Hello to all you readers of Auto123.com's Green Wheels column.
I hope you are enjoying your summer and that the rise in gas prices is not spoiling it too much. You might remember in my last article of the season, titled "Let's face the truth...", I talked a lot about the importance of oil in our lives and how its growing scarcity will have an enormous impact on our everyday lives.
Well, two months later and $13 more a barrel, I think it we better start calculating the economic and ecologic impacts of the choice of your vehicle.
Family contest
Last week, a cousin of mine decided to invite the whole family for a weekend at his summer cottage that is located on the bank of the magnificent St-Lawrence River, in the town of St-Michel de Bellechasse. Since I come from a very big family, at least 75 of my cousins, uncles and aunts were there, which only represents a portion of our clan.
Since many of us now live in Montreal, I thought that it would be interesting to compare the fuel consumption of the various vehicles that would hit the road in direction to my cousin's place, to give you a down-to-earth idea of the differences from one vehicle to another.
The distance between Montreal and St-Michel de Bellechasse is 300 kilometres. While there are two different trajectories to reach that magnificent town from Montreal that faces the splendid Orleans Island, everyone took highway 20. The road is flat because it crosses the St-Lawrence valley, which is an ideal route to drive in the most efficient way. In fact, driving in the mountains is more fuel-consuming, the downhills cannot compensate for the uphills.
The contestants for this route:
1.My sister: a careful driver, that drives at an average speed of 110 km/h behind the wheel of a 2002 Saturn L200 equipped with a 2.2L 4-cylinder engine;
2.My uncle: a veteran driver, that drives at an average speed of about 120-125 km/h behind the wheel of his 2004 Nissan Altima with a 2.5L 4-cylinder engine;
3.My cousin: a driver who's always in a hurry, used to driving regularly around 130 km/h at the helm of his brand-new Chevrolet Equinox equipped with a 3.4L V6 engine;
4.Your truly: a "ecologic" driver (a polite way of saying slowpoke), who now drives in function of fuel economy and limiting harmful emissions, who will average a speed limit of 90 to 95 km/h behind the wheel of his 2001 Honda Insight, featuring a 1.0L 3-cylinder engine assisted by, thanks to hybrid technology, an electric engine.
5.And last but not least, the ghost driver...
I hope you are enjoying your summer and that the rise in gas prices is not spoiling it too much. You might remember in my last article of the season, titled "Let's face the truth...", I talked a lot about the importance of oil in our lives and how its growing scarcity will have an enormous impact on our everyday lives.
Well, two months later and $13 more a barrel, I think it we better start calculating the economic and ecologic impacts of the choice of your vehicle.
Family contest
Last week, a cousin of mine decided to invite the whole family for a weekend at his summer cottage that is located on the bank of the magnificent St-Lawrence River, in the town of St-Michel de Bellechasse. Since I come from a very big family, at least 75 of my cousins, uncles and aunts were there, which only represents a portion of our clan.
Since many of us now live in Montreal, I thought that it would be interesting to compare the fuel consumption of the various vehicles that would hit the road in direction to my cousin's place, to give you a down-to-earth idea of the differences from one vehicle to another.
The distance between Montreal and St-Michel de Bellechasse is 300 kilometres. While there are two different trajectories to reach that magnificent town from Montreal that faces the splendid Orleans Island, everyone took highway 20. The road is flat because it crosses the St-Lawrence valley, which is an ideal route to drive in the most efficient way. In fact, driving in the mountains is more fuel-consuming, the downhills cannot compensate for the uphills.
The contestants for this route:
1.My sister: a careful driver, that drives at an average speed of 110 km/h behind the wheel of a 2002 Saturn L200 equipped with a 2.2L 4-cylinder engine;
2.My uncle: a veteran driver, that drives at an average speed of about 120-125 km/h behind the wheel of his 2004 Nissan Altima with a 2.5L 4-cylinder engine;
3.My cousin: a driver who's always in a hurry, used to driving regularly around 130 km/h at the helm of his brand-new Chevrolet Equinox equipped with a 3.4L V6 engine;
4.Your truly: a "ecologic" driver (a polite way of saying slowpoke), who now drives in function of fuel economy and limiting harmful emissions, who will average a speed limit of 90 to 95 km/h behind the wheel of his 2001 Honda Insight, featuring a 1.0L 3-cylinder engine assisted by, thanks to hybrid technology, an electric engine.
5.And last but not least, the ghost driver...