what do you think?


https://apnews.com/article/hybrids-electric-vehicles-auto-sales-charging-stations-97b444cfa752acbd3a5c244a3ee68abb

 

I considered a Prius a few times as a daily....,I always stoped short of actually getting one though every time I reminded myself what they may need based on ones I've repaired.

 

It took a while but i think hybrids overcame the stigma of being associated with the dorky Prius. You can get a hybrid F-150 now and it's actually more powerful than the non hybrid.

But for years when you thought hybrid, you thought of weirdos in Priuses going 60 in the left lane and pissing everyone off.

 

Issue with hybrids is they're just not as enjoyable to drive as an EV. From a practicality perspective though a plug in hybrid makes a ton of sense.

 

Thats always been the issue, never as good as a pure car.

 

In theory a plug in hybrid with good range makes a lot of sense. However, the early ones like my 2018 530e, never got great gas mileage once the battery was depleted.

 

You save so much gas though it doesn’t matter. For instance our Pacifica PHEV gets slightly better mileage than the gas Pacifica when there is no battery, around town it’s in the 30s but on a trip it’s like 25, the Gas Pacifica got like 22. But, around town we hardly use any gas, so one tank of gas lasts like 1,500 miles.

Pacifica went from two tanks a month to two months a tank!

 

As an owner of 2 hybrids and 1 PHEV, all of them have been problem free so far with one being 9yrs old and over 143k miles. Our hybrid gets slightly better mpg on highway vs the PHEV but around town with the PHEV able to run EV mode, it’s no comparison. 5,401.5 miles on this tank of gas so far and it’s sitting in the garage with a full EV battery.

 

I think Hybrids make much more sense for most ppl especially one’s living in cities that don’t have access to private garage or parking. Its also MUCH cheaper.

If our politicians had brains they would understand that hybrids are a better solution and not just have a ban on ICE.

 

Hybrids aren't a long term solution in that they don't free us from using oil, thats the point. Ultimately the future is going to be oil free, that future is just a long way off.

The thing about PHEVs are that they just aren't as impressive to drive as an EV. I LOVE the PHEV powertrain in the Pacifica, but I am really on the fence about say a PHEV S580e...in a car like that I want a powertrain that really wows me, and to me thats either the V8 or its a full EV.

 

That comment is 13 years late. Lexus hybrids made total sense. Owned RX, GS and ES hybrids over that time.

But now, they are on borrowed time with EV alternatives.

I’m totally surprised why there is much talk about it at all but not 13 years ago.

 

I wound up with a Pacifica Hybrid on my last business trip, and it was lovely. Drove fantastically, was very impressed. I had free charging at the hotel, but was not yet set up for same at my office (I am now). Even so, and having picked it up with a flat dead battery, I only put 2.2 gallons of gas in it at the end of my short week, and returned it with both more fuel and a fairly high SOC. It was below freezing every day, so I estimate I got 25 miles of range (from a best-case rating of 32) on pure EV power. That said, It was able to do quite a bit more without firing the engine when the EV range was at zero than I expected.

If I can score one again on my next trip at the end of January, I don't think I'll have to fill the tank at all. We have no need for a minivan, but if we did, I would have a difficult time choosing anything else, even knowing how troublesome Stellantis vehicles can be.


The process by which I wound up with the Pacifica would have been pretty entertaining if it wasn't almost 11pm. I checked in and they offered me a Corolla or a Malibu. Having had the Corolla the prior month, I opted for the Malibu. They gave me the keys and I headed to the garage. The moment I opened the trunk to stow my luggage, I got hit by a wall of ciagrette smoke. Just in case it was a fluke, I checked the passenger cabin and it was almost as bad. With the temperature at 13F, I wasn't about to drive around with the windows down, so I headed back in. Waiting in line the person two spots in front of me got the Corolla, at which point they no longer had any "intermediates" to give anyone. So it became a free for all. The guy in front of me wound up choosing a Genesis G80 (damn!), and when it came to me, they said they had a Nissan Frontier, Jeep Wrangler, or Pacifica. The Frontier is just pathetic, so I opted for the Wrangler. The agent went through the entire exchange process and was about to hand me the keys when he noticed something. "This vehicle is scheduled for maintenance, so I can't give it to you." At that point, they reiterated the choices as the Frontier or Pacifica Hybrid. Recalling your experience with it, I rolled the dice, and am pretty happy that I did.

 

Haha all worked out in the end!

I really do like the vehicle, and you know how badly I didn’t want another minivan…

 

not sure which comment is 13 years late, but phev's for example weren't really out there 13 years ago.

and no, they're not on borrowed time any time soon. phev's will likely check the boxes for many for the next 5 years... one big problem though, is obviously they're not cheap to make and availability is often quite limited. ev's will likely continue to come down in price, but as usual, the issue is urban/comdo/apartment charging. we're a loooong way from enough chargers.

 

Are you putting roughly the same number of miles each month on the new one as with the last one?