So, here I am driving a rental Chevrolet Cobalt (who told me to call her Tina…) for another couple days until I get a check for Gina and find another car.  This accident has me not only looking for another car-friend in my life, but has me asking questions regarding how eco-friendly I can get in my search.

I can feel decent that Gina, being the organ donor she is, will be reused in various other vehicles needing parts and body work.  But what will my new purchase be made of?  What workers will be paid for the manufacturing of my vehicle?  How will my car be with gas efficiency?

These are a few of the many questions I have to ask as I explore a new car.

My options aren’t unlimited, however.  I do have a budget to work within.  I am choosing to pay cash for whatever vehicle I buy, so a new hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle will not likely be an option, even if it were the greenest option.

According to The Daily Green, I could afford the 2008 Smart, but I have to be honest in that I like the size and space offered in my previous 2006 Impala.  Frankly, I am also not sure the Smart would have much to offer in terms of protection when t-boned.  I already shudder at how lucky we were the Impala wasn’t hit by an SUV or mega-truck.

A simple Google search on “eco car” lands me all kinds of sites on hybrids, primarily ~ and particularly sites in the UK (and here too).  The more research I do on hybrids and AFV, the more I realize I will certainly have to stick to more conventional transportation.

Really, though, my Impala had quality mpg.  I know firsthand how well she held up on gasoline, and unfortunately, for my job, I put quite a few miles on her.  And she had ethanol/biodiesel/diesel potential I just hadn’t tapped into.

So, I Google “green” “used” “car” and find a few useful websites.  I even found a Wired article declaring that buying a used car can be greener than buying the uber-efficient hybrids.

As Matt Power notes in this month’s issue of Wired,

hybrids get great gas mileage but it takes 113 million BTUs of energy to make a Toyota Prius. Because there are about 113,000 BTUs of energy in a gallon of gasoline, the Prius has consumed the equivalent of 1,000 gallons of gasoline before it reaches the showroom. Think of it as a carbon debt — one you won’t pay off until the Prius has turned over 46,000 miles or so.

That’s good, I feel.  I don’t have to feel like a shlub for buying a conventional car.  In fact, Power chronicles several car models from the ’90s and even the mid-’80s that beat the Prius on mpg efficiency!  That, I would have never guessed!

Of course, it can be tough finding a car that old that hasn’t been beaten like a drum, and Robyn Eckard of Kelley Blue Book tells us most used car buyers prefer something no more than 5 to 7 years old and with fewer than 100K on the odometer. No problem.  [Several models are mentioned specifically here]

We’ve undoubtedly left some off the list. But the point is, you don’t need to buy a Prius — or any other hybrid, for that matter — to get great fuel economy and minimize your carbon footprint. You might feel better driving a hybrid, but you won’t necessarily be greener.

On that note, judge me if you wish, but I am focusing my new car hunt on replacing my 2006 Impala with a used 2007 or 2008 Impala.

Until I have more news on the car-front~

Safe driving.

Sustainably yours ~ Ashley Sue

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 1:28 pm and is filed under consumerism, fuel, terminology, transportation, vehicles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.