A question on hybrids

The Ford commercial for the hybrid SUV shows in the small print "34mpg city, 30 mpg highway." Do hybrids really get better mileage in city driving than highway driving?

 

Yes. Hitting the brakes charges the battery. You obviously don't hit the brakes very often on the highway.

 

Well, actually, while it does charge the battery when hitting the break, the reason for the difference in MPH is it runs on battery on low MPH - which would be city conditions, not highway. Obviously, the more traffic you're in, the better mileage you might get.

It does take a while to get used to the car "going off" while sitting at a light.

 

So far my Civic has done much better in the city than on the highway. Love it.

 

You'd have been better off with a diesel.

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2007/11/diesels-provide.html

And hybrids aren't cost-effective. You're looking at a minimum of 7 years before you see any actual savings.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071028/BUSINESS02/710280333/-1/BUSINESS

 

I have friends who both own Volkswagen Passat diesels and they get damn near 50 MPG. And they're nice cars. They don't even have that diesel sound.

I do note that diesel vs. gas prices are all over the map at times. Every now and then I notice diesel is much cheaper. At other times I've seen it much more expensive.

 

The VW diesels are very nice cars -- but do not buy one if you live somewhere where it gets seriously cold.

Those fuckers will still gel up on you.

The regular VWs still get pretty good mileage, though.

 

Thanks for that advice. They have an attached garage. Me? not so lucky.

 

Me, either. I would think you'd be alright cold starting, but driving into a very cold winter wind will for sure cause them to gel. Had it happen to a hockey dad with his a few winters back. We doubled back to the last town, found an open store, got him some of the fuel additive and headed back. He got it going again, we got back on the road, and as soon as he got it up to speed it started to conk out on him again.

Apparently, it doesn't get THAT cold in Germany.

 

Yea, nobody can drive diesels up here, and there are a lot of trucks b/c of all the farms. Too bad.

And 2mcm, I've had my current POS 10 years. Not everybody changes their cars out every five years, so hybrids probably save money for more people than you think.

 

It seems to take diesel a lot longer to respond to price changes. So if gas prices go up, diesel owners are usually in luck. They go down, the opposite is true. Though that's not happening now. Where I'm at, regular is about 3.05; diesel's around 3.50. I'm guessing it has something to do with the supply chain, but I really don't know.

 

Not only that, but also if your battery pack has to be replaced and you're out of warranty, you're looking at dropping six large.