I had the pleaure of driving a Prius while my corolla was in the shop. I was so impressed I started doing the math on whether it was worth going that route. Without boring you with all the math, it didn't cut it on an economic basis of saving gas money. The reason is cost. My current '01 corolla with 145000 miles gets 34 mpg average.

If I buy the Prius loaded as my current Corolla is and gas is $4 a gallon (min!) i was barely breaking even after five years. Now if I was driving a Hummer, this might be a different story, but when all is said and done, speaking strictly economically, I can buy a new corolla for about $6 to $8 grand less! get good mileage and the car pays for itself even sooner.

You can search the web and find a bunch of articles that do what I just did and they reach the same conclusion.

The verdict? Unless your reason for buying a hybrid is solely to impact the environment less, hybrids are more expensive and won't really save you serious money on gas until their cost comes down to similar economy cars like the corolla.

Kinda a bummer because I really liked the Prius, but $7M more was too much for now...

Perhaps the Hybrid Accord would have better success if the price with the extras was more reasonable or along the lines of the basic 4 popper.

I was looking at the Hybrid Accord earlier this year, but the price was off putting and I decided that I would rather save the money than have a car payment.

Personally, I have a 2000 VW Jetta GLS TDI (diesel), manual transmission with 136,753 miles on it and well maintained. It averages 45-48 mpg (highway) and 40-42 mpg (city).

But then again, I am a simpleton.

plish,

There was a $3500 tax credit for the Prius not too long ago, but it has since been used up since the gov't put a quota on the number of hybrids each company could sell with the tax credit. Since the Prius is the best-selling hybrid, the quota was quickly reached. (Protectionist to help GM? Yes, I think so.)

Anyway, when the credit still existed, the Prius easily saved money after a few years. Cars that run primarily on battery are still years away, but those cars could conceivably get 100 mpg. That's where the real future lies.

another example of how none of the alternatives to cheap oil and gas makes economic sense...really like the protectionist conspiracy theory as stated in one of the above comments as well as the point that if the rest of us subsidize $3500 for someone elses hybrid it works...wonder how much money, co2 emissions and effort was wasted on that hybrid failure...just like ethanol, carbon credits and manmade global warming hocuspocus, their all an illusion created by wouldbe worldsavers that dont have a clue about how the world or climate really works, or have a political and monetary agenda that harms the most innocent and vulnerable people they care little about...does anyone of you on the global warming, environmental bandwagon think about the suffering you are causing everytime someone fills up their car, pays their electricty bill and their portion of the $3500 hybrid car, ethonal, wind or solar subsidy because you think you are saving the world with your fantasy solutions to nonharmful co2 emissions? i doubt your sincerity...give me that money your wasting on noneconomic alternatives to fossil fuels and nuclear energy and i will put a big dent in starvation, disease and sickness worldwide...now that is something worth arguing about...

Mark, yup if the credit was sitll there it'd be alot cloer to reality, but as you say, that's already gone and they will be phased out entirely in a couple of years..

Me thinks it's a little double speak going on with politicians, but what else is new...

At the time I was looking the Hybrid Camry was only $2000 more than the non-hybrid and it would've put it into the mileage range of my Corolla, not bad for a sedan. But it was still a wee bit more than I wanted to spend, and I like not having car payments..

Apparently the federal tax credit for the Prius is $3,150, for the Ford Escape Hybrid SUV $1,950. J.D. Power reports that those credits are going to an average hybrid buyer making $100,000 in 2004 and $113,400 a year for 2007 so far. So I guess wealthy people can afford to be green. I sure can't. Plus I think the Prius is butt-ugly. I didn't even know Honda made a hybrid Accord. Actually, my husband and I make less than $50,000 a year but last year with our savings, we bought a 2004 Acura RL (made by Honda) for its comfort and driving and certain luxury items. We didn't even ask about gas mileage and didn't even find out what it was until after we bought the car. I think it is in the 20's. Since we chose not to have any CO2 emitters (kids), we figure we have a serious plus in our column for small carbon footprint. Enjoy life more, worry less. P.S. we bought the fluorescent lightbulbs, we hate the type of light it produces, so we are going to throw them out. Especially since we found out about the mercury, if one of those babies breaks you have to leave the room for 15 minutes or something, plus you have to DRIVE (using gas, mind you) somewhere (don't know where yet) to dispose of them. We are going to hoard incandescent bulbs instead. I just don't think we can afford to be green.

