What is YOUR Dream Car Today?

 Americans’ longtime romance with the automobile is being severely tested, and in some cases dashed entirely, now that every trip gives rise to worries about how much a fill-up costs, guilt over how much damage the exhaust is contributing to the destruction of the planet, and self-consciousness about the image a full-size behemoth conveys today about its driver.News of wrenching dislocations in the car industry arrive daily: automobile sales are at a 10-year low. Ford is converting factories from making high-profit trucks to subcompacts like the unlovely Fiesta. General Motors is trying to convince investors that it is not at the precipice of bankruptcy.Beyond the bad economic news may lurk a less remarked shift in Americans’ psyches: a change in the role the automobile occupies in people’s emotional lives and self-image. For decades, automakers pitched cars as sex symbols, as extensions of drivers’ freedom or affluence or eye for beauty. Even if that pitch is inverted — if hybrids or minicars become the most desirable wheels, bespeaking a driver’s thriftiness or environmental sensitivity — is it really possible to be passionate about a compromise? Find out.