Apparently Scouting families are not for want and prefer American, as the cheapest in the pack starts around $28k and there's one foreign-badged car in the crowd. Should you be a scouting parent and interested in their recommendations, below, in no particular order, are the 2009 Scouting Magazine picks for hauling your troop to a secluded camp far from the prying eyes of the general public:

• Chevy Tahoe Hybrid/GMC Yukon Hybrid — Base price: around $51,500
• 2009 Dodge Ram Crew Cab — Base price: around $32,500
• Chevy Traverse — Base price: around $29,000
• Honda Pilot — Base price: around $28,000
• Ford Flex — Base price: around $29,000

You can check out the full cover, of which Ford is proud to have snagged, HERE and head over to Scouting Magazine to read through their reasoning for each choice but beware, one of the categories is "Coolest Optional Equipment." [Scouting Magazine]

In fact, LimeLite reported no trouble dealing with the hybrid's unique high-voltage electrical system, and the company plans an even more extreme 220-inch conversion in the near future. With the arrival of the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid on the scene right about now, LimeLite is also planning an active conversion business with the new green Caddies as well. Oh, and if you want a Tahoe Hybrid Limo, the LimeLite version will set you back just under a hundred grand, or you can ride in this one by calling up its new owner, Zbest Limos of Baltimore, MD. Full specs below.

Exterior
• Four Opera Lights per post - Behind the Glass
• SUMMIT WHITE Exterior
• Custom Color Matched Paint
• White Mohawk Vinyl Top
• Tubular Style .025”Thick Steel Chassis Frame
• All 18 Gauge Steel Body Parts
• 160" Tinted Windows
• Custom Tinted Rear Windows
• Black Step Running Boards
• Upgraded Factory Braking System
• Upgraded Factory Suspension System
• 3M Undercoating
• Optional Wheels

Interior:
• Custom Bench Seating with
• Black Fiber & Grey J-Style Bench Seating
• Fiber Optic Rope Piping Under Seats
• Upgraded Factory Headliner
• Hardwood Flooring
• Removable Black Carpet Overlay
• Full Length Stainless Steel Ceiling with Fiber Optics
• Rear 3rd & 4th Row Bench Seat
• Fiber Optic Rope Piping around the Headliner
• Halogen Accent Lights
• Stainless Steel Privacy Partition with Fiber Optics
• Stainless Steel Ceiling with Starlight Fiber Optics
• Ice Coolers & Drink Holders Throughout
• Lighted Glassware & Decanters
• Two Full Bars with Pearl Lexan Tops
• Stainless Steel Bar Backs with Fiber Optics
• Manual Sun Roof (For Emergency Use)
• Seats 14 very comfortably

Audio/Video/Effects:
•Level III Stereo with Pioneer DEH-5000 with MP3-WMA-AAC Compatible CD Player
• DVD Player
• Two 15” Flat Screens next to the Partition
• One 7” Flat Screen in bar area
• One 7” Flat Screen in the pillar
• Two Laser Lights
• A/V Hookup
• 110 AC Outlets
• 12V DC Power Socket
• Strobe Lights
• Laser Lights
• LimoTouch Control Panel
• Backup Camera with Rear View Mirror in Color
• Hands free intercom for the Driver
• Phone Intercom for the Passenger
• iPod - iPhone Docking Station
• Back up Video System with Monitor
• Invisible Stereo/Television Antenna

Engine and Drivetrain:
• Vortec 6.0L V8 SFI LIVC with ACTIVE FUEL MAMAGMENT
• 2-MODE HYBRID Transmission
• HYBRID PROPULSION ELECTRIC 300 VOLT ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM
• PREMIUM SMOOTHRIDE SUSPENSION

[LimeLite Coachworks via Hybrid Cars]

Also Consider:
• Non-Hybrid Chevy Tahoe
• Chrysler Aspen / Dodge Durango Hybrid
• Non-Hybrid Chevy Tahoe
• Cadillac Escalade Hybrid
• Non-Hybrid Chevy Tahoe
• Mercedes-Benz GL 320 CDI
• Did we mention the non-hybrid Chevy Tahoe?

