What kind of vehicles do you have, and why do you have them?

Well, I brought this topic up to see what people have sitting next to there Hybrids, and if they have a reason to have them.

2005 Civic Hybrid with Auto. We bought this car because it was time to buy a new car. We were considering a Legacy GT, but gas prices, and economics dictated the Civic. Got the car for 200 under invoice, with 2.9%. The payment is reasonable, and I love the efficiency. I can't think of a better car to drive 1500 miles on average per month.
2002 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab 2wd with 4.7 v8. This thing is a gas hog. My wife drives it every day to the local metro. It was originally bought to be a sort of minivan. We have 2 Labradors, and the dogs wouldn't be very welcome in the passenger compartment with our soon to be child. It is great for its purpose of towing, going to the Home Depot, and easy to get or almost 2 year old in and out of. My wife actaully prefers to drive the Civic to and from the Gym on the weekends now. Never thought I'd get her out of that truck.
2002 Kawasaki ZRX-1200R. My wife and I bought this before the kid, and used it every weekend. This was my main commuter, to and from work. I've gotten older and much less bold. If it isn't clear and over 50 degrees out in the morning, I'll be taking the car.
1998 Subaru Impreza Outback: The original family car for the dogs. It's got 110,000 on it, and I've put a bunch of aftermarket into it. It's ugly, but fast. Empty parking lots after a couple inches of snow, are a blast. We keep it as a spare, plus it has AWD. for those snow days.
1997 Accord EX. We don't really use this car any more, so it's up for sale. It was my wifes first brand new car, It's been sitting in our garage, and driven only on the weekends if we wereen't taking the dogs for the last couple of years. Its a great car, but the Civic is taking on the roll of family sedan, commuter and fun car.

Have a great T-giving!

My father just bought an Accord RL because he wanted to have more toys than did my Prius. And, boy, does it!

My mother has a Honda Oddysey as a "family" car. It was rated highest when she bought it.

My sister (who's now at college) has a Honda Civic... good student car.

Then, we have a '97 Lexus ES300 sitting around, barely being used. My little sister will take it off when she starts driving. It isn't worth entirely much anymore.

Visit my newly-acquired website, Volconvo Debate Forums!

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

I hung onto my old car, a 94 Dodge Spirit for 10 years. The last 3 years AC quit for a bad compressor & coroded lines. It broke down on the freeway once. It had been in a very bad wreck 5 years before and the whole rear suspension was replaced. The shop put in unmatched rear springs so the whole car sat crooked.
It was repainted twice and looked terrible.
I drive 92 miles round trip for work and this car was old at 160K miles.

The last 2 years of it I researched the HCH or a Dodge Neon.
Went to a Honda dealer to test drive an HCH but the salesman was a bit rude.
We left and looked at a Neon and I liked it.
All that year I watched HCH and found myself constantly reminded that it is really nice, nicer than the Neon....but more expensive too.
Really, I was torn between the two cars for almose a year.

Last February my Wife & I swung back into the Honda dealership. The new salesman was very nice. I was able to haggle about a grand off of the MSRP as long as I also got the best Honda Hybrid warranty. (Which I was going to buy anyway :ph34r: )
When he tossed in free oil changes and tires for as long as I own it I said "OK".

Right away I was suprised of the great MPG potential so I scoured the web for specialized, effective driving tips. When I came across Wayne (xcel) and other Insight drivers I applied their tips and have had wonderful results. I came across greenhybrid.com and did the article Driving for Efficiency to get those tips in a centralized location.

My wife & I have 3 kids: 7, 9 and 11.
We had a 2001 Grand Caravan but at only 18K miles was "T-boned". Sliding door smashed, roof twisted, floor buckled among other things. Fully impressed with the safety quality of the vehicle we replaced it with a new 2002 GC.

This Grand Caravan is our other vehicle.
My wife uses the GC in the morning to take the kids to school. The HCH was meant for my commuter car but at almost 3 times the MPG as the GC it has become the main family vehicle.
Today the GC is a burden. ~6 Grand upside down in the loan we are anxious to get rid of it. Really, it's just a PIG.
My wife says she wants it replaced with a hybird in a few years.

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

Dad: Audi A8, its a beast, but the Prius has more legroom
Mom: Audi S4, I can't even fit anywhere in this car anymore... My butt is too larger for the seats
Bro: Audi A6, does anyone see a trend?
Me: 300M, Patiently waiting for my Prius to arrive next week!

A Prius a day keeps the doctor away!

I liked flare's format...so i think i'll use it.

