Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryland
The SUV and minivan replaced the station wagon because of loop holes in the EPA regulations and people bought station wagons so they could haul their family around the suburbs because you couldn't walk or bike anywhere, some people still want a vehicle for taking vacations, but does it need to be a daily driven vehicle? the "Ipod generation" as someone else called it tends to be living closer to where they work and not having kids, so a large vehicle ends up being pretty useless, maybe they are on to something?
On the other hand, I keep hearing people refer to the Prius as a "small car" and it blows my mind, the Prius C is in my mind on the large end of being a small car but vehicles like the Prius, and the Nissan Leaf are full size, 4 door, hatch back, station wagons, large enough for a family of 5.
So a big part of my is wondering if making the next generation of vehicles out of hemp, or carbon fiber or whatever is the answer or if a better answer is to first live where you want to be, to plan your life better and to get over the idea of owning a one size fits all vehicle, how many people would get along just fine with a vehicle like a Twike then be part of a car share for those times that you need to use a pickup truck, minivan or take a vacation.
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Around here insurance and in some places parking costs make owning two legal cars very difficult. In my particular situation, insurance costs 350ish a month for the Prius when it's on the road, and 220ish a month for the Crown Victoria. Coverage level, deductible, mileage driven, etc. cut less than 20% of that cost. I'm lucky enough to have a place to store whichever car is not insured at any given time (summer/winter rotation) but if I didn't it'd also add a several hundred dollar monthly parking fee. So realistically, 500+ dollars a month to maintain two cars instead of one. The odds of that being made up by gas costs are pretty low.