Top 7 Things to Look for When Buying an Eco-Friendly Car
How much do you know about eco-friendly cars?
DCL
Top 7 Things to Look for When Buying an Eco-Friendly Car
There are still some great dealer incentives for purchasing a newer economical vehicle right now.
With the recession continuing to pummel car sales, there is no doubt that dealers are going to soon begin to pull back on some of their record incentives they have been offering new buyers. None-the-less there are still some good deals to be had out there as various automakers refuse to given up on the belief that through their discounts and 0 percent financing they should be able to once and for all resuscitate the troubled buyers market. With that said, a great deal is only as good as its overall value to the individual. Here are seven things you need to be looking at when making the decision as to which eco-friendly car will offer you the most for your dollar.
1: Price (err, I Should Rather Say Value)
When I say price, what I am really referring to is value. Finding the lowest price on an eco-friendly car would be easy otherwise. All you would have to do is look over a list of green cars and choose the one that will take the least hit on your pocketbook. Unfortunately it is not quite that simple these days. Just because something is inexpensive does not mean that it will give you good value for your money. Value is the combination of a vehicle's price, fuel consumption, safety, reliability, features, and warranty. What you should be looking for is the most inexpensive vehicle you can afford that will offer as many of the above items of value that you covet the most. Assuming you are a green eco-consumer you will probably be looking at these seven points of interest in particular; price, fuel economy, mechanical safety, reliability, low emissions, interior toxin safety, and warranty.
2: Fuel Economy
Within the coming year, there is sure to be a heck of a lot more economical vehicle choices than there are right now, but until then, there are several vehicles worth noting. The Toyota Prius is a very impressive vehicle with 46 mpg, while the Honda Civic does not fall too short behind with 42 mpg. If you are really serious about your fuel economy, the Honda Insight has reports of up to 70 mpg by some drivers. Of the sport utility vehicles, the Ford Escape Hybrid has caught a lot of attention lately with its respectable 34 mpg.
3: Mechanical Safety
The safety of a vehicle follows its ability to maneuver safely and hold up during a crash. To accomplish this, I recommend at a minimum having ABS brakes, front/side impact airbags, stability control, and child safety seat compatibility. For the first time in the history, Consumer Reports was happy to report that there was at least one vehicle that reached the top safety standards in every single class of passenger vehicle this year. Most all manufactures show dynamic performance in head on collision safety, which means that it is side and rear impact scores that you should be most aware of. A few of the top choices of economical cars with top scores at all crash points were the Honda Civic/Fit, Scion xB, Ford Escape, Saturn Vue, Toyota Corolla, and Volkswagen Rabbit.
4: Reliability
When purchasing a new car it can sometimes be difficult to gauge reliability because often you are dealing with a new car year which has not had enough time on the streets to identify both its weaknesses and strengths. However, a lot can be said by looking at the vehicles reliability reports from years before. For this reason it is always a good idea to check on the consumer reports of each vehicle you are considering through such sites as Consumer Reports, Edmunds, BrandIntel, and Intellichoice. For 2009, Consumer Reports has chosen the Honda Civic, Toyota Echo, Scion xB, and Toyota Corolla as a few of their top choices for the most reliable small-sized vehicles.
5: Low Emissions
Your vehicle's emissions are comprised of both your vehicle's base output and your driving habits combined. While driving habits can make a noticeable difference in both emissions and fuel economy, the vehicle's overall capacity to produce clean emissions is by far the most important consideration. Don't be fooled into thinking you can make a rather large polluting vehicle economical through the use of good driving practices and aftermarket parts. Electric vehicles are the cleanest and meanest form of zero emission transportation you can get today. Hybrids are the next best thing, offering a smart combination of gas-power and electric assistance. The trickiest vehicles to choose between will be your gasoline vehicles which range from good to bad depending on the engine, weight, and powertrain design. A few of your best bets according to GreenerCars.org are the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit, Ford Escape Hybrid, and Hyundai Sonata.
6: Interior Toxin Safety
Once upon a time folks used to talk about that new car smell. Today we know that particular smell is nothing more than toxic fumes evaporating off our interior plastics, vinyl, and leather and pouring into our lungs. Thankfully, no two car interiors are the same and therefore there are both good and bad choices out there. HealthyOrg.com has put together a helpful list of vehicles with the least and most concern for toxicity. To give you an idea of which 2008 vehicles held the top rankings for lowest and highest levels of dangerous toxins: The least toxic interiors were found in the Acura RDX, BMW X3, Chevrolet Cobalt, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Honda Odyssey, Nissan Frontier, Suzuki Aerio wagon, Toyota Matrix, and Volvo S40/V50, while the most toxic fumes were found in the Chevy Aveo/Express/Silverado, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio/Spectra, Nissan Versa; Scion xB, and Subaru Forester/Forenza.
7: Warranty
You hear a lot about manufacturer warranty when buying a new car, but here is a little known fact: Most car warranties are basically quite similar to each other. They may sound amazing, such as Chrysler's "lifetime" warranty, but once you break through all the mumbo-jumbo, you're basically looking at only a couple years of worry-free service. Especially if you consider that most warranties do not transfer to new buyers of used vehicles. So unless you are planning on keeping the vehicle for a very long time, the warranty may not be as important as you thought. With that said, the two most impressive economy/compact manufacturer warranties to date come from Hyundai and Kia with a 5-year/60,000 bumper-to-bumper and 10-year/100,000 powertrain. So while it is true that warranties matter, don't let them sell you on a particular car without making sure all the other above necessities you require in a vehicle are also accounted for.
