Hybrid and electric car buyers are just better

Go ahead and hate me for being intelligent and responsible

What’s the cost of not taking action?

Sure, the buyers of hybrid and electric cars don’t always make the most cost-effective choices, but many times their choices are best, even financially. For example, many hybrid cars make the best city cars and they can be far more cost-effective than non-hybrids. But even if hybrids and plug-ins are not always cost-effective, at least hybrid and plug-in buyers are taking action, at least they’re taking responsibility.

The rest of America just talks about taking action. Blah, blah, blah. Some day I’m gonna go on a diet, stop smoking, start investing, be a better person — starting tomorrow. Always tomorrow. Sure, we can all talk a big game, but few of us even show up on game day. Thus, despite some arrogance and elitism, maybe even some ignorance, hybrid and electric car buyers are still better than most other Americans.

Fantasy land. That should be the new tag line of America. Don’t live it, just dream it! Why take action when pretending is so much easier? Plus, you can always blame someone else for your lack of action. America is so unfair! If only Sharia law would be implemented, or maybe some Chinese communism, or some bankrupt form of European socialism,  I could finally start L-I-V-I-N! But America, just won’t cut me a break.

Excuse me, it’s time for another bong hit.

Besides, poll after poll, survey after survey, claims we all want better fuel economy. Every time the Sierra Club calls, cough, cough, cough, we all tell’em we’re willing to pay more up front for fuel economy as long as there is an eventual return on our investment. What more do they want? An actual purchase?

Seriously, by 2025, I’ll be ready to pay more for fuel efficiency. But today? I would, but I heard the batteries only last a year or two and cost more than the car. Thus, this is gonna be my last guzzler….and my last cigarette and Twinkie. Tomorrow I’m turning a new leaf, just not a Nissan Leaf.

OK. That’s a little unfair. Consumers might consider downsizing, for instance, but only if into a sporty small car, or a loaded crossover. Really, we aren’t giving up that much. Automakers have just made these slightly more fuel efficient vehicles — particularly only the highway — more enticing. And, once you load ‘em up and add an automatic transmission, how much bang for the buck are you really getting?

Maybe we’ve taken a baby step forward, but that’ all.

I know. I’m crazy. Consumers don’t buy hybrid cars simply because they don’t even make long term cost-effective sense. Consumers aren’t dumb. That’s why the new 2012 Toyota Camry SE is red hot, while the Camry hybrid is not. It’s all about the Benjamin’s.

Yet, if you run the numbers for city drivers, as I did in Best cars: Toyota Camry hybrid versus the conventional Camry, the Camry hybrid should be selling far better. When you add up the extra horsepower and torque, the significantly better city fuel economy, and the higher gas prices in most major cities — plus the very clear potential of gas spikes — it’s pretty obvious the Camry hybrid is the best Camry for most city drivers.

But, you know the story. We’d rather save more today and spend more down the road, despite our worries about national security. Despite the very serious threat of oil spikes. Rather than take action, or responsibility for impact upon the world, we’d rather just wait until tomorrow. Then we’ll complain and blame everything on someone else.

We really do need a nanny state. Sharia law or communism now! Let’s just flip a coin.

Of course, you don’t have to only buy a hybrid. Buy a natural gas Honda Civic. Keep an old car well-maintained and drive it less. Become a vegetarian. Take public transportation. Car share. There are lots of options, but the favored option of most Americans is an excuse, followed by mockery of those that actually take a stand and put their money where their mouths are, turning fantasies into realities.

Face it. You make fun of hybrid and plug-in buyers because you know they’re better than you, at least when it comes to auto purchases and energy issues, because you just talk about doing something, but you never do it. It doesn’t matter if plug-in and hybrid buyers are a little smug, annoyingly arrogant, or ignorant about the reality that maybe dirty domestic coal isn’t really that much better than dirty domestic oil or natural gas. Of course, dirty American coal is certainly better than dirty Saudi Arabian oil. Nevertheless, hybrid and plug-in buyers are doing something.

You’re just making excuses and living in fantasy land. Now, heads or tails?