So with Jude graduated (post graduated?) my thoughts about a car for michigan turn to obsession. Of course being a professor in management and the environment in a school known for environmental research means that Jude can't just turn up in any old car. The US may not have cought on to Carbon Neutral Fascism yet - but it's coming and Jude wants to look and feel clean. Which means a car that looks and feels clean (and masks the fact that its main purpose will be to shuttle her back and forth to an airport whereupon she'll board public enemy #2 and blow any savings she's made and more)
The real problem of course is finding a car in the US that does decent miles to the gallon. The US likes its cars to be fat and lazy - to have huge displacement, fat torque curves and wallowy seats seperated by think arm rests otop which rest 1700KCal Starbucks drinks.
Take for example the VW Golf (Rabbit in the US)...a frugal 1.4L car in the UK the entry model here is a 2.5l that 24.7mpg in real world driving conditions. Even when you add the 20% that brings a US gallon up to th esame size as a UK gallon you're looking at just under 30mpg - and that's considered pretty darn good (the 2.5L VW is a compact car here)
So we're looking at a Honda Fit (think Jazz with bigger engine), at a Suzuki SX4 (think Suzuki SX4 with standard all wheel drive, 143hp and 24mpg - yikes) and at things like the Toyota Matrix / Pontiac Vibe , the base model (2.0) Ford Focus as well as a Prius that's great in normal conditions but only manages 31mpg in the cold winters of Michigan.
Diesel isn't really an option. You can't find diesel cars. You can't find Diesel at the pumps and the thought of importing from California (where emissions standards make cars cleaner) fills me with red tape heebie jeebies.
Really it comes down to one question. Can the Honda FIt stand up to a Michigan winter or do we need a real 4 wheel drive vehicle in which case the SX4 is the most fuel efficient option. Why the worry? Well the average temperature is sub zero in Detroit for 3 months of the year (lows around -8C on average in January). The annual average temperature is in single digits (Centigrade) and you're looking at around 4 feet of snow a year - if there are no major storms. And there are often major storms.
Anyway lots of things to think about as we headto the NYC MOTOR SHOW this afternoon - templates in hand, ready to take a look and see what we can see. What feels right. And who has the best deals. Remember that cars may be huge and inefficient here but they're cheap... 2.5l Golf - 7,600GBP, Toyota Yaris 5,800GBP, fully load 4*4 SX4 with every extra 7.800 quid.
I just rubbed my hands with glee.
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