is hybrid better than normal car?

[Patrina]

is hybrid better than normal car?

 

[dgk]

is hybrid better than normal car?

Yes. What is the criteria that would make it better?

 

[News]

Yes. What is the criteria that would make it better?

What's normal?

 

[Tegger (2)]

What's normal?

The opposite of abnormal, of course. And abnormal is the opposite of normal.

 

[Tegger (2)]

Yes. What is the criteria that would make it better?

It's not better for saving money, that's for sure.

Hybrids are an awfully expensive way to save money. Forbes Magazine's Jerry Flint has calculated in the current issue that a Prius will take 12 years to break-even compared to a Corolla. And a Lexus RX450h will take 7 years to break-even compared to the non-hybrid version.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

Forbes Magazine's Jerry
Flint has calculated in the current issue that a Prius will take 12 years to break-even compared to a Corolla.

....unless you need some feature of the Prius that's not in the Corolla...like the extra room...in which case, buying the Corolla is a $15K waste of money.

 

[Leftie]

is hybrid better than normal car?

It depends on your situation. If you do mainly city driving but need a family-sized car, a hybrid is better. If you drive mostly in the city and don't mind owning a very small car, a subcompact is a better buy. If you drive mostly highway miles a hybrid is not worth the extra cost, because it's advantage comes from recovering and storing the energy lost during lots of slowing and stopping.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

If
you drive mostly highway miles a hybrid is not worth the extra cost, because it's advantage comes from recovering and storing the energy lost during lots of slowing and stopping.

except, try to find a modern car of similar size and comfort as the Prius that gets 50+ mpg.

There's more to the Prius than just managing kinetic energy. No car of similar size and feature set is capable of getting over 50mpg on the highway, or anywhere near 50mpg.

 

[jim beam]

except, try to find a modern car of similar size and comfort as the Prius that gets 50+ mpg.

There's more to the Prius than just managing kinetic energy. No car of similar size and feature set is capable of getting over 50mpg on the highway, or anywhere near 50mpg.

i was going to respond to leftie, but you've pointed out what i was going to say. reason is the prius's cvt. it's a great system. the civic hx used to have it and can get very good freeway gas mileage - high 40's.

many euro and asian market vehicles have cvt, but they're extraordinarily scarce here, and gas consumption correspondingly higher. "part of our great american gas guzzler conspiracy".

 

[Leftie]

except, try to find a modern car of similar size and comfort as the Prius that gets 50+ mpg.

There's more to the Prius than just managing kinetic energy. No car of similar size and feature set is capable of getting over 50mpg on the highway, or anywhere near 50mpg.

No, but there are cars of similar size that will get 40mpg highway and are substantially cheaper (like a Jetta diesel), so there is no payback of the difference.

I support using hybrids. I just don't want people mislead about the advantages.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

There's more to the Prius than just managing kinetic energy. No car of similar size and feature set is capable of getting over 50mpg on the highway, or anywhere near 50mpg.

No, but there are cars of similar size that will get 40mpg highway and are substantially cheaper (like a Jetta diesel), so there is no payback of the difference.[/QUOTE]

Have you ever owned a VW?

'Nuff said. They're absolute pieces of junk. I wouldn't drive one if you gave it to me and paid for all gas, maintenance, insurance, and repairs.

 

[Grumpy AuContraire]

Ok, I have a '95 Civic EX sedan that isn't as roomy as a Prius, but gets 55mpg on the highway. It isn't rocket science: cars got better fuel economy in the '80's, before they started to make them larger and faster than necessary. The Prius is in some ways just a return to '80's design philosophy: efficiency and quality over acceleration.

I can attest to that.

My '83 Civic FE got low 40's city and 55+ highway in real tests and my current one has an '81 engine (which is substantially different than the '83) but uses the tall gears of the FE and even with today's lousy gas gets in the mid to high 40mpg range highway.

Best part is the complexity compared to today's tin is greatly simplified. Most of it is "old school" and easy to maintain/repair.

