Green cars!!

[Mandarine]

Hi!!!

My lease is up in about 6 months and I just started doing some research.

I''m seriously considering getting a hybrid. Right now the Prius is the one at the top of my list, but I wanted to know what you guys thought. So...here are some questions...

Do you drive a "green car"?
Which one?
Do you like it?
What do you like best?
Regret it?
What would you change?

Thanks!!!

M~

 

[zoebartlett]

Hi Mandarine!

My FI drives a Prius and he loves it! He''s had it for about 1.5 years and he''s really happy with how it runs, etc. I''m not sure it quite as much gas mileage as Toyota claims, but overall, it still does well. I had had a story on the news once about people not being happy that the gas mileage isn''t as high in real life as advertised. Hopefully they''re working on that. The Prius is a little pricey, although I''m not sure how it rates (price and otherwise) among the other hybrids. I''m not sure if you still get a tax credit (or something like that) at tax time. You used to get one for buying a "green" car. The only thing that my FI and I are not crazy about is the screen that displays the climate, radio, engine info. The screen is really hard to see in the sunlight. We''re always covering our hand over it in the sunlight so we can see the display. It might have gotten better since he got his, and maybe other models are improved.

 

[Mandarine]

Thanks Zoe!!!

I know the tax break or credit has changed, I will have to look into that.

Thanks for chimming in! I think I will have to test drive one just to see. I live right in front of a Toyota dealership so it''s not a big deal.

Thanks again!!!!

M~

 

[E B]

Mandarine,

FH and I have a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid and I adore it. Best car I''ve ever owned/driven. The gas mileage is fantastic, and you really don''t realize how good you have it (after you''ve been driving it for a while) until you get into a regular car or worse, an SUV! I drove an SUV for ~5 years and was filling up all.the.time. Plus, I didn''t need the space; it was just me!

Honda makes great vehicles. Our little guy has had one problem in time we''ve had him and it was fixed free of charge by the dealership. We''ll likely never own anything else, but if we do end up purchasing a non-hybrid vehicle down the road, it''ll be Honda or a Toyota.

 

[Mandarine]

Thank you ebree!!!!. I will look into the Civic too!. I have a Passat and I love it, I love VWs but it just hurts everytime I have to drop $40-$50 on gas! not to mention the damage to the environment.

Every little help to our environment counts...and I guess I better start with me! hehe..

M~

 

[Efe]

We have an ''05 Prius and we absolutely love it. We get on average 48 miles per gallon and in our area we are allowed to drive solo in the HOV lanes with a hybrid car. The only drawback of this car is that it is very difficult to see through the rear window as you are trying to back up. You just have to be extra careful.

 

[sera]

What about repairs? Pricey? I imagine most engine repairs would have to be done through the dealer?

 

[Mandarine]

Date: 8/20/2007 3:41:29 PM
Author: BizouMom
We have an ''05 Prius and we absolutely love it. We get on average 48 miles per gallon and in our area we are allowed to drive solo in the HOV lanes with a hybrid car. The only drawback of this car is that it is very difficult to see through the rear window as you are trying to back up. You just have to be extra careful.

Thank you! So I guess the back camera is helpful! (they offer that in the ''07 models, not sure if it''s a new thing though).

Yay, I love that you guys love your hybrids!!!

M~

 

[mercoledi]

One thing to consider is that a lot of the newer hybrids don''t get much better gas mileage than fuel efficient regular cars. Instead the power from the hybrid engine has been fed into horsepower. This is true of most of the Ford hybrids and sadly the newer (07 I think) Honda hybrids.

Be sure to do your homework to be sure you''re actually getting a fuel efficient car! For instance, a friend recently bought the Saturn Aura hybrid for a 2hr commute each day and loves it, but it really doesn''t get better mileage than an ''05 conventional manual transmission Civic. If I were in the market, I''d look for an ''05/06 Civic hybrid (if you can find someone willing to part with one) or the same vintage of Prius.

If you live in a warmer climate and really want to have a minimal impact on the planet, consider getting a diesel car, they get much better mileage and are actually cleaner these days than most unleaded gas cars. And you can always convert them to biodeisel!

And finally, I think that VW now has hybrid Rabbits, or will soon. I have no idea what their mileage is like, but it''s something else to consider since you have some lead time.

Good luck with your quest!

 

[Mandarine]

Thank you mercoledi!!! I''ve been doing research and saw what you mean about some of the hybrids not really being better. There is a website that lists the top green cars and gives them a score, that was really helpful.

Here is one interesting link: http://www.greenercars.org

M~

 

[luckystar112]

Date: 8/20/2007 2:37:53 PM
Author: EBree
Mandarine,

FH and I have a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid and I adore it. Best car I''ve ever owned/driven. The gas mileage is fantastic, and you really don''t realize how good you have it (after you''ve been driving it for a while) until you get into a regular car or worse, an SUV! I drove an SUV for ~5 years and was filling up all.the.time. Plus, I didn''t need the space; it was just me!

Honda makes great vehicles. Our little guy has had one problem in time we''ve had him and it was fixed free of charge by the dealership. We''ll likely never own anything else, but if we do end up purchasing a non-hybrid vehicle down the road, it''ll be Honda or a Toyota.

My FI''s mother has a Honda Civic Hybrid and she also says it''s the best car she''s ever owned/driven.
I''m thinking about getting one for my next car as well.

My FI (who knows a ton about cars and manages an automotive shop) says that you can''t go wrong with a toyota or a honda. We''ll pretty much only be driving those two brands for the rest of our lives! lol.

 

[Haven]

BF and I spent quite a bit of time researching hybrids when we purchased our new cars back in November, and we actually ended up buying to regular 2007 Honda Civics.

We're pretty green, and we chose the non-hybrids for several reasons, but mostly because we couldn't find a hybrid that was worth the extra cost and had all of the safety features we require in a car.

Just like all the other Honda owners, we LOVE our Hondas! The irony is that my family actually owns several Toyota dealerships, so I was pretty set on getting a Prius because I could get exactly what I want at cost, but I was very uncomfortable with the safety features, and the rear visibility issues. (My family would disown me if they saw this post! Sorry, guys!)

Anyway, my Honda Civic EX gets an average of 32 mpg. Sometimes it's as low as 29 mpg if I repeatedly accelerate fast, and it can get up to 37 mpg if I do a lot of highway driving. I've become obsessive about checking my mileage, since the Honda is supposed to be an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle.

I'm really happy with it thus far.

And here's a plea to ALL CAR OWNERS: Please be carbon neutral!!!! If you google "carbon neutral" you'll find a ton of information and ways to offset your car's carbon emissions. I offset through terrapass.com, but there are several companies that you can choose. Okay, plea over.

Good luck, Mandarine! Do your research and you'll find the right choice for you.

 

[Harleigh]

I am still LOVING not having a car payment these past few years, which has enabled me to go with the Laser Hair Removal for the next year, but after that''s done, I plan to look into the Toyota Highlander Hybrids. If that''s not cost-effective, I will go back to the good old Honda, which is by far my favorite car!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

All I can tell you is that I was recently looking for a new car, and my husband''s research found that the hybrid cars are not more cost effective than regular cars. One article her read said it would take at least 8 years to break even with the higher cost of the car and the lower cost of gas. My solution was to go with non-SUV in order to get a little better gas mileage and help the environment. I downsized to a Subaru Outback from a mini-van. That was about as much of a compromise I could make!

(I LOVED the Honda Civic, by the way, but I needed something with a little more cargo space.)