I am looking to by an environment friendly car, any suggestions as far as what to look for, financing and such

Question

I am looking to by an environment friendly car, any suggestions as far as what to look for, financing and such

Answer 1

Depending on how far you need to drive you could buy a fully electric vehicle. One of the flashiest and best performing is the TESLA roadster which gets 250 miles on a single charge. It costs $90,000 though and they probably require cash on the barrel head. A cheaper option would be to purchase a converted electric car truck or van on the internet. If you go to this site http://grassrootsev.com/convert.htm you can find privately listed converted electric vehicles for between $5000 - $25,000. They are being sold by individual owners and you will need cash to buy one so getting financed would require getting a bank loan on your own or possibly borrowing from a credit card. The range varies significantly from vehicle to vehicle .. from 30 miles per charge on the low end to 150 miles on the high end. Most are somewhere in between. The other option would be to purchase a hybrid but you are still burning fuel so its not really green. Fully electric is the environmentally best choice.

Answer 2

An environment friendly car is a biodiesel car or truck. You can take a regular diesel car or truck and pour biodiesel right in. you will need to change the fuel filter after the first couple of hours because all of the particles in the fuel line will be loose and may clogged the fuel filter. It aslo reduce the the engine wear by 75%. Or Buy a biodiesel engine and installed it in a car or truck. A regular ford or chevy truck should work.

Answer 3

The less fuel a car uses, the more "green" it is. Some folks have learned to exceed the fuel economy of hybrids by 'hypermiling' cars like Honda civics, Geo Metros, and other inexpensive cars. Some are getting between 50 and 80 mpg. Most welcome your questions about how they do it.

Answer 4

2008 Ford Escape Hybrid doesn't look too bad.

Answer 5

If you can afford it, get a hybrid.

In any event be careful to not buy more car than you really need.  If everyone just did that we'd be a whole lot better off.

Answer 6

I have done considerable research on this myself. Toyota Hybrid Prius is THE vehicle with the absolutely best mileage (60 mpg in the city, or near that. Less on the highway as strange as it may sound.)

I've been told that if I'm looking at a Prius for mileage reasons, it could prove to be a good idea to wait until the next generation of Diesels come out. Of course the dream is a hybrid/diesel, but not developed for consumers yet.

Others to consider right now but with less mpg ratings are Honda Accord hybrid, Toyota Camry hybrid, Altima hybrid, (if you live in one of the eight states where you can get one,) Lexus hybrid. There apparently are many, many more coming within the next 1-2 years. Some say we will have ONLY hybrids in the not too distant future.

NEW PRIUS ARE ABOUT $22,000. I saw a 2005 with 40,000 miles 5 weeks ago for $18,500. But they have gotten hard to find, at least used, in the last three weeks due to gas prices.  A local dealership said they have a 8-12 week wait for a new prius currently.

Answer 7

Although hybrid cars are becoming the go to green answer, they don't fair so well with mileage when you are driving above a city speed limit, such as highways or trying to get uphill and they come with a big price tag.  Also there is some debate regarding the carbon output created through obtaining the materials for the hybrid vehicles.  I drive a 2005 Subaru Forester and we get 30 miles/gallon on the highway.  Subaru as a company has committed to neutralizing their carbon footprint with buying offsets for their plants.  The Forester is a great car for enjoying the great green outdoors, Subaru is a eco-responsible company, the Forester is very affordable and one of the highest rated for safety, and we have been getting great gas mileage out of both of our Foresters.  (Whatever you decide, keep your car well maintained and your tire pressure checked.)

Answer 8

One of the hybrid cars that begins running on fuel, as the person begins driving, and then switches to electric power when the conditions indicate such, is probably the best environment-friendly car.  I believe that Toyota is now making these cars, but there may be other foreign and domestic companies right in there too....I don't know.  One thing to be aware of:  the cost of a battery for these hybrids, once you have to replace the battery, is something like $200.

Answer 9

I just bought a 2007 Toyota Prius Touring and I absolutely love it.  I'm averaging about 48 mpg with 6000 miles on the car.

Very comfortable and user friendly.  I highly recommend it!

Good luck!

Answer 10

I just bought a new Camry.  the MPG (highway) are almost the same as the hybrid. 32, and it has lots of power.

Answer 11

I would get a Hummer.  I think that would be a good car because they can drive in any environment.  I'd get one thats really shiny.

Answer 12

Kia Rio - 40+ mpg and will last more than 100k miles unlike hybrids

Answer 13

Wait a couple years if you can.  You'll have a LOT more options as to greener cars.  

People want green cars now, and the auto industry is responding as fast as they can, but there's a 3-5 year lead time in the design of new models.   The automakers have been working for a couple years, but you're going to see many more options in

- Diesels that are fast and clean and run biodiesel

- Strong(er) hybrids

- Actual Electric Cars

- Maybe, knock wood, plug-in hybrids

in the next 2-3 years.

To be blunt, the "green car" options right now really suck.  The hybrids are all weak.  There are very few diesels on the market because of the 2007 diesel emissions cleanup.  There are no electrics at all.   A lot of stuff is "in the pipeline" like the GM-Chrysler-BMW hybrid tranny, but give it time.

