The Essential Hybrid Car Handbook; A Buyer's Guide

If there has been one major sticking point, it has been price. Because of the cost of the technology, hybrid vehicles - which range from about $20,000 to more than $60,000 - are priced thousands of dollars higher than their thirstier counterparts. Consumer Reports magazine studied the costs of hybrid ownership compared with similar all-gas models in early 2006 and concluded that after five years of ownership and 75,000 miles only two will enjoy any cost benefits. The owner of a Toyota Prius will save $400, the magazine estimated, and the owner of a Honda Civic Hybrid will save $300. However, four other hybrids had price penalties ranging from $1,900 to $5,500 over the same period of time. Nevertheless, with each new model the technology improves and the engineers at Toyota believe the day will come, perhaps sooner than later, when gas-electric automobiles will be cost competitive with traditionally powered automobiles.

In a separate survey, the editors of Popular Mechanics magazine found some owners have expressed dissatisfaction because their real-world fuel mileage does not match the figures predicted by the Environmental Protection Agency. However, when the editors compared similar hybrid and traditionally powered cars they still found that the hybrids were significantly easier on fuel. For example, a Honda Civic hybrid averaged 39.6 miles per gallon in city driving and 42.7 mpg on the highway. That compared with 33.6 mpg around town and 36.3 mpg on the open road. (Insert cost chart here.)

Still, the cost comparisons may be missing the point. Surveys of hybrid-car buyers have shown repeatedly that price is not the primary factor in their purchase decision. Saving money on gas, the environment, the diminished use of fossil fuels, the interesting technology – all are greater factors than the actual cost of the car.
The owner of a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid who lists himself only as Nick, of Indianapolis, believes that the cost issue should be viewed in an entirely different context.

“Hybrid should just be viewed as another option, like a leather interior, sunroof, four-wheel drive or a navigation system,” he says. “People never question drivers of cars with these options about when they will pay for themselves. It is just a lifestyle choice.”

Cheers from the Owners Arlene Sheff wasn’t really looking for a new car. But the professional psychotherapist from Columbia, Md., was struck by one particular topic while attending a forum on women’s issues: “What is our legacy to our grandchildren?” “That’s when I decided that I must do something for the environment.” she recalled. “That would be my contribution.” That decision led her to a nearby Toyota dealership, where she took a test drive and then placed her order for a fully equipped 2006 Prius, a mid-size sedan with a Toyota Camry-size interior and a hybrid power plant. “I thought the car was fun . . . Its size felt right and it has a lot of really good features . . . and I also like that it will get great gas mileage.” But what about cost, the idea that she will have to drive 15,000 miles a year for five years to recoup the several-thousand-dollar premium over a similarly equipped automobile with a traditional engine? “I didn’t worry about the cost,” she said. “My concern is about the environment.” For the record, figures supplied by the U.S. Department of Energy indicate that her Prius will emit 3.4 tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere annually, a far cry from the 6.6 tons a Camry will spew from its tailpipe.

Another Maryland resident, Renee Lowden, decided to buy her Toyota Prius about two years after her husband, Michael, purchased his Honda Civic Hybrid. “My husband bought his car because of his concern for the environment,” she explained. “That’s a concern of mine, too, but my main reason is to reduce our dependence on oil. It’s unconscionable the way we say we don’t want to be dependent and then we go ahead and use it without changing our habits.
She said the change to hybrid power has had a marked effect on her driving habits. “I’m the one going up the hill at three miles and hour and down the hill at 90 miles an hour,” she joked.

She keeps a close check on her fuel usage and was disappointed when the trip computer told her she was averaging only 41 or 42 miles per gallon. But she soon brightened. “When I filled up the tank, I figured out the mileage for myself and found I was actually getting 48 miles a gallon. I guess the computer’s a little bit off.”

But, as avid a Prius fan as she has become, she admits she is not quite in the same league as Michael. “I was in the Honda with my husband,” she recalled. “It was 95 degrees out and the air conditioning was off. When I said something, he just replied, ‘Oh, there’s a nice breeze out.’ I know what he was doing. He was trying to get the most fuel mileage.” Michael’s car has averaged about 45 miles per gallon so far.

Shoppers concerns: Valid or not? We now know something about why people buy hybrid cars. People feel good by doing their part to save fuel and blunt the contribution of car exhaust to atmospheric pollution. But that doesn’t necessarily make the purchase an easy one. For many, the technology is pretty much of a mystery and that has led to concern and hesitation.

Using a survey taken with Harris Interactive, the Kelly Blue Book
web site, kbb.com, has identified the major worries among prospective hybrid car purchasers. These concerns have been investigated by CNN Money.com, which found some are merited and some are not.

