How much savings with a hybrid vehicle

poppy · #1 04/05/12, 04:12 PM

It depends on the price and mileage difference between the hybrid and its gas powered brother. A Chevy Volt will take you 27 years to realize a savings over the Chevy Cruz Eco. About the same with the Ford Fiesta models. That is due to the big price difference and very little gain in MPG. Some makers have as low as about 1 year to start saving. This chart compares.

The Cost of Higher Fuel Economy - Graphic - NYTimes.com

MichaelK! · #2 04/06/12, 09:29 AM

Notice that the only diesel vehicle, the VW TDI gives the best bang for your buck with only slightly more than a year for payback. Get the stickshift and I think it would be even better, because 35mpg is very low for a diesel.

SteveO · #3 04/09/12, 09:16 PM

140k carefree prius miles. Started with fed rabate in 06 and still gets 50 mpg cost 21k in 06 any other car we would have bought would have cost close to that so i figure after my company paid for 50k miles the car was free.
Steve

jcatblum · #4 04/10/12, 01:49 AM

DH had a hybrid civic. Think it was 2006 or 2007. Yes it got better MPG than our previous vehicles, but it didn't save enough gas to cover the car payment. This yr we recieved a notice that the class action lawsuit was about to be settled. Think our cut is only a few hundred dollars. But Honda is admitting & paying out since the cars do not preform with the fuel economy they promise.
If you are in the market for a new car then I think considering a hybrid is a good choice, from a resale perspective. However buying a hybrid just to save on gas you should really try to add up your expected savings. Saving $200 a month by speding $25000 doesn't add up for me.

arabian knight · #5 04/10/12, 08:57 AM

This sure doesn't sound good for any Hybred. America is just not ready for this type of things happening to their favorite mode of transportation.
Hybrid owners unlikely to buy another one, study shows

Quote:

Despite previous sales surges tied to past petroleum price hikes the U.S. hybrid vehicle market hasn’t been able to maintain its momentum and the Polk study apparently explains why. After living with the high-mileage technology, nearly two of three hybrid owners wind up returning to a more conventional vehicle when it’s time to trade in.

Bottom Line - Hybrid owners unlikely to buy another one, study shows

edcopp · #6 04/10/12, 08:39 PM

Considering the fact that a hybrid auto may cost more than a house, along with government and dealer incentives; the actual savings may not even exist.

I bought an old beater for $650 recently. Perhaps I will keep some records on the cost of operation and ownership and come up with some real facts.

shanzone2001 · #7 04/10/12, 08:45 PM

When I bought a car I chose a Prius because of the excellent gas mileage.
Since I was spending 20K on a new, reliable vehicle for my long commute it made sense to be one with great gas mileage.
I would love to be able to only spend a few hundred bucks on a beater, but considering I commute 60 miles each way to work I can't take the chance of breaking down...that and the fact I can't fix anything on a car to save my life!
I love my truck, but not for commuting.

JeffreyD · #8 04/10/12, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcatblum

DH had a hybrid civic. Think it was 2006 or 2007. Yes it got better MPG than our previous vehicles, but it didn't save enough gas to cover the car payment. This yr we recieved a notice that the class action lawsuit was about to be settled. Think our cut is only a few hundred dollars. But Honda is admitting & paying out since the cars do not preform with the fuel economy they promise.
If you are in the market for a new car then I think considering a hybrid is a good choice, from a resale perspective. However buying a hybrid just to save on gas you should really try to add up your expected savings. Saving $200 a month by speding $25000 doesn't add up for me.

A lady here refused to be part of that class action suit. She sued in small claims because Honda could not bring in their high priced lawyers. She won the maximum-$10,000.00. Never, ever be a part of a class action suit. The only winners there are the lawyers!

sewserious · #9 04/11/12, 06:33 AM

While hybrids may "save gas" they are not economical as you still have to pay for fuel, electricity. Electricity rates are going up and it takes a lot to keep a hybrid charged; they are not free to operate in any way, shape, or form. They have expensive batteries that need to be replaced. They are also not "green". Just the production of a hybrid is environmentally unfriendly, especially the batteries for them, and the production of electricity (per the environuts at least) is dirty too! Can't win for losin'.

