Technobabble

Cheap Fuel Efficient Cars?

Posted by on Jul 21, 2008 | 2 Comments

It’s easy to get sidetracked by the marketing blitz. There are plenty of fuel efficient cars that are neither hybrids nor new. Looking to the conventional used car market for your next vehicle purchase might be a prudent financial move. With the lack of depreciation in many hybrid models, the attractiveness of an older Honda Civic or Geo Metro – which are known to deliver 40 miles per gallon or more – has spiked like it’s closing time at the bar.

You can overlook a lot of things when gas is over four dollars a gallon and you have no alternatives.

Fixing up older fuel efficient cars just might become a national meme. The newfound interest in some of these long forgotten gems is unprecedented. When the first gas crisis hit in the 1970s, we had little to fall back on. Today we have nearly three decades of gas-stingy vehicles to choose from, nevermind the rust, dings, dents, and rips.

Resource: Fuel Efficient Cars – 1984-2008

  • jim

    You’re correct, it is “easy to get sidetracked by the marketing blitz”.

    And, to an extent _you_ have.

    Before going all ‘gah gah’ over “feul efficient cars” ya need
    to do TWO things (at east):

    1) weed out the _true_ ‘hydrids’ from those that are merely
    claimed aS such by marketing dept. (versus the
    engineering department) … things like a bigger auxilliary/starter battery and honking huge starter motor,
    or 120VAC power outlets do NOT make a vehicle hybrid
    except in the fantasies and deliberate mistruths of the
    marketing department.

    2) Fuel efficiency — claimed or actual — is only one part,
    a smallish part — of the overall picture.
    A major, vitally important thing is what comes out of
    the exhaust pipe! Sure their are high-MPG diesel autos
    out there, and high-mileage gasoline vehicles, but if
    the gasses and particulates they emit are noxious,
    cancer causing and/or smog producing, that “fuel
    efficiency” is nonsensical garbage in the overall scheme
    of things. It kills you, your neighbours and your kids (while
    you’ll patting yourself on the back for supposedly easing
    the burden on your wallet).

    Look deeper, look smarter, and don’t be misled sheep-like
    by the claims and adverts of the not-so-Big Three.

    j.

  • http://sailormoongal.wordpress.com osagi

    still, there’s a lot of speculation on whether we should reduce our driving habits or should I say, prefer driving green cars.