Here are the top seven concerns identified by the survey and the responses to them.
1. Hybrid cars have expensive technology that is difficult and expensive to fix.
All of today’s new cars are controlled by computers and complicated electronics that must be diagnosed and repaired with the use of expensive equipment generally found only in the service department of an authorized dealer. The day of the do-it-yourself “shade tree mechanic” is over, with the exception of some routine maintenance and minor repairs. Hybrid-specific parts generally have long warranties that insulate owners from their replacement costs..
Conclusion: It’s only a slight concern.

 

2. Hybrids have limited battery-pack life.
To assure long battery life, hybrid cars are designed so that the batteries are never fully charged nor fully discharged by the electric motor or gasoline engine. In addition, manufacturers guarantee the batteries for many years. Toyota’s warranty is for 10 years or 100,000 miles; Honda and Ford guarantees cover eight years or 80,000 miles.
Conclusion: It’s not a major concern.

3. Hybrid cars sometimes stall, stutter and sputter.
This worry has apparently arisen from a Toyota Prius software problem in 2005. Toyota recalled and fixed all of the vehicles that experienced shutoff while the cars were being driven and all Priuses since contain the software that eliminates the problem.
Conclusion: Not a real concern.

4. Hybrid cars will not return enough savings in reduced fuel usage to overcome their initial higher cost.
Studies by Consumer Reports and other organizations have found that is hard to justify the purchase of a hybrid car as a money-saver. Fuel costs will be considerably less, but they won’t offset the initial higher cost and greater depreciation. Even a federal tax write-off won’t bring the cost of a hybrid car into balance with comparable cars powered by traditional powerplants.
Conclusion: This is a legitimate concern.

5. Hybrid cars do not offer sufficient driving performance.
All hybrid vehicles have enough power for safe acceleration, hill-climbing, passing and merging in today’s traffic conditions. However, with a couple of exceptions, they are not road rockets.
Conclusion: You have to choose your priorities.

6. Hybrids do not hold their resale value.
With the exception of the unique Toyota Prius, this has generally been true.
Conclusion: This is a genuine cause for concern.

7. Hybrids don’t get the fuel mileage promised.
If you are calculating how much money you will save on fuel by looking at Environmental Protection Agency estimates, you will be disappointed. However, you will be disappointed with any car you buy because EPA numbers are determined with testing methods that do not hold up in the real driving world. That said, if rear-world driving produces results 15 percent lower than EPA figures, a person who expected to get 50 miles a gallon will be a lot more disappointed than the person who expected to get 25 mpg.
Conclusion: Assume your figures will be lower than the estimates. Whether that’s a concern is up to you.

The Author’s Driving Impressions
In doing the research for this book, I spent considerable time in hybrid models offered by Toyota, Honda and Ford. I did not have the opportunity to drive a full-size General Motors pickup truck.

I found all of them to be significantly more fuel efficient than their gasoline-engine-only counterparts. They had sufficient power to move safely in 2006 traffic conditions and none of them required any special operating instructions.
But there are a couple of differences that are immediately noticeable.

It was quite unnerving at first to stop at traffic signals and have the engine go dead. But, the sensation became ordinary when I learned that the car would jump back to life as soon as I removed my foot from the brake and hit the accelerator. If I paid close attention, I could feel a hesitation before the gasoline engine fired up, but it soon became part of the driving process and was basically forgotten.
Also, most of the vehicles I drove were equipped with continuously variable automatic transmissions. A CVT can adjust its gear ratios to all power needs without the constraints of four, five or six predetermined gears. When you step on the gas pedal, the engine responds immediately and the transmission adjusts and readjusts its gear ratios according to the urgency expressed by the driver’s right foot. The sound is something akin to a power boat accelerating or a propeller plane at take-off. Although it is available on a few gasoline engine-only vehicles, the CVT is generally preferred by the manufacturers of hybrid vehicles because it produces acceleration and fuel economy comparable to what a driver could expect with a manual transmission. Conventional automatic transmissions are not as efficient at transferring power from the engine to the driving wheels.
Operating a hybrid vehicle changes driving habits, at least in the short term. I found myself constantly checking the trip computer to see what kind of gas mileage I was getting and then driving with a “feather foot” on the accelerator to see if I could improve on it. I also tried to coast as much as possible because I knew that would mean electricity was being generated to keep the battery pack charged. In a way, trying to minimize fuel usage in a hybrid is not unlike trying to extract the maximum performance out of a normally powered car. The goals may be poles apart, but concentration and driving skill are required to achieve optimum results in both endeavors.

There are unavoidable circumstances that will disappoint the motorist shooting for great fuel efficiency. The trip from my home to the supermarket is a three-mile run that is mostly uphill. Starting out with a cold engine in late winter I would watch my average fuel mileage drop dramatically. I could make regain some of it, but not all, on the return trip. And, I was always well aware that I was using less fuel than I would have used in a similar vehicle powered only by an internal combustion engine.