Hybrid Vehicles - When Will you purchase one

When will you pruchase a hybrid vehicle

  • Already have 1 or more

    Votes: 17 16.7%

  • In 1-2 year

    Votes: 7 6.9%

  • In 3-5 years

    Votes: 25 24.5%

  • In 6-10 years

    Votes: 18 17.6%

  • Never

    Votes: 35 34.3%
  • Total voters
    102
I'm considering replacing my vehicle in 4 years; I'll see what seems best mileage and reliable and long lasting.
 
I have to agree with the viewpoint that they aren't economical in terms of the premium levied on them.

My current vehicle is 14 years old and has almost 170k miles on it. I want to see if hybrids can be driven 200k miles and kept for a significant period of time.

I can currently buy a Ford Focus and get very good mileage out of it for a significant discount to the Prius for example. Even given the better mpg of the Prius (and for me it would have to be a highway to highway comparison) it would take a pretty long time to make up the initial 7k or so difference in price.

I think the Prius's are ugly. The Civic Hybrid is pretty good looking because it looks like a regular car, but I think that might be in the category of "mild hybrid" as mentioned by the original poster.

I drive 70 miles per day to work and back, 98% of it freeway. It seems like the most efficient use of the current crop of hybrids is for city driving versus freeway driving.

What I would really like to see is an electric vehicle with a decent range (say 250 or so miles) that I can use to drive around every day and plug in at night.
 
cute fuzzy bunny said:
That option would save an awful lot of people quite a bit of time when buying a new vehicle.

"Uh...yeah...can you point me to the trucks with the PEP option?"
Click to expand...

That option would singlehandedly save the American automakers!!:2funny:
 
A hybrid.........maybe some day, but I don't think I'd ever see any savings.

Tomorrow we're taking DW's ghetto gilder on a road trip up the interstate. It's 17 years old with only 34k on the clock, still smells new. I can usually push it to about 24-25mpg with a light touch on the gas pedal.

First thing in the morning I have to get it gassed up, the last fill-up was in December. :cool: I honestly can't figure what she does with all the gas. :D

My F150 is still nursing that last tank of juice I put in March 19. Today was day 46 on one tank.

Since we're such big users, if I bought a hybrid, I'll bet OPEC would close the oil fields and start selling bags of sand.
 
I've had one for 6 months or so, as you might guess from my name. In any case, the Prius has been a completely pleasurable experience. It's been worth the extra money (for me) over a comparable car, e.g., (insert your favorite Corolla equivalent), and I'd buy another Prius today if I had to.

In sum, the Prius is just a 45 MPG (avg.) car using some new technology that Toyota had the insight/courage/discipline to bring to the commercial market. I say "good job," and give me more.

I also spent the day at the Maker Fair (San Mateo, CA) looking at several modifications of the Prius that convert the Prius into a plug-in 100+MPG car. Sort of nice to see some possible solutions to desperate problems...

Of course, I'm somewhat of an early adopter: I have a push-button telephone and electric lighting and refrigeration. Those work well too, although I was initially worried they might be too dangerous...;)

-plsprius
 
I live close to work and over the past 8 years I have averaged less than 4.5K miles/year on my Solara.

However, I just did a search and found this post in which I said a year ago that my Solara had 33K miles on it, and right now it only has just barely 35K miles on it. That confirms to me something that I suspected - - that I am driving less than before - - only 2K miles in the past year.

Since my Solara already gets around 33 mpg around town, I don't see the economy for me in getting a Prius.

(2000 miles)/(33 mpg) ~= 61 gallons/year
(2000 miles)/(44 mpg) ~= 46 gallons/year

---> Gas savings if I bought a Prius: 15 gallons/year.

I am hoping to drive even less after ER and walk a lot more so eventually I can make the transition to being car-less.

Figuring out ways to drive less might be more difficult in the U.S. than in Europe, but I still think most of us can gain by driving less whenever we can.

Me, too. I have been trying to figure out how to walk or bike to work. That would take 800 miles off the total miles I drive each year. But, the big freeway-type bridge with walls and no shoulder that shortens my commute so much is too dangerous to walk or bike on. Still thinking! But, in 18 months I will ER and the problem will become irrelevant to my life.
 
