Comments on: Go Green — Buy a Used Car. It’s Better Than a Hybrid

By: David Banks

David Banks — Sat, 24 May 2008 05:42:51 +0000

Sgt Tumeric: we may have crossed paths

Not to be overly pedantic, but I’m pretty sure that the old vechicle inspection was scrapped by Biill Bennett, not the Zalm; it was gone by the time I moved my Rabbit to the Lower Mainland in ‘83…. and that’s the thing, it was only mandatory here, not on Vancouver Island where the Rabbit went into service…. To this day, if you have a vehicle that chronicallly fails Air Care, you can unload it in Kelowna, or Kamloops, or Keremeous, or Kitwanga.

That’s certainly true regarding most cars using tech. advances to boost HP, not economy; we may see that change in the coming years; as a fanatic Saturn owner for the past 14 years I have to admit I wasn’t impressed with the Saturn Vue Hybrid, 10% increase in fuel economy isn’t much to crow about when the standard model only gets ~25 mpg in the 1st place.

(Why even consider a “SUV”? Well, one nice thing about driving the (eventually) 16 year old Rabbit was that you didn’t feel bad about taking it on some of the interesting gravel (or worse) side roads reachable within a day of the Lower Mainland; I just about shook Saturn #2 to bits travelling from Goldbridge to Pemberton on the Hurley Main a few years back…. _

By: Wayne

Wayne — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:27:28 +0000

The Wired article seems like a fluff piece. Suggesting that a used Geo Metro or Firefly is good for anything but scrap is irresponsible. These cars take the Re-use out of Reduce, Re-use, Recycle.
The Co-op has served my needs for more than 10 years but if I had to have a car, considering what is currently available, I would buy a Yaris/Echo (used or new). I have nothing against the Prius, the Co-op has them and the Yaris, but I could not justify the cost of the Prius.
Just my opinion. I don’t sell Toyotas and I’m not trying to get into Stephen’s good books.

By: Stephen Rees

Stephen Rees — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:20:19 +0000

Which reminds me. Older cars are both less safe and dirtier. There have been considerable advances in technology in areas such as energy absorption in collisions, stability, road holding, braking (my Yaris has those smart brakes that don’t get locked up) as well as much reduced common air contaminants (CO, NOx and HC).

Yes there were small fuel efficient cars (the Fiat 500 for example) but that does not mean that they are “good cars” for today

By: sgt.turmeric

sgt.turmeric — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:10:47 +0000

I think I saw a Morris Minor at the VanDusen Gardens on Saturday. I also saw a car from 1929 that cost 125 pounds (around $10,000 today?) that got 45 miles per gallon — it was small and light by today’s standards, weighing less than 1000 pounds.