California wants to change federal law to allow states to determine HOV lane traffic. Contrary to how the EPA tests (and therefore how the dealers advertize), here are some average real life numbers for a few of the new gasoline-electric hybrid cars:

  • 40 mpg for the Honda Civic Hybrid

  • Mid-40s mpg for the Prius

  • 50 mpg for the Honda Insight

Hmm. I drive a 4-cylinder diesel car. I get mileage like that. Why won’t I be able to drive in the HOV lane? Especially if my emissions are clean from running on biodiesel. Isn’t the whole point of this legislative change to encourage buying fuel-efficient vehicles? It’s only a mater of time, once this passes, that a TDI owner gets ticketed driving alongside these gas-electric hybrids and takes the matter to court, fighting the hybrid-biased legislation on the basis it’s unfairly biased or something like that.