We will see how many more years I can drag out of my Subaru (126k and counting). Assuming I am still doing an extreme commute when it goes, I would seriously consider a hybrid or diesel. The hold-up for me on the hybrid is not price (don't mind giving up a couple thou to assuage my enviro-guilt), its safety. I want to see several years of real world data before I commit to driving a new technology car. If manufacturers can get the green diesel sorted out to US emission satisfaction, it would likely be a preferred option for me. C'mon, Subaru, bring that flat 4 turbo diesel wagon on over from Europe...
 
brewer12345 said:
We will see how many more years I can drag out of my Subaru (126k and counting). Assuming I am still doing an extreme commute when it goes, I would seriously consider a hybrid or diesel. The hold-up for me on the hybrid is not price (don't mind giving up a couple thou to assuage my enviro-guilt), its safety. I want to see several years of real world data before I commit to driving a new technology car. If manufacturers can get the green diesel sorted out to US emission satisfaction, it would likely be a preferred option for me. C'mon, Subaru, bring that flat 4 turbo diesel wagon on over from Europe...
Click to expand...

It will take time.......the air in Europe ain't the best.............:D
 
FinanceDude said:
It will take time.......the air in Europe ain't the best.............:D
Click to expand...

Uh, I drive daily on the NJ turnpike past a huge refinery, a large dump, at least two power plants, and the largest port in the US. I highly doubt the addition of a few small diesels will make much difference.
 
I hope it will be four or five years before I will need a new car. Will see what is available then and what would fit my needs. A hybrid would be worth looking into.
 
We own both a Honda Civic Hybrid and a Toyota Prius Hybrid. We like them both, but really love the Prius. It is roomy inside (about the same as an Accord), drives great, has decent acceleration, and gets a combined city highway MPG of about 52. We have had it about three years and driven close to 50,000 miles with only routine maintenance (which isnt much -- only oil changes and tire rotations!). We paid less than MSRP when we bought the Prius and got a tax break on top of that. Here in the DC area we get to drive it on the fast (HOV) lanes. And the Prius doesn't pollute, which makes my daughter happy.

Oh yeah, I guess I should worry about replacing the battery when that 8 year, 100,000 mile warrany expires. But I am a glass-half-full kind of guy. And no, I don't work for Toyota . . . :D

OhSoClose
 
Too expensive. Plus, I do lots of highway driving and hybrids tend to like city or stop/go driving.
 
Bimmerbill said:
Too expensive. Plus, I do lots of highway driving and hybrids tend to like city or stop/go driving.
Click to expand...

True of the Prius but not the Honda. The Civic hybrid does better on the highway (I'm getting about 52 mpg on mine)
 
I do a fair amount of both city and highway driving in both my Civic Hybrid and my Prius. I have never calculated the difference in city MPG vs highway MPG for either car -- I'll have to do that. One thing for sure is that my Prius blows my Civic away in combined MPG. I get over 50 MPG combined for the Prius, but only about 45 MPG combined for my Civic.

OhSoClose
 
The ability to run battery-only at low speeds is where the Prius really shines in the city. In fact, I believe the Prius has a higher city mileage than highway mileage. At highway speeds, the Civic's gasoline engine is more efficient. Since the vast majority of my driving is an hour drive each way to w*rk, the Civic is perfectly suited for my needs.

PS. - what year is your Civic? With the 2006 model year, Honda implemented four cylinder deactivation at speed, which measurably boosted the mileage.
 
OhSoClose said:
I do a fair amount of both city and highway driving in both my Civic Hybrid and my Prius. I have never calculated the difference in city MPG vs highway MPG for either car -- I'll have to do that. One thing for sure is that my Prius blows my Civic away in combined MPG. I get over 50 MPG combined for the Prius, but only about 45 MPG combined for my Civic.

OhSoClose
Click to expand...

Well, I don't consider that "blowing away"........:)

I have driven both, and I like the Civic better, it just seems heavier for some reason........:confused:
 
I'd be hard-pressed to find a way that a hybrid would save me money.
I drive a $3k 1998 Saturn SL2 that gets 30mpg and I drive 70 miles per day to work-gym-home. The price of the hybrid would be impossible to justify in my situation.

