Before you get in line for the Prius, buy a good-mileage used car – the carbon debt is already paid, and you have to drive the Prius for 46,000 miles before you get back to zero on that “carbon cost of creation” for any new car.  Today’s cars are designed to last until well over 100,000 miles, so get that voice of your parents – “A used car is someone else’s problem” – out of your head.  It’s just not true!  You’re ahead by upwards of $8 thou if you buy a used car with a modest down payment on a five-year loan.  Here’s how: when those five years are up, you own that car outright! At that point, depreciation will slow and you’ll only lose about $2,000 a year in value for the next several years. In the meantime, your leasing neighbor is still paying that $500 a month, shelling out $6 thou a year!  We LOVE not having car payments!  It’s like getting free gas and money in your pocket, that’s how the figures work out for an annual $3,000 gas bill!  That’s where the eight grand or more overall savings comes in.  And even if you need some repairs, it ain’t like shelling out 6 grand a year!