News articles keep posting that a hybrid is unlikely to recover its premium over a similarly equipped gas-only car.

Could it be that there is a psychological difference between a one time lump sum payment and smaller payments repeated over time?

So paying 3K once at purchase time is better than being stung at the gas station over and over and over again.....

hmmm....

 

Hi Blueskies:

___I used to follow similar thinking when gas was sitting at < $2.00 per but if you track resale, the hybrid’s are not only holding their own, they are quite literally killing the competition. Compare an HCH against a Ford Focus (one of my favorites), Chevrolet Cobalt, or Dodge Neon as three competitive domestic examples. The resale of the 3 domestics are absolutely atrocious. Include fuel, taxes, and insurance and they not only do not add up, it would be foolish in some case not to purchase the hybrid! The TCO’s appear to use ~ $2.75 a gallon for fuel costs if my fuel cost calc’s are right per Edmunds Fuel Cost description detail?

___The Edmunds numbers below are not all Apples to Apples comparisons so you have to look a little deeper but the basic TCO’s speak for themselves …

2005 Civic EX w/ AT: $0.39/mile and $29,001 after 5 years and 75,000 miles.

2005 HCH w/ CVT: $0.40/mile and $29,678 after 5 years and 75,000 miles.

2005 Toyota Prius II: $0.42/mile and $31,476 after 5 years and 75,000 miles.

2005 Dodge Neon w/ AT: $0.42/mile and $31,855 after 5 years and 75,000 miles.

2005 Ford Focus ZX4 w/ AT: $0.43/mile and $32,057 after 5 years and 75,000 miles.

2005 Chevrolet Cobalt LT w/ AT: $0.43/mile and $32,246 after 5 years and 75,000 miles.

___I do find Edmunds TCO’s to be a bit higher then my own real world costs but as a comparison against one another, I think the above holds a great deal of weight as well as information.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

Hi Wayne,

I am not sure why you say that hybrids are much cheaper than gas only cars, based on the list you posted.

10 years of ownership, for sure. Five years seems more like a wash, particularly if reliable relatively high MPG cars like the corolla or civic are the alternatives.

 

Hi EricGo:

___I didn’t say they were much cheaper but I did want to point out that when compared to the domestics in particular, there can be a significant savings using Edmunds calculated TCO’s as linked. The HCH vs. Neon/Focus/Cobalt using Edmunds own calc’s anyway … The item I highly doubt CR’s, Edmunds, CNN.Money, WSJ, C&D, whoever’s, analysis takes into account is what the game gauge does for the average hybrid owners FE vs. the domestics and/or non-hybrid equivalent? We have had a lot of visitors here at GH over the past 6 weeks and you can bet some are trying to improve their own FE in whatever they drive (I send DriveAccord.net members here all the time) but without a game gauge in most non-hybrid automobiles, their improvements will be blunted vs. our ability to teach and what we actually receive day in and day out because of that little technological wonder.

___Here is a real word example to consider. I do not fill up my son’s Corolla but I have seen the receipts in the cup holders. I don’t know how he fills or if at the same pump or whatever but I have seen numbers in the 27 - 33 mpg range. He is one of those younger (23 years old) drivers that will not listen to the old man and therefore he pays for it. Actually, we all pay for it but that is for another thread There isn’t a game gauge in that car yet while I was driving it, 43 + was ~ its year round average w/ the basics from maybe 3 years ago. I would guess that it would be a 47 + mpg car today. Without a game gauge however, my son has no feedback and just drives it oblivious to what he is receiving until he pays at the pump. The results at the end of the day suck if that is indeed what he is receiving tank after tank.

___Here is an Edmunds TCO analysis from Edmunds on the Corolla.

2005 Toyota Corolla LE w/ AT: $0.38/mile and $28,610 after 5 years and 75,000 miles.

___My 05 PZEV based Accord decision was completed after much analysis and even today I do not think I made the wrong choice by comparison to mid-size - semi-lux sedans but I do wish I had an HCH or Prius II’s FE given the $3.00/gallon we are seeing over the past 2 weeks now

2005 Honda Accord EX-L w/ NAVI and AT: $0.48/mile and $35,721 after 5 years and 75,000 miles.

2005 Honda Accord Hybrid w/ NAVI: $0.55/mile and $41,620 after 5 years and 75,000 miles.

___To close, it is the articles about how hybrids never pay themselves off that are the problem without to much in the way of research by the reporters. Apparently a hybrid breaks even with its non-hybrid counterpart at ~ 75,000 miles or they kill their domestic competitors much earlier then that. I am not speaking of pack replacements because that question could skew a TCO immensely but I do not see that being an issue with either the HCH or the Prius II until maybe 125 to 250 + K miles depending on how it was treated. At $1.75 or less a gallon, the numbers are a bit dicey to consider a hybrid over its non-hybrid counterpart but at $2.50 +, the numbers speak for themselves …

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

I believe most people replace their car in +/- 5 years which I consider a bad financial move.
Many others, like yours truly try and keep them for 10 years.

It's us 10 year people who forsake modern style for 5 years who save the real money.

 

Modern styling .. hmm

Were you thinking PT Cruiser, or C300