Go Green -- Buy a Used Car. It's Better Than a Hybrid

[atlaw4u]

You might feel better driving a hybrid, but you won't necessarily be greener.

Chuck Squatriglia - Wired - May 19, 2008

Ditching your gas guzzler is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint, but if you really want to do something about global warming, get a used car. You'll be putting less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

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.

There's an easy way to avoid that debt -- buy a used car. The debt has already been paid. But not just any used car will do.

It has to be something fuel efficient. Like, say, a 1998 Toyota Tercel that gets 27 mpg city / 35 mpg highway miles. The Prius will have to go 100,000 miles to achieve the same carbon savings as the 10-year-old Tercel. Get behind the wheel of a 1994 Geo Metro XFi, which matches the Prius' 46 mpg, and the Prius would never close the carbon gap, Power writes.

There are a lot of used cars out there that top 30 mpg, and more than a few that reach into the 40s. Just about any Ford Festiva or Aspire will deliver 33 mpg. The mid-'90s Mazda Proteges are good for 30 mpg or so, as are the Dodge Colts of the early '90s.

Go back a little further and the Honda CRX HF models will give you 39 to 45 mpg in a sporty two-seater that's fun to drive. If you don't mind driving the cheapest of cheap econoboxes, the 1985 Chevrolet Chevette got 36 mpg and the '87 Chevrolet Sprint got 40.

You may laugh, but these cars are becoming big sellers. USA Today says fuel-misers from the early 1990s are selling like crazy and prices have gone up 30 percent in the past few months. A rust-bucket Geo Metro with 175,000 on the odometer recently sold for three grand on eBay...[Read More]

[Bruce]

Being cheap and being green often coincide, though not always.

[ALS]

That's the reason I keep driving my 87 Volvo. 20+ city 29-30 Highway. It always passes inspection and emission testing so why not drive it until the wheels fall off. 361,500 miles and no rust on the body. The spare parts have already been made and are sitting in a warehouse. Why not use them to keep the car running? Plus when you buy used you are not the one that took the initial bath on depreciation.

[atlaw4u]

I agree ALS. I think we as consumers need to get away from using the car/truck as a status symbol and use it for what it was intended - an appliance to get from point A to point B.

[PaleMelanesian]

I'm really bummed that the change in Honda models from 95 to 96 was at the same time as the introduction of obd-ii. I would LOVE to drive one of the older, lighter, more efficient models, with realtime mileage feedback.

As it is, I'm keeping my 96 civic for a while. Next car change will likely be the family vehicle, moving from the Odyssey to _______? I'm just hoping there will be good options in a few years.

[worthywads]

I only managed 37.5 mpg out of my 86 Dodge Colt, it was the 4-door, maybe the 2 door could have beat 40 mpg driving normally.

The wife ran her for 100 miles with the oil light on at 52K just out of warrantee. Put another 70K on it but it never was the same and started rusting badly. Then speed limit went from 55 to 70 and fe plummeted to high 20s.

As for this article, it would help if there were millions of nice used high fe cars to choose from but they are the minority then and now.

[phoebeisis]

Those old cars-Metros and the older Civics-are OLD now. If you are mechanically inclined,and like to do your own work,then they are good deals.It just depends on how much you value reliability.

No 175,000 Metro Rustbucket is worth $3000.It was never a great car, it was small with a tiny engine.If that tiny engine has 175,000 miles of whipping on it, it isn't getting any 45 mpg.Most of the Metros are pre 1996,so there isn't any way to check its mpg before buying.The CatCons burn the oil it is letting slip past the valve guide seals and rings,so you don't even get the cloud of smoke that told you it was a POS(until the cat con dies of course).Old high mile cars-I'm not talking 10 years 125,000 miles, but 15 years and 175,000 miles are strictly for those who can do their own work, and or have another way to get around when it is "down."

This borders on another Ebay scam. These old POS aren't everyman cars.There are plenty of much,much better choices.100,000 mile Civics and Corollas-8 years old-regularly sell for $4000 or less-especially if they are MT.Much better cars with probably 90% of the mpg,and none of the oil use you can expect from an ancient Metro that wasn't valued for the last 10 years of its life,so it probably didn't get regular oil changes.

Charlie

PS-Worthwads-Was that one of the dual geared -8 speed Colts.I remember almost buying a Colt in 1981-it had some sort of dual final gearing that gave you 8 speeds.One setting was for "sporty driving" one was for mpg.Maybe they had dropped that feature by 1986. They were good little Mitsu. cars.

[Shiba3420]

Even if the numbers stated are perfect, I think somebody forgot something. People buy new cars to replace old cars. The old cars may still have some life, and somebody else may drive them, but when people stop buying new cars, the pool of vehicles stagnate. We would they never have any better mileage for the average car than we do right now.
When some of the mentioned vehicles came out, you could have made the same argument about not trading in your mid-sized, mid-mpg car for a new compact, high-mpg vehicle. But if everyone had taken that advice then, there would be few/no such vehicles to drive today.

Give the poor and young-poor, a break, get a new high mpg vehicle if you can afford it and leave the older high-mpg vehicles out there for them to enjoy at a price they might be able to afford. And together we can update the American fleet.

[97PROTEGE]

This is very depressing. My car purchases are always used 4 cylinder Mazda's.
They devalue more than 50% at 5 years old. I can usually put 100K miles on one
with out any major garage repairs. Looks like my pool of used car candidates is going to be much smaller in the future.

[HEMI-Fit]

I remember as a kid in elementary school seeing a film about recycling that recommended keeping existing cars going as long as possible. Even back in the 70's, it took more energy to make a car than it would consume in its life. I was wondering if that was still the case, and it appears to be true. I'm a used-car kind of guy, but recently purchased my 2nd new car in 21 years... my Honda Fit. It replaced my 87 Daytona that also got decent mileage (20cty/30hwy), but had nearly 2x the power of the Fit. The one thing it DIDN'T have is air bags, and with 2 kiddos in the family now, it didn't make sense to keep driving something that didn't protect them as well as a new car. I sold my Daytona for $1000 to a buddy of mine, as he was the only one with any interest in the car. Unfortunately? I made that deal about a year ago, and maybe there would be more interest in it now that gas is nearly $4/gallon...

Clair