Suitability Parameters:
· Speed Merchants: No
· Fashion Victims: Yes
· Treehuggers: No
· Mack Daddies: No
· Tuner Crowd: No
· Hairdressers: No
· Penny Pinchers: No
· Euro Snobs: No
· Working Stiffs: No
· Technogeeks: Yes
· Poseurs: Yes
· Soccer Moms: No
· Nascar Dads: Yes
· Golfing Grandparents: Yes

Vitals:
· Manufacturer: Chevrolet
· Model tested: Tahoe Hybrid 2WD
· Model year: 2008
· Base Price: $49,590
· Price as Tested: $52,780
· Engine type: 6.0-liter Vortec V8 with two-mode gasoline/electric hybrid
· Horsepower: 332 hp @ 5100 rpm
· Torque: 367 ft.-lbs. @ 4100 rpm
· Wheels and Tires: P265/65R-18 all-seasons on 18-inch aluminum wheels
· Drive type: Rear-wheel drive
· 0 - 60: 8.8 seconds
· 1/4 mile: N/A
· Top speed: 118mph
· EPA Fuel economy city/highway: 21/22
· NHTSA crash test rating front/side/rollover: 5/5/Not Rated

Also See:
2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, Part One
2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, Part Two

Acceleration: ***
Six liters and electric assist be damned, this is a huge truck, and it's not in any hurry to get out of its own way. That said, it never felt dangerously slow, but stepping on the gas when decelerating in electric mode sometimes confused the software, resulting in a delay when you really didn't want one — such as while turning left with opposing traffic approaching. When all else fails, the big Vortec can jump when asked — just don't look at the real-time fuel economy indicator while you've got your foot in it. On the other side, it sure is fun trying to keep yourself in all-electric mode.

Braking: ***
The Tahoe Hybrid hauls itself down to a stop in impressive fashion, with four big discs combining with the hybrid system's regenerative assist. Our complaints weren't with stopping prowess, but rather the odd clunks and whirrs that occasionally accompanied it. Another editor noticed the gas engine/motor system does some sort of transfer of power during braking that makes it feel as though the vehicle has been rear-ended.

Ride: ***
You want smooth and floaty? You can't go wrong with body-on-frame. The Tahoe was designed to be a top-shelf SUV, and it rides like one, keeping passengers disconnected from the surface below through the use of soggy rubber bushings, stout shocks and springs, and a few hundred pounds of sound insulation.

Handling: ***
Read the part about ride above and you'll discover everything you need to know about the Tahoe Hybrid's handling. It's a huge, top-heavy truck. The handling is as good as one can hope to expect from this type of vehicle, with slow, overboosted steering and soggy suspension. It was kind of fun on dirt roads, though.

Gearbox: **
The two-mode hybrid autobox is the heart of GM's hybrid SUVs: Essentially, it integrates the automatic transmission and the electric motors needed for hybrid operation. As a pure automatic, the hybrid shifts imperceptibly. But as mentioned earlier the transitions into and out of gas-power and into purely electric mode aren't always subtle.

Audio: ****
As one would expect in a $50k ride, the Tahoe does tunes justice. Thanks to the Bose Premium Speaker System as standard equipment, including sub tucked into a rear-compartment cubby, we were able to kick Willie's Place sky-high on the XM for our entire drive north. Speaking of, like most GM vehicles, XM radio in the Tahoe is free for three months to get you good and hooked; it's hard not to fall in love with it.

Toys: ****
It's all here: The Tahoe Hybrid has OnStar, satnav, XM, heated seats, tri-zone automatic climate control, overhead DVD, a 120-volt outlet, and power everything. The radio system also has an addictive "hybrid power flow display" that graphically shows what the hybrid system is doing at all times, much like other hybrids on the market. In other words, you get most everything you'd get on an Escalade, including the price tag.

