With the skyrocketing gas prices and my desire to become more environmentally-friendly, I have a growing interest in getting a hybrid car. What experiences do you have with them? What do you love about it? What do you hate about it? Would you choose a hybrid car again? What model do you currently have?
I haven’t shopped for them recently. But two years ago when I was in the market for a new car I looked at the Honda and Toyota hybrids. I elected to buy a IC Honda Civic. For a number of reasons:
At the time hybrids were still considerably more expensive. As I recall the Civic hybrid was something on the order of $5,000 more expensive.
The Civic hybrid didn’t get substantially better mileage. It seems things haven’t changed much. See the comments on mileage here My Civic gets 41 highway and I don’t spend much time in city traffic.
When I talked with the sales person I learned all repairs under the hood, to the drive train basically anything other than tires and brakes had to be done by the dealer’s certified hybrid person. Not an expense I was willing to undertake.
In my opinion unless you are driving mostly ‘city’ miles in a west coast city with high gas prices, get a compact or midsized car and make sure you do the basics to get good milage; proper tire inflation, keep it clean, and follow the maintenance schedule.
I’d look less at hybrids and more at diesels. I’ve got a '06 Jetta diesel, and I absolutely love it to death.
Diesel gas is currently cheaper than standard gas, and my little diesel gets 55 mpg on the highway, and between 40-45 in the city. You can also run it on biodiesel or vegetable oil to be environmentally friendly.
For me it’s not *just * a matter of higher milage (although a cheaper gas bill is one of my priorities), but the emissions. Don’t diesels produce a lot of emissions?
I have a 2006 Highlander Hybrid SUV (in fact, I’m sitting in the waiting room of the dealership while my car is getting serviced at this very moment) and I absolutely love it. Everyone who sees my car is amazed and then when they drive it they love it too.
Sure, the whole car turning itself off will catch you by surprise here or there, but it’s really not that big of a thing to get used to.
I love that my car is still big enough to lug around all of my friends, be comfortable on long drives work (and allow me to bring all the crap I need to on such trips), and still be (you know, relatively) good for the environment. Apparently, the mileage for the car is supposed to be 27/31, which isn’t amazing but for an SUV that isn’t awful at all. Of course, realistically the mileage is a few ticks below the numbers projected by the manufacturer, but not substantially or anything. Better mileage would certainly be an improvement, but I opted for the Highlander and not the Prius, so I don’t have much room to complain.
I also still get a kick out of people’s amazement at it being a hybrid. Most people, it seems, don’t know much about hybrids to begin with, but a hybrid SUV? Blows. Minds. It’s cute, actually.
As was mentioned, Honda’s hybrids (last I checked) just weren’t worth it. I initially was looking at either a Civic hybrid or an Accord hybrid, but both were substantially more expensive and the mileage improvement was like, less than 5. Also, the local Honda dealership here had a wait list of over 200+ for each of their hybrid models.
So I popped over to Toyota since they had a big sign that said, “WE HAVE HYBRIDS IN STOCK” figuring I could test drive some. The Prius isn’t bad at all, but it just wasn’t what we needed. I figured I’d give the Highlander a shot and fell in love. It’s great!
I’ll definitely buy hybrids in the future. I mean, the technology is only going to improve and the selection is only going to become greater.
I think that’s sort of a thing of the past. Diesels aren’t the old-school beasts they used to be… they’re pretty clean-burning and high-tech.
And if you’re worried about emissions, you can go biodiesel. There’s a station around here that sells 11% bio, so that cuts out 11% of your emissions right there. And if you’re a little handy, you can run it off vegetable oil, essentially eliminating emissions. That’s my plan with my little VW.
I have a 2002 Prius, and I’m generally very pleased. It gets about 45-50 mpg in anything but the worst weather. Actually, I found that after I had it for a few months, I adjusted my driving style so that it gets better mileage than when I first had it. It’s nice to have the immediate feedback from the display in the dashboard.
Also, it’s been very reliable. This is an important point to me. I see a car as just something to get me where I need to be, so the less I have to think about it, the better. The emissions issue was a big part of my decision as well.
If I were in the market for a new car, I’d seriously consider another hybrid, probably another Prius.
I usually bring it to the dealer for scheduled maintenance anyway, but I’m not aware that it needs to be worked on by a specialist.
To me, paying a few thousand dollars extra for a car I like, for fuel efficiency, and for low emissions, is no different from someone else paying extra for a luxury or status car.
Why are biodiesel or vegie fuel considered enviromentally friendly?
Generally speaking though, higher mileage does equate to lower emissions - hybrid or otherwise. Hybrids are theoretically able to run the engine more efficiently and switch it off otherwise, but there’s a finite amount of pollution that can be created from a gallon of fuel - and if you’re burning it one way or the other, getting 60 miles out of it ought to (generally) mean less emission per mile than if you’re getting 40.
This site explains it better than I could.
