Posted on 05/04/2007 9:37:45 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
Is a Hummer cleaner than a Prius?
Monday, 30 April 2007
BY JOE TONER
You’ve often heard it, be you an ordinary “joe-soap” king, queen or pope; we are all only dust and it’s to dust we’ll go. A recent report, in the USA, came up with a hypothesis on the great hybrid versus petrol car debate on a dust to dust premise. Before you go any further I must remind you of how great they are at producing report after report. I sometimes wonder if anyone, least of all themselves, listens. Sure, aren’t they great ones for rubbishing what they don’t agree with and promoting what they support on the sometimes flimsiest of evidence. Anyway, I digress.
A report produced by CNW Marketing Research in Bandon, Oregon looked at the dust to dust costs between the favoured Hollywood transport, the Toyota Prius and the vehicle of choice by the Terminator, aka Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hummer Jeep – very familiar to military enthusiasts and fans of CSI Miami.
Much of the current debate centres on the fuel efficiency of the hybrid against the more mainstream petrol or diesel equivalents. The CNW report looks at the total costs from creation to destruction of a number of vehicles and proposes that the Hummer (H3) is cheaper, costing USD$1.31 cents per mile less to run than the Toyota Prius. While it is a headliner grabber it doesn’t tell the full story. For instance, the costs are based on the H3 having a service life of over 200,000 miles and the Prius only 100,000 miles – hardly a fair comparison.
While, as in any report, we can always find reason to reject its findings it does open up discussion on the whole total cost of the products we buy. We tend to focus on the energy implications of the product whilst in our tenure, mainly the fuel costs but also the service and maintenance expense.
When rating the energy consumption of an individual, group, community, or country, scientists talk about a “carbon footprint”. That is how much carbon will be emitted into the atmosphere, directly or indirectly, through the usage of products and services. How big is your footprint?
Do we give enough thought to the energy consumed in the production and transportation of our finished goods? How “Green” is the organic lettuce in your local shop? It may have been grown on the Continent and being flown/driven to the shop. Compare the energy usage to do that compared to the product grown locally, even if an amount of energy was used to heat the glasshouse.
I’m not about to start on a crusade promoting hybrid vs petrol vs hydrogen vs electric cars as they all have their merits and this is certainly no ad for the Green party. We must, though, challenge manufacturers to produce products that we can continue to enjoy and yet minimise the environmental impact. None of us will easily surrender the freedom, independence, convenience, and the satisfied smile that the car brings.
“Try putting 5 guy’s - who are all 6’ plus - and their bicycles INSIDE your H2. No way. MY 1995 GMC Suburban has alot more comfort, leg room, useable cargo space, and power - a 400hp L7 motor.”
Five large men, and two large dogs fit easily. I don’t like the ‘sway’ you get from the Suburban, the last one I test drove (and it might have changed since I’ll note) handled like a pig compared to the H2. Thats not an overstatement, there is no ‘sway’ with the H2, even passing a large ‘big rig’ on a two lane highway at 60 mph, its as if nothing was there.
I don’t doubt the suburban has a large cargo capacity, but sorry, the seating for ‘large men’ in the H2 is more than adequate.
Unless you mean Mikey Moore type size, of course.
Why is that "unfair?" You'd need two Prii (?) to travel the same total distance. It is too fair.
Yes, the Hummers are cleaner...because 99% of them are parked!
hahahaha
The REAL problem with all these hybrids is the batteries. Its tough to find something more toxic and hard to properly dispose of than a battery. When all these “green” hybrids reach end-of-life, it’s going to be an environmental nightmare. Seriously. (And this is coming from someone who thinks most claims of impending environmental disaster are hogwash.)
Once again, feeling-based libs are doing FAR more harm than good. Ironic and typical. Sigh.
I’d love to see what that lard-ass looks like on a road bicycle!!! As for the sway that is something you seem to get used to. When I switch from my truck to the Burb’s(we actually own 2 of the beasts) it takes awhile to get comfy with that. The wife’s dream car is the Ford Excursion. Never drove it and am wondering how that handles.
Hence, my pinging of Laz. He always gets the job done.
Yep. Bottom line is you have four basic types of vehicle owners.
One is oblivious about the vehicle. Treats them with the same attiude I do with regards to tap water. Its always going to work, I don’t have to do anything but ‘turn it on’.
