She's not really suggesting that hybrid cars don't come standard with moral superiority???

So, I read this article this morning in the online NYT. As the owner/driver of a hybrid vehicle, I was rightfully outraged.

Alright, so I did agree with her on some points. The whole hybrid SUV that gets marginally better mileage than say, a Lincoln Town Car, shouldn't be getting the kind of tax and other breaks that the truly efficient Insight, Prius or Civic get. But consider the kind of tax breaks the Hummer gets. It's size and weight qualify it as farm equipment, so if it's purchased for business use ~ say running a publicist or hair colorist from client to client in traffic clogged LA or Manhattan, ~ the purchaser can still avail him or herself of the same tax break (up to $100K) that a farmer (and I would really love to meet the farmer ~ of a product other than poppies or cocoa ~ who can afford a Hummer)that was meant to help American farmers utilize the advanced farm equipment that made their farms more efficient. I'm sure you've seen the Hummers with the tilling and harvesting features, no?

But back to me and my moral superiority... Feel free to demonize Lexus, but don't drag the rest of us down with the rich and status starved. I bought my Civic Hybrid after my 13 year old Honda Accord died on the side of the road. One of my closest friends from college, whose has a doctorate from Johns Hopkins, Department of Geology and Environmental Engineering, had a Prius already and loved it. (She was actually very excited when they passed an emissions standard in her county. She planned to stick around the service area while they attempted to run the emissions test on her car. She wanted to see how long it would take them to figure out that hybrids don't idle.) I'm a Honda person (my Civic is my third Honda) so I went with the Honda hybrid and I love it!! I've had it nearly two years now and I have very few complaints.

And, for the record my complaints are all rather frivolous ~ since the Civic Hybrid only has a CD player and no cassette, hooking my iPod into the car stereo was at first a little hinky with the early FM tuner technology and in colder climates the windshield wiper fluid lines freeze and do not defrost when you start running the car. The engine just doesn't get warm enough to melt them. This is easily solved by getting the wiper fluid that doesn't freeze or simply moving to a climate where nothing freezes. The battery also lives between the backseat and trunk, so forget about folding down the seats to create more trunk space. But, let's be honest, who buys a Civic for trunk space? When I moved halfway across the country a few months ago (and contrary to this article, I did get over 40 mpg on the highways!) people kept asking me if I was bringing this or that ~ usually a piece of furniture or some other large object ~ my response was always the same. What part of "moving in a Civic" do you not understand??

Yes, I am a scientist and an economist to boot. I realize that I will never actually recoup the extra money I spent for the hybrid engine, but the lessened cost to society as a whole entirely covers my extra expenses. Besides, how cool is it to only have to pump gas once a month?? And you never realize how ridiculously loud cars are until you spend time in a hybrid. One of my old neighbors didn't seem to have any acquaintances who possessed a muffler and it drove me nuts!! She probably considered me the crazy environmentalist nut in the Birkenstocks next door. But truth be told? After living in a bottle bill state for 4 years, I refused to recycle, just because I could.

Granted, you spend the first year or so driving a hybrid completely mesmerized by the charging and assisting bars and actually being able to see the gas mileage that you're getting right at that very moment! Unfortunately, it only goes up to 120 mpg, so even coasting down the largest hill you can't get the huge thrill of driving 400 mpg or something (Hope you're reading this Honda engineers....)

As for the moral superiority thing ~ that's strictly from West Wing, but I can't help but get a little obnoxious when I pass those big ass gas guzzling SUVs on the highway!! Especially, when my car is getting some ridiculously high mileage! Yeah, I feel morally superior, who would have thunk they could have packaged that in a car??