Green vehicles of 2007

A good summary of the 12 best and worst green vehicles.
http://www.greenercars.com/bestof.html

In the best list it's all Asian makes. Most here know who they are!
In the worst Mercedes has 4 places and Chrysler has 2, giving DC 50% of
the worst vehicles.

 

Doesn't pass any So What? test.

No analysis of fleet make-up and total energy cost.

The Toyota Prius is particularly good at salving rich Hollywood stars'
consciences.

A friend has one. Not that fuel efficient.

DAS

 

The Honda Civic GX as a compressed natural gas user is touted #1 in this
rating. Great! Remember when the Diesel Rabbit came out and a number of
carmakers decided this was the way to save money on gasoline?. Right. Diesel
oil that had been running maybe 70% to 90% of the cost of gasoline suddenly
shot up to prices consistently (to this day) higher than gasoline, despite
the easier (I believe) process of refining. I guess we can all count on
winter home heating costs to skyrocket, now. Great!

However even apart from this wonderful development, we still have the CNG
engine idling for hours in big city rush hour traffic, while the Prius just
turns on its engine every now and then to recharge the battery most
efficiently when needed. I'm sure that Civic GX is real green then.

Chuck

 

"Dori A Schmetterling" ...

Why do you say this exactly? I get about 53 MPG these days on mine. I am
pretty happy with that so far.
Tomes

 

Not that fuel efficient compared to what?

I don't have a Prius, yet, but three of my friends do. None live in
Hollywood. They all love their Priuses and are very happy with the gas
mileage. They get 45 to 53 in town, where they would normally get, at best,
in the upper 20's with an economy car. We have a lot of l-o-n-g stoplights
here and a car that recaptures braking energy and doesn't idle saves a LOT
of fuel.

And they're happy with the highway fuel economy but the improvement is not
as impressive - they typically get 45-48 on the highway and a Corolla,
driven reasonably, might achieve low 40's.

 

My Yaris has been getting hella good gas mileage... and it is non hybrid...
I think I have actually been getting over the listed mpg....

 

What are the side effects of manufacturing these batteries anyway?

 

Nickel is in batteries. Go look up the environmental damages cause by
mining and smelting nickel. Also the prius is prolly only a car that lasts
for 100 000 miles or so making it a short-life car. Great for our
landfills.

I equate driving a Toyota prius as creating more damage to our environment
than a Hummer, which should get you 300 000 miles in it's life and without
all those toxic batteries.

Want good gas mileage and curb destruction of the environment?? Then drive
a chevy Aveo or a Scion and drive the speed limit

 

You and I are in agreement!! And do some readin up on the environmental
destruction that solar panels cause when being manufactured, and they
require batteries as well, batteries that must remain over 50% charged.

 

I'm not highly concerned about CO2 anyway. The thing that bugs me is
the damage from pumping, transporting, and refining petroleum. Add to
that the exotic metals and nonbiodegradable modern chemicals that get
dumped every day and you have a big problem. I'm tired of the political
hacks who talk about nothing but CO2 as if it were causing a problem,
which it isn't.

 

Well said.

 

An interesting cost comparison would be the Prius vs the much lower cost
Yaris.
I sat in the Yaris at the auto show and was amazed at the room for me
both behind the steering wheel and in the rear seat behind.

 

The room is fine but if youre 6'2 like me then you need one of two things to
happen. Either the stearing wheel needs to be extended 2 inches.. or the
seats dropped downa couple inches.

Also the stearing wheel is like a cheap feeling plastic. Nothing a steering
wheel cover cant fix.. Other than that I don't have too many complaints.
Mainly because I bought it due to its cost efficency and gas mileage...

P.S. it is a pretty smooth ride.

 

"Some O" ...

Sitting in one at a show and actually driving one is very different. We
spent a lot of time driving it and the Prius when we were deciding between
the two. The Yaris is a capable scooter, but as has been discussed here,
we found the wheel to be uncomfortable and we also found the seats to be
too cardboardy. We use it for both around town and long distance trips.
Being that the Prius is a much more comfortable vehicle and more robust,
we went with the Prius and are still glad that we did. We are getting 53
MPG around town these days.
Tomes

 

What can I say is small cars do give you a better mileage
when comparing with others.

I was told the same thing by a friend of mine who owned a
Honda Jazz.

Do you see the point here...


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It doesn't take into account how much it costs (environmentally) to make
those hybrids.

Mining all that nickel and shipping it all over the world for processing
and manufacture is a huge hit to the environment.

 

It's not quite as bad as a Hummer, given the mileages you cite, but it
is bad.

You must have read the same article I did, but failed to notice the
Hummer was still worse.

 

Yes I've heard mixed things about them, although they come 3rd on the
list in England, many people are 'only' getting mid 40s MPG, so I
question the numbers.

Anyway heres 'our' list.

http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/search/fuelConSearchResults.asp

(the C1 and the Aygo are the same car, making the Prius 3rd)

The Yaris scores quite well, and is on the 2nd page (page 6-the list
is back to front)

The Corolla has just been replaced by the Auris over here, which has a
combined of 56.5 mpg Diesel but only 40.9 petrol. There are of course
thirstier models.

I don't know how comparable the tests are though.

 

yeah the wheel and the seats are annoying.. but the wheel can be remedied..
and nicer seats can be put in it... but ultimately, as one person said.. you
get what you pay for ...

 

Nickel is also used in stainless steel.
See exhaust systems, trash cans, kitchen utensils, etc.