Is getting a Hybrid SUV like getting a Diet Coke with your Big Mac and fries?

Lighten up, John.

I don’t think that’s quite fair. It’s true that most people who own SUVs could manage just fine with significantly smaller cars. However, improving from a 20 mpg to 30 mpg SUV is a significant reduction in gas consumption and CO2 emissions. I mean that’s a 50% improvement in fuel economy.

Certainly we’d be even better off if people bought more reasonable cars which actually realistically fit their needs. But I’d say it’s more like going from eating fast food every other day to eating it twice a week. It would be better to eat it less frequently, but at least it’s an improvement.

8 Responses to “Is getting a Hybrid SUV like getting a Diet Coke with your Big Mac and fries?”

  1. Instant Star Just Add Coffee says:

    Exactly like it.

    No empty calories in your drinks, but a bunch of crap in the rest of it.
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  2. oikos says:

    Not really. Ford has two that qualified under the CARS program (Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner).
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  3. grandmastergranola says:

    I can see the point…although I knew someone who started their health transformation with switching to diet soda. They ended up losing 150 pounds and just ran their first marathon.

    The point is that is may seem like an empty gesture but it could be the beginning of a better pattern of buying behavior. I just wish I didn’t have to pay for the irresponsibility of others.
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  4. Not Just Another Betsy says:

    Haha, yes. That’s a great comparison.
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  5. Dana1981, Master of Science says:

    I don’t think that’s quite fair. It’s true that most people who own SUVs could manage just fine with significantly smaller cars. However, improving from a 20 mpg to 30 mpg SUV is a significant reduction in gas consumption and CO2 emissions. I mean that’s a 50% improvement in fuel economy.

    Certainly we’d be even better off if people bought more reasonable cars which actually realistically fit their needs. But I’d say it’s more like going from eating fast food every other day to eating it twice a week. It would be better to eat it less frequently, but at least it’s an improvement.
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  6. Kadee says:

    I say no because Diet Coke is.. gross and still bad for you, but if you are going to buy an SUV anyways, you may as well compromise and buy a hybrid one, if you have to money to do that. I see it as more of meeting in the middle =]
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  7. C'mon Get Happy says:

    Actually getting a Big Mac and Fries is like getting SUV as gas guzzling as a Hummer.

    According to the United Nations 2006 report "Livestock’s Long Shadow", the livestock industry creates more green house gases than all the cars, boats, planes and trains in the world COMBINED.

    By skipping meat just one day a week is the carbon dioxide equivalent of changing from the standard sedan to the ultra green Toyota Prius!
    References :
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&ref=science

  8. John W says:

    Many of the people who order the diet coke with their Big Mac and Fries are doing so not because of calories but because of glucose levels. Regular soda is basically sugar water and hence will raise blood glucose levels very rapidly causing hyper-glycemia especially with people who are diabetic. The Big Mac and Fries are complex carbohydrates which gets converted to glucose over a period of time and hence is less dangerous to these people.

    The age old snicker about people ordering diet soda with their fast food meal is purely out of ignorance and is not a fair commentary on those who must order diet soda because of their health.
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