What will it take before you buy an alternative fuel vehicle?

B

bhsup

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Me? At the very least the following:
  • At least as roomy as my Taurus.
  • 400 miles on a "tank", "charge", "canister", whatever
  • Easy 5-10 minute replenishment/replacement of said tank, charge, canister, or whatever at stations that are as readily accessible as gas stations today.
  • Said replenishment/replacement to to require me to take a second mortage on my house.
  • At least the performance of a typical AMERICAN full-sized sedan. I don't want the equivalent of some pissant Civic four banger automatic.
  • Tying in with the first point I mentioned: plenty of trunk space.
  • No more likely to explode than a modern vehicle.
  • NO gamma radiation.
  • It had damned well still come with a spare tire. Preferably full-sized.
  • Something with some bulk to it so it doesn't feel like the doors will snap in two like balsa wood (hello Honda, Toyota, are you listening?? That jab was aimed at you). 3,000 lbs should be sufficient.
  • It comes with Kathy Ireland.
So what about you?
 
insanely cheap. I already get 35 miles to the gallon and I don't have a lot of spare cash.

Reasonably quick to refuel(or it's alternative equivalent).

about the size of a typical chevy 2 door car.

easy to use, I don't want to have to do anything fancier than shifting gears

It doesn't require on ethanol. As soon as the government stops subsidizing it I imagine it will be right up there in price with gasoline(perhaps moreso).

can go reasonable distances without a refuel/whatever the hell it needs. I'd say no less than 150 miles
 
I find a used one I can afford. Given where I live and the amount of that I drive, its more likely that I buy a vespa or a motorbike first though.
 
Bare minimum, it would have to outperform my present car, a 1998 Saturn SL-2, which gets 35 miles to the gallon, and has some decent acceleration for a straight-four.

I would prefer that it be offered with a manual transmission, along with being equally safe as the average sedan; that includes weight, size, interior room, and fuel combustibility. In addition, I would like it to have a range about equivalent to my present car, which is about 300-350 miles on a ten gallon tank.
 
Perfection said:
My legs break.
Click to expand...

This car would suit you Perf, it'll break your legs, and it's alternative fuel:

fnwincarys9.jpg
 
VRWCAgent said:
Me? At the very least the following:
  • At least as roomy as my Taurus.
  • 400 miles on a "tank", "charge", "canister", whatever
  • Easy 5-10 minute replenishment/replacement of said tank, charge, canister, or whatever at stations that are as readily accessible as gas stations today.
  • Said replenishment/replacement to to require me to take a second mortage on my house.
  • At least the performance of a typical AMERICAN full-sized sedan. I don't want the equivalent of some pissant Civic four banger automatic.
  • Tying in with the first point I mentioned: plenty of trunk space.
  • No more likely to explode than a modern vehicle.
  • NO gamma radiation.
  • It had damned well still come with a spare tire. Preferably full-sized.
  • Something with some bulk to it so it doesn't feel like the doors will snap in two like balsa wood (hello Honda, Toyota, are you listening?? That jab was aimed at you). 3,000 lbs should be sufficient.
  • It comes with Kathy Ireland.
So what about you?
Click to expand...

If I needed a car, I would say that your points are pretty good except that I would except a smaller car. I would also pay a bit more, but with carbon taxes coming, it would probably even out anyway.
 
National infrastructure.
Affordable
Practical
 
It can fly
 
That buying it saves me money.
 
It saves me more in gas than it would cost me to make the car payments and increased insurance.

Currently:
'97 Dodge Ram
1300 miles/month
at least 20 mpg
$4/gallon=

$260/month

Getting a 40 mpg car and I 'save' $130/month in gas, but the car payment will be higher than that, and then the insurance will be at least doubled.

Now take a hypothetical 60 mpg car and $6/gallon:
New Car=$130/month in gas
Old Truck=$390
Now it is alot closer to being pretty even, if the car payments are $199/mo, so it's going to have to be cheap (~$10,000).
 
It saves more than a negligible amount of energy/environment/whatever, it is powerful enough to meet hauling/highway speed needs for a respectable distance, and it doesn't look like a bug. :p

The problem with most nowadays is that the energy still has to come from somewhere, so it's environmental impact isn't all that big yet.
 
My current car breaking.
 
For me, it is a combination of things, most of which have already been mentioned.

1. The number one concern is access to fuel. If I go and buy something like a hydrogen fuel cell car, there has to be a fueling station:
a. within about 5 miles of my home
b. at least every 100 miles or so

2.My second concern is size. The trend so far in hybrid cars, anyway, is for ridiculously small cars that I can't fit in. Everyone I talk to claims that a Prius has plenty of space, but I say bull***t. I'm 6'4", and about 250 lbs, and there is no leg room. If a car doesn't have more leg room than a Chevy Impala, it isn't big enough for me.

3. Cost. If the outright cost of the vehicle is too high, or the cost of running it is higher than that of a typical gasoline vehicle, I just can't afford to do it. In all likelihood, for the cost of buying the vehicle to be reasonable, there will have to be used ones available. This means I probably wouldn't be able to get an alternative car for at least 3 or 4 years after they become commonplace.

4. Performance. I don't need great performance, but I would hope that it could easily achieve highway speeds, and with at least as much power as an average fullsize V6.
 
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