Save the planet: Buy a used Geo Metro
After my story "Unsustainable Seattle," in which I questioned conventional wisdom regarding green buildings and touted the ingenuity that preserved Cuba's pre-embargo auto fleet, a reader pointed me to a story from Wired that says the best way to get a greener ride is to buy a used car. There's a rich source of embodied energy in '90s fuel efficient beaters.
According to the story, if you buy a new Prius, you have to drive it 46,000 miles before you "pay back" the energy used to make it in the first place. However, you reduce your carbon footprint faster if you swap your current guzzler for a low-mileage used car.
You'd have to drive the Prius 100,000 miles before starting to show gains over driving a '98 Toyota 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," the story reports. According to USA Today, these nerdy econo-cars — including Ford Festivas, Hyundai Excels, and Geo Metros — are selling like hotcakes.
Savvy American drivers can now create a whole new generation of planet-saving "yank tanks." If you have any trouble holding your beater together, you might want to consult Bellingham author Ron Judd's Blue Tarp Bible to learn how this miracle petroleum product can fix any problem. That and a little duct tape.
Comments:
Posted Thu, Jun 19, 9:46 p.m.
yup... just keep the old car running: I'm still driving my 1990 Mazda 626. Typically only about 2 or 3,000 miles per year, but it gets 35 mpg on the highway and 20-24 for my typical short in-city driving. But the best thing is just leaving it parked and riding my bike, taking the bus or walking.
Hopefully summer will arrive soon and the walking/biking will become a little more pleasant. ;-)
Posted Thu, Jun 19, 10:06 p.m.
sit still save carbon: Next green idea to bite back: carbon footprint checklists for new construction
Can't wait to hear what my ex-Detroit car designer, who lives new car to new car, has to say now about all those low mpg gems we've sold off just to get that new car smell and a few less mpg.
Posted Fri, Jun 20, 10:24 a.m.
Check out the Ford Focus: When I got a new job a long commute from home last fall, I bought a 2005 Ford Focus with a standard transmission. Although not as nicely finished as the Foci sold in Europe (where it sits higher in Ford's model lineup) it still came loaded with options and gets a reliable 33 MPG in the I-5/I-90/I-405 rush hour slog. And, since the typical American driver would rather have his teeth drilled than drive a standard transmission, I saved money getting an option that gains me an additional 2MPG over the automatic. All that without having to assume the expense of helping the car companies do R&D; on their false-sconomy hybrids.
Posted Fri, Jun 20, 11:24 a.m.
RE: sit still save carbon: "Next green idea to bite back: carbon footprint checklists for new construction"
Prescient, if anyone bothered to look at them. The spreadsheet needs significant work to account for tree loss due to construction, differentials among different building materials (concrete is less green than renewable wood frame), etc. But it is a step in the right direction.
Posted Fri, Jun 20, 12:01 p.m.
Niggardly-: Niggardly- that's what I call all this back to basics talk. There are other reasons to buy a Prius (I just did). We've been surprised at how roomy and comfortable it is with all kinds of keen features plus the 50 MPG. Man does not live by bread alone. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA PS.
Posted Fri, Jun 20, 12:33 p.m.
50?: Prius' don't average 50 MPG in the real world. The ultimate "appliance" car from a line of some of the most bread-like automobiles in the world... It's a badge of superiority though, so I guess that must justify it to many. Still burns gasoline.
Posted Fri, Jun 20, 12:38 p.m.
RE: 50?: ...And you have all those nice heavy-metal-filled batteries to dispose of every five years or so. I wonder if you can take them to the local landfill?
Posted Fri, Jun 20, 3:33 p.m.
RE: Check out the Ford Focus: And if you ever need work on that tranny, you should save a pretty penny there too. And if your battery ever dies, you can still start in compression!
Posted Sun, Jun 22, 7:41 a.m.
Embodied Energy: Knute, I wonder if you misuse the term "embodied energy" here, "There's a rich source of embodied energy in '90s fuel efficient beaters.". The Geo metro has little embodied energy compared to the Prius. Or, in other words, the Prius has a lot of embodied energy to overcome for it to compete with the Geo.
Posted Wed, Jun 25, 7:59 p.m.
It doesn't need to be neerdy: I guess most fuel efficient used vehicles are "nerdy econo-cars" as stated in the article, but they don't have to be. A year ago a friend of mine bought a '93 Honda del Sol for $1000 in California. He fell in love with both the car and its economics and begged me to buy one, which I dismissed as the ravings of a lunatic trying to relive his lost youth. Imported from '93 to '97 the two-seater del Sol is known among sports car enthusiasts as the "del Slow." And with good reason: It's a Honda Civic, albeit with a sporty, two-passenger body design, a targa (comes off and stores in the trunk) top, and no frills. I've always had a utilitarian relationship with cars - I want them to work and be cheap to operate, so I have always owned Hondas and Toyotas. But my friend said the thing got 40mpg. So a year ago, suspecting that gasoline prices were not going down, and realizing that 90% of our family's auto trips involved one or two people, I started perusing Craig's List and other online sources for a del Sol. After six months I found a '97 available in my town. I paid a bit over $4000, but I don't think I have ever been more satisfied with a purchase in my life. It's fun to drive, my wife loves it, and I routinely get 40mpg. So you don't have to drive a nerd car to get good mileage. I wish the US auto companies would get a clue, but they never have. It's possible to build an attractive car that gets good mileage, but that doesn't seem to be the mission. Read more on the del Sol here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CR-X_del_Sol
Posted Fri, Jun 27, 11:09 p.m.
the Detroit-inspired "25 year" rule: I found a website- japan-partnerdotcom- that brokers used Japanese cars, with deals you won't believe. Even paying up to a thou$ to get one shipped to New Westminster, BC, I can beat just about anything used in the Western Hemisphere as far as economic & well-kept... and they sell things like 1000cc engine pickups, and an actual minivan with a 660cc mo-mo... but we can't buy them- until they're 25 years old. It's a Federal law. How much "globalism" can the auto industry really handle? They don't even sell their OWN small-engine options in the US! Canada isn't much better... 15 year old limit up there, eh? Just go to the website & fume for a minute, if you're as dedicated a tight-ass as this here old hippy...
(Oh, and my '64 VW Beetle, with wife & kids aboard was capable of getting me ticketed for speeding on I-5, while getting 36 mpg... but, yeah- the ergonomics of the seats weren't anywhere near as good as the Japanese products.)
chow ^..^