Planet Green Is Smug

[Sklar]

That said, let's not downplay what the hardcore hybrids can do. Driving like that in a Honda Insight will get you 100MPG right now. Can't really scoff at that!

I'm very interested in the Hybrids, Guy-jin. Please don't get me wrong. There are some out there that do get freaky gas milage. My office manager told me that his sisters partner have one and they drove from Seattle, Washington to someplace in Montanna and back and only used 4 gallons.

I've looked at the Saturn version of the hybrid and found it EXTREMELY disappointing. It gets something like 21 miles to the gallon. That's a huge step back so I'm not interested in Saturns version of the hybrid.

To be honest, I haven't looked into getting a hybrid because my car is all paid off and I have no desire to get another montly payment right now. My car has 188,010 miles on it. I'd like to see how far I can keep going in this car.

I also haven't checked into what the American auto companies have done with their versions of the hybrid, either. When the time comes that I do need to upgrade my car, I'd like to see what my own country can produce first.

One thing I have been doing, however, is instead of letting my car get all the down on empty, when it's at half a tank is when I fill it up. I did a couple of experiments and found that if I let the tank get down to only 1/3 full or less, that my gas milage actually decreased. When I started filling it up at 1/2 tank or greater, my gas mileage increased. Don't know why that is so.

At least mentally, when I pay for a half tank of gas, I feel better about myself. :tongue:

 

[EagleCowboy]

I think it's laughable that these new hybrids get lousy mileage than their gas counterparts. Even some of the older cars get better mileage. I was under the impression that hybrids were supposed to get BETTER mileage. I guess they're just so people can feel "green" and "ecologically responsible".

My 1995 Mercury Sable is a supercharged 6 cyl. pushing over 300hp and gets 35 mpg.

 

[SteveHd]

Getting back to "Planet Green" [which I haven't watched and don't plan to watch], I have an idea for a new program: How to save fuel in one's private jet! They could get John Travolta to host it and he could comment on what he does to save fuel in his 707 and it's guzzling JT3/JT4 engines. :biggrin:

 

[D_Thoraxis_Biggulp]

Oh and I blame HGTV for convincing my best friends that it is a great idea to buy in St. Petersburg, FL when the Tampa Bay housing market is still being flushed down a toilet. They, like me, are gay and white. We used to joke that HGTV stands for "Holy Gay TV." I don't laugh anymore. It's blatantly about rich white people who can afford to own their own houses and renovate constantly. Definitely not good for the environment.

Yeh, have you ever looked at the houses at the start of the "Flip This House" shows or whatever that one is called where they pick some suburbanite's trashed house to renovate as a charitable favor? The houses are huge to begin with, they just let 'em go to crap. They've got entire crews of workers in each room and out on the lawn, and it never feels crowded.
Instead of going to the widowed mother with a big enough life insurance inheritance to pay off a 3 story house, why not go to the single mother who's ex skipped out on child support and left her raising those kids and paying off a one-story cottage on her own? She needs it more. But I guess it's not as interesting as taking a large house in semi-livable condition and making it look like a real estate catalog page.

 

[D_Thoraxis_Biggulp]

Getting back to "Planet Green" [which I haven't watched and don't plan to watch], I have an idea for a new program: How to save fuel in one's private jet! They could get John Travolta to host it and he could comment on what he does to save fuel in his 707 and it's guzzling JT3/JT4 engines. :biggrin:

Two words:

Tail winds.

 

[Guy-jin]

I think it's laughable that these new hybrids get lousy mileage than their gas counterparts. Even some of the older cars get better mileage. I was under the impression that hybrids were supposed to get BETTER mileage. I guess they're just so people can feel "green" and "ecologically responsible".

My 1995 Mercury Sable is a supercharged 6 cyl. pushing over 300hp and gets 35 mpg.

Gas Mileage of 1995 Mercury Sable

My bullshit meter is going off this time, man. Come on. You want to tell me, honestly, you're getting 9MPG over the highway rating on average in your 13 year old car?

Hybrids get better mileage than their gas counterparts. There's no argument there. Hybrid SUVs, as goofy as they are, get better mileage than their counterpart SUVs get. If I had some reason to buy a SUV right now, I'd probably look at the hybrids. Of course, I have no reason to get a SUV (just like most people who own SUVs), so I wouldn't.

It's one thing to bash celebs who fly in on private jets and act smug about driving a Prius, but it's another entirely to start saying hybrids get worse MPG than their full gas-engine counterparts.

That said, I'm waiting to hear from a smug celeb driving an old Geo Metro. Now that's something to be stuck up about!

 

[D_Thoraxis_Biggulp]

Mindless Self Indulgence's tour bus is actually a station wagon. How's that?