I'm two months from paying off my car, which is something I find really, really, really exciting. Unfortunately that freed-up $220 a month won't be going toward shoes or clothes or fancy furniture for my new place. It will be going straight into a new-car fund. With 71,000 miles on my car, it's not quite ready to go to the great parking lot in the sky but by the time I get a sizeable down payment saved up it will be. It's a vicious, vicious cycle.
Of course I love to think about new cars and at least once a week daydream about what kind of car I will get next. Wanting to make a statement with my next car purchase, I've been hoping to buy one of the most eco-friendly options on the market. Unfortuantely, with all the mixed messages out there, I've had a hard time deciding if that means a compact hybrid or just a used gas-burning car.
Slate's Green Lantern column did a great job of tackling this debate, crunching as many numbers as it could to come to a conclusion. Unfortunately, part of the problem in solving this question is that no one really seems to know for sure how much energy is required to build a hybrid vehicle. but the Green Lantern's assumptions seem as sound as any that I've seen and it's conclusion is: go with the hybrid, but try to get as many miles out of your old car as possible.
The Modern Gal's bookshelf
Friday, July 11, 2008
What's the greenest car of them all?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Search The Modern Gal
Custom Search
The Modern Gal's
blog design
The Modern Gal's buttons
Celebrate Rocktoberfest!
Click here to learn about Rocktobefest!
Click here for the Rocktoberfest! blogroll and badges
10 comments:
I've got my fingers crossed that I'll pay off my car in 5 years, drive it for a few years after that, and by that time, emission-less cars will be widely available. Either that, or we'll all be taking boats to work.
I'm holding out for a flying car that runs on food scraps. :) I really hope my current car makes it until then.
Since I'm now about 3 weeks out from the arrival of my Prius, I'm clearly biased, but I'm oh-so-in love with my future car.
I've looked long and hard for a bad review of the car by someone who actually owned one, and I'm stumped to do it. I think the Slate column (and the attached Q&A) were probably very revealing about the diverse opinions on the car.
As for the energy used to build the car, I'm not too terribly concerned, given the tendency towards longevity that seems to be showing up in the Prius. I worry some about the carbon issues involved with shipping the damn thing from Japan, but that will be resolved in two years when they start building them in Mississippi.
I will say, having shopped closely between the Civic hybrid and the Prius, the Prius wins, hands down. Bigger car, more storage, better mileage, better features. I found it really outweighed the additional cost.
I agree, get the most life out of the current car. All that went into manufacturing it, the materials used, the energy that has already been expended is a valuable resource in itself.
I read somewhere in a book that the manufacturing of a car consumes more energy than the car will ever consume during its driving lifetime. That was 10 years ago, though, so maybe efficiency on both ends has gotten better. Some enterprising journalist ought to investigate this. Too bad I don't know any.
Noelle: I've been hoping that there'd be a few more small hybrids out on the market by the time my car goes kaput, but flying cars would be good too.
Allie: MR. FUSION! I've been dreaming of a Mr. Fusion ever since I first saw Back to the Future. Shouldn't they have that figured out by now?
Jay: So do you think when they start making the Prius in Mississippi it will be cheaper since they won't have to ship it oversees?
V: Yup. Of course it's hard to follow that theory sometimes if the upkeep of the car gets to be expensive.
Herman: Yeah, I don't know of any either. I'm willing to bet though that carmaking has gotten a bit more efficient even just to save the carmakers money.
I'd like to be optimistic, but my sense is that right now, Prius pricing is very demand-driven. Given the timeline for them starting up in Mississippi versus how fast other companies are moving on hybrids (which is to say, sloooooooow), I think the prices will probably be about the same.
I think that sounds like a good plan. When I bought my Honda, I knew it was good on gas (even though it's not a hybrid) but I also knew it would last a long time. So far, it's given me no problems, and I intend to drive it until the wheels fall off.
So you're about to pay off your car and you're already thinking about buying a new one? Crazy.
Drive it until it dies. Car companies don't want you to know this, but that car will go 300k with little maintenance if you let it. Imagine what you can do with an extra $220 a month for another ten years.
Post a Comment