untateve Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 It's time to get a new vehicle and given that I have a family of four, I'm looking at the Prius. It costs a bit more than similar sized cars, but it appears that if I own it long enough, I'm looking at saving that money in gas. Plus, I help the environment and I want al gore to like me. What are the down sides of owning a hybrid? What should I know? Teach me. I want to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westvirginia Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 It's time to get a new vehicle and given that I have a family of four, I'm looking at the Prius. It costs a bit more than similar sized cars, but it appears that if I own it long enough, I'm looking at saving that money in gas. Plus, I help the environment and I want al gore to like me. What are the down sides of owning a hybrid? What should I know? Teach me. I want to learn. You can add a sunroof with a can opener... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 (edited) Cost of ownership study. 14 months old however. Kiplinger article. Edited March 25, 2008 by Puddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Not sure if the MPG are more realistic now but they were overblown for awhile. We typically get anywhere from 38-44 mpg in our 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid.....I think the 2007 Pruis got similar mileage. When we decided to get small car Hybrid we went with the Civic because we thought the Pruis was too ugly and I think had less storage space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikesVikes Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 It's a much bigger gas savings with metro driving. Not so much with freeway driving. That's because the electric kicks in when the car is idling such as waiting for stop lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 (edited) It's time to get a new vehicle and given that I have a family of four, I'm looking at the Prius. It costs a bit more than similar sized cars, but it appears that if I own it long enough, I'm looking at saving that money in gas. Plus, I help the environment and I want al gore to like me. What are the down sides of owning a hybrid? What should I know? Teach me. I want to learn. Have you looked into a compressed natural gas-powered car? More eco-friendly, lower maintenance costs, and you'd be completely self-sufficient (i.e., you'd never have to go to a gas station again). There's obviously a certain amount of infra structure you'd have to invest in (like installing a compressed NG station at your house). But my boss crunched some numbers and said that he'd get the equivilent of like ten cents a gallon fuel efficiency. I didn't verify his numbers, and obviously it would take time to recoup the cost of the initial investment. However, I think such an option actually comes with your choice of a hand job from Al Gore or a spotted owl. In all seriousness, natural gas is something this country still has a lot of. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil and gasoline would be another big plus. ETA: I poked around on the net and found that the cost isn't nearly 10 cents a gallon. But it is about half of regular gasoline. There's also nifty tax credits for the cars and for installing the home compressor units. In some places (like Los Angeles) the credits pay for about 2/3 of the cost of the compressor. One downside: less than 1000 natural gas filling stations nationwide, so it would be better suited as a local commuter vehicle. Edited March 25, 2008 by yo mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikesVikes Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Have you looked into a compressed natural gas-powered car? More eco-friendly, lower maintenance costs, and you'd be completely self-sufficient (i.e., you'd never have to go to a gas station again). There's obviously a certain amount of infra structure you'd have to invest in (like installing a compressed NG station at your house). But my boss crunched some numbers and said that he'd get the equivilent of like ten cents a gallon fuel efficiency. I didn't verify his numbers, and obviously it would take time to recoup the cost of the initial investment. However, I think such an option actually comes with your choice of a hand job from Al Gore or a spotted Owl. In all seriousness, natural gas is something this country still has a lot of. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil and gasoline would be another big plus. How safe are those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Swerski Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 (edited) When we decided to get small car Hybrid we went with the Civic because we thought the Pruis was too ugly and I think had less storage space. The Civic is probably what I'd get as well. To quote Glenn Beck, the Prius looks like "a retarded spaceship." I'll be in the market for a car this summer/fall, but am probably going to get a get-me-by used one for right now. I'm holding off on hybrids until the prices come down further and mechanics other than the dealer are able to service them. Edited March 25, 2008 by Bill Swerski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 (edited) It's a much bigger gas savings with metro driving. Not so much with freeway driving. That's because the electric kicks in when the car is idling such as waiting for stop lights. In theory yes, but we still tend to get our best gas mileage in freeway/highway driving. Of course we tend to typically drive over the speed limit. I've read articles where people really make a concerted effort on trying to maximize the MPG, we don't do that. Also, the electric on our Civic pretty much kicks in every time you accelerate whether you are going from 20 to 25 or 70 to 75. Edited March 25, 2008 by bushwacked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 (edited) How safe are those? Studies indicate that people get into car crashes just as often as gasoline powered cars. Edited March 25, 2008 by yo mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Studies indicate that people get into car crashes just as often as gasoline powered cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikesVikes Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Studies indicate that people get into car crashes just as often as gasoline powered cars. Do you have a link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikesVikes Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 (edited) In theory yes, but we still tend to get our best gas mileage in freeway/highway driving. Of course we tend to typically drive over the speed limit. I've read articles where people really make a concerted effort on trying to maximize the MPG, we don't do that. Also, the electric on our Civic pretty much kicks in every time you accelerate whether you are going from 20 to 25 or 70 to 75. I'm talking about when the Hybrid is giving you an advantage over another vehicle. That is going to be city driving. Also check out the mileage on the link. link Here's a better link. Can you tell which cars are the hybrids by comparing City MPG to Hwy's? link Edited March 25, 2008 by MikesVikes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 (edited) Do you have a link? In all seriousness, I came across some internet articles claiming that natural gas is actually less flammable than gasoline. (Apparently the compressed natural gas evaporates much more quickly than gasoline). I'm not going to pretend that it's inert gas, or anything. But you'd certainly wouldn't have gas spills after an accident, which could ignite and then burn you alive if you got trapped in a car. On the other hand, I've seen what kind of damage an exploding propane bottle can do. So I'd probably need to get comfortable with the safety research before I committed to resting my balls on top of something like that everyday. Edited March 25, 2008 by yo mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 As best I can tell hybrid civics for instance get around 42-42 while gas models get around 35-37. I believe that after you factor in the battery cost ( I hear 5 grandish) and the increased cost of upkeep because new,bigger tech is more likely to break, and the dealers only being able to service them, right now the gas models look a lot cheaper to me. I would love to have a hybrid for the nerd factor but right now they seem far too expensive to operate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I'm talking about when the Hybrid is giving you an advantage over another vehicle. That is going to be city driving. I don't necessarily think that is accurate in the real world. The electrical kicks in a lot and at generally higher rates for us when we drive over the Cascade mountains and every time we barely accelerate on the the flatter areas of I-90 and/or I-5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaP'N GRuNGe Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 To quote Glenn Beck is retarded. yep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Swerski Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 yep I was wondering when either you or Randull would bastardize my post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaP'N GRuNGe Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I thought I heard if you run the AC alot, you lose alot of the advantage of the hybrid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaP'N GRuNGe Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I was wondering when either you or Randull would bastardize my post. What did I win? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar Magnolia Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Cost of ownership study. 14 months old however. Kiplinger article. What's interesting is what I see from the article is the increased cost of owning a hybrid is mainly the depreciation, so maybe buy used? Because of the cost of buying a new car and quick depreciation, I hang on to cars for 10+ years. Like computers, the technology on hybrids are going to keep getting better every year,causing even faster depreciation, and from a consumer standpoint making you want to trade up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I'm looking at the Prius. we went with the Civic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Also check out the mileage on the link. link Here's a better link. Can you tell which cars are the hybrids by comparing City MPG to Hwy's? link The first site has quite a bit of information on how older EPA estimates you posted were fairly inaccurate. I already stated we are getting better mileage on the freeways which also contradicts EPA estimates. Even with the new and improved 2008 estimates; many external factors can have a substantial impact on gas mileage. We've owned our car for 1.5 years and what I've observed and stated here isn't out of the ordinary from what other drivers are experiencing and stating. Despite what your are trying to conclude from published info, our electrical kicks in quite regularly on highways and interstates in the Pacific NW and on I-5 going through Seattle Traffic. We are getting a rather sizable benefit from the electrical on highways and interstates. I wouldn't expect this to necessarily be the same thing drivers in the Midwest are experiencing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Swerski Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Despite what your are trying to conclude from published info, our electrical kicks in quite regularly on highways and interstates in the Pacific NW and on I-5 going through Seattle Traffic. We are getting a rather sizable benefit from the electrical on highways and interstates. I wouldn't expect this to necessarily be the same thing drivers in the Midwest are experiencing. Then it's most likely not going to be that much different in the Midwest. The drive up I-5 in the Seattle and Portland areas isn't exactly like driving up the Cascades or Rockies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Then it's most likely not going to be that much different in the Midwest. The drive up I-5 in the Seattle and Portland areas isn't exactly like driving up the Cascades or Rockies. Stop and go traffic from Zanesville to Columbus, isn't exactly like Everett to Seattle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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