Eco-Friendly and "Green"Cars"?

Question

How Efficient are the Eco-friendly and Green cars? Are they worth the money?

I am asking because if they are so friendly, the prices are not so friendly.

Answer 1

Both "Green" and "Eco Friendly" are phony labels to make you think that by reducing your production of CO2 slightly you are slowing Red China's rush to submerge Taiwan so they'll have to swim back to the mainland.

Answer 2

Not very. Even at their best they are only a little better on fuel than others--but they make people feel better. There are things called the "Laws of Thermodynamics" which states there is only so much energy in (our) universe & that you always lose more energy than you get when energy changes form you lose much more than you gain.  mc

Answer 3

I guess you are talking about hybrids.  To me they are not worth the money.  They never pay for themselves in fuel savings.  It is more of a feel good thing.  I would just buy a regular car that gets good gas mileage and stick a couple hybrid stickers on it and be done with it.

Answer 4

I don't really think they are all that. I read that 60% of the energy used by a car in its entire lifetime is during the manufacturing process which means no matter how "green" the fuel is, it still uses almost as much energy as a regular car. My idea of a green car is one that is designed to last forever....where are those cars?

Answer 5

Not sure which cars you're talking about.  Regardless, it depends on your priorities.

A hybrid will generally make up for the initial cost after about 5 years

http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/08/22/bc.a...

so even from a financial standpoint they're worth the money.

There are also electric cars, which at the moment are rather expensive and few are able to go long distances or high speeds.  But if you're an environmentalist, you might be willing to sacrifice a bit of convenience and money to benefit the environment.