Edmunds blogger lays the hate on hybrids

A blogger over on the Inside Line blog at Edmunds known only as The Mechanic has published an editorial that expresses supreme disdain for hybrid vehicles such as the Prius and Civic. He/she/it does make some valid points in that the really efficient hybrids (as opposed to Lexus hybrids) are generally not particularly engaging to drive. This is true, compared to conventional counterparts, these cars are clearly optimized for minimal fuel consumption and aspects such as longitudinal and lateral acceleration are given short shrift. What the mechanic seems to ignore is that the appliance-like qualities of such cars are generally not seen as a bad thing to most drivers. Aside from the truck segment, look at the cars that have the highest sales; Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Honda Civic. Not a fun car among them. Most people don't car about fun to drive.

The mechanic does have a very good point about not necessarily buying a new car. If you already have a car that is running well and getting reasonable fuel efficiency, the gains from switching to a a new hybrid may not be sufficient to offset the impact of building and shipping that new car to a dealership. The other thing to consider is that not all fuel efficient vehicles are devoid of fun. For those that actually enjoy driving, there are non-hybrid alternatives although few are available to American consumers at the moment. While its true that life is short, the overall tone of the Mechanics diatribe does come off as rather selfish. For those that don't care about the joy of driving, use your hybrid, its not hurting those that do like to drive (at least as long as you aren't driving way too slow). Thanks to Cory for the tip!

[Source: Inside Line]