CNG to the NGV for the same MPG but lower CAP (cost at pump!)

Today Brian came home with his new wheels! That's right, he'd been driving the same car for 12 whole months, so it was time to shake things up a bit.

Actually, the reason for the change was three-fold: 1) The price of gasoline will continue to rise, and we are doing something about it for our family. 2) The tax incentive on our new Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) will give us $7,000 next year, which almost completely off-sets the cost of buying a new one rather than used. 3) NGVs, which are running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) are estimated to last twice as long as those with engines that run on gasoline.

Brian researched his decision for a long while. One site he's become a member of is CNGChat, where he gained a lot of information, especially that which helped him plan his route and fill-up strategy home from California once he decided to buy. He sold his red '03 Honda Accord Coupe with the V-6 manual transmission and bought a white 2008 Honda Civic GX, with power similar to that of a 4-cylinder. No sunroof, no leather. There is virtually no trunk space, and the horn is a weak excuse. But it's new, it's nice, it has the MP3 jack (that the Accord does not), it fits the whole family for now, and when you're filling up for 65 cents per gallon (equivalent), there's not a whole lot of complaining to do.

Now, there are planned increases for CNG fuel costs; in July it'll go up to about 85 cents per, and in October may be about $1.05, but hopefully theses increases mean more infrastructure in the future. (Currently there are about six filling stations in the Salt Lake valley.) There's also fear that another company will buy the pumps in Utah from Questar, and that would mean a significant increase, though still less than gasoline.

One more benefit, though slightly less attractive to Brian is the fact that it is the CLEANEST vehicle on the road, second only to the electric car. But Brian wants people to know that he's not green, he's just cheap! I think he wants to stick it a bit to the tree-hugging liberals, though, as he boasts, "My Civic is cleaner than your Prius!"

He did buy out of California, because the wait here in UT is eight-10 months, and it didn't cost a whole lot (including the CA premium) to get there and get them home. Bri flew direct into Burbank for $99 on Jet Blue early Saturday morning, drove a rental car about 120 miles to Palm Springs, got picked up by the dealership where he was buying his new car, and got back on the road early that afternoon. It was about 700 miles from Indio to home and he stopped along the way at every station he could to top off (because I told him if he got stranded he was in BIG trouble)! He did stay the night at Mom's in St. George Saturday and got home today in the early afternoon. My favorite was when he called from Fillmore and told me he filled up his tank for $2.92 while gasoline was well over $4.00 per gallon.

We are excited about this new purchase! It will save us a whole lot of moolah in the long run. (Yes, I told Brian in order to make this car worth it we had to keep it longer than he had ever kept a car before; and to make it a really great deal, we'll keep it until it no longer wants to run.)