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Okay, not all hybrids. Diesel-electric trains make perfect sense. As do diesel-electric ships. But hybrid cars? Nope. A new study by the guys at CarGurus.com has found that the cost of purchasing owning a hybrid vehicle is not outweighed by the fuel it saves. They examined 45 popular hybrid cars and found that the cost of ownership is 25 percent higher than gasoline vehicles. To figure out how much hybrids cost, the research team added up the hybrid’s retail price, its depreciation, and the cost of driving 12,000 miles annually. Then they compared fuel economy of hybrids with gasoline cars. Of course, the study didn’t take any environmental effects into account. My guess is that hybrids would lose on that front, too, considering the nasty goo and heavy metals packed inside batteries. The lesson? If you want economical, fuel-efficient cars, go with lightweight, small-displacement gasoline or diesel cars. Or get a bicycle for chrissakes.
UPDATE: From the Wired article: “CarGurus.com included 45 hybrids in its study, ranging from the 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid to the 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid. It examined only those hybrids with a conventional counterpart — the Ford Fusion Hybrid, for example — so the bean counters could make “a direct apples-to-apples comparison,” Steinert said. For that reason, the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight aren’t included. They also compared the hybrids to siblings with similar features and options.”
Source: Wired Autopia
OK guys, if you are going to quote an article, the least you can do is provide a link to it. I spent a half an hour searching the Car Gurus site and couldn’t find the article referenced here. The “Source Article” linked has absolutely nothing to do with this subject.
Yay! Someone agrees with what I’ve been saying for years! Huzzah!
My mistake. The link is fixed.
So now that a “Study” has been done everything is official. Lay people have been saying the same thing for the last few years that hybrids have been trying to gain traction. How very nice of a small group of people to take the time to validate such basic information.
Not really news but I’m sure someone out there has been under a rock long enough to have never seen anything about this topic before.
Strange. A Prius Package II is right around the same price as a Camry LE 4cyl. Interior space is comperable between the two cars, but the Prius has less maintenance and more mileage than the Camry, so how exactly does it cost more?
Roger, I neglected to mention this:
“CarGurus.com included 45 hybrids in its study, ranging from the 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid to the 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid. It examined only those hybrids with a conventional counterpart — the Ford Fusion Hybrid, for example — so the bean counters could make “a direct apples-to-apples comparison,” Steinert said. For that reason, the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight aren’t included. They also compared the hybrids to siblings with similar features and options.”
Also, I would argue that the Matrix would be more comparable to the Prius. It costs roughly $6,000 less than the Prius. And is way more fun than the Prius.
Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/09/cargurus-com-hybrid-value-study/#ixzz0zRDVcWFi