On Mon, Mar 21, 2005 at 07:21:21PM -0800, Frank Mayhar <frank at exit.com> wrote: > Gaertk at aol.com wrote: > > I'm looking at cars too right now, trying to find something cheap, > > reliable, and reasonably fuel-efficient. Right now I'm favoring the > > Toyota Echo; anyone here have any experience with one? > If you are a city-dweller, I highly recommend the hybrids. It impresses > me a lot when city mileage is much greater than highway mileage. Were I > to buy a new car at the moment, that's what I would get. I _like_ the idea > of 50mpg or better. Unfortunately, those aren't sound facts either. Getting 50mpg >from a hybrid means, essentially, that you are running on battery power rather than engine power. The EPA tests are short enough that the car can run on battery power *for the entire test*. But the batteries must be recharged at some point by operation of the engine. Real mileage may not match inflated expectations. I'm certainly not an expert on this area, but please do google before you buy. -- Homepage: http://matthew.infodancer.org/ Politics: http://triggerfinger.org/ Literature: http://speculativefiction.org/ Public Key: http://matthew.infodancer.org/public_key.txt