Quote:
Originally Posted by spinner
What exactly are you trying to convince yourself of? That if someone drives a 15 year-old Geo Metro and says, "See, I can hypermile like the best of them," that that somehow forecasts what people could be driving in the future? You got another thing coming if you believe that. Honda leads the way in vehicle efficiency and if they can't do better, while still meeting safety and emissions standards, then no-one can.
Any ways, if someone gets better-than-rated fuel economy in a regular Civic, then they will also get better-than-rated fuel economy in the Hybrid. If you can't see the benefit of the hybrid, then you're another doubting Thomas. There are a million excuses at your disposal. No-one can -- and no-one has to -- convince you otherwise. Perhaps when gasoline is at $7/gal. you will see things in a different context, and postulating about what could be will take a back seat to the urgency of what is available.
Word on the street is that the 2008 Civic Hybrids are sold out for the year.
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I agree that when all driving habits are equal you will get better fuel economy in a hybrid Civic, that's why when I compared the two vehicles I used 32 mpg for the LX and 45 mpg for the hybrid. Both cars can do better and both can do worse. My point is that after you do ALL the math, it takes way too long to actually save money. I mean come on... the hybrid is about $3,000 more than the EX and $5,000 more than the LX! You might be saving at the pump but Honda is laughing all the way to the bank.
Like I've said before, if you're buying the hybrid to help the environment, I salute you. But if you're doing it to save money, you'll have to drive about 175,000 miles to break even. Can a Honda go that long...we all know they can. But in today's society most people don't.
About the $7/gallon... yes, people would most definitely earn their money back faster.
I read that somewhere between 2010 and 2015 Honda might put a hybrid engine in the Fit with a price bump of $2,000 or less! Now that would be interesting. I'll just have to wait and crunch the numbers on that one.