twospoons_

I fill up my gas thank about 4 times a month. This costs me roughly $160 (with a $3 per gallon price) per month.

I average about 18-20 mpg doing 70% highway 30% city.

Most hybrids get from 30 to 40mpg, assuming I got one which doubled my mpg. I would then fill twice a month and save $80 per month. This equates to $960 per year.

Yeah, I know its simple math, but my point is; I think it’s worth $960 a year to drive a car which is hell of a lot more fun to drive than a hybrid.

/twospoons

Glyphon

this is from the honda civic hybrid page...and i used my 24miles per day figure. yours may vary.
it claims 51mpg, but the consensus seems to be that hybrids don't get nearly the mpg they claim.

for the amount of money that you'd spend getting the car, it would take you between 10 and 20 years to break even on the purchase for fuel savings (depending on how much gas prices fluctuate).

if you are concerned about fuel economy, buy a cheap used beater that gets good gas mileage...regular civis get in the upper 30s, 1st gen MR2s get in the low 30s, sentras get in the mid 30s, and all can be had for less than $5000.

khtm

$1.32

whenson417

just get the new civic. 30mpg city and 40hwy. nice car actually my girlfriend just purchased one with nav. system last week

DreRX8

You'd be saving? Hybrids are good and all for the tree huggers--but the fact remains it'll take you like 10 years to recoupe the cost of hybridization via gas savings. Coupled with the fact they aren't getting the gas mileage portrayed--the real tech lies in Hydrogen--but oil barrons don't want that to come to market.

Ericok

Any savings over 10 years assumes you don't have to replace the batteries during that time.

Glyphon

the batteries are warrantied for 8yrs/80k miles (on the civic anyways), so that means they'll have a usable life of ~8.5 to ~9 years

8_is_enuf

None. Marketing Hype. Good luck

QBallz

Not to mention I know someone with a Prius that got in a small fender bender which hosed the batteries and blam like 6k in repairs.

Y&Y

Wanna save money, take the bus. But most of us won't do that. How about riding your bicycle to and from work. But we don't want to ride for too long and have too much baggage. The answer is motorcycle. Cut your gas consumption and your commute time in half. The only thing is you have an increase of 500% of dying in an accident (not actual figures). If you can try to carpool with a co-worker. That should decrease gas consumption. Ya the best solution would be a beater civic. Preferably that hasn't been beatened too much.

That reminds me, does anyone know the average cost to rebuild a 97 honda civic engine? I'm not geting the gas mileage as I used to.

s13lover

Actually, Toyota and Honda are not sure how long the batteries will truly last. Their lab testing shows 8 yr/ 80,000mi as no problems but they really don't know how long they will last in real world driving. If the battery does fail in the Prius, it is $6000. Also, if the HV battery dies, it can only be recharged by Toyota...and Toyota only has 2 chargers in the nation. Granted, there are numerous fail-safes but into the system to prevent a dead battery. The transmission is basically a replace only unit as well (not sure the cost, but it would be large). The invertor is also a major problem. If one of those fails, it must be replaced. They cost as much as the battery. They also are very intrusive on the engine bay. If you are out of warranty and need something simple replace, the labor may be 1hr more than you would typically expect b/c the inverter is in the way. I have taken classes on hybrids, and have worked on a 2nd gen Prius (1st gen sold in the states). I would NOT purchase one. Neither would most of the auto instructors at my college. In fact, my instructor for “Advance Vehicle Propulsion Systems” which covers hybrids is one of the largest critics of the cars I’ve seen. However, our Honda PATC instructor has an Insight on order to replace his mid 80’s Prelude.

Now, GM is set to release a hybrid Saturn Vue in 2007 that is said to be more cost effective. They claim that the option will run only $1000 over a normally equipped model. The improvement in fuel efficiency is supposed to pay for that extra $1 in less than a year.

Honda and Toyota both admit that hybrids are not the future. They are a temporary fix to the problem. They and other manufactures are also stumped that these vehicles are selling so well because if you truly look at what they are, they are not a logical purchase. The future, as auto makers believe at this point, is hydrogen. Personally, I think CNG is a much better short term solution than hybrid power for numerous reasons….but that is another discussion.

Glyphon

they are selling so well because they have good marketing departments that are making them out to be a logical purchase and the next big thing that is going to be the furture of automotives. but i agree with you, that hybrids are much more of a stop-gap to tied the gov'ts over until the alt. fuels are figured out.

Ericok

In the Washington DC area a hybrid can use the carpool lanes with just the driver. That's almost as big a selling point as mileage.

crossbow

Hybrid's are an example of american propaganda. They are nothing more then marketing and technology tests. Generally they get about the same mileage as most economical 4 cylinder cars, and compared to the euro diesels are utterly pathetic in terms of gas mileage.

