Do hybrids save money?
No. That's the conclusion of Joe White, Detroit Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal, who looked into
buying a Prius for his own daily driver. White was interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition September 30. (Audio
here)
White first looked at trading in his Subaru for a Prius, and found that at roughly $3 per gallon for gas, he wouldn't
recover his financing costs. Joe figured that at his annual mileage, he'd save about $746 a year in fuel costs, but it
would take too long to recover the premium he'd pay for the hybrid.
Next he looked at the hypothetical situation of someone without a car looking to buy either a Honda Civic or the
Prius. In this case, the fuel savings were roughly $506 per year, versus a purchase price difference of about $8,000.
Without even considering cost-of-money issues, it would take nearly 16 years just to break even.
With the current tax deduction of $2,000 converting to a $2,000 tax credit January 1, which decreases every year
thereafter, the government subsidies dont make the switch economically feasible, either.
The bottom line? Unless gas prices go a lot higher, or the government increases hybrid subsidies, or both, buying a
hybrid probably wont save you money. Of course, there are the intangible but real benefits of reducing your personal
environmental impact, but then you have to ask yourself if youre really getting the biggest bang for your
environmental investment.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
djSyndrome 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
"versus a purchase price difference of about $8,000"
You know, I'm no champion of Hybrids, but this is completely off-base. A Prius is $21.2k. You can't even *get* a Civic for $13,000 any longer, much less one with an automatic transmission, power everything, or anything else that comes standard on the Prius.
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naggs 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
#1 i disagree, the non hybrid prius is a corolla, a 13-18 grand vehicle.
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Albert 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
I Guess EVERYONE is forgeting that hybrids are not about saving cash. They were supossed to be what some people use to think of... you know saving the planet, using less natural resources, less fuel, that old stuff. So yes, does who buy them to save cash, then they should buy a freking chevrolet aveo, or a scion, thats in a way lower class of course, but didnt you just said you wanted to SAVE money?... you cheap people.
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Aegis 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
I'm not sure why this fellow choose the Prius and declared $8k. I would think a Civic vs a Civic Hybrid would be more applicable.
The new Civic Hybrid, which gets 50mpg is only $2k over a comparably priced Civic. A recent review by forbes says you can recoupe the diffrence in 45K miles, without the $2k tax deduction taken into consideration.
http://www.forbesautos.com/reviews/2006/honda/civic/hybrid/feature.html
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sensitive_man 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
I agree with #1
A Civic EX with Nav is $20,500 and gets avg. of 29 MPG
Now do a comparison.
-$2000 tax break
- $4000 fuel savings over 8 years
Seems you save a bout 5k over 8 years. Plus I bet insurance is cheaper for a Prius than a loaded Civic.
Additionally, there are other less tangible benefits than cash in your pocked to driving a vehicle that gets avg. 44MPG.
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Jabari 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
But they do help the enviroment....the hybrids advertised purpose...riightt.
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Bittamer 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
naggs (#2):
Actually a Corrola stars at $14k for the most basic model(the CE), that comes with almost nothing, you will need to pay for a Automatic, cruise control, ABS, etc. You are looking at an easy $15k for a Corolla without even dilivery charges considered, and without half the stuff that the Prius has.
http://www.toyota.com/corolla/index.html
Even, a Kia Rio with Automatic($900), powersteering($525), AM/FM/CD ($425), ABS($400), Powerwindows ($335), carpet($70), will cost you over $14K easy.
$8K, Sounds a tad bit made-up, the math doesn't add up, I'm not sure what kind of fact-checkers they have at the venerable Wallstreet Journal
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Hooty 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
If you want to save money, go diesel. My VW TDI has the same fuel economy as a hybrid without the extra costs and maintenance concerns.
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naggs 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
i disagree. a hybrid powertrain is suposed to behave as much like a normal IC engine as possible, just getting better milage. where you see someone who purchased a car to present an image of enviromentalism and responsibility, i see a sucker who was fooled by the marketing people at toyota and has paid a hefty price. if toyota or anyone wants to sell hybrids outside of the niche tree hugger market then the cars are going to have to make financial sense.
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iQuack 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
I'm waiting for Joseph W's encyclopedia of why hybrids are so great despite the evidence.
Toyota deserves credit for innovation: the Prius is an excellent car and is perhaps a wise purchase for its design alone.
Still, the economics of buying a hybrid don't exist yet (if ever) and it's all pure tree-hugging feelgoodism for the "Save the Wales" and "Free Tibet" folks.
The truth is that at current hybrid car and gasoline prices, hybrid vehicle buyers are just paying their expensive gasoline costs in advance.
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Teddy Wong 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
I've always thought that one of the benefits *anyone* would appreciate from driving a hybrid is the range you get. How much is it worth to you to fill up half as often? Ever think, "hey, I'm late... but I need gas. Wish I had a hybrid?" Well, sometimes I do. Another time I wish I had a hybrid, or better if everyone had a hybrid is waiting in the drive-thru. It'd be nice if the engine auto-offs while I'm waiting in a line behind 10 SUVs smelling exhaust, losing my appetite.
When it comes down to it, I agree with Albert #3: buying a hybrid is like recycling. You may not get much out of doing it, but it's probably worth it in the long run.
As added benefits you probably won't be carjacked for your prius (not a getaway car of choice) nor have I seen any hybrid drive-bys (even though they roll up quietly on electric power) or even been the victim of a hybrid-driven roadrager (hard to rage when maximizing fuel efficiency). So I'm all for them... Chevy Impala SSs on the other hand...
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Pip 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
#8--you may be getting the same mileage, but your gas costs a lot more (a few weeks back in SoCal, diesel was costing as much or more than premium...~20 cents higher than regular). Plus, you are getting VW reliability instead of Honda or Toyota...in general, not as good.
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Hooty 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Diesel, diesel, diesel. Why on Earth do you guys discuss hybrid motors when at the current state diesel engines are the best economical solution for cars.
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Hooty 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
LOL, in the rest of the continent diesel is 20% cheaper (at least in Canada). At the moment VW reliability is on par with Toyota and Honda.
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Hooty 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Oh yeah, and the engines go for about 600,000 km's and have a hell lot of torque.
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goat 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Hooty,
Because the eco-goofs have made it impossible to buy a diesel in large segments of the country. The supposed reason is emissions, but diesels put out less of most of the emissions that really matter (CO2, CO, HC).
To tell you the truth, I think they really just want us to live in huts and eat bugs.
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goat 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Also...
"the intangible but real benefits of reducing your personal environmental impact"
I think the jury is still out on whether hybrids actually "reduce your personal environmental impact."
You have to consider the additional manufacturing and disposal impacts of the additional equipment and batteries before you can make that call.
Probably the most eco-friendly thing you can do is buy ('recycle') an old diesel and run biodiesel in it.
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Espen 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
It's not really all that hard to see why his numbers don't add up...
The Prius proves that hybrids work and can be sold alongside normal cars. All we need now is for development to continue bringing down the added cost.
Toyota makes money on the Prius and are developing hybrid drivetrains in all their models. While domestic cars have yet to put out a competitive hybrid model. Of course it's tempting to attack the credibility and viability of a hybrid...
I agree with you Albert (#3).
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thesuperstar 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
hybrids are just a small answer but not the solution. better and wiser alternatives are needed to be used, like the future hydrogen fuel-cell car.
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Hooty 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
The auto industry in North America doesn't want diesels because they last twice as long as a standard gas engine.
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