NYE 2002: the Prius arrived. It's funky and neat, but due to local hilly terrain is not getting the advertised MPG. --- I have had my bi-fuel Contour since early 1999 and so far, so good. See below! * Ford stopped making the Contour recently! * You can still get a bi-fuel Ford F150 (option 99Z is the bi-fuel prep). * Clean Cities Pittsburgh includes map of fueling stations. * Rent a Honda GX at the Pittsburgh airport. * Access to Equitable Gas fueling stations: call A.J. Taormina at 412-393-3119. * The truly bold should brew their own biodiesel. This letter was published as the cover story of Natural Gas Fuels magazine's consumer guide issue in 1999. I was also included in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article on the subject, and have answered some PR Newswire queries from reporters around the country as well. Dear Editor: I recently completed the not-quite-harrowing experience of selecting an AFV, applying for state grants, and buying a bi-fuel vehicle. I'd like to share my experience with your readers. Selecting the AFV type wasn't too hard. I made many phone calls regarding AFV types. Electric cars take about 4 hours to recharge, while natural gas is almost as fast as a gasoline fill-up. Bio-diesel, while perhaps the greenest alternative, seemed a difficult fuel to obtain, almost requiring that you generate your own fuel at this point. I was warned off converting an existing gasoline car to run on natural gas, because the engine's piston heads may have a tendency to crack due to the higher temperatures generated by burning natural gas. And dedicated natural gas cars make it difficult to go on longer drives without intense planning for refueling. So I settled on bi-fuel as the best alternative. As for as my decision within the bi-fuel category, that was almost made for me. If you're looking at "standard"-sized NGV bi-fuel vehicles (i.e., not a van for 16 people, or anything larger) then your choices seem to be the Ford F-series pickup trucks, the Ford Contour, and the Chevrolet Cavalier. Chevy's 800-number reps told me production was over one year behind, which didn't sound promising. The Ford trucks all use a 5.4-liter V8 engine which was too large for my wants. So the Contour was my only "alternative." By this time I'd made so many calls that I'd found out about a Pennsylvania grant program for AFVs. If you had applied in the last 9 months, like I did, you could qualify for a grant of 40% of the differential cost (between a gasoline vehicle and an AFV of the same make/model). If you apply in the next 12 months, the grant is 30% of the differential cost. I applied, knowing the processing time was going to be 6 months. However, it was 8 months later when I finally received word (actually, it was like pulling teeth to get confirmation that I was a grant recipient) from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP reps were consistently surprised that I hadn't simply purchased this vehicle, and then applied for the grant as a reimbursement. However, the 1999 bi-fuel Contour is almost $6000 more than a stanard Contour, which was more than even my ecologically-minded self want to devote to the cause. So, armed with the knowledge that a grant was on its slow way to me, I went shopping. There are very few Ford dealers licesed to sell bi-fuel Contours. For some reason, only those dealers licensed to repair these vehicles can sell them. This was perhaps the biggest problem in the whole process, because it takes away from the competition almost entirely. I wonder why I can't buy the vehicle I want from any Ford dealer, and then have the service done at one of the few dealerships that can handle these cars? If NGF magazine is looking for a consumer issue, try attacking that one especially. The only Ford bi-fuel dealership within 200 miles of my city happens to be within the city limits, so with little inconvenience I paid them a visit. The blunt salesman told me that the dealership would sell me the car I wanted for $21500 -- about $2000 over the invoice price. Most consumer-oriented sources advise trying to bargain the price down to the more-comfortable $500 to $600 over-invoice range; however, this dealership would have none of that. They told me to try to find a better price elsewhere. Of course elsewhere was over 200 miles away! I started calling around to the other Ford bi-fuel dealers in PA, and found one that had taken delivery, from Ford, of a 1996 Contour that had never sold and was still on the lot. We negotiated a nice low price and a few weeks later I drove away happy. After a nine-month process, I have the car I wanted. I have been happily driving my 1996 Contour (whch had only 200 miles on it when I bought it) for about a month. There are three relatively convenient fueling stations within the city limits, and I'm currently paying about $0.80 per gallon-equivalent. This price may drop to about $0.65 per gallon-equivalent if our governor's efforts to remove one of the taxes on natural gas is successful. Of course, I have yet to get any of the grant money, and when I do, I'll be obligated to fill out detailed, quarterly reports. The PA DEP is also re-writing the grant contract so I don't have to carry the $1.5 million insurance policy they require of companies that have employees driving the bi-fuel vehicles in their fleets. At this point I'm satisfied, after a lot of hours on the phone and many loose ends to tie up. But I think I got lucky finding a 2-year-old "new" car, and that many consumers would, at this point, find that being on the cutting edge is a bit too much of a pain to go through with. I hope your efforts can alleviate some of the difficulties. Yours, Richard Engel