Answer 14

If you can afford it, I would also recommend a Toyota Prius.  It's a bit on the expensive side (around $22,000 which comes to around $450/month if you get a 5-6 year dealership loan), but you make up quite a bit of that on tax rebate ($1750) and gas savings.

If hybrids are out of your price range, the Toyota Yaris is the best pure internal combustion (gas burning) car environmentally and costs substantially less ($13,500 and gets in the mid-30s mpg.

http://autos.yahoo.com/toyota_yaris_s/

Someone already provided this link, but the Yahoo Autos top 100 Green Cars is a great reference:

http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center-top1...

To dispel a few myths that have come up here about the Prius, it can actually be very powerful if you want it to be, since it has both a regular internal combustion engine and a supplemental electric engine.  If your purpose is to be environmentally friendly though, you shouldn't care about how powerful your car is, because less acceleration means less gas consumption and greenhouse gas emission.  If you accelerate slowly with the Prius, you can use purely or mostly the electric engine until you get up to high speeds, which is one reason why it gets better city mileage (also regenerative breaking).

That doesn't mean it gets poor highway mileage though (myth #2).  Mine gets around 45 mpg highway about 51 mpg in the city (around 48 mpg average).

If you can afford it, definitely go with the Prius.  It's the most environmentally friendly car on the road right now.

Answer 15

If you are looking for a cheaper car than a hybrid, Toyota's generally get good mileage on their small cars.

Answer 16

This depends on your needs. If it's just you commuting to work or if you have a family. personally, I'm buying a diesel jetta. My brother-in-law has had Jettas and Golfs for years and he gets great gas mileage. We worked it out to 5.2 litres to drive 100 kilometers (45 mile per U.S. gallon). Diesel is also $0.30 Can. per litre cheaper ($1.10 per Gallon cheaper). We also mix in the leftover deep fryer oil when I'm done cooking. It gets the same mileage and smells like french fries when running. Diesels also last twice as long as a gas engine.

There is also electric vehicle you can commute to work and plug it in when you get home.

Also, how about a motorcycle or moped if your weather permits and it's just you that needs a ride. This is by far the best gas mileage option there is.

Hybrid vehicles are also reliable enough now to make them a viable option. They do come with a high upfront investment. Over time you will see the reward.

Answer 17

With this you have many options.

-2007 Honda Civic or Hybrid

-2007 Toyota Pruis/ Camry Hybrid

-2007 GMC Denali Hybrid

-2007 Ford Escape

-2007 Ford Focus

you have many options all you need to find one that suits you best and you and your budget.

Answer 18

I would get the new car that runs on compressed air it's the newest thing but be prepared to spend 15 grand it ain't to much if you wanna know more my email is [e-mail]

Answer 19

Nissan Versa

Answer 20

Hi,

We were faced with the same choice a couple years, and after much research, we decided on a Prius.

We are very satisfied with it.  The overall fuel mileage after 37,000 miles of all sorts of driving is 49 mpg -- this includes every tank of gas -- headwinds, snow storms, highway, city, and Montana winters.

Compared to driving the small SUV that the Pruis replaced, the Prius has saved 47,800  KWH ( 1250 gallons of gasoline), 23,800 lbs of CO2 emissions, and saved $3760 in gasoline costs over the 37,000 miles.  We have been working hard on reducing our energy use for everything, and keeping track of our progress carefully -- the Prius has been BY FAR the biggest contributor to cutting energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

I think that the Prius is somewhat unique in that it was designed from the ground up to save gas and reduce GHG emissions.  Even the underside of it is aerodynamically smooth :)  I think this makes it do somewhat better than other hybrids.

You pay a premium for the hybrid feature of about $3000, but I feel that I have already made up that difference in gas saved compared to driving the car it replaced.  Tax credits and rebates may also help reduce the premium.

If the Prius fits your needs, than I think it would be good choice.

I think that the Honda Fit would be another good choice.  It is smaller than the Prius, but still roomy, and gets excellent all around reviews and very good gas mileage.  It costs substantially less than the Prius.

Some websites you might have a look at:

Our experiences with the Prius:

http://www.builditsolar.com/References/H...

Top 100 green cars:

http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center-top1...

Hybrid Cars:

www.hybridcars.com

Government Fuel Econ Site:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

My collection of green/efficient car links:

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Veh...

Good luck with your search!

Gary

Answer 21

Yes I Believe So!!!

Answer 22

China showing preference for environment friendly cars

Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers have shown that the consumers in the Chinese market are buying economy cars with low emissions.

These cars dominated the sales in the auto market in china in the first half year of 2006. They accounted for half of the top ten best selling vehicles.

Five of the top ten cars sold in the country were models with emission below 1.6 liter. Tianjin FAW’s Xiali continues to head the charts on the list of top selling low-emission cars with 93,800 vehicles sold in the first half of the year. The car is well known for its high fuel efficiency.

It was followed by Excelle of Shanghai General Motors and Elantra of the Beijing Hyundai. These two models sold 86,900 and 85,400 units respectively.

With fuel prices rising around the world, automobile buyers are increasingly buying cars with high fuel efficiency. The trend is most visible in the United States where the sales of fuel guzzling SUVs and trucks have fallen down massively in the last couple of years. Both Ford and General Motors are struggling to compete against Japanese automakers including Toyota and Honda.