Advice buying environmentally friendly car...

muckety

.... if its not a contradiction in terms! Will be changing our family car later this year and would like to consider something environmentally friendly or at least minimise the damage. Mileage would be around 10-15k per year, need an estate due to work and family requirements. Budget around 10k (might stretch if needed). Rural base so pretty much no round trip less than about 15 miles.

I had thought that a bio fuel was a good option but recent reading has me in a quandry....

prospect

The single most enviornmantally friendly thing you can do is buy a used car. A huge percentage of the total pollution caused by a car in its lifetime occurs during its manufacturing.

€15K miles would justify a diesel from a cost basis, and judging by your budget you will have to go with a high mileage option anyway, and diesel would be better in this category.

something like this might suit:
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=726017

Although, if you are in a rural area those tyres might not be ideal.

Another option is this:
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=730711

These make a fantastic family car, they have a huge boot and some great features. Although reliability is questionable.

Mailman

Buy a secondhand. Don't place an order for a new car.

Plenty of nearly new cars out there at a significant discount to new price.
anything that is euro3 or euro4 compliant from the late 90s onward will be fine.

SeanW

Any second hand diesel.

Like the other posters said, 2nd hand means you cause no extra manufacture, and with diesel you get better MPG, as well as the potential to use Biodiesel in the future.

PDD

Also if you getting a diesel car the engine can be converted to run on Bio-Diesel with minimal effort depending on the type of engine and kits are readily available. Im no mechanic and from what little research Ive done it seems that its something to do with valves and seals (no no the cute furry ones). There are very few places that do this conversion in Ireland. You might also consider Straight Vegtable Oil (SVO). You could even help out and get your local chippers to start getting their waste oil collected:

http://www.frylite.com/waste-oil-collection/

Also as you are in a rural setting I would assume that it is quite likely that storing your own fuel is not a major issue thus making the logistics of running an alternative fuel car much easier.

Some info on bio-diesel and conversion:

http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2005/03/17/umbra-svoschool/
http://www.noendpress.com/caleb/biodiesel/

One or two things to consider is that there are issues with running alternative fuel vehichles esp converted ones (switching to bio-diesel manually etc), potentially higher maintentance costs, loss of storage space to a second tank and then there is also the moral question of wether you wish to encourage an industry on a wider scale that is doing as much harm as using fosil fuels. If your commited to using only waste oil then I say go for it! :-)

PDD

Also Ive just found this. Apparently there is a pilot scheme where SVO is tax exempt:

http://www.fusel.com/straight_vegetable_oil.html
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html

Oh and slightly more technical information regarding conversion

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html

muckety

Thats really helpful - thanks! Good bedtime reading for the next few nights.... my concerns were around the biofuel industry causing more problems than it is solving so its good to look at the SVO / local chipper option!

maniac101

PDD wrote:

Also if you getting a diesel car the engine can be converted to run on Bio-Diesel with minimal effort depending on the type of engine and kits are readily available.

Just to clarify: A diesel engine does not need to be converted to run on biodiesel. If you're planning on using 100% biodiesel, just check with the car manufacturer first to confirm that this is okay. A conversion kit is required only if you're using SVO.

there is also the moral question of wether you wish to encourage an industry on a wider scale that is doing as much harm as using fosil fuels.

I know what you're getting at but I wouldn't paint all biodiesel manufacturers with the same brush. There is a number of small manufacturers in Ireland who produce biodiesel in a sustainable manner using locally grown crops.

PDD

No I certainly wouldnt paint all biodiesel manufacturers with the same brush, as you have mentioned there are a few who are commited to production via sustainable methods. The problem is that its being bandied about like its the solution to all the worlds fuel problems while faling to mention the impact that mass farming on this scale would have. Right now just the hype of the idea is causing mass deforestation to plant stock plants. I hope the US based company that is growing algae for the production of biodiesel is tremendously successful or even better still there is a breakthrough with organic solar cells and they move into a good double digit range for efficiency.

Just out of curiosity has anyone else considered going a little greener and if they decided not to go through with it what was the major reason or reasons?