Trading in 06 Civic Hybrid...
Owner of '06 HCH #7264
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 307
From: Burbs of Philly PA
Re: Trading in 06 Civic Hybrid...
Originally Posted by gchu
I am in Harleysville, PA (zip 19438)
my other car is a FJORD
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 446
From: small farm in minnesota
Re: Trading in 06 Civic Hybrid...
so......you're going to trade the high mileage car for a huge gas wasting truck? and ONLY drive it to work.....? what about when you are going other places? vacation? shopping? sorry, but it sounds to me like money is your object, and the rest of the benefits don't mean squat. it just seems like if your new employer is paying for your new car, it would be a good example to set to get, say, a ford escape hybrid, or even a toyota suv hybrid, instead of buying something huge that spews fumes into the air and uses so much gas. certainly one of those two vehicles could hold your kids and stuff. just because gas is low now, doesn't mean it's going to stay there. you have made a great start at being part of the solution, why go backwards?
Last edited by laurie; Sep 8, 2006 at 05:40 PM.
Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 15
Re: Trading in 06 Civic Hybrid...
I agree with Laurie, the other day I was driving home from work and I was behind a large Ford truck....I my mouth tasted as thought I was sucking on the tailpipe of that thing. With a husband that has asthma, I really wish people would consider emissions and environmrntal impact when choosing their cars!!!
Banned
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,155
From: Lewisville (Dallas), Texas
*sigh*
It's probably signed, sealed, delivered by now. I hope not.
This thread elquently states why I loath the massize tax credits intended for business vehicle that end up giving breaks for luxury SUVs - it's an incentive for people to be wasteful when the emphasis needs to be for saving. A company instead of the government is subsidizing but it's the same effect. The same thing applies to socialized medicine - if it's too easy to come by people induldge they would never pay if it was directly out of their own pocket. One thing I noticed about companies (mine included) - they compare indivdual salary and compensation packages when they determine who participates in layoffs.
I doubt many will dispute that a significant part of America's trade imbalance is importing most of our oil from nations that are either unfriendly or unstable. Not quite as many are convinced long-term global demand is outpacing supply (peak oil). Then there is Climate Change that a few still believe is still solely "an act of God"...I know - who cares? Deny all of this and feel good with self-gratification.
This is a disheartening story of going from a 50mpg to a 15-something mpg vehicle at a whim. So polar opposite of someone in Belgium that inquired about hypermiling a work vehicle who has no intention of owning a personal car at www.cleanmpg.com...I thought of how few people in America would do like him and then I read this....
I don't discount the possibility of getting flamed for this post, even though last I checked the delivery does not resemble Ann Colter, and any possible advocates of trading a hybrid for a gas-guzzler are probably professed advocates of the free market. In a strict free market economy the government and companies would not be subsidizing 15mpg-ish personal vehicles.
If my house had 3ft weeds and paint peeling all over it, I'd get fined, etc. It would be part of the neighbors and public's business. It's not as bad as the thread topic, but in the minds of many it's unacceptable while this vehicle trade-in is. Sometimes I just feel like giving up...
This thread elquently states why I loath the massize tax credits intended for business vehicle that end up giving breaks for luxury SUVs - it's an incentive for people to be wasteful when the emphasis needs to be for saving. A company instead of the government is subsidizing but it's the same effect. The same thing applies to socialized medicine - if it's too easy to come by people induldge they would never pay if it was directly out of their own pocket. One thing I noticed about companies (mine included) - they compare indivdual salary and compensation packages when they determine who participates in layoffs.
I doubt many will dispute that a significant part of America's trade imbalance is importing most of our oil from nations that are either unfriendly or unstable. Not quite as many are convinced long-term global demand is outpacing supply (peak oil). Then there is Climate Change that a few still believe is still solely "an act of God"...I know - who cares? Deny all of this and feel good with self-gratification.
This is a disheartening story of going from a 50mpg to a 15-something mpg vehicle at a whim. So polar opposite of someone in Belgium that inquired about hypermiling a work vehicle who has no intention of owning a personal car at www.cleanmpg.com...I thought of how few people in America would do like him and then I read this....
I don't discount the possibility of getting flamed for this post, even though last I checked the delivery does not resemble Ann Colter, and any possible advocates of trading a hybrid for a gas-guzzler are probably professed advocates of the free market. In a strict free market economy the government and companies would not be subsidizing 15mpg-ish personal vehicles.
If my house had 3ft weeds and paint peeling all over it, I'd get fined, etc. It would be part of the neighbors and public's business. It's not as bad as the thread topic, but in the minds of many it's unacceptable while this vehicle trade-in is. Sometimes I just feel like giving up...
Technology Junkie
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 33
From: Central PA
Re: Trading in 06 Civic Hybrid...
I have no problems with someone trading any car for another. It's their choice. However, I do think it is a financially bad decision to trade/sell a new car within the first 2 years of ownership. The depreciation is a killer. But if money is no object, then have fun with your new truck. Guys like me who don't have the luxury of excessive cash will have to drive what they can afford. In my case that would be a HCH II. Plus it gives me browning points with the wife who is on an environmental kick. Me, I just like to keep fill ups under $40.
Energy Independence
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,282
From: Richardson, TX
Re: Trading in 06 Civic Hybrid...
Don't give up, Delta 
.
Not everyone is on the same plane with regard to environmental (and other) issues.
