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Can we be green AND have a car?

The product reviews are on their way tomorrow... but first, we have one HUGE new product review - a car.

I'm so ashamed!

But I've been carless for about 6 years now and, man, it felt good to get out of London and not be fleeced by the train companies. For American readers, train tickets here are about 4-5x more expensive than in the states. And gas is about $7/gallon. They get you every which way in the old UK! There's one man somewhere on this island sitting on a huge stack of gold...

Our car is a Spanish Seat and it gets about 40MPG highway, 30 city. Not great but not terrible. I pushed for something compact with way better fuel consumption but the Mr. found our green list cars to be wimpy drives. And he was getting aggravated by the never-ending requirements--especially since he does the majority of the driving as I have yet to figure out how the hell to get round a round-a-bout in London without having a nervous breakdown.

We had a tight budget and were only looking at second hand cars. The most green one that we both loved the look of was a Honda Insight but there was only one used for sale in the ENTIRE country and it only sat 2 people and was a fortune for a 2nd hand car.

So with super green cars out of our price range or too mushy for the man, I had to do something to compromise. So a 5 year old clean burning Spanish set of wheels it is.

Though, we've agreed our next purchase, when we've got more car dosh, and more need for a car (i.e. if we ever leave London and move to the countryside) will be a super green model. We're waiting for Honda and Toyota to get use something green, nippy and affordable.

The worst part about now having said car is I can feel the LA girl in me coming out and suddenly I want a ride everywhere. And I mean everywhere.

To be continued...

Comments

Anonymous said…
congrats on the wheels. i hear you on the guilt front.

found this product link on bio-plastic bags. it made me think of you and previous post you wrote...

http://kitchen.apartmenttherapy.com/food/kitchen-cleanup/product-bioplastic-bags-008079
6:54 pm
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