Hi Challenger1:

___2000 Insight 5-speed for the long commute usually. The FE speaks for itself although it is only a LEV on our Midwest high sulfur fuel.

___2003 Corolla LE w/ Auto was the main commuter but my son now uses it for his daily 20 mile round trip commute now. She receives between 45 and 52 mpg out on the highway when I drive it. 28 - 36 when the wife and or son drive it in the city or out on the highway. It has a ULEV rating.

___2003 Ranger XLT w/ 5-speed is my landscape vehicle. Excellent FE w/ a 38 mpg average on the highway in 40 degree temps and she still has less then 6500 miles on her. It has a LEV rating.

___2003 Acura MDX Touring w/ RES is the wife’s. It is worth ~ 28 - 30 mpg out on the highway and ~ 23 - 25 mpg around town with 30 - 40 degree temps when I drive it. When she drives it back and forth to work, maybe 19 in the summer and 16 - 17 in 30 - 40 degree temps as of late. It is the cleanest emissions rated automobile we own in terms of non-GHG emissions with a ULEV-II rating. Given its FE, I am trying to convince the wife to purchase something else. Her reply is she wants a convertible. No chance in hell I will let her get that for the 12 days a year you can use it here near Chicago.

___The Future … I am looking at a PZEV based Accord EX-L w/ NAVI as my Insight replacement for a hopefully much shorter commute. Maybe the same for my wife although she will probably get an Acura TL or some other pig of an automobile. The son will eventually purchase the Corolla once his bank account grows as he just graduated from the U of I this spring and has only been working in the real world for a few months. I am persuading him to consider the upcoming Honda Fit/City as a replacement for even higher FE (35/46 mpg EPA city/hwy possibly) and even lower emissions (SULEV) as well as higher safety (front, side, and curtains as well as higher crash test scores) although it is a much smaller automobile so the safety equation in a head on might not improve his chances of survival if heaven forbid he were to be involved in one of those.

___My wish … The European Honda Accord (Acura TSX sized in Europe) with its 2.2 L iCDTi and VCM’ed for HCH/Insight type hwy mileage in a semi-luxury based true mid-size automobile.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net