Are you going to be purchasing a car within the next 6 months to a year?  Trying to save on gas? Not sure whether to buy a regular Honda Civic or a Honda Civic Hybrid? 

Or whether to choose an E85 truck (ethanol fueled - i.e. corn based) versus a regular F-150?  Being torn between choosing a hybrid, or ethanol, or regular gas car is a common occurence these days, and consumers will be asking more and more questions between these in the coming years.  Lets see if I can sort out the advantages and disadvantages of these two popular alternative fuel vehicles on roads near you…

1. E85 (ethanol fueled) - While one of the newest alternative fuels on the market, it’s really not your true alternative fuel vehicle.  E85 is a combination of Ethanol and Gasoline that has been available to the marketplace for a couple of years.  What makes these E85 fuel vehicles so popular is that the price of gas is around 30-40% cheaper than normal gas.  The problem however is the availability of gas stations that carry this rare fuel.  Consumers need to understand that while E85 is cheaper than gas it may require driving to gas stations that are located over 100 miles away.  If you find a gas station that carries E85, it may drastical help improve your finances. Also, there are fewer models of car equipped with ethanol engines in comparison to hybrid cars.
2. Hybrids (electricty/gas powered) - The most popular alternative fuel vehicle on the road is easily the Hybrid.  They come in many different versions, sizes, prices, and colors.  Hybrids allow the consumer many different options if saving gas is the main objective.  While Hybrids seem very sensible to the average consumer, how much do they really save gas over regular cars.  As mentioned in a previous post, your average strickly gas civic will get similar results and there is where you find the problem with Hybrids.  Don’t be fooled, due to excellent marketing campaigns, car manufacturers are cashing in on the popularity of the hybrid by increasing the prices of popular hybrid vehicle models (sometimes over 2 or 3 thousand more than the equavalent non-hybrid version) while promising an average of 5-8 miles per gallon savings.  Ask yourself, how much money do you save at the pump, when you by a Chevrolet Tahoe versus it’s gas only version? You are going to be spending at least $15,000 more on the hybrid version - thats a lot of cheaper gas driving you will have to do to make up for the higher initial price! I rest my case.

Which fuel would you choose? Would love to hear all your thoughts!

Like this post? Digg it/Stumble it/Email it

Tags: Alternative Fuels, E85 fuel, Flex- Fuel, Gas-Only Vehicles, Hybrids