They want their cake and eat it too; can't have it both ways. And you can be darn sure if I had a 60-mile commute with all the tractor-trailers and large vehicles on the road, I don't want to be in a tin-can. My DD was in a one-car accident with a telephone pole (not speeding either per cop, speed limit was 35). She was in 2001 Buick Regal. The state trooper said that car saved her life (and I agree). If she had been in anything smaller, he said she would have died from the impact as the driver door is what hit the pole. (he based this on 20 years experience) and I have to agree with that too if you had seen the damage done to a large car!

loghome mom · #10 04/11/12, 07:20 AM

Love our Prius so much that we bought a second one when we needed a second car. We've had no problems with it compared to my husbands truck that is always in the shop. We get 50 - 52 mpg.

brreitsma · #11 04/11/12, 08:45 AM

People often say that big bulky cars are so much safer but it depends on how you look at things. Too often with a big car a person lives through an accident but then goes through life as a vegetable or severely crippled. With a small car you die on impact, no vegetative state and no severe crippling just dead. I guess in choosing a car people have to decide in case of accident how they want things to work out.

SteveO · #12 04/22/12, 05:07 PM

If you were planning on being in an accident I would stay home but there are to many variables in an accident. Such as mentioned above the drivers door on a buick would be the back door of the Prius or the prius would stop faster or or or. we all choose our car but none of us choose to be in an accident. Although I have doubts about that the way some people drive.
Steve

tarbe · #13 04/22/12, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelK!

Notice that the only diesel vehicle, the VW TDI gives the best bang for your buck with only slightly more than a year for payback. Get the stickshift and I think it would be even better, because 35mpg is very low for a diesel.

I have the 6 speed manual in my 2009 TDI and I average 45 mpg.

Heck, even my all wheel drive 4,700 pound Touareg TDI gets 30 mpg (32 mpg if I drive 60 mph).

I like guns and diesel!

Tim

sewserious · #14 04/23/12, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveO

If you were planning on being in an accident I would stay home but there are to many variables in an accident. Such as mentioned above the drivers door on a buick would be the back door of the Prius or the prius would stop faster or or or. we all choose our car but none of us choose to be in an accident. Although I have doubts about that the way some people drive.
Steve

No the driver's door on the Buick would have been the entire side of a Prius. None of us plan to get into accidents, but we have insurance don't we? Yes, bigger cars are safer if they are well built. She is not a vegetable either. She suffered 3 pelvic fractures and missed 3 months of work and that is all after the driver's door ended up in the middle of the car and the driver's seat was in the middle where the console should be (it was in the back seat sort of). Hit a pole in a tiny car at 35 MPH (or less), sliding into it due to a slick spot in the road (it was sleeting that morning) and see what happens. No the Prius would not have stopped faster under those conditions. Not when you hit a patch of slick and are slung into something like you were shot out of a slingshot.

beccachow · #15 04/23/12, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loghome mom

Love our Prius so much that we bought a second one when we needed a second car. We've had no problems with it compared to my husbands truck that is always in the shop. We get 50 - 52 mpg.

My Explorer went belly up and I had to rent a car. They gave me a Prius. AT first, compared to old ironsides, I had grave misgivings regarding safety and such. I have grown to LOVE this car, have only filled the 10 or 15 gallon twice in the month I have had it. I see Prius advertised for around 13-15 thousand all day long for a used model, though I wouldn't recommend anythnig older than a 2009. As for safety it boasts side airbags for the entire passenger compartment as well as the typical airbags. I believe the car would crumple like a tin can, but the occupants would stay relatively unharmed.

My DH, however, refuses to look at them because of safety for DD. He is convinced they are death traps. We have peeled enough people out of Priuses at work, but they have always stayed safe though the car was totalled. The Prius is also, as mentioned above, very prone to hydroplaning even on a smooth surface such as a manhole cover. I guess due to its being designed to be light enough for energy efficiency.

Bad side also; the batteries go up and are very costly to replace and there is no one outside of a Toyota dealership that can work on them.

plowjockey · #16 04/23/12, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sewserious

While hybrids may "save gas" they are not economical as you still have to pay for fuel, electricity. Electricity rates are going up and it takes a lot to keep a hybrid charged; they are not free to operate in any way, shape, or form. They have expensive batteries that need to be replaced. They are also not "green". Just the production of a hybrid is environmentally unfriendly, especially the batteries for them, and the production of electricity (per the environuts at least) is dirty too! Can't win for losin'.

