14 replies to this topic

[Jessi]

The American Council for Energy Efficient Economy (what a mouthful!) released the most eco-friendly cars of 2012.

I hadn't even heard of some of these and there's talk of one missing from the list, the Chevrolet Volt, but  that's because the council says heavier cars cause more waste in production, and the Volt is too heavy.

http://money.cnn.com...e-greenest-cars

(And I'm not affiliated with CNN Money at all (I wish!), so I'm not gaining anything by linking to them...it's just a good write-up of the cars ACEEE listed)

[mariaandrea]

Ooo, some of those are so pretty. Or cute. I just decided I want the Lexus CT200h. Of course it costs twice as much as I could afford to spend... and almost 3 times as much as my car cost in 2001. Speaking of, I have a really cheap Suzuki Swift that looks exactly like a Geo Metro but with a different engine. I bought it in October 2001. It has about 36,000 miles on it. Total. It gets about 27 miles per gallon in city driving. Needs a tune-up. I live in a city where it has to pass an emissions inspection to get the tags renewed. I'd say it's a fairly green car just because of all that, even if it wasn't meant to be a green car.

[Sandra Piddock]

The only two cars out of that list I'd consider are the last two - the Honda CR - Z and the Toyota Yaris. They're the only cars that look really comfortable and have a reasonable price tag. The other cars that appear to offer a really comfortable drive are at least $10,000 more. Until 'green' cars come down in price and improve on performance, they're not going to be a viable option for most people.

I have an 8 year old Ford Fiesta deisel with a tiptronic gearbox (hope I got that right - I don't do technology). I can easily get 60 - 70 mph out of it, so in my opinion, it's at least as green as some of the cars on that list in terms of fuel consumption, although it may not be green in other criteria. At least I can afford it, though.

[4leafclover]

I honestly can't afford those cars. :( I wonder if those big car manufacturers will create something like a hydro-powered cars with all the same features?

[zararina]

Nice, majority are cute looking cars and all of them are expensive or hard to afford.
I will stick on using the public transport vehicles as there are plenty here. And still walking those short distance or distances that I can manage to walk is better than the greenest cars ever invented. LOL

[steph84]

Thanks for posting this list. All I ever hear about is the Prius so it is great to see othe options which are more in my price range.

[artistry]

Nice list of cars. Attractive as well. Are they still giving the $7,500 credit for the energy efficient cars? That would help a lot.

[j_pin]

I am going to be buying a Prius this year, mostly to save on gas. One of my friends the other day was telling me that Prius' and other hybrids have batteries that are made out of coal and the process of harvesting that coal and making the battery almost does as much damage to the earth as a car that runs on gas. This is hard to believe, can anyone weigh in on this?

[SpiroFlo]

Sorry, I'm saving for the $102,000 Fisker Karma (that then may or may not be responsible for burning down my house... if it can make it to my garage without breaking down).

[dissn_it]

SpiroFlo, on 15 May 2012 - 08:11 AM, said:

Sorry, I'm saving for the $102,000 Fisker Karma (that then may or may not be responsible for burning down my house... if it can make it to my garage without breaking down).

An alternative to the Fiskar Karma for about the same price, would be the Tesla Roadster. I once parked my Kia next to one not knowing what type of car it was or how much it costs! I learned about it after we got home and I did some internet research on it. It is 100% electric but it can go from 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds!
Both the Karma and the Roadster prove that an electric car can look very cool.

Roadster:
  

Karma:

[Safety]

I personally believe that most of these cars look ugly, which is why most people don't want them. I however believe it is important to use energy efficient cars. I would definitely look into getting the

Toyota Camry Hybrid LE, or the Roadster that dissn_it linked above if I had the money, but they simply cost to much, another reason I believe people don't buy them. I believe the government should have waited a bit until they started "Cash for Clunkers", but nevertheless the project still worked out great I believe.

[BonnyC]

I really like the way most of those look. Especially the Honda Civic! The best part is the price tag on some of those. I wonder how long it would take them to pay themselves off. They're easily as affordable as many of the regular gas guzzlers out there.

[still learning]

".....One of my friends the other day was telling me that Prius' and other hybrids have batteries that are made out of coal and the process of harvesting that coal and making the battery almost does as much damage to the earth as a car that runs on gas. This is hard to believe, can anyone weigh in on this?"

Not made out of coal.
I'm not an expert on this, but not made out of coal.  The stuff of coal isn't the stuff of batteries, by and large.  Coal is mostly carbon, batteries aren't.  Really basic chemistry. Really basic.

Batteries do take a lot of energy to produce though, mining the raw materials, processing the raw materials to metals, fabrication and so on.  In today's world almost all that energy will come from fossil fuels, got to run all those mining machines, run the ore processors, run the factories.  Will take the energy from some combination of coal and petroleum and natural gas to produce the batteries.

Does producing a hybrid like a Prius have a greater environmental impact than a similar conventional auto?  I'd guess so.  A hybrid has pretty much all the stuff that a regular auto has, plus the added battery and electric drivetrain.  Does producing and driving a hybrid a greater impact?  No, not if it is driven very much.  Some environmental loss to build, that loss gained back and more in the reduced gasoline consumption.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

How about this one?

[dissn_it]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 19 May 2012 - 01:56 AM, said:

How about this one?

That is a good one!  It reminds me of one that I saw on Top Gear. They showed it being followed by a double decker bus!