You Don’t Need a Hybrid to Drive a Fuel-Efficient Car PDF Guide
Perhaps you’ve been thinking “Green” lately and have looked at one of those new hybrid models as a way to stretch your gasoline dollar (especially in these days of record high footprint to help cut greenhouse gases. But maybe you gas prices) and reduce your CO2 weren’t entirely convinced the extra cost of a hybrid vehicle was feasible at this time or you are having difficulty finding one since they are in such high demand. Perhaps you are waiting to see how well they work out for the long haul or planning to buy one when they are more affordable.
There is a prevailing myth that you will save money due to the improved fuel economy of a hybrid even though the initial purchase price is more – this is false (mostly). On average, the “hybrid premium,” the extra cost of a hybrid, is about $6950 (ranges from $2715 to $21,455). Some of this extra cost can be offset by a federal tax credit. The tax credit is calculated based on the mile per gallon (mpg) improvement, but each manufacturer faces a quota limiting how many cars they can sell before the tax credit starts to be reduced and eventually eliminated. You will find a listing of the current tax credits on www.fueleconomy.gov. The sales leader in hybrids, Toyota, has used up its quota, so none of its vehicles qualify for the tax credit anymore. The credit is already being reduced for Honda vehicles too. When considering “how many years does it take to
recoup my initial investment” (the “hybrid premium”) the average is near 26 years, and =most of us don’t keep our cars that long. These calculations were performed using 15,000 miles per year, $3.78 per gallon for regular, and $4.01 per gallon for premium. Only vehicles with both hybrid and conventional models were used.
You don’t have to buy a hybrid to get great fuel economy. Keep in mind, however, that the heavier the vehicle or the faster and more aggressively you drive, the more fuel you will burn – in any vehicle – whether hybrid or conventional. Many hybrid vehicle manufacturers employ sophisticated engine designs across their entire product line, and in so doing non-hybrid fuel sippers reap the benefit from many of those designs.
Starting with 2008 model year vehicles, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is employing a newer, more accurate method to calculate fuel economy – one that takes into consideration current, more typical faster and more aggressive driving conditions as well as air conditioning use and temperature extremes, than the outdated and obsolete method used for 2007 and earlier models.
As a result, there has been a marked reduction in the posted MPG rating that you see on new 2008 model year vehicle window stickers when compared to previous models. The mpg ratings are still presented as two numbers, one for the “city” and one for the “highway”. For comparison purposes, these numbers are often combined into one composite mpg by weighting them 55% for the city and 45% for the highway. For small cars (subcompact and compact as defined by EPA), the Honda Civic Hybrid =clearly gets the best mpg with a combined rating of 42.3. However, a number of the competing and generally less expensive small cars get good mpg without the hybrid technology. Cars including the Chevrolet Aveo (manual transmission), Ford Focus (manual transmission), Hyundai Accent (manual transmission), Kia Rio (manual transmission), Toyota Corolla (manual transmission), and the Toyota Yaris (manual transmission) have combined mileage ratings between 27.1 and 32.2 mpg.
Download You Don’t Need a Hybrid to Drive a Fuel-Efficient Car
Related Automotive:
- Ford Hybrid & Diesel Car 2009 Survey PDF Guide
- Toyota Camry Hybrid 2009 Sedan Car PDF Manual Guide
- Toyota Camry Hybrid 2008 PDF Manual Cars
- Lexus GS 450h Hybrid Features PDF
- Honda Civic Hybrid 2009 NAIAS
