Mother Nature’s Favorite Vacation Vehicles

If you’re flying to a travel destination in the future you may be in need of a rental vehicle when you arrive. You don’t need to go with a big bulky gas guzzling SUV or truck though. Instead you should think about eco-friendly car rentals such as hybrid vehicles and other smaller cars that are better for the environment.

In many cases, renting a car that is better for the environment can actually save you money too. Here are a few of the top picks for green rental cars.

Toyota Prius (Hybrid)

If you want to go green but still need to drive on your next trip than the Prius is a great option that is available through most car rental agencies. Like all hybrids, it has an electric motor as well as a gasoline engine which will give you great fuel economy. The car is a hatchback with 4 doors and has seating for 5 people.

Honda Civic (Hybrid)

The Honda Civic Hybrid is a rival to the Toyota Prius. It also features a highly refined engine that will maximize fuel efficiency so you’ll pay less at the pump when you’re on vacation.

At 66 miles per gallon you wont be seeing that pump too often either. As for the green side of things: the CO2 emissions for the car are around 109g/km, which make it a particularly lean green little car. Not to mention the car looks pretty snappy too.

Smart Car

The Smart Fortwo might not be so feasible for the whole family but if you’re packing light this is the perfect green car rental. Although not a hybrid, the Smart Car still gets amazing fuel efficiency and has 88g/km emissions. It’s pretty easy to park too!

If you have lots of luggage then this probably isn’t the rental car for you but it’s certainly the greenest production diesel vehicle on the market in terms of its CO2 emissions.

Ford Escape (Hybrid)

If the Smart Car was too small you might want to look into renting a Ford Escape Hybrid.

These aren’t available at most rental agencies – especially compared to something like the Prius – but Escape Hybrid rentals can still be found.

The mini-SUV still maintains a surprisingly large amount of cargo area which is not compromised by the number of batteries that it carries with it. In city driving, the vehicle has about 35 miles per gallon and keeps the performance and acceleration you might expect from a V-6. It also has exhaust emissions lower than almost all similar vehicles on the market.

Those are just a few options for eco-friendly car rentals. There are lots of other cars that are good for the environment too. Even cars like the Mini Cooper have significantly better emissions than your traditional rental car.

The gas mileage on a hybrid vehicle can be as much as 700 miles for each tank of gasoline which equals out to about 55 miles per gallon. Hybrids also don’t require you to have to charge your car like you might with an electric vehicle because the battery is recharging automatically. Try one of these rental cars on your next vacation and you’ll save money and make mother nature happy at the same time.

Author Byline:

This is a guest post by Ryan Embly and Car Rental Express – CRX can help you find car rentals all across North America and Europe.