My beautiful fully loaded leather, Bose Stero system, sun roof equipped big V8 4 wheel drive Chevy Tahoe has been sucking up gas like water rushing over a damn. My brother, who has a Suburban, a big truck, a Trailblazer and four Harleys, just bought a used Toyota Prius to drive all over the state for his legal practice. He drove from Redding to Los Angeles and averaged 46.7 miles per gallon. I have been spending almost $800 miles per month to drive between my offices in Auburn and Roseville. So my brother helped me find a used Prius on Craigslist. It was in Arizona and owned by a young woman who gets a new one every two years. I flew to Phoenix with my friend David Underwood (who is 6′7″) and we drove it back almost 800 miles in 13 hours Friday averaging 42.7 miles per gallon at over 70 miles per hour. It was comfortable even for David and easily kept up with traffic. My Toyota Prius is fully loaded with a JBL sound system, a navigation system,a bluetooth hands free phone system and 58,000 miles/6 years left on a zero deductible warranty. The air conditioning worked great in the 112 degree Phoenix heat. My Tahoe averages 13.5 miles a gallon driving to Roseville and back. Yesterday the Toyota Prius averaged 42.7 miles on the same trip at 72 miles per hour on cruise control. It gets better gas mileage and costs less than my Harley. My payments and the gas it uses per month will be less than the $800 I am paying just for gas now. I am not a crazy enviornmentalist but this car makes sense and American auto makers need to adapt and adapt quickly. I will keep the Chevy Tahoe as I can only get $8000 for this beautiful vehicle and if I want to tow a boat, go to the snow, haul something, or go out with a number of friends it is great. However, every two car family that has to drive any distance on a regular basis needs at least one of these energy efficient cars as well.

In Auburn, we have a great Toyota dealer in Magnussen’s Auburn Toyota and if you can wait for a new one go in and put down a deposit. They also have a great service center and already serviced my Prius. Or go to Gold Rush Chevrolet Subaru and get an energy efficient Subaru or Chevy Aveo (27city 34 hwy)at $19,000 or Chevy hybrid Malibu (26city 34hwy) at $20,000). Shop in the City of Auburn. Save gas and time and work with your neighbors.

Toyota’s total automotive sales dropped 11.9% in July as Americans bought fewer vehicles and $4 a gallon gas caused an even more rapid sales decline for SUV’s and pickups.
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For the month Toyota said it sold 197,424 Toyota and Lexus vehicles, a decline of 26,634 compared with last July. Sales for almost every Toyota SUV and pickup declined during the month, but Toyota’s overall sales were helped by a continuation of strong demand for its two highest selling cars, Camry and Corolla.

Sales of Toyota’s largest pickup, the Tundra, dropped 42.1% in July to 13,413 while sales of the Toyota Camry increased 1.5% to 42,131 and sales of the Toyota Corolla increased 15.9% to 42,131.

Toyota has also struggled this year to produce enough small cars and Prius hybrids to keep up with customer demand. Sales of the Prius, Toyota’s best selling hybrid, declined 8% in July to 14,785.

In July, Toyota announced plans to build the Prius in the United States for the first time at its new plant in Blue Springs, Miss. where it originally planned to build the Toyota Highlander SUV.

“Having the industry’s most fuel-efficient lineup is of value to us so long as we have the right product mix in our showrooms,” Toyota Motor Sales President Jim Lentz said in a statement on Friday. “That’s why we’re accelerating production of 4-cylinder models and quickly responding to market conditions with repurposed U.S. plants and plans for a U.S.-built Prius.”