Re: Hybrid Cars
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I have a Honda Civic Hybrid.
I get 38-41 mpg and split my driving about 50/50 between city and highway.
I figure to save $500/yr. on gas. The Hybrid is about $3,500 more than a non-hybrid. Hondas last more than seven years. It's a good investment.
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A Civic LX with manual transmission and airbags retails for $15,860. A Civic Hybrid with manual tramsmission, $19,900. That's $4,000 more and it underestimates the hybrid's true cost since dealers are getting premiums for hybrids. My friend paid at least $10k more for his prius than a corolla would have cost.
You are getting 40 mpg, while the DX is at 34.5 mpg (averaging city and highway). You may note that the EPA thinks your highway mpg is higher, but that's because their test methodology is flawed for hybrids. Hybrids struggle to beat non-hybrid's highway mileage because the hybrid equipment is dead weight at a steady cruising speed. So you are about 6 mpg better than a Civic DX.
To save $500 a year in gas, at $2.30 per a gallon means you are saving 220 gallons a year. This means driving 30,000 miles a year. What are you, a cab driver?
At a $4k premium, it's going to take 160k miles before gas savings will equal it (not counting lost interest costs or additional maintainance cost). In reality, the hybrid premiums at current market prices are much higher than $4k, and hybrids simply don't come close to making financial sense.
But that's okay. They are cool cars that offer great psychic benefits to their owners. Eventually the cost of adding hybrid technology will drop to less than $1k and it will become standard equipment on virtually all cars. But until then, just be happy with your cool, but expensive, car.
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