the new Honda Prius...er I mean Insight

[FT BSTRD]

If you are looking strictly at the economic component, the hybrids are not yielding viable savings over their working lifetime.

Why they aren't producing diesel hybrids is beyond me. THAT might make some economic sense.

You'd have to keep the car 10 years to make it pay off. That's about 6-7 years beyond the life expectancy of the batteries.

If you were going to keep a car that long, the savings would be in keeping a car that long.

What is the cost savings of keeping a car for 10 years instead of 5?

What are the PRODUCTION savings of keeping a car for 10 years instead of 5?


If someone is serious about being green, don't just buy something that LOOKS green. Think through the entire process of production for cost effectiveness and energy savings.

[Mr Lefty]

Originally Posted by FT BSTRD

If you are looking strictly at the economic component, the hybrids are not yielding viable savings over their working lifetime.

Why they aren't producing diesel hybrids is beyond me. THAT might make some economic sense.

You'd have to keep the car 10 years to make it pay off. That's about 6-7 years beyond the life expectancy of the batteries.

If you were going to keep a car that long, the savings would be in keeping a car that long.

What is the cost savings of keeping a car for 10 years instead of 5?

What are the PRODUCTION savings of keeping a car for 10 years instead of 5?


If someone is serious about being green, don't just buy something that LOOKS green. Think through the entire process of production for cost effectiveness and energy savings.

VERY good point...
I wonder... if you take someone who owns a 1975 Chevy pickup (we'll pretend it's running ) with a big gas guzzler motor... and could some how measure the amount of polution and harm done to the enviroment by him... and compare it to someone who's purchased a new vehicle every 4 or 5 years.

Accounting for all the emissions of the plants that created the new vehicles... I think the 75 Chevy might be alot greener than one might normally think.

[FT BSTRD]

Originally Posted by Ebbs15

VERY good point...
I wonder... if you take someone who owns a 1975 Chevy pickup (we'll pretend it's running ) with a big gas guzzler motor... and could some how measure the amount of polution and harm done to the enviroment by him... and compare it to someone who's purchased a new vehicle every 4 or 5 years.

Accounting for all the emissions of the plants that created the new vehicles... I think the 75 Chevy might be alot greener than one might normally think.

Zactly! NOT buying a new car saves more than buying one that gets better mileage, but there is no money in it for the auto manufacturers.

Think of all the mining for the metals, the smelting of those metals into the alloys used, the machining, the molding, the production of the chemicals that make up all the plastics and synthetics, the chemicals in the batteries, the electricity used in all those processes, the gas burned by all those employees getting to and from work, the ecological cost of all the tooling, the ecological cost of all the travel to all the auto shows, the ecological cost of all the paper for all the marketing materials.


It's staggering. If you bought a car and drove it for 10 years instead of 5, you would do more good for the environment than just about anything else you could do.


Even more than keeping your tires inflated.

[Mr Lefty]

Originally Posted by FT BSTRD

Zactly! NOT buying a new car saves more than buying one that gets better mileage, but there is no money in it for the auto manufacturers.

Think of all the mining for the metals, the smelting of those metals into the alloys used, the machining, the molding, the production of the chemicals that make up all the plastics and synthetics, the chemicals in the batteries, the electricity used in all those processes, the gas burned by all those employees getting to and from work, the ecological cost of all the tooling, the ecological cost of all the travel to all the auto shows, the ecological cost of all the paper for all the marketing materials.


It's staggering. If you bought a car and drove it for 10 years instead of 5, you would do more good for the environment than just about anything else you could do.


Even more than keeping your tires inflated.