Recently my husband and I began shopping for a different vehicle. A must at this point, not a need. Before we began shopping, we agreed on a price point. We didn’t know exactly what make or model of SUV we wanted, but it needed to be flex fuel and be under our budgeted amount. Since we didn’t have many limitations-except price and flex fuel, we thought we would have MANY options.
We started by making a list of SUVs. We knew right away the larger SUVs – the Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Suburban, Ford Excursion, GMC Yukon, etc – were removed from our list because of their price tag, even though all were flex fuel. This left us with the Honda Pilot, Nissan Murano, Ford Escape, Ford Explorer, Chevrolet Traverse, Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Arcadia, Toyota Highlander, Nissan Pathfinder and a few others.
Our previous vehicle was a Ford Escape and we wanted something a bit larger. This eliminated the Equinox, Escape, Arcadia and a couple more. Most of these smaller SUVs are flex fuel so not only is our list becoming smaller, but we are also eliminating flex fuel SUVs!Our list still contained the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, Ford Explorer, Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-9, Nissan Murano, Nissan Pathfinder, Toyota Highlander and a couple others. It may be getting smaller, but now there aren’t any flex fuel vehicles left on it. You would think at least one of these would be flex fuel!
Since price, size and flex fuel were the only requirements, shouldn't we still have plenty of options?!
After eliminating the large SUVs based on price and the smaller SUVs based on size, we were left with mid-sized SUVs, all of which are not flex fuel. While we were still had several many options for makes and models, the flex fuel vehicle was eliminated because it isn’t found in mid-sized SUVs.
Flex fuel vehicles have been made since 1998 on some vehicle makes and models so why is it so hard to find a mid-sized SUV that is flex fuel? That is what we tried to figure out—with no luck!
Looking further, we found there were some years auto manufacturers made a specific make and model that was flex fuel, but the following year that vehicle wasn’t flex fuel. It doesn’t make any sense.
Although most consumers want a choice in the vehicle they purchase, they also want choice of fuel at the pump, and they want to benefit Nebraska's economy and agriculture, but that choice isn’t available in many SUVs.
By 2012, 50 percent of vehicles manufactured by Chrysler, Ford, General Motors will be flex fuel.
There should be more options coming soon!
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