SageBrush said:
An older Prius, too. That is your best choice.
I've been looking up Prius information as the Prius seems like a logical choice. The 2013 and newer Mitsubishi Mirage also has my attention. The April 2018 Consumer Reports magazine seems to highly recommend any Prius. I was thinking of a perhaps getting a used Prius C. The one thing that scares me is that I've seen three Prius around here for sale, all with dead traction batteries. It makes me wonder if the cold here in Gunnison damages NiMH batteries. I feel I need to research some more.
SageBrush said:
I'm curious, would you be able to move your LEAF to Durango ?
I might be able to help you sell it there.
I believe I could drive it there. I could make it to Montrose, then to Ouray, then to Silverton, then Durango. As long as I was able to charge to 100% at most of those areas I'd be able to drive it. Or I could get my brother to tow me. Either way, the problem would be finding time. But I do want to work on getting the right car for us this summer, and although both my wife and I like the Leaf, I do think I need to get rid of it to make that move.
LeftieBiker said:
The NOx is much worse. We have evolved to deal with the former, but not the latter. IIRC you can lower your NOx emissions by using biodiesel.
Yes, but biodiesel also doesn't work in freezing weather. And I do live in about the coldest place in Colorado. Plus there's nowhere in around here to buy biodiesel that I know of, other than making my own from used veggie oil from restaurants. I've also considered water injection, emulsified fuel, CNG conversion, and even making a device that would strain out all the nitrogen from the air. But I don't think I have time for science projects right now.
Nubo said:
IssacZachary said:
So basically I'd have to travel 140 or more miles each day by bicycle...
It sounds as if you actually view this as an option. If so, hats-off to you!
Ya, when I was single I only had a bicycle. I went everywhere on that. Things change when you have a family though. I basically got my first petrol powered vehicle just a few weeks before getting married. Interestingly my wife never had owned a car before we got married either. But she was into public transportation, not bicycling.
DarthPuppy said:
To get it off the road and stop the pollution would truly require killing it.
That's another thing about the diesel. This diesel car is immortal. I've owned over 20 cars in my lifetime and have never seen a car as reliable as this diesel. It's got at least 500,000 miles on it and still starts, even in subzero weather. We've tried replacing it with some other used gasoline cars with far fewer miles but those kept breaking down and we kept coming back to our backup diesel. For an example, I once got a 2003 Chevy for $1,000 with front end damage. I got the damage fixed, replacing the entire front clip, stabilizer bar and a whole lot more, but kept having a terrible misfire problem. I replaced the ignition system, the injection system, the ECU, all the sensors and the car still had a horrible problem. There were several times that we went to go somewhere in the Chevy and then had to come back and get the VW diesel.
I gave up and ended up trading that Chevy for $700 as part of the down payment on the Leaf. That was a lot more than the $400 I was originally offered. And I was so happy with the Leaf. Like the diesel, it doesn't hardly need any maintenance or repairs, just simple things like a new battery and new windshield wipers. But now I need to drive further than what the Leaf can drive. So I'm back to the diesel again.
I'll probably just keep the diesel as a backup. Nobody is going to give me anything more than $500 for this car, if that. And I'm somewhat skeptical about the reliability of newer gasoline cars, so having a backup would be nice.