New hybrid/electric car advice

[wanaberetiree]

I am thinking buying a new car this year for city use, preferably below $40-50K, maybe SUV (if mpg is good) and would be nice either electric or hybrid that is capable to drive on electricity only for say 20-30 mil.

Any real work advice out there?

PS: Do they still give tax credit for those ^ ?

Thx

 

[Alan]

2017 Toyota Prius Prime Plug-In Hybrid | Let's imagine the new possible.

Prius plugin hybrid is new this year, range of 20-25 miles as an ev.

 

[brucethebroker]

No numbers, but do know a guy who bought a used Leaf and is very happy. He sometimes takes his brother with him to the local mall and gets a free charge while he eats lunch there (his new hobby). Says it is like getting a free fill up with each meal.

 

[Bamaman]

The manufacturers are kind of disguising the hybrids now, and there are far many more models on the retail market than you realize.

Toyota and Lexus have sold more than anyone so far. But the Ford system is also very good.

This is one of those market segments where you'd have to carefully analyze, block them out by price and go drive'em. I prefer a real hybrid vs. a plug in as you can actually go somewhere in them without fear. And they're now pretty driver friendly.

 

[aja8888]

If I actually wanted a hybrid, and was going to give up my legacy cars, I would look at the new Chevy Volt (back seat room is not that great though)..

 

[REWahoo]

If I actually wanted a hybrid, and was going to give up my legacy cars, I would look at the new Chevy Volt (back seat room is not that great though)..

+1

When I was looking to replace my 2004 Chevy in late 2015 I considered a Volt. Really like the concept of the hybrid but the back seat room was too skimpy to be practical for adults.

 

[pacergal]

We bought a 2016 Toyota Camry XLE hybrid last year. Love it! Mostly in EV mode for our driving around town now. But has good power for freeway on trips. I think I fill the tank once a month or two. Gas expense went way down in retirement!

 

[Midpack]

We have an '07 Toyota Camry Hybrid and a '12 Toyota Prius, we've been thrilled with both. We've looked at and may buy a plugin hybrid, but there's a better than even chance we'll jump straight to an EV (Tesla Model 3?). There are several with enough range, around 200 miles or more, to satisfy our needs. But we'll still have one conventional hybrid to make longer trips easy. Even when/if chargers become more readily available, having to wait to recharge will be an issue for us - even superchargers take time.

I guess to the OP, the technology is plenty mature with many (but not all) automakers, no need to hesitate. Just a matter of choosing something that fits your needs and budget.

Tax credits are starting to run out, I think the EV credits start to phase out in two years. And state credits vary from state to state. So you have to pick a vehicle and research available credits where you are.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxevb.shtml

 

[AllDone]

We've had a Ford Fusion for almost four years* now. It's a big sedan and you wouldn't really know that it's a hybrid. We looked at the Volt, but the back seat is tiny. My parents like their Lexuses. My dad has the sedan and my mom just got her second CT hybrid.

*My husband parked it under a eucalyptus which did what eucalyptuses do, so most of the body is only two years old. At least no one was in the car at the time.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

My wife likes her '07 Prius, but for me the seats get tiresome after about 75 miles. The hatch and fold-down rear seats are is great features, though. Love the HID headlights, too.

 

[GTFan]

I am thinking buying a new car this year for city use, preferably below $40-50K, maybe SUV (if mpg is good) and would be nice either electric or hybrid that is capable to drive on electricity only for say 20-30 mil.

PS: Do they still give tax credit for those ^ ?

Thx

City use only? Can you live with a sub-$10k, 2 year old off-lease Nissan Leaf with less than 24k miles on it? Tons of them available around here for that price. Here's one local used car dealer's inventory (no junk add-on fees), you could buy one and have it shipped for less than $1k and still come out ahead.

http://www.bmvwcars.com/inventory.aspx?mk=Nissan&md=LEAF&cursort=asc&pagesize=500&ordby=price

No way would I buy a new electric car if all I needed was 20-30 miles a day. These things are dirt-cheap used because no one wants them with cheap gas and range limits.

 

[Just_Steve]

*My husband parked it under a eucalyptus which did what eucalyptuses do, so most of the body is only two years old. At least no one was in the car at the time.

What do eucalyptuses do to cars?

 

[Aiming_4_55]

Here's a link with Federal and CA credits.

https://driveclean.ca.gov/pev/Costs/Vehicles.php

I'm in CA and purchased a used 2015 Prius Plug-in last year. It had the green HOV sticker (out of stock now) already assigned to the car so I can drive in the carpool lane alone until Jan 2019. This helps as I use it everyday for work and saves me about 30 minutes per day, sometimes more.

The car I replaced was a 2006 Nissan getting about 20 mpg in stop and go traffic. Without charging the Prius, I average 50 - 52 mpg in stop and go traffic. I might be able to get 54 - 55 mpg but I have to gun the car at times due to lane changes.

