new car
 

My sister is going to get a new car next week. She can spend up to $30k, prefers SUVs, and so far likes the ford escape hybrid. However, she's not sure getting a hybrid is the best choice. any suggestions would help

thanks

Re: new car
 

Can't go wrong with the Accord Coupe.

Re: new car
 

toyota corolla

Re: new car
 

Nissan Xterra. Young, edgy, cool. Plus, it will be 10X cheaper to work on than a hybrid. If you sister is interested in keeping the car less than 3 years, go for the hybrid i guess, it will atleast be neat to have. But if she buys cars and keeps them forever, that is a whole lot of new technology that has no track record, and only Ford is going to be able to work on. (I do my own maintenance and would rather gouge my eyes out w/ a spoon than take my car to a dealer BTW.) The Nissan is simple, and are usually very reliable.

If she has no emotions towards cars at all, and insists on a SUV, tell her to go w/ a Santa Fe, or some other Korean made car. Check this out first, I know it's true of the cars, but I think all their SUV's come with 10 year/100,000 mile warranties. Plus they are cheap as hell to begin with! You can't beat those cars on a spreadsheet. You can buy a new one cheaper than a used Honda/Toyota equivalent.

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Foregt the hybrids unless she is doing a lot of highway driving. If she is doing city driving there is very little benefit to owning one.

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I love this car.
http://www.terra.com/autos/promo/suv...a_infinity.jpg

Re: new car
 

Is she paying cash for it?

If not, then by "up to $30K" you really mean "about $25K because by the time it's paid off she will have spent $30K on it".

I suggest something really cheap like a Ford Ranger or something else crappy for like $14K. She will save a lot of money and down the road she will be much happier she did so.

Re: new car
 

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Foregt the hybrids unless she is doing a lot of highway driving. If she is doing city driving there is very little benefit to owning one.

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I think you got that in reverse order....

Re: new car
 

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Can't go wrong with the Accord Coupe.

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Great choice for a person looking for a SUV. Almost as good as a mini....

If she is looking at the ford hybrid, one thing to figure out is if it is eligible (and how much) is the tax credit you can get in 2006. Hybrid gas savings are bit hard to calculate (ie the epa test are even more off than normal) but if you do a lot of city driving she should be pretty happy. Note that without the tax credit she is unlikely to save enough money to pay for the hybrid system

Re: new car
 

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Foregt the hybrids unless she is doing a lot of highway driving. If she is doing city driving there is very little benefit to owning one.

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This is definitely backwards.

Re: new car
 

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Foregt the hybrids unless she is doing a lot of highway driving. If she is doing city driving there is very little benefit to owning one.

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This is definitely backwards.

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really? i thought the hybrids use mostly gas in the city and electric when up to speed on the highway? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: new car
 

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Foregt the hybrids unless she is doing a lot of highway driving. If she is doing city driving there is very little benefit to owning one.

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This is definitely backwards.

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really? i thought the hybrids use mostly gas in the city and electric when up to speed on the highway? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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Yeah, youve got it backwards. They use more battery in city and more gas-engine on highway.

The main benefit of hybrids is their regenerating capabilities through braking. Energy that is normally just lost as heat instead goes into charging the batteries when you apply the brakes. Hence in stop-and-go driving the batteries are charged and then utilized more.

FWIW hybrids do get excellent mileage on the highway (due largely to their tiny engines). They just get somewhat better mileage in the city.

Re: new car
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Foregt the hybrids unless she is doing a lot of highway driving. If she is doing city driving there is very little benefit to owning one.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is definitely backwards.

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really? i thought the hybrids use mostly gas in the city and electric when up to speed on the highway? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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Wrong. The battery does not have enough power to move the car above 30 MPH and it is charged by the brakes, so stop and go driving is what makes the hybrid shine.

Re: new car
 

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[ QUOTE ]
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Foregt the hybrids unless she is doing a lot of highway driving. If she is doing city driving there is very little benefit to owning one.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is definitely backwards.

[/ QUOTE ]
really? i thought the hybrids use mostly gas in the city and electric when up to speed on the highway? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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hybrids have no "source" of energy other than the gas tank. so on the highway, all the energy comes from gas and it doesn't matter how many electric motors you have, it only matters on the size of the engine.

in the city, you don't need to run your gas motor when you're at a stop, and when you are just crusing around, you are not using all the power that your gas motor has. when your engine "idles" all it is doing is burning enough fuel to overcome the friction of the engine and keep it spinning, so that whenever you need to use it, it's already spinning and has a quick repsonse time. so a hybrid allows the gas motor to shut off at a stoplight, and use batteries and electric motors to accelerate from stoplight to stoplight, only turning on the gas motor to help charge up the batteries when they get low.

ford must have been redesigning the mustang or something whenever hybrid research was going on, cause they basically folded and bought toyota's first generation hybrid technology. so i'm pretty sure the escape hybrid has the same brains as a first generation prius.

Re: new car
 

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Foregt the hybrids unless she is doing a lot of highway driving. If she is doing city driving there is very little benefit to owning one.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is definitely backwards.

[/ QUOTE ]
really? i thought the hybrids use mostly gas in the city and electric when up to speed on the highway? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, youve got it backwards. They use more battery in city and more gas-engine on highway.

The main benefit of hybrids is their regenerating capabilities through braking. Energy that is normally just lost as heat instead goes into charging the batteries when you apply the brakes. Hence in stop-and-go driving the batteries are charged and then utilized more.

FWIW hybrids do get excellent mileage on the highway (due largely to their tiny engines). They just get somewhat better mileage in the city.

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whoops, i left out regeneration in my post. excellent point. probably one of the 'coolest' features.

Re: new car
 

Ford escape and 30k in the same sentence.....

Surprised nobody thiks this is asinine.

Re: new car
 

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The main benefit of hybrids is their regenerating capabilities through braking. Energy that is normally just lost as heat instead goes into charging the batteries when you apply the brakes. Hence in stop-and-go driving the batteries are charged and then utilized more.


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I am pretty sure that shutting off the engine at stop lights is a much bigger win than regentive breaking. In electical cars regentive breaking only increased battery life by 10% or so. You can also optimize the system a bit more when you have 2 propulsion methods to choose from