I'm never quite sure what to say when people start talking about ethanol. Is it a useful alternative fuel that we should be putting to greater use? Or a boondoggle - taxpayer money wasted on subsidies to farmers for a fuel that will never save us from oil? So I was happy to see a Q & A on ethanol in the Sunday New York Times Automobile section.

It's no secret that Toyota has been trouncing sluggish U.S. automakers in sales growth – thanks largely to its forward-thinking approach to fuel-efficiency. But at the recent L.A. Auto Show