Comments on: AskPablo: Time to get a new car?

By: christo930

christo930 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:55:53 +0000

Nobody who drives a humvee is going to trade it in for a Prius. The much more likely gas savings is so small that is negated by the upfront energy usage of a new car. People who are driving big cars usually are doing so because they need one. I am 6′4″ 230 lbs and I seriously doubt I could even fit in a Prius. I would trade in my mid size for another midsize.

By: Krusty

Krusty — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:27:35 +0000

Alright everyone. Enough with the sweeping generalizations, please. I just bought a used 06 Prius. I had an 06 passat. I am not a sanctimonious jerk, nor am I a bleeding heart socialist liberal. I’m a moderate republican, and I’ve been in the military for almost 16 years.
I bought the Prius because:
1. I think our nation has better things to spend its money on than pissing CO2 into the air that came from American $ spent to line the pockets oil producing foreign countries.
2. It’s fun to drive! Sitting through rush hour traffic is a lot less of a drag when you make a challenge of getting optimal performance out of the hybrid system. So far, I’m averaging 53 MPG and recently made my 18 mile commute at 60.2 MPG. – and I don’t drive like my grandmother, either.
3. It’s cheap to maintain. Maintenance cost per mile is on the order of .04 per mile, compared to .09-.12 for my Passat.
Here’s the down-side. Yeah, it’s ugly! In the month I’ve owned this car, I’ve been nearly run off the road twice…both times by angry dudes in big pickup trucks. That, along with the comments in this this blog highlight a couple of facts:
1. For some reason, people seem to behave differently when driving their cars, compared to the way they would treat someone face to face.
2. People are afraid of change, and they fear that this latest trend toward green stuff will cramp our style.
Why can’t we have it both ways? GM, Ford, Dodge, How about making big pickup trucks that get 100 MPG?
WTF? It’s a free country. You drive your gas guzzler – it’s your choice. I drive my prius. That’s mine. Fortunately, we all still have that choice.

By: Erin

Erin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:05:34 +0000

Correction: the Jetta’s fuel efficiency is not as good. What about a Ford Focus or the Ford Fusion? I’m open to suggestions as well. What would you do?

By: Erin

Erin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:29:49 +0000

I am buying my first car. I can easily spend $15K, but may be able to stretch and get a new car for $17K. If I could afford a hybrid or had the dedication to maintain a car run on veggie oil, I’d do it. But these are a few cars I’ve seen in my price range: a 2006 VW Jetta ($14K), a 2007 Honda Civic Coupe ($13K), or a new 2009 Civic Coupe ($17.5). Which is the best choice for the environment? They all have similar gas milage, but the used cars have already been produced, thus is buying a used car a type recycling?

By: Brittany Perry

Brittany Perry — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:18:07 +0000

I would like to know how fuel efficiency from a hummer effects our planet today? and I would like to know if it effected the earth when they first came out

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:11:22 +0000

Should not the energy cost of recycling these vehicles also be taken into account.
How much more energy does it take to recycle the much larger batteries in the hybrib? Also can all of the battery pack be economically recycled and used again?
I also wonder if the argument matters anyway, seeing as hydroden power is on the way?

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:04:16 +0000

Oh, and GREET is now at:
http://www.transportation.anl.gov/modeling_simulation/GREET/index.html

