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Hybrid drivers may enjoy the last laugh
By Mike Moore
If you went any distance to visit your mom this weekend, you probably stopped for gas. Hopefully you kept your balance when you saw the price per gallon.
That big "$2.00" looks weird, doesn't it? For years, only two digits mattered. The dollar figure was as irrelevant as that tiny decimal tacked to the end of the price.
The skybound gas prices affect almost all of us, but some less than others. Remember the green-minded freaks who drooled with excitement when the first gas-electric hybrid cars hit the market? The world chuckled at the idea. Yeah, right, buddy. I've got a great parking space for that vehicle, right behind the 18th hole. Be careful not to bump the beverage cart.
Any urge to laugh anymore is stifled with a look at that neon "2" sticking high above the gas pumps. Harry Putz of Burlington seems sane enough. He's had his 2004 Toyota Prius hybrid for only a few weeks, and he's seen a difference. His first fill-up totaled $8.75. That could probably fill the cupholder on most SUVs.
"That's sort of my little added benefit," he said.
Nobody teases him about his purchase. They're too busy begging for test rides.
He's still in touch with his gas-powered roots. His Windstar minivan and Mustang have their roles. Putz just decided he'd do his part to cut down emissions and try to prevent us from turning the planet into a giant sauna.
"It just makes sense," he said. "Maybe more people should be looking at that, too."
They are. In many places the models available now - the Prius and Honda's two choices, the Insight and a version of the Civic - are outnumbered by the people clamoring for them. Not even the people who make the cars expected that.
Want a new Prius? Better keep your old beater running till August 2005. Joe Jardina, the new car manager at Frank Gentile in Mount Pleasant, said recent interest in the model has stretched the wait from five months to more like 15 months. On Toyota's Web site, a message urges prospective buyers to have patience while the factories burp out more sets of wheels.
Jardina said people have to keep in mind they're paying a couple thousand bucks more for that fuel economy. It might pay off over time. If not, a gas model might be a better fit. Rescue workers also have to be careful when dealing with the voltage running through the hybrids.
The good news is buyers who bring their hybrids home this year are eligible for a tax deduction, as much as $1,500. See, saving green things is fun, especially when they've got a president's face on 'em.
Competition's on the way. Bigger sedans, plus hybrid SUVs and pickups, are in the batter's box. Lexus, Ford, GMC, just about everybody's plugging into the electric scene.
Now that it's safe to be seen in one of them, I asked Gentile for a test drive. They tossed me the key to the Prius demo. The salesman showed me how to start it; the car has a power button with the same symbol as a computer. Knowing that my old computer crashed a lot, I hoped that wasn't an omen.
Even with the big battery in the back, a car's a car. It didn't have a fifth wheel or anything. Overall, the driving experience was pretty similar, but somehow I could relate to the kid with the "Student Driver" sticker next to me at the stoplight.
Hybrids actually get better mileage in the city because they recover energy from braking and turn it into power. Bring on that bumper-to-bumper traffic, baby. Another difference: When it's idling, you can barely tell from the driver's seat that the thing is running. I put it in park, stepped out and put my ear to the hood. Only then did I pick up a faint ring.
The car accelerated slowly at low speeds but stuck with the flow on the Washington Avenue speedway. After parking it, I barely had my foot out of the car and a real customer started to paw through it.
Looks like the exception is accelerating toward becoming the rule.
Mike Moore is the associate editor of The Journal Times. He can be reached at (262) 631-1724 or by e-mail at: mmoore@journaltimes.com
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