For some reason I spent a good half-hour looking at a camry hybrid as my next car. I don't know why this is a consideration in my head but every time I look at a BMW, Lexus or Acura I think of the Premium fuel and kinda cringe.

With the way the world is going I can't see oil getting back down in price and my next job is a good 90miles a day round trip.

MY current 07' Grand Cherokee Overland Edition with the Hemi V8 is doing 12.5 miles per gallon but it takes regular. I spend around $400 a month on gas and that's working a job with 1/2 the commute distance.

Has anyone driven or considered a hybrid even as a beater car? I was thinking of handing in the truck early on the lease, paying it out and getting the camry for commuting.

These things are around $25K or so I actually thought that was kinda reasonable for the 31/41 est. mpg.

Thoughts?

 

I hear ya' on the premium fuel... While I don't necessarily want a hybrid, I'd like to get something that will run on regular... and I'm ok with driving something with less HP because of it... I should have gotten a civic

 

Buy a diesel powered commuter car.

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New VW are coming to US shores and promising more than 55+ MPG. AND QUICK.. (0-60 sprints in 8~sec)

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TDI power– I love the R-10 lemans car J

 

I used to know this guy that would track his diesel VW at the local SCCA events. Soo funny to hear a grinding diesel rip through the turns lol.

 

I'm seriously considering it.

No sales tax on hybrids in CT and you get a $1,050 tax credit on Civic hybrids bought from now until ~September...

Even with that, still not sure if the price premium is worth it over a regular Civic.

 

After more consideration today, I think leasing a hybrid might be wiser because I sure as hell would not want to be fixing the complex systems in them past the warranty. I just had that vision of getting a 5K repair bill because some odd part in the flux capacitor broke.

 

Just run regular gas in your CLS

 

Ive often thought about a hybrid. My main issue though is that they really give good MPG numbers in "city" type driving. 90% of my driving is highway, which is not where a hybrid excels

Also my main urge im getting is my yearly motorcycle urge
Fun to commute on and great MPG

 

I'm getting diesel urges, not hybrid urges.

 

Hybrids are too slow for my heavy foot. I wouldnt get good gas mileage if i drove one.

With that said im hoping my next car will be a torque loving diesel.

 

Not at all! Hybrids blow!

 

Same here. Plus, on most (notice I said most, not all) hybrids, paying the premium for the hybrid version of the car does not really get you any benefits other then the "look, I bought the hybrid version, I care about earth" feeling you will portray. Most of the hybrid versions of cars get only slightly better mileage, but when you factor in how much more you pay for the car, you either need to keep the car for a decade or so, or hope gas prices triple and hold for years upon years in order to break even. Because of that I really never considered a hybrid.

Give it another 5-10 years and maybe there will be better technology to help it make more sense... for now, I'd either look diesel, or stick to cars like my wife's A4 2.0T which averages 34mpg per tank for her and is still fun to drive.

 

i am waiting for the honda diesel motor to come to the states. 62mpg i believe it was claiming.

 

How has that Audi been treating you? I've considered that one too.

 

I'm looking forward to the diesel TSX that is supposed to come out in 2009 or 2010. Thinking about picking up a 2011 or 2012 model.

 

I heard that European market has Diesel-Hybrids vehicles...Best of both worlds!

Hopefully this will come here also.

 

on the diesels. Good for the environment because of their great fuel efficiency, and no need to worry about battery replacement which are difficult to dispose and produce.

 

Hybrids are a waste of money unless you plan to own it for 10 years.

Get a Honda Fit and you'll save money and get just about the same mileage

 

BMW, VW, Subaru, Honda

All going the way of the diesel. Fun times ahead, for sure.

 

Not driving like an idiot > Buying a new car for MPG.

My Turbo PT is supposed to get 19mpg. Granny-style with my mixed driving gets me 25mpg. Better than some reports by the Scion xa, mini and fit forums Ive read.

 

It has been very good. We have only had to bring it in for a few very minor things, but the service there is impeccable. Other then that, it's been great. Rides good, gets great gas mileage, and looks nice too

 

I'm one for the upcoming diesels as well, mainly what Audi or VW may be offering in the future. As for the current hybrids, I think the Altima hybrid would be my choice if I were going to get one. To me, it looks better than the Camry plus Nissan licensed Toyota's technology for the Altima. So you kind of get the best of both worlds.

 

Not at all. The premium over the regular car out weighs the benefits, not to mention the added car payment. My TL gets 30 on the hwy (where i spend alot of my time) and gets me there quick. When the time comes ill look into the new diesels and weigh the options heavily. Im not jumping on the gas is expensive time to get a hybrid bandwagon.

