A Little Math Lesson: Are Used Cars Greener Than Hybrids?
 

Interesting article. They don't mention cost. We should all know a used car is always cheaper (so buy a used hybrid :) ).
My favorite bit of info is right here:

A Little Math Lesson: Are Used Cars Greener Than Hybrids?

And my favorite bit of misinfo: If they're built by Honda or Toyota, you can probably double those numbers. I have a 2000 Honda Insight and a 1988 Toyota pickup, and yes, I will admit both have mechanical "failures" at the moment. The Honda has a burned-out headlight bulb (and the driver's floor mat is worn); the Toyota needs a new speedometer gear. But I can't see these failures adding significantly to either their operating cost or carbon footprint.

Pfft- Hondas and Toyotas are good but they haven't proven to be any better than anything else in my experience. Most vehicles are good these days; it comes down to how were they treated in the PO's care and/or the luck of the draw.

Looks like I had a fair share of bad luck with the draw then.


Older vehicles also have far higher emissions than the newest breed.
Given the relatively low energy cost in making a new car, there certainly is a point where it becomes more environmentally friendly to recycle the old clunker and replace it with a new(er) car.

Not necessarily true. CO2 emissions (the only thing that really matters any more, since everything else was reduced to negligible levels years ago) are directly proportional to mpg, and in a good many cases - Honda CRX & Civic from the '80s, Metros, etc) the older cars will still get better mpg than anything new other than a Prius or Volt.

Then there's the simple issue of driveability. Most new cars I've seen just aren't driveable, with everything from automatic transmissions to those stupid push-button start things that don't shut the engine off when you want to absurd levels of cell phone connectivity.

That everything else was reduced to negligible levels years ago is simply not true.
You mention some 1980s cars getting better mpg - mine definitely didn't - sure, but their other pollutants per mile are 6 times worse than a modern car.
That's if we look at the brochure numbers - IRL, wear and tampering will have pushed pollutants well beyond the brochure numbers.

There's no issue whatsoever with driveability in new cars.
Cars have never driven better - or safer - than today.

They're better than ever - with some automated transmissions beating their manual counterparts in the official fuel consumption tests.

This won't apply to the typical US slushbox though.
The rental Chrysler 300 I once had was a downright nightmare.

Have you ever driven a DSG or similar gearbox ?
Most people simply can't shift gears as well or as consistently as a DSG.
Nor do they shift up as early.

There's the point : to the level YOU want.

Car manufacturers put in a logic that will be different from what you'd do, as they want an unobtrusive stop/start system that most of their customers will want to use, rather than switch off.