It works fine for my personal needs at this time, not my ideal fun car, but it serves a purpose. I think my RE will be aligned with the HOV sticker expiration as I value it more than the gas savings. YMMV

 

[Midpack]

No way would I buy a new electric car if all I needed was 20-30 miles a day. These things are dirt-cheap used because no one wants them with cheap gas and range limits.

Though sales of EV's, Plug-Ins & Hybrids have recently hit a wall, they've been growing by leaps and bounds over the past 5 years. "No one wants them" may be a little strong, but used cars are always a better value for all cars, ICE models included.

 

[yakers]

Make sure to drive a Ford Focus Electric FFE. We had one and loved it, a bit of a cheap Tesla for the driving feel but limited to 75-80 miles. We replaced it with a Ford Fusion Energi, a plug in hybrid. Only get 25 miles on electric but about 7k mi of 10k mi have been electric but we no longer have any range concerns. A used Leaf or FFE is a good way to go but if you have any range concerns then a plug in hybrid is a good idea, they really just work and I don't look for charging stations anymore, just charge at home. In any case you will want a 240v charging system.

 

[meierlde]

+1

When I was looking to replace my 2004 Chevy in late 2015 I considered a Volt. Really like the concept of the hybrid but the back seat room was too skimpy to be practical for adults.

The Chevy malibu has a hybrid also gets about 49 mpg, I don't know about the electric only driving range. But the back seats have more leg room. (The Volt is a Cruise in disguise in that the seats etc are the same, and in the Cruse, if you put the front seats all the way back, the back seats are only for kids in car seats. ) The Malibu hybrid runs about 30k.
It has a smaller battery so the range is about 5 mi. (basically it sounds like electric in parking lots etc)

 

[splitwdw]

What do eucalyptuses do to cars?

And what would have happened to anyone inside the vehicle?

 

[Animorph]

Chevy Bolt is all electric, if it's available in your area. BMW i3 would fit as well. Tesla Model 3 should be nice, but will be difficult to get for a few years as they work through existing reservations.
The Nissan Leaf would be a good value pick if you buy it used.
An all electric car won't have the problems a gas car would have with short trips and possibly infrequent use. DW's Mini quickly builds up carbon deposits if it doesn't get out on the freeway often enough. We hope to replace it with a Tesla Model 3.

 

[Animorph]

What do eucalyptuses do to cars?

The branches like to fall off, especially if there's a car under them.

 

[NW-Bound]

I saw several 2013 Leafs with less than 30K miles offered locally for less than $7K. Very tempted to get one just to drive to grocery stores or to the library, if I do not still have 3 cars that I do not want to get rid of.

There has to be something about the propulsion battery that makes the car depreciates that fast.

 

[wanaberetiree]

Excellent great ideas thx !

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I saw several 2013 Leafs with less than 30K miles offered locally for less than $7K. Very tempted to get one just to drive to grocery stores or to the library, if I do not still have 3 cars that I do not want to get rid of.

There has to be something about the propulsion battery that makes the car depreciates that fast.

I wonder of the cheap ones we are seeing are the ones with leased batteries? A little bit of bait and switch, perhaps?

 

[NW-Bound]

Leased batteries?

What I just gathered is that Nissan has a warranty on the batteries and will replace them if the range falls short below a certain point such as 70% of the original value. Some cars may be getting close to that and the warranty is about to expire. That will drive down the price because a new battery pack costs around $6000.

On the Web, some say that a good used car plus a fresh battery with a new warranty is still cheap at $14K, compared to a new Leaf. Sounds reasonable.

 

[travelover]

..............

There has to be something about the propulsion battery that makes the car depreciates that fast.

I just sold my Escape hybrid. Most of the questions I got asked were about the battery, which was 10 years old. It sold for about the same price as a non-hybrid. Fortunately, I bought it for a really good price.

 

[ERD50]

I just sold my Escape hybrid. Most of the questions I got asked were about the battery, which was 10 years old. It sold for about the same price as a non-hybrid. Fortunately, I bought it for a really good price.

It seems the batteries in hybrids have generally held up well. It seems the batteries in the Leaf have not been doing as well. IIRC, the bigger problems were in the warm climate.

Another thing - when a hybrid battery gets weak, you lose some of the regen braking advantage, and mpg goes down a bit. Someone might not notice mpg decreasing somewhat over a period of years, considering all the variables in driving. Just picking some numbers for illustration, let's say the hybrid battery/motor/gen improves mpg by ~33%. A 30 mpg car might run ~ 40 mpg as a hybrid. If the battery losses 1/3 of it's capacity, you might get ~22% improvement, or ~ 37 mpg. Not such a big change, 40 to 37.

But a Leaf with an 84 mile range, goes to 56 mile range when you lose 1/3rd of the battery capacity - that would be very noticeable if you routinely drive a 60 mile round trip - that would be some range anxiety!

-ERD50