Slick Designs Plus Fuel Efficiency: New Car Models are Changing with the Times.

By: J.K. Wilson

According to FuelEconomy.gov, with gasoline costing $3.00 a gallon, it costs $4.69 to travel 25 miles in a Nissan Titan (14city/18hwy), after spending $75 to fill the tank. The Hummer H3 (16city/18hwy) has an annual fuel cost of $2600, assuming we're talking about 15,000 miles a year of driving. That's $50 a week, $200 a month!! Go ahead and take a moment and think about that...now take another moment. The Chevy Suburban (13city/17hwy), so common on the city streets these days, has an annual fuel cost of $3000, if you get the all wheel drive. The Toyota Yaris: 39 highway, 34 city, with an annual cost of around $1,250, or $24 a week. Fuel costs have been spiraling out of control, along with the size of the vehicles on the streets. There was a time, not too long ago, when a Jeep Cherokee or Ford Explorer was a large SUV, before the companies almost doubled the size of these popular models. Now, available SUV's are the size of small buses, literally.

Times, and budgets, are changing. Honda, Toyota, VW, and other companies are coming out with models based on sleek designs, consumers' actual needs and budgets, and concern for the obvious damage being done to the environment. The new VW Rabbit (22city/30hwy), which starts at around $14,000, offers a great alternative to even some of the sedans being put on the market. It's understandable that if you have a few kids, or haul furniture or other crap around once a week, then yeah, an SUV is something you have to consider when picking out a car. If you honestly think about, and realize the last time you moved anything was a year ago, well, you've been spending $50 a week for the possibility that you might have some errand to run someday that requires enough space to pack 10 people in. Now that's something to think about.