Letters to the Editor
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Explorer not a valid comparison
There are exactly three real hybrids on the market right now, the Honda Civic, Toyota Prius, and the Ford Escape. There are an absurd number of mid-size SUV's out there, many of which are a lot better than the Explorer. It would probably make more sense to compare how many Escape Hybrids Ford is selling vs. Explorer.
Of course, todays NYtimes front page tells us that subcompacts now account for 1 in 5 new car sales, and that the Honda Fit, Ford Focus, and Toyata Yaris are all up around 50% in sales. That is encouraging.
What ain't encouraging is that my own subcompact Mazda3 has yet to break 21mpg in my daily city-driving commute, so not all subcompacts are created equal. Plus, assuming any other car would get the same 90% of the 2008 EPA city mpg estimate as I'm getting, the best I could possibly do, a Toyota Yaris, would probably only get about 25 mpg.
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Conservation is for losers
Okay so why does America pay less for gas? One reason might be we have the best economy (or did anyway). Gasoline taxes are probably lower here than in other countries. And of course exchanging crude oil for American dollars used to be a wise choice. Are the world energy markets uniformly priced, and fairly conducted? There is consternation at present, that oil is sold off market, and the major exporters want to reprice in Euros, or Yen, but maybe the market never was fair or fairly priced. We were always the big kid who pushed to the front of the line, and we could bring military power to bear, (and we still do).
American politicians learned that conservation measures means you have failed to play the game well. Raising the speed limits and building bigger, fatter cars means you get the best prices, and all the oil you want, right? Conservation is for losers. Cheap little tin-can imports are a symbol of economic stagnation, or worse. I bought a new Honda Civic in 1975, 35 mpg, front wheel drive. Those were the dark years of course, lines at the gas pumps.
I mean the message is clear, and who uses the most doesn't pay the most. At least that's the way it's always been.
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@froggy
You might borrow a (dog-friendly) friend's Prius for a couple days and see if it works for you. We have three kids, all still in boosters. Though there's no dog involved, we make it work. It works, though, through a sometimes creative combo of not driving that much and accepting certain limitations. Yeah, there's the rub - we just don't do all those lessons and stuff, and if/when we start, we will try to make it work with bikes and the bus. We also can't bring hoards of kids home from school and/or drag a soccer team all over the county. We try to accommodate our principles by changing our lifestyle rather than the other way around. But, unless we take a trip somewhere, we fill our tank about once a month (and I'm still getting used to that costing $35+.)
The fold-down seats are awesome when you have furniture or lumber to haul. It's not a pickup truck, but for hauling things it's nearly as good as a Subaru wagon.
We went from no car to a Prius, though. I am not a fan of buying a new car if your old car serves all your needs with decent mileage and emissions levels. A Prius still eats gas and makes fumes; it's not perfect.
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Yes taxes here are lower
But conversely we're also several orders of magnitude larger than any European country or Japan. People really DO drive much more.
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@aveutter:
May I respectfully suggest that Americans do pay a lot for gas - we just don't pay for it at the pump. We pay for it through the tax code.
It is my understanding that several studies have pegged the true price we are paying at around $15 per gallon. DOD and the bloated military budgets are the fig leaves that hide the true costs of gasoline.