We now interrupt your favorite scheduled program to have a chat about other Green topics…
I’ve been thinking about a lot about Green Machines lately. I want my next vehicle to be green friendly so that it sips gas instead of chugging it like a college student on dollar beer night. I have been keeping an eye out for a new vehicle but nothing seems just right for me. Hybrids seem to fall in two categories “cheap” but function like the Prius and expensive and fun like the Tesla. Neither of which are for me, I want something in between. So I drive my car 4.2 mile to work and wait for something to change. In the last few months things have started to change. The shark like auto industry has smelled the hybrid chum in the water and now has dollar signs in their eyes. This is good for me! I now have been looking for my future car replacement that does not exist just yet.
For a while I have been looking at the VentureOne from Venture Vehicles. It’s a cross between a car and a motorcycle and is known as a Trike. I first learned of Trikes from a game called Car Wars eons ago and they are popular in Europe’s small streets. Check out the videos on the site. They are pretty cool. The biggest downside of the machine for me is that it requires a motorcycles driver’s license and in Austin it could be a death machine with all the SUVs and trucks flying around. With Agave only being 8 miles to my job via 183 my daily commute might turn into Death Race 2000. Now if they had an optional light cycle attachment it would make me feel better.
Recent Toyota announced that they are changing up the next generation of Prius. While checking the info out I came across two useful bits of info: 1) One version of the Prius will be released under the Lexus Brand and 2) Toyota is working a Next Gen Hybrid called Hybrid-X. Both of these vehicles interest me. The Hybrid- X may look like something out of Logan’s run (much less so then the Aptera) but for some reason it makes me go Awwwwwwwwwww. Hopefully the Lexus Prius will fix most of the deficiencies of the Prius: such as a sun/moonroof, power seats, funky styling etc…
The last car that has caught my eye to from a traditional American company and it’s the Chevy Volt. That’s right a cool car from the peeps that killed the electric car. This thing seems to have it all, nice styling, Lith-Ion batteries, gadgets, two doors, Tazers, Turbo Boost, Autobot transformation mode and much more!
2 comments:
Have you checked out the Smart Fortwo? It uses regular gas but gets about 40mpg. It stands for "swatch/mercedes art" as they teamed up to design the car. Although a SMART dealership just opened in Round Rock, they've sold more of these than expected so they still have to be pre-ordered. Dont confuse these with the European models where the car begain...the US ones have steel cages and, although small, have a 4 star safety rating and are quite roomy..plus they are decked out with features, including things like an ipod dock, heated seats, lights and windshield wipers that turn on and off automatically, etc. Inexpensive, but TONS of features.
Can you tell I have been waiting on mine since around December? My lil metallic blue Smart convertible arrives in June. Ooooo, the wait!!
I have seen the Smartcars but for some reason I just can’t get past the styling. They just seem a little strange to me. Every time I see them I keep thinking that they are spring loaded and you have to crank the spring in order to provide propulsion. I’m glad that they are popular because it helps the environment it's just the car for me or at least it’s not the car for me yet.
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