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Go Green -- Buy a Used Car. It's Better Than a Hybrid

May 19, 2008 - 9:02pm — Bibliofuture

Article in Wired.com:

Ditching your gas guzzler is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint, but if you really want to do something about global warming, get a used car. You'll be putting less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

As Matt Power notes in this month's issue of Wired, hybrids get great gas mileage but it takes 113 million BTUs of energy to make a Toyota Prius. Because there are about 113,000 BTUs of energy in a gallon of gasoline, the Prius has consumed the equivalent of 1,000 gallons of gasoline before it reaches the showroom. Think of it as a carbon debt -- one you won't pay off until the Prius has turned over 46,000 miles or so.

There's an easy way to avoid that debt -- buy a used car. The debt has already been paid. But not just any used car will do.

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/05/the-ultimate-pr.html

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May 21, 2008 - 11:18am — nbruce

Even if you're not green

it's always better to buy used. Recently my son's BMW (200,000 miles) blew up, and would be quite expensive to fix. He bought a Honda (or Toyota) 15 year old 4 dr sedan for $700 and put $300 into it. It gets even better mileage than his BMW, and he lives about a 30 min. drive from his job (free way, but it adds up).

Green is just a new way to market, and the lower income or poor people are hurt most.

The cheapest car to drive is always the one you already own (unless it won't run).

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