I ride a bike when I can, and use a car the rest of the time. I ride the bike because I like to, and if I don’t my legs hurt. I drive the car only when necessary. Environmental concerns came into our decision-making process on what to buy. Mistakenly thinking that we could believe the EPA mileage ratings, we got a Hybrid Hilander. That thirty-something mpg in the city is a joke. We get 24 in the summer and 19 in the winter. Still, both are better than our previous car, which got 18 in the city.
Unfortunately, we get killed on highway mileage which runs from 28 to 30 mpg. The old car got 33 to 36 mpg. Even though we spend much much more time in the car in the city, we drive a lot more miles on the highway.
On the other hand, this car is a lot bigger and can carry seven people, which is sometimes necessary, since are kids are at that age. So, if we calculated miles per gallon per person, we might be better off with this car. Hard to say, as we don’t track how many people are in the car at all times (or any time).