea, instead of encouraging the further development of these vehicles and giving people incentives to buy them let’s tax ‘em out of existence.

In a world where timing is everything Mitsubishi probably couldn’t have chosen a worse time to introduce a six cylinder car to a market that is coming to grips with increased and unstable fuel prices.

The situation is made even worse for the company by the fact that the company in Australia wii stand or fall on the success or otherwise of this vehicle. So what is the Mitsubishi 380 really like and can it save the company?

Well if you have seen the advertising on television you have probably realised that the 380 is a rather bland looking car that’s never going to stand out in a crowd. At a time when the company really needed an eye-catching design they have opted for something that is pure vanilla.

They have also retained the front-wheel drive format which in this writer’s humble opinion is not such a bad thing but many motoring writers hold a different view and feel that Mitsubishi have missed the opportunity to move their flagship to a rear wheel drive layout just like their competitors.

The 380 comes in five different versions ranging from the base model that the company describes as ‘well equipped’ to the 380GT that the company describes as the ultimate blend of sports and luxury. In between there are two more optioned versions of the basic sedan and a slightly cheaper version of the ultimate blend of sports and luxury.

All come equipped with a 3.8 litre V6 motor that certainly does develop some grunt. The V6 is coupled to a 5 speed manual transmission there is a 5 speed sequential transmission available as an option. The sequential box operates as an automatic but also allows manual changes up and down the range. However most drivers will set it in D and forget it.

A motor with a lot of grunt does come at a cost and the 380 is not going to be known for its great fuel consumption. Official figures suggest that 10.8 litres per 100 kilometres what you could expect from this car but that may be somewhat optimistic. Some writers report that 11.5 to 13.5 litres per 100 kilometres is going to be closer to the mark.

Those are not inspiring figures for a market place where fuel economy is becoming much more important.

There are a number of other problems with the car and you can read a more in-depth look at the 380 here

But will the car actually save the company?

Perhaps not.

Today marks the first in what should become a regular feature each Thursday here on the Hervey Bay Gossip when we take a look at what’s new and worth thinking about in the motoring world.

Today we’re going to look at the new Hyundai Sonata that has recently been released here in Australia. A few of them are already appearing on the streets of Hervey Bay and they should prove to be a very popular car.

The Sonata comes in either a 2.4 litre 4 cylinder version or a 2.7 litre V6 and each version comes in various levels of creature comfort. If you’re looking for a big booming drag machine so that you can burn off the lads at the lights on Boat Harbour Drive then neither version is going to quite do what you want.

The 4 cylinder version is probably the more lively of the two although the 6 cylinder equipped Sonata is definitely not sluggish. But let’s face it, this is a car that you are going to buy because you want creature comfort more than you want to win the traffic light drags and the Hyundai Sonata is going to deliver that comfort.

The Courier Mail has a full road test report that you can find here and they suggest that the car isn’t quite all it should be. That could be a little harsh because most of the criticism the reviewer had for the car seemed to stem from it’s less than blistering launch times at traffic lights.

Personally, as a long time Hyundai owner, I can tell you that the cars are generally well-built and will just keep on turning in the kilometres.