Hybrid gas vehicles like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight nowprovide car buyers with an environmentally responsible alternative. Theseunique gas-electric hybrids couple the benefits of an electric motorwith the freedom of a gas engine. They don’t have to be plugged inand they run on regular gasoline. Despite the benefits, Great LakesRadio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston says she’s isn’t readyto buy quite yet:
Transcript
Hybrid gas vehicles like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight now
provide car buyers an environmentally responsible alternative. These
unique gas-electric hybrids couple the benefits of an electric motor
with the freedom of a gas engine. They don’t have to be plugged in
and they run on regular gasoline. Despite the benefits, Great Lakes
Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston says, she’s isn’t ready
to buy quite yet.
I want to buy a car. Not just any car – but an environmentally
responsible vehicle – one that preferably runs on nothing but good
will and sunshine. It also has to be big enough to sit two large
teenage boys, a seven-year old girl, 15 Barbie dolls, my husband –
from time to time – and a dog. A large dog.
My old station wagon should’ve been replaced years ago, but there
wasn’t anything out there that I wanted to replace it with. Sure,
there were minivans, but after test driving General Motors
experimental EV1 electric car a few years ago, everything else seemed
environmentally obsolete. The EV1 was perfect. It ran on nothing but
electricity and looked and handled like a sports car. It even had a
great stereo. Unfortunately, it only had two seats. And even if I
could have traded my kids in on one, it was only available in
California. Figures.
So ever since that first taste of automotive nirvana, I’ve been
waiting for something to help resolve my ecological conscience. When
Toyota and Honda announced their hybrid gas vehicles late last year,
I was cautiously optimistic. Both vehicles are combination gas and
electric, although their designs are very different. After subsidies,
they both sell for around twenty thousand dollars. I figure that’s a
reasonable price to pay to resolve a little environmental guilt.
The Honda Insight is the most fuel efficient of the two. It’s rated
at 68 miles to the gallon on the highway. Not exactly a zero
emissions vehicle, but a great start. Unfortunately, it’s only a
two-seater. Toyota’s Prius gets about 15 miles less to the gallon,
but it is a family sedan and it does have five seats. And while the
front ones are roomy enough, the back seats would hardly provide a
comfortable place for my two teenage boys. Their large gangly limbs
extend into the front seat and beyond when they so much as sneeze. I
could probably squeeze them into the back seat of the Prius for short
trips to the mall, but that doesn’t resolve the dog problem. Our
pup’s such an autohound that she lies down in front of my car in the
driveway so we can’t leave home without her.
I thought about trading one of the boys in on a Prius. I figured that
this would solve the problem of space and financing in one fell
swoop. But apparently teenage boys consume even more fuel than my old
station wagon. The dealer said no way.
Now some people would say that having a large dog and three kids
isn’t the most environmentally responsible thing to do in the first
place. And there are days when I agree. But I’m stuck with them for
now, so in the end it looks like we’re going to have to buy a van –
the most fuel efficient floating living room type-van you can buy.
At least the dog will be happy, and next time, I promise, I’ll buy a
Chihuahua.