Cars

After hearing the president's address last night, I thought, "Gee, this sounds like a speech Jimmy Carter gave back when he was president". I think we're closer as a nation than we were then to making some sound environmental decisions with our purchases, but I'm not sure. When I see a full-sized SUV with an unused trailer hitch (or no trailer hitch), I wonder if the owner really needed that size vehicle for anything other than comfort. I ran a successful construction business years ago using a four-cylinder diesel VW truck. They don't make those any more: not enough buyers. Ronald Reagan took Carter's solar panels off the roof of the White House. Maybe they were ugly. But it's a shame that we just seem to be catching on to the situation thirty-odd years later.

Anyway, it's not my place to be judging all the aspects that might go into someone else's car-buying decision, but I have a few that I'm thinking about when the time comes to replace my current car:

• The upcoming Nissan Leaf intrigues me: electric only, and fine for local trips, which of course are what most people make. But it'll cost about $24,000 after tax breaks, plus about $2K to install a home charging system. Why will it be more expensive than a gas/electric hybrid? There's no gas engine to drive up the price.

• Rumor has it Toyota will come out with a plug-in Prius that will run on electricity only for the first whatever number of local miles. If it's not a lot more then the Leaf, this would seem to make more sense. No word on when it'll come out. Despite the temporary woes of Toyota, it should be a winner. We have one Prius now, and a couple we know has two Prii; that'd be kind of cool.

• The new Ford Fiesta boasts a 40 MPG highway rating. Since MPG ratings are now more accurate estimates of what one can expect in real life, this could be a realistic figure. That's great for a regular gas engine, and it's an American company--a plus in the times of recession--and it's the one major American carmaker who didn't screw up so badly that it had to borrow all sorts of bail-out money from us.

• The VW Jetta diesel. AS I said, I had a diesel VW back in the 80s. They run well, they're simple to service, and they tend to be durable. Now that "clean" diesel is the norm for US engines, it's a relatively non-polluting option. And, if you're really fanatic, you can build or buy a used vegetable oil processing unit for your home, and run the car with little or no purchased diesel.

• A natural gas powered Accord. Honda has offered these for several years, although it's a little-known fact. The mileage and net cost is about the same as gas, but natural gas is mostly from the US, while gasoline comes primarily from foreign sources. The engine also pollutes less. You need to purchase an in-home refueling station, and need to have natural, not LP, gas, but you never have to fill up at a service station. Just come home, "gas" up, and instead of paying then, it just shows up on your monthly bill.

• A regular car converted to natural gas. This can be done on most cars, I believe. It's a way to make a car you like which might not get great gas mileage into a more environmentally-friendly one.

My wife says that, because I chose the Prius, it's her turn to pick our next car. But she's pretty ecologically minded, though not as fanatical as I tend to be. We like the idea of buying a used car--it's generally a better investment, because the huge drop in value when it was first driven off the lot has been absorbed by the previous owner. Of course it's all moot at this point: we have no immediate plans to buy anything. But it's fun to plan ahead.

Please note: I am not a shill for any car company. They may not even want a cartoonist who draws clowns all day talking about them. These are just cars that I am personally thinking about. If there are other environmentally friendly cars out there I haven't mentioned, let me know. And when you buy your next vehicle, just keep in mind: how big do I really need it to be? Is there any way, directly or indirectly, that I can give BP a little less of my business?