I think the issue goes beyond good gas mileage, eventhough it does get great gas mileage. And I think it is also less about the fact of gas and how much gas you could buy with 3,000 dollars. I think the big thing to remember is that the vehicle is cleaner. I doesn't just have low emissions, or even ultra low emissions, it meets California’s Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle standards. The vehicle is a clean burning, environmentally healthy (If you can say that about a vehicle) automoblie, and not just an automobile, an SUV, a small one, but an "SUV" nonetheless. Rick pointed out his diesel Golf gets about 53 MPG and Peter pointed out that a hybrid vehicle has less performance. In less performance you are refering to poorer acceleration, you can't get too much worse than the accleration of a diesel engine, now, a diesel has a lot of torque and can tow well, which will be the downside of the hybrid. But hybrid's, and electric vehicles accelerate pretty darn good, my fear is that when people hear electric, they think of those solar power car races where the vehicles reach a top speed of 18 mph. Another downside to diesel that the hybrid will make up for is the fact that no diesel engine will ever meet California’s Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle standards, diesels just aren't clean. I think we will need to wait and see when this vehicle comes out to see what it is capable of, reality is that it will be the only attractive hybrid available. Yeah, the might not perform like a big V8, but if you are not a power hungry person, like so many Americans seem to be, this is a terrific alternative. Reality is, the environment is getting torn apart by our over-consumption, blatant disregaurd and selfish abuse of the world around us. It is sad but true, we, as a majority, hold very little concern for things that do not affect us directly, and it is one of the things that sickens me as an American, but also as Americans, we hold our rights to be very sacred, and yes, we have a right to be ignorant. Now, just to make things clear, I'm am not a communist nor do I associate with any members of the communist party, and I am not a treehugger in any sense of the word, just saying, it may not be the best performing, most capable, or powerful vehicle in the world, but it does more then any other vehicle has. It shows that we do understand that there are problems with how we relate to the world, and that there are those of us out there that still care, that still want to strive for what is right, rather than trying to be the biggest and the best. And no offence to anyone, but belittling something with such promise by making it an issue of money, displays how truely far we are from where we need to be and who completely disillusioned we are by our own self-righteousness. I guess I will just address it directly, Peter I mean no harm to your opinion, and I am sure that that is not what you meant by bring mathmatical understanding to the dollar amounts of such a vehicle, I mearly made this statement knowing there are some people in this world who put dollars before humans, and it is sad that everything in these world, even people, are reduced to a commodity. Just my 2 cents.
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Tim Y.
1996 Explorer XLT
4.0L OHV 4x4
