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.…
Article comments
26 - Tim Ames
I recently rented a Peugeot 206 with 2 litre diesel in France. It was 4 door and got 6.5l/100km [approx 50USmpg] when cruising at 120-150kph [74-93mph]and 6l/100kph in the towns.It did not accellerate very quickly but at about the rate of a minvan, at least. Europe has tons of 2 litre diesel engined station wagons and minivans [some with turbos and quite fast], as well as many with engines as small as 1.2 litres. These have less fuel consumption, cruise at speeds that most North Americans don't even reach, and are comfortable for people with kids.
So why can't we buy them here [besides the fact we are stupid]? BTW: most cars in Europe are manual shift which gives more control and better fuel consumption.
27 - mb
The purpose of a hybrid is to improve performance, its basically taking a small engined car and making it able to keep up with your typical larger engined car. The reason for this is improved acceleration (due to electric motors which produce alot of torque).
If hybrids were not used for performance they wouldn't make any sense, you could just buy a 70's volkswagen that gets 60-70 mpg , but you would have to wait 17sec to go from 0-60
In short if ALL you need is fual economy, then you need a smaller engine. But since a very small engine in a minivan would make it almost unsafe (gettin up to speed) then a hybrid could make a VERY good alternative, better acceleration and a smaller engine to help with gas. Unfortunalty the market does not SEEM to be there, though i have a suspicion that "if you build it, they would buy it"
28 - David
YOU ARE WRONG> THE NY TIMES IS MISLEADING YOU... READ HYBRIDCARS.COM ANSWER TO THIS ARTICLE
29 - DarthOil
The Toyota Highlander Hybrid will get better mpg than any minivan on the market. However, I do agree that the hybrid technology should be used to focus on conserving fuel not improving horsepower. Side note:The Accord hybrid does not use a full hybrid technology like the Toyota hybrids do.
http://www.hybridcars.com/newsletter/hybrid-cars-news-0008.html#full
30 - Robert Barr
I own a Highlander hybrid. My MPG ranges from an average of 32.5 MPG over a week to 25.5 compared to less than 20 MPG in the non hybrid model. It all depends on how you drive. if you choose a more agressive driving style you will sacrifice MPG's but the point is that you still have an option to save fuel ot to dominate in the fast lane. I see these models as needed to convince the general public that hybrids are a good thing and that going green doesn't mean you have to drive the slowest car on the road (a dangerous position in which to be). Give the auto makers a break. The more they can move the public towards green technologies the faster we will get where we need to be; besides, driving an SUV with 270 HP when you need it or one that can get up to 35 MPG is just cool!!!
31 - Temple Stark
>>Give the auto makers a break.
Hell no. Whatever else - they don't deserve one. they could have EASILY done this 20 years ago.
32 - gonzo marx
what Temple said...
the automakers in the US have long ruled on greed and short sighted devotion to this quarters bottom line
this is directly proportional to how badly they have been spanked over the last 30 years by outside competition
now you have companies, like the US Toyota plants, that are building their cars here, because they love the American workers productivity...and they produce efficient and innovative products
nuff said?
Excelsior!
33 - Dave Nalle
Let the dinosaurs find a nice tar pit and lie down if they can't evolve into birds.
Dave
34 - gonzo marx
sorry i can't agree, Mr Nalle....
i WANT those jobs for americans
this means it is up to the marketplace forces, by means of the shareholders, to toss out the pinbrained greedheads from management...and find those that will implement the needed changes in corporate culture and structure
there, that satisfies both market forces and good corporate citizenship
will they do it?
i ain't betting on it...the future of cars in the world will probably NOT be dependent on the "big three " from Detroit...more's the pity
start brushing up on your Japanese if you want ot be in on the innovation for the next generations
your mileage may vary
Excelsior!
35 - Tyler
What is it with you people wanting big gas guzzling minivans, trucks and cars? My parents drive a Honda CRV that gets usually over 34 MPG (Imperial units). Not to mention that we live in the middle of farm/ranch country 700 km away from the nearest city. Fitting two adults and three kids is never a problem on the six hour trips to the city. A Honda Civic or Toyota Prius should do quite well in the city for almost any family.
36 - Phil
Hey, They have been making more fuel efficient minivans for years. They just refuse to sell you one in the U.S. Take a flight (or cruise) to Bermuda and hire a taxis to any hotel. Before you leave the taxi, that was likely a minivan, ask the driver what they average mpg in the city. Keep in mind their driving is all city. Thats right over 40 mpg city in a vehicle that holds 6-7 people and all your gear. Almost every vehicle there is powered by an ultra efficient turbo charged diesel. You are better off, and probobly more likely to succeed, trying to save on heating fuel. Consider an outdoor wood boiler or indoor unit. I have saved around 150 gallons of fuel per month doing it and saved money too.
