So You Wanna Buy an SUV?
The Sierra Club has come out in favor of an SUV— you read that correctly. Not only are they in favor of Ford’s Mercury Mariner hybrid vehicle, but they are actively helping to promote it. In addition to being more environmentally friendly (it gets 33 mpg in town and 29 mpg on the highway), the Mariner is union-made in the United States. Although it won’t appear in showrooms until the fall, it is already available on online. (read more)
Unfortunately, for my family, this SUV falls into the “completely useless” category. We drive an SUV, but that’s because we have 5 children. An SUV that seats 4 comfortably or 5 if you squeeze them into the backseat does us absolutely no good. Our next vehicle will have better gas mileage, but that’s because we’ll buy a minivan next. Now, why don’t they make one of those as a hybrid?
Toyota makes a hybrid Sienna minivan, but only in Japan. I forget what it is called, but it looks remarkably like the new version of the Sienna that just came out this year. With the success of their Prius, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the hybrid minivan here in the near future.
Comment by susie — August 2, 2005 @ 5:50 pm