Greenie & Techie: The Path To My First Car, Part 4

Way before gasoline price reached almost $4, I’ve been reading about alternative auto energy and am now strongly considering a hybrid.

My reasons: [1] It will allow maximum fuel economy with its impressive MPG rate, specially with current skyrocketing fuel prices. [2] It will help reduce my carbon footprint. And [3] it, in its own small way, will help curtail dependence on foreign oil. The only self-serving reason for a hybrid purchase is [4] I’m curious and excited to have a techie car.

The Internet is a massively useful research tool. I cannot imagine how we survived without it at the advent of the GenX years. It has made my car shopping very informative, although quite cumbersome as well with all the knowledge out there.

A hybrid car is highly expensive to buy compared to regular fuel cars, but you will get your money’s worth vis-a-vis fuel economy after at least two to three years. Its resale value also holds its own against less expensive non-hybrid cars. A Consumer Reports investigation sheds light on this.

It will do little, if at all, to curb global warming unless industry-driven economies make vital changes in their practices, but at least, in its own way, it makes a difference by emitting less carbon waste. More important than the immediate realization of a predicted change it will cause is the timeless principle it stands for.

Despite the steep sticker price and subsequent monthly financing and interest expense, the over-all cost to own and maintain a hybrid is a winner as interestingly estimated in a Yahoo! Green article.

Other gas alternatives are promising but disadvantageous at this point. Biodiesel, made from vegetable oil, burns cleaner but costs more than petro diesel. It is only available in the Midwest.

Hydrogen fuel cell, with zero or almost zero harmful emission, is still in embryonic stage and experts estimate it will not see market light until 20 years later.

Ethanol has a similar story to biodiesel. It's made from corn and available only in the Midwest, and it also produces less carbon emission but costs more than today’s gasoline. This Guide to Driving Green by Consumer Reports works as an umbrella page with many links to interesting topics.

After many days of scanning paper trails, reading article after article, comparing cars online, jotting down notes, and sneaking into various chat rooms of car aficionados - I’ve finally made a choice.

Subaru does not have a hybrid sedan so that leaves me with only Toyota’s Camry and Prius. The Prius is less pricey and delivers more MPG than the Camry. The Prius is also a car built with “hybrid” in the forefront of its concept agendum. Nissan has the Altima Hybrid which returns 32 MPG overall, but there is no data for owner cost and satisfaction and predicted reliability being relatively new. The company's overall reliability, though, ranges from average to below average.

And so the chosen one... ladies and gentelmen... is a sparkling Prius!

Thumbnails of more Prius videos will appear after playing the above video. They range from straightforwardly informative to truly inspirational to outrageously funny.

Okay. I now know what I'm going to get so I'm almost there. Say, how good a deal could it be to buy a second hand over a brand new? What about finance over lease? That only means one thing - back to research.

Elimination: The Path To My First Car, Part 3

When searching to buy a car, the earlier you start to gather information, the better. It’s a MAJOR DECISION and it helps to get all the data you need to make a sensible purchase at the right time. Careful research ought to be put into it so as to come up with the best purchase. We all have different reasons for buying a car. In the end, whichever car we choose to buy is an individual decision.

Ever since I started search for my definitive car, there has been a deluge of facts and opinions for my brain to process. A strike on a searchbox reveals a galaxy of information. A visit to a site opens up to constellations of details and related particulars. A click on a link or tab reveals several other sublinks. My head spins and sputters with all the data fighting for a space in my brain for absorption.

I’m a first-time car buyer and I don’t know much about cars. Being anal-retentive, I feel like reading each and every information there is on any source about cars. Of course that’ll take forever so I’m teaching myself to sift through as I go along. I realize I should’ve started earlier, like maybe a year prior. My target was to have a car by end of May but...Didn’t happen.

Having narrowed my requisite to a gay-friendly sedan, the other factors to consider are price, reliability and value for money. My paper research tools are Consumer Reports magazine and the LA Times. For electronic, I frequent the Kelly Blue Book, NADA Guides and Edmunds web sites, with supplement from the three powerhouse search engines: Google, MSN and Yahoo!.

I decided to shell out only between $25,000 to $30,000 for my first car. With that range Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz are out of the picture.

The A4 3.2 starts at $36,300 and delivers 23 mpg. Although it returned excellent crash test results, the car has only average predicted reliability and owner cost.

The 328i starts at $32,4000, has above average predicted reliability, gives 23 mpg, and returned excellent crash test results. Owner cost, though, is below average, despite the company's offer of zero maintenance cost up to 4 years or 50,000 miles.

The C300 automatic Sport Sedan starts at $35,715 with 21 mpg that can be delivered by either premium fuel or E85 ethanol. This model is new so no safety tests have been conducted and no data is available regarding reliability. But the company’s overall reliability based on several sedan and SUV models has been disappointingly worst. Owner cost is below average.

Impressively and quite aptly living up to its name, Subaru’s 4-door Impreza WRX starts at $24,350 already with keyless entry system, engine immobilizer, antitheft system and Vehicle Dynamics Control. It delivers 25 mpg on premium unleaded gasoline, has above average reliability, and excellent crash protection and owner cost.

Finally, Toyota. The optimized Corolla XRS is $22,654 with fuel economy up to 30mpg and excellent reliability and owner cost. The base Camry LE starts at $21,080, gives 23 mpg and has above average reliability and owner cost. Its hybrid version with similar reliability starts at $29,720 and delivers up to 34 mpg. The Prius gives out the best fuel economy in the industry at 44 mpg. The base edition starts at $23,780. It has excellent reliability, excellent owner cost, and impressive crash test results.

Now this leaves me with only Subaru Impreza and three Toyotas to choose from. Interestingly, Consumer Reports recently released road test videos of 6 sedans, which include the Impreza and Corolla. Click on the link and see for yourself.

Mama’s Recovery

Mama had an accident last Valentine’s Day.

She fell on a rough pavement which inflicted cuts on her face, bruises on her arms and legs and, most crushing of all, she broke the upper end of her right humerus into three segments.

Her old glasses are now silent testament to the incident: cracks, bents, and blood - particularly on the left lens.

The orthopedic doctor we consulted here in L.A. advised surgery as soon as possible. Mama has no insurance until three months after the incident, so my eldest sister and I decided it best she have it done in the Philippines where she can get the same quality of care and treatment at a more comprehensible cost. That is why I went home about two months ago: to accompany Mama not only on the plane but also through the first few phases of her recovery.

After consulting two orthopedic doctors in the Philippines however, surgery was not anymore recommended. Healing, they said, had occurred and it wouldn’t be advisable to interrupt it. Physical rehabilitation became the road to her recovery. Her sessions included range of motion exercises, therapeutic ultrasound and electric stimulation of the muscles.

Mama wore a sling most of the time in the day to immobilize the affected joint which augments healing and keeps the humeral bulb near the scapular socket. It also serves as a sign to people passing by to take extra caution.

My youngest sister recently sent us latest pictures of Mama. She can now beam minus the steri-strips and abrasions, and with a brand new pair of spectacles in bright red frame to boot.

Her right arm’s mobility used to be limited to only 50%, but now she can arch it backwards,

lift it sidewards and stretch it upwards.

Amazing!

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Photos in this post are author's property.