bigw00dy, did you ever get the Prius?

More importantly did you pay sticker price or a premium on top of that. News has it that dealers are charging a premium for green cars to make up for losses.

No, not yet. I shoulda jumped when I originally made the post. They are next-to-impossible to come about now.

I still can't justify it anyway. I have no payments on my current vehicle.

And my current vehicle (99 toyo pickup w/ 300k miles) will bring absolutely no money on a trade in.

But the gas prices are making me feel trapped in a corner, sprinkled with a little confusion....

bigw00dy,
these guys will totally hook you up.
http://patentpending.blogs.com/paten...ogy/index.html

I think they refill that confusion shaker every time someone like me comes along...they say "Say when" and I just get out a good novel...wait...what were we talking about?

Did I ask this already? IF so, apologies.

I've been reading about and hearing about hybrid cars. All these great promises that the car will get like, 35 MPG. Huh? My 1990 CRX got THAT, and it was the sports model. There was an HF version that got around 50.

So, WHY do you now have to get a hybrid to get the mileage you used to be able to get with a smaller car?

I smell something akin to planned obsolescence re: gas refills.

Cars are much bigger now.

You look at a car like the Honda Accord and follow its size over the years, and you would be amazed at how big they have grow.

Hatchbacks are making a comeback, but there aren't nearly as many as there used to be in the 80s.

My mom had a Ford Festiva back in the mid 80s and early 90s.

38 city, 40 hwy.

That car was awesome. I got to borrow it for a year. I'm 6'2" and I had tons of headroom in this car. I once bought a full sized recliner chair at Goodwill and brought it home in the back of the Festiva. I folded the back seat down, and had to move the driver's seat forward a little, but it fit completely inside with the back hatch closed. A freaking Lazy Boy!

The back seats were a little small, but they were fine. I rode on a couple long trips back there. It was an awesome around town car. Could park it anywhere.

I would love to have a modern version of this car with air bags. Smart Car is probably the closest thing, but is too small. Only carries 2 passengers.

I agree with what glatt posted. Cars also have a lot more safety features, like air bags, ABS, side impact protection, CHMSLs, etc., which add weight. And cars have a lot more power than they did 20 years ago.

My car weighs 1860 pounds and has a 1-liter engine. I think these things are more important than the fact that it's a hybrid in determining fuel economy.

So, besides safety features and in spite of our penchant for bigger is better, they could still make cars that get decent gas mileage?

As far as power, that little Honda had more get up and go than many of the more expensive sports cars I've seen.

Except for some of the pinstriping I had (and possibly the pirelli tires which I replaced once before opting for a cheaper tire), this website has a car that looks like mine did. I would consider buying a brand NEW car if they started manufacturing these again.

Notice the similarities between the Honda CRX and the Insight:

http://www.designercars.dk/biler/Honda-CRX-3.jpg

http://www.automedia.com/NewCarBuyer...ight_ext_1.jpg

Cool! 70 mpg? Those are out of production too, but if I am ever in the position to look for a car I will see if I can find a used one (brand new cars depreciate the second you drive them off the lot anyway.)

I googled that and read that they went out of production because so many are not interested in the two-door/2 seater, which makes sense, and more people were going for a prius or a honda civic hybrid.

With no kids I don't even need two seats. ;)

If you live where it's flat you might get 70 mpg. I live where it's not so flat and get about 67.

It's way flat!

Like the Flatskills, man. Flat Diego. Cincinflatti. Flatcramento.

Uh, never mind. That joke fell flat.