For the past seven years, I've been driving a stereotypical suburban mother's car: a minivan. We bought it when I was pregnant with our first child, having decided that my ten-year-old Dodge Daytona — my very first car — with its two long, heavy doors, impossible-to-use "passive restraint" seat belts, and low frame that had you practically sitting on the pavement, would be to our disadvantage once my belly popped, not to mention once the baby arrived.
A few years ago, after being trapped in the soul-sucking minivan for a few years, I decided that my next car would be a convertible. I knew I'd be over 40 years old when I got it, but that was part of my rationale: drive the minivan for as many years as possible so that when it's time for the next car, the kids will be older and we won't need quite so much soccer mom space in the back.
My husband basically shoved reality back in my face. "They don't make convertible minvans," he said, pointing out that my next car will still need to be a minivan. I tried to fight back with, "I know," meaning that I wasn't planning to get a minivan. But my husband and I both knew better: I'm probably stuck in a minivan for at least on more go-round at the car dealer.
Aside from wanting to drive something just slightly more cool, I also want to drive something slightly more "green." So we have since concluded that I'll be driving my current minivan at least until some hybrid minivans come on the market. If I'm going to be stuck in another mom-mobile for ten more years, I've told myself, at least I'll be driving a car that will help decrease emissions and our country's dependence upon foreign oil. I've been living with that happy assumption for about two years now.
Today, I learned that my assumption is wrong. According to a story in the New York Times, larger hybrid cars aren't significantly more fuel efficient than their non-hybrid counterparts. Instead, they're significantly more powerful. The hybrid engine is being used in larger and higher end cars to provide more power when accelerating, to "get more work out of a gallon of gasoline," rather than to cut back on the number of gallons used.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - JR
Why won't car makers actually produce cars that are both fuel efficient and a larger size?
Um... physics?
2 - Lisa McKay
Ten more years, huh? Guess again. With a kid in college, we need the minivan more than ever. I'm on my second Dodge Caravan, and I hate to say this, (because my fantasy car is a BMW M3) but I have grown fond of the damn thing. It's comfortable. My husband took out the factory installed radio and replaced it with a CD player. We use it for everything and take it everywhere. I am disappointed to hear that the hybrids aren't any more fuel efficient, though - I was seriously considering one as my next car purchase.
3 - bhw
JR, the article implied that better fuel efficiency is possible, but that car makers are choosing to add power instead of eeeking out whatever improved fuel economy they can.
I don't expect minivans to be as efficient as smaller cars, but they can be more efficient than they are.
4 - td
They'd probably make one if you asked.
But everytime you fill up your car with gas, you have to promise to also fill up a bucket and then dump the bucket down the drain.
But hey, at least emissions would go down.
As far as I can see, car makers are in a real tight spot. Making cost comparative, fuel efficient hybrids will satisfy the market and sell more cars. But if the market is flooded with hybrids too quickly then oil consupmtion will drop. If oil consumption drops the oil companies will increase the price to offset their losses. If you increase the price of Oil, the cost of manufacturing increases because nobody has developed hybrid production machines. Which in turn increases the cost of making cars.
Throw in all the political issues, and the broader economic issues, and it's a complete friggin mess. Which is probably why car companies are only willing to sell efficient hybrids to specific market niches.
5 - Phillip Winn
The big problem as I see it is that every fuel-efficient car made is criticized for being underpowered, and the car-makers are trying to avoid the label.
6 - Dave Nalle
Have you looked at the Ford Escape? It's seriously underpowered, so I assume that the result is greater fuel efficiency from its hybrid engine.
Dave
7 - bhw
I think the Escape is an SUV, though. In spite of my protestations, I actually do want a minivan. It's a completely different car from an SUV.
8 - Dave Nalle
The Escape isn't very 'sporty', though. It's a lot like a minivan. Unless you need seating for more than 3 kids it should be just about as effective for the job.
Dave
9 - Bennett
"Have you looked at the Ford Escape? It's seriously underpowered."
Heh, what a great name though... Named after a middle class vacation no doubt, less bang, more bucks.
I with bwh, who cares how fast it accelerates?
Wait a minute, last year I was shopping for a car with my gentle leader and was impressed by the Passat vs the Jetta. Why you ask? The extra space? The leather seats?
No and no. The Passat freakin' zoomed!. The Jetta zooms, but holly molly, the 6 cyl. Passat was wicked.
But seriously, we live in the country so "on ramp acceleration" is not an issue for us. She got the Jetta, because she wanted a Jetta...
10 - TBJ
You have only 1 kid and need a minivan? WTF. I just think it is not necessarry to have such a big car with the excuse of having only one kid.
What a waste of gasoline.
11 - Dave Nalle
It's not the 1 kid, TBJ, it's all the crap you have to carry around from time to time when you have a kid. Plus you've got to have 4 doors, because it's torturous to try to put a kid in a car seat in 2 door.
