New car?

[Justin Kirchhoff]

I love my Subaru, don't get me wrong. I have the GM6 model which only 10% of the 1999 Imprezas that were made were GM6s! It's a keeper for a collectors item.

I guess I'll look into more hybrids, but the Prius has the best MPG rating that I know of.

 

[Eugene]

Diesel Subaru

Diesel Subaru

Subaru is going to make a diesel engine, but it will be linked to a CVT.

http://www.subdriven.com/news/publish/Subaru_News/article_449.shtml
The link above has an articel about the Subaru hybrid concept.

I don't want to turn this into a Subaru car forum. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums

 

[redrum]

Talkin' bout new cars it has to be the Ban Two. $130,000.

If you can't afford that then it's gotta be a Tesla. That's only about a hundred grand.

If all you can scratch together is $30 g's the Aptera looks like a good wild ride, looks like a Piper Cub that someone stole the wings off of.

That $30G price tag still too high? Want some extreme mpg but the Prius is too ugly to stomach? Get an air car, runs on compressed air.

 

[Clint Johnson]

Or you could buy yourself a nicely appointed Toyota Corolla for $5000 less. It would cost about $300 a year more for fuel so the break even point would be around 16 years... except that you would have had to replace the battery pack in the Prius at about the 10 year mark for $2000 (it is twice that right now but the price will probably come down) which added another six years to the break even point to push it out to 22 years... or 2 years after you replaced the Prius battery at the 20 year mark. Let's go with the battery only costing $1000 at that time so it adds 3 years to the break even point which would push it to 25 years or so for you to make this about saving money. And this is without factoring in that the Corolla is a fair bit more reliable... let's just say that this offsets the inevitable rise in fuel prices.

You could say that you are reducing your carbon emissions... by trading it for some hazardous materials in the disposed of battery packs.

I can't help but see the hybrid economy cars as fashion and political statements based on emotion rather than rational decisions. If it was about economy and environmental impact then the environmentalists and conservationists would be insisting that the hybrid technology be implemented first in the locomotives, then the big rigs on the highway, then the pickups and SUVs... and only when the big impact vehicles have been converted would they want the car companies to move on to the vanishingly small difference that hybrid economy cars make.

Economy cars are already extremely economical so nudging an economy car from 41 to 46 mpg isn't going to make anywhere near as big a difference as pushing a pickup from 14 to 22 mpg... let alone an eighteen wheeler going from 5 to 12 mpg. And unless you don't want your plumbing fixed or your food hauled there ain't no way to get those big fuel pigs off the road... just some ways to make them less thirsty.

That is just my long winded way of saying that you can look a little wider than the hubrids without being a bad person or incurring a large ongoing cost.

Although, if lusting after the new Dodge Challenger and Chevy Camaro makes me a bad person... then that is a burden I am willing to shoulder (cue Homer Simpson drooling sound).

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

If you're talking fuel economy... not purchasing the three car garage 1 acre home 40 miles from where you work will make an ENORMOUS impact on your gas mileage. Moving 32 miles closer to work cuts off 2 gallons a day at 32mpg. If you only drive to work and back and 4 miles of errands on the way then moving 32 miles closer to work can slash your fuel consumption by 80%. Way better than moving from 30mpg to 40mpg. (33%)