Topgear did a review of the toyota prius, and it got roughly 32-35 mpg, about half of what their diesels get. They also gave it the worst handling car of 2004 award. It understeers more then a trike.

labutler

Hybrids are SOOOOO UGLY, they would have to give the car for free and pay all the costs for me to drive it, to even think of having one. Plus, I'd cheat and have an 8 on the side and drive the heck out of it every time I could. I'll gladly pay my gas bill!!

Glyphon

not all hybrids are ugly. most look exactly like their gas powered versions. in fact, with the exception of the soley hybrid models (prius, insight), unless you saw the badging, you can't tell by looking at them.

DreRX8

They sell no hybrids that I would buy. I don't like any Lexus, save for the IS350 so they don't do it for me either.

Roaddemon

I think the small 1.8 diesel car is the way to go. Modern diesel engines are now quiet, easy to start and cleaner burning and many averaging 40 city and 55 hwy honest mpg. 80% of the cars in France are diesel. They also last forever and have good torque for thier size.

rx8daniel

The real answer to the question is :"it depends".
On what, one may ask (as some have on this forum) might "it depend". Those variables are about as numerous as one has time to read about.
Start with miles driven a year
Factor in price of gasoline where you will be driving
Which Hybrid - Prius, Civic, Ford Escape, Insight, Lexus RX400H, etc.
What is the mileage of the current car?
How willing is the driver to learn how to get the most mileage out of the car
Back to the price of gasoline - how much will it be in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 4 years from now? For more info, see:
www.greenhybrids.com and / or the January 2006 issue of "Car and Driver" - road test of the 2nd gen 2006 Civic Hybrid, page 65; the article by Patrick Bedard on page 22; the article by Brock Yates on page 24; and the article by Csaa Csere on page 9.
Spend a couple hours researching the issue. It's a whole lot more complicated then any blanket statements that can and should be made by the uneducated [same could be said about those who blaspheme the rotary engine with no knowledge of it] masses. Even those with a lot of knowledge can't agree on how long the [hybrid] batteries will last, how long we'll be able to buy gas in this country for around $2 a gallon, how many oil reserves really exist, how much oil China will be using next year or in two years, how well diesel hybrids will work, etc etc etc. Three things are for sure: oil and gasoline will get more expensive, we (humans) cause too much pollution, and what oil that hasn't been extracted from inside our earth will continue decrease in supply. Some will choose to do something about it, even if what they can do is a small thing. Some won't understand why. The bottom line is that it makes sense to some, and they don't have to justify those actions to anyone who doesn't understand, much less to those who do but choose not to take any action (the apathetic, lazy, selfish, whatever).
It makes sense to me to buy a Honda Civic Hybrid (I prefer it over the Toyota Prius for many reasons) and sell the RX-8. Among my many factors: 63 - 70 miles daily commute; price of gas is in the 2.10 range and will likely never go down much and will likely continue to go up, I have a Miata that I may or may not keep post-hybrid purchase, I've had a great time with the RX-8 but can't afford to keep it with another new car, and the fact that during my commute, I can 'zoom zoom' in any car a maximum of about 1000' one or two times. The rest is spent trying to avoid being harmed by SUVs, truck, and drivers who drive worse in the presence of a sports car like the RX-8. YMMV. Peace. All IMHO of course and other disclaimers needed.

Papapump51

VW has a great line of Diesels Jetta Passat, they used to have the v-10 twin turbo Tourege

Dinhx8

i think another point is that most people buy hybrids for the 'feel good about themselves" factor.- a nice side affect is that they get great mileage.

its not really as simple as saving money. if you want to save money, buy a cheap car, or as one mentioned, take the bus.


are they for me? not until they start becoming as second nature as air bags.
but to sit down and try to 'save' money buy 'buying' a hybrid is not really gonna get you much in the end.

NoTears316

None.

NomisR

Only reason that will compell me to buy a Hybrid is the fact that I can use the Carpool lane in California. It would cut my commute time by half in most cases. Other than that, I wouldn't touch it, although the Insight may possibly be the only one worth getting out of all the hybrids. The Toyota system is overrated...

Str8cold

Amount of your savings would not constitute driving one of those gay *** cars.

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Haven't crunched any numbers, but my guess is not much. Kinda like buying an energystar appliance to save money on your electric bill. It would take years to re-coup the cost delta between a conventional internal combustion car vs. a hybrid. The hybrid technology is still in its infancy. Wait until technology matures and competition increases. Products will only get better over time.