37 - Dave Nalle
>>sorry i can't agree, Mr Nalle....
i WANT those jobs for americans<<
All of the Japanese auto manufacturers have been happy to open assembly plants here in the US and hire American workers. I'm all for encouraging them to do more of it.
Dave
38 - Heloise
Hybrids burn MONEY not gas
I just did the math and once again Rush is right. It will cost you 1K a year MORE to drive a hybrid especially the larger ones, or even the honda ones than an SUV (compact) or a regular car.
Here's the rub: less mass means LESS gas. That's just physical. Honda Insight is the best on gas, but it's also a postage stamp. Who wants to drive a postage stamp?
Here's the best advice: drive what the hell you want, be conservative about it, walk and bike more or if you live in a major city don't own a car you will need all your money to pay for and to live in an all-white area!
Heloise
39 - djc365
I think the way everything works and most of all of your arguements are stupid, if company's wanted to change any thing they could, quickly. but first off like one person here said, the oil companies would raise thier prices. there is no higher demand now for oil then tyhere was back in the 80's, mosts newer CARs' get at LEAST 30 mpg hwy as opposed to maybe 18mpg with a v8 or 22mpg with a v6 back in an 80's compact car. yes there are more dirvers but that isnt the point of feul consumption. the reason why hybrid cars are more effecient then regular one is because they use the electic motors with 2 gears, which gets you to what? 15-20 mph, true the batteries dont last too long on these cars but last time i checked, i can go 40mph on a city road that transitions from one block to another. so if these cars had about 2 more gears the engien could be on idle for that amount of period charging the batteries it wouldnt make much of a different but it would be a valid solution. also 4 clinder cars are dominating the economic cars, my sister resently bought a 5 speed manual scion tc with a 4 cly 160hp engine it gets about 33mpg on the highway, but it only has 5 gears.. i travel on the highway foing 65-70 hell even 80 mph safely but by then my motor is running at 4000rpm as aposed to the needed 800 to maintain speed.(or less if your engine doesnt stall which it probably wont all the way down to about 500-400 rpm) now, if i was at a lower rpm (lets say 800) going 80mph i would probably be in about 7 gears just to be safe (this is only 3 more gears then a conventional manual car) and even this would make it short gears for a car. i would proably get over 100mpg hell maybe even 130mpg because of the speed to rpm ratio, the reason for this is that it only requires 8 hp.. thats right EIGHT to maintain your speed on a highway, why dont the car makers do this..maybe they havent figured it out? it WOULD be cheaper to MAKE this way instead of a hybrid though it would be more expensive just because companies can do that. and the transmission would probably have to be bigger but thats besides the point. a 94' 4 speed geo metro can get 75mpg hwy going 45 miles per hour with a 3cyl engine.. though this is INCREDIBLY slow for a highway and it takes a while to get to that speed on this car. there is no need to hybrid cars in america the morstly save money in crowded citys in which some new hybrid suvs get better city mileage then they do hwy mileage, as it is most americans take they highway which usually has constantly flowing traffic. my final sentance is, in city conditions hybrids are good because they start momentomn making the engine only work at lower rpms at speeds under 40mph, while cars on the highway already in motion just need a little more gearing to keep thier speed maintained at speeds higher then 45-50 mph which 50 is lower the the speedlimits on any highway, americans need higher gears where they will notice the mileage the most, not low geared motors that build momentomn for the cars that never need it for more then a few minutes of the day.
40 - jb
sometime in the 90's or early 00's, car makers started marketing based on power & speed. i had an '88 toyota celica GT with around a 120HP engine and a 5spd manual transmission. it got 30+MPG city and nearly 40MPG on the highway. Celica's today have bigger engines and get mileage in the 20's. consumers forgot about the earlier gas crisis (remember the Iran hostage crisis?) and shifted their focus to 0-60 acceleration. play back car comercials from the past few years... "more power than the competition" "higher safety rating" are the taglines. Why? because that's what their market research determined that consumers responded to. Over the past 12mos, you see more & more "highest fuel efficiency in its class" claims, again because their market research shows that's what we respond to. You want the car companies to build more efficient cars? Then buy the most fuel efficient models there are now. As the gas guzzlers lose market share, they'll build more efficient vehicles to regain share.
Hybrids & fuel efficient vehicles will drive UP gas prices??? That's the most bassackwards argument I've heard in a long time. Provided there's some price elasticity in demand, prices fall as demand falls, prices rise as demand rises. Check out some economics 101. If fuel efficiency helps slow the pace of demand growth, gas prices will still rise as the cost of gathering oil will steadily increase (check for headlines about "new oil extraction technologies" in which oil companies now pay more to get oil out of sources that were cost prohibitive when oil prices were lower). Smart oil companies will realize that they are "Energy Companies" not "Oil Companies" and shift investment dollars to position themselves to win in the new energy market that will emerge.