So I’m in my PT Cruiser and I’m putt-putting around town, and my brain is filled with even more cognitive dissonance than usual. One the one hand, I can practically feel the gas guzzling away, pouring hard-earned dollars onto the street and into the air. I could have chosen to buy a hybrid. I could have chosen to buy a not-so-inefficient rust-bucket American special. I could have chosen to radically alter my life so as not to require a car at all.
Eventually the unmade choices fade away, and I’m left with nothing but the other hand. And on the other hand, I’m driving a fucking PT Cruiser, baby.
Please God, protect me from what I want.
Maybe you can assuage your cognitive dissonance with the knowledge that you’re not alone. This New Yorker article examines why people want the government to require higher fuel-efficiency standards even as they fail to buy fuel-efficient cars.
By the way, is it just me, or does the auto industry seem to have some kind of mental disconnect that makes “efficient” equate to “cheap”? There are a lot of people who want a particular body style or a particular set of high-end features and also good fuel efficiency. The Prius comes close—it’s got a ton of high tech bells and whistles—but the body leaves a lot to be desired.
Comment by Drew Thaler — Tuesday, August 21, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
Yep, this must be it. It was definitely warmer than usual up here in Stockholm, Sweden today:-) I am counting on you becoming a vegetarian to compensate. After all, Vegetarian is the new Prius.
Soon, someone will do the math and we’ll see that a vegetarian driving a freakin Hummer emits less than than meat eating Prius owner.
Comment by Peter Krantz — Tuesday, August 21, 2007 @ 4:43 pm
I had possession of my friend’s Subaru STI for three months. I’m normally a hater of fuel-inefficient vehicles (the STI advertises 19mpg, assuming it’s being driven by a senior citizen or someone who can’t quite reach the gas pedal), but I can’t deny how much fun that car was (300hp, AWD). Ultimately I convince myself that having it for three months “got it out of my system” (I made sure to um, “test” it at every possible convenience) and I’m planning on buying a VW TDI so I can run biodiesel, but I can’t deny that driving a car of that caliper gave me a bit of sympathy for people’s car-buying decisions.
The practical side of me knows there’s absolutely no reason for a car like that to exist outside a race track, but the testosterone in me keeps saying that there’s no feeling like kicking rocks onto the windshield of the yuppie’s Porsche you’re leaving behind at 150mph. Oh the humanity.
Comment by Cliff Wells — Tuesday, August 21, 2007 @ 5:05 pm
I think blindly following vegetarianism is no better for the environment (or your health) than any other blanket solution. For example, soy farmers in South America (where a large portion of our soy comes from) are blamed for heavy deforestation.
If you must have a one-size-fits-all solution, I’d suggest buying from local growers (whether it’s meat or vegetables). International trade seems to be at the root of most environmental (and health) issues we hear about. I no longer have the reference (wikipedia seems to have “lost” it), but some studies claim that locally grown beef is more environmentally friendly than imported soy and vegetables.
Comment by Cliff Wells — Tuesday, August 21, 2007 @ 6:07 pm
How do you feel about the affordances in the PT Cruiser? Because I thought there were several that sucked. The worst one I figured out trying to negotiate a freeway exit turn, fumble for toll money, and wonder why the hell I can’t find the freakin’ window control on the door - oh, that’s right, it’s because it’s on the CENTER CONSOLE. Why did they do that? Still, glad you’re enjoying your new car. Few things are nicer than a new set of wheels.
Comment by John Cooper — Tuesday, August 21, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
Most hybrids are actually quite large heavy cars, so, particularly on large journeys, they often use more fuel than, say, a small three-door diesel. The only exception is driving through city centres with frequent stops (lights, traffic jams). The Prius is not the world-saver it makes itself out to be.
And fully electric cars are a complete write-off: the energy lost converting electricity to chemical form (charging the battery) and then back to electricity (using the battery) is large enough that you can actually make more efficient use of gas by pumping it directly into your car. The problem is that, especially in America - where gas is sold by the gallon instead of the litre like everywhere else ($0.95/litre in Ireland) - cars offer incredibly poor mileage.
Incidentally the same is true of buying local produce: the supermarket stuff is done in such bulk quantities that economies of scale come into effect, and the total carbon load is actually slightly better than lots of farmers individually transporting small amounts of material to market. The Economist had a good article on this http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8380592.
Comment by Bryan — Tuesday, August 21, 2007 @ 6:33 pm
Never lost your sense of entitlement, I see.
Comment by Anonymous — Tuesday, August 21, 2007 @ 7:27 pm
Continuing the trend of hijacking Mark’s article…
@Bryan
Economy of scale might indeed tip the scales if your only metric is raw fuel consumption. However there are other concerns. For instance, let’s say you have a local farmer growing PT Cruisers (to bring it back on-topic a bit). Chances are he’s not cutting down rain forest to do it, whereas PT Cruisers imported from Brazil might very well be grown on illegally slash-and-burned land or made from recycled stem-cells.
Also, while the Prius may not excel on long road trips, it does excel at stop-and-go traffic where emissions tend to be the worst (and I believe city-dwellers to be its target demographic). It’s slightly worse on long trips, but massively superior on short ones. Speaking for myself, I probably only spend 5% of my total mileage on long trips. The advantages become pretty plain at that point. I’d say the biggest concern with hybrids is battery production and disposal. Also you have to remember that the biggest thing the Prius is done is open up people’s minds to alternative fuels. Even if it were an abject failure in overall environmental cost, it’s been wildly successful on that front.
Personally I’m tending toward biodiesel, not so much for environmental reasons but economic ones. A $3000 garage setup can pump out 40 gallons of biodiesel a day at a cost of well under $1 per gallon. Any reduced emissions (and lack of war tax) is just frosting.
Comment by Cliff Wells — Tuesday, August 21, 2007 @ 11:16 pm
Strange—that’s pretty much exactly the opposite of what I’ve heard. Where did you get that information? I’ll admit up front that my sources—particularly the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? and the Tesla Motors web site—aren’t perfectly impartial themselves.
Comment by Tom Most — Wednesday, August 22, 2007 @ 1:34 am
Whatever with all this hybrid eco-friendliness. There’s plenty of time in the day for that! But when it comes down to it, a man really has nothing in his life that will be as loyal, loving and comforting as the car that he wants to drive more than any other.
Until of course, she gets sick and makes you get her fixed and you quickly shell out $4,000. But will it be worth it?
….
Of course it is.
Happy Driving, Mark.
Comment by tyler — Wednesday, August 22, 2007 @ 11:36 am
@cliff:
Yes. And a large portion of that soy is used to feed cattle. Human consumption of soy is tiny compared to what is used in cattle breeding. Increasing the problem is government subsidies for soy to make sure cattle production runs smoothly.
Anyway, apparently you can hand in your PT Cruiser and have it converted to a hybrid. All isn’t lost yet.
Comment by Peter Krantz — Wednesday, August 22, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
I’m disappointed.
Comment by Jeff — Thursday, August 23, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
Looking at the specs for the PT cruiser, it has a 25 MPG average combined fuel economy. As far as American cars go, its not too bad.
Comment by matt — Thursday, August 23, 2007 @ 11:56 pm