http://montaraventures.com/blog/2008/07/23/liquidity-crisis/ Mike Harding's Blog Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:31:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 http://montaraventures.com/blog/2008/07/23/liquidity-crisis/#comment-37301 Three Months of Hybrid Experience Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:33:29 +0000 http://montaraventures.com/blog/?p=1254#comment-37301 [...] When I purchased my Honda Hybrid back in July, gas prices in California were hovering right around $5/gallon. As I write this, they’re now a little over $3/gallon. What a change. And, don’t get used to it, they’ll be going back up as the era of cheap gas is long gone. As the economy recovers so too will the price of gas. But that’s a subject for another blog entry… When I was making the decision to buy this car, I had visions of grandeur where I would buy a Prius, convert it to a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle, have access to the carpool lanes, and pay not very much for fuel while doing it. Fortunately, my pragmatic side kicked in and forced me to examine the realities of my situation: I have no time for projects. I needed access to the carpool lane, nothing more, nothing less. The price of fuel has almost zero bearing on my life, so why be obsessed with the gas mileage? Ultimately, I concluded that I needed car pool lane access stickers attached to the cheapest reasonably safe vehicle I could find and that all pointed toward the Honda Civic. (And, I do have to admit I still think the Prius is dorky looking. The Civic will win no design awards, but at least it just looks like a regular sedan.) That pragmatism saved me about $15,000 of the overall acquisition/improvement price tag (difference in price between Honda and Toyota + PHEV conversion kit.) Now, having driven nearly 6,000 miles, I appreciate my pragmatic side all the more. By the numbers, here’s what this car has done for me: [...] [...] When I purchased my Honda Hybrid back in July, gas prices in California were hovering right around $5/gallon. As I write this, they’re now a little over $3/gallon. What a change. And, don’t get used to it, they’ll be going back up as the era of cheap gas is long gone. As the economy recovers so too will the price of gas. But that’s a subject for another blog entry… When I was making the decision to buy this car, I had visions of grandeur where I would buy a Prius, convert it to a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle, have access to the carpool lanes, and pay not very much for fuel while doing it. Fortunately, my pragmatic side kicked in and forced me to examine the realities of my situation: I have no time for projects. I needed access to the carpool lane, nothing more, nothing less. The price of fuel has almost zero bearing on my life, so why be obsessed with the gas mileage? Ultimately, I concluded that I needed car pool lane access stickers attached to the cheapest reasonably safe vehicle I could find and that all pointed toward the Honda Civic. (And, I do have to admit I still think the Prius is dorky looking. The Civic will win no design awards, but at least it just looks like a regular sedan.) That pragmatism saved me about $15,000 of the overall acquisition/improvement price tag (difference in price between Honda and Toyota + PHEV conversion kit.) Now, having driven nearly 6,000 miles, I appreciate my pragmatic side all the more. By the numbers, here’s what this car has done for me: [...]

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