Dave
12 - Jayson
Hey, I own a Honda Civic Hybrid and we get per the fuel savings gauge (average 32 MPG) not the 48-50MPG advertised. I also own a 99' Isuzu Rodeo, which I use for hauling stuff. I am very dissapointed with the fuel economy with the hybrid, but would buy another one in a flash! No one ever talks about the other issue... (emissions) these are supposed to be very GREEN cars with the asthma rates soaring... We in the Phoenix,AZ area need pollution relief. GREEN has got to be in style FOR OUR HEALTH AND FUTURE GENERATIONS THAT ARE SUFFERING FOR OUR GREED FOR SPEED. Hey if you get there 2 minutes later WTF...AMEN... Jayson
13 - Lars Bogart
Sorry, but we will not in the foreseeable future have a 4500 pound minivan or SUV which achieves 40-45 MPG in the USA. There is a small minivan in Japan which does 44 MPG, but it is not "safety qualified" for the USA.
Larger hybrids are STILL MORE FUEL EFFICIENT than the comparable NON-Hybrid version of the same vehicle. So that IS an improvement and it IS PROGRESS.
Such progress should not be poo-pooed or discounted, but instead applauded. (clapping sounds)
14 - andy marsh
Jayson - did you buy your hybrid car in AZ while the monsterous tax breaks were still in effect?
15 - JR
Dave Nalle: It's not the 1 kid, TBJ, it's all the crap you have to carry around from time to time when you have a kid. Plus you've got to have 4 doors, because it's torturous to try to put a kid in a car seat in 2 door.
Torturous?
Man, parents these days are pussies. And their kids are spoiled rotten.
16 - andy marsh
You shoulda seen me driving across country...from san diego to syracuse in a beretta with 2 kids!
17 - Lisa McKay
Actually, Dave's right, it's no fun to put a wriggling toddler into a back seat in a 2-door car. As a minivan owner with one kid, there were plenty of times when the car was full of kids - you do have to take a turn at car pool whether you have a minivan or not - and now that he's grown, we still use the van for all sorts of things - carting home building materials and gardening supplies from Home Depot, moving his stuff back and forth to school, etc.
18 - andy marsh
You could always put the kids in the trunk..I heard that works...as long as the cops don't see you!
19 - JR
andy marsh: You shoulda seen me driving across country...from san diego to syracuse in a beretta with 2 kids!
Now THAT's the kind of road trip I grew up with. Having your limbs lock up from being wedged in one position for hours at a time, what could be more fun than that?
20 - andy marsh
here's the best part...my youngest...almost 15 now...was what we affectionately called a rocker...and it wasn't because of her music choices...although...daddy did teach her right...she would sit in the back and bounce off the back seat...one day...I stopped the car...couldn't figure out what was wrong with my car!!!
It was my daughter...rocking so hard it was making the car jump!
21 - andy marsh
that's almost 16! she'd kill me for that!
22 - JR
My dad occasionally took me around on the back of a motorcycle (no shortage of cars, it's just that the majority of them usually didn't run). When he'd lean into the corners, I'd see the road coming at me and lean away. So he'd have to lean even more into the corners. I eventually got a little lecture on how I wasn't helping the situation.
23 - DL
This article is unbelievable. If all you want is economy, buy a small engined car and forget about hybrids!
ALL hybrids are about performance, even the Prius and Insight. If you can live with the lousy performance of a gasoline-only Prius, take out the 500 pounds of hybrid stuff and putter around in your 75 horsepower car. The original Prius took 14 seconds to get to 60 MPH and people thought THAT was slow. Try it without electric assist...
What a dope.
24 - bhw
If all you want is economy, buy a small engined car and forget about hybrids!
But I said I want more than economy -- I want a minivan's size, too.
ALL hybrids are about performance, even the Prius and Insight.
Not really. Those cars are about fuel economy. If they weren't, they wouldn't be hybrids and they'd get 40-ish miles per gallon instead of 70-ish.
Here's what the NY Times article says about hybrids:
Many people concerned with oil consumption, including President Bush and members of Congress, are pointing to hybrids - vehicles with electric motors as well as internal combustion engines - as a way to reduce fuel use and dependence on imported oil. The first ones to reach the market did that; the two-seat Honda Insight, introduced in December 1999, was rated at 70 miles per gallon, and it was followed by the five-seat Toyota Prius, also built for reduced fuel consumption. Those cars have no nonhybrid equivalents. Then came the Civic hybrid, designed to perform almost as well as the original, only using a lot less gasoline.
Not such a dope after all, eh?
25 - Victor Plenty
Current hybrids balance efficiency with power, that's certainly true. If they were designed to maximize fuel efficiency they might be able to get over 100 miles per gallon, but they wouldn't be much fun to drive.
The industry wouldn't have to worry much about demand for fuel dropping off too fast. Many people would still choose gas-guzzling SUVs even if a truly high efficiency vehicle came on the market.