I recently bought a Toyota Yaris for ~$13K (couldn't afford the Prius). It gets between 35-40 in the city, over 40 on the highway. It's small, but it does have a good-sized backseat and is a hatchback. I've been surprised at how much stuff I can fit into it. I saw a Smart Car the other day-- it doesn't get any more mpg than mine! My old '91 Toyota Tercel got a consistent 35 mpg, and my '82 Mazda before that. I don't know how anyone could justify buying a car with lower mpg unless they had special hauling or off-road needs. America has got to wake up and start making compromises.
Carrie -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jane Shevtsov Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 1:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] McDonough - I don't think so Here's a Prius driver conversation about raising MPG that you may find interesting. <http://www.hybridcars.com/forums/help-increasing-06-t929.html> Folks are getting 50+ MPG. Jane On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 7:51 PM, Malcolm McCallum < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I don't know where we are in this conversation now, but MY 1983 escort > station wagon got 30-40 mi/gal on average with up to 50 mi/gal on the > highway. that wasn't a rating, that was what it actually got. So, > why is it that all the new cars (including the hybrids) do so puke > poor on mileage???? > > As for me, I'm waiting for the $60,000 price tag on the electric ZAP-X > to drop about 15 grand, then I'll get one for every day driving. It > goes 350 mi on one charge, and to recharge you simply plug it in for > 10 min. Its a small car, but it looks like an everyday compact > (unlike the nutty looking e-cars of the past). > > No kidding! If you were driving in city traffic all the time, $60K > would be a bargain next to the gas you were dumping out your endpipe > sitting in traffic. And, with projections of $4/gal gas soon, its > sounding like a bigger bargain! > > > > > On Thu, February 28, 2008 8:32 pm, Paul Cherubini wrote: > > David Bryant wrote: > > > >> I'm not sure of your point here or where you get your data. > > > >> A 72 VW "micro-bus" got around 20 mpg (less than a Subaru Forester, > >> replete with airbags, crumple zones, and cup holders) and was one > >> of the most dangerous vehicles on the road. > > > > OK, I'll try outlining another example. If you took a 3,300 pound > > 2007 Subaru Forester and installed a 80 HP 4 cyl engine in place of > > it's 171 HP engine, a manual transmission in place of it's > > automatic, and front wheel drive in place of all wheel drive, it's > > weight would drop to about 2,800 pounds and it's highway fuel > > economy would climb to about 37 MPG from 26 MPG. Then strip away > > the air bags and crash protection structural reinforcements and > > weight declines to 2500 lbs and fuel economy would rise to about 40 > > MPG. Along with this large (54%) increase in fuel economy there > > would be a corresponding large (54%) reduction in carbon emissions. > > > > At this point you'd have a vehicle with the same genera level of > > power, comfort, convenience and safety features as a early 1980's > > era vehicle and a vehicle like early 80's era ecologists and > > activists in > the > > USA were willing to drive, but not present day ecologists. > > In addition, early 80's ecologists embraced the national 55 MPH > > speed limit, which further boosted highway fuel economy 15%. > > > > Paul Cherubini > > El Dorado, CA > > > > > Malcolm L. McCallum > Assistant Professor of Biology > Editor Herpetological Conservation and Biology > http://www.herpconbio.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. student, University of Georgia co-founder, <a href="http://www.worldbeyondborders.org";>World Beyond Borders</a> Check out my blog, <a href="http://perceivingwholes.blogspot.com";>Perceiving Wholes</a> "But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy." --Plutarch, c.46-c.120 AD
