Its possible to strike a balance between performance and being both economical and green.

My slightly modded volvo will put out about 300 HP and 300 lbs of torque to the ground starting at about 2500 RPMs right up to redline. That and AWD allows it to stomp on a lot of non-economical performance cars.

Thanks to variable cam timing and using a turbo to squeeze out that extra power, not to mention its still got its cats and all other emissions goodies, I'm clean enough to pass emission testing in california and even with my lead foot I average about 20 MPG in town and about 28 on the highway.

If I could ever obey the speed limit I could get even better mileage since it gets about 32 MPG between 65 and 70 MPH.

As one poster above pointed out, we all could do a lot of good for the environment by keeping and fixing up our old cars. A lot of energy and materials go into just making a car. At sometime in the past I remember reading something like it takes over a ton of fuel or more just to make a car.

Life is all about balance, got to have some fun in the here and now while doing a little intelligent planning for the future as well.