Saving Energy

I have a 1991 Caprice Classic.

I bought it in 1996.

In that 17 years I have bought one additional car (six years ago).

Even though I gravitate to cars that get crummy mileage, I cannot help but wonder if I am ahead of the people who are getting great mileage but replace their car every two years on energy consumption.

How much energy does it take to make a car, and if we're talking about being all greenie here, buying a new car that gets better mileage doesn't save any gas since your old car will still be in service with someone else!  You made the problem WORSE!

I found a web page claiming it took the equivalent to 715 gallons of gas to build a 2009 Civic.

On average I use 10 gallons a week in my Corvette.  So I use 520 gallons a year.

Our Civic owner gets about 50% more miles per gallon.  So figure, 7.5 gallons per week or 390 per year.  Buying a new Civic every other year adds 357.5 gallons per year for a total of 747.5 per year if they drive as much as I do (and most people drive a lot more).

The Lovely Harvey is a more typical commuter than I am and she puts on 676 gallons a year in her Civic.  For her to replace that car every other year like I see so many people do, 1,033.5 gallons!  More than double what my gas guzzling Vette uses.

The Caprice uses even less gas since it's not driven near as much.  I filled the 23 gallon tank in July and I am only just now getting to needing to fill up again.

I can see that I am not the energy problem here.