2004 Prius owner here. I am very happy with it. I got 51 MPG (the advertised hiway milage) driving from LaCrosse to Jackson, MI, mostly on the interstates.
I have a roof rack for my kayak now, so I get a little less.
The 2004+ prius is a pretty good cargo hauler, with the hatchback and fold down rear seats. The rear view and the digitial speedometer take a while to get used to, but not too bad.
Things may have changed with low sulfur diesel, but they [diesels] didn’t meet California emission standards a few years ago.
Brian
I have an image in my mind of diesel cars with soot on the bumper around the tailpipe and annoyingly loud engines.
That’s not my car. The diesel fuel is definitely cleaner than it’s been in the past, and the engines quieter. Don’t get me wrong… my car doesn’t sound like a typical gasoline engine. It “chugs” more than it “purrs”, but this is only noticeable when you’re outside the car and at an idle. The engine noise is virtually non-existent when you’re in the car.
Pretty much, you can get a regular auto with milage & emissions not much lower than a hybrid, but for $5000 less. The Honda Fit has almost the milage of the Honda Civic hybrid, and is nearly $10,000 less.
If you buy a hybrid, don’t buy a Toyota. Toyota has sold enough hybrids so that it’s Tax Credit allotment is much lower than competing brands. Getting the full Tax credit almost makes buying a Hybrid worth it. If you add to that the general feeling of goodness, then it’s a go. But with less than half the Tax Credit it becomes a much poorer deal. I do admit that for pure milage, the Prius beats the Civic. But you have to add in getting a much lower Tax Credit and having to buy the car from the biggest rip-off artists in auto sales.
Do see P&T Bullshit on Hybrids though. New episode.
Where do you live Turek?
Biodiesel is much more “environmentaly friendly” than diesel, but it is not “emission free”.
North Texas. Think “just awarded the Super Bowl.” 
I’ve owned a couple Hondas, and in general I haven’t been pleased with them. I’ve noticed they tend to rattle, which I find very annoying. Right now I have a Toyota Tacoma I like, but the milage sucks and it seems silly to drive something every day that burns a gallon of gas just to go to work (and another gallon to go home).
I’m going to have to do some research on the Tax Credit. I’m not sure how that works.
I have a 2005 Prius and I absolutely love it to pieces. My next car will be another Prius for sure. I get around 50 mpg except when it’s extremely hot or extremely cold–then I only get a measly 41 or so. As mentioned upthread, having the constant feedback from the display (which you could turn off if it bugs you) actually trains you how to get the best mileage, and the small changes to my driving style actually make me enjoy driving more.
It’s solidly built and fun to drive. It’s friggin HUGE inside. I’m pretty sure it’s actually bigger outside than inside. I’ve taken it camping, and it’s a good road trip car and surprisingly tough.
I love how it shuts itself off instead of idling. I also love how it uses regular and not premium, which cuts down on the gas bill even further. It has a comfy and stylish interior (and has only gotten more stylish with the newer models). There are so many airbags and safety features that the insurance is practically nothing. It *feels *good to drive.
Honestly, the only thing I can say I don’t like about it is the paint colors they have, which are all “sage mist” or whatever. I have a white one, which I think is cute. Also I believe your only choice of interior color is tan.
Another drawback to buying now is that people are more used to the hybrid, so you won’t be able to roll silently around the parking lot and scare the bejeezus out of people, which was a lot of fun. 
That’s not mine either. The engine certainly has a different range of sounds to a petrol engine, but it’s not especially loud, just different. I think diesels do produce more particulates than petrol, but they’re not the soot-belching monsters of the past.
My 1.4 TDi Skoda does up to 64 to the gallon if I drive for extreme economy - even on the semi-urban trip to work. It’s a remarkable engine - feels at least as torque-y as the 2 litre diesel in my previous car.
Biodiesels are not at all emission-free, unless you’re talking about CO2. Then they’re at best CO2 neutral (or would be if it took zero energy to get from whatever the biodiesel is made from into your tank). There are actually some pollutants that increase a bit when using biodiesel. The same is true for ethanol, or pretty much any other biofuel. Anytime you burn anything, you form some pollution.
Honda is coming out with a low emission diesel engine that when combined with the new low sulphur diesel fuel will make diesel automobiles much more environmentally friendly and will satisfy California emission standards. They will still produce CO2 but could be considered somewhat carbon neutral if running biodiesel.
I have a 2001 Prius with almost 100K–I got in October 2000. I still love it and plan to drive it 'til it dies or becomes a rust-bucket. I would probably get a Toyota Camry Hybrid as my next car just for a little more space. I think my husband has his eye on the hybrid SUVs. Maybe a used Lexus Hybrid SUV down the road.
Obviously, I’m sold on the hybrids. I bought mine mostly for the emissions, but I also like the fewer oil changes and cheaper gas. Although I was floored when my gas bill came to $30 today!
Anyone getting great mileage care to share tips? My mileage is about 45MPG in good weather, but it sounds like I might be able to get more.