Nine states sue Bush administration for fuel inefficiency

Hybrids are too expensive and take years to pay for themselves , for me. Im in the market for a Scion XA, Honda Fit and/or a Toyota Yaris. 38+ miles per gallon without the 5000$ + premium for the Hybrid engine.

$5000 is 1796 gallons of gas at current average US prices (according to eia.doe.gov). If my hybrid gets 10 miles/gallon more than your car (which it does), then my car pays for itself at just under 18,000 miles, which isn’t really that long to wait. Plus, you get to do your part in saving our natural resources to boot.

the only problem with the hybrid is the high premium that comes with buying a hybrid. with all things going up in prices plus the increased cost of college and schooling then a hybrid is slightly out of the realm of cars. especially since a hyrbid costs around 26+ min

Stridy, thats at 2.78 per gallon, and in california, silicon valley, where i work, gas around here is 3.30 and up. also add interest to the 5000+ that youll pay on the car, and the insurance it costs to have a new car when financing, and thats alot more per month and total than one might think they need to pay to own a new car.

the shit is beginning to hit the fan :D LOVING IT
What I’m waiting for is for people to start to sue the Bush administration for sending us to war under false pretenses and getting their loved ones killed
IMPEACH BUSH

Nic, I used this page to determine that national average.

i want a hybrid….=\

Fuel cost – WAY over blown issue
—-people pay more for the amount of bottle water
—-you don’t have to drive a hummer
—-you can ride a bike or walk
—-you can carpool or take mass transit systems
—-it’s good because people will not travel much
———which wastes gas
———now helps preserve natural resources for the future
—-people will turn to new energy sources….solar…or….nuclear?
———less dependency on the Middle East

Hybrids – not for everyone
—–doesn’t work if you use the highway a lot
———-electric motor turns off
———-gas motor has to carry weight of electrical system (inefficiency)
—–they are meant for street uses (not fast driving where electric motor is off)
—–batteries which run from chemicals have a life, you must replace them
—–if you don’t replace batteries properly, they harm the environment

Corn fuel – not so great
—-mixing these two fuels create the gas to evaporate SLOWLY
——-which makes it less efficient and wastes gas
——-which is why they don’t mix the two until the gas station
—-unless you use your fuel quickly, then you receive the benefits
—-but if you use the fuel quickly, then you probably use too much fuel in general
—-you must grow the corn (usually using machines and people)
——-people must drive to jobs, and must be paid
——-people paid by fuel, causing fuel to increase in price
——-machines run on electricity (sometimes coming from gas)
——-improper planting will drain nutrients from soil
——-but you do create more oxygen in the air

Hydrogen – also not so great
—-to get hydrogen you must create it
——-creating it uses electricity (unless you’re in Iceland?)
——-but you can better control the industrial waste
—-hydrogen is a very dangerous substance (like gasoline but burns different)

My suggestion – major society remodel
—business tax refunds if employee’s living space is close to work; walk able
—more taxes on less fuel efficient cars to supplement price of gas.
—smaller gas tanks and more gas stations (less weight for better mileage)
—less taxes when purchasing a more fuel efficient car
—federal benefits for the state with the most efficient transit system
—make “drive-thru” illegal
—create “standards” for batteries in hybrids
——-award benefits to companies that follow standards
——-this will decrease the price of batteries in hybrids; (prius would fit a civic)
—restrict consumer cars (not trucks/SUV) to a maximum mph not horsepower
——-this would kill all the gas loss through inefficiency from driving over 55mph
——-the maximum will be set by the drop off in efficiency
—create a fine for airplane which takes off with little passengers
—severely tax HUMMERS and all other “unnecessary” cars

It’s not the standards fault, or no law should even bee needed. Money should be more spent on public awareness. We must make the public want more fuel efficient cars so the manufactures will follow. If we continue to buy into horsepower driven decisions, no matter how high the standard is, it will always be the lowest. It’s an excuse for acceptance. Manufactures can say that they pass all government standards 2x over when what we really want is 4x over. And until they raise the standard again, the manufactures will be happy touting “2x over standard”.

I own a Honda Civic Hybrid, and I get about 35mpg. It’s quite a nice car, and I haven’t had to fill up on gas in about a month and a half.

Check out the film The End of Suburbia for more on cars and fuel, etc. Quite a good documentary.

You non-hybird peeps are silly….

I tell you one thing the average price of gasoline is 3.35 compared with the average price of gasoline 1 year ago of 2.50 (California). I bought a hybrid in january, since then gasoline has risen just about .75 cents, count that into your equation, when you talk about saving money. Second of all if you are going to purchase that SUV anyways, your going to pay a lot more than a hybrid premimum for your car. A car in any way you see it is a waste of money, people are trying to find some way to justify buying a hybrid. It saves on gas bottom line, no other pure gas guzzling car does that, a car is not an investment, it depricates in value. Thats just the way it is, its not real estate, the other thing you need to look at is, how much are used hybrids going for? Anyone? Well, i tell you one thing at the moment they have the higest resale value of any car, i can sell the car that i bought with 10,000 miles to a dealer for the SAME price i paid for it. You tell me what other car does that??? Okay, regardless your going to lose money, its a CAR. So stop thinking about it like you need to justify it, at the end of the day are you comfortable spending 50 to 80 dollars to fill up a tank that will only take you 250 miles? Or do you want to spend about 35 bucks and not have to fill up your tank until 500 miles later? It’s up to you. You want more of a reason why to buy a hybrid, well tax break you get about a 2500 dollar tax break for buying this vehicle. You want another incentive you can use the car pool lane as a single driver in the morning, how important is your time to you? How much do you get paid an hour? Do you want to calculate that into your ROI (Return on Investment). I love to drive, i’m not going to stop, and i’m in no way a super green person, I own my gas guzzlling camaro, but i drive that on the weekends and sparingly. The only thing i know i can do, is try and save money…. and if your so wrapped up on the costs of insurance and everything else, lease the damn car.