What are the advantages of buying a hybrid car?

Question

What are the advantages of buying a hybrid car?

Answer 1

its better for the enviroment

Answer 2

Well, save on gas, money, be able to say I'm not contributing to the deconstruction of america and by the way people who drive hybrids are hot! Lol. so get one! :)

Answer 3

you use less gas and its more energy efficient.

Answer 4

It saves on gas BECAUSE it allows the engine to run at peak efficiency, with no low end or high end waste. Also, it provides a platform for when they come up with a real replacement for the ICE, like a Searl or MEG generator. And with a few more batteries, you don't NEED to use any gas at ALL on short runs.

Answer 5

when you put a pencil to your long term cost of operation its not as good as it looks, most of the hybrids on the market only get 45 -55 mpg. the same mileage and in some cases better mileage is available through Volkswagen's newer diesels and turbo diesels they will consistently turn out 50 -55 mpg and outlast a hybrid by two to three times. maintenance cost on a hybrid, means shop time. A dealer does not tell you about are the high cost of maintenance and the relative scarcity of qualified mechanics or in this case Technicians, and the dealers do not want to discuss the high cost of battery replacement. I have yet to find a dealer that will tell me how much that cost, but research through friends in the parts department has shown that the cost of new batteries on most of the hybrids with labor included approaches almost half the cost of the car .

ask anybody that owns an electric golf cart for a length of time.

put a pencil to the cost of operation of a newer or new Volkswagen diesel versus a new hybrid and I think you will find that the little turbo diesels are the much more economical way to go and they have all the speed and performance of the hybrids with the added benefit of lasting 500,000 miles plus without an overhaul. if you run the right oil and have it changed properly.

Answer 6

well for one u are saving the earth and u will save ALOT of money because u will be buying corn starch instead of gasoline!

Good luck and I hope you buy it

Answer 7

In some states, they allow hybrid vehicles to drive in the HOV lane.  Also, in some states, they let you park for free in front of parking meters.  Here is a site with some incentives by state:  http://www.hybridcars.com/local-incentiv...

Plus, of course, there are the obvious ones like better gas mileage, air friendly, etc.

Answer 8

less gas costs, more miles per gallon of gas, and you can brag to all the peons around you who drive SUV's that you aren't so  responsible for the decay of ozone and whatnot.

Answer 9

less pollution in the air from exhaust that is in a normal car. Better gas mileage -

Answer 10

Better on environment, less $$ for gas, and if everyone had one less reliance on the middle east for their gas. That's a bonus

Answer 11

NONE!

The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate ‘green car’ is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.

Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.

The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine found in most cars today and a battery- powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and a whooping 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute. Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive system, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed. As any physics major can tell you, it takes more energy to get an object moving than to keep it moving. The battery is recharged through the braking system, as well as when the gasoline engine takes over anywhere north of 30mph. It seems like a great energy efficient and environmentally sound car, right?

You would be right if you went by the old government EPA estimates, which netted the Prius an incredible 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 miles per gallon on the highway. Unfortunately for Toyota, the government realized how unrealistic their EPA tests were, which consisted of highway speeds limited to 55mph and acceleration of only 3.3 mph per second. The new tests which affect all 2008 models give a much more realistic rating with highway speeds of 80mph and acceleration of 8mph per second. This has dropped the Prius’s EPA down by 25 percent to an average of 45mpg. This now puts the Toyota within spitting distance of cars like the Chevy Aveo, which costs less then half what the Prius costs.

However, if that was the only issue with the Prius, I wouldn’t be writing this article. It gets much worse.

Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.

The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius’ battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist’s nightmare.

“The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside,” said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.

All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn’t end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce ‘nickel foam.’ From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?

Wait, I haven’t even got to the best part yet.

When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer - the Prius’s arch nemesis.

Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust to Dust,” the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.

So, if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage - buy a Chevy Aveo and fix that lead foot.

One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.

Answer 12

spend alot less on gas, use less gas, this is huge being that gas is gonna be $4.00/gal or more this summer let alone doing your part in helping the environment

Answer 13

Well i heard that you can park at any paid parking meter for free

Answer 14

cheaper on gas, easier on the enviorment, quite, doing your part for a healthy planet. on the contrary they are more expansive and may offset the cost you save on gas, and when they first came out, they weren't incredibly reliable, but I'm sure they have most of those bugs fixed by now

p.s. you might check out Saturn, I hear they have a new line of less expansive hybrids

Answer 15

The obvious advantage is saving money on gas.  You could also argue that it is more environmentally friendly.