LOL Mary, The Old Kermit the Frog song comes to mind..." It's Not Easy Being Green"

Mary:

I too, bought some of the CFL bulbs to try. Thought I should experience them to see what all the hype was about. After paying 8 times as much as regular bulbs, I found that the light was odd but we got used to them. The package said the last much, much longer than regular bulbs. Funny thing is that there are none left out of a pack of four, the use time on was about the same as the regular bulbs. So, I paid $8 to save about $3 in electricity costs.

Oh, I didn't bother to take them somewhere special to throw them away, I just threw them in the fire pit we use to get rid of branches etc. They melted just like a regular bulb. Still don't see what the hype is all about.

mary, mary you sound a bit contrary...nevertheless, you hit the nail on the head...budget constraints for many do not allow the luxury of green power...green power is uneconomic, unjustifiable both financially and scientifically and we dont need a solution for a trumped up manmade global warming lie...green power sounds nice and most these days are concerned about the environment we live in, but when you get right down to it, fossil fuels and nuclear energy have been and will continue to be the solutions to inexpensive and by the way "clean and safe energy"...they are the means to a better way of life..its amazing to me that the AGW crowd would have you believe the world is coming to end based on some crystal-ball-future predicting computer program when weather men/women cant even get next week right...based on circumstancial and inconclusive science these hokesters believe you should be made to endure energy related financial hardships you speak about...think about the millions or should i say billions less fortunate than you? what are they going thru? i dont know about you, but i'm tired of paying thru the nose for energy because someone else thinks we should save the world from imminent doom...the greenies are the cause of the high prices you have to pay for energy we use today...i have heard their arguments, i have listened to their solutions and seen their alternatives...the debate is over...the greenies are just plain wrong in their hypothesis', methods and solutions to natural occurring global climatic temperature variance...have a nice day mary, i'm on your side of this global warming fairytale...

It's fascinating how a tax credit is an "incentive" to right-wingers when it supports their interests, but when it doesn't, it's called a subsidy.

The tax break you get for your house is a subsidy. The tax breaks you get for your small business are subsidies. I don't want to subsidize your house, Sammy.

I don't want to subsidize Iraq, either, but that's what I'm doing.

The oil companies enjoy much, much more subsidies from the government compared with alternate fuel sources. It's not even close.

Get your facts straight, Sammy.

mark,

you really need to get over your distaste for "right wingers" like you have just labeled me...so i'll try one time to explain it to you in more simple logic even though i doubt you will understand the point...i bought my house and paid taxes for it...i pay taxes on it every year to support schools and the local government...the oil and gas industry has paid 1.34 trillion dollars to the u.s government since 1977...in the first case, i chose to pay for a product...no one subsidized my income to allow me to do that...in the case of the oil companies, no one subsidized them to produce the oil...in both cases, taxes are a burdern not a handout...your little hybrid and all your green power alternatives are uneconomic without a government handout...how much did these green solutions pay in net taxes back to the government for their products? get the picture...is it clear enough for you? do you now understand the difference between a subsidy and an incentive?

"in the case of the oil companies, no one subsidized them to produce the oil."

LOL! Are you serious? Oil companies have enjoyed more than $100 billion in subsidies over the past thirty years. They even got several billion dollars in subsidies in the last energy bill that was passed a couple years ago.

Don't be so naive.

And no, I still don't want to pay for your house, Sammy. And by your definition, the government is also subsidizing your kids with the child tax credit. Therefore, I'm also paying to help you raise your children.

mark,

just as figured...you dont get it or choose to act like you dont...keep living in your conspiracy filled dream world of noneconomic government propped scams yelling as loud as you can...only the "naive" believe you!

The verdict: Sammy has no argument, thus using the old "You don't get it" retort to skirt the issue and make himself feel better.

mark,
oh, i get it all right...oil taxes, 1.34 trillion paid to government minus your 100 billion (incentive, perhaps you would understand it better if we call it a rebate or refund) equals 1.24 trillion dollars net paid to government...thanks for making my point...same with income tax, my house tax payments, and all other forms of government sources of revenues, used to SUBSIDIZE (give to, handout, support, throw away, waste) your green power because its uneconomic...only the "naive" accept your verdict, judge mark...