Hybrid Car ??

C

CaptHasting

New member
I am getting ready to buy another car now. When gas prices were $4 plus, I was really thinking about buying a hybrid. Now with gas prices back down to $2 or less, should I.

I understand the environment situation, however with the cost of a hybrid being $5k plus more, I will never make the money back over the life of the 4-5 years I am going to keep the car.

So any feedback of your experience owning a hybrid, or why I should or shoulnt would be appreciated.
 
I recommend the car from Roger Rabbit. What better car than one that gets great gas mileage, can walk under it's own power using tires as feet, talks back to you, and is virtually indestructible unless it runs into some DIP?

If you can't find one of those, I suggest posting in the proper forum next time :evil:
 
Wow. I know I shouldn't but this is something worth celebrating. This is epically off topic. It's like he somehow registered for and posted on the wrong Website entirely, by accident. I salute you.
 
I Googled a line from this post and found the exact same thread posted on some other forums, so this looks very much like a spambot. A curious, non-advertising spambot.

Anyways, it's reported now.
 
There's probably a followup tied to this where after our suggestions he says he's decided to go with the the Prius or another hybrid and tells us why it's the best. If for some bizarre reason it doesn't get locked I guess we'll find out eventually.
 
Indeed.

Gas prices are only low now because less people are driving as they adapted to the higher gas prices, and the economy sucks so people aren't traveling as much in general. If the economy crawls forth again from the cavern of darkness it has receeded into, and people start driving more, then the gas prices will go back up. The problem isn't solved, leaving the Hybrid to be a safe bet.
 
Even with gas prices going down, I suggest getting a hybrid car anyway. Gas prices can be tricky and they could get really expensive again. More importantly, or just as important depending on your point of view, using a hybrid car is better for the environment. Of course, its all your choice in the end.
 
Hybrid cars....pass. For all you who have bought into the eco-freindly propagandaThe two links in there are also quite informative. Me, I care about performance first, and that's the real deal killer with Hybrids. I'll stick with my TrailBlazer for now. It's got a hell of an engine for an SUV.
 
The first point Punisher makes about hybrid engines is a classic straw-man argument -- it points out that hybrids still produce emissions, when none of the advocates for hybrids are saying that they don't. However, the argument conveniently forgets that 1) hybrid engines still burn less gas than comparable pure-gas ones, meaning they will produce less emissions, and 2) Toyota's hybrid system can actually drive in pure-electric mode, producing zero emissions while it does so. I'm not sure what is meant by the "silent killer" aspect.

Citing the Ford Escape hybrid as typical of hybrid vehicles is also stacking the deck. 99% of the people driving SUVs are never going to tow anything ever, so the fact that the Ford Escape can't tow things is technically true but practically irrelevant. Anybody who needs to tow things seriously should get a real pickup truck. The engine may also be underpowered compared to other SUVs, but practically speaking, horsepower is not the only gauge of driving ability -- torque matters a lot as well. Electric motors is that they can produce a whole lot of torque at low RPMs, which is exactly the point when gas engines are the least efficient. The former Honda Accord Hybrid was also the most powerful engine you could buy for the model line, in terms of both horsepower, torque, and acceleration, and still got gas mileage ratings comparable to a pure-gas Civic. Empirically, I've driven a pure-gas Nissan Sentra and a Ford Focus and found that neither one felt better in acceleration or handling than my Honda Civic Hybrid, and the HCH definitely got better gas mileage than either vehicle. I also think that cars in general these days are over-powered, but that's a subjective thing.

I can't argue with the statements against nickel mining, but I find it odd that the sudden environmental concern about this and the cost of recycling batteries are enough to justify a decision to drive a gas guzzler instead of a hybrid, without noting the added environmental impact of producing an SUV instead of a car.

I bought a Honda Civic Hybrid in 2003 and my only complaints about it are that its carrying capacity is limited because I have no fold-down rear seats and there's been a persistent problem with the CVT transmission that was in all the high-end Civics that year (it was an option in the standard gas engine cars). I've never felt that it was underpowered. I'm not going to win any drag races with it, but that's not why I bought the thing. On the other hand, averaging 40 MPG over the lifetime of the car in almost pure city driving in a vehicle this size is pretty damn cool. Needing to fill up once every 3 weeks is cool when gas is $2 a gallon, but completely awesome when it's $4. I also bought the thing as a political statement as much as anything to signal that I do, in fact, want cars to get better gas mileage however you choose to do it.

But, hey, it's a free country and there are other options for more fuel-efficient vehicles that aren't hybrids, if you object to things about hybrids. At the moment, I think you are still compromising with them, but I think that's changing.

-- Ed
 
Hybrid cars are a great thing but there's a few things that some people seem to be oblivious about:
  1. True hybrids allow the electric motor to drive the car on its own. More are available now but not so for older models.
  2. With generally smaller engines than other cars, hybrids don't actually save you any petrol when on the Interstate.
  3. Depending on your annual mileage, it could take years to claw back the differential cost over a regular car, even if petrol is $4+ a gallon.
  4. The Germans have developed diesel technology to such an extent that you can have a 4.0L V8 and still get 50mpg.
  5. And of course there's the question of the batteries. Granted you're not going to be stranded should they die, but let's just say you won't be buying replacements.
I'm not railing against hybrids, they're a great idea and one would fit great with my commute, it's just that right now, for the cost, a regular car (like a Civic) makes just as much sense.
 
The difference between "pure" hybrids and mixed hybrids is there, but it's also largely irrelevant as far as driving the vehicles go. They both save gas, they can both shut down their engines at stop lights, and they both use the same tricks to charge the batteries in the car. The major difference is that only the pure hybrids can be converted to plug-in hybrids, but the majority of people aren't going to do that.

As far as I know, only Toyota offers hybrid engines where the electric motor is large enough to move the vehicle. Everyone else uses the mixed system, where the electric motor just assists the gas when needed. There is a benefit to the mixed-hybrid systems in that they're generally simpler than the pure hybrids, but I think the maintenance records show that the Toyota Prius hasn't suffered from outsized maintenance problems compared to other hybrids.



This is not true. Smaller engines burn less gas than larger ones, so the fact that hybrids use smaller gas engines means they'll burn less gas that comparably sized pure gas engines. The smaller engines don't work any harder at highway speeds, either. Most of the horsepower and torque in car engines is used to get the car moving from a dead stop. It takes a lot of energy to get a car moving, but not anywhere near as much to maintain speed (go review your high school physics if you don't know why). A lot of higher-end cars with 6 and 8 cylinder engines have tech now to shut off extra cylinders at highway speeds. Once you get to 60, those extra cylinders aren't doing anything but wasting gas.

Empirically, I know a few people who drive their hybrids on the highway and still get higher gas mileage than other comparably sized vehicles.



This is true, but diesel hasn't made the same kind of inroads in the US as in Europe. It's a chicken-and-egg problem of a lack of fueling stations and a lack of vehicles for the ones that are there. Earlier diesel engines also had real problems with higher emissions and difficulty starting in cold weather, but as I understand it these problems are mostly not present any more in the newer models. In any event, hybrids are more popular in the US because of historical aversion to diesel engines and a lack of will to push the tech, and diesels are more popular in Europe because they've had them longer. No reason why different parts of the world can't use different tech to save gas.

-- Ed
 
Nah, hybrids are a little over-sophisticated in my book but then again if you drive a car with a hole in the floor and if you switch between using your feet or a sturdy stick and your cars engine then you have a nice redneck hybrid. I sail might work on light cars and using one of those counts as a hybrid right?
 
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