You can save over a thousand dollars a year in gas costs by having a car with 35mpg over a car with 22mpg if you drive 15,000 miles in a year. If you do more driving than that the savings will be even greater. There is also the benefit when you get the high gas milage car that we are reducing our consumption of oil, which benefits everyone.

not to mention if you purchased a 4 cylinder you get about the same mpg

If you consider a 12mpg difference "about the same".

Camry Hybrid 4-cylinder: 33mpg

http://autos.yahoo.com/toyo...

Camry 4-cylinder: 21mpg

http://autos.yahoo.com/toyo...

We bought a Toyota Prius in late May -- last week we took a trip to Redwood City and return -- averaged 44.5 mpg and used 12.5 gals. of gas.  That's a huge savings over using our minivan and using about 35-40 gals. for the round trip. 

Also, if you're a member of AAA, you can get a referral from them to the fleet manager of whatever dealership you choose -- our car cost us just $1250 over the dealer's invoice -- AND the local Toyota dealer does not add $3-5000 to their cost -- it's totally against their policy to take unfair advantage of the high demand for hybrids.

So, yes, I'd say it's worth the extra $$ to get a hybrid.    

I average about 38-39 mpg on long trips.  Four-banger, manual transmission, cruise control, 55 mph where possible.

But random you only go to places that are downhill from you, coasting doesn`t count......

Uh-uh, it's just like my old elementary school days.  Uphill *BOTH* ways, through the snow, in July...

Problem is I only have two years left to pay on my car.  If I got a new one I'd be looking at another 5 years to pay on one and I don't intend to have car payments the rest of my life.  It wouldn't be cost effective for me.

If you want to know if you'll really save money, break it down into cost vs gas savings.  How long would it be before you see a savings?

Hmmmmmmmm  I asked this question before but never really got an answer. Why doesn't Chevy bring back the Chevy sprint? Had a 5 speed manual motorcycle engine that got 60 mpg!! AND could still go up the grapevine at 80mph! AND wasn't that expensive to buy!! Daughter had that car for 8 years and had over 100 thousand miles on it and still got $2500 for it on a trade in!!!

I'll be paying mine off at the end of this year.  Plan to nurse it along a while, hope to be driving it less anyway.  Got more funner things coming as alternatives.

I drive to Delano every work day from Rosedale. I get about 30-34mpg in my 2006 Ford Focus depending on whether I use the AC. I thought I read the Prius was getting around 44mpg. If that is true, I would be getting an extra 12mpg or so. I would get an additional 100 miles or so which is a trip and a half for me.

I may have to trade up next year.

Witterpitters, GM could turn itself around by dusting off the plans for the old Chevy Spring/Geo Metro and going back into production.   They're selling on eBay in some cases for more than they originally cost.  (Of course, they were never made in *THIS* country...) 

Suzuki still makes a version, but not for sale here.

Cash is King, all those souls with the "American Dream" monsters and years left to pay on interest of a auto purchase that they can`t sell or even trade in....and using a credit card to pay (with interest) for petrol and you wonder why the American lifestyle is on it`s way out?

Cost vs gas savings.   I realize using less gas would help the air and the gas consumption by buying a hybrid, but  I save some money on gas prices AND have a car payment.  Is that going to offset itself?  How much will a hybrid cost, how much interest will I be paying, and how long will I be paying that premium out of my pocket?    Not to mention more expensive tags and insurance.

But if I get the same milage (about 28 on trips for me) that I've been getting, and have NO car payment, you tell me which is the most cost effective?  Where is the savings?

Where`s the Corvair when you need`em?

Well put, Maggiepoo.  I don't make car payments.  :)

Witters asks a good question, too.  In the 1980s, it was easy to make cars that got over 40mpg highway, and they really did.  Now you can hardly find a motorcycle that nears 50mpg.

Is today's gas half as powerful, or are manufacturers just becoming lazy?

what if gas prices dump ????? like it did in the early 80's ....the yugo's, bugs, and all the small cars become works of art and pots for large trees.....

also, when judging LONG trips....what about short trips...which is usually 80% of the driving ....

to the person who paid 1250 OVER sticker .......again who PAYS OVER sticker........

a 2008 Camry sells for 12k -15k to make room for the 2009 's ......and I am glad your so confident in that a car salesperson is so honest......

Maggie,

I used to fancy myself a pretty fair shadetree mechanic,

until I got a Corvair

(actually multiple Corvairs, one is never enough)

They will NOT stop leaking.

Fill up the oil and check the gas.

I no longer speak about my mechanical skills.

Apollo, the US automakers do make excellent autos and they are at the top in fuel economy,comfort,style, and tech advances, but they all happen to be in Europe!!! Ford had a car that was Auto of the Year 2007, great car,,,,but you will never see them in the USA. GM is behind and still has a reputation as being a cheap,thrown together American car but they are pushing hard over here and have a nice product available but the rep is the drawback,,too many quality autos in the competition in Europe....No market for change in the states and the cost of import is prohibitive with the declining dollar, in a couple of years when the dollar hits bottom and stabilizes to it`s real world value then markets will open....

Corvairs will stimulate the fan belt industry, but aren`t fanbelts made in Mexico or China now?

I guess it's some consolation that the dollars we're buying that gas with are worth so much less than they used to be...

There's the Chevy Volt, an electric concept car that promises 600 miles to the 12 gal. tank. Supposed to be a big, imperative, priority with Chevy and now (as far as I know) is projected to be on the market by 2010. Great idea---if the car doesn't cost the price of a beamer.