Dad: 1996 Nissan Maxima, it was all the rage when he got it (plus he got it at a used rate, but only 1k on it). He lights the power, and it makes a nice car for family trips. I did some calcs the other day cuz i was interested, and he gets around 23 mpg. He does about 15% highway, and drives like a normal person. Pretty good if you ask me.

Mom: 1998 Grand Caravan...We needed a big car for the family and my mom liked it more than the other options. Of course, the trans blew at 71,000 miles...1k after the warranty. *doh!

Brother: 1996 Civic. He liked it i guess,i think the MT was a selling point and my dad liked the fact that it was a Honda.

Me: 2000 Corolla AT, well. I liked the way it drove alot better than the Civic (heavier stearing) and it gave me a better view back in my extremely short days (4'11"). I got the AT cuz i was siked on the car and price, and was impatient for the MT that i wanted. I'm paying for it now in FE....oh well, it'll make a better rally car once i get out of college.

Cheers,
Steven

Hidden Views Photography

Call me a convert. Our little family of two has two cars, both Prius.

Picked up my '01 Prius used at the beginning of this year, when we initially started looking at a new Echo to replace my coming-off-lease '00 Echo. First dealership we found had a green '01 (exact same colour as the Echo, in fact) on the lot with less than 35,000 km on it, and cheaper than a new Echo with lesser equipment, so we jumped on it.

Loved it so much, that when my fiancee's Malibu was coming off lease (she was subletting it through her father's employer... it's all very complex), we decided to go with a "new" Prius. Went back to the same dealership, and found out that their demonstrator salsa red "B" package (Canadian option level for the '04 with everything but nav, voice, Bluetooth and HID, the latter you can't have up here anyways...) was on the block starting the next day, because an '05 demo had just arrived. (Odd, because it was the same car feature-for-feature as the '04....) So we grabbed that.

Fiancee's Prius is primarily used for commuting to work. I work at home, but we get more travel out of the '04 because we move around a lot on the weekends, especially, with our families spread around a radius of two hours from Toronto.

Both are wonderful cars.

Before that, I owned the aforementioned Echo, and a demonic, no-options, no-performance, barely-runnable '85 Ford Tempo, which I remember fondly because it was my first car, and inherited as a 17-year-old from my grandfather, who was giving up on driving after some 80-plus years behind the wheel. Horrid car, many near-death experiences as a teenager. Good times.

My fiancee thought she would seriously miss the power of the Malibu's V6, but thus far, she's over the moon for the '01. Since she's mostly commuting with it, the more-rapid accelaration doesn't mean much to her. But she hated the size of the vehicle... and finds the smaller footprint of the Prius, and its small size -- it's actually significantly more agile than the Echo, IMHO -- perfect for her needs.

And despite her former life as a leadfoot, it sounds like the Prius is changing her driving habits a bit, as I now find her complaining about raising L/100km as the weather drops... and even asking me occaisionally for tips on how to get the most out of it.

I like the stories. Really cool. Seems as though the Hybrids almost become the mainstay, or will become the main car once they become even more mainstream.

I would also like to have the Diesel Accord. It is really the car I'd like to get if I were to get a diesel car.

The Tempo reminds me of one of my friends in Wisconsin. That Tempo just wouldn't quit! I always thought it had the performance of an exotic Porsche. OK, an exotic Porsche that just hit the wall on turn 8, and about the same running characteristics.

Really cool to see all the different types of vehicles.

My 2 cents for this topic.

We now own a '05 Odyssey and an '04 HCH.

The Odyssey replace a '00 Accord and an '03 Odyssey. It was decided we did not need three vehicles and the '05 Odyssey was easier to judge the corners. After one week it seems to be a better riding van than the '03. This is primary vehicle of my wife. First tank was at 19 and it may not do much better in the city.

The HCH replaced a '87 Accord. It was my first car bought new in '87 and at 180K+ miles and was starting to need more work than I could do by myself. The HCH is my primary vehicle, but when we are going somewhere together (we have a daughter) the van is the mode of transportation.

Billy

My current stable of cars; 1984 Toyota Van, 2001 Avalon, and 2005 Prius.

I have owned:
3 Volkswagens (Beetles) - 1954, 1958, 1967
2 Mercedes Benz - 1960, 1961
1 Honda - 1975 :lol:
4 BMW's - 1971, 1972, 1976, 1983
1 Audi - 1998
6 Toyota's - 1974, 1978, 1989

All the European cars were relatively expensive to own and maintain, expecially the Audi and BMW's

The Toyotas have been the most reliable and least expensive to own and operate.

I usually like to keep cars for at least 10 years. Hence I look forward to keeping my newest Toyota (the Prius) until 2015 or longer.