 

diesel please

 

Screw hippy hybrids! Screw dumbass diesels! I don't care if premium gas is $10/gallon, I'll still be driving a 300hp/17mpg car myself!!!!

 

Which brings up a good point, are there still more hybrids that are coming out? Seems like all i hear about are diesels.

Maybe thats a sign of where things are headed.

 

yeah GM will be coming out with more of their 2-mode hybrids

 

I'm sure Exxon and BP want it that way

 

Yep, and we can add Mercedes and Audi to that mix.

Toyota and Nissan are planning diesel options for their pickups in 2010 or so.

 

i'm most excited about the BMW diesel in the 3 series.

 

I'm not really sure if this information is of any benefit to you, but my mother has had an Accord hybrid since '05. The car has performed flawlessly during it's 90 000 or so kilometers. Since purchasing the car new it has trudged through -40 Canadian winters, sat in nearly 40 degrees Celsius summer heat with it's electrically driven air compressor humming happily away ( I saw "sat" because the engine isn't running), and has taken several extended trips. The only thing it's ever required besides oil changes and tire rotations has been one programming flash. I'm not sure of the precise fuel economy, but I know it has been very good. It demonstrates most of its savings during city driving.

Being a V6 hybrid, its actually torquey as hell. It has 255 horsepower if I can recall correctly. The way she drives and maintains it, I don't see why it shouldn't give her hundreds of thousands are carefree motoring. By that time, in my opinion, the premium for her hybrid Accord is certainly realized.

Hope this info helps.

Terry

 

2500 tata

 

 

We're planningo n getting the Lexus RX400h AWD. It may not be a dollar for dollar return on the price premium, but having that extra electric motor on the rear axle and getting ~7.2 sec 0-6 sounds pretty good to me for an SUV that gets the mileage it does. Both of use commute in stop and go traffic, so the benefits will be higher than if we drove all highway.

 

just for fuel economy, I think it'd make much more sense to buy just a Fit or something. My uncle had one for his daily driver, and a cayman for the rest of the time. He said he averaged over 35 miles per gallon. and since they probably cost 10k+ less than a hybrid, and should be very easy to maintain, and still 30+ mpg. The only problem is research the size of the fuel tank, cause I only usually fill up 9 gal, and go ~250-260 miles in my 1g xB, so if you're driving like ~100 miles per day, you'll still be visiting the gas station a lot.

Course I guess if you need power, the v6 hybrids are the way to go.......for now

 

it sounds like you are so sick of your jeep that you wanna go the extreme other way.
I say get the 335d coming out next year!!

 

Not worth the boring factor. Don't care if it gets 80 mpg - I would rather stomp on the gas pedal and have my car push me back into my seat rather than lunge me forward with its ultra slow gear change. Or even worse, the constant droning of the CVT.

I wouldn't even take a hybrid if it was given to me and I had to drive it daily and deal with maintenance. You'd have to pay me....

Turbodiesel with a manual tranny

 

My Accord V6's 25-30mpg is sufficient enough for my minimal driving to not desire a Hybrid. While my Murano's constant 17.5mpg leaves a lot to be desired in the area of fuel economy, I do not necessarily want a hybrid to replace it when the lease is up.

I definitely have NO interest in a Prius, Camry Hybrid nor Altima Hybrid. The only hybrids I really considered was the Accord (particularly as it is made in Japan) but the stealership was not willing to give me the same $5k discount on the AV6H as they did on my AV6 EX-L. That aside, the only production hybrid I would ever want to own is the LS600hL or RX400h....both priced beyond my budget (moreso the former).

 

Not really. Have you actually done the calculations?

A Camry Hybrid that is equipped with the same equipment as a 4-cylinder Camry only carries about a $2000 premium. The mpg difference is about 10 in-town, and the Hybrid has more power as well. It won't take long to make up the cost difference.

The battery is warrantied up to 15-yr/150k miles in states that adopt CA's emission laws. Extended warranties are available direct from the manufacturer for up to 100k or 120k (Honda) for under $1000.

In the event that you need to replace the battery, it costs around $2000 according to various online Toyota parts catalogs.

 

That's a common misconception. Hybrids still get very good mileage on the highway if they are driven correctly. I know someone who gets 45 mpg on his '04 Prius at around 80 mph.

The reason is that Hybrids tend to have very efficient (and/or small) powertrains. Also, the Camry Hybrid uses a modified version of the 2AZ-FE that features an atkinson cycle, which will give better fuel efficiency than the normal 2AZ-FE.
Considering how high maintenance TDIs have been in the past, I'd think twice before buying one.