Let`s just keep our fingers crossed that GM last that long,,, insiders have a thumbs down for the future of the American version of GM

My cars/trucks are paid for but if they came back with the 60mpg sprint I'd sell my stuff and buy two!!! Our daughter could get six friends in hers (crammed in of course!) and could go 3-4 weeks in L.A. on the freeways on a 7gal tank of gas!!!! REGULAR! not premium!  Makes ya wonder if the government has it's finger in the pie and is discouraging the auto makers from making these cars again. Just seems to me any CEO with a brain cell could have and should have seen this coming and gotten production going of the Sprint or Geo. They should still have the forms/blue prints to make these cars, why haven't they?

Well the hybrids are nice, but as pointed out, who the hell can afford them!!! We're retired we sure can't. Even though the sprint is gas - it is not a "guzzler" and could be affordable.

GM To Sell Hybrid Cars In China

(AP) General Motors Corp. will sell its first gas-electric hybrid cars in China in July, introducing a model created in part by GM's Shanghai design center, the company said Saturday.

The Buick LaCrosse will be the second hybrid to enter the Chinese automobile market following Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius in early 2006.

The LaCrosse is due to be unveiled Sunday at the Beijing auto show, GM managers said. They said it would be priced under 300,000 yuan ($43,000) - comparable to the Prius.

"We don't expect to see a very high volume of sales of this car in China in a short period of time. But we bring this technology to help China support sustainable growth and bring consumers in that direction," Joseph Liu, GM China's vice president for sales, told reporters.

The car was developed with contributions from GM's Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center in Shanghai, said Maryann Combs, the center's president.

Hybrids improve fuel efficiency and cut emissions by generating extra power from the brakes as a vehicle tops. But they also cost more because they require both gasoline and electric motors.

GM says the LaCrosse will be the first hybrid made in China. The Prius is assembled from imported parts.

Toyota has sold about 2,500 Priuses in China since 2006 but sales are slowing in part because Chinese drivers are unfamiliar with hybrids, according to reports in the industry press.

GM has made China, the world's second-biggest and fastest-growing vehicle market, a key part of its efforts to develop alternative power sources. It announced plans in October for a $250 million fuel research center in Shanghai.

On Saturday, chairman Rick Wagoner took part in opening an automotive energy research center partly financed by GM at Tsinghua University in Beijing, the alma mater of President Hu Jintao.

GM hopes the Chinese government will introduce incentives to encourage sales of alternative vehicles, Liu said.

The company plans to introduce a hybrid version of the Cadillac Escalade sport SUV in China next year, followed by an all-electric car as early as 2010, he said.

GM says it sold just over 1 million vehicles in China last year.

One thing that you all failed to mention is that purchasing a hybrid car is more than saving money (although you also forgot to mention the tax breaks/incentives every year for owning an environmentally friendly vehicle)... it's about saving the environment and making the air we breath better.  A hybrid will kick out fewer emissions and have a better effect on everything around us.  Cost savings is merely a plus in my opinion, but over the long term it does seem like this will also happen.

[edited by admin. due to violations of Terms of Use]

tja2..correction, I DID mention it.  9:34 post.  The fact is I can't afford a hybrid.  As I said, I don't want to have car payments for the rest of my life.  It would really piss me off if I bought a hybrid and then kicked the bucket the week after my last payment.  At retirement age, people should not be saddling themselves with high cost items/payments, not even to save the air.

When I bought my car I expected it to be the last one I owned considering I drove my last one for 11 years.  As for saving the air as well as money, my car hasn't been out of my driveway since Sunday evening.  A double bonus for me staying home is that it's forced me to do some indoor chores I'd been putting off.  The heat works almost as well as a blizzard for grounding me.  I'm too lazy to move in the morning unless it's yard work, it's too hot during the day, and by evening I've lost interest.

bakocrazy -- what about THIS guy?

http://www.bakersfield.com/... 

Sounds like another RE phony to me.

Read article -- IRS musta  "made a mistake" -- Employee  "Retirement Accounts" -- Did he even have any aside from he and wife's? But, but, the IRS promised me they wouldn't file liens...................

BWAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[edited by admin. due to violations of Terms of Use]

Sometimes the glitz and glam of an object outweighs its economic worth. I suspect that's the case with several hybrid owners, although there are those for which the economics make sense too. For me, it makes absolutely no economic sense to get a hybrid. My current car is completely paid off, does 25mpg city/32-35mpg highway (depending on traffic) and is a ULEV. I drive very infrequently, averaging less than 8000 miles a year. So for my case, getting a hybrid would make absolutely no economic sense and very little environmental sense (since my current car is a ULEV). So the only reason for me to get a hybrid for me would be the "coolness" factor.

As for cars like the Geo Metro/Chevy Sprint, they would not get the same gas mileage today due to all the required safety features. Just think about all the things modern cars have that those cars didn't... air bags, steel cages, ABS, etc. Those features add a whole lot of weight to the car and that weight kills the gas mileage.

to the person who paid 1250 OVER sticker .......again who PAYS OVER sticker........

First of all, Refi, reread what I wrote -- we paid $1250 over DEALERS' invoice, NOT the sticker price.

Shwaine, glitz, glam, and the coolness factor weren't even considered -- hubby drives 80 miles round trip to work/home each day -- at 45 mpg that's much more economical than using the minivan at about 12-15 mpg.