Our situation: We live 8 miles from Moscow. Our driveway has a 10% grade and is icy/snow covered in the winter. I drive to Spokane twice a week and haul heavy things regularly.

What we own:  2007 Toyota Prius

                        1992 VW Jetta EcoDiesel

                        1992 Dodge 4x4 Diesel pickup

                        1986 Toyota Land Cruiser - diesel

                        1980 International Scout w/Plow

Why we own them:

Prius:   We have always owned diesel cars so we can run biodiesel and vegetable oil in them. We departed from this last year when I evaluated emissions of vehicles and found the Prius to have the lowest of any vehicle other than a true electric vehicle (EV). The car isn’t 4wd and we go up and down our driveway with ease. I believe that 2wd cars with good snow tires (not all-season tires) do as well as a 4wd car on icy, plowed (or less than 6 inches of snow) roads. Most of our travel is in those conditions, our intent is not to use this car to access remote trailheads or blaze trail with it. I’m amazed at the size — the four of us can car camp

Disadvantages: Without good snow tires, it wouldn’t make it up our driveway. It’s gasoline powered, offering no ability to make your own fuel.

Jetta: This is my primary commuting car to Spokane. I fuel with it with 100% biodiesel when it’s above 36 degrees outside, otherwise I try to blend with 50% diesel. Its emissions are on the lower side due to biodiesel use, but there still are emissions. 2007+ diesels have made dramatic emissions improvements. It does well on icy roads and will make it up our driveway, albeit I have chained it up twice this year. I intend to convert this car to run on vegetable oil so I can burn a local waste product.

Disadvantages: It’s old, therefore it needs to be plugged in during freezing weather 1-2 hours before driving. It has 300,000 miles on it and doesn’t have airbags. Biodiesel has issues. With the older vehicles, it will rot your fuel lines over time (20,000 miles in my experience); newer than ’96 appears to be okay (most people replace their fuel lines with biodiesel-resistant hoses). Cold weather has its issues: if you forget to get the correct fuel in your car it will gel and not start until you heat the car up. It is common for people who run biodiesel to want the highest concentration in their tank year-round (I’m this way too). This is riding a fine line that can lead to gelling and swinging back to conventional vehicles, and worst, giving biodiesel a bad name.

Dodge Pickup: This is purely a hauling vehicle that I can run local fuel in and is reliable enough to take it on long distance journeys without concern. It’s ugly and works well.

Disadvantages: It likes to be plugged in when freezing, but doesn’t have to be. I have had to chain this truck up in 4wd to go up my driveway when the Prius drove right up.

Land Cruiser: I’m currently evaluating owning this still. Right now we use it purely for accessing local hiking areas on bad roads. It has been parked most of this last year.

Scout: Our plow rig that starts and goes about 10 miles/year.

My wishes: I wish that an affordable plug-in hybrid vehicle were available, especially diesel. They aren’t, and when they will be is probably up to some political force, not battery technology (visit www.calcars.org). An all-electric is desirable for our local commuting and I think would fit the bill for many people. It’s unfortunate that there are very few available today. In general, I think it is best to own the vehicle that solves the majority of your travel needs. In my opinion, the few times you truly need a feature doesn’t justify the environmental or financial costs that feature comes with.