Second, the ‘beat the hell out of the vehicle’ types, that take any vehicle off road...and then complain when it breaks down, or gets stuck somewhere. They don’t even KNOW how to check the oil level....but can’t leave a stop sign without burning off 800 miles of rubber from the tires, races to the next stop sign and crushes the brakes to avoid sailing through...leaves the vehicle running no matter how long they might be in a store buying beer and cigs...you know the type. Oh, and they have their stereo on, setting the volume at the level so high the the windows two hundred yards away shake from the reverb, and naturally they have all the windows down....
Third, the driver that spends more ‘quality time’ with the vehicle then his or her family. Vehicle always looks show room great, always serviced to the mile or date, waxed weekly, kept under a tarp in a garage that looks cleaner than the average hospital O.R. (chuckle)
And the last group, those of us that understand its a machine, requires regular maintenance, and like any other machine it will break if you abuse it.
You’re wrong there. Come to Texas and you’ll see Hummer drivers very evident and quite mobile, many driven by soccer mom types! Amazing. As for me, I love driving my 9 yr. old FULL SIZE pickup truck that continues getting 19-20 mph loaded or empty, doesn’t matter.
But I smile and wave at Hummer drivers too, they represent good ol’ independent thinking Americans to me.
Job.
Hummer.
I GET IT! HAHAHHHAHHAHHA
Fair? What's unfair about it? Do you, dear author, claim that all vehicles have the same service life?
The fact that the Hummer will last twice as long, in miles, as the Prius is precisely the issue!
This looks like the Liberal definition of the word "fair". def: The comparison is fair when my views are vindicated.
“Oh yeah...it was my wife who insisted that we purchase a H2 back in 2003. I’m glad I listened to her. My wife is so cool.”
I had a late model Avalanche before the H2, got the Hummer for the increased towing capacity.
Have you had problems with the ‘green drivers’? I drive ‘into town’ about thirty minutes a few times per month, and half the time I get some idiot with a enviromental bumper sticker flipping me the bird, or doing something equally as silly.
I once had a woman approach me at Krogers once while loading grocery’s, she asked me ‘how can you drive that monster with global warming happening?’
My reply was ‘Because I support the United Auto Workers, and American manufacturing. The cost of this Hummer paid several dozen Union members wages and healthcare and retirement costs...you do support working Americans don’t you?’
Try it, they always look completely stunned...and you can ‘tap the horn’ and wave with a big grin as you leave out....trust me, its Priceless, the look on their face.
I put a lot of miles on my Prius. I bought it in Nov. 2004. I now have 85K miles on it. Everything is working fine. The battery continues to charge with no evidence of fading. My average MPG is about 49 over the life of the car. True, I have to explain to people that I am not an enviro whacko, just a gadget guy who drives a lot of miles. My car has much more than broken even over my previous VW Passat, which averaged 24 MPG. But to each his own.
“I’d love to see what that lard-ass looks like on a road bicycle!!! As for the sway that is something you seem to get used to. When I switch from my truck to the Burb’s(we actually own 2 of the beasts) it takes awhile to get comfy with that. The wife’s dream car is the Ford Excursion. Never drove it and am wondering how that handles.”
My wife is about to trade in her Avalon, her second one and a fine vehicle for the city and burbs, but a bit of a concern here in The Zone (Appalachia Zone in S Ohio).
She’s looked at the Explorer’s, we had a 1996 model til I bought the Avalanche, and it was a great SUV, completely satisfied with it. She didn’t care for the Excursion based on her ‘homework’ on it, but its a matter of ‘driver feel’ so whatever she wants, she’s going to get. We both own/drive what we like, modified by the basic requirements of where we live - the exception being her Avalon is paid for so we’ve kept it til now.
She’s leaning towards the Santa Fe, but the dealership is over an hour drive time from our house - we are ‘out there’ a bit to say the least.
“You’re wrong there. Come to Texas and you’ll see Hummer drivers “
Yep, and we wave at each other same as bikers do....(chuckle)
I just picked up a BMW as my getting around car. What a great machine....quick and pretty good on gas.
(whats the latest news on Civil War II?)
ROTFL!
If not for the fact I don’t like putting stickers on my vehicles I’d buy the ‘My SUV ‘hearts’ Iraqi Oil’.
“I just picked up a BMW as my getting around car. What a great machine....quick and pretty good on gas.”
Where you live its the perfect vehicle, bro.
(whats the latest news on Civil War II?)
(chuckle)
I won.
.
...so did you find out who knocked down the WTC? What about the pending shooting war, is that still being planned over there?
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