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Hybrid Vehicles: The cost-ineffective choice
Gas prices are soaring and they don't appear to be anywhere near stabilizing or falling.
While citizens of major metropolitans are probably little affected by gas prices, the rest of
the population that lives in suburbs, small cities, or rural areas is definitely affected by gas prices!
Now more than ever before it seems intelligent to purchase a hybrid vehicle, right? Wrong, but don't
worry I will explain in great detail in the next few paragraphs and even show some simple calculations why.
The attractiveness of the hybrid vehicle is the amazing gas mileage and little else; they rarely are
visually inspiring and usually inept in the performance department. Unfortunately, some people get
so blinded by the MPG listed on the window they don't take time to calculate what the savings would
really be in the long run.
All of my values come directly from Toyota's website if you are concerned with the legitimacy of my
numbers. I have done these same calculations before using Honda but have decided to use Toyota this
time as the Prius seems to be the most popular hybrid scooting about.
The Toyota Prius has a starting price of $22,200 while the Toyota corolla has a starting price of $14,200.
The features of both vehicles are very similar except that the corolla has 55% more horsepower. The price
difference therefore is $8,000! The Prius is listed as a combined MPG of 55, while the corolla combined MPG is 33.
Your average driver puts around 12,000 miles on a vehicle per year so the amount of gas burned for the Prius
is 218 gallons in a year and the corolla burns 360 gallons a year. Therefore every year the corolla will burn
an extra 140 gallons of gas which will cost about an extra $400 a year based on current gas prices being near $3.00.
Hybrid owners get a one time tax incentive in the amount of $3,000 IF they purchase the vehicle before the
allotted incentives are given out that year. So let's see where we are, the total extra cost of the hybrid
of $8,000 minus the $3,000 tax incentive means the hybrid costs an extra $5,000. Each year the corolla owner
spends an extra $400 on gas so that by the end of year 13 the Prius owner has FINALLY spent less on the vehicle
and fuel than the corolla owner. Until the end of the 13th year the corolla owner has spent the smaller amount
of money on transportation. When was the last time you kept a vehicle 13 years?
People that brag about their hybrids should be careful who they brag towards; otherwise they might realize how
much of a yuppie they really are!
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