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:59:13 +0000

The internet is serving its purpose as a way for people to get their untruths published. It’s sad that unlike on wikipedia, we can’t delete the totally mistaken comments. To spread lies, you used to have to be a media magnate, a Citizen Kane, now you can just be:
J Denmark doesn’t know how to make steel for a Hummer apparently, or consider all the chromium and nickel in its wheels, bumper, etc. Hint: steel, which the Hummer has in spades, has lots of chromium in it, and some steel alloys (though not the body-steel) have lots of nickel in them. Much of the steel in both cars is made from recycled scrap. Guess which car uses a lot less?
Josh calls cargo ships and trains “hugely inefficient.” About the only more efficient vehicles are bicycles, pound for pound. How dare he lump ships and trains in with planes, which are so inefficient…it’s obvious that Toyota doesn’t use them to ship Prius parts or any significant parts for any car. This study is not BS, it is scientific, unlike Josh’s comment.
Unscientific statements like “My car is 20 years old and has 400000 miles on it, so this whole argument is wrong” are made by people who just don’t understand statistics.
Kudos to people like Loren who understand the subtleties of the inferences…That it depends what the new Prius is replacing, and what happens to the replacement, and to the money of each affected party.
All those people who make the “keep the junker” arguments, consider an easier to understand refutation: compact fluorescent light bulbs. Would you wait until your a-lamps burn out to replace them, or immediately replace them? If you wait, you are wasting your money, carbon emissions, and your ability to think beyond today. Run your analysis over a long enough time period, and you see that early adopters should be patted on the back, not denigrated. Of course, those already driving a better-than-average car, like a compact, should be allowed to be last in line, the worse cars getting replaced first…but, eventually, improve. Don’t defend your little 1990 clunkers forever, please.
If you think a Prius mileage claims are overhyped, you haven’t seen side-by-side comparisons in the kind of stoplight driving so many people do. C’mon people, learn a little science. You must control variables if you have too many to make sense.
But don’t worry, even posters with whom I mostly agree have made errors here:
“If the average price of a new vehicle is $30,000, that means that at least half of the buyers can afford it.” Um, no…half of the buyers can afford the “median” price, not the “average price.” The median price is different (much lower, I think) than the average, since more cheap cars are sold than luxury cars. (Corrected by another poster July 18, 2007, but our arguments not accepted by orig poster.)
Also, the batteries get recycled when you swap them on your Prius. It should also be noted that much of the Hummer gets recycled too, when you take it off the road (so take it off today!). Kudos to Darrel for noting the complexity of materials sourcing.
Comments like “I don’t look like a retard driving it” show how people allow irrational arguments to enter here.
Prius-owner-Wannabee, a Hummer *does* have a pollution control, at least one catalytic converter.

By: J Denmark

J Denmark — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:27:34 +0000

Faulty calculation. The advanced metals and batteries in a Hybrid car uses MUCH more energy per pound than the more simple metals in a Hummer.
Actually calculations show that a Hummer is more eco-friendly than an Toyota Prius because of that. So simply using their weight for your calculation completely misses that point.

By: Kristina

Kristina — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:56:25 +0000

I didn’t have the energy to read all of these comments, but I did the analysis myself considering USED cars (why did the author even mention used cars since he did the analysis for only new cars? And a Hummer and two SUVs vs. a hybrid… hmm, fair comparison much?). The proper way to do the analysis is to consider marginal energy used in a new hybrid vs. a used car for the remainder of their lifespans. And when you consider a relatively middle-of-the-road used car with 50K miles on it already that gets about 30 mpg, then it will use less energy over the remainder of its lifespan (160K miles) than the hybrid. When you consider older cars that have many more miles on them, the difference can be staggering. So if the main conclusion here was: ‘don’t buy a new hummer or SUV, buy a hybrid’ then that’s fine. But he is completely wrong to say ‘buy a new hybrid over a used car.’ He gives you all of the relevant data in the article, so you can do this analysis yourself for whichever used car you’d like to compare a hybrid to.

By: brazos2

brazos2 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:19:21 +0000

And don’t forget insurance rates. For example, to insure a new Civic cost more than a new Ford truck. Appears it’s safety rating is the pits.
And diesel is NOT imported, all made right here in the USA,. So why is it’s cost so much higher than gas fuel?

By: wb

wb — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:19:43 +0000

I am just going to buy a $40,000 hummer h2 for approximately $21,000. Lets see… If I am spending $4000 a year on gas, but I am saving roughly $18,000-$20,000 off of the initial price, and I keep the SUV for about 5 years…
I still come out saving roughly $10,000. How is this?? Well… considering your average FUN to drive car (not economy car) gets about 23 mpg or less, the fact that I am saving twenty grand off of my luxury vehicle outweighs the savings in gas. Besides, my weekend car gets 27 mpg, does 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, has a 13.2 second quarter mile, and handles better than any car on the road. Can you say screw an economy car anyone? Too bad there aren’t more car companies that crank out cars with those numbers. Anyways, I am going to take full advantage of this gas scare and get a hummer and SAVE money!

By: geeaea

geeaea — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:58:08 +0000

(we’re hoping to be able to hold out for a plug-in hybrid, since we recently put solar panels on our roof!),
Lady ..to even say that you’re wasting more energy than 80% of the population. Move out of the McMansion and buy a rowhome/townhouse ..give up the ipods for the kids and make them learn some life skills.
Nature’s way of saying you make way too much money

By: geeaea

geeaea — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:57:25 +0000