When I was entering my senior year of high school, my parents bought me a new car. After careful research we settled on a Chrysler Cirrus. There were many factors behind this choice; I was looking for an American car that was sleek and powerful. Although it’s had a few sensor issues, it has performed well (for an American car,) and is still my primary means of transportation these days. Now that I’m up in Maine, and earning a salary (barely) I have assumed most responsibilities for the car, such as lube jobs and, yes, gas. I just got back from the pump about $40 in the hole. Curious how soon this damage would again be inflicted, I went to fueleconomy.gov and looked up my car – what I found was somewhat surprising.

The MPG estimates for a ’99 Chrysler Cirrus are 17 city / 25 highway. As a comparison, I looked up my parents’ new Prius – 48 city / 45 highway. The site does a handy calculation of “annual fuel cost.” This is based on an estimated 15K driven per year with gas costs at 2.88/gal. Based on these numbers, the cost to fuel my car for one year is $2,160 – or – as an AmeriCorps volunteer, about 2 months salary. But I chose to be a volunteer, right? Yeah. By the way, the annual fuel cost of the Prius is under 1K!

But this isn’t just a whine about expenses, rather one about choices. I wanted a 6 cylinder car because, face it, 4 cylinder cars just aren’t as fun to drive. Therefore I seek American Muscle, affordable power. But what is the price of such bullishness? Can we still have powerful “American” style cars in this era, or is this desire incompatible with global realities, indeed even irresponsible? I’d hate to say so. I’d like to think that American Muscle can be green (see the Tesla Roadster.) But at what point does this model become affordable to the average consumer, and what’s to stop Toyota from building it first? I’m optimistic about change happening, but I fear that past mistakes will keep us far behind the eight ball for quite some time.