vader1

My boss has an Insight. He regularly gets mid fifties. But his commute is a 50 mile steady cruise at about 65 mph then his last few miles can be stop and go on a given day. But I would call his driving style "relaxed"


I think he has about 80,000 miles on it.

marthafokker

Here is the thing about driving a hybrid. If you want to get close to the EPA averages, you will need to drive more than a few miles per trip. Otherwise, your averages are going to be very low. That is the reason the magazine folks are probably doing.

But if you have a long commute, you could get close or better than the averages.

OC S2K

Good thread. I'm not exactly a tree hugger but miles per gallon is only part of the equation. These cars are better for the environment since they run cleaner, correct?

CBeyond

The results here are not as good as I expected.

Isn't it possible to get around 37-44 mpg from a number of non-hybrid models? I wonder if it's worth the hybrid price increase to get 10 extra mpg on a good day.

OC S2K

Monetary wise, the cost savings in gas usually aren't as much as the cost of the car. However, you do get a tax break, run cleaner, and have the convenience of filling up less. I personally don't like going to the gas station. I wonder in let's say 15,000 miles, how many less trips that is to the gas station?

marthafokker

That is why people with the Camry Hybrid are so happy.... because it takes 600-700 miles per fuel up. It is great not to have to fuel up for a few weeks.

TommyDeVito

The HCH isn't really worth the extra money over the regular civic unless you are green and want to drive a SULEV. The regular Civic is a ULEV and gets great gas mileage. You can also score one really cheap as the Si's and HCH's go for sticker or slightly under but you won't get to great of a deal on either unless you can pull strings. Gas is starting to go back up around here and I'm about to have to get a different car as the S is too impractical with a new house and 2 new dogs. What to get, what to get.

Delano5050

I think hybrids are good, but dont you think that they will be obsolete in a matter of years (while people are still paying them off). It seems we are moving towards technology's that are completely 'gas' free and they will be hear soon. It doesn't seem all that worth it when you can build a really good b-series or f-series engine and get good power plus close to 30+ MPG. and in a hybrid you lose the power, and get only 10MPG more. Dont get me wrong i think they are good and a step in the right direction, it just seems like we should have bypassed them and moved straight to the other technology's that we have.

Iceman1

easier said than done... the technology exists for all of us to have practical hybrid or fuel cell or electric cars right now... but naturally the people that are going to lose money in that process are the same ones that are actively trying to slow down this process... namely the big oil companies... a new major oil refinery takes almost 25 years to pay for itself while making the investment worth it... so you can imagine many large companies still have a lot of money they need to recoup from selling gas...

Delano5050

I definatly understand that, like I said This is not an environmental issue as much as it is an economic issue (people willing to take the economic hit). If it weren't an economic issue we would have solved the problem already.