Value: *
The Tahoe Hybrid offers a lot of goodies and a powerful, uniquely efficient powertrain (for a full-size SUV). But at a list price of $52,250, we can think of so many better vehicles for the money that the Tahoe can't compete. When big SUVs were fashionable, folks would pay that kind of scratch just to have one in the driveway. Times have changed.

Overall: **
As far as novelties go, the Tahoe Hybrid is one. It's a nice luxury SUV, but no one buys those anymore. Don't get us wrong, it's much more efficient than a standard Tahoe. But if you need the space and towing capacity, buy a diesel Savana van if fuel efficiency is the priority. At the $50k plus price point where the Tahoe Hybrid sits, there's enough really good competition that this thing is a non-starter. On the other hand, viewed as a first application of the two-mode hybrid system and nothing more, the Tahoe Hybrid shows that GM can build a true hybrid with the best of them; we look forward to seeing the system in something more manageable and less expensive.

Also See:
2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, Part One

So a friend and I left for that imaginary line cutting across the middle of the state that heads into the untamed wilderness known as "up north." The Tahoe Hybrid was ostensibly built to make such trips easier. Haul the family to the lake in comfort, all while getting 22 MPG. It made sense two years ago when the GMT900 hybrids were in the design phase, gas was $2.50 a gallon, and credit was cheap. But summer 2008 is shaping up to be one of cottage foreclosures and deferred vacations, a vastly different scenario into which these beasts have been thrust.

On the highway, the Tahoe's manners are impeccable, at least for a nearly three-ton vehicle. It's exactly what we've come to expect from a GMT900 truck: A massive, comfortable cruiser that loafs along at 1,800 RPM requiring only minimal input from the steering wheel and even less from one's brain. The highway manners of the nav system, on the other hand, were awful. The interface was a pain to use, options were difficult to find, and the system's idea of the "fastest" way to and from our destination was laughably wrong.

Encountering a few hundred of the lake faithful in a traffic jam near Saginaw, the hybrid's uniqueness began to show. Puttering bumper-to-bumper at about 20 MPH, the engine drops out with a slight shudder and the Tahoe hums along in pure electric mode, smoothly and silently. Until the brakes are applied, anyway: At that point, the regenerative braking leads to an unexpected off-throttle deceleration effect—kind of like engine braking in a manual transmission vehicle. It's not exactly refined, but one gets used to it and learns to anticipate the effect.

When traffic opens up again, a push on the throttle brings the 6-liter Vortec V8 back into action, with the transition between electric and gas marking itself with another slight shudder. A Prius owner might consider the whole thing obtrusive, but the driveline machinations are reasonably imperceptible. At least to the occupants of the Tahoe, that is — everyone else knows exactly what's going on thanks to no fewer than nine different hybrid badges, stickers, and emblems on our tester.

As we turned off the main highway onto the back roads near Mio, and then onto dirt tracks for the final 20 miles of our journey, the Tahoe continued to impress. The suspension soaked up rough terrain without complaint, the interior remained smooth and quiet, and when the going got slow, we slipped into golf-cart mode, gliding past startled deer while the onboard computer bragged about its nearly 22 MPG average.

Green credentials notwithstanding, the Tahoe Hybrid is truly a mammoth, a soon-to-be-extinct lumbering giant that looks at the same time contemporary and horribly passé. It has no place to go; the market window for a full-size SUV that gets 20 MPG closed somewhere around the $3.50-per-gallon point, leaving the Tahoe Hybrid and its GMC Yukon brother outdated before they ever hit the road.

"But it's a hybrid, so it must be environmentally sound, right?" No. A 50% improvement in mileage vs. the straight gasoline-powered Tahoe is a damn impressive feat, but 21 city/22 highway isn't good enough anymore. Conventional minivans do better than that (combined) and carry just as many people, yet even their sales are sinking because their size and mileage simply doesn't cut it these days.

