Hybrid Vehicle's Rock - Even Take My Wife's Breath Away

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=D._Netti]D. Netti

About six months ago, my wife was in need of a new vehicle. She was reluctant to give up her 2001 Pontiac Sunfire because of what she called "great gas mileage". At the time, she was commuting 80 miles round trip for work. She claimed that she was getting around 27 miles per gallon. I finally convinced her to check out some alternative fuel vehicles. Our first instinct was to think what we would be saving in gas, we'd pay for in the price of the car and maintenance on the vehicle. I remembered seeing a Honda Insight several years earlier and to my knowledge that was the only reasonable 'hybrid' vehicle in full market swing at the time. We checked into some other manufacturers, like GM and Toyota. We found that Honda was the best priced and had a crazy warranty on the battery pack. The other makes and models weren't quite as attractive and actually looked like something NASA created for a trip on an alien planet.My wife now enjoys a 50 miles per gallon trip to work! Yes, I said 50 mile per gallon. That is nearly double what her last vehicle was able to accomplish. Okay, so we've established that she is saving gas money, now let's move on and talk about the cost of the car.

The price was only about $2,000 more than the regular version of the same model. When we filed our taxes for 2007, she had a nice little surprise waiting for her.... $2,300 tax credit added directly to the bottom line! So in the end, she actually made out very nicely in addition to helping save our environment. Here is a quick overview on how it is helping us save our environment:

Uses battery power to and electric motor to give the engine a boost when starting out or climbing a hill, when in a conventional vehicle you'd be laying on the pedal. Saving fuel and reducing emmissions.

When stopping at a traffic light or stop sign, the car goes into "shut-down" mode and the engine shuts off, when you release the brake the car is magically going again. Saving fuel and reducing emmissions. Basically, if you don't need it, why use it?

The car charges its own battery. Anytime you let off the gas or traverse down an incline, the engine is still going and the tires are still going around. Why not use that energy and store it for later? That's exactly what it does and again, saving fuel and reducing emmissions. The car is very nice to drive, rides smooth and has an abundance of interior and trunk space. I would mark this as a Be Green Easy rank of 10 out of 10 for the price, gas mileage and just a good green feeling. http://www.begreeneasy.com/

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