Hybrid buyers tend to be the best educated and among the wealthiest buyers of any vehicle category: 40 percent have master's degrees. And 40 percent live in California. Car-buyers in middle America seldom buy hybrids, says Mr. Pratt. In part, that's because carmakers haven't marketed as much there. It's also largely because urban coastal communities provide the most conducive atmosphere for hybrids, often with higher gas prices, worse traffic, and wealthier buyers.
We should take a little poll on this site and find out how many Master's degrees and how many Californians we have, see it it is 40% on both.
I can tell you now I qualify for neither category !!
I qualify for both!
Yes, higher gas prices are part of it. I also find that in my field, software engineering, you have more opportunities to make mad cash in CA than in the midwest.
But the cost of living is higher which balances some of that out. And my wife is currently earning less here than she was in the Midwest.
I would wager that much of it is the higher liberal presence on the coasts. Much of a hybrid buying decision is based on the SULEV emissions.
One would be tempted to travel to the midwest or Texas to buy one, but they only sell ULEVs there, at least for the Civic Hybrid. Plus, you would put a lot of mileage on it driving it back.
___170 + credit hours in both mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines but neither a Master’s nor do I live in California. Does that fit the mold
___Blueskies, I would be willing to travel anywhere in the country for a PZEV vs. our LEV’s/ULEV’s available in the Chicago area. The trip back from wherever would be a benefit.
___170 + credit hours in both mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines but neither a Master’s nor do I live in California. Does that fit the mold
___Blueskies, I would be willing to travel anywhere in the country for a PZEV vs. our LEV’s/ULEV’s available in the Chicago area. The trip back from wherever would be a benefit.
___Nope. Honda won’t allow a single PZEV to be ordered into either Illinois or Wisconsin. They will allow them into the 5 clean states (CA., VT., ME., MA., NY.) as well as some of the border states of those 5 but the Midwest is strictly off limits. I checked with a Honda rep and a local dealership a few months ago
40 percent have master's degrees. And 40 percent live in California.
Guilty on both counts.
Also, it is good to know that I ended up with the cleaner-burning HCH by living in CA. Is it just because of state regulations that they have different versions in certain states than in others? I would think that there would be overhead for Honda involved in developing different, semi-hidden versions of the same car.
I was under the impression that a sulev/pzev -- either honda or toyota -- was the exact same car, but the improved emissions depended on low sulphur gasoline.
If you live in a dirty gasoline state, the auto manufacturer cannot sell a pzev labeled car there. By the same token, if you buy a pzev rated car and take it to your state, the emissions will be sulev; and if you take your sulev car to CA, the emissions will be pzev.
___You are somewhat correct. Most PZEV’s will drop a level when on high sulfur fuel but there are differences even between PZEV’s. The 05 Accord (non-hybrid) and 05 HCH PZEV’s have a Tier II/Bin2 emissions rating (cleanest there is) vs. the non-PZEV Accord (LEV-II) Tier II/Bin5 rating. The HCH PZEV however runs a Tier II/Bin2 rating even on high sulfur fuel! The 05 Prius II has a Tier II/Bin3 emissions rating, the 05 Escape HEV has a Tier II/Bin4 emissions rating when built to a PZEV emissions std., and the 05 AH has a Tier II/Bin5 emissions rating even though all except the AH are PZEV’s in the clean fuel states.
___Anyway, the only PZEV’s we can purchase in Illinois are Focus’ and only in the late 03/04 MY’s without the PZEV designation and without the PZEV warranty. The HW is all there but the emissions warranty is missing. The rest of the PZEV’s available in the clean fuel states just aren’t available here. The main reason for owning a PZEV is not only how clean they are relative to the std. emissions rated automobile of same make, model, and year but the emissions warranty. A CAT going out today is easily a $1,000 + proposition for an OEM and that is definitely covered for the entire 150,000 mile interval on a PZEV vs. a much shorter interval for the non-PZEV’s. I had a CAT go on the 03 Corolla at 58,000 (60,000 mile warranty) and although it was on Toyota’s dime, it would have cost $1,200!
Hybrid owners: 40% Masters degrees, 40% Calis
