[OVerLoRDI]

Sort of an informal survey spawned from my own curiosity. What cars are the peak oil aware driving and buying? Also please note when you purchased this car, the model year (if it was a used car) and whether or not you were aware of peak oil at the time. If you want throw in some figures (mpg, miles on the car.... etc)

1994 Plymouth Grand Voyager, Had no idea about peak oil. ~14 mpg 170000+ miles
1989 Isuzu Trooper, Free from my Aunt :D ~17 mpg (trying to fix it up mpg should improve as things get fixed)

[catbox]

2003 Mitsubishi Outlander...great family vehicle, lots of room, you can sleep in it, good get up and go...only a 4 cyl!.....20 city, 25 highway.
Selling our Lancer next week...finally we'll be down to one car!!!!! We've got a quiver of 6 bikes and a Burley trailor for our other vehicles......

Viva le Velo!

[Clouseau2]

2000 Mercedes E320 ... 30 MPG on the highway! I've gotten it up to 31 MPG going 75 MPH on Highway 5 (very flat), and I checked, the fuel computer is accurate.

I average around 26 MPG overall.

I used to commute to the office 5 days per week, now I telecommute 4 days and only go in once per week.

I'm thinking about moving closer to the office so that I can bike to work.

[Lighthouse]

2000 Daewoo Lanos 33MpG bought her 2002 and I was PO aware then.
2005 Hyosung Comet GT650 Naked Motorcycle 58 - 60 MpG bought her new. This is my main transport at the moment.

[pea-jay]

We bought our VW TDI Jetta in 2002, new. I was not peak oil aware, but I figured diesel would keep increasing in price during the life of the car and a high milage car was a winner in my book. Plus my wife needed it for longish trips several days a week to the nearest university so saving fuel and reliability was essential.

I was not disappointed on either.

That's our only car at this time and it travels just 10 miles on average to work and back. I just shrug at the price at the pump and move on.

[newhunter-gatherer]

Traded my VW scirocco in when became aware of peak 2 years ago for a 1991 1400cc Citroen AX GT which cost me 400 pounds. Gets around 40mpg, never fails to start and goes like sh*t off a shovel

[Doly]

I have no car. Never had a car. No intention of ever getting one.

I never understood why people bought cars, since I was little. It always looked like such a wasteful and stupid method of transport (you only have to see any traffic jam to agree). I guess I was one of the few children that saw the emperor had no clothes.

[energyaddict]

2004 BMW 320 diesel automatic, purchased in 2005 - when I was very well Peakoil aware.

Get´s up to 40 mpg on higway use (max. speed 90 mph, average speed 75 mph). 50 mpg is possible if I try hard - but I am not only addicted to energy, I am also addicted to speed....

Overall consumption is approx. 35 mpg

It is the most economic car I ever had - and the fastest also... (up to 140 mph)

[Madpaddy]

First thing,

Can people specify if it is European gallons or US gallons they are using. US gallon = 3.68 litres, European = 4.54 litres.

Traded in my old car for a new FIAT multipla diesel in 2005 when I was PO aware. Old car did 22mpg (european gallon). New car does 54mpg rural and 40 mpg urban. All the rear seats can be removed to use it as a minivan. It seats six adults in comfort. When the kids are out of babyseats which take up alot of space, I hope to trade in for a volkswagen jetta diesel or similar that can take biofuel with little or no modification. I also have a giant lite electric bike.

The bad news is that they don't sell FIAt multiplas in the US to the best of my knowledge

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Madpaddy', 'F')irst thing,

Can people specify if it is European gallons or US gallons they are using. US gallon = 3.68 litres, European = 4.54 litres.

...

[benzoil]

Car: 1987 Medecedes 300 TD. 30+MPG on the highway. Has about 250K miles on it. I bought it on eBay after learning about Peak Oil. It replaced my ML320, which seemed to get about 15MPG around town.

Truck: Of course, once we moved to the country we HAD to get a pickup truck. I thus own a full size 1992 GMC pickup truck that gets..oh...14MPG. I generally only drive it to Home Depot and the Feed store. It should have an umbelical tether to a gas pump.

I'm lucky in that my commute is all of 3 miles. If I didnt have to drop off my 4 year old enroute, I'd bike it. Might figure a way to do that anyway!

[BicycleCommuter]

I have only been aware of Peak Oil for about 2-3 years, but for the last 10 years, we have been a one car family. My wife is a stay-at-home mom and I have bicycled to work for those 10 years. For 5 of those 10 years I had 16 miles round trip and for the last 5, I have had 10 miles roundtrip.

We have 4 kids so we currently have a 1998 Dodge Minivan...which gets about 22 miles to the gallon on the highway. And although that is not great, we can go days without driving. We walk and bicycle. For the 6 of us we have 10 bicycles in the garage.



Bicycle for PEACE....

[Troyboy1208]

I have a honda civic hybrid 2004. I had a 2002 honda civic hybrid before that. I get on average about 45 mpg.

[benzoil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BicycleCommuter', 'I') have only been aware of Peak Oil for about 2-3 years, but for the last 10 years, we have been a one car family. My wife is a stay-at-home mom and I have bicycled to work for those 10 years. For 5 of those 10 years I had 16 miles round trip and for the last 5, I have had 10 miles roundtrip.

