Winter 2008
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The Cranky Consumer

The Accidental Hiker

By Brigit Macomber
October/November Issue, 2004

So, you want to buy a green car? Excellent. Now, how much red will you be seeing before you can lay your hands on one?

If you have your heart set on a hybrid Prius as I did last November, run, don’t walk, to your nearest dealer to put in the order. In fact, if you’re even thinking you might want a Prius sometime in the next two years put your name on a waiting list while you ponder the question. Our Toyota dealer is now estimating a 12-15 month wait.

During that time you will find yourself waiting by the phone for the dealer to call, ready to grovel for whatever they have to offer. On the road you will find yourself searching for and drooling over the rare Prius everywhere you go. And when your name finally does rise to the top of the list you will be offered whatever they just got off the truck. And you will consider yourself lucky. So don’t even waste your time deciding what color or option package you want.

Granted, I haven’t been in the market for 10 years but what kind of acrazy way to buy a $20,000-plus car is this? But then who ever thought people would pay money to watch television or drink water out of bottles?
On the other hand, if you have $27k to spend you could order a Ford Escape gasoline-electric hybrid, scheduled for delivery to local showrooms in October. The Escape will be the only available SUV-style hybrid on the market. Plus, buying a Ford hybrid means buying American, Union, and environmentally friendly all at the same time. Who could ask for more than that?

The Toyota dealer told us it would be a four to six-week wiat for our Prius.
Hah!

And forget waiting in line. A Ford dealer sales-rep told me he’s expecting 10 vehicles on his lot soon but has only 3 confirmed orders. Well, so he says. The Toyota dealer told us it would be a four to six-week wait for our Prius. Hah!

Let’s not forget, there are other gasoline-electric hybrid options available. You might consider the family-size Honda Civic Hybrid, for example, or the two-seat Honda Insight. For another example, well, there are no other examples. Which could go a long way in explaining just why the Prius is so dang “popular.” Great demand. Few choices.

Or consider that Toyota Motor Corp., Asia’s largest automaker and fourth in U.S. sales (they sold 161,793 cars and trucks here in the month of September alone), just announced the sale of its 100,000th Prius in the United States. That’s four years after the car first became available in the summer of 2000. On average that’s 25,000 cars a year. Whoopee.

To the announcement that Toyota will import 100,000 Prius hybrid cars to the U.S. in 2005, double the amount it expects to sell this year, I say the same thing: Whoopee.

Okay, so maybe some of you Prius-owner wannabe types might get a break and only have to wait six months. You still won’t get the color you want!

Thankfully buying a green car – one that gets great gas mileage and/or emits the lowest amount of pollution – doesn’t have to mean hybrid. Ford also sells a Ford Focus PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle), which is actually better than a SULEV (Super Low Emissions Vehicle) even though it doesn’t sound like it. One of my colleagues recently bought one and didn’t even have to wait for it. And many current vehicles of various types now get respectable if not admirable mileage and emissions figures while still offering decent interior space and good crash test results.

So, did I finally get my Prius?You bet. It’s a white (we ordered silver) fully loaded (we ordered mid-range) beautiful bouncing Prius. And let me tell you a little secret about the ’04 Prius. Its electric motor boosts the gasoline engine to increase acceleration. The first time I went to pass ona two-lane highway and floored itI thought I was taking off in a jet!What a rush. Green and fast.Now that’s worth waiting for.

NOTE: A good place to start your green car research is the “Green Book: The Environmental Guide to Cars & Trucks,” published every year by American Council for Energy Efficient Economy’s (ACEEE). For an online subscription visit www.GreenCars.com.

Brigit Macomber is Finance Manager of the Ecology Center.

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