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talk me out of getting a hybrid

F

funkymatt

Diamond Member
I drive a '97 civic now and get about 28-30mpg and want something that gets _at least_ this. I found an '03 honda civic hybrid in good shape for just under $10k on autotrader. I haven't gone to check it out, but it looks pretty decent- it's being sold by a dealership. 68k miles and looks to have been a honda certified used car at the time of sale for the most recent previous owner.

Is there anything I should check out or be forewarned about regarding the batteries? According to the carfax there is only one maintenance record at 40k miles for an oil change- i'm going to be checking the oil consistency... any other places I should look besides under the oil cap? I suppose it's possible the previous owners took it to a local mechanic or shop type place for maintenance.

Any help is appreciated. I'm just having a hard time finding a comparable replacement for my 13 year old car.

edit:

thanks for the help all, I ended up getting a 2008 yaris liftback- toyota certified for under KBB and they took my 97 civic as a trade-in for as much as carmax was willing to give me. My first tank of 217 miles gave me 30.97mpg- all city driving.
 
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I have a 2007 Accord EX-L 4cyl I consistently get MINIMUM 30MPG highway (going 130-140km/h)

I can get up to 40MPG going 100km/h HW

Pure city is more like 22mpg though.

my point is, plenty of cars can get 30mpg
 
Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned that the 28mpg is city driving... all under 50mph.

I really don't want a VW unless it's a diesel.
 
funkymatt said:
Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned that the 28mpg is city driving... all under 50mph.

I really don't want a VW unless it's a diesel.
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I have one of those too, i'm averaging about 550 miles per tank without really trying now. Averages to about 40mpg
 
BassBomb said:
I have a 2007 Accord EX-L 4cyl I consistently get MINIMUM 30MPG highway (going 130-140km/h)

I can get up to 40MPG going 100km/h HW

Pure city is more like 22mpg though.

my point is, plenty of cars can get 30mpg
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Your confusing me with all the mixed measurements. Use old English standards for us American blokes. 😉
 
i had a 2004 civic hybrid. great car. i sold it in 2006 after putting 124k miles on it. best mileage i got was 63mpg driving from atlanta to pepsicola beach. made it down and almost 1/3 of the way back on one tank.

the big thing about the civic is if you want to benefit from the hybrid, you have to change the way you drive.
i got my best numbers driving at 55mph, you have to rethink driving up hills, and get used to not being heavy on the pedal. otherwise, you won't see very good mileage.

i used to drive 57 miles each way through atlanta for a commute and got to sit in traffic some, but still pulled 37-40mpg average city driving, granted not stoplight to stoplight downtown.
if you can keep the car above 40 as much as possible, you can wash any of the loss from quick acceleration from stop after stop.

i really like the honda hybrid concept, replacing the flywheel with an electric motor for assist was a great idea, and having spent good amounts of time in a prius, found the honda a much more fun car to drive.
 
funkymatt said:
:-/ any more convincing words or reasoning?
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You can get a similarly equipped non-hybrid with less miles at a better price. Hybrids just don't make good buys at all. The only reason to get one is if you're a tree hugger environment type of person. You don't get one to save money. You'll save more money by getting a car that gets good mileage and you can put the money you saved into whatever else you want.
 
zerocool84 said:
You can get a similarly equipped non-hybrid with less miles at a better price. Hybrids just don't make good buys at all. The only reason to get one is if you're a tree hugger environment type of person. You don't get one to save money. You'll save more money by getting a car that gets good mileage and you can put the money you saved into whatever else you want.
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but it sure is nice having the hov tags and driving through LA traffic like no ones business all by yourself.
 
All data from autos.msn.com - keep in mind that these stats don't reflect real world prices or fuel economy; we all know that "you would never pay that much!" or "I get better MPG than that!" This is for demonstrative purposes only. For simplicity, the price on both cars is the original MSRP without tax, etc.

