Not too many of the Vintage Folk have a hybrid or other high MPG vehicle. I thought it might be interesting to share experiences about design, driving 'em, owning 'em and future expectations.

We have had and enjoyed owning a Prius for almost exactly 7 years...so fairly early adopters in January 2006. Our first experience driving one was as a rental vehicle out of the Manchester NH airport back in 2005, and it was an interesting experience. Of course, we are admitted tree huggers

I look at driving the P as my Mr Hyde cloak ...while I morph into Dr. Jekyll while driving the S It's sort of fun to watch the MPG readouts and see how close to 50 mpg can be achieved. Hey, I have even done that occasionally with the S...seeing if I can get close to 30 mpg on a LEVEL trip at reasonable speeds. Unless it's an S2000 event or I'm driving by myself, we usually take the Prius on longer trips.

Anyhow, we like the P experience enough that we traded in the BLUE '06 model two years ago and now have a RED '11 model with about 22k miles on the odo. Kathy likes it a lot and it's "her car"...but I enjoy both driving experiences. Of course, I also have the '68 Dodge Dart for REAL "other world" driving in the summer....

RANT away if you want to, but stuff with electric motors seem to be here to stay. I'm interested what experience others have had with any sort of hybrid....small, medium or the newer larger versions? Maybe there is even another here who would admit to OWNING one????

S2000 trivia: a rumor floated at MWG that "Mr S2000" Rick Hesel has ordered a new Tesla "S" luxo sedan and will sadly be selling his S2000 in the coming months. I actually saw one here in the Philly suburbs recently, so I guess deliveries have started...

 

This just says so much for me...

 

My mother owns a Prius C, which I've driven a number of times. It's no race car, but it has a fairly small Carbon footprint and it's cheap to operate and maintain. I'm seriously considering getting one myself after looking over our expenses for the year recently. Rori and I spent just shy of $10k just on gas this past year. Between that and my deteriorating back and clutch leg, a hybrid may be the sensible thing to do. Not that I've ever been accused of being sensible.

 

If cost savings is the motivator you need to look at the payback time. New gas engines vs these others. Everything I've read and heard suggests it takes so many years to break-even it is generally a bad investment. That's why the total sales for all these types is something like 3% to total sales of all vehicles.

 

I'm with Dave. Go drive a Focus SE. Given your penchant for driving slightly ( )over the posted speed limit on most highways you'll still probably get 33-34 mpg and save money all around.

 

I agree with Dave and Raymo. Dean,I won't make fun of you if you buy a Focus, I make no such promises if you buy a Prius. Not sure if this helps you make a decision or not.

 

Who, me? (3 warnings in the past 4 months).
How does the Focus SE's handling compare to the Mini Cooper S? Does the Focus SE offer an AT option? I don't want another standard.

 

Similar handling but maybe a bit more body roll at speed. The 6 speed auto is smoother than smooth most of the time. There are those occasional weird times when you wish it was a manual but I've found it best just to press the right pedal harder and hit passing gear.

 

I'm not stuck on the Prius....glad to hear about the Focus SE. Kathy is the serious tree hugger in our family... I can go either way

Interesting to hear Dean's reaction about the Prius C. I have not driven one (based on the Yaris chassis etc), but it's apparently a lot different that the regular Prius or the newer Prius V (larger cargo area/ lesser MPG).

I have not heard any reactions from Raymo, Dave, Lainey, Doug or others....opinions based on DRIVING a Prius or similar. Some folks get excited about driving their S to the supermarket or in an urban environment. Me....not so much.

 

Well, even the performance marques are looking into hybrid options, so it's hard to tell where the car world will be in 5 more years. The e-motors are also providing performance and TORQUE from smaller motots (e.g, BMW change a 4 cyl. in the 3 series)...to meet CAFE standards, etc.

Whatever, since we travel a lot, it's nice to pull into a gas station and fill up after a 48 mpg drive...rather than a 24 mpg drive. All of us should do what Dean has done: see how much you spent on fuel in 2012