rai

I was half thinking of a midsize family car.

I was thinking Mazda6 or maybe Accord. Have yet to drive the Mazda6, but the Accord seemed OK (nothing earth shattering was fine). I suppose these cars are looking at average 30-32 MPG real world driving. (automatic).

Then I started to read about the Accord Hybrid, maybe 40's real driving so the back of my envelope calculation was something like $3000 saving in gas over 100K miles.

So, nothing really to say there is any real savings there.

But I got to thinking, if maybe I'd enjoy a Hybrid for being a hybrid, in other words if I wanted to work the mileage try to get into the 50s on some drives.

But this led me to thinking if there are more trade offs than just the price for the hybrid. For instance the extra weight, the low rolling resistance tires would be a degrade handling. I was wondering how bad are low rolling resistance tires and if you switch to regular tires how much mileage do you end up losing? I already know the trade off of smaller trunk and no fold down seat.

I do think there are some things that are cool about the Hybrid such as the ability (or more ability) to hyper mile. The other night I was on call and had to make 3 round trips back to work. On the way home, I was not in any hurry and it was the middle of the night so there was no one on the roads. It would not have been terrible if I had a Hybrid to see if I could have driven like a mope and got a high mileage figure.

But overall that's a minor aspect, what I mean is the fuel economy does not seem enough of a selling point. Is there any sane reason to look at a Hybrid (in this case a Accord Hybrid) in stead of a conventional 30 mpg Midsize sedan?

spwolf

Accord hybrid looks great but it is very expensive compared to other hybrids... Camry and Fusion hybrids have much lesser premium and actually pay off... plus it is nicer to drive hybrid than regular engine, it is more luxurious and faster, especially Camry Hybrid.

I would drive those 3 myself and see which one you like the best.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Back to you mentioning the Mazda6, the Sky-Activ Diesel with 173hp and 310lbft will be arriving in the near future if you're looking for more zip than as you said "nothing earth shattering". The Mazda6 will have some incredible highway mileage

bagwell

hybrids will get you crazy city MPG
diesel will get you great highway MPG (altho there is regularly priced 40mpg sedans out there too).

Personally I like the hybrid tech better than diesel tech...quieter/cleaner.

....I don't know if you can say either is "WORTH IT" dollar wise over a standard gasoline powered vehicle...but I like what the hybrid offers.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Volvo and Land Rover are experimenting with Diesel Hybrids

bagwell

great, its cost prohibitive tho