Toyota Prius II - $22,800; 51 / 48 mpg
Ford Fiesta SE - $14,320; 30 / 40 mpg

Price Difference: $8,480
Estimated Driving: 50% city, 50% highway

At 50k miles, the Prius will have consumed (25,000 / 51 ~= 490 gal) + (25,000 / 48 mpg ~= 521 gal) = 1011 gal. At $2.759 / gal, that's $2789.35. At $4.50 / gal, that's $4549.50.
At 50k miles, the Fiesta will have consumed (25,000 / 30 ~= 833 gal) + (25,000 / 40 mpg = 625 gal) = 1458 gal. At $2.759 / gal, that's $4022.62. At $4.50 / gal, that's $6561.00.

Total fuel savings for driving the Prius, gas at $2.759:
50k miles - $1233.27
100k miles - $2466.54
200k miles - $4933.08

Total fuel savings for driving the Prius, gas at $4.50:
50k miles - $2011.50
100k miles - $4023.00
200k miles - $8046.00

So, the moral of the story is, unless gas goes up to a ludicrous price in the near future (and $4.50 is expensive, but not ludicrous), a hybrid really isn't saving you any money over a small, fuel efficient car. If you're comparing two cars of similar price (a Prius to a Camry, Fusion, Altima, Accord, etc.) then you'll obviously be saving money in the long run.

There are other factors to consider, obviously. The overall quality of the car (interior trim, etc.) still needs to be considered (hence why I at least went with the Fiesta SE rather than the S), and the expected maintenance costs play a huge role. On the other hand, if you value your time above all else, fewer trips to the gas station might be worth the extra cash to you.
 
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when i got the honda hybrid, i sat down and compared it to the civic dx, which was slightly cheaper then the hybrid. i got mine before they got popular and gas went up.

if i remember right, i had to drive 24,000 miles a year each year to make it add up over the long haul, when in truth i did over 60k miles a year, and the difference in gas cost was quite good, and i made the cost of the hybrid back.
 
I think Hybrids make a great deal of sense to a driver who does the vast majority of his driving in traffic, and drives 20k+ miles annually. If you get a decent amount of open-highway time, it begins to make a lot less sense.

To CTS up there ^^ I really like how the Fiesta is shaping up (the US is finally getting it again this coming year!), but the thing is a subcompact, not exactly comparable to the midsizeish Prius. The Prius is pretty roomy inside, and seems a shade larger than my 'compact' Focus.
 
Arkaign said:
To CTS up there ^^ I really like how the Fiesta is shaping up (the US is finally getting it again this coming year!), but the thing is a subcompact, not exactly comparable to the midsizeish Prius. The Prius is pretty roomy inside, and seems a shade larger than my 'compact' Focus.
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True, but they'll still get what, 26/35ish MPG? I'd still expect it to take ~300k miles at current gas prices, and about 150k miles if gas doubles to "get your money back." That is, unless you're buying a top-trim model of the Focus or similar car. Then the gap is much smaller.
 
I own a hybrid. A Fusion Hybrid to be exact. I paid 28,500 after TTL, I just got the $3400 tax credit on my taxes. I drive/expect to drive 15-20K miles a year. A similarly equipped non-hybrid Fusion would have run me $2000 less. I made that back in the tax credit and then some. I drive anywhere from 650-800miles/tank, my old car I could maybe get 350miles/tank if it was ALL highway, like no city whatsoever. For all of the above, the hybrid made sense to me.

You should do the math for saving gas, figure out if you want to change your driving style or not(aka less lead foot), and also consider how many miles per year and what type of miles those will be before considering a hybrid.
 
I don't see that many carpool lanes in LA to be honest, and when I do they're packed, just like ZC described...

An 03' is going to start to have battery issues, it should be covered by the 100K/10 year battery warranty though, I would check to be sure.

From listening a bit, I suspect the auto industry is going to abandon the 10 year battery warranty soon, that'll kill any chance of me buying a hybrid...
 
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