Originally Posted by
Sixty Fiver
I hate the Prius and my opinions of their owners vary.
The typical Prius owner does not realize the Prius is actually one of the worst cars on earth when it comes to environmental impact and this stems from the mining, processing, and transport of the metals required to manufacture it's batteries. The 55mpg you get and the fact it is also one of the ugliest cars on earth comes at a steep price to the environment.
The Jetta TDI delivers real world mileage that is comparable to and can exceed the hybrid version and is a lot more fun to drive... and there is not any issue with what to do with the batteries when they need to be recycled.
These greener than thou drivers do not realize that the manufacture of their hybrids causes great deals of pollution because they do not see it... electricity also has to be generated somehow and in many places the fuel choice is still coal.
My non turbo Golf diesel delivered well over 70mpg... it was a little gutless but made up time passing gas station after gas station.
My 20 year old Nissan GXE gets a combined mileage in the low 30's and can top 40mpg on the highway and after nearly 250,000 km isn't ready for retirement because everything is still tight as tight can be.
Opinions on this are pretty varied, and as an electric car enthusiast I have read many "proofs" one way or the other. Complete strangers will come up to an electric car driver and start lecturing on the "moving the tailpipe" meme. The recyclability of batteries is pretty good, but with some energy waste in doing so. All in all its a Six of one Half dozen of the other issue. Every statement made by one camp tends to have some more or less provable counter argument.
But I say the hell with it. probably almost every dink who has ever confronted an electric or a hybrid owner on the street has personally produced one or two(or more) children who they had no problem buying massive amounts of battery powered toys, including a toy vehicle of some sort, and as they don't tend to last, probably more than one. And very few of those batteries end up being recycled in any fashion.