Hybrids: cost vs. savings

The article seemed a little out of wack to me, cause our annual cost to operate the hybrid is not high at all.

So, I called the author to get his source and it's here.
http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/105827/article.html?tid=edmunds.h..pressrelease..1.*

And the real meat n potatos is the True Cost to Own (TCO) calculator here
http://www.edmunds.com/apps/cto/CTOintroController

With that calculator, the major difference is the delta in cash price, the cost of financing, and the depreciation. The article states a difference in the cash price of the Hybrid over the Civic as about $3500, but when I ran the two vehicles, it actually had a difference of $5286 with depreciation of the hybrid $3067 higher then the Civic. When I ran it, I got a 5-year cost of $27,111 on the hybrid and $24,818 on the Civic. That's what, a $2293 difference over five years or $458.60 per year.

I wonder if HOT is going to be less than $458.60 per year to drive solo? (sorry, wrong thread)

In reality, if my wife had not purchased the hybrid, we would have gotten the Accord 4 door which would have been $29,595 over five years so we actually saved $2,484. Actually more than that, because Edmunds didn't factor in the tax incentive, did they...

btw, here's one for my old buddies on this forum.

Top 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars for 2005
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/list/top10/103325/article.html


Kindest Regards,

mroyal

edited to correct typos - hope all were fixd.

Yeah, I know; 234 is a bad place to commute out of -- did it myself from the day it opened until it started getting full too early. Now I meet my carpool at Horner, regrettably adding to the number of vehicles on I95 south each evening between Horner and 234. Oh well.

While you know my feelings on high-breds and smugs and all that, I do think these vehicles ought to be heavily subsidized by the government with tax breaks and other incentives. Big fat tax breaks that cut the price in half. Event though hybrids aren't the ultimate eco-answer we need, they are at least a step in the right direction. We ought to encourage their use (carrying 3 people, that is! [:D])

quote:

---

Originally posted by scottt
[br]qorc, I think you missed the point of the article. The point is that you could have purchased a Toyota Corolla or such and still saved gas.

For example. I believe I read in one of my auto magazines (Car and Driver, or MotorTrend) that if you priced out a Ford Escape Hybrid, and a non-Hybrid Escape with the same features (power windows, locks, etc) and you drove 15k miles per year, it would take you 8 years to break even on the gas savings vs. the extra cost paid for the hybrid.

And if you are in the 28% tax bracket (like most of us) the $2000 tax credit only equals $560 in your pocket.

---

No, I got the point. But I wouldn't get the advantages of driving HOV solo, nor the tax credit, etc.

For ME, it was worth it. I got rid of a gas guzzler, I paid relatively little for the Prius ($11,000, and then got a $2,000 tax credit), I save the equivalent of $100 a week on gas, and I accrue all the advantages of driving solo on HOV. Yup, totally worth it to me.

By this point, it ought to be obvious that gas savings and reduced pollution are not the motivating factors in deciding to purchase a hybrid: HOV use is. How else would one account for the fact that little ole Virginia has almost as many hybrids as huge California? The answer is obvious and qorc says it himself: he "gets to drive to work more quickly and efficiently." The me-first philosophy is what is driving people to buy hybrids.

So qorc saves 20 minutes not picking up slugs. How nice of him to spare us his presence.

Qorc - do you pay for parking? If so, how much?