Green Cars

Do they have to make hybrid cars so dumb looking?

I recently attended a rally against global warming.

Now, it should be noted that global warming was not on hand to address the accusations against it, which were many. And I should mention that I was there because the Topeka Capital-Journal was paying me to write about it.

Moving on, the rally included some hybrid vehicles on display. You could look at them. You could sit inside. You could read the sticker price. You could not, however, drive one of the hybrids. See, the actual mechanical abilities of a car are more or less moot, as long as it has a sunroof and puts out low levels of CO2.

Nonetheless, I scoped 'em out. There was a Honda Element, a Mercury Mariner and a Toyota Prius. The Prius advertized 55 miles per gallon city/highway, which is borderline orgasmic. Except that the price of this particular model was north of $25,000. You can buy a Corola for about $14,000 and get 40 miles per gallon, meaning if you drive 12,000 miles per year, you'd have to drive your Prius for 55 years before it paid for the difference in cost.

Of course, if you happen to be well off and environmentally conscious, and all you want to do is reduce your own emissions, by all means, buy a Prius.

I suspect someday in the not-so-distant future, the market will adjust to the point that buying a conventional, internal combustion-only vehicle just won't make sense at all. But we ain't there yet. Not even close.