Poll: Do You Own or Plan to Own a Hybrid Car? - RF Cafe Forums

Greetings:

If hybrid cars were not so expensive and I were not so cheap, I would love to own one if for no other reason than to explore its technology. Compared to the PoS 1995 Mercury Tracer that I have been driving for about 8 years, a hybrid would be a mechanical and electrical wonder to behold. Surely some of you have hybrids.

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- Kirt Blattenberger
RF Cafe Progenitor & Webmaster

I have a 2002 Toyota Prius. I bought it when they were price fixed at $19,995 and there was a $2000 tax credit. Since I commute 100 miles per day, I needed something that got pretty decent gas mileage. It has 120,000 miles on it now and I have had absolutely ZERO problems with the car. All I have done to it thus far is change the oil. I get about 42 mpg since I moved away from the low rolling resistance tires to regular tires (which cost about a 5 mpg).

However, they are too expensive now. If I had to replace it, I probably would buy a conventional car that gets good mileage. It certainly would not be a Chevy, Ford or Dodge though. Those things are pure junk.

I enjoy the hybrid technology as I might any new fangled gadget. However, If my sole concerns to make a purchase was to be green, high fuel economy, low pollution, then a couple of things I have read about the Hybrid cars would make me hesitate in making a purchase of these vehicles.

First a story in JD Powers on the accuracies of the EPA ratings demonstrated that the ways the autos were tested gave inaccurate MPG ratings. The story said that the MPG on the Hybrid cars could be as much as 40% less then the listed rate. Since then the EPA has revised testing procedures that should more accurately reflect actual mileage.

Second, while the hybrid car is cleaner to run, over its life cycle, from production to graveyard, it may actually be a dirtier vehicle to the environment than the conventional vehicles. This was from one of the science blogs I read, don’t know which one, live science, science daily, terra daily, or some other.

While the hybrid may not be as green a vehicle as purported, it’s still cool technology. Just do your own researh and talk to some hybrid owners.

Hybrid cars are too small for me to sit in. So small I cannot safely drive one.

Chevy introduced a hybrid 3/4 ton truck. It got 13 mpg around town instead of 10. Then the 'greenies' complained that the truck was not a 'real hybrid' and should not get tax credits.

If people really wanted to cut down pollution the government would change its methods of zoning and we could live close to work and walk. Imagine how much gas this country would save if 1/2 of us could walk to work or ride a bicycle.

If the cops would do something about red-light running around here I would gladly ride my bicycle very often and that would make more difference than a hybrid car. My commute was only 4 miles each way.

Or how about if the income tax, ss, medicare, property taxes, cellphone taxes, utility taxes, intangible taxes, capital gains taxes and state and city taxes were low enough that only one parent in each family had to work ? (Like in my fathers day). That would probably cut this country's fuel consumption 20% in this country.

After seeing the new ratings from the EPA, I'd say we've all been had. I hope there is a class action lawsuit against the EPA and the auto manufacturers for falsely advertising what everyone knew was bogus economy figures. Sure they still do better than the non-hybrids, but plenty of poor schmucks shelled out $15k extra for those things thinking that they'd save big $$$ on gas.

Like the old boy PT Barnum said - There's a fool born every minute.