[at-l] Efficient Cars WAS PBS

[bluetrail at aol.com (bluetrail@aol.com)]

 This is the first I've heard of a minivan hybrid.  Unfortunately, I plan to buy used, so I'd have to wait until at least 2009, and I doubt my present minivan will last that long.  But for the vehicle after that (2018 or so?),---who knows what (or if) we'll be driving by then.
 
Thanks,
Joan
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert <infinity1plus1@yahoo.com>
To: bluetrail@aol.com; at-l@backcountry.net
Sent: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 16:48:45 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [at-l] Efficient Cars WAS PBS


i love emails that get me surfing... just today i have learned a great deal about cottonmouths and hybrid technology... the latter is what i shall discuss now... sadly there are no hybrid minivans in the us so the option of getting your 6 seat requirement with any kind of envrionmentally friendly mpg is a tough one... the creator of the minivan still makes the best selling one and it happens to have the best mpg as well... this would be the dodge caravan... at 20 city/25 hwy it is just barely higher than the vehicle you already have... as was mentioned in a previous post the option of keeping your vehicle running for a bit longer might not be such a bad idea as toyota should be unveling their hybrid minivan which gets about 40mpg in 2007... the car is only available in japan at this time but if you keep your car on the road for a couple of years longer you might be able to be one of the first on your block to own one... if you arent set on your 6 seat requirement there are several other options you have with vehicles like the ford escape hybrid suv but most of these would be tough on the 5'10" requirement as well...

bluetrail@aol.com wrote:
My beloved '97 Plymouth minivan (V-6) now has 130,000 miles on it (think camping trips for three to Rocky Mountain NP, the Tetons, Yellowstone, northern Utah, the Shennandoahs, other points in SW Virginia, North Carolina, ALDHA in West Virginia, and all over Florida). With the seats out, I can fit in a single bed mattress and it becomes my tin tent. I use it to haul my women's reading group on road trips (all 7 of us). It's shuttled around many FT long-distance hikers. It carries the FTA displays to festivals and eco-days. I plan to drive it until it rolls into a ditch and begs for mercy.

Just the same, it gets about 22 mph highway and probably 18 mph city now that it's long in the tooth, and the mileage gives me a guilty conscience. When its days are through, what gas-conscious vehicle will
1. give me clearance for dirt roads with high centers
2. haul at least 6 people and gear
3. sit me up high (I love being able to see what's ahead)
4. allow all 5'10" of me to camp in (literally in) it

Pondering,
Joan
bluetrail@aol.com

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