would you drive a hybird car?
If you drive a hybird car, can you tell me your experience in owning such car?

Does the car perform well in the winter?

In a New York second.

Just waiting for them to become closer to my price range.

Just bought a Matrix (less than 12 hours ago and still have a full tank of gas).


Not having much ground clearance = manageable.
(The number of people I know that had to go off road for Katrina was zero).

Not having 8 cylinders of power = already adapted to long ago.

Driving past the outta gas Humvees during a bug out situation = Priceless.

It depends on the car. I'd need to research it carefully. I gather the Prius is a bit environmentally unsound because the batteries, for example.

I recently rented a Toyota Prius in Jackson Hole Wyoming. I drove it through Yellowstone Park, out the west entrance, south through Idaho and back to Jackson. The hybrid really surprised me. It had enough power to really go when needed, but got great mileage when you drove normally. Through the park, speeds ranged from 55 to 35 in most places. A lot of up and down hills. The Prius handled them well. On the uphills, the engine and electric motors were working, and on the downhills, the engine is off and the batteries are charging. The only place I doubted the capabilities of the Prius, was going up Teton Pass. It was a 10%grade climb. The car sounded like it was in first gear doing about 8000 rpms(no tach). Going down the other side, we used engine braking(engine off) and the batteries recharged completely.
On this loop, we averaged 48 mpg! All in all, I think the Hybrid did very well and would consider buying one. I've been told by a Toyota dealer that it would be wise to trade it just before the battery warranty expires. It costs like $5000 to replace the batteries when they fail.
Hope this helps.

Truthfully, a hybrid gets much worse mileage than claimed. On rolling hills, often less then 50% of claimed mileage.

The batteries are extremely toxic, and less than 40% recyclable.

The cost differential leaves you needing to drive it for 33 years to break even.

If you get in a wreck, rescue personnel can't use the jaws of life, because the power cable amperage will kill the rescuer if cut through, and the manufacturers so far refuse to install a master disconnect for emergencies.

I can't find the data sheet right now, but the typical hybrid produces over 200 times more ozone than the average car.
That ozone destroys rubber components on the vehicle at an accelerated rate, as well as the environment.

If you want a vehicle built to appeal to hysterical emotionalism, bad ride, poor performance, overpriced, sloppy assembly, and worse for the planet, and logic be damned ...you really need a hybrid, so you can feel all smug and superior.

If you want a car based on logic, economy, safety, and quality, go look at some of the asian imports.

If you want go-anywhere quiet transportation, that gets over 100 mpg, and will haul almost 1000 lbs. in stately comfort, get a golf cart.

Not sure where you got your info, Fall... it's not accurate. And using words like "hysterical" and "smug and superior" just ends up labeling you, not others.

Here's some real data from a real user:

We have a Mercedes turbodiesel that can run on all sorts of oil (biodiesel, filtered waste oil). Good highway car, getting upwards of 34 mpg as long as we keep the speed near or under the limit.

So, as a complement, we got an AWD Ford Escape hybrid about a year and a half ago, which we really like. It's gotten a consistent 27-30 mpg, more on rolling hills at moderate speed (such as the coast highway in CA).

The fit and finish aren't anything like the benz, but it is a good performer, and has been on multi-day road trips, over the mountains in winter, and driven on snowy and icy roads with great performance and fine utility for us.

I don't think hybrids are "the answer", but they do get good mileage under many real-world circumstances, and are one way to cut back on both fuel consumption and emissions.

Turbodiesels and high-efficiency lighter gas cars also can get good performance - especially on highway driving (again, keeping away from blazing over-the-limit speeds, which will reduce efficiency and increase emissions for any car). What's been keeping the former out of many states is their emissions; hopefully those issues will be solved and we'll have more options to choose from.

I'd rather have the new diesel Audi A4 coming out in a few years.

3.0L Diesel
240hp
406ft-lb tq
40mpg highway
50 state emissions compliant

Plenty of power and great gas mileage. Though, being an Audi the price will be a bit high.


Right now though, I'm pretty happy with my gas mileage. I've got a diesel GMC Suburban and a gas V4/V8 GMC Envoy Denali. Both get over 22mpg highway and 15mpg city and have enough power to tow my atv/snowmobile trailers with ease. The Suburbans and Blazers we had previously were lucky to break into the teens, so 20+ is good enough for me. In an emergency I could fill the suburban with off-road diesel from the tanks on my property and drive for almost 1,000 miles before a refill, all with plenty of supplies in the back. For me, that's hard to beat.

Here is one report on hybrids. Doing a google for hybrid car mileage will give you lots more...

It is going to come down to how you use your car as to whether a Hybrid makes sense. Around town with plenty of stops and starts you get the advantage of regenerative braking and at city speeds hybrids will often stay in electric motor only mode so zero emissions and a whisper quiet ride. One recently noted disadvantage of this is blind people do not hear them coming when they are waiting to cross the road!

However on long haul highway driving you may well be better off with an efficient diesel. One of the car magazines did a bake off recently between a Lexus 4x4 hybrid and the new Merc 4x4 diesel over a few hundred miles and the Merc returned better fuel mileage.

OIMO

No, I would not but that does not mean you should not. Comparing like sized new cars the extra price you are paying doesn’t make economic sense, but buying a car is almost never about economic decisions. If you can afford it buy what you want.

The reason I would not is I always buy used, at least four years old. And a hybrid is going to be needing a very expensive battery in the near future at four years old. Which is an excuse for none of them are able to haul stuff or haul but. So until there is a “cool” hybrid sports car that makes my right foot happy or a full sized pickup truck that gets 40 mpg, i won’t be considering a hybrid.