JT

 

[Leftie]

i was going to respond to leftie, but you've pointed out what i was going to say. reason is the prius's cvt. it's a great system. the civic hx used to have it and can get very good freeway gas mileage - high 40's.

many euro and asian market vehicles have cvt, but they're extraordinarily scarce here, and gas consumption correspondingly higher. "part of our great american gas guzzler conspiracy".

You can get CVT transmissions on Nissans here. Keep in mind too that the Prius isn't really a midsize car: it qualifies as one because they managed to stretch the interior space out just enough to earn the designation. The same could be done with a non-hybrid.

 

[Leftie]

There's more to the Prius than just managing kinetic energy. No car of similar size and feature set is capable of getting over 50mpg on the highway, or anywhere near 50mpg.

No, but there are cars of similar size that will get 40mpg highway and are substantially cheaper (like a Jetta diesel), so there is no payback of the difference.

Have you ever owned a VW?

'Nuff said. They're absolute pieces of junk. I wouldn't drive one if you gave it to me and paid for all gas, maintenance, insurance, and repairs.[/QUOTE]

Ok, I have a '95 Civic EX sedan that isn't as roomy as a Prius, but gets 55mpg on the highway. It isn't rocket science: cars got better fuel economy in the '80's, before they started to make them larger and faster than necessary. The Prius is in some ways just a return to '80's design philosophy: efficiency and quality over acceleration.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

Ok, I have a '95 Civic EX sedan that isn't as roomy as a Prius, but gets 55mpg on the highway.

US miles per US gallon?

I had a 92 Civic that got 35mpg on the highway; several years into owning that, I discovered that the speedeometer was wrong, and as a result the odometer was wrong.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

Keep in mind too that
the Prius isn't really a midsize car: it qualifies as one because they managed to stretch the interior space out just enough to earn the designation.

So, keep in mind that the Prius isn't really a midsize car; it qualifies as one only because it fits the size criteria for a midsize car???

What are you smoking? It fits the criteria for a midsize car, therefore it's a midsize car.

What you're saying is that YOU disagree on the criteria for midsize cars. What YOU think is midsize is way different than how the manufacturers and governing bodies define midsize.

 

[rick++]

Economically, generally no.
I compute the number of years it would take to
pay off the difference between hybrid and
non-bybrid economy car. With my habits
I'd save 150 gallons a year. Thats a payoff
of $400 to $600 per year or 6-10 years
for the price difference.

The Prius III in two years is supposed have better
economics.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

What you're saying is that YOU disagree on the criteria for midsize cars. What YOU think is midsize is way different than how the manufacturers and governing bodies define midsize.

No, I'm saying that it's lighter than a typical midsize car.[/QUOTE]

Weight is not a criterion for the definition, therefore you can't say "it doesn't fit the defintion".

Did you
know that the defining criterion is interior room and nothing else? It just squeaks in with enough interior space to be defined as "midsize."

So what if it "just squeaks in"? There have to be limits; either it fits within those limits, or it doesn't.

You appear to be saying that "yeah, well, it's at the lower end of those size limits, plus it doesn't weigh as much as what a traditional midsize car always has, therefore it's not really midsize".

In other words, you disagree with the criteria that define "midsize".

 

[Leftie]

US miles per US gallon?

I had a 92 Civic that got 35mpg on the highway; several years into owning that, I discovered that the speedeometer was wrong, and as a result the odometer was wrong.

Yes, US MPG, and the speedometer is within 1.5MPH.

 

[Leftie]

So, keep in mind that the Prius isn't really a midsize car; it qualifies as one only because it fits the size criteria for a midsize car???

What are you smoking? It fits the criteria for a midsize car, therefore it's a midsize car.

What you're saying is that YOU disagree on the criteria for midsize cars. What YOU think is midsize is way different than how the manufacturers and governing bodies define midsize.

No, I'm saying that it's lighter than a typical midsize car. Did you know that the defining criterion is interior room and nothing else? It just squeaks in with enough interior space to be defined as "midsize." IIRC, the old Volvo 240, with its larger size but smaller interior, was a "compact."