The real nail in the coffin, though, is the $52,780 sticker price on the Tahoe Hybrid we tested. Yeah, it was outfitted with everything except 4WD, but that's the only way they come. "Base" price for a Tahoe Hybrid is still tickling $50,000. Why didn't Chevy offer a cloth-seat, no-nav basic Tahoe Hybrid for, say, $38k? They would have if volume sales were really what they were interested in.

But they weren't. The Chevy Tahoe Hybrid is a marketing gimmick, both for General Motors and the handful of McMansion dwellers who might actually take one home from a dealership. And, unfortunately for both of them, this particular electric car has already been killed by yet another ebb in the American tide of conspicuous consumption.

(All photos copyright Jalopnik/Andrew Stoy)

Also see:
2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, Part Two

A little history first. Back in '78, when the guzzler tax came into existence, it penalized vehicles that got fewer than a combined 22.5 MPG; however, trucks, vans and SUVs weren't included because they made up such as small percentage of personal vehicles. Fast forward 30 years, there's a Grand Cherokee in every garage and some folks say it's high time to revisit the gas-guzzler tax...and perhaps the hybrid tax credit. Let's just say we can see both sides of the argument.

It's probably evidence of how far we haven't come that 22.5 combined MPG doesn't seem all that low to us. Regardless, if we're going to have a tax, then a true gas-guzzler tax should apply to gas guzzlers — vehicles that can't top 18 MPG combined — and be made an across-the-board rule, regardless of vehicle type. Yeah, there'd have to be an out for contractors, and yeah, some folks would cheat. What's new?

What about the hybrid tax credit? The intention was to help folks afford hybrids until the costs have been amortized enough for automakers to lower the price. But guess what? Prices ain't coming down. Instead, it's nothing more than a cheap gimmick. A better alternative would be to apply a "gas-sipper credit," a sort of reverse gas-guzzler tax that would credit buyers of the most fuel-efficient vehicles.

In the end, Americans are going to buy what they want, burn what they want, and drive as fast as they like. It's what we do here, and that's all good by us. But a little cash under the table to "do the right thing" is apparently part of the American way too — especially when it's complete hypocrisy. [blogs.nytimes.com]

• Chevrolet — Tahoe (nonhybrid) or Suburban: $2,000 customer cash + $4,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $6,000 total cash.

Tahoe (hybrid): $0 customer cash + $4,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $4,000 total cash.

Silverado or Avalanche: $2,000 customer cash + $3,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $5,000 total cash.

• GMC — Yukon: $2,000 customer cash + $4,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $6,000 total cash.

Yukon (hybrid): $0 customer cash + $4,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $4,000 total cash.

Sierra: $2,000 customer cash + $3,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $5,000 total cash.

• Cadillac — Escalade: $2,000 customer cash + $2,000 bonus cash + $2,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $6,000 total cash.

[Automotive News (sub. req.)]

Of course, hybrid sales are still down compared to December 2007, but that's a common yearly occurrence. When you take a closer look at the numbers you see that the more luxurious hybrids are seeing a decrease in sales as compared to their more pedestrian cousins. The Ford Escape sales were up 24.7% compared to last January, while the Mercury Mariner was down 10.6% over the same period. The Toyota Highlander's sales grew 18.4% while the Lexus RX400h dropped by 2.7%. The Toyota Prius and Camry both had a great January, increasing 37.1% and 33.9%, respectively. The Lexus brand GS450h saw a decrease of 61.7%.

There are other factors to consider here. Certainly gas prices, advertising and decreasing awareness play into car sales (for instance, Honda is no longer selling actively selling Hybrid Accords). There's no longer a hybrid tax credit for Toyotas as they've exceeded their sales cap.

But it looks as though the recession is having an impact on hybrid buyers, who are already paying a premium over the gas-only alternatives and might not want to pay a premium on top of that to get the "luxury" edition. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out given that Hybrid Escalade is going to cost significantly more than a Yukon Hybrid. It'll also be interesting to see if this impacts the upper reaches of the market, such as the upcoming Fisker Karma Hybrid Sedan.

[HybridCars.com]