Hybrid sales soar 38% as gas-shocked drivers go green

I'd rather fill my truck at 10/gallon then be caugh driving one of those things.

Hybrid's are for hippies and they look just as stupid!

If they were cheaper, I would buy one. But until they do, I'm driving a gas-powered car. All this think green crap is about 25-30 years too late. Now people are cynical about it.

Yea...I tried to purchase a Prius recently, but all of the Toyota dealers in my area are adding up to $3000 in "dealer fees" to the MSRP to make money on their hottest seller.

What the article fails to mention is that hybrid vehicles cost several thousand dollars more than regular vehicles and that they are not cost-effective.

When you take this extra cost and do some math, you will realize that it will take you about 8 - 10 years to recoup the extra-investment in the vehicle in actual "gasoline savings."

Loud Mouth New Yorker wrote:

If they were cheaper, I would buy one. But until they do, I'm driving a gas-powered car. All this think green crap is about 25-30 years too late. Now people are cynical about it.

I concur with the price variations (gas v. hybrid)- it appears that the manufacturers are using the high price of gas to make additional dollars by charging a premimum on hybrids. Moreover, because of this "premimum", it takes 4-7 years to offset the actual savings of mileage v. the higher price of the vehicle.
I hate to blog without a potential solution, albeit not a perfect solution, but nonetheless a potential solution -- Instead of the FED GOVT. providing tax incentives for hybrid owners (if they are still doing that?), the "research monies" that the gas companies receive from the FED GOVT. be deferred to off-set the higher cost of the hybrids? Just a suggestion...
Which brings me to the use of the batteries that supplement the hybrid's power - if a typical cell phone battery cannot be discarded in the local dump (as indicated by the manufacturer), where do we place the batteries from the hybrids when they are not deemed usable any longer?

Moving wrote:

Yea...I tried to purchase a Prius recently, but all of the Toyota dealers in my area are adding up to $3000 in "dealer fees" to the MSRP to make money on their hottest seller.

Why don't you try Earl Stewart Toyota in Stewart. In his commercials, he claims he is the only dealership in FL who does not charge any kind of dealership fee.

I wish I was rich enough to be able to afford both a high millage car and a practical SUV. So I guess I am stuck with the SUV. If the environmentalist really wanted to do something they could spend some of there billions of dollars on buying high millage cars for people like me instead of spending it on commercials to try and brain wash us into believe the global warming scam

sham wrote:

What the article fails to mention is that hybrid vehicles cost several thousand dollars more than regular vehicles and that they are not cost-effective.
When you take this extra cost and do some math, you will realize that it will take you about 8 - 10 years to recoup the extra-investment in the vehicle in actual "gasoline savings."

you are correct. use the calculator provided with this article and that by the time the hybrid option pays for itself in fuel savings it will be obsolete technology. people that buy hybrids think they are soooo much better than everybody else but fail to realize they have been sold snake oil.

No one ever bothers to think that maybe driving a different type of car is NOT the solution? Maybe its time to change your lifestyle? Maybe people will realize what they should have done when their kids are pushing their wheelchairs.

Live closer to work or work closer to home. People make up he need for cars.

Living without using a car every day, crazy right? There are alot of crazy countries out there then.

"Last night, I drove back from a union meeting in the middle of a blizzard and I had no traction problems at all," he said. "I was passing SUVs in the ditch left and right."

lies...making up lies to justify a bad purchase

Let's see. 20,000 miles a year at 15 mpg =$4,000. 20,000 miles a year at 45mph =$1,600.$3,200 less a year. They also have lower maint cost, ie brakes, oil changes etc.

Let's not forget the enemies of this nation that have oil money to threaten us, or the trade deficit that is largely a result of oil.

It seems to me that a fuel effecient auto is the smart(money), patriotic (Iran, Saudi, Hugo Chavez Nigeria, Russia just to name a few) reponsible (the earth)

Mark_2100 wrote:

I'd rather fill my truck at $10/gallon then be caught driving one of those things.

If gas keeps going up at this rate, you'll get the chance to pay $10 in a year or two.

Mike Honcho wrote:

No one ever bothers to think that maybe driving a different type of car is NOT the solution? Maybe its time to change your lifestyle? Maybe people will realize what they should have done when their kids are pushing their wheelchairs.
Live closer to work or work closer to home. People make up he need for cars.
Living without using a car every day, crazy right? There are alot of crazy countries out there then.

Living closer to work or work closer to home is not an option to everyone nowadays, especially if you own a house and need to sell it to buy a new house closer to where you work.

What needs to happen is to have more companies allowing their employees to telecommute as mass transportation is not a viable option either for those of us living far away from the train stations.

Seventy five buckaroos to fill up the vette these days. I thought about a more fuel efficient vehicle, but once you see that car sitting in the garage,(paid for), it would be totally gay to drive a hybrid. Don't ya think?

My 2006 Prius is simply the best car I have owned. While dealer fees can be ridiculous, the overall sticker price runs $21-25K depending on options; and there is no comparable gas engine model. In addition to fuel efficiency I decided on this car to reduce emissions and invest in the technology, which Toyota is rapidly developing. It drives great, has a convenient hatchback design, I got a nice 2006 tax rebate and btw it gets 50mpg over the 23K trouble-free miles I have driven it. I do not feel duped at all; I made an educated, conscious decision to buy this car and have been very pleased with my choice.

Hybrids are a tiny step in the right direction. Large car companies have the ability to create an ELECTRIC car that gets 150 miles per charge, but then they wouldn't make any money on oil changes, and other warranties.

Watch the movie "who killed the electric car" because GM had the EV-1 in the early 90's that got 100 miles per charge, and they decided to take the cars back and crush them in the desert once they realized the amount of money they would lose if this car made it mainstream.

One day we will have electric cars once the Car makers double prices to make up for the lost revenue of services that they wont have in the future.

mary wrote:

"Last night, I drove back from a union meeting in the middle of a blizzard and I had no traction problems at all," he said. "I was passing SUVs in the ditch left and right."
lies...making up lies to justify a bad purchase

Every Prius owner I know loves it.

My Harley gets 50 mpg. Much cooler than any Hybrid.
And when it is going to rain, I take the car....

woody hayes wrote:

Seventy five buckaroos to fill up the vette these days. I thought about a more fuel efficient vehicle, but once you see that car sitting in the garage,(paid for), it would be totally gay to drive a hybrid. Don't ya think?

Yep.