Sjoerd Witteveen
York Region Media Group reporter Mike Power is enjoying zipping around town in his new Toyota Yaris, one of the so-called green vehicles on the market.
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August 05, 2007 07:32 AM
Eco Envy - A series on living more green
By: Michael Power
My decision to buy a fuel efficient, eco-friendly car evolved more from necessity than a raised environmental conscience.
My former car, a faithful and long-lived dark blue, 1991 Honda Accord, wasn’t going to last much longer.
One day earlier this year, while getting out from the driver’s side, the door handle came off in my hand.
My wrist would sometimes get sore from rolling down the window to open the door from the outside.
I feared having to pay physiotherapy bills.
The poor thing leaked oil.
The rear bumper had rusted so much, it was set to fall off.
Sometimes, and quite randomly, I would turn the key and it wouldn’t start.
The above is an abridged list of the car’s ailments.
At 16 years old, I expected at least one major problem to come along every six months or so that would cost me several hundred dollars.
A Canadian Tire mechanic summed up my car’s state during routine maintenance shortly before buying a new one.
“That car has a lot of issues,” he noted with a wince that said he felt my (or perhaps the car’s) pain.
The vehicle I decided to buy, a Toyota Yaris, seemed like a no-brainer for both me and the environment.
The car uses less gas, so I could feel smug about driving something that doesn’t produce much emission.
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy ranked the Yaris fourth in a list of green-friendly cars.
Three hybrid cars, including the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and the Nissan Altima Hybrid, ranked higher.
But then, the cheapest of those three (the Civic Hybrid) was also $10,000 more than the Yaris.
Another site called greenercars.org ranks the Yaris as a “superior” environmental choice for sub-compact cars.
I like the small size and rounded contours of the Yaris.
There’s also something European about the way the car looks, at least to me.
Apparently, it has been Toyota’s top-selling vehicle in Europe for five years and is beginning to edge out the slightly larger Corolla this side of the Atlantic.
At any rate, I can’t afford anything convertible.
So, I bought a 2007 Yaris several weeks ago with seven (count ‘em, seven) kilometres on it.
Any worries I had about my decision evaporated two hours after I drove it off the lot.
I pulled my new purchase into a parking spot at a community centre, got out, and met the eyes of two young boys loitering on their bicycles.
“Nice car,” said the older boy, probably around 10, with an approving nod.
And so it is.
It’s so compact, I can park my stick-shift Yaris just about anywhere.
But I’m still getting used to the length deficit.
I still sometimes parallel park, then realize later I’ve left about three or four feet more between me and the car behind me than I thought.
I can also turn it around more easily than bigger cars I’ve driven.
If I hang a U-turn — not that I ever do, mind you — I don’t have to worry about having to back up to miss the curb.
And changing lanes in such a compact car has become a breeze.
I can zip in and out of traffic with ease.
Although I’m trying to baby it by shifting gears early without revving the motor too high, I noticed it doesn’t have as much pep as other cars I’ve driven.
More than once, I’ve found myself giving it more gas in order to merge than I would have in my old Accord, which had a larger engine.
Apparently, the car produces eight tons per year of greenhouse gases.
I couldn’t figure out how much driving I would have to do to produce that much.
But by way of comparison, an adult African elephant weighs about seven tons.
It’s perhaps a testament to how much greenhouse gas we make when a car that produces just more than the weight of an African elephant each year is considered efficient.
A manual-shift Yaris gets 100 kilometres for every 6.3 litres of gas, according to Toyota’s website.
That’s pretty good and I would guess I save up to $10 during my weekly fuel up, as compared to my last car. But the fuel savings tends not to be as much as some people expect when they buy fuel-efficient cars such as a Yaris or a hybrid, said George Pires, a sales representative at Maple Toyota in Vaughan.
“They’re saving a little bit of money in gas,” Mr. Pires said. “There’s not a dramatic change. Some people think they’re going to save a tremendous amount.”
Another factor that pushed me toward the Yaris is the $1,000 rebate the federal government rewards me with for buying a fuel-efficient car.
The province has also stepped up with a rebate scheme of its own.
If you buy a Prius, for example, you will get $2,000 from the feds, plus as much as $1,000 back as a PST rebate from Queen’s Park.
But getting my cash back hasn’t proved easy. The dealership in Ottawa where I bought the car told me it would be no problem, just fill out and send a form to the government.
But the dealership sent me the wrong forms.
The forms I received would get me a rebate for converting my car from a less fuel-efficient to a more environmentally friendly fuel source.
Rather than contacting the dealership, I went on Transport Canada’s website to try to download a form.
Turns out that although the program is effective as of March 20, proud new car owners can’t apply until sometime in the fall.
The actual date has yet to be announced.