Thinking of buying a hybrid -- discuss

When you factor in car depreciation, driving a car until the wheels fall off is a very prudent thing to do.

If I buy a $30,000 car, drive it for six years (120,000) miles and trade it in for $10,000, I just lost $20,000 in depreciation.

That is $.17 a mile or about $50 in depreciation every time I fill up.

If I drive a less expensive car, say $15,000 just to get me back and forth to work, and drive it for 240,000 miles, my depreciation cost per 300 miles just dropped to $18. And that is not considering any resale value at all.

 

Sorry. I have my father's Depression-era mentality towards money. Spending it tends to make me sick to my stomach, like I'm committing some sort of mortal sin. When I traded in my last car and bought my present one, I was happy with my choice, but depressed that I was again saddled with a car payment when I could've squeezed another 50K out of my trade-in.

And I'd dare anyone to argue with me that Priuses are disrespected in traffic. Drive one and see how many people laugh at you and cut you off, knowing that anyone who drives that wimpy a car is a threat. They're cool only in Berkeley, Palto Alto, Los Angeles and various other left-leaning burgs. They're the favorite car of people who don't like to drive and hate themselves for doing so. It's an automotive hairshirt. I drove one once and I was totally underwhelmed.

My PS3 steering wheel for Gran Turismo 5 has more feel than the Prius' tiller. It was so slow I thought I was going to get bug guts on the rear hatch. I instantly felt like every bad granola-chomping, Birkenstock-wearing, no deodorant-wearing hippie stereotype in the book. It's decently roomy, but that's about it. The interior is plain-jane, the price is sky-high (I've read that Toyota lost money by the truckload on the cars) for what you get and it's just not a good car by any objective measure. Except if that means saving the oh-so-fragile planet.

Diesel fuel is expensive, yes. Most of that is because of fuel taxes. But line up the average diesel vs. any hybrid over a 250K span and see which one runs like a top and which one is getting fed to the crusher. The diesel wins every time.

 

HC & I rented a Camry Hybrid when were out in Vancouver for a vacation a couple of years ago. Great car, mileage was unbelievable. The only weird thing was that you didn't know the car was even running sometime.

Count me as someone who is not a fan of the Prius. There's something demonstrably UGLY about them. It reminds me of Walter White's Aztec.


Since HC & I do a LOT of road trips, our next car will most likely be a hybrid.

 

Jack, my motivation to buy a hybrid would be an economic one: will I save money over the long haul? The feeling good about myself is an added bonus.

I also want to know how fast they do 0-60

 

My sister has a Prius and her husband has a Fusion. They also have a Mustang, but don't drive it that much.

They both commute an hour each way to work and love both cars. When they can carpool, I think they opt for the Ford, but that's probably because my BIL does the driving

The Prius is surprisingly roomy. My sister packed camping for four in the thing.

My younger sister drives a diesel Dually, which she has to have to pull her four-horse trailer. I asked her about gas engines because gas is so much cheaper than diesel where she is, but she said she gets double the mileage (14 v. 7) out of the diesel. Her truck -- a GMC she calls Colleen -- has 260k miles on it and she bought it used in 2008 for $26k.

I drive a Corolla and get over 30 mpg.

 

You have a steering wheel for your video games, and you're making fun of people who drive Hybrids?

 

0 - 60 in 6.1 seconds.

www.porsche.com/usa/models/cayenne/cayenne-s-hybrid/

 

For the record, I've only had my Prius V for a couple of months but:
1. I have never had a problem merging on the highway
2. Do I do 0-60 in 6 seconds? No. But I am not driving on the autobahn, I am just trying to get to work (or a game, etc.)
3. I drove over 3,500 on our recent family vacation and not once was I cut off by anyone.
4. There is more passenger room in my Prius V than I had in my Ford Escape Hybrid. (I can't speak for the other models of Prius, but they did a good job extending front and back seat room in the V).
5. I have never been confused with a tree-hugger, granola-head, etc.

 

Reliability.

autos.aol.com/article/toyota-prius-reliability/

 

In what world is a Jetta substantially bigger than Prius? In their basic 2012 models, Jettas weigh 2,800 pounds and Priuses weigh 3,000 pounds.

 

Prius is undoubtedly a great buy. I just can't get past the design

My ex sister-in-law had a Jetta diesel --a model from the 80's. You practically had to get out and push it up hills. From what I've read, they've improved a lot.

 

These are nice. Especially that grille they stole from Aston-Martin.

www.ford.com/cars/fusion/trim/?trim=hybrid