I don't get hybrids at all.

Guy across the street has a brand new CR-Z (white) AND a brand new Prius.

He comes over and starts talking about how much mileage and blah blah.

I ask him what he paid for the Honda. He says 24K. I ask him how much mileage he expects. He says 45. I ask him how long he'll have to drive it to make up the difference between that and a normal gas car that gets less mileage, but costs much less and has much, much better performance.

He asks me what I mean.

I tell him we paid $17K for my wife's Scion Xb. It's gets 33 MPG all day, every day, and will run like h#ll for a four cylinder (has the Camry's drive train in it). Oh, and it'll haul mass as well - it's like having a little station wagon.

I start throwing some math at him based on 5 dollar a gallon gas.

He's already $7000 over what we paid for the Scion so I start there.

At $5 per gallon, for his $7000 he could have bought 1,400 gallons of gas.

On 1,400 gallons, he would have been able to drive (best case, because 45MPG average is very optimistic) 63,000 miles.

In short - in 63,000 miles he'd break even compared to our small gas car...

Definitely not worth it to me. I've driven hybrids and absolutely DON'T GET IT. If you want any performance out of them your fantastic gas savings go flying out the tailpipe and even then they are dreadfully slow - almost to the point of being dangerous. They are horrible on the environment (have you looked at what it takes to manufacture one?) so all that 'green' BS is just that - BS. They're really unattractive (IMO). You can't really modify them and on many if you change the wheels/tires you defeat the purpose of having the hybrid in the first place..

I mean, if you were going to buy one and drive it a few hundred thousand miles I could see it...

Do the math on your 37 MPG CRZ. I get 33 in my Scion, and it's $7K less. Chevy Cruze starts at $16K and gets 42 highway.. I don't see how you're saving any money. You're starting all over again with a new car note, more money out of pocket, and a car that performs (and looks) like a turd.

Sorry man. I don't get it at all, but as long as you enjoy it and think you're saving money that's all that counts.. The math and attraction don't add up for me.

 

You really need to do the math to see if it's even worth it. Buying a brand new car to save money almost never makes financial sense.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but there really needs to be more reasons than just saving money on gas to justify it.

 

Exactly, it's always cheaper to keep what you have and just put the cash in the gas tank.

TWO costs people never really think about (at least in Massachusetts, i don't know how other states do things), sales tax and excise tax. Depending on what price range you buy, you will get a nice $1000-2000 tax to pay off the bat, and your first excise tax IN MA on a brandy new car is usually in the $1000-2000 range as well. So you factor in those costs, along with payments and all the sudden you are down quite a bit in funds off the bat.

Sometimes, just maintaining an older cheaper gas guzzler is cheaper. Of course, if you are soaking $1000 in repairs ever few months..different story, but if it runs and drives fine and is reliable..cheaper to just keep putting cash in the gas tank, vs in the hands of a dealership/salesman/taxes/etc.





I do like the M37 hybrid. Been meaning to sit down and compare sticker prices and mileage to figure out the break even point between buying an M37 hybrid and a standard gas M37. It would probably be something like 7-10 years or so. I wonder if a LEASE of a hybrid would be financially savvy? I should go to the dealer and get lease quotes on a Hybrid M37 and standard M37 and see if i'll save money in the long run during the course of the lease. If the difference is $50 a month, it might be possible leasing a hybrid IS cheaper. Really need to do the math to figure this out though. I'm curious to see.

 

I was thinking about trading my car in for a Yaris....I woulda saved on gas and insurance thats for sure. But I wouldn't be happy. Sometimes you gotta look past the happiness and do what's best. Decided to keep the G because the payments would have been the same as the Yaris. If anything I'd say look into a Hyundai. IMHO, it ain't worth getting a Honda now. Low model Civic with no options is like 20k. You can get a fully loaded Hyundai for that price and IMO looks better.

I wouldn't necessarily buy a brand new car, but a couple years old used vehicle might be better if you decide to downgrade. In the end you gotta decide if it's costworthy, if that's what you're looking at.

 

eggzachly!

 

Damn, after reading Bob's post it really put things into perspective....for me anyways.

 

If someone drives long distances everyday then a hybrid makes sense and will pay itself off. Not everybody drives the same way or cares about performance.

 

yea.. i know what u are talking about when it comes to gas.. I spent about 260 give or take 10 bucks...a month... if u race from traffic light to traffic light u looking at about 300 a month

 

I bike to work as much as possible (10 mile roundtrip). Save on miles, gas and keeps me in shape

 

i did do the math, and the CR-Z doesnt get 45mpg.. that guy was stupid.. at best a CR-Z can get and from what i read avrg @ 35mpg. the difference is 1k a year... in the long run.. it isnt worth it (would take me about 7-8 years to really make the difference). i dont owe much on my G so the difference there was also a factor, i called my insurance, its not much of savings. i guess if one wants to go all out, get a prius, but thats already way up in the 25k... corolla gives roughly the same and its cheaper, but from what i have checked its prob not the bestt thing to do just yet. i got about a year left in school and ima just do that and then decide what.
i may end up getting a bike, was thinking a suzuki gsxr.

 

Just wait till the G is paid off and then upgrade instead of downgrade.. Like they said buying new is never really a savings, so if you're going to spend the money, wait and spend it on something you want.. You will be paying on it for 4-6 years in most cases.. I would hate to be stuck with a CRZ for 4-6 years..

 

Bikes are fun. Mine is a GSXR600 and gets 45mpg all day long... And only cost $7800 brand new. used you can get them way less.

 

I can't figure the CRZ out. It looks like a new generation CRX, but my interest ends there. I can get a Hyundai Accent that is not a hybrid, starts at about 13k (2/3rds the price of a CRZ) and gets better highway mileage than a CRZ (40 for Accent and 37 for CRZ). The Hyundai also has 138 hp and a 10 year 100k mile power train warranty. Why make a hybrid that gets average gas mileage for it's class, but isn't even a sporty car. If it had good acceleration I would totally understand. I think Honda failed on all points with the CRZ.

I am waiting to see what the Chevrolet Sonic does. 1.4 turbo, 138 hp 148 lb ft, 40 + mpg and Corvette engineers did the suspension. Sounds like it might be a great package (always wonder about reliability). http://www.autoblog.com/2011/06/02/2...k-spin-review/

 

Well, if you do get a new car, let me know. I can get pretty much any new car for under invoice. If you do go w/ it, are you going to miss your G?

 

If i was in the MPG game, i'd get a new Chevy Cruze. Good looking little car, nice interior, inexpensive, and it gets 42mpg.