The Inconvenient Truth About Hybrid Cars
Characteristic to most hype, the stats they give about hybrid cars are unrealistic and overstated at best. And that's the most inconvenient truth concerning hybrid cars.
Purchasers of the hybrid you can classify on two groups: those that ride on the coattails of the social statement of the moment and those that want to save on fuel, while doing the environment some good thrown along the bargain. But frankly, the best you can do to save fuel and the environment is - by not buying at all.
Buying hybrid cars with the mindset to save on gasoline expenses might take longer to fully realize and has a bigger and non-ignorable potential that it might not work at all. Even with the one time federal tax credit installed by the ‘helpful' government, it could take a full dozen years to fully recoup the additional expense for purchasing a hybrid against conventional powered car. Some simple calculations would reveal it:
Take for instance a real guzzler SUV like the Jeep Liberty Sport CRD against the Ford Escape Hybrid SUV. The former costs $25,970 while the latter costs $31,825 at the time of my checking, so that would make $5,855 price difference against the roughly $3 a gallon of gasoline. Instead of the latter, using the diesel powered Jeep Liberty can actually net you better savings than the Ford Escape Hybrid. Of course, this illustration isn't realistic, what matters the most is the driving style, how light footed the driver is with regards to the pedal, that makes the most of hybrid cars' capabilities. But then, that fact rings true to all vehicles, be it a non-hybrid vehicle.
For successful hybrid cars, the Toyota Prius can actually net you a small savings in fuel economy, but that is if you can get over the seemingly ceaseless shortage of supply. Though exorbitant when compared to cars of its scale, the Toyota Prius is starting to ease its price tag due to its great economy of scale. The starting retail price of the Prius is coming down low to $22,175, a huge slash from the 2005 price tag of $25,939. Still, it is several thousands difference to most up to date conventional fuel car models. Compare to Volkswagen Jetta at $19,245.
Bottom line is, don't buy hybrid cars for economic reasons, the initial costs needed to get hybrid cars is enough to offset any fuel savings you'd potentially earn for the next full decade. And furthermore, I haven't talked about how faulty the EPA ratings for fuel economy are.