Bicycle for PEACE....

[horsestoaster]

*sigh* Husband buys vehicles with unrealistic MPG expectations.We don't buy new because we discovered it is a ripoff.But he is a mechanic,so we keep our fleet rolling.1)1988 Honda vanagon 32MPGs hubby's daily driver 2)1992 F150 extended cab truck to haul hay,horses.,cows with.18MPGs loaded or not 3) 1990 F150 18MPGs.Hubby's pet truck 3)1980 Triumph Spitfire 38MPGs Fun and scary all at the same time! All but Hubby's pet truck bought before I knew about P.O.Hubby bought truck despite(to spite?)me.He thinks P.O. is just a bunch of crap I made up so I can have animals and a garden and a woodburner and to dry the laundry outside(cause all this stuff is way fun and not at all useful.)The Honda is driven the most and the others mainly sit Unless I need hay or have to haul livestock somewhere.We make 1 trip a week into town(I'm working on every 2 weeks but kids and Hubby make it tough.) and run any errands then using the Honda.*sigh*

[Barbara]

Audi A4 Turbo 1997. 22 mpg

But anyway, we mostly use scooter (90 mpg) and bike...

[12volts]

Right now I have a 92 GMC Sanoma PU with a 5.7L (350) V8 that gets vary poor milage depending on my lead right foot.. Sorry i'm an old hotrodder! The truck was free but had a bad motor and now I do wish I had just went back with the V6 but being a gearhead all my life it is a tuff habit to break.

The wife has a 93 Chevy S10 Blazer LT 4.3L Vortec V6. She paid $1000 for it and she loves it and I still can't get her to beleve in PO eventhought she runs a gas station and has had fuel delivery problems.

I never check milage as I realy don't want to know! For myself I have never paid more than $500 for a car or truck but being a mechanic I can buy junk and fix it.. Having worked in junkyards as a kid I guess it is just fitting.

I have bought a 82 Ford Ranger for $400 that was going to be my next hotrod with a hopped up V8 but peak oil threw that out the window! Now it will get a worked over 2.3L 4cly And the GMC will go away.

I am only about 7 miles from work and the wife is maybe 9 and we could ride togather if we had the same hours. But she goes in 4hrs before I do.

I do wish I had had the money to convert the old D50 PU I had over to electric but I never seem to have the cash for projects that I would like to try. Like my off the grid eco bunker as Matt calls it..

It would be nice to have a nice new high milage car but it is hard to find one in my $500 price range!!!

[Anthrobus]

hi,

my wife and i chose deliberately not to sink our earnings into some brand new car. So we replaced my extremly reliable old, low powered volkswagen passat diesel with exactly the same model. The car did cost less then 2.500 €'s and a lot of search over the net. I learned with amazement, that you pay in a new car for some navigation rubbish more additional price than we did for the whole auto, whoa! The guy never should have sold it. The wreck of the old car still stands in the garage for devouring off some replacement parts if necessary.

Mileage is normally about 6 l /100 km, thats about 39 mpg.

What makes me really leap about this car is its simple and reliable 4-pod engine, which allows us to run it on 100% rape seed oil most of the year with only some minor adjustments.

Some years ago, i drove about 5.000 km/month, but we are down now to about half of it (including the driving for work, which i get refunded). We own just this one car, another car is available at my parents in law, for shopping together, doctor etc.

PO-awareness is quite new with us, but the use of biofuels did fascinate me already several years earlier. So our car-concept is the most advanced facet of our life in regard to po. We have yet to catch up in fixing up the house, heating, etc.

To put some ashes upon my head, i have to admit that in my youth, we just drove hence and forth heavily and careless, disco, holidays, etc. like in Kerouacs "on the road", every minor reason set our cars in motion. Well, a lot of crap has to happen to make people change their minds ...

[truecougarblue]

1996 Dodge Ram PU 2500 Cummins diesel 20mpg running on 50% WVO. Bought it before PO aware but would buy it again in a heartbeat.

1999 Chevy Suburban 1500. 17mpg was previously main transport for the family, now driven seldom. Bought it before PO aware.

1996 Geo Tracker 30mpg purchased before PO aware for 100mile round trip commute. Not currently running.

2001 Kia Rio 30mpg bought it before PO aware. Wife car for around town.

1966 Mustang six cylinder for my oldest daugter to drive to school. It gets driven very little so I really don't know the mileage.

I'm debt adverse so all of these vehicles were paid for cash, and since I drive the truck for an average cost of 1.26/gallon the current cost of gas isn't hurting us. Maybe it will when it's above $10/gallon, or when they make greasel illegal.

[NeoPeasant]

Taurus I bought new in 98 before I was PO aware. 30mpg highway.
Wife has a 94 Chev Cavalier 4 cyl she bought nearly new in 94.

My Taurus has the Utah vanity plate that says "PEAKOIL"

We are putting very few miles on them lately. I walk to work and my wife stays at home. They aren't the highest gas mileage cars around, but they are long paid for. And we will ultimately use less energy using them sparingly and maintaining them than if we caused the manufacture of new vehicles by replacing them.