They want their cake and eat it too; can't have it both ways. And you can be darn sure if I had a 60-mile commute with all the tractor-trailers and large vehicles on the road, I don't want to be in a tin-can. My DD was in a one-car accident with a telephone pole (not speeding either per cop, speed limit was 35). She was in 2001 Buick Regal. The state trooper said that car saved her life (and I agree). If she had been in anything smaller, he said she would have died from the impact as the driver door is what hit the pole. (he based this on 20 years experience) and I have to agree with that too if you had seen the damage done to a large car!

I'd never argue with a cop, but the 2012 Toyota Prius has a higher IIHS saftey rating, than the 2001 Buick Regal.

Automakers spend hundreds of millions of dollars, designing vehicles, to be safer in a crash.

ajaxlucy · #17 04/24/12, 02:48 PM

I don't argue with the conclusions in the report, but the graph format makes it look more cut-and-dried than it is. Assumptions are made and variables omitted that do influence the benefits to the consumer.

For instance, the payback time for a Chevy Volt is listed as up to 27 years, but that's assuming it's regularly driven further than its battery range and gas is less than $4/gallon. According to the article, if it were driven within battery range only and gas were up to $5/gallon, the payback drops to 8 years. For me, that does make a difference. I've always kept my vehicles longer than 8 years. I don't count on gas staying under $4/gallon for the next 8 years either.

Obviously, the payoff formula doesn't take into account intangibles like time saved/convenience, i.e. fewer (or no) stops at the gas station, but those things can make a car more attractive, too.

plowjockey · #18 04/24/12, 03:28 PM

Let's remember too, that when it comes to cars in America, it never has and never will be, just about the math.

Somebody buys a Hyundi, because that's all they can afford and it's economical.

Somebody else buys a Cadillac, or Hummer, because they want one and could care less about the economics. True of most makes and models. They buy them because they want them.

One aspect of hybrids not mentioned is lower tailpipe pollution emissions, which can be up to 9 times less than the same non-hybrid model.

Our Highlander Hybrid gets 7 MPG better (rated) than the non-hybrid and the cost difference was not great $2k (purchased used in 06'), but we purchased the hybrid, because we wanted one.

It has retained it's resale value, pretty good and is still about $1500 higher that the non hybrid. We are not selling.

watcher · #19 04/24/12, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajaxlucy

I don't argue with the conclusions in the report, but the graph format makes it look more cut-and-dried than it is. Assumptions are made and variables omitted that do influence the benefits to the consumer.

For instance, the payback time for a Chevy Volt is listed as up to 27 years, but that's assuming it's regularly driven further than its battery range and gas is less than $4/gallon. According to the article, if it were driven within battery range only and gas were up to $5/gallon, the payback drops to 8 years. For me, that does make a difference. I've always kept my vehicles longer than 8 years. I don't count on gas staying under $4/gallon for the next 8 years either.

Obviously, the payoff formula doesn't take into account intangibles like time saved/convenience, i.e. fewer (or no) stops at the gas station, but those things can make a car more attractive, too.

There is also something that is usually left out of the equation, replacing the batteries. The last I heard battery replacement in most of those cars run from 3 to 4 thousand dollars and IIRC the life expectancy of the batteries is 100,000 miles (I don't understand how they can give battery life in miles but. . .) So if you manage to drive only on battery and gas goes up AND only drive 12,500 miles per year then your pay back on your investment is 8 years. But if any of those factors aren't met you are looking at a much longer payback time due to the extra cost.

sewserious · #20 04/24/12, 04:53 PM

Not to mention the pollution that is created while making those batteries or in making the electricity to charge one. You simply cannot run a hybrid electric on the batteries only unless you commute less than 40 miles round trip AND don't use the heater in the winter or the air in the summer. You must charge the darn thing overnight or find somewhere to charge it on a trip; how in the heck is that convenient when it takes 8 to 12 hours for a full charge? I can drive all night on a tank of gas, stop for about 15 minutes and be on my way to drive all day! Now that is convenience!