And on long trips, we take the 1976 motorhome, which gets about 10 mpg. :)
 
OhSoClose said:
I do a fair amount of both city and highway driving in both my Civic Hybrid and my Prius. I have never calculated the difference in city MPG vs highway MPG for either car -- I'll have to do that. One thing for sure is that my Prius blows my Civic away in combined MPG. I get over 50 MPG combined for the Prius, but only about 45 MPG combined for my Civic.

OhSoClose
Click to expand...

One thing you might want to do is manually check your gas mileage (you know, divide miles by gas amount you put in) rather than fully rely on the computer.

I rented a Prius a couple months back to check it out. I loved it, and I drove it around a lot to get used to it and se if I would be happy with one. On the first fill-up it seemed like it too more gas than it should, given the 62mpg the computer was telling me. The next time I filled it, same thing happened, so I calculated that I was getting somewhere around 50 rather than the 60+ it was feeding me. Still respectable, but I was disappointed that the meter was so far off.

R
 
My hat's off to you guys that drive 70 miles every day. I'm going to stop complaining about driving 60 miles (round trip) into town twice a week.
 
Voted for 6-10 yrs. A definite maybe.
I'll buy one when they are 10 cents on the dollar. Usually as they get older people can't afford to fix them, or are so messed up no one cares to try to fix.
Sorta like of my 1988 XJ6 with over thirty relays. Dismal British design. After a week or so of troubleshooting, and repairs, some three years ago, now 200 miles short of 200000 miles, 22 mpg around town, 26 to 28 on hwy. Handles great.
High tech cars are great until they have problems that the dealer's computer can't figure out and tell the parts changers, which gizmo is broke.
 
I'm another very satisfied Prius owner (1 year and counting). Bought it for a combination of environmental/economic/security reasons. I love it: cheap to operate and maintain, easy and comfortable to drive, and has some cool features.

Here are a few observations related to other comments in this thread:

The tax break ended last year: we got half of it, about $800.

You hear the assertion that the Prius gets worse mileage on the highway than in the city, but that isn't true in my experience. I get low 40's in town because I have to drive up and down a 1000 ft. mountain to get home. I've gotten 50's on the highway.

I recently drove it across country and back, across the big mountains with bicycles on the back. The mileage wasn't as good, but the car was a joy to drive, even on this long trip.

I'm expecting the Prius to exceed Toyota's usual longevity expectations. I have a relative who works for a major oil company that has extensively tested the engine and found it has very low wear: possibly the hybrid drive "smooths" out acceleration extremes?

I did a lot of research before buying and was impressed by the Prius' safety: has most of the high-end technology you'd expect like curtain airbags, ABS, traction control. Then I read a testimonial from a woman who was flipped UPSIDE DOWN in her Prius after side-impact from an SUV, and walked away. That sold me.

Statistics from the gas tank/gauge are somewhat unreliable because of a bladder system. That's the single negative I can voice.

Being an engineer, I expected the Prius to be finicky and unreliable, filled with new technology. The opposite is true: it has a rock-solid feel. It just works right, all the time. An engineering friend told me that Toyota mostly used off-the-shelf technology. The Prius was more a new way of packaging and optimizing an automobile, then it was cutting-edge technology.

Two other family members own a Prius. We all love them, especially as we watch gas prices climb higher.
 
Gumby - yeah, I have a 2005 Civic Hybrid. Maybe that explains why my mileage is not as good as yours.

On the post questioning whether an average MPG of 50 plus "blows away" my Civic's average of 45 MPG . . . yes, it does, given also that the Prius is roomier than the Civic, handles better, and accelerates better. IMHO.

On the post questioning whether my Prius' internal MPG calculations are off, I'll have to check that out. It could be. I had a lot of fun once on the highway tailgating a semi just to see how much I could get as far as MPG. The Prius' computer screen told me I was maintaining about 60 MPG. Then I said to my wife, "what kind of MPG do think we could we get in this thing if we drafted a semi going downhill?" Her reply: "not as much as if we drove it off a cliff." I stopped the tailgating experiment, it was fun, but was probably foolish in the long run. :D

OhSoClose
 
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