Fuel Crisis Grows, Cars Still Guzzle Gas

Affording to pay for gas is getting harder by the day. Prices of gasoline have tripled in the last ten years, but, unfortunately, wages have not. Filling up has become a budget-busting endeavor, and the end is nowhere in sight. In fact, it is only going to get worse.

With the fuel crisis in full swing, a lot of talk over the past few years has centered on making cars more fuel efficient. This includes talks of hybrid vehicles that run on gas and electric power to lower fuel consumption. There are now cars that run completely on electricity using no gasoline at all. Doesn't that sound like an excellent idea? Finally, we are saved!

...maybe not. In fact, despite all the buzz, very few major auto manufacturers are making serious progress toward truly fuel efficient vehicles. A lot of companies are offering Hybrid cars, but the only difference seems to be the name tag. With MPG ratings like 24 city/32 highway, where are the savings? Many non-hybrid cars get better gas mileage than that already!

Some Hybrid cars do boast impressive miles per gallon ratings, such as the Honda Civic hybrid at 40 city/45 highway. Even better is the forerunner in the hybrid car race, the Toyota Prius, with an outstanding 48 city/45 highway rating. These two models, as of right now, are offering the best deals around. Even so, with the price of gas still rising, the savings on gasoline will have less of an impact still over time.

"Forget these hybrids," you say, "I don't want to use any gas!" The electric car is the obvious answer to that dilemma, that is, if you can find one. These days it is pretty tough to hunt down an electric car in America. The people over at Tesla Motors are offering up a nice new model, and it only has close to a $100,000 price tag. Most of the rest of the currently available electric cars are only any good for short, low speed trips, since they have extremely low performance capabilities. This doesn't allow for them to be used as practical primary vehicles.

Many companies are now saying that 2010 will be the big year for their electric car models. That is funny. I could swear that they said 2009 last year. Hmmmmmm.

For now, all we can do is hope. There are some high mileage cars out there like the previously mentioned Prius Hybrid or Civic Hybrid. There are also gasoline engine cars, like the Toyota Yaris, that get around 32/35 MPG. The Yaris is also relatively cheap for a car these days. But if you are really feeling the squeeze from the big oil companies, I would suggest not holding out for an electric car, because who knows how long that will take. Instead, why not take up biking?