Myself, even. If my drive were not so long and gas prices not so high - I might not have considered a hybrid. I'm happy I did, but was nearly forced (financially) into it. AND I wanted to do SOMETHING to show my desire for this country to become energy independent. We should have learned in the 70's, but we did not. Oil has kept us hostages ever since.
FYI, whatever the reason, many people (not just a few) do not believe in global warming. I, myself was a skeptic, until a recent trip. Take a trip to Alaska and look at how quickly the glaciers are melting and eroding (at a faster than linear rate, too). Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau has a good display and short film. That's all it should take to realize we are warming up in a big way - and fast. This CANNOT be healthy for us humans .
Can we stop the warming - should we, even? Thes questions are easy to ask, and then we just shrug. They are more difficult to answer and do something about. To do something about it may involve some sacrifice, and most don't want to be the ones having to sacrifice. Just think how many people you know won't even RECYCLE aluminum cans? Or paper? How hard is that?
It's a S-L-O-W process of awakening. Maybe too slow. Baby steps ARE progress, but we need to be taking giant leaps now. I feel your impatience.
.Not everyone is on the same plane with regard to environmental (and other) issues.
Myself, even. If my drive were not so long and gas prices not so high - I might not have considered a hybrid. I'm happy I did, but was nearly forced (financially) into it. AND I wanted to do SOMETHING to show my desire for this country to become energy independent. We should have learned in the 70's, but we did not. Oil has kept us hostages ever since.
FYI, whatever the reason, many people (not just a few) do not believe in global warming. I, myself was a skeptic, until a recent trip. Take a trip to Alaska and look at how quickly the glaciers are melting and eroding (at a faster than linear rate, too). Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau has a good display and short film. That's all it should take to realize we are warming up in a big way - and fast. This CANNOT be healthy for us humans
.Can we stop the warming - should we, even? Thes questions are easy to ask, and then we just shrug. They are more difficult to answer and do something about. To do something about it may involve some sacrifice, and most don't want to be the ones having to sacrifice. Just think how many people you know won't even RECYCLE aluminum cans? Or paper? How hard is that?
It's a S-L-O-W process of awakening. Maybe too slow. Baby steps ARE progress, but we need to be taking giant leaps now. I feel your impatience.
Active Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 77
From: Los Angeles, CA
Re: Trading in 06 Civic Hybrid...
If anybody is interested, there is always TerraPass (from Wired):
http://www.terrapass.com/
(Snip)
Now they have TerraPass, a clever eco-capitalism experiment. Launched by a group of Wharton Business School classmates, the startup sells a decal that drivers can slap on their windshields. The sticker price - $79.95 for SUVs, less for greener cars - gets invested in renewable energy projects and credits. The credits are traded through local brokers on the new Chicago Climate Exchange.
TerraPass lets consumers participate in an emissions trading system the US established in 1990. (Give credit to economist Ronald Coase, who won a Nobel Prize for the idea in 1991.) Under the system, industrial operations that spew less than their share of emissions can sell a credit to companies that fail to keep gunk out of the air. In effect, the dirtier factories can pay greener operations to do the work of cutting emissions. The approach has taken off worldwide, spawning a billion-dollar market.
(Snip.)
Burning a gallon of gasoline produces about 20 pounds of COČ. So the average SUV - which travels 12,000 miles a year - pumps out about 20,000 pounds of greenhouse gases annually. On today's market, TerraPass can scrub that pollution from the environment for less than 80 bucks.
Only a few months old, with a staff just out of grad school and a membership of fewer than 1,000, TerraPass is no match for the world's half a billion cars - the second-biggest source of greenhouse gases. But Ned Ford, a member of the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Committee, believes TerraPass could change the way people think about energy and the environment. "Politicians and business leaders have been telling us for the last 20 years that there's this huge painful cost associated with reducing carbon," he says.
"If you think about your own personal impact on COČ, and you find out you can offset it for a reasonable amount of money, it makes you think differently about the problem. TerraPass is mind opening," he says, "and that's pretty cool."
Now they have TerraPass, a clever eco-capitalism experiment. Launched by a group of Wharton Business School classmates, the startup sells a decal that drivers can slap on their windshields. The sticker price - $79.95 for SUVs, less for greener cars - gets invested in renewable energy projects and credits. The credits are traded through local brokers on the new Chicago Climate Exchange.
TerraPass lets consumers participate in an emissions trading system the US established in 1990. (Give credit to economist Ronald Coase, who won a Nobel Prize for the idea in 1991.) Under the system, industrial operations that spew less than their share of emissions can sell a credit to companies that fail to keep gunk out of the air. In effect, the dirtier factories can pay greener operations to do the work of cutting emissions. The approach has taken off worldwide, spawning a billion-dollar market.
(Snip.)
Burning a gallon of gasoline produces about 20 pounds of COČ. So the average SUV - which travels 12,000 miles a year - pumps out about 20,000 pounds of greenhouse gases annually. On today's market, TerraPass can scrub that pollution from the environment for less than 80 bucks.
Only a few months old, with a staff just out of grad school and a membership of fewer than 1,000, TerraPass is no match for the world's half a billion cars - the second-biggest source of greenhouse gases. But Ned Ford, a member of the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Committee, believes TerraPass could change the way people think about energy and the environment. "Politicians and business leaders have been telling us for the last 20 years that there's this huge painful cost associated with reducing carbon," he says.
"If you think about your own personal impact on COČ, and you find out you can offset it for a reasonable amount of money, it makes you think differently about the problem. TerraPass is mind opening," he says, "and that's pretty cool."
