Green Car Choices Are Getting Cheaper and More Diverse

January 27, 2012 | 5:08 PM

Susan Phillips / StateImpact PA

Toyota offers rides of their Prius models around a large Monopoly board.

It costs to be green if you drive a car. But choosing to drive a fuel efficient car may be getting less expensive. A whole host of eco driving options are on display at the 110th annual Philadelphia Auto Show. And this year, car lovers can do more than look. Toyota offers a ride around a giant Monopoly board in a 2012 Prius V, their roomier new hybrid.. Costing between $26,000 and $30,000 dollars, the Prius V has 50 percent more cargo space than the current Prius and gets a combined 40 miles per gallon. Toyota also has the new, smaller Prius C for city drivers, at less than $20,000 dollars and 50 mpg combined.
But it’s not just the hybrids and electrics that are getting good gas mileage this year. A much cheaper option could be a car like the Chevy Cruze, which gets more than 40 mpg on a combustion engine. And the price tag is under $20,000.
Kevin Mazzucola, the executive director of the Auto Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia, says while hybrids only represent 3 to 4 percent of new car sales, the combustion engine is here to stay for awhile.
“When people look at green technology,” says Mazzucola, “it’s also the technology in the four cylinder engines that are now capable of getting 40 to 45 miles a gallon.”
Mazzucola says in past years, going green meant sacrificing performance.
“That’s not the case anymore,” says Mazzucola. “You have V6’s that get 300 horsepower but they’re getting 30 miles to the gallon. It’s not 40 to 45 mpg but at 30 miles to a gallon and 300 horsepower, that’s a great compromise.”
Mazzucola says that’s where the market is right now, four cylinder engines getting between 30 – 40 mpg. But for those who aren’t so cost conscious, yet very green, there’s the all electric luxury Fisker Karma. The sporty sedan costs about $100,000 dollars, has solar panels on the roof and more than 400 horsepower. But it gets only 20 mpg. The Philadelphia Auto Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center opens Saturday and runs until February 5.