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Are Hybrid Vehicles Worth the Money?
By JLP | August 26, 2005
First off, let me say that I am not talking about the economy car hybrids like the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic. What I am talking about is the new hybrid versions of bigger vehicles.
Sarah Breckenridge of Smart Money wrote an excellent article in which she took four vehicles (Ford Escape, Honda Accord, Toyota Highlander, and Lexus RX) and compared the hybrid version of those vehicles with the standard version. I wanted to see how much a person could save (or not save) by buying the hybrid version over the standard version. Keep in mind that my numbers do not reflect maintenance costs or tax beneifts of hybrid ownership. I also made the assumption that the vehicles are driven 15,000 per year divided evenly between city driving and highway driving.
|
Ford Escape Hybrid |
||||
|
City |
Gallons |
Price |
Ann. |
|
|
City |
33 |
227 |
$2.40 |
$545 |
|
Highway |
29 |
259 |
$2.40 |
$622 |
|
Totals |
486 |
$2.40 |
$1,166 |
|
|
Cost Per Mile |
$.0777 |
|||
|
Ford Escape XLT |
||||
|
City |
Gallons |
Price |
Ann. |
|
|
City |
22 |
341 |
$2.40 |
$818 |
|
Highway |
25 |
300 |
$2.40 |
$720 |
|
Totals |
641 |
$2.40 |
$1,538 |
|
|
Cost Per Mile |
$.1025 |
|||
|
Honda Accord Hybrid |
||||
|
City |
Gallons |
Price |
Ann. |
|
|
City |
29 |
259 |
$2.40 |
$622 |
|
Highway |
37 |
203 |
$2.40 |
$487 |
|
Totals |
462 |
$2.40 |
$1,107 |
|
|
Cost Per Mile |
$.0738 |
|||
|
Honda Accord |
||||
|
City |
Gallons |
Price |
Ann. |
|
|
City |
21 |
357 |
$2.40 |
$857 |
|
Highway |
30 |
250 |
$2.40 |
$600 |
|
Totals |
607 |
$2.40 |
$1,457 |
|
|
Cost Per Mile |
$.0971 |
|||
|
Toyota Higlander Hybrid |
||||
|
City |
Gallons |
Price |
Ann. |
|
|
City |
31 |
242 |
$2.40 |
$581 |
|
Highway |
27 |
278 |
$2.40 |
$667 |
|
Totals |
520 |
$2.40 |
$1,248 |
|
|
Cost Per Mile |
$.0831 |
|||
|
Toyota Highlander |
||||
|
City |
Gallons |
Price |
Ann. |
|
|
City |
19 |
395 |
$2.40 |
$948 |
|
Highway |
25 |
300 |
$2.40 |
$720 |
|
Totals |
695 |
$2.40 |
$1,668 |
|
|
Cost Per Mile |
$.1112 |
|||
|
Lexus RX 400h |
||||
|
City |
Gallons |
Price |
Ann. |
|
|
City |
31 |
242 |
$2.40 |
$581 |
|
Highway |
27 |
278 |
$2.40 |
$667 |
|
Totals |
520 |
$2.40 |
$1,248 |
|
|
Cost Per Mile |
$.0831 |
|||
|
Lexus RX 330 |
||||
|
City |
Gallons |
Price |
Ann. |
|
|
City |
18 |
417 |
$2.40 |
$1,001 |
|
Highway |
24 |
313 |
$2.40 |
$750 |
|
Totals |
730 |
$2.40 |
$1,752 |
|
|
Cost Per Mile |
$.0971 |
|||
It is important to note that the hybrid models are $4,000 to $5,000 higher in price, which is definitely something to consider. Based on my gas price of $2.40 per gallon, these hybrids won’t pay for themselves for a number of years.
Questions? Comments? Did I miss something?
Topics: Hybrids | 3 Comments »
January 13th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
I bought a Honda Insight (60ish mpg on the freeway if there isn’t a lot of traffic and I don’t leadfoot it). I got $2,000 off on my taxes. I can drive in the carpool lane and I don’t have to pay for parking at meters anywhere in Santa Monica or Los Angeles. Plus, when I see pictures of dead soldiers in the paper, I know that I’m using as little gas as possible (I also use bags from reusablebags.com), and fouling the air as little as possible.
P.S. My friend Darcy just bought a new VW bug that runs on Biodiesel. Not sure how that costs out, but the last two points apply to her as well.
July 20th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Here is a poll: Should hybrid vehicles stay out of the commuter lane if there is only one person in the car? I don’t know about other states, but this is happening in California. Personally I think if I was one of the engineers that came up with the HOV lane idea I would have a fit at this political manipulation to encourage the purchase of environmentally friendly cars. It is a disadvantage to commuters, and an insult to the taxpayers who spent billions renovations making these HOV lanes. Here is a link to the poll: http://www.apopularitycontest.com/display_poll.php?ID=1
October 26th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
I actually wrote about the same thing for Blog Action day earlier this month – I’m interested to see how the new Chevy Tahoe performs on this also – yes, the price is going to be high